Salt n` Peppa Lukshen Kugel

Let’s talk about kugel baby…Shoop, this kugel is for you Mutty…whatta man…I think that’s enough salt n peppa references, right?

For whatever reason, Shabbos lunch is somewhat of a mystery. What does one make that can be heated up, and heats up well. Whenever Ayelet and I discuss it, I’m always suggesting making salt and pepper lukshen kugel. It’s cooked noodles, mixed with eggs, salt and pepper, and then pan fried, seriously – what can be bad. It was a staple in my house growing up, but for whatever reason, we don’t make this nearly as much as we should.

Well this week we went ahead and made it, and as always, it was awesome.

You take some egg noodles, and this is very important, it has to be “Heimishe” egg noodles, if it’s not, the whole thing will be a failure of epic proportions.

What exactly is Heimish about egg noodles? I have no idea.

Anyway, cook them up and drain.

Next take 4 eggs, and throw in salt, black pepper, and any other sort of hot pepper you want. Whenever I make it, it’s always something different. This time, besides the black pepper, I threw in some cayenne, some red pepper flakes, and because I really enjoyed my last experience of my lips being on fire, some sriracha sauce.

Azoy

I whisked it all together

Threw in the cooked noodles, and mixed to combine it all

Then, I heated up some olive oil in a skillet. You want the noodles to form a nice crust on the outside, so get the oil really hot, and pour in the noodles, and kinda make one uniform pancake/kugel/whatever, and then lower the heat so you don’t burn it. After about 8 minutes depending on you atmospheric pressure and the wind chill factor (by the way, up until about 5 years ago I honestly thought it was called the “windshield” factor, because that’s how cold it is on your windshield…could not make that up if I tried), you need to flip it, and here’s the only time in this whole dish where it gets tricky. There are a few methods, and I’ve found that the plate method works the best. (Another method is try and use a spatula in which you will end up the whole thing on the floor..trust me, I’ve been there).

Onto the patent pending “Plate Method®©∞” (yeah I just found out how to insert symbols…and those symbols mean that it’s registered copyright until infinity…so don’t mess). What you’ll need is: 1) 1 plate…that’s it. Take the plate, and cover the pan, and flip the pan over so the kugel is now on the plate, with the crust facing up. It’s probably a  good idea to do this away from the fire. Ok, now that your pan is empty, pour some more oil in, and heat it up good. When it’s nice and hot, just slide the kugel down into the oil, and tuck the sides in, and that’s it.

Salt and Pepper Lushen Kugel

Ingredients

• Egg noddles (remember, it has to be Heimeshe, or someone’s Bobby is gonna be pissed)
• 4 eggs
• 1.5 tablespoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon of black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
• Red pepper flakes
• Splash of hot sauce
• 6 tablespoons Olive oil

Side note – I never really measured the amounts of salt and pepper I put in, so the measurements are “guess-timates” so tweak it as you see fit…and it’s better to err on too little salt,  and in regards to the pepper – you want a nice amount of spice in there, but don’t go over board so that it’s unbearable.

Directions

1. Cook noodles, and drain
2. Combine eggs, salt, peppers, hot sauce, and cooked noodles, and mix
3. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat until really hot, and put noodles in the skillet, and after about a minute, lower to medium.
4. After about 7-8 minutes, check to see if there’s a nice crust on the bottom, and when there is, flip the kugel onto a plate, using the “Plate Method®©∞”
5. Heat up the other 3 tablespoons of olive oil, and when it’s hot, transfer the kugel back into the skillet, and tuck the sides in, and heat for another 7-8 minutes, until a nice uniform crust develops.