Apple-Pear-Cranberry Kugel
A traditional recipe for the end of a fast.
The long-awaited meal to break the fast after Yom Kippur is often spent with friends and family. After a day filled with prayer and abstinence, your break fast meal should be prepared and ready to heat and eat; this is not a time to spend hours in the kitchen.
It is traditional in Ashkenazic communities to break the fast with a dairy or pareve meal, while Sephardic communities often break the fast with a small dairy snack and then later partake of a full meat meal. Both traditions include sweet food, such as honey or jams, reminiscent of the sweetness of life and the new Year. The break fast meal also often includes eggs, a symbol of life and rebirth.
The three dishes in this break fast menu combine these traditions, and can all be prepared in advance.The Beet & Potato Frittata is easy to make, and since the flavors get better with a day or two, it’s a perfect dish to have ready before the fast.
For the fish, why not deviate from a traditional poached salmon? Use your favorite kind of fish (such as cod, halibut, snapper, or bass) in the recipe for Fish with Lemon-Egg Sauce, a traditional Sephardic dish reminiscent of Greek cooking.
This Apple-Pear-Cranberry Kugel features the best of fall produce in a twist on a traditional sweet kugel.
Ingredients
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white wine or water
3/4 cup currants or raisins (optional)
6 oz cranberries (half a bag of frozen cranberries)
2 lbs tart apples
1/2 lb pears
1/4 cup white sugar
6 eggs, separated
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Peel and core the apples and pears, and cut them in half. Put them in a pan with the cranberries, and the raisins, if you are using them. Add the wine or water and cover.
Cook on low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the apples fall apart. Mash the fruit into large chunks with a fork and add both sugars.
Cook over medium-low heat for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool. When the mixture has cooled a bit, add the egg yolks to the pan and stir well.
Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl with an electric mixer until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the fruit mixture.
Pour into an oiled or buttered baking dish and bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until the top browns.
Serve hot or at room temperature.
pareve
Pronounced: PAHRV or pah-REV, Origin: Hebrew, an adjective to describe a food or dish that is neither meat nor dairy. (Kosher laws prohibit serving meat and dairy together.)
Sephardic
Pronounced: seh-FAR-dik, Origin: Hebrew, describing Jews descending from the Jews of Spain.
