A Recipe for Spiced and Creamed Carrots and How Tender Got Me Excited About Vegetables Again

When I make my weekly meal plan, I allot different vegetables for each dinner, but I rarely go so far as to plan how I will cook them. When dinner time rolls around, I am so focused on my main courses that I turn to the same old recipes for my sides: honey carrots, roasted asparagus, and parmesan zucchini. Vegetables are an afterthought, nothing to get excited about, something we eat to stay healthy. But I recently received a beautiful cookbook to review that has pretty much revolutionized our sides, and banished vegetable boredom forever.

Nigel Slater's cookbook Tender celebrates vegetables with beautiful photography and exciting, yet easy recipes. Just the cookbook's massive size was enough to convince me to change my way of thinking vegetable sides. He chronicles how he transformed his small London garden into a rich vegetable patch and has inspired me to plant some vegetables in my own tiny garden this summer, something I haven't done in years.

I'm now arming myself with bushy carrots and snappy green beans, excited to serve them to my family for dinner. I can't wait to rediscover cauliflower and parsnips, with the guidance of Slater's passionate and fresh recipes. If you're looking for ways to get more veggies in your life, Tender has them: from salads to creamy sides, and even a few desserts.

My favorite recipe so far is this side dish of spiced and creamed carrots. It serves 4.

Spiced and Creamed Carrots
Ingredients:
1 large bunch of carrots (14 ounces)
2 cloves of garlic
a thumb sized piece of ginger
3 or 4 small green chiles
a thick slice of butter
a teaspoon of yellow mustard seeds
2 tablespoons of cashew nuts
4 tablespoons of heavy cream
4 heaping tablespoons of plain yogurt
a good handful of cilantro leaves
a generous squeeze of lime juice

1. Shred or grate the carrots coarsely. Peel and crush the garlic, then peel and finely shred the ginger, and finely chop the chiles.
2. Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the garlic, ginger, and mustard seeds, holding a lid over the top to stop them from spluttering. Add the chiles and then, as everything becomes fragrant, the grated carrots. Let them cook, with the occasional toss, for three or four minutes.
3. Coarsely chop the cashews, toast them in a nonstick frying pan until golden and set aside. Stir the cream and the yogurt together an fold them into the hot carrots. Immediately spoon into a serving dish and toss with the toasted cashews, cilantro leaves, and the lime juice.

If You're Craving Carbs, Turn to Stuffing for a Creative and Fun Side Dish

FOOD FIGHTS SWEEPING AMERICA, TEARING FAMILIES APART

There's a bizarre epidemic sweeping the States, spreading from kitchen to kitchen that has public officials concerned. Food fights are breaking out at dinner tables everywhere as husbands and children are taking a stand and demanding an end to boring potato side dishes.

Although mashed potatoes are the weapon of choice, some cooks have been the victim of more dangerous food fight weapons. "My husband threw a hot baked potato at me," describes Henrietta Jones of Albuquerque, "but because of all my zumba classes, I've got quick reflexes and ducked just in time. But it made a nasty grease stain on our wallpaper."

Public officials are concerned and encouraging husbands and children to put down their potatoes and return peacefully to the table. But anonymously, some admit to wanting to join the crusade. One police officer from Des Moisnes confesses, "My wife has been serving me potatoes since the night of our wedding. Mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, and when she's feeling a little wild, potatoes au gratin. I love my wife, but if I see another potato, I just don't know how I'll keep from exploding. There's only so much a man can take."

Kids are known for their honesty and telling the story straight. Teen idol Justine Bieberette gave a special press conference yesterday to tell the world how she felt about potatoes. "They're boring. They bore me and put me to sleep. I don't want to ever see another potato on my dinner plate again."

This potato revolution is one of the most successful grass roots movements America has seen since the 1960s. People of all ages and economic backgrounds are uniting to call for a food revolution, to inspire America to un-boring their sides. Seems like this is the dawn of a new un-potato era.

The story above is a satirical post sponsored by Kraft's Un-Potato Stove Top Stuffing campaign. If you have a boring potato story of your own, you can submit it for a chance to win a $100 American Express gift card. Full contest details are posted at Technorati Follow along on Twitter too with #unpotatofest. I have received compensation for participation in the “Un-Potato” campaign from Kraft Foods. 

When I want to put a carbohydrate on the table for dinner, I've recently been turning to stuffing. Don't get me wrong, I love potatoes, whether they're sauteed in duck fat or mashed with butter and heavy cream, but it's fun to mix things up and varied at dinner. Stuffing is a surprisingly versatile side that cooks up much faster than a batch of Idaho potatoes. It's is like a blank canvas with great texture, just waiting for the flavor of the day. I love to throw in dried fruits, apples, and pears to do a little sweet and sour side. To get my family really excited, I often throw in a little bacon. Nothing gets the kids more eager to set the table than the smell of bacon wafting through the house.

Now I'm not a big fan of Jessica Seinfeld's hide the vegetables and trick your children philosophy, but I don't turn my nose up at all tricks. I've used stuffing to introduce new vegetables in our weekly rotation: slivers of Brussel Sprouts, julienned zucchini, or small dice of sweet potato go down easy when they're nestled with pillowy stuffing.

I usually make the whole box as a casserole, but I just learned that Stove Top has just come out with a larger canister version to make smaller quantities in the microwave. I'll be adding that to my pantry with my next grocery run. Below is my current favorite combination, I can't wait to hear how you play around with your stuffing. 

Bacon, Apple and Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 package of Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing
4 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 apples, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 cup of dried cranberries

1. Prepare the stuffing according to package directions. 
2. In a large frying pan, cook the bacon over medium heat. When the bacon is lightly browned, add the apples and cranberries. Saute for  2 to 3 minutes, until the apples begin to soften, and add 3/4 cups of chicken stock. Scrape up the bottom to get all the browned bacon bits.
3. Pour the bacon, stock, and fruit into the cooked and fluffed stuffing. Mix well together. 
4. Place the mixture in an oven proof dish with a cover. Cover and cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
5. Enjoy immediately on turkey or chicken.

This post was sponsored by Kraft as part of their Un-Potato Stove Top Stuffing campaign. If you have a boring potato story of your own, you can submit it for a chance to win a $100 American Express gift card. Full contest details are posted at Technorati.

Gruyere Popovers Are the Ideal Weapon for this Artic Winter

Popovers Warm from the Oven Fill the House with the Most Amazing Smell.

It's cold in Chicago nowadays. Like, really cold. 10 degrees below zero when we wake up cold. Our driveway is an ice rink cold. Walking around without a hat is not an option cold. The only way to fight back with all that ice and snow is with baking and filling the house with the sweet and savory smells of warmth.

On a bitter winter night, when I want to make an average meal something really memorable, I whip up a batch of popovers. These little puffs of cheesy bread just melt in your mouth. They're the ideal complement to a pork roast that's been braising in cider all day long in your slow cooker.

This recipe whips up in less than five minutes with just a quick pulses of your blender. The toughest part is keeping the oven door for the full twenty-two minutes they take to bake. The penalty for peeking is pretty dire. These babies will fall and you'll be having warm cheesy pancakes instead of light and fluffy popovers.

Plunging a knife into the popovers is scary, but it will keep them beautiful and tasty.

Gruyere Popovers
Makes 16 popovers
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup of grated Gruyere cheese (I love the sharp nuttiness of gruyere but if you can't find it at your local grocer, substitute Swiss cheese)
3/4 cups of skim milk
3/4 cups of heavy cream (alternatively, you can use 1 1/2 cups of whole milk)
4 Tablespoons of salted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
1 1/3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
a little extra butter or pan spray for the pans

1. Take two muffin tins (or popover tins if you have them. I don't and am very happy with these.) and grease them, then place them in your cold oven on the middle shelf.
2. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. IN a blender, combine your eggs, milk, heavy cream, mustard, and melted butter. Pulse a few times to blend and break up the eggs.
4. Add the flour, salt, and gruyere and pulse until just blended.
5. Once your oven has reached its temperature, remove the pans and fill each muffin hole 3/4 of the way, moving as quickly as you can.
6. Return the filled pans to the oven and cook until puffy and golden, between 22 and 25 minutes.
7. Remove the popovers from the oven, pierce each in the middle to let the steam escape and pop them out of their holes with the tip of a knife. Serve them while they are still steaming.
8. Leftover popovers can be kept in a sealed container on the counter for a few days. With 10-15 seconds in the microwave, they make a fantastic stew sandwich for lunch.

Duck Fat and Potatoes, a Marriage Made in Heaven

Stole this gorgeous pic from Laughing Duck Gardens as my duck fat disappeared before I could shoot it.

In the month of resolutions and diet talk, I'm going to buck the trend to talk about a fat. And not just any fat. I'm going to talk about duck fat, a decadent, moan inducing substance when coupled with potatoes. Surprisingly, duck fat is supposed to have health benefits comparable to olive oil, but that's not why I want to dedicate my first 2011 food post to it. I just want to write about it becomes duck fat brings me to a foodgasmic state every time I use it in the kitchen.

If singers and poets wrote about great food pairings instead of great couples, there would be many songs about duck fat and potatoes, a union so perfect that it makes me want to sing, moan, and cry all at once. Duck fat makes sauteed potatoes richer and silkier at the same time, making a fairly mundane dish into a moan-inducing one. Every potato has a delicate crust that yields to a soft slightly sweet center.

If you happen to run across a container of duck fat in a fancy food shop, grab it immediately! A container will not cost you more than $5, marginally more than a package of butter, but ever so much more satisfying. It will keep for over a month in the fridge. It never hurts to ask either. The butcher at Fox and Obel was more than happy to ladle me a half a pint of duck fat a few weeks ago. It looks like Crisco, white, thick, and glistening with promise.

If your local food shop is not the type to stock duck fat, there are plenty of online sources:

• D'Artagnan sells a 7 oz container for $5.99 with a wonderful challenge on the label, "Finally the "butter" that will make a real chef out of you." Throw in some of their truffle butter and even a can of foie gras and you know you'll have good times ahead to keep you going through winter.
• Amazon sells 6 1.5 ounce packs for $10.95 or 2 12-oz buckets for $18.18. I wouldn't bother with the 1.5 ounce packs as you'll probably go through all of them in one sitting.
• And if you really want to get creative and start playing around with deep frying in fat, Schiltz Foods sells big buckets of goose fat for under $10.

Duck Fat Pan Fried Potatoes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients: 
8 Large Yukon Gold Potatoes, Peeled and Diced
1/4 cup of duck fat, with a little extra just in case
1/2 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, diced

1. Peel and dice the potatoes, placing them in a bowl of cold water as you're working to keep them from getting oxidizing. Then place the potatoes in a large pot of water and parboil them for five minutes. Begin counting the time from the moment the pot is boiling. You don't want the potatoes to be fully cooked or they'll fall apart when pan frying.
2. Chop the parsley and garlic. Toss together in a little bowl. Set aside.
3. Take out a large frying pan, or two if you need more space. You are going to want your potatoes to be all in one layer as crowding the pan will keep them from browning. Set the pan to medium high heat and add 3 tablespoons of duck fat to the pan. 
4. Once the fat is melted, add the potatoes, arranging them in one layer on the pan. Once they are settled, resist the temptation to fuss with them. This always brings my husband and I close to divorce every time. He just wants to be manly and assert his ownership of the potatoes. But you just need to let them brown on one side without interruption, about 3-4 minutes. 
5. You may want to add another tablespoon or two of fat at this point if the potatoes are beginning to stick to the bottom. Stir the potatoes gently to get the other side browned, another 2-3 minutes.
6. Pour the potatoes in a large bowl, sprinkle with the chopped parsley and garlic mixture. Sprinkle a little coarse salt on top. Serve immediately.

Bacon, Apple, and Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing: the Rebel's Choice

I have a deep question for you to ponder today. Why is bacon not a more popular Thanksgiving stuffing ingredient?

I've had stuffings with scallops, and others with water chestnuts. I've also had many made with sausage, which are delicious. But until a few nights ago, I'd never had a stuffing made with bacon.

When I realized this on Monday night, I had to act immediately. Bacon is high on my food pyramid, and I just couldn't believe that I'd never coupled it with bread enriched with turkey drippings. To add a little more flavor, and not get too crazy with the bacon, I threw in some dried cranberries and diced apple. The stuffing was freaking unbelievable.

To take the picture above, I had to scrape the bottom of the covered dish for scraps and beat my husband back with a wooden spoon to keep him from eating it.

So this Thanksgiving, I invite you to rectify this great injustice. Reach for the bacon for your stuffings. Go ahead, join me. If bacon is the hot new chocolate flavor, odds are pretty good that bacon stuffing will be the hot new trend of 2010 Thanksgiving. Here's your opportunity to be a trendsetter and have a delicious stuffing.

Bacon, Apple and Cranberry Cornbread Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 package of Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing
4 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 apples, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 cup of dried cranberries

1. Prepare the stuffing according to package directions. 
2. In a large frying pan, cook the bacon over medium heat. When the bacon is lightly browned, add the apples and cranberries. Saute for  2 to 3 minutes, until the apples begin to soften, and add 3/4 cups of chicken stock. Scrape up the bottom to get all the browned bacon bits.
3. Pour the bacon, stock, and fruit into the cooked and fluffed stuffing. Mix well together. 
4. Place the mixture in an oven proof dish with a cover. Cover and cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
5. Enjoy immediately on turkey or chicken.

Carrot Souffle: my Favorite Thanksgiving Side

This Carrot Souffle commands center stage.

At the Thanksgiving table, the turkey is the unquestioned star. When my mother in law takes it out of the oven with its gleaming caramel skin, a hush falls over the large crowd gathered in the kitchen. And I don't begrudge the turkey its time to shine, but I also believe that vegetables should get a standing ovation too. And when I serve this side, it is always greeted with applause.

I've been making this carrot souffle for years. Now my relatives greet it like an old friend on Thanksgiving, and get requests for a repeat performance at Christmas dinner. This is a sweet side, not something you would serve during a regular dinner, unless you wanted to sell your picky eaters on the virtues of vegetables, but it's perfect for the rich spread of Thanksgiving.

Carrot Souffle
Active Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
2 lbs fresh carrots boiled until soft (can use baby carrots)
6 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
6 TBSPs flour
2 TSP vanilla extract
2 sticks melted unsalted butter
Dash of Nutmeg
For the topping:
12 TBSPs dark brown sugar
8 TBSPs melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup crushed corn flakes (feel free to make more if you want more crunchies)

1. Put cooked carrots and eggs into large food processor and puree until smooth. 
2. Add the sugar, flour, vanilla, and melted butter. Process until smooth. Be careful, in my food processor, this brings the mixture completely to the top and sometimes a little seeps out.
3. Bake in greased 9”x13” pyrex pan at 350°F for 40 minutes.
4. Mix the topping ingredients together. Put the topping mixture over top of baked soufflé. If you're traveling to Thanksgiving, or preparing this dish ahead of time, stop here. Just cover it with some foil and put it in the fridge. 
5. To finish the dish and get it ready to serve, bake it for another 5 to 10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You can literally do this as the turkey is being cut, but don't forget it as we did one year, or you'll end up with a burnt topping, and many sad Thanksgiving guests.
6. Serve hot. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days and can be reheated in the microwave.

Perfect Mashed Potatoes for a Comfort Food Fest

Back in the early days of my marriage, before our nights were filled with bath time and potty accidents, my husband and I were cooking school junkies. We started out with a 6 night Techniques of Fine Cooking class, moved on through level three, and then delved into exotic cuisines like Italian, Indian, and even Thai.

Every Saturday afternoon, we jumped on the subway, knives tucked into our backpacks like terrorists, looking forward to long hours of chopping and sweating. Then we would head home to our little brownstone apartment, debating what to name the angelic cherubs we dreamed of giving birth to one day.

Only one incident mars my recollection. It was during one of the early Tech cooking classes. We were working on vichyssoise, the cold potato leek soup. Chef Amanda was walking around, tasting everyone's final product. Some would describe Chef Amanda as a woman who pushed us to excel by treating us like vocational culinary students. Others would have described her as a slave driver. And none of us wanted to fall on her bad side. She dipped a spoon in my saucepan, gingerly placed it in her mouth, smacked her lips with a pout of distate, and loudly pronounced her verdict: "gummy."

Then she threw my soup in the trash.

Using my failure as an example, she explained that excessive whipping can stimulate the gluten in potatoes, making them tough and gummy. Ever since, I've avoided all mashed potato related dishes. Until last night, when our craving for comfort food outweighed my terror of the ghost of Chef Amanda.

I used a Cook's Illustrated recipe for French-Style mashed potatoes as my base and coupled it with some panko crusted chicken breast strips. The Cook's Illustrated recipe was delightfully easy and the mashed potatoes smooth and silky. I was afraid that the mashing the potatoes in the food processor would result in the dreaded gummy quality, and while at first, they were a bit springy, adding a little more whole milk loosened them up.

The Cook's Illustrated recipe called for many non-traditional ingredients like garlic and cheese. As a Frenchie, I just couldn't condone that, so I have edited them out of the recipe.

French-Style Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and rinsed Kosher Salt 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter 1 to 1 1/2 cups of whole milk

1. Place potatoes in large saucepan; add water to cover by 1 inch and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Cover saucepan with lid and bring potatoes to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until potatoes are tender and break apart when pierced with fork (about 15 minutes).
   
2. Drain potatoes and dry saucepan.
3. Transfer the potatoes to a food processor, add butter and salt. Pulse until butter is melted and incorporated into potatoes.
   
4. Add 1 cup of milk and continue to process until potatoes are smooth and creamy, scraping down sides as needed.
5. Taste. Add more milk if you detect any "gumminess."
6. Serve immediately.

Panko Encrusted Baked Chicken Strips
Ingredients: 2 boneless chicken breasts 1 package of panko bread crumbs 3 eggs
Optional: grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut your chicken breasts into generous strips, about 1 inch wide by 3-4 inches long.
3. Break eggs into shallow container and beat with fork.
4. Pour panko bread crumbs into another shallow container. If you are so inclined, mix in the 1/2 cup
   
5. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on chicken strips.
6. Dip strips first in egg mixture then in panko breadcrumbs.
7. Place each breaded strip on an aluminum baking sheet.
8. Cook in oven until one side is lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
9. Flip and cook for another 10 minutes.
   

Thanksgiving Recipes: Carrot Souffle and Pecan Pie

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday

With less than two full days until Turkey Day, I have gone into major cooking mode. I don't host (Christmas dinner is my big feast), but I do cook up a storm. This year I am bringing stuffing, two sides, and two desserts. I've been lucky enough to be assisted by my little sous-chefs for a good part of the day and we've actually had a lot of fun!

We've made carrot souffle, pecan pie, and begun a chocolate mousse meringue cake. Still on the docket is apple sausage cornbread stuffing, and funeral potatoes. I was going to make creamed spinach, but was intrigued by Angie's entry in my Stop and Shop giveaway (it's for a $100 of gift cards and only has 22 entries!). I emailed her and she sent me the recipe in about thirty seconds. It is an elaborate concoction with sour cream and cheddar cheese - I instantly added it to my list.

I'm not going to share all my recipes or I would never be able to finish cooking, but I will share my favorite side and my take on a traditional dessert. Carrot Souffle is so sweet and delicious that it is basically cheating to not count it as dessert. But I proudly serve it next to the turkey and it disappears quickly every time. It's a great way to get kids to eat a veggie. I'm also including my recipe for pecan pie, with an easy to make homemade crust. And since I'm hooked on my new Flip video, I'll share with you a video of me pretending to be Martha as I could with the kids.

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

TOPPING INGREDIENTS:
12 TBSPs dark brown sugar
8 TBSPs melted butter
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup crushed corn flakes (feel free to make more if you want more crunchies)

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.
Pecan Pie
Crust:
1 ¼ cups (5 ½ oz) all-purpose unbleached flour
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking powder
8 tbsps (1 stick)
2 to 3 tbsps cold water

Filling:
1/3 cup (5 1/3 tbsps) unsalted butter, very soft
¾ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans

To mix the dough by food processor, combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse 3 times at 1-second intervals to mix. Cut the butter into 1 tbsp pieces and add to the work bowl. Process, pulsing repeatedly at 1-second intervals, until the mixture is fine and powdery, resembles a coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible, about 15 pulses. Scatter a small amount of water on the butter and flour mixture and pulse 5 to 6 times. The dough should begin to hold together. If the mixture still appears dry and crumbly, add the remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time.

Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a disk. Sandwich the disk between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and press into 6 inch disk. Refrigerate the dough until firm, or until you are ready to use it, at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch glass pie dish. Fold the edges under all the around the rim and crimp.

In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter and the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the pecans, in order, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in half the pecans. Carefully pour the filling into the prepared crust. Sprinkle the remaining pecans evenly over the filling. Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes or until the filling is fairly set. Filling will firm up as it cools.

Allow pie to cool for 2 hours before cutting and serving.

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.