It has become a weekly tradition that my brother joins us for dinner one night over the weekend (and we play Rock Band). This past weekend he and I decided I would try a new brisket recipe from my Hadassah cookbook. While I love, love, love Ina Garten's brisket recipe I'm always on the lookout for the possibility of "something better".
This new recipe was good but doesn't beat out Ina. In essence, you mix 1/2 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup Concord wine (the kosher sweet wine) together, pour it over the brisket with some onion, celery and carrots and let it go for several hours. I was afraid the liquid would evaporate and burn so I doubled the sauce and added a can of beef broth. Good thing I did because at the end there wasn't a whole lot of liquid left. The one thing I did really like about this one, though, is the addition of mushrooms about 1/2 hour before the meat is done cooking. I'll be using that tip in Ina's recipe as well.
As for my PPN part of this post, I can't seem to make brisket lately without some sort of kugel. My brother had made mention in the past that he loves ricotta cheese so when I saw this recipe I knew it was the one I had to try. It also comes from The Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook -- it was a fund raiser for the Hadassah organization and I'm glad I have a copy.

I halved the recipe to fit into a 8x8-inch pan because only serving 6 I didn't need a full 9x13 pan. It halved beautifully and the flavor was great -- not real sweet and just enough of a fruit flavor to carry it all the way through. I think my next kugel I'll substitute dried cranberries for the golden raisins and see how that turns out.
Friday head over to Ruth's Once Upon a Feast and check out the other entries into this week's Presto Pasta Night. I'm so sad that I haven't participated lately and really miss hanging out with everyone. I know I can't wait for the round-up this week.