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Baking It’s Norma Zager: Comedy, Cooking and Chocolate Pasta

Taste Buds with Deb - Episode 5
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May 17, 2023
Norma Zager from “Baking It” (Photo by: Jordin Althaus/PEACOCK)

“If you love food you’re definitely going to be a great cook,” Norma Zager, who is a baker, comedian and one of the Grannie-judges on NBC’s “Baking It!,” told the Journal.

Zager believes food is the great equalizer.

“You don’t have to be Picasso to make a great meal,” she said. “It’s a creative outlet for people. Even if you can’t paint, if you can’t write, if you can’t act, it doesn’t matter, because you can always be talented in the kitchen.”

Zager not only loves to cook and bake, she incorporates that love into her comedy and blog.

“I’m a big believer in thinking out of the box,” she said. “I don’t think you can really spread your wings and fly in life unless you’re willing to fly out of the box and see where it leads you.”

When Zager was performing comedy in Los Angeles, she started a bakery to earn extra money. That led her to combine her cooking with comedy. She did funny cooking segments on daytime TV shows. Everything grew from there.

“[I think I’m] the only comedian who had their own cooking and comedy show in Las Vegas,” she said.

As resident “Bubbe” – and one of four grannie-judges on “Baking It!” – Zager gets to experience other people’s culinary creations. The uplifting reality cooking show, hosted this season by Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler, pits teams of two against each other in a humorous baking competition.

“It’s fabulous,” she said. “The worst thing about being a granny-judge on ‘Baking It!’ is we don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. We are really careful [not to] say anything really bad about what they cook.”

While saying goodbye week after week is sad, Zager says they have a blast,

“What’s more fun than eating other people’s food and talking about it,” Zager said.

When asked about her favorite food, Zager says it’s absolutely, “Chocolate!”

Chocolate is like a basic black dress, she explains. It goes everywhere and it goes with everything!

There’s chocolate pizza, cocoa powder in your chili, the list goes on and on.

Her favorite chocolate recipe?

“Open up a candy bar, throw it in your mouth and eat it,” Zager said. “If it has almonds, that’s even better.”

And Zager loves pasta almost as much as she loves chocolate.

“That’s the Italian in me,” she said. “My grandfather was an Italian Jew. I don’t think I’ve ever met a pasta I did not like.”

According to Zager, chocolate and pasta go great together. You can make pasta savory or sweet; it all comes down to the sauce.

“You could even add almonds to it,” she said. “That way you could get the crunch with the almonds, the chocolate sauce for the sweet and then you have your pasta.”

Pasta is one of those foods that shares a commonality between cultures.

Jewish people call it kreplach,” she said. “Basically, it’s pasta filled with meat, chicken or whatever you want.”

Italians call it ravioli and the Chinese call it dumplings or potstickers.

“Even if a food is unique to a certain culture, most people who like food are always willing to try something different and unique,” Zager said. “Food just brings people together. When people are eating, they’re happy.”

Read about the Power of the Grannies.

For my full conversation with Norma Zager, listen to the podcast:

Watch the interview:

ivanmateev/Getty Images

Chocolate Pasta With Hot Fudge Sauce

 

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa preferably Dutch processed

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Pinch salt

3 large eggs beaten

1 Tbsp chocolate syrup

1 tsp of vanilla

Sift together the flour, cocoa and sugar. Add a pinch of salt and mound the flour mixture in a large bowl or on a clean work surface.

Hollow out the center, making a well in the middle of the flour with steep sides.

Break the eggs into the well. Add the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Gently mix together with a fork.

Gradually start incorporating the flour by pulling in the flour from the sides of the well. As you incorporate more of the flour, the dough will start to take shape. Once it gets thick, you can use a spatula to incorporate the rest of the flour.

If the dough is too dry, add a little water. If the dough is too wet or sticky, add a little flour. Once the dough comes together, knead the dough on a clean work surface until it becomes smooth, about 8 minutes. Shape into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge, 20 to 30 minutes.

Divide your rested dough into quarters and work with one piece at a time, covering your other pieces to keep them moist. Flour each piece lightly, shape it into a rectangular shape and put it through a pasta sheeter attachment, starting at the widest setting. Run the dough once through the largest setting, fold it into thirds and run it through one more time. Then run the pasta through the sheeting attachment once on every number, stopping at 5 or 6, depending on how thick you would like it.

If you don’t have a pasta maker you can roll out your dough and then you can roll it up and just slice it and make strips. You can cut them in half after if you want shorter pieces.

Place cut pasta  on a floured baking sheet

Cook as you would any pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Do not add salt. Add noodles and cook for 5-7 minutes for smaller pasta; 8-12 minutes for larger.

Drain.

Hot Fudge Topping

½ cup whole milk

1 pound of caramels

½ pound of good chocolate

½ pint vanilla ice cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add milk and caramels in a double boiler over medium heat. Stir constantly until caramels and milk are incorporated.

Mix in ice cream and vanilla until all combined.

Serve over the pasta with ice cream.

Enjoy!


Debra Eckerling is a writer for the Jewish Journal and the host of “Taste Buds with Deb.” Subscribe on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Email Debra: tastebuds@jewishjournal.com.

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