Alice Zaslavsky's kosher recipes: Bagels and noodle kugel

Salted caramel and black pepper noodle kugel

Kugel is a classically yiddish way to use up leftovers, traditionally eaten at the Friday night Sabbath table. It can be savoury or sweet, using eggs and a slower bake to bind together either cooked noodles, potato, stale bread, matza (a crispbread eaten at Passover) or layers of leftover pastry. I didn't have a batch of last night's noodles laying about, so cheated it by using a store-bought, ready to eat egg noodle. Feel free to sub in whatever wintry carb you want; just aim to stick to a ratio of 100g to 1 egg.

Ingredients

200g brown sugar

100g unsalted butter, cubed

15g salt flakes (plus extra for garnish)

40ml warm water

6 eggs

600g good quality fine egg noodles, cooked (or last night's spaghetti)

freshly cracked black pepper

1. Heat your oven to 170C

2. Meanwhile, pop brown sugar, butter, water and salt flakes into a saucepan and stir constantly on a low heat until the mixture resembles thick molasses.

3. Allow the caramel mixture to bubble away for about 5 minutes (it should smell like rich butterscotch).

4. Whisk the eggs together in a bowl until pale and creamy.

5. Slowly add the caramel to your eggs, whisking vigorously to combine.

6. Fill a loaf tin up with noodles, then pour over your caramel-egg mixture, cover with foil, pop onto a baking tray and bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 60 minutes.

7. After this time, remove the foil and allow to bake uncovered for a further 30 minutes.

8. Turn out immediately onto a serving dish and allow it to set for at least half an hour.

To serve: You can serve this style of Kugel hot or cold - simply slice and garnish with a generous crack of coarse black pepper and an extra sprinkling of salt flakes.

Serves 8

New York-style boiled bagels

There's nothing more satisfying than baking your own bread - that is, of course - until you bake your own bagels. The ring shape of a bagel, with no beginning and no end, symbolises the circle of life, and so these are often served at special family events, as well as weekend morning brunches, of course. This recipe can also be used to make mini bagels for lunchboxes; just divide into 15 smaller portions of dough.

Ingredients

175ml lukewarm water

7g dry yeast (1 packet)

20g sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (plus extra for coating your dough-ball)

500g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

For topping

1 egg, lightly beaten

Caraway seeds

Sesame seeds

Poppy seeds

Onion flakes

Salt flakes

1. Combine 50ml of the water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl and leave for 5-10 until bubbly.

2. Pop your flour and salt into a food processor, add the egg and the bubbly yeast mixture.

3. Pulse until mixed, then keep the processor running and add the rest of the water gradually until a dough forms. Keep blitzing on a lower setting for 5-10 minutes to activate the gluten and encourage a silkier result (you may even like to knead it by hand at this stage, which does prove quite rewarding).

4. Turn the dough out into a large bowl, coat it with a thin layer of vegetable oil, then cover it with cling film and leave in a warm place for 1 hour to prove.

5. When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured bench and punch down (knead it until the dough becomes silky again).

6. Roll the dough out into a rectangle and divide into 8-10 equal portions and roll into balls. Poke a hole in the middle of each ball, and work it around until each looks like a similarly shaped ring.

7. Arrange the rings on a tray and cover loosely with a tea towel. Leave to prove again for 30 mins-1 hour.

8. Heat your oven to 190C.

9. When the rings have risen (ha!) bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil. Add 3-4 (now) bagels at a time to the pot (they'll sink, but then come back up for air). Flip each bagel after about thirty seconds of floating and allow to poach for another 30 seconds. Repeat for the rest of them.

10. Lift the bagels out onto a tea towel with a slotted spoon to drain.

11. Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with your favourite toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

To serve: Serve warm, or cut in half and toast the next day.

Serves 8

Caviar dip

This is my take on the traditional lox (smoked salmon) and cream cheese that most bagel lovers stick to.

120g cream cheese

30g Yarra Valley Caviar salmon roe

3 tbsp fennel fronds

3 tsp finely diced onions

1. Use a fork to incorporate the ingredients together in a bowl.

2. Schmear onto toasted bagels and exclaim "oy vey!" with glee.

Serves 4-6 (depending on how thickly you like to schmear)