The Way to a Man's Heart...

I grew up in my mother's kitchen, her willing little apprentice.  I started out cutting baguettes and setting the table.  By age seven I had graduated to peeling carrots and potatoes.  Day by day I sucked up her knowledge and became a cook like my mother.  I learned how to make her favorite dishes like Boeuf Bourguignon and Pork Medallions with Mustard Sauce with my eyes shut.

When Steve and I were first dating, food played a big part in our relationship.  I invited him over for a romantic dinner to show off my cooking skills.  Because we're both fairly competitive, he retaliated by inviting me over to show off his cooking skills.  Both meals were a hit, we fell in love, and the rest is history.

Everyone knows the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  But everyone also knows that the first love of most men is their mother.  So once I had won Steve's heart with my French cooking, I set out to learn how to cook like his mother so that he would feel at home with me too.  Steve's mom is an amazing baker and cook so this was no easy task.  After failing miserably at making challah and brisket, I realized that I had to find my own Jewish dishes.  Over the years, I've built up a small repertoire for the Jewish holidays.   But much to my children's chagrin, I still can't make challah.

Today I worked hard as he fasted for Yom Kippur and I put together quite a feast.  At sundown we sat down to a mountain of bagels, steaming bowls of homemade chicken soup with matzo balls, carrot souffle, and noodle kugel.  Twenty-five years ago, sitting in my mother's kitchen, I would have laughed at you if you told me that I would one day be rolling my own matzo balls!

Here is my recipe for carrot souffle - a dish so sweet and delicious that it will seem criminal to count it as a vegetable.

Carrot Souffle
2 lbs fresh carrots boiled until soft (can use baby carrots)
6 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
6 TBSPs matzo meal
2 TSP vanilla extract
2 sticks melted unsalted butter
Dash of Nutmeg

TOPPING INGREDIENTS:
6 TBSPs dark brown sugar
8 TBSPs melted butter
2 cups crushed corn flakes

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

To make the pudding. Put cooked carrots and eggs into food processor and puree. Add the rest of ingredients. Process until smooth.

Bake in greased 9”x13” pyrex pan at 350°F for 40 minutes.

Mix the topping ingredients together. Put the topping mixture over top of baked soufflé. Bake another 5 to 10 minutes.

You can serve after cooled for 20 minutes or reheat the next day in the microwave.