Light, fruited noodle kugel

January 9, 2011 at 1:26 pm (AMA, B_minus (2.5 stars), Jewish, Necessarily nonvegan, Spring recipes, Starches, Winter recipes)

When I was a kid my mom used to make my grandmother’s noodle kugel recipe on special occasions.  It was a savory, not a sweet kugel, and I think it had about a pound each of butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, and eggs.  It was tasty, but super rich.  So when I saw a similar looking–but lighter–recipe in the AMA cookbook, I was curious to try it.

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces medium egg noodles
• 1 ripe firm pair, peeled, cored, and diced
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed dried fruit or chopped dried pears
• 1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat (1 percent) cottage cheese
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat (1 percent) milk
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 3 Tbs. sliced almonds

Instructions:

1. Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, about 8 minutes.  Drain well.
2. Oil a 2- or 2 1/2-quart shallow baking dish.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, toss together the pear and sugar, then mix the dried fruit, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg whites.  Blend in the cottage cheese, milk, and sour cream.  Stir in the fruit mixture along with the noodles.  Spoon the pudding into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the almonds.  (You can refrigerate the mixture for 4 hours at this point.  Return to room temperature before baking.)
5. Bake uncovered, until the kugel is set and the top is golden, 45 to 55 minutes.  Let it stand for 10 minutes, then cut into squares to serve.

AMA says that 1/6 of the recipe has about 309 calories, 7g fat, 43g carbs, 2g fiber, and 18g protein.

My notes:

I used mostly dried pears for the dried fruit, with a few apricots and prunes as well.  I followed the recipe closely except my milk was a mix of 1.5% and whole milk, and my cottage cheese was 0.8% fat.  The kugel was reminiscent of my grandma’s kugel, but obviously much less rich.  The flavor was a little sour (from the sour cream) and a little sweet from the fruit and sweet spices.  I enjoyed it, but Derek thought it was incredibly bland.  He wouldn’t eat it.  I did have a bit of a problem with the texture though.  The cheesy parts seemed a bit dry–overly fluffy and yet grainy at the same time.  I suspect the textural problems are a result of the egg whites.  If I made this again I’d try it with four whole eggs.  Adding another two egg yolks isn’t going to change the calorie content all that much, and the egg yolks carry most of the nutrients in the egg.  The sliced almonds on top did nothing for me.  I couldn’t taste them or detect any crunch.

The portion size is actually pretty big, especially given that one serving is only about 300 calories.  It’s not the healthiest, most nutritionally dense recipe, but if you’re craving kugel, this recipe offers a reasonable, light alternative.

Rating: B

Derek: D