PREP/COOK TIME: 2 Hours
Makes 6 – 8 Servings

INGREDIENTS

4 Small Russet Potatoes, Skins On, Scrubbed Clean

3 Tb – Rendered Duck Fat, or Chicken Schmaltz

1 Cup – Daisy® Sour Cream

1 Tb – Dijon Mustard

4 Scallions, Chopped, Stems to Some Leaves (Keep leaves for garnish.)

2 Tsp – Kosher Salt

½ Tsp – Coarse Black Pepper

½ Lb – Thinly Sliced Lean Pastrami, Deli Fresh, or One 9 Oz Package

4 Packages – Top Ramen Noodles (Any flavor. You won’t be using the packets.)

3 Eggs, Lightly Beaten

½ Cup and 2 Tb – Manischewitz Matzo Meal

THE NITTY GRITTY

Preheat oven at 375° F. Grease a 9” springform pan with 1 Tb duck fat; coat pan with 2 Tb of matzo meal. Cover outer bottom and sides of pan with aluminum foil to prevent any fat from leaking while baking. Set aside.

Place potatoes with 1 Tsp salt in a sizeable pot, or saucepan, with enough room at the top for boiling. Fill with cold water till potatoes are submersed over by an inch. Cover with lid and start at high heat. Bring to a rapid boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer. Cooking time should take about 25 minutes to boil; check for doneness by inserting a paring knife in the thickest part of the spud for tenderness. Knife should insert with no needed pressure and come out just as easy. Drain potatoes and cool by adding cold water to the pot; drain and repeat if necessary so they’re easy to handle. Peel potatoes with a vegetable peeler or paring knife and transfer to a large, clean mixing bowl. Using a potato masher or the back of a fork, mash potatoes leaving some chunky bits for texture.

In a medium sauce pan, bring water to a rolling boil at medium high heat. Meanwhile, add 1 Tb duck fat to potatoes; stir to combine. Add sour cream, Dijon mustard, scallions along with 1 tsp salt and pepper; stir till fully blended. Once the pot is boiling, add ramen and cook for one minute, or till noodles just begin to separate. Using a pasta spoon, transfer ramen to same bowl as potato mixture – reserving a ½ cup of cooking water. Stir noodles with potato mixture till combined; adding water to loosen mixture as you toss. Roll pastrami lengthwise and cut into thin strips. Add a little over half of pastrami to noodle and potato mixture, followed by eggs; toss till completely blended and pastrami is strewn throughout.

Transfer mixture to springform and spread evenly to a smooth top; tapping pan several times on counter to distribute mixture equally on the bottom as well. Cover top with foil and bake on middle oven rack for 35 minutes.

About 8 minutes before kugel has baked for those 35 minutes, combine remaining tablespoon of rendered duck fat to ½ cup of matzo meal, using your fingers, in a small bowl till coated. Add coated matzo meal to a pan heated at high for 3 – 5 minutes; toss till lightly golden.

After 35 minutes, remove kugel from oven and do away with foil cover. Center should be gently yielding by this point. Spread toasted matzo meal uniformly over baked kugel with remaining strips of pastrami and scallion leaves. Return kugel back to oven and bake for another 10 minutes, or till pastrami is sizzling and matzo meal has taken on more color.

Place kugel on a cooling rack for 15 minutes to set before releasing springform frame. Slice kugel into 6 or 8 servings, as you would a cake, from the springform base with a cutting board underneath to catch crumbs (and there will be crumbs). Or, transfer whole to a serving dish, using a spatula or offset to remove kugel from base, and then slice servings.

MAY 1, 2020