Sunday, May 26, 2013

Apricot Noodle Kugel: to die for!





Please welcome our guest today: Shelley Costa is a good friend, an Edgar-nominated author and the creator of the new Italian Restaurant mystery series. We can’t wait to get our hands on the first book You Cannoli Die Once. Not just for the recipes either, although that's part of the appeal.  You can find out more about Shelley and her new book at the end of this post. Careful though, this recipe nearly made us swoon!



Apricot Noodle Kugel

There’s my recipe for delicious cannoli in You Cannoli Die Once, Book One in my Italian Restaurant Mystery Series, available in retail stores and online at the end of this month.  And in Book Two, you’ll find a recipe for Granita, the icy dessert my head chef/sleuth Eve Angelotta serves at a very special dinner party for a two hundred year old secret (and possibly homicidal) cooking society. But for Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen I wanted to  do something different, something outside the world of pomodoro and pizzelle. . .
And then I remembered a scene in Book Two, where Eve, immersed in trying to solve the murder, suddenly finds she’s cooked up a big stock pot full of of ziti and has no idea what to do about it – which, at that point in the story, is also true for the murder.  Fortunately, she’s at home and doesn’t have to think Italian and please her hovering grandmother.  What she comes up with as a way of saving all that cooked pasta is. . .a sweet noodle kugel.  Many sweet noodle kugels.

Here’s a version of noodle kugel I love, thanks to my mother-in-law, who’s an excellent cook.  You’ll notice that the rogue ziti Eve cooked up is nowhere on the scene – let’s go traditional with the time-honored egg noodle.  This kugel makes a sweet side dish counterpoint to beef and chicken dishes.  And for leftovers, if you’re tight on time for lunch the next day, a delectable square of reheated Apricot Noodle Kugel will taste like lunch and dessert all rolled into one.  Be careful not to overbake or overzap the next day or the noodles will get too crunchy – you’ve got the corn flake topping for crunch!


APRICOT NOODLE KUGEL

Ingredients

8 oz. broad noodles
6 T butter or margarine, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ c sugar
3 eggs
1 c milk
1 c apricot nectar

Topping

3 c corn flakes, crushed
¼ c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2-3 T butter

Cook the noodles in salted water until tender.  Drain and rinse in hot water.  Pour the noodles into an ungreased 8x12” pan.  Add butter, mix thoroughly, and set aside.


Combine the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, milk, and nectar in a mixer or blender.   


Beat until foamy and pour over the noodes.  This filling becomes custard-like and gives the kugel its final shape. 


Combine the crushed corn flakes, sugar, and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the kugel.  Dot with butter.

 

Bake for 1 hour in 350 ⁰ oven.  Turn the oven off and let the kugel remain there for an additional 20 minutes.
Serves 8


Just for a change, sometimes I substitute papaya nectar for the apricot.  Papaya’s a bit more understated, and figuring out that flavor will provide your guests with a mystery that has no dead body at the heart of it (always a nice choice at the dinner table).  But that unmistakable tang of apricot is really great with the egg/cheese/milk blend in this recipe and is still my favorite.  I think it might be interesting to try mango nectar – let me know if you do!



 Delicious apricot kugel anyone?



A 2004 Edgar nominee for Best Short Story, Shelley Costa is the author of the new Italian Restaurant Mystery Series, which debuts this month with You Cannoli Die Once (Simon and Schuster Pocket Books, 2013).  Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Blood on Their Hands,The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, and Crimewave (UK), and she’s the author ofThe Everything Guide to Edgar Allan Poe.  Shelley is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Art, where she teaches creative writing.  She enjoys time with family and friends, reading, plotting (which usually accounts for that faraway look in her eye), and good coffee.  No, really good coffee.  Find her at www.shelleycosta.com.

14 comments:

  1. Looks wonderful Shelley--especially on this late May day that feels like early March! Lots of luck with the new book--I'm definitely putting that one on my pile:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Roberta. I know what you mean. I'm five hours north of Toronto for the weekend where it's gotten down to about freezing every night. Dirty trick for late May! Warm comfort food is the way to go. I hope you're Albany-bound this fall so we can meet.

      Delete
  2. This looks great. I've never had kugel with apricot -- or papaya -- but I'm sure it's delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Carol! Hard to go wrong with noodles, eggs and sugar, but the apricot really steps up kugel's game.

      Delete
  3. I dreamed about this last night, Shelley. ! Happy dreams indeed. I've ordered You Cannoli Die Once. I know it will be a delicious mystery too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, MJ. Your dream sure beats my semi-recurrent dream that "they" tell me they discovered I never finished all my Phys Ed credits so I never actually got my degree. Apricot noodle kugel is far less threatening.

      Delete
  4. Shelley, welcome and good luck with your new series. Love love love the title! Very cute. And love this recipe. I'll have to try it gluten-free, but everything but the noodles works. There are even GF cornflakes nowadays. Yum. I think I will be dreaming about it, too.

    Hugs and so lovely to meet you at Oakmont!

    Daryl aka Avery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Daryl. Thanks for the kind words! I managed to remember Iconix, and when I get back home from this weekend away, I'll give them a call about bookmarks. Great to met you at Oakmont. Coming to Bouchercon 2013?
      GF cornflakes?? Who knew! Let me know how the GF noodles work out in this recipe.

      Delete
  5. This sounds yummy. How about adding some dried apricots that have plumped in the apricot nectar? Or diced fresh mango with mango nectar? Texture and taste additions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Libby. I like the idea of some chewy additions. Good thinking. We've got cornflakes for crunch, but bits of dried fruit (and you can mix it up, say, apricot nectar with papaya bits)would add chew.

      Delete
  6. Shelley, this sounds too good! Cornflakes on top? Never would have thought of that. I'm a huge fan of mango nectar. I bet it would be fabulous!

    Thanks so much for joining us today.

    ~Krista

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Krista. I like the "too good." My own delusion is that if something doesn't contain chocolate, why, it's practically calorie-free. Let me know how the mango nectar works out. Mango's a great flavor.
      Thanks for having me on Mystery Lovers' Kitchen! My favorite: good food, good company.

      Delete
  7. I never thought to combine fruit and noodles!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This third variety is called 'shou gan man', which can be translated as hand-made noodles by using a rolling pin. best noodle maker

    ReplyDelete