It’s Saturday night and turkey has, well, lost its zing, it has been drained of its allure, no doubt, due to too many leftovers. Of course this never happens with sweet potato pie. But that’s loaded with carbs we know and love. Here is Northern/Eastern Europe comfort food; this particular recipe happens to be a Jewish family standard but it will feel familiar AND WARM, TOASTY AND SWEET to anyone who knows how food can feed a tired or lonely heart or simply a very hungry one…Have someone else do all the heavy lifting if you’ve cleaned out Sears and/or Saks and embrace protein WITH those carbs…Personally, fried clams or ice cream can be comfort food. But just not at the same time. Try this out…especially if it means crossing the Alps (metaphorically) or other unnamed European mountain ranges to get there. Definitely warm, creamy, cheap and worth the trek.
You will need:
12 oz noodles (Pennsylvania Dutch noodles in some packaging)
6 eggs
1 and1/4 cup sugar
½ cup skim milk
1 16 oz cottage or ricotta cheese
1 stick margarine
3 tspns vanilla
1 16 oz. sour cream
Grated toasted almonds (you can buy these if you’re too exhausted but toasted on a flat, lightly greased pan, they are heavenly….)
Salt to taste (optional)
Juice of ½ lemon
How to Make the Noodle Pudding:
- Beat 6 eggs and sugar in a large bowl.
- Pour milk and mix lightly.
- Cook noodles (wash and drain)
- Melt butter in microwave for 20 seconds. Pour over noodles in deep(ish) baking pan.
- Add sour cream and mix but do not mash into bowl.
- Add cottage cheese and vanilla and mix lightly. Salt to taste, and pour in the juice of ½ lemon if you want it less sweet, but part of the charm of this 60 year old recipe is that it has a certain innocence;this is very retrosweet!
Now….
Grease pan with stick of margarine.
The RetroCookGirl method: use margarine in paper or foil against deep(ish) baking dish.
Pour in mixture of eggs, sugar, milk and noodles to rest of mixture. All ingredients should be in the same 9” x 12” baking dish (it’s a standard.)
Now here comes the fun part:
Sprinkle ¼ - ½ cup cornflakes broken up into seriously tiny bits
Add ¼ cup grated toasted almonds
Finally, sprinkle on some brown sugar and cinnamon before you toss it into the oven and you’ll swear Donna Reed is around somewhere. (She is on the RetroCookGirl Mt. Rushmore of famous tv housewife cooks; we keep her in our prayers, always. And hey, she was in “It’s A Wonderful Life.” Find the tape or rent it early or make this again and catch the sweet old flick on tv; you’ll find it on a dozen stations every day near Christmas.)
Finally….Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees. All fat, yummy, warm and toasty. Very comforting.
