I decided to honor the Polish side of my family, now all gone except for one aunt, by serving a meal of Polish dishes to my Dad (they were his in-laws) on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve was the big deal on the Polish side of the family - all the traditional food dishes were served then, and all the gifts (usually between 75 and 100!) were opened that night.
Anyway, last night, for Dad and myself, I served kielbasa, kapusta (cabbage) and kluski (noodles). Please excuse all misspellings!
The kielbasa was a fresh Boar's Head, put in a baking pan, with water halfway up. Baked in a 350 oven for half hour, flip the kielbasa, bake for half hour more.
Lee's Kapusta
There are as many different variations of "Kapusta" as there are Polish cooks. I just went with cabbage, dill, butter and some re-hydrated dried wild mushrooms (not pictured).
1 small head cabbage, large chopped
1/4 cup fresh dill
1/2 stick butter
splash of vinegar
1/4 cup rehydrated wild mushrooms (optional)
Boil the cabbage until just tender. Drain WELL.
Mix in butter, dill and salt. Add a couple of drops of vinegar. Mix in chopped rehydrated mushrooms, if desired.
Lee's Kluski
1 bag egg noodles
2 pkgs. Farmer's Cheese (or drained ricotta)
small chunk salt pork
small yellow onion
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth (or use water from noodles)
Small-dice salt pork and slowly render out the fat, until cubes are crisp. Drain and set aside.
Chop onion and cook in fat until lightly browned. Drain and set aside. Discard fat unless you want to make "squarkie" sp?(my Aunt Stella saved the fat and poured it in a bowl, over chopped raw onions. She would spread the congealed mixture on rye bread. Sounds awful - tasted wonderful!)
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain WELL.
Break up the Farmer's Cheese a big and grind black pepper all over it.
Mix the cheese with the hot noodles, adding in a little broth or noodle water to make the mixture less "gloppy). Mix in salt pork and onions.
Add more pepper - the black pepper makes the dish!
Kapusta (cabbage, dill and butter)
Fried out salt pork cubes
Salt pork and onions, draining
Farmer's Cheese
Kluski (noodles, cheese, salt pork, onions, BLACK PEPPER!)
Boar's Head fresh kielbasa
Polish dinner
Christmas Eve was the big deal on the Polish side of the family - all the traditional food dishes were served then, and all the gifts (usually between 75 and 100!) were opened that night.
Anyway, last night, for Dad and myself, I served kielbasa, kapusta (cabbage) and kluski (noodles). Please excuse all misspellings!
The kielbasa was a fresh Boar's Head, put in a baking pan, with water halfway up. Baked in a 350 oven for half hour, flip the kielbasa, bake for half hour more.
Lee's Kapusta
There are as many different variations of "Kapusta" as there are Polish cooks. I just went with cabbage, dill, butter and some re-hydrated dried wild mushrooms (not pictured).
1 small head cabbage, large chopped
1/4 cup fresh dill
1/2 stick butter
splash of vinegar
1/4 cup rehydrated wild mushrooms (optional)
Boil the cabbage until just tender. Drain WELL.
Mix in butter, dill and salt. Add a couple of drops of vinegar. Mix in chopped rehydrated mushrooms, if desired.
Lee's Kluski
1 bag egg noodles
2 pkgs. Farmer's Cheese (or drained ricotta)
small chunk salt pork
small yellow onion
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth (or use water from noodles)
Small-dice salt pork and slowly render out the fat, until cubes are crisp. Drain and set aside.
Chop onion and cook in fat until lightly browned. Drain and set aside. Discard fat unless you want to make "squarkie" sp?(my Aunt Stella saved the fat and poured it in a bowl, over chopped raw onions. She would spread the congealed mixture on rye bread. Sounds awful - tasted wonderful!)
Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain WELL.
Break up the Farmer's Cheese a big and grind black pepper all over it.
Mix the cheese with the hot noodles, adding in a little broth or noodle water to make the mixture less "gloppy). Mix in salt pork and onions.
Add more pepper - the black pepper makes the dish!
Kapusta (cabbage, dill and butter)
Fried out salt pork cubes
Salt pork and onions, draining
Farmer's Cheese
Kluski (noodles, cheese, salt pork, onions, BLACK PEPPER!)
Boar's Head fresh kielbasa
Polish dinner
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