Sasha's Kitchen: Apple-Sweet Potato Matzo Kugel

Tonight, for the second night of Passover, I am sharing a new recipe that I tried out for our second night seder - an apple sweet potato matzo kugel. There's two types of kugels for passover, and egg noodle kugel like the one I made last year, and matzo kugel. This kugel was fantastic, and shows why I prefer a matzo kugel to a noodle kugel. This recipe has already been requested by one of my family members, so I am posting it right away on A Kitchen In Brooklyn. The apples, cinnamon, raisins and sweet potato give quite a bit of flavor to the matzo in this kugel.

Sasha's Apple-Sweet Potato Matzo Kugel
3 large gala apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider
5 plain matzos
6 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 1/2 T canola oil
3/4 cup raisons
2 T butter or margarine, cut into small pieces (I used butter)

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the apples, sweet potato , cider and brown sugar in a bowl and set aside.  Break up the matzo into 2-3 inch pieces, and soak in one cup of warm water until soft but not mushy. The matzo should absorb the water. Beat the eggs with a whisk, and add the salt, granulated sugar, cinnamon, canola oil and raisons. Add the matzo to the egg mixture, and add in the apple mixture. Combine the three mixtures, and add to a well greased casserole dish (a 9x4 or 10x4 casserole). Dot with the 2T of butter or margarine along the top. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove the kugel from the oven and cool. Serve slightly warm.

Sasha's Kitchen: Apple-Sweet Potato Matzo Kugel

Sasha's Kitchen: Passover Mango Noodle Kugel

For the second night of Passover, I thought I would share my recipe for kosher for Passover noodle kugel, a Jewish version of noodle pudding made with gluten-free Kosher for Passover noodles.  During Passover, Jews cannot eat any leavened bread for eight days to commemorate the fact that they did not have time to wait for bread to rise when they escaped from slavery in Egypt.  This extends to pasta, hence special gluten-free Kosher for Passover noodles were used in this recipe.

This kugel recipe can be made two ways, either with or without half a cup of sugar.  If you use the sugar, it will be sweet like a conventional noodle kugel, but without the sugar, it is more of a noodle kugel with a bit of fruit - but without a residual sweetness.  Therefore, I have left the sugar optional in the recipe, depending your preference.  In addition, you will find that most noodle kugel recipes use cottage cheese rather than ricotta cheese.  I always use a combination of ricotta and non-fat sour cream because I simply detest cottage cheese and it is one of the few ingredients that I refuse to incorporate into any recipe (a trait I apparently picked up from my mom who also hates cottage cheese).

Sasha's Kosher For Passover Mango Noodle Kugel
Two boxes of Geffen Kosher for Passover gluten-free wide noodles
1 1/2 cups non-fat sour cream
1/2 cup sugar (optional)
1 mango, diced
1/2 cup raisins
16 oz skim milk ricotta cheese
1/2 stick of butter, melted
6 eggs

Preheat the oven to 375.  This is quite simple to prepare.  Simply prepare the pasta and combine in a bowl with all of the other ingredients.  Put in a large casserole dish and bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown.   Serve warm.

Sasha's Kitchen: Passover Mango Noodle Kugel