Passover Cauliflower and Mushroom Kugel

Modified from “The Gefilte Manifesto” at their suggestion for passover.  This is a parve Gluten Free variant.  They recommended a 9 Inch square glass baking pan (actually their first recommendation was individual ramekins), but it’s passover, so a smart and final 9 by 12 inch aluminim 1/2 steam pan.  The Steam pan is 25% larger than the recommended pan, so I’m quadrupling the recipe and making three.  The ingredients are listed for one recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cauliflower head broken into florets
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, cleaned and chopped (Porcinis, Shitakes, and wild forest are ideal, but any in a pinch)
• 1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 4 large eggs, plus three egg yolks
• 2 Tablespoons Gluten Free matza meal (or non GF if you don’t need this to be gluten free)
• 4 shallots for topping
• 1/4 cup high heat oil for frying the shallots (optional)
• Chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  You will want to do this later, but it needs to be done at some point.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add cauliflower florets until they are tender not mushy about 5 to 7 minutes.  Drain the Cauliflower thoroughly.  Place in food processor.

In a medium pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent or golden, 7 to 10 minutes.  Add the mushrooms, salt pepper and cook undisturbed for at least one minute to help the mushrooms darken.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms have browned and their liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 more minutes.  Transfer the mushroom and onion to the food processor.  (You may have to do the food processor in batches).  Add eggs and egg yolks, process until a sooth consistency.  Transfer to a large bowl and add the matza meal, mix well.

Grease the baking pan and add the mixture.  Tap the bottom of the bakin pan to release any air bubbles.  Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes to 1 hour.  The kugel is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Optional: while the kugel is baking, in a non stick pan, cook the extremely thin sliced shallots in oil and fry them until they are crispy, crunchy, shrunken and dark.  Make sure they don’t burn.  Transfer the shallots to a paper towel and sprinkle lightly with salt.

Garnish the kugel with chopped parsley and fried shallots.  Store any leftover shallots in an airtight container.