Potato Kugel!

I'm reposting this recipe, as it's one I make almost every single week. For those of you who think we are boring eating potato kugel every week - we're not! Our house is hopping! And we are innovative, and try out new things all the time! We just happen to associate the taste of a perfect potato kugel with a happy Shabbat, so we make it, time and again.

THIS is the perfect Potato Kugel recipe. I guarantee it will be a hit!

Enjoy!

Potato Kugel

about 1.5 kg of potatoes (8-10 medium size) - I use the lightest skinned ones I can find here, in the States, I used Yukon Gold. -- scrubbed clean, not peeled.
1 large onion
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil)
.5 - 1.5 T. salt (please adjust to your preference!)
pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C)

Scrub the potatoes.

Fit your food processor with the bottom blade AND the shredding disk. In mine, this means that my end result will be partially pureed and partially shredded. If yours works differently -- use the shredding disk, then change to the bottom blade and puree about 1/3 of the potato/onion mixture.


In a large bowl, beat the eggs, oil and seasonings together.

Feed your food processor the onion first, then the potatoes. My bowl isn't big enough, so I do this half at a time, including half an onion with each batch. the pureed onion helps keep the potatoes from oxidizing.



Add the onion and potato mixture to the egg and oil mixture. Mix well to combine.


Pour into a DEEP pan. The trick to this potato kugel is its depth. It does NOT work in a shallow pan. I use a lasagna size disposable pan because I haven't managed to fully stock my kitchen with all the baking pans I want.

Edited to add: I use a foil pan that is 32cm X 26 cm according to the label on the package (5.5 mm depth). Hope that helps!



Place kugel in hot oven. After 25-30 min, lower the temp to 350 F (175 C), and bake for another 30-40 min. Watch to make sure you don't burn the top.

And that is it.
No peeling, no draining, no straining, no adding in just the right amount of starch... 

AND it's perfect for all year round, including Pesach!

Please let me know if you try it. I'd love to hear what you think!

Vegetarian Liver Recipe (vegan, actually)

I've been making this recipe for years, and it's been a big hit with family and guests.

It is vegetarian, so I'm sure it does not taste like REAL chopped liver, but I haven't eaten chopped liver in over 2 decades! It's our favorite vegetarian version, though.


I hope you'll try it out and let me know what you think!



Vegetarian Chopped Liver

1 cup water
1/2 bag frozen green beans (about 400g, I think)
1/2 bag frozen peas (also about 400g, I think)
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
oregano
1 cup mixed nuts - whatever kind you like. I used sunflower seeds and roasted cashews this week but the week I took pictures it was some other mix. Before I was allergic to almonds I always used an almond, cashew and hazelnut mix. That was great!
(optional - 2 hard boiled eggs)
salt and pepper to taste

Place green beans, peas, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 min.
(watch to be sure you don't boil out the water, add water if needed)
Set aside to cool
Heat olive oil in skillet and saute onions and garlic with oregano flakes, until caramelized and very fragrant.
Combine peas, green beans, some of the cooking water, onion/garlic mixture, nuts, salt, pepper and eggs if using them, in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse to puree. Add more cooking water or regular water if needed.

Transfer to a container and refrigerate before serving. Serve with the garnish of your choice and crackers if you like!

Caramel popcorn

I published my old recipe for caramel popcorn a while back, but I wanted to make it easier and skip the baking step.

The old way was just too liquidy and annoying, so I've been playing around with it and I now understand that I just wasn't "getting" the idea behind making caramel popcorn. But now I've got it.

THIS is the way to do it:
Pop some popcorn and set aside.

Then, take:
1/4 c. coconut oil
1/2-3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4-1/2 tsp salt (I used coarse sea salt)
1/4 cup water

Place above ingredients in a pot and heat on the stove over med-high heat. it will melt and bubble and combine. Watch it so it doesn't burn, but let it bubble for a good few minutes.
Remove from heat. Add 1 tsp baking soda and stir and stir and stir. The mixture will get lighter and thicken up.

Pour over popped popcorn. Toss it with two spoons to coat the popcorn.

Eat.

I had to grab the bowl to get a picture before the kids ate all of it

My kids are nuts for this one. Seriously.

I'm trying to figure out if I can use more molasses and less sugar... The molasses gives it a really special flavor, as does that sea salt...