Cooking the Chronicle – Jan 3

Well, we have officially encountered the first recipe that my three year old daughter had no interest in cooking with me. When we opened up The Chronicle together and I read her the recipe title (“Savory spinach side,” Jan 3) she made it very clear to me that she did not like spinach and would not eat this.

Fine by me! Because making this recipe in the quiet, watching my favorite show in the background, and taking my time to dice and sauté was downright relaxing. I was reminded how much I like to work through a recipe, without playing defense against a tiny human.

When I first skimmed this recipe, I wasn’t quite sure what we were making. A frittata? But as I was mixing the ingredients it hit me—this it 100% a spinach kugel! I haven’t ever made one before, but this realization gave me a general ballpark of how it should look and taste.

The big difference between my version and Jessica Grann’s photos was the spinach. I imagine using fresh spinach leaves produces something more similar to what you see in the photo, with obvious yellow egg throughout. But I used frozen spinach and realized I got chopped frozen leaves. It worked perfectly well in the recipe, but the spinach was much finer, and the egg visually disappears, creating a more homogenous green kugel.   

My family ate this for dinner, serving it alongside a chicken dish. It was delicious. Very well seasoned and almost spicy from all the black pepper. Although my toddler wouldn’t try a single bite, this whole thing was eaten up by my family in two consecutive dinners. My mom even asked me to send her the recipe so she could add it to her cookbook. An endorsement if there ever was one!

About the Author
Rachel Fauber is a home cook who looks forward to the recipes in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle each week. She has lived in Squirrel Hill since 2021, moving here with her husband and daughter after living in both Jerusalem and Washington, DC. When she's not tinkering in the kitchen or drinking lots of coffee with friends, Rachel leads marketing and communications for the global nonprofit, Ashoka.
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