Ready, Set, Weekend with Simply Beautiful Eating
First of all, I was going to title this “Two Tablescapes and a Kugel” but then I thought nah, too confusing.
Although I’m going to talk about tablescaping in this post, by no means should the decor overtake what’s really the star of the show here, and that’s my late mother-in-law’s Apple Raisin Kugel.
As most of you know, we just did a major renovation on the main floor. Before everything began, packing ensued. And when I mean packing, I mean PACKING. As organized as I usually am, there was an issue with the items that were placed in large rubber containers. As we placed our entire kitchen and dining room into the containers, I asked Steve to be sure to label each one so it would be effortless finding things after the reno was complete. Would you like to know how he labelled almost 20 large containers?
Like this:
Kitchen
Dining Room
Uh…….ya.
“Where’s the wine glasses Steve”?
“In one of the 15 containers that says dining room”.
Okay, this didn’t work out for me AT ALL. I have scoured through most of the containers to find the necessities that were placed back into the kitchen, but I’m missing about 100 things.
One thing in particular was a collection of my mother-in-law’s recipes that were typed up and neatly placed in a binder. WHERE IS IT? I dunno. All I know is this, I have her old recipe box which had her hand written recipes inside. Lucky, lucky me!
So today I’m going show you how I set the table for two separate occasions over the past two weeks – Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur AND of course, share this unbelievable kugel recipe with you.
When I decided to host both dinners for the high holidays, I wanted to include an edible component to the centrepiece. And by edible, I mean, your guests can actually graze on the runner. Yes!
As we sat down to our Rosh Hashanah meal, I was asked if the grapes on the runner were “real”.
Hang on a sec.
Never in a trillion years would I put plastic fruit on the table. NEVER EVER, NO HOW, NO WAY, NOT HAPPENING.
I told them to feel free to go wild with the centrepiece and guess what? They had a wonderful time eating those fresh blue grapes, in fact they even got to take home leftovers. There were a ton of grapes on the table along with fresh blue plums and apples.
The look and feel of an edible runner is both chic and organic at the same time, not to mention a perfect excuse to nibble at while the courses are changing over.
For both meals, I used apples and pears as placecards, to seamlessly combine the look and feel of a market fresh tablescape.
You may be wondering what I did with the leftovers? Well, you’re looking at it right here. I used the apples in the kugel and the rest of them in a strudel (not shown). This week, I’m going to use the pears in a recipe too. It’s safe to say that they served two purposes and were recycled into something delish.
There you have it. Fall inspired and super easy to do.
MYRNA'S APPLE RAISIN KUGEL (NOODLE PUDDING)
- 1 package egg noodles, medium size - ½ cup butter, melted (1 stick) - 6 eggs, beaten - 1 cup sugar - ½ teaspoon cinnamon - pinch of salt - ½ cup raisins - 2 - 3 large granny smith apples, shredded (I used 6 small apples)
1) Preheat oven to 350F 2) Boil noodles according to package directions in salted water, drain and rinse with cool water. 3) In a large bowl, add noodles, eggs, melted butter, salt, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and grated apples. 4) Place in greased 9" x 13" casserole dish. 5) Bake uncovered for 50 - 60 minutes or until golden brown. 6) Note* - can be made ahead and reheated or frozen and reheated.
See ya next week!