Lox of Love! Emily Jillette Shares a Bagel Recipe She and Penn Adore
She and her husband Penn love it — and so will you!
I’ve got a fantastic a twist on bagels and lox from my dear friends, Emily and Penn Jillette. You know Penn as one of the best magicians to ever do it. He’s the Emmy-winning powerhouse of presto, who, along with his partner of nearly 50 years, Teller, is one of the longest-running headliners in Vegas history (30 years and counting!). And Emily’s been my bestie for many a Wondercadeventure, like when she hosted David and me for a brilliant, epic gambling-free trip to Las Vegas (seriously, click that link and copy our itinerary!) or when she and I went to The Locksmith’s Dream in Wales, one of the coolest immersive experiences ever. Now, go eat your heart out! -NPH
Emily Jillette: Penn and I live in Las Vegas but are East Coasters in our hearts. So, of course we want a loaded bagel with cream cheese, lox and fixins for brunch. And boy, did we indulge in that for many years. But then Penn had to go vegan. Dammit.
I came across this recipe in a Whole Foods cookbook — but the recipe didn’t quite have the proportions I wanted, so I wiggled things around, and this is what I make now. And it’s a doorbuster. They’re lining up for it.
I use Kite Hill non-dairy cream cheese and with all the yummy flavor aboard, you can’t even tell the difference from regular cream cheese. It’s pictured here on a poppyseed bagel, but I have to say my bagel of choice is a pumpernickel. I once ordered a dozen sliced pumpernickel bagels from a deli. The guy said, “Pumpernickel doesn’t slice.” And I couldn’t understand why he was telling me that. I insisted that I had sliced pumpernickel bagels from this place before, but he kept laughing and saying, “Pumpernickel doesn’t slice.” And then he gave me a dozen sliced pumpernickel bagels. So confusing! Until I told Penn about it and he looked at me and said, “He was repeating the order: pumpernickel, dozen, sliced.” And so now, we have T-shirts that say “Pumpernickel doesn’t slice.”
Right now Penn is off in Romania doing the USO tour so I’m eating this alone today. But I assure you, if he were here with this carrot lox, we would need the whole dozen bagels. Sliced.
Jillette Family "Lox of Love" Bagels
Servings: 4-6 servings
Copy Ingredients
Ingredients
- 8 big carrots
- 6 tbsp. rice vinegar
- 2 tsp. smoked paprika
- Coarse salt
- 1 tsp. caraway seeds
- 1 tsp. coriander seeds
- Juice of 2 oranges
- 2 tbsp. apricot jam (any fruit will work)
- Cracked black pepper to taste
- Cream cheese, chives, capers, onions, etc. for garnish
- Bagels of your choice
Directions
Copy Directions
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Preheat oven to 375°F.
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Scrub the carrots, but do not peel them.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment and layer it with the salt.
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Roll the carrots in the salt. Try to really cake it on. (You won’t eat all this salt, it’s only for baking.)
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Bake for 30 minutes and check the carrots’ tenderness. You want to be able to slice through easily, but not too soft.
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Let the cooked carrots cool. Then, you can either slice them longways on a mandoline, or use a peeler and slice equally thick/thin long slices.
PHOTO: Emily Jillette -
For best results, you want to lay the slices in a single layer for the marinade, but I just throw it all in a big Tupperware and shake it around.
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Toast the caraway and coriander seeds in a pan for a couple minutes. Let them cool, and then grind them up to a powder.
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In a bowl, whisk together the ground seeds, jam, orange juice, paprika, cracked black pepper and rice vinegar.
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Pour this over the carrot slices and get everything covered. Then cover the Tupperware and put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.
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Serve on a bagel of your choice with any fixins.
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