Zucchini is all water..... I salt and drain easily 30 minutes. I know you work....but 15 extra minutes to make the difference between mush and not mush is not a biggie. And the shorter baking time also made for a mushy kugle. Kugel is not cake....the size of the pan is not so governing of the cooking time.
Drain it longer and cook it longer and you will like it better.
Crispy and dry is all about cooking a long time...until the crust is crisp.
Here's Renee's potato kugel
Recipe from Ren�e Adler Ascher's kitchen***********
Potato Kugel
Source: My recipe
Servings: 3 Qt. serves about 12 [Pyrex 13 x 9 x 2]

Prep and cooking time: 30 mins, plus 1 hour, 15 mins
Equipment: Pyrex or other oven-proof shallow casserole (as above)
2 Large bowls
Large calendar or strainer
Electric hand mixer
Ingredients:

4 1/2 Lbs. Idaho potatoes (about 12 cups)
6 whole eggs + 2 egg whites
1/2 cup, plus 1 generous tablespoon potato starch
1 Tbs. kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder (see Passover note)
Scant 1/2 tsp. white pepper
3/4 med. sm. onion, grated
1/2 cup canola oil + extra for brushing on
My Instructions
� Wash and peel potatoes, shred somewhat fine into a large bowl filled with ice water and let stand 15 minutes.
� Preheat oven to 350?
� Grease the Pyrex baking dish with canola oil
� Drain potatoes, squeeze dry by hand, then pat dry on clean dish towels.
� Mix dry ingredients together to blend
� In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thick and light. (About 3 minutes)
� Stir in potatoes, dry ingredients, and canola oil. Mix well.
� Turn into the baking dish. Bake uncovered for 1/2 hour. Brush top with oil at 15 minute
intervals for 45 minutes longer.
� Cool slightly, and cut into squares.
For Passover: Eliminate the baking powder; substitute with one more egg white, and by beating all the whites separately until stiff but not dry, you will enable the kugel to stay airy and rise. Fold these in last. Bake as above.

Here's my recipe for a noodle kugel.
Noodle kugel

Noodle kugle�serves 20 as a side
1 pound cooked noodles (cook lightly so they don�t get gluey)
1 20 oz can pineapple, drained (save the juice)
1 carton cottage cheese 16 oz
2 beaten eggs beaten with
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix all and top with cornflake crumbs and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and drizzle with 1/2 stick of melted butter�bake 350 for 45 minutes

I make noodle and potato.

My family are Litvaks (Lithuanian Jews), so we don't make our noodle kugel sweet or with raisins, cinnamon, etc. This is my Nana's recipe, and it's one of my very favorite foods. Sweet kugels are the norm here in our Hungarian-dominated community, but I can tell you that when both are on a table, like after a funeral, we always run out of this one fast and have lots of the sweet kind left. As a child, I used to bring cold squares of leftovers in my school lunch, and my friends clamored for tastes so much that my mother started making whole pans of it just so I could bring lots to share.

Nana's kugel

1 small package (12 oz) wide egg noodles, cooked
salt and pepper
1 T sugar
1 3 oz cream cheese
1/2 small creamed cottage cheese
2 raw eggs
1/2 stick butter

Mix up, bake 325 1 hour in greased casserole. Nice with sour cream.

***

I have never been crazy about potato kugel, but my daughter loves it, so I learned to make it and found a recipe that I like, too. This recipe makes it really crispy on the outside. We just finished the leftovers tonight.

Potato kugel
Adapted from The World of Jewish Cooking, by Gil Marks

(I double this and bake it in a 13x9 inch dish)

1/2 c schmaltz or vegetable oil
6 medium or 4 large russet potatoes (about 2 pounds), peeled
2 medium yellow onions, chopped (about 1 cup)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
about 1 T salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup gribenes or grated carrot (optional)
about 1/3 c matza meal (I use) or flour

1. Heat oven to 375. Heat 8- or 9-inch square baking dish in oven.

2. coat the bottom and sides of the baking dish with 1/4 c of the schmaltz or oil and return to the oven until very hot, about 15 minutes.

3. Place the potatoes in a large bowl of lightly salted cold water. (This keeps them from discoloring.) Grate the potatoes into the onions, stirring to mix.

4. Stir in the eggs, remaining 1/4 cup schmaltz or oil, salt, pepper, and, if desired, gribenes or carrots. Add enough matza meal or flour to bind the batter.

5. Pour into the heated dish and bake until golden brown, about 1 hour. Best warm, but you can serve the leftovers at room temperature.

Laurie, this is the Vegetarian Vegetable Kugel I made at Passover this year. This recipe includes potatoes. I substituted yellow squash, but I think it would have been better with zucchini, as in the original recipe. The recipe also doesn't mention salting and draining the squash, but that might have improved it. (It was delicious anyway.)

I used a manual grater for grating all the veggies. Never again! It was the main reason that I broke down and bought a food processor.

This is the kugel on the right in the photo below. The other one is a Tsimmes Kugel (orange, apples, sweet potatoes, carrots, pineapple, raisins, etc).

Sue

Vegetarian Vegetable Kugel (Pareve)
From About.com (Giora Shimoni)

Ingredients:
2 zucchini [I used 2 small yellow squash; it was a bit more than 2 cups]
2 carrots [I used 1 cup, 2-3 carrots]
2 potatoes [I used 2 medium, red potatoes]
1 onion [I used a very large sweet onion, chopped]
3 garlic cloves [minced]
1 tablespoon fresh parsley [I used 2 tbsp]
3 eggs, beaten
pinch sugar
3 tablespoons matzo meal or flour [I used 4 tbsp matzo cake meal]
salt and pepper to taste [I used David's Kosher salt and Montreal seasoning pepper]
4 tablespoons oil [I used 3 tbsp canola oil, plus 2 tbsp to grease the casserole dish]

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Use part of the oil to grease a casserole dish [I used a 9x13 pyrex dish].
2. In a food processor, coarsely grate zucchini, carrots, potatoes, onion and chop garlic and parsley.
3. In a bowl, combine the grated vegetables and herbs with the remaining ingredients.
4. Pour the vegetable mixture into the greased casserole dish. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the top of the kugel is browned. [I covered with foil for 45 minutes and baked for another 1/2 hour.]

So what defines a kugel? I have never had it and only vaguely (in books) heard of it.

BB, Wikipedia has a good description (see link).

Potato kugel and noodle kugel (also known as lochshen kugel, or noodle pudding) are staples in many Jewish homes for Shabbos (sabbath) and holiday meals. They are basically casseroles that can be prepared ahead of time and kept warm or rewarmed. After refrigeration, the texture firms up, so they can be cut into squares for serving. Noodle kugels can be dairy (with addition of cottage cheese or sour cream--often served as a main course for a dairy lunch) or pareve/plain (so they can be served as a side dish with meat), and they can be either savory/peppery or sweet, often containing fruit and/or raisins. Potato kugels can be made plain or with carrots or other vegetables, such as zucchini. The variations are endless!

I've saved this lovely quotation from a revered spiritual leader, Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz: "Jews eat lots of lokshen on Shabbat because noodles are symbolic of the unity of the people of Israel: They are so entangled that they can never be separated."

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Kugel

Sue, will you please share the recipe for the tzimmes kugel? After all these years, we are still searching for the ultimate way to serve sweet potatoes on that beloved Jewish holiday, Tenksgivink.

Sure, gellchom. I made this for Pesach, but it would be good for Tenksgivink, too! I found it online, reprinted from the book Classic Kosher Cooking, by Sara Finkel (Targum Press).

Sue

Tsimmes Kugel (Pareve)

Ingredients:

1 small, whole, unpeeled orange, cut into pieces and ground in a food processor
2 cups shredded raw sweet potatoes [I used 2 sweet potatoes, about 2-1/2 cups]
2 cups shredded raw carrots [I used 4 carrots, about 1-3/4 cups]
2 cups shredded tart apples [I used 3 apples: 1 Granny Smith, 2 Gala; I poured off the juice, strained it, and reserved it for another purpose (drinking it)]
1 cup brown or white sugar [I used 1/2 cup of white sugar; it was sweet enough]
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt [I used David's Kosher salt]
1 cup flour, sifted [I used 1 cup matzo cake meal]
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup light raisins
[I added 1 small can of crushed pineapple, drained (drank this juice, too)]

Preparation:

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Pour into a greased 1-1/2-quart casserole, cover [w foil], and bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 40 minutes.
3. Uncover and continue baking for an additional 20-30 minutes.

YIELDS: 10-12 servings.

VARIATION: Place halved pitted prunes, cherries, or pieces of pineapple on top of kugel before baking, or add 1 cup of chopped dates, pitted prunes, or pineapple to the mixture.

Thanks, Sue. It sounds delicious.

Happy Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, all!

You all are surely kugelmasters :-)

I grew up on lockshen kugel. Bubbe made it rather simply, not baked, just her homeade noodles with cottage cheese thrown in and dusted with cinnamon sugar. No raisins since my dad, (her son) was a raisin-a-phobe! She made the baked kind too, various versions, occasionally for Sunday dinner. I rarely make it but I'd like to change that. My aunt is the one who makes the yellow squash kind, and she is loathe to share her kitchen secrets. I'll bet she does salt it for a good long while. I'll have to try it again when I have more time and a functioning oven! Also, I'll bet brushing on melted butter with a pastry brush will result in a more crispy crust. I grated butter over it but it clumped up and covered only certain areas.

LOL Happy Simchat Torah indeed.

Gellchom, have you read 'Molly's Pilgrim' - a children's story? Gives one new meaning to 'Tenksgiving'.

I think my family's kugel must be unique. It's fried. Using broad cooked egg noodles, we add an egg, some onion powder (don't want nasty bits of onion, but we do want the flavor), about 1-2 T oil (or chicken fat or nyfat), and salt (and my hubbie insists on raisins). You could also choose to add about 1 T sugar or sugar substitute. I also add a bit of chicken soup base (I prefer the Carmel brand to add the real flavor of chicken fat). Taste as you go. With all these crazy flavors, you get a good mix of sweet and savory.

Then heat a small frying pan with enough oil to cover at about 1/4 inch depth. Pour in the noodle mixture and cook on the first side over medium heat. Take a large plate and cover the pan. Over the sink, and with the flick of the wrist, turn everything over, then slide it back into the pan and finish cooking.

It's good hot or cold. I prefer it cold with added salt on the top. I never said this was healthy.

One more thing - before doing anything, put the dry uncooked noodles into the pan. That's a good measure of how much to cook.

gellchom - I tried the potato kugel - see above recipe. It was a real hit. I especially was interested in heating the baking dish with oil in a hot oven, before pouring in the potato mixture to be baked.

This is something new - but it did seem to turn out a nice firm crust which I will surely try in my future casseroles.

Thank you again for this nice recipe and tip about heating the dish first.

Bejay

Elisamcs that is very interesting method to me since my oven is on the fritz (more or less) and I'm waiting for a replacement. It would definately be a method to get the kugel "crispy on the outside, soft on the inside." I'll have to try it sometime. In fact, that might have been the secret to my aunt's yellow squash kugel. She'll never tell me though, she's cagy that way, lol!

lpinkmountain:

My mouth was watering by the time I finished that post, so I made one. I need to tell you that I overstated the amount of oil to use. Just use enough oil to liberally coat the bottom of the pan. Too much oil will make it difficult to turn over. I estimate I used a scant 1/8 inch. Very scant.

One more thing: plump the raisins in hot water before using.

I just wanted to mention that when you have a casserole that gets nice and brown on the bottom and sides, but the top is not as brown as you want it, don't forget your broiler. In future you can try putting the rack a little more toward the top of the oven, but if the casserole is otherwise done and crisp elsewhere, just give it a few minutes under the broiler. We tend to forget our poor broilers.

Good point about preplumping the raisins Elisa. I preplump for many things, even my oatmeal. I should say especially my oatmeal. I put the raisins in the water first as it comes to a boil. I've been craving oatmeal with the raisins, now I want kugel too.

Coconut - you've made me think that I could perhaps make a bigger kugel than I normally do by first baking it, then broiling the top. Mmmm, I'll try it this week. Thanks for the idea.

My mother made both potato kugel and sweet noodle kugel (non-dairy) on the stove in a pot, prepared similarly to elisamcs family kugel. I always love to watch her flip it over to be browned on the other side....and the crust was all over and to die for....

Helene

Elisa, since you're talking about making a bigger kugel, when it's as done as you want it on the bottom and sides see how done the top is. If you want it to cook more as well as brown and crisp more, bake it a bit further from the broiler. It will just take longer but will cook deeper as well as brown and crisp.