Noodle Kugel

I don't know when the last time I had kugel was, but it was a LONG time ago.  This is a little... interesting?
Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1½c cottage cheese
• 1c sour cream
• ¾c sugar
• 2¼c whole milk
• ¾c raisins
• 6tbsp butter, melted
• 1tsp lemon zest
• ½tsp orange extract
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1tbsp salt
• 18oz egg noodles
• 1c coarsely crushed corn flakes
• 2tbsp butter, melted
• 2tbsp cinnamon

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, milk, raisins, butter, zest, extracts, and salt.  Set a pot of water to boil, and cook the egg noodles until quite al dente - about 7 minutes.  Drain the noodles thoroughly, then add them to the custard mixture.  Cover and let sit for at least an hour, checking on them and stirring after about a half hour.  Preheat the oven to 350.  When the oven is hot, pour the mixture into a 9x13" casserole dish.  In a separate bowl, combine the corn flakes, butter, and cinnamon.  Sprinkle liberally over the kugel.  Bake about 40 minutes.  Then take it out, let cool about 5 to 10 minutes, and serve.

Thoughts: We weren't really sure what to expect.  Kugel is a little unusual as dishes go, since it's like a sweet pasta casserole.  We liked it, though I'm not sure we added enough salt (I think we did 1tsp instead of 1 tbsp).  I'm not sure I'd make it again in this quantity.  Still, this tasted quite authentic, and I went back for seconds.  I call this a win.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 3 cups frozen corn kernels, defrosted (or kernels from 5 ears of fresh corn)
• olive oil
• garlic
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed and chopped
• salt and pepper
• 1.5 cups chicken broth (or veg)
  
• cilantro sprigs
• sour cream
  

Put kernels in a blender. Don't blend yet. Just let them sit there.
Combine oil and garlic in a small soup pot over medium heat and let cook until fragrant. Add onion and jalapeno and cook until vegetables are soft and translucent, about 6 minutes.
Transfer the vegetables to blender and puree with corn until smooth.
Pour the corn puree back into the soup pot and place over medium heat. Add cilantro sprigs. Stir constantly for a few minutes until soup thickens. This will be tricky because this soup is so thick that when it splatters, it really splatters. Just do your best. Your stove will be a mess, but just come to peace with it.
Once soup has thickened a little, add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, decrease heat to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes (covered, if you value your stovetop).
Top with roasted corn guacamole and serve. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro sprigs.

Thoughts: Hella easy to make, but hella spicy. It's those really ripe jalapenos. We got a whole bag of them and we're still working on using them up. So only make this if you like really spicy things. Also, don't drink alcohol with this soup -- it will just make the spiciness even worse. There wasn't a whole lot of depth of flavor here, probably because the spice took care of that. But it's good nonetheless. A good starter recipe. We'll see what else we can add to it, I think.

Disaster Index: 2-3/10

Three Cheesecake

Just as we were starting to lose faith in Martha.

Ingredients

For the crust:

• cooking spray
• 1 & 1/3 cups crushed cinnamon graham crackers
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  

For the filling:

• 1 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 oz mascarpone cheese, room temp
• 4 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 2 oz soft goat cheese, room temp
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup heavy cream

Make the crust the way you normally would. Coat a 9" springform pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Crush the graham crackers in a food processor, adding the butter slowly. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Beat the sour cream, 1/3 cup of the sugar, the cheeses, vanilla, and lemon with an egg-beater on medium speed until very smooth, about 4 minutes. DO NOT pass through a sieve at this step. MARTHA. Add the heavy cream and the other 1/3 cup sugar and beat on medium until medium peaks form.
Spread evenly over the crust. Smooth top and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. Move to the refrigerator for about 45 minutes about serving.
Can be topped with fruit compote of your choosing.

Thoughts: Hot damn. This is the best cheesecake I have eaten. Dan agrees. The goat cheese really does good things here. The only thing I would do differently is add more butter to the crust. There wasn't nearly enough to make the crust adhere properly, so it sort of crumbled away when you cut a slice. But that's easily remediable. We would maybe double the amount of butter in the crust to 4 tbsp. It's also a little tricky to move the cake from the freezer to the fridge, and then back to the freezer. You have to remember to let it thaw a little before you eat it, otherwise it just sort of tastes like the freezer. But I don't think you can just leave it in the fridge 24/7, because it's no-bake and it might de-constitute itself or something. All in all, this is hella easy to make and hella delicious.

Disaster Index: 1/10, even with the imperfect crust

Cold Avocado Corn Soup

Ingredients

• 1 fresh or frozen ear of corn, shucked
• 4 cups + 2 tbsp water
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1.25 cups chopped white onion
• 2 fresh chilies -- we just grabbed two chilies that looked medium hot (our grocery store doesn't label the chilies) -- I think it was one Serrano and one Jalapeno
• 2 ripe avocados
• 3 tbsp fresh (or bottled, honestly) lime juice
  
• 1/4 cup sour cream

For the cilantro oil:

• 1 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (we used WAY more and this was not necessary)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Roast the corn over your gas stove (or use a grill, if you have one), until kernels are charred in spots, about 4-5 minutes.
Transfer corn to a cutting board, and, when cobs are cool enough, cut the kernels from them. Then cut the cobs into thirds. Don't throw them away.
Chop 1 cup of white onion.
Put the kernels, the cobs, 4 cups water, garlic, salt, and 1/4 cup of the chopped onion in a pot and boil it for about 20 minutes, or until there are 3 cups of liquid remaining. Remove from the heat. Discard the cob sections.
Chop the chiles, discarding only the stems.
In a blender, puree the corn mixture, the chopped chiles, and the rest of the onion (should be 3/4 cup).
Strain this mixture through a fine mesh sieve and into a bowl. Press on the solids to get all the moisture. Discard the solids, and return the remaining broth to the cleaned blender.
Peel and pit and avocado, and add it to the blender. Put in 2 tbsp of lime juice. Blend everything together until smooth.
Transfer soup to another bowl, cover it with plastic, and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

To prepare the cilantro oil:

Puree the cilantro, oil, and salt in the cleaned blender. You'll probably have to scrape the blender down several times. When smooth, remove mixture from blender and strain through a paper towel over a bowl for 15 minutes. Don't press on the solids this time.

To assemble the soup

Peel and pit the remaining avocado. Scoop out small sections with your melon-baller (or use a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon) and toss them with some lime juice.
Whisk the sour cream together with 2 tbsp of water until the mixture is smooth.
Season the soup and ladle it into the bowls. Put some avocado balls in each bowl, and drizzle with cilantro oil and sour cream.

Thoughts: This was pretty easy, all told. The cilantro oil didn't work out as well as we were hoping. I think we used a higher ratio of cilantro:oil than we were supposed to, so it didn't yield a whole lot of oil and the straining process left more solids than it should have. Otherwise, I think everything else was pretty awesome. This recipe says that it's supposed to yield something like six servings, but it doesn't. It yields like, maybe four. So I would go ahead and multiply everything in this recipe by 2. We went through it way too quickly. I also think that it could have used a little more flavor -- I suggest red pepper flakes, and maybe also some sort of cumin? I'm not sure what Dan thinks of this. I'll ask him later.

Disaster Index: 2.5/10

Creamed (?) patty pan squash

Ingredients

• 4 small/medium patty pan squashes
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 cloves garlic
• lots of pepper
• lots of basil
• moderate amount of salt
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  
• Parmesan cheese, to garnish

Scrub the squashes. Using a box grater (or cuisinart, if you prefer), grate the squashes (using the largest holes on the grater). Set aside.
In a large pan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the butter, water, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper. When the butter is melted and the seasonings are incorporated, add the squash. Cook on high heat, covered, until the squash is tender, around 5 minutes. You might want to drain off any excess liquid after this (squashes are generally quite watery).
Meanwhile, mix the sour cream and flour together until the flour is incorporated. Add into the squash and keep on heat until thoroughly incorporated.
Remove from heat. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
We recommend that you serve this atop some crostini brushed with olive oil. It is delicious.

Thoughts: This dish could definitely have used more seasoning, though I'm not sure what I would add. With the seasonings we used, it tasted pretty much like pasta. You could essentially pretend that you were eating pasta. Maybe it was the Parmesan cheese on top. Maybe substitute the water for dry white wine/vermouth? Maybe add mushrooms? Dan also thinks we could replace the sour cream with yogurt, which is probably true. We'll give it a shot. It's a work in progress.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Apple Upside-Down Cake

Success!
Ingredients

• Topping
  
  
  
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
    
  • 4 apples
    
  • 2/3c brown sugar
    
  • 2tsp juice from a lemon
    
  • possibly some corn starch
    
  
  
• Cake
  
  
  
  • 1c unbleached all-purpose flour
    
  • 1tbsp cornmeal
    
  • 1tsp baking powder
    
  • 1/2tsp salt
    
  • 3/4c granulated sugar
    
  • 1/4c brown sugar
    
  • 2 eggs
    
  • 3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
    
  • 1/2c sour cream
    
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
    
  
  

Cut the apples in half and cut out the core area. Cut two of the apples into 1/2" slices, and two of the apples into 1/4" slices (keep separate). Heat the 1/2 stick of butter in a sauce pan until the foaming subsides (takes a few minutes). Then add the 1/2" slices of apple. Let those cook until they start to caramelize, 4-6 minutes. Only stir a few times during those 4-6 minutes to turn the apples - they'll caramelize a lot more easily if you leave them alone. Now add the remaining topping ingredients (the brown sugar, lemon juice, and other apples). Stir until the sugar dissolves and apples are coated - about a minute. Transfer the apples into a 9" round cake pan. We used a HEAVILY GREASED springform with a layer of parchment paper on the bottom. I would also recommend putting a layer of foil around the bottom of the springform to catch leaks. In our try, the apples gave off a lot of water. So we spooned JUST the apples into the pan, then put the brown-sugar, butter, and lemon-juice mixture back on the stove and added corn starch (dissolved in some cold water first) and cooked until it thickened considerably. Then we spooned this over the top of the apples in the cake pan.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the sugars and eggs until homogenized. Slowly whisk in the butter, then the sour cream and vanilla until just combined. Add the flour and whisk until combined. Then pour the batter over the apples. Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10-20 minutes. Run a paring knife around the edge to loosen it, then invert onto a plate (good luck - use oven mitts or let it cool more if you can't do it). Cool a little longer - 20 more minutes? Then serve.

Thoughts: Claire and I were surprised by how relatively un-seasoned this cake is, but it was really delicious. We made it for breakfast, but it's probably more of a desert. In the future, Claire says she could use more seasoning, but I disagree. Some of the apples were a little crisper than either of us thought they would be, so maybe next time I will cook the apples a little longer before we add them to the cake pan. The original recipe has us peeling the apples, but I didn't notice it and my cake turned out delicious so I don't think I would peel them in the future.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Bran muffins

This recipe is from Cook's Illustrated.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raisins
• 1 tsp water
• 2 and 1/4 cup All-Bran Original cereal
• 1 and 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1 large egg and 1 large yolk
• 2/3 cup plus 3 tbsp packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup nonfat yoghurt
• 3/4 cup sour cream

Place oven rack in middle position and heat to 400 F. Spray muffin tins (probably about 18 of them) with PAM. Set aside.
Combine raisins and water in a small microwave-safe vessel, cover with cling wrap, and cut steam vents in the plastic with a paring knife. Microwave on high for 30 seconds. Let stand, covered, until raisins are softened and plump, about 5 minutes. Transfer raisins to paper-towel to cool.
Process half the cereal in a food processor until finely ground, about 1 minute.
Whisk flours, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to combine, then set aside.
Whisk egg and yolk together in medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds.
Add sugar and vanilla. Whisk until mixture is thick, about 30 seconds.
Add melted (and cooled!) butter and whisk to combine,
Add yoghurt and whisk to combine.
Stir in processed and unprocessed cereal. Let mixture sit until cereal is evenly moistened (it will still be lumpy), about 5 minutes.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently mix with rubber spatula until batter is combined and evenly moistened. Do not overmix, as usual.
Gently fold raisins into the batter.
Divide batter among muffin cups. Do not flatten or level the surface.
Bake until muffins are golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean (about 16 minutes). Make sure to rotate pan half-way through baking.
Turn out muffins onto a tea towel when through baking.

Thoughts: These were probably the best bran muffins we've ever made, and among some of the best I've ever eaten. The raisins managed to stay plump throughout baking, which was nice. The muffins don't seem to dry out easily, unlike the blackberry muffins.
I don't have much to say here except that these are delicious.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Blackberry Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 stick melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 11 oz. of fresh blackberries, cut in half

Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 400 F.
Grease muffin tins (12-18 of them, depending on how big you like your muffins).
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, milk, sugar, butter and vanilla.
Add the wet mixture tot he dry mixture and mix together until the dry ingredients have moistened. DO NOT OVER-MIX. Add the berries. Batter will not be smooth.
Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake for around 16 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Remove muffins from oven and turn them out onto a tea towel or something.

Thoughts: I found this recipe on someone else's cooking blog. She advertises them as the best blackberry muffins ever, and they are. They are very delicious. They are not too sweet, either, which Dan appreciated. I could have used a little more sugar, but the muffins are healthier this way anyway. So I'm down.
These tend to dry out fairly quickly if you aren't careful, so after a few days you'll have to heat them up in the microwave for them to soften up. Maybe 10-15 seconds. They are good with both butter and honey, but also delicious plain. If they get too old and dry to eat plain, chop them into fourths and dip them in chocolate fondue. That's what we did.

Disaster Index: 1/10