Friday, February 27, 2009

Light and Simple



By Millicent K. Brody

Recently, we were invited to brunch at friends’ whom we had not seen for quite a while. After giving us a tour of their new home, we sat down to a table laden with a grand assortment of unrelated dishes. As I perused the table, I realized that most of the food remained in their respective bowls and platters rather than moving to the plates of the ten guests. Which brings up an important point: When planning a luncheon or dinner, it is always wise to consider the occasion, the guest list, and of course the menu. For a successful feast, choose foods that compliment one another.

In a recent blog, we talked about the acceptance of brunch as the meal between breakfast and lunch. I also spoke about the current trend of “Lupper” replacing lunch and supper. I thought of the guests I had recently invited for dinner and decided to call and invite them for “Lupper”.

Knowing that most of them rise early and usually eat lunch at noon, I asked them to dress casually and arrive at 5:30 p.m. We began with drinks and appetizers of assorted cheeses, cruditĂ©s, and passed potato pancakes with applesauce and or sour cream. By 7:45 p.m., we were seated at the dining room table for our first official “Lupper”.

The table was laden with fresh bagels, lettuce, scallions, sliced green and red peppers, tomato with ranch dressing, a bowl of perfectly white tuna salad, a bowl of egg salad, cream cheese, butter, and my famous noodle pudding with apples, cranberries, and yellow raisins. Dessert consisted of a bowl of fresh fruit and an absolutely delicious homemade Blueberry Crumb Cake, (courtesy of the 2006, “Barefoot Contessa at Home” cookbook), and coffee. Yum!

Delicious Noodle Pudding

Baking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

12 oz. pkg. of wide or slightly wide noodles

1/2 stick of butter

1 cup sour cream

3 eggs, beaten

1/3 (heavy) cup sugar to taste

3/4 (heavy) cup yellow raisins

1/2 large Golden Delicious apple sliced thin

2 oz. dried cranberries

1/2 cup large curd cottage cheese

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. sugar


Procedure:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Lightly grease an 8x11 Pyrex baking dish with butter

In a small cup, toss 1 tsp. cinnamon with 2 tsp. sugar

Boil noodles, drain, and place in large bowl

Add eggs and toss lightly

Cut butter into small pieces and add to noodle mixture

Add all but 2 Tbs. sour cream

Add raisins, apple slices, and cranberries. Toss ingredients

Add cottage cheese and sugar. Fold into other ingredients

Pour into glass baking dish. Smear remaining sour cream over the pudding. Cover with aluminum foil. Place into the oven.

Bake 30 minutes. Remove aluminum foil. Bake for another 15 minutes. (Watch to see the noodle pudding does not burn.)

Remove from oven. Let cool. slice into squares and serve

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

how yummy!!

Anonymous said...

Millicent, Your blogs are really cutting edge; every food magazine is filled with ideas for comfort food and cooking for less money. Again, a return to sanity, hopefully it will have some effect on restaurant prices.

Lupper was very good. I remember years ago good friends would invite us to supper, making it clear that this was not dinner. The suppers often were often simple -- some cheese, a very robust chowder, salad, and mostly fruit of some kind for dessert. Always fun!

I have had chowder suppers where I invited people for a great chowder that I had made, with usually a salad first and something homemade like cookies or a simple cake with fruit at the end -- these suppers are especially great in winter.

Chili would make a great lupper dish with cornbread and assorted toppings.

Everything in your blog is a good idea. Thank you for supplying a name for something I have done for years. I am sure many people are getting great ideas from your blogs.