Nacho Grandma's Passover Kugel

This year was my 39th Passover, but it was a year of many firsts!

First, this was the first year my uncle did not lead Sedar. And thus it was the first year that my father did lead Sedar. Let's just say it was a bit more relaxed.

Second, this is the first year we didn't have Passover with our extended family, which meant we hosted and had to do all the cooking.

Which means that Third, we had free reign to make the food our way. 

So while this is not a blog about fast food on Passover, it is a blog about the food we cooked on Passover. 

While there are some dishes that will always be on the menu, I came up with 2 new dishes to celebrate our freedom from the other half of the family cooking, and to celebrate our location, SoCal, versus Chicago or NJ.

So on Friday, rather than roasting a chicken or a turkey for dinner, I decided to revisit a dish from my Naughty or Nice Christmas past, my Turducken roll. For those who don't know what a Turducken is, read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken

Of course, we were only feeding 5 people, so doing 3 whole animals was a bit overboard. Rather, I came up with a smaller version as follows:

What you are looking at here are pounded chicken breasts wrapped around turkey sausage wrapped around duck breast. And all of that wrapped in the Duck and Chicken skins. And the duck came out perfectly pink. Want to learn how? Shoot me a note. 

The second dish I came up with was representative of being in LA/SoCal. Most Kugel recipes are for noodles. Of course, being Passover, noodles are out. The second type of kugel you see, usually for Passover, is a potato kugel. Which is basically potatoes au gratin. No complaints, I love that dish, but it didn't call to me. So I started thinking about what else I could use for the kugel. 

While thinking about this, my roommate and I were having a debate if corn tortillas were kosher for Passover. And it turns out they are, and they are not. It all depends on your upbringing. If you are Ashkenazi, a Jew of Eastern European descent, then they are not kosher. But if you are Sephardic, ie Mediterranean, they are Kosher. Confirmed via the internet (because I believe everything I read that fits in my worldview on the internet) here: https://www.quora.com/Are-tortillas-kosher-for-Passover

Considering LA's climate is more Mediterranean than Eastern European, I say they are kosher. And with that debate completed, the birth of corn tortilla kugel, aka Nacho kugel, was born. 

Basically, I took a normal Grandma's noodle kugel recipe, and substituted corn tortillas for noodles, cutting them about a half inch wide. In place of sour cream, I used Mexican crema. I still kept the cottage cheese but added queso fresco as well for flavor. Toss in eggs and you have kugel. I also went the savory route instead of sweet. 

Since we were protein heavy with the turducken on Friday and smoked Brisket on Saturday, I kept these nachos veggie heavy. I roasted poblano peppers, and sauteed garlic, leeks(cut the same width as the tortillas), mushrooms and tomatoes. Tossing all the ingredients together and baking until the corn tortillas on top are crispy and the whole thing is firm. And then topped with Guacamole.

I'm definitely thinking of adding ground beef, chicken or chorizo next time! Maybe even carnitas or smoked brisket. They are Nachos so almost anything will work. 

And with that, Nacho Kugel was born!

PS I took this picture after people dug in, oops.

PSS After the fact, my brother started making matzoh tortillas, which might be another evolution of this dish for the Ashkenazi peeps out there.

PSSS Huge shout out to the third new tradition by my brother, 10 hour smoked brisket!