Quantcast

Ivan Orkin’s Noodle Kugel

As the High Holidays approach, Ivan Orkin of Ivan Ramen continues to celebrate the noodle, but this time with a traditional Eastern European sweet noodle kugel.

Some folks at the table like it as a sweet side dish with roasted or braised meats, and slathered with gravy. Others eat it for dessert, still warm from the oven with a scoop of ice cream melting over it. 

“Another great way to enjoy this kugel is to eat it cold, the next morning, with a great cup of coffee,” suggests Orkin.

Any way you like it, Orkin’s kugel is a snap to make, and is incredibly rich and flavorful. The secret is the cream cheese, which adds a superb, dense and custardy texture. If you can, seek out Ben’s cream cheese to really throw this dish over the top, he says. The recipe calls for egg noodles, but we’d like to see it prepared with ramen, you know, for fun…

 

NOODLE KUGEL

Serves 8-12 as a side dish

Ingredients:

–1 pound cooked egg noodles (as wide as possible)

–1 & 1/4 lbs of cream cheese, room temperature

–8 large eggs, beaten

–1 stick of sweet butter, at room temperature

–½ cup of sugar

–4 ounces dried apples, diced ¼ inch

–4 ounces dried cranberries or currants

–2 ounces golden raisins

–2 ounces honey

–1 teaspoon Kosher salt

–1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

–¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

–¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

–cooking spray

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Cook pasta very al dente and shock in ice water. Drain and reserve

3. Beat together the cream cheese, eggs, butter, sugar, honey, dried spices and salt until creamy

4. Gently mix the cream cheese mixture with the cold noodles and the dried fruits until well blended.

5. Gently place into a large, greased, oven-proof casserole dish

6. Spray the top heavily with the cooking spray

7. Bake at 350 until the tops are browned and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. A toothpick inserted should come out clean. This should take about an hour