Dairy noodle kugel with mushrooms and roasted garlic
By Tali Simon | August 31, 2012
Anybody making a dairy meal this Shabbos? Come on, you know you’re getting tired of all that chicken.
Right? You’ve had enough chicken?
Wait. Why did this room suddenly empty out?
I may not be able to get you to back away from the fleishigs, but I can sing the praises of this dairy noodle kugel. Seriously, there’s a lot to praise.
Let’s start with the roasted garlic. Everything about roasted garlic is awesome.
Now pulverize the roasted garlic. Your kids will think that’s pretty awesome, too.
Your next victims are garlic & dill cream cheese (so much more personality than the unflavored stuff), sour cream, and milk.
Do you see where I’m going with this? Creamy dairy deliciousness in a noodle kugel. Are you sold yet?
I know it sounds a bit intense, but the result is actually light enough for a summer meal. Which means that even if you can’t convince your family to go dairy for the main Shabbos meals, you could totally serve this up at seudat shlishit.
And if not? I hear it tastes pretty great in the succah, too.
One year ago: Not-too-bad-for-you-cookies
Yield: 8-10 servings
Ingredients
- 10 oz (300 g) medium egg noodles
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 8 oz (225 g) garlic and dill cream cheese (or flavor of your choice)
- 12 oz (340 g) sour cream
- 1 1/3 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- ½ tsp salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (4 oz) can mushrooms
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 F/200 C. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and set aside.
2. Slice off the top of the garlic head and discard. Brush exposed garlic tops with oil, wrap in aluminum foil, and roast for about 45 minutes. (I prefer to peel each clove to ensure that it’s both fresh and bug-free, then brush all the cloves lightly with oil and wrap in foil.) Remove from oven and set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 375 F/190 C.
3. In a pot of boiling water, cook noodles for 6 minutes.
4. While the noodles are cooking, squeeze roasted garlic cloves into a large bowl. Mash with a potato masher, then beat in cream cheese, sour cream, milk, eggs, salt, and pepper (I use 10 turns of the pepper grinder). Stir in mushrooms to evenly distribute.
5. Add drained noodles and toss to coat with the dairy mixture, then pour everything into the prepared dish and bake for 45 minutes. Let kugel settle 20 minutes before serving. Reheats well.
This recipe first appeared in the July 16, 2012 edition of “From Tali’s Kitchen,” my cooking column in Binah magazine.
9 Comments
elana on August 31, 2012 at 1:29 pm.
i made this the week after it came out in Binah-but we used fresh mushrooms instead. it is really really good!!! in a way it reminded us of very yum fettuchini alfredo back from new york…
just today i made a batch of my own garlic and dill cream cheese so i wanna see if it comes out the same since making it myself comes out way cheaper than buying the napoleon brand….so ill be making this again soon!
Tali Simon on August 31, 2012 at 1:52 pm.
Good call to use fresh mushrooms. Did you saute them first, or just add them raw?
And I love that you made your own cream cheese. I’ve been wanting to try that for awhile.
elana on August 31, 2012 at 2:07 pm.
sauteed first. extremely yummy.
and you really have to try the cream cheese. tastes exactly like american cream cheese and super easy to make, not to mention A LOT cheaper.
Mushrooms Canada on August 31, 2012 at 8:17 pm.
Love the use of fresh mushrooms! That completes and already delicious dish
-Shannon
Rachel on September 1, 2012 at 8:46 pm.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Please post directions for making your own cream cheese, thanks!
Victoria (Itsy Bitsy Balebusta) on September 2, 2012 at 5:47 am.
I love dairy meals and can’t wait to add this to my chaggim menu! Sounds fantastic! I especially love the roasted garlic and not the typical cream cheese!
elana on September 2, 2012 at 6:48 pm.
homemade cream cheese:
for every container of shamenet chamutza (i find it really doesnt matter which size or % fat)(you can also use the pink container of “ashel” which according to my husband tastes even better) add about 1/2 tsp. salt. mix well. i dont have cheesecloth either. what i did was buy a white undershirt and cut it in half (that will hold about four 200 gram containers worth) or you can cut it into smaller squares to hold a smaller batch of cheese.
i hang it from my cabinet handles so it can drip directly into the sink. alternatively you can put it in a small strainer/sifter that is hanging over a bowl.
let it drip for about 12 hours. you can let it drip even longer in the fridge if you’d like. the longer it drips the harder the cream cheese comes out.
to make flavored cream cheese add whatever flavoring at the same time as the salt (a sprinkle of garlic powder and dried dill? cinnamon/brown sugar swirl? bite sized pieces of lox? you get the picture)
ENJOY!
you can also use the plain cream cheese to make a good ol classic new york cheesecake….thats what we enjoyed this past shavuos.
Tali Simon on September 2, 2012 at 6:52 pm.
Thanks, Elana! Nice t-shirt tip. Definitely want to try this.
Miriam @ Overtime Cook on September 2, 2012 at 11:43 pm.
This looks delicious! All recipes I find for dairy noodle kugel are super sweet, love that this one is savory!