Mushrooms with Sour Cream (Poland)
8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
Minced dill weed or parsley
Cook and stir mushrooms in butter for 3 minutes.
Stir in flour; cook and stir for 1 minute.
Stir in sour cream, salt and pepper. Heat, stirring occasionally, just until hot.
Sprinkle with dill weed.
Yields 4 servings.
Rugelach
Posted by bettyboop50 April 27, 2001
My Mother always made rugelach and boy, were they delicious.
You can’t eat just one of these scrumptious little pastries.
I have them with apricot preserves and almonds, which is delicious (love the combination of apricot and almonds).
I can’t wait to try them.
Cream Cheese Pastry
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
8 ounces cream cheese, chilled
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves
3/4 cup dried currants
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and flour.
Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, combine well until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and vanilla extract. Add the yolks to the flour mixture and mix until smooth.
Form the dough into three equal pieces.
Form each piece into a round ball and on a clean work surface, with the palm of your hand, flatten the balls slightly and wrap each individually in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 5 or 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
On a floured board or pastry cloth, roll one piece of the chilled dough into a 12-inch circle about 1/4 inch thick.
Brush with 1/4 cup raspberry preserves.
Sprinkle with one third each of the cinnamon sugar, currants, and walnuts.
With a long sharp knife, cut the circle into 16 wedges.
Starting at the wide end, roll up each wedge jellyroll style.
Place each piece, seam-side down, on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between each piece.
Repeat with the remaining dough and filling ingredients.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Makes 48 cookies.
Hunter’s Stew (Bigos Mysliwski — Poland)
6 pounds canned sauerkraut
1/4 pound bacon or salt pork, diced
3 large onions, chopped
3 tart apples, peeled and chopped
2 cups beef broth
1 cup sherry or dry red wine
Salt, pepper, sugar, to taste
3 to 4 pound roast or braised meats
1 bay leaf
Rinse sauerkraut in cold water and squeeze out juice well, reserving some of the juice.
Put sauerkraut in large kettle over low heat.
Meanwhile, render the bacon or salt pork.
Add bacon bits to sauerkraut.
Sauté onions in bacon fat until golden; add chopped apples and cook until slightly browned.
Add all to the kettle.
Add diced meats and all the meat juices.
Add enough beef broth, bay leaf, salt, pepper, a little sugar and some of the sauerkraut juice for tartness.
Simmer slowly for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Add wine and let stew bubble up.
Cover and let stand until ready to use.
Baked Eggs on Toast (Jaja na Grzankach - Polish)
6 slices white bread
Butter
3 tablespoons freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
6 eggs
Salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste
Toast the bread and butter it on both sides.
Place on a baking sheet and, using the tips of your fingers, make a small depression in each piece of toast.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and chives. Carefully drop an egg onto each piece of toast and season with salt and pepper.
Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until the eggs reach the desired degree of doneness.
Allow 1 to 2 per person.
Serves 3 to 6.
Rumanian Mixed Vegetables (Ghiveci)
This is the national dish of Rumania, and it is traditionally cooked in a special casserole called a “guvens.”
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, sliced
8 ounces green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 stalk celery, sliced
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground marjoram
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
Heat 1 inch water to boiling in 3-quart saucepan.
Add potatoes, carrots and beans.
Heat to boiling; reduce heat.
Cover and simmer 10 minutes; drain.
Cook and stir onions and garlic in oil in skillet over medium heat until almost tender.
Add tomatoes, cauliflower florets, celery, salt, thyme, marjoram and pepper. Cover and cook 5 minutes.
Place potato mixture in greased 3-quart casserole.
Spread half the tomato mixture over top.
Layer zucchini and green pepper over tomato mixture.
Top with remaining tomato mixture.
Cover and bake at 350 degrees F until vegetables are tender, 50 to 60 minutes.
Serbian Skillet Pork (Muckalica — Yugoslavia)
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3 medium onions, sliced
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into strips
2 ounces feta cheese, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
Hot cooked rice
Trim fat from pork.
Cut pork into 1/2-inch slices; cut slices into 1/2-inch strips.
Heat oil in skillet until hot.
Cook and stir pork in oil over medium heat until brown, about 15 minutes; drain. Add water, onions, tomato, salt, paprika, pepper and red pepper. Cover and simmer until pork is tender, about 30 minutes, adding water if necessary.
Add green pepper.
Cover and simmer until green pepper is crisp-tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
Top with cheese.
Serve with rice.
Yields 4 servings.
Spareribs and Cabbage (Zeberka Wieprzowena z Kapusta — Poland)
Serve with mashed or boiled potatoes.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 1/2 pounds fresh pork spareribs, cut into 6 pieces
1 large onion, sliced
1 large carrot, sliced
2 teaspoons instant beef bouillon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups water
1/2 cup vinegar
1 small head green cabbage, cut into 6 wedges
Freshly-ground pepper
Heat oil in Dutch oven until hot.
Cook pork spareribs, a few pieces at a time, over medium heat until brown on all sides, about 15 minutes; drain fat.
Add onion, carrot, bouillon, salt, caraway seed, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and the bay leaf.
Pour water and vinegar over pork mixture.
Heat to boiling; reduce heat.
Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
Add cabbage; sprinkle with pepper.
Cover and simmer until cabbage is tender, about 45 minutes.
Remove bay leaf.
Arrange spareribs and vegetables on serving platter.
Garnish with minced parsley if desired.
Yields 6 servings.
Czech Dill Gravy
3 cups water
Handful of dill, chopped
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 1/2 cups cream
3 tablespoons flour
Salt
12 whole eggs
Cook vinegar and dill in salt water.
Mix cream and flour until smooth.
Add to water mixture and stir until thick.
Add raw eggs and simmer until eggs are done.
Barszcz (Polish Easter Soup)
6 cups water
1 pound Polish kielbasa sausage
2 cups sour cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon plain or beet horseradish
2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar, or to taste
1 cup sliced mushrooms
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
1 cup cubed, cooked ham
1 cup cooked diced potatoes
1 cup cooked diced beets (optional)
Chopped fresh dill or parsley (for garnish)
In a large kettle, bring water to a boil and add the kielbasa to cook for 1 hour.
Remove kielbasa from water and cut into thin slices.
Add the horseradish, mushrooms, salt and pepper to the broth and simmer covered for about 15 minutes.
Allow to cool.
In a separate bowl, beat sour cream with about 3 cups of the cool broth.
Pour this mixture back into the kettle with the rest of the broth.
Add lemon juice or vinegar.
Reheat before serving, but do NOT bring to a boil.
Fill individual serving bowls with the liquid allowing each person at the table to add the thinly sliced kielbasa pieces, hard boiled eggs, ham, potatoes or beets to their taste.
May be made a day or two before and kept refrigerated.
Serves 4 to 6.
Runza (Meat Pies)
Note: Rhodes frozen rolls can be substituted for the Dough.
Just roll out thawed dough into 6-inch squares.
Dough
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 packages dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
Filling
1 pound lean ground meat
2 small onions, chopped
4 cups chopped cabbage
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
In a large bowl, place 1 3/4 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
Heat milk, water and shortening to 120 degrees.
Pour over flour mixture; add the eggs.
Beat with an electric mixer on low until blended.
Beat 3 additional minutes on high.
Stir in remaining flour; knead until smooth and elastic.
Place dough in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, brown beef and onions in a skillet.
Add the cabbage, salt and pepper; cook until cabbage is wilted.
Punch dough down; roll into 12 (6-inch) squares.
Top each square with 1/3 cup meat mixture.
Fold into triangles.
Pinch edges tightly to seal and place on greased baking sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot.
Yield: 12 servings.
admin
3 Nov, 2007