Soba Noodles with Tamagoyaki

Sorry for the multiple posting!

Ingredients:

Tamagoyaki (see below).

Soba noodles

Broccoli slaw

peanuts

green onion

Adapted from Teriyaki Penne recipe on page 27 of Fresh and Simple Vegetable Dinners by Jennifer Darling.

More Tamagoyaki.

Cherry Almond Kugel

About a year ago, my book club I lead at the library read Golden Country by Jennifer Gilmore. In the book, some of the characters meet in Upstate New York for brunch consisting of bagels, lox, and kugel topped with cornflakes. The book, albeit fictional, said that surely it was the best kugel in America. One of my book club ladies wanted to make kugel for the group, but I couldn't let her for food handler laws, blah blah blah. I was upset. I wanted some kugel, and I really wished I could have let her bring it. However, she did bring her recipe in and gave me a copy.

A couple weeks ago, Brian and I were invited to a most awesome bagels and lox brunch. I immediately thought of Golden Country, and so I finally had a reason to try the kugel. I stupidly left my book club lady's recipe at work, so I adapted this Easiest Noodle Kugel recipe.

Cherry Almond Kugel
8 ounces wide egg noodles (this is more than 1 cup, you'll need a scale)
1 cup dried cherries
5 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter,
melted, cooled
2/3 cup sugar
4 cups whole milk
1 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
dash cinnamon and nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Spread uncooked noodles over bottom of prepared dish and sprinkle with cherries. Whisk eggs, sour cream, butter, sugar, almond extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in large bowl until smooth. Whisk in milk and pour mixture over noodles. Let kugel stand 5 minutes.
Mix cornflakes, almond meal, brown sugar, dash cinnamon and nutmeg in bowl;
sprinkle evenly over kugel.
Bake kugel until set in center, about 1 hour.

Here's the topping:

Shot of the side of the pan (it was blurry):

It makes A LOT!!!

2 Fasian Salads

Fasian = Faux Asian

Here are 2 yaki toppings for an Asian-flavored salad to make it more substantial. Either can also be eaten on their own. The first, the Ramen Fritter, is probably a WT creation, although it does slightly remind me a bit of the okonomiyaki I had in Osaka (without the octopus, bbq sauce, mustard and mayo). The second, the tamagoyaki, is a bit more authentic. I bought a tamagoyaki pan at KoMart (for 6 bucks!). My first attempts to make it had not been successful, it does take time to learn how to make it properly. I did better after watching a few videos on YouTube with people making it.

Ramen Fritter
1 package ramen noodles
2 eggs, beaten
4 green onions, white and green chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 TBSP soy sauce
dash coriander
vegetable oil

Cook ramen to package instructions. Drain off broth - do not rinse. Add eggs, onions, garlic, soy sauce, and coriander.

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Drop 1/4 of mixture as a glob onto the frying pan and flatten out. Cook until sets and turns golden brown (about 3-4 minutes). Flip and cook other side the same. Repeat until you're out of mixture.

I used this recipe to make the Tamagoyaki. I chose this one to make because most recipes I found are require dashi, which I didn't have handy.



I overcooked a couple layers, and I didn't use a sushi rolling mat, but the taste was pretty good, especially drizzled with a little extra soy sauce.