An unforgettable meal. A proven family favorite that's been handed down for generations or one that has updated with a contemporary flair. An appetizer, entree, side dish, salad, soup, dessert or drink that everyone asks you to make.

Today is the start of a new, occasional column called From My Kitchen that will feature recipes from our readers.

Great food, and a shared meal, not only offers a sense of fellowship and camaraderie, it can bind families and communities.

We want to hear from home cooks and bakers as well as professional chefs -- what do you like to make on your day off? -- about the dish that, perhaps, has become your signature or the one that you've been noodling with for weeks or even years.

It could also be a fond family heirloom that's scribbled on a crumbling scrap of paper, a beloved seasonal bread or baked good, the vegetarian curry that you've finally perfected or the comfort food classic that never fails to win over life's harshest critics (usually your kids).

Tell us the story behind the dish and send us the recipe. You can nominate yourself or a cook or chef that you feel is worthy of culinary recognition. Email me at ptalorico@delawareonline.com and provide a daytime phone number.

We're looking for all tastes -- be it the baked bean casserole you bring to a neighborhood potluck, the coconut layer cake your Aunt Edna made for every birthday, your mother-in-law's shrimp and lobster paella, a much-loved coq au vin recipe clipped long ago from the old Gourmet magazine, Nonna's secret Sunday tomato gravy or your brother's finger-licking smoky spareribs that never fail to please a hungry crowd.

Today, New Castle County Councilman Robert S. Weiner shares a recipe for apple noodle kugel that he submitted as part of New Castle County's upcoming "Love Your Library" Cookbook. Weiner submitted the recipe in the section for the Brandywine Region Library, which is featuring side dishes.

Kugels are baked noodle or vegetable puddings that are popular in Jewish cookery. According to Jewish cooking authority Joan Nathan, kugels were traditionally eaten on the Sabbath, a day of rest, because they can be prepared in advance.

"This is my grandmother Yetta Rubin's sweet apple noodle kugel recipe," Weiner says. The side dish -- or you could make and serve it for brunch -- also is known as "Lokshen kugel or noodle kugel."

It's a dish with plenty of history, especially for longtime Delaware residents.

"Old timers remember my grandparents Yetta and Isadore Rubin, who operated Rubin's Delicatessen at Seventh Street in Wilmington, between King Street and Market Street from 1932 to 1954," Weiner says.

"They then sold the business to Gamiel family which operated a deli there for another 40 years."

Weiner calls it "scrumptious and easy to make. It's delicious hot or cold."

His wife Cindy Weiner, co-owner of Celebrity Kitchens, a cooking school/dining experience off Concord Pike in the Independence Mall shopping center, helped him write the recipe.

Weiner also is a member of Kishkapella, an a capella quartet consisting of vocalists Mark Stanton, cantor of Beth Emeth Congregation in Wilmington; David Epstein; a Newark a pediatrician; and Kirk Anderson, a retired state bank examiner. The group's repertoire draws upon their Jewish and American heritages and includes jazz, show tunes, Hebrew, Israeli, classical, classic rock and comedy numbers.

So what's the food angle here? The quartet's name "kishka" comes from a Jewish/eastern European stuffed intestine dish. But its secondary meaning comes from the Yiddish and Russian languages and means "gut" or "soul."

"After you hear us, you can decide for yourself if it sounds as if Kishkapella sings from its proverbial gut or soul," Weiner says.

 

1 pound broad egg noodles (flat and wide noodles), cooked according to package directions and drained

10-12 large eggs

15 ounces [1 box] golden raisins

Cinnamon to taste

1 cup sugar or brown sugar

Applesauce -- large jar of chunky [option: blend in diced apples along with applesauce]

2 tablespoons melted butter

Grease a glass, oblong 13-by-9-inch casserole dish with butter or a vegetable cooking spray such as Pam. Mix together all ingredients in large mixing bowl and then place into the greased baking dish.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 to 375 degrees or until the top is crunchy.