Clean House, Sloppy Supper

I ambled down the isles of Whole Foods this evening in a clueless, hungry dither.  Hours and hours of spring cleaning can wear a woman out no matter how joyful she might be about the carefully stowed away wool sweaters or a magnificently organized linen closet. Random supper ideas flew through my brain; fish, pizza, maybe a salad.  I sampled some cheese and said hello to the charming cheese guy, which reminded me that I had homemade ricotta cheese in my fridge.  I headed to the pasta section and picked up some egg noodles and thought a kugel might be nice. As I passed the meat counter I noticed that they were selling ground lamb from a local farm and suddenly, a lamb burger or lamb sloppy joe sounded good.  Into my shopping basket went the lamb.  Warming to the sloppy joe idea, I grabbed a can of fire roasted tomatoes.  I finally found my way out of the store and once home I unpacked my purchases.
I sliced some onion and cooked it in olive oil with a bit of chopped garlic and added the lamb.  When the lamb was nicely browned, I poured in a bit of dry white wine and then added the canned tomatoes and a sprig of fresh rosemary and a little salt, pepper, and oregano. The mixture smelled delicious but I realized that I had not picked up buns for my sloppy joes.  I had ended up buying the egg noodles despite discarding the kugel idea so I quickly boiled some water and cooked the noodles until tender.  I spooned the lamb mixture over the noodles and then decided I would top the messy dish with the homemade cheese.
The resulting dish was so tasty that I would happily make it again (next time on purpose).  Now that my family is well fed, I am thinking about what room to tackle tomorrow, or perhaps we should get to that yard work…

Russian Noodle Kugel

Inspired by a MA Farmers Market contest for wild mushroom recipes, I am posting this family favorite.  I don’t have any pictures handy as we seem to eat it before I can document the deliciousness.

Russian Noodle Kugel
1 pound Broad or Homestyle Egg Noodles
1 stick + 2 Tbs Butter
14 ounces Packaged or Homemade Farmers’ Cheese (see Cheese Envy post)
6 Eggs (separated)
1 Onion (thinly sliced)
1 quart wild mushrooms
2/3 cup Milk
Salt, Black Pepper, and Sweet Paprika to taste

1.  Sauté the onions in 2 Tbs butter until just soft
2. Add mushrooms and sauté briefly
3. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika to taste and set aside
4. Boil noodles until just cooked
5. Drain noodles but do not rinse and place in a large bowl
6. Add one stick of butter cut into large chunks to the hot noodles and mix
7. Add the onion and mushroom mixture to the noodles
8. Break the cheese into small chunks and mix into the noodles
9. Add salt as needed
10. Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks
11. Blend the egg yolks with ½ cup milk
12. Stir the egg yolk mixture into the noodles
13. Fold in the egg whites gently
14. Butter (or non-stick spray) a large casserole dish
15. Pour in the noodle mixture and sprinkle the top with paprika

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the center is set and the top is lightly