Kluski and Kapusta

This is a continuation of my discussion of our Polish Thanksgiving. I'm trying to get all my favorite dishes in before Thanksgiving, which is only 4 weeks away, so that all of you can add them to your feast if you so desire. I will try to post pictures later as we make them. My mother-in-law loves this dish. Love is probably an understatement in this case. She will single-handedly eat the entire dish if you don't physically keep her away from it. That being said, this is a staple at our holiday table. We only eat this once or twice a year because we do try to keep our arteries from being terribly clogged. My mother was aghast when I told her how it was made. I have noticed that she doesn't pass it by on the buffet table though.

Kluski is the Polish term for dumplings without a filling. It can also refer to any variety of noodle, such as the egg noodle that is often seen here instead. Kapusta is the Polish word for cabbage. In this popular dish, the kapusta has been pickled into sauerkraut. We usually eat this as part of a large meal but you could serve it as a main dish, perhaps with some crusty bread and kielbasa.

We opt for store-bought dried Italian potato gnocchi instead of the more commonly used egg noodle or other kind of dumpling. You can find them in with the dried pasta at the store. It is sometimes hard for us to find the gnocchi in our stores however. Usually, when we see it at the grocery store, no matter the time of year, we'll buy up 3 or 4 boxes just in case. I have made it using Polish potato dumpling mix but they tend to fall apart on me. The gnocchi absorb the other flavors perfectly and add just the right contrast to the sauerkraut, soft and yet slightly chewy at the same time.

Serves 8-10, as part of a large meal

12 oz bacon, chopped
32 oz shredded sauerkraut (1 large jar), well drained
1-2 lb potato gnocchi, cooked almost tender

1. Add the bacon to a large saucepan or pot. Brown until crisp.
2. DO NOT DRAIN THE GREASE.
3. Add the sauerkraut.
4. Add the gnocchi.
5. Stir gently until all ingredients are well coated.
6. Cover, reduce heat to low.
7. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 20-30 min or until the cabbage is lightly brown and the gnocchi have absorbed flavor.
8. Serve warm.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes ~2 cups; enough to frost 24 regular cupcakes, 60 mini cupcakes, a 2 or 3 layer cake

8oz cream cheese, softened
¼ c. butter, softened
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp orange juice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ground cinnamon

1. Combine the cream cheese and butter. Cream until light and fluffy.
2. Add the powdered sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Beat until smooth.
3. Add the orange juice and continue beating until smooth and fluffy.
4. You can chill the frosting at this point and rebeat slightly just before using. You can also heavily chill the frosting and then whip. If you decide to whip the frosting if must remain thoroughly chilled up to the point of serving.

Festively Fall Pumpkin-Spice Mini Cupcakes

Let me tell you my apple story. Every Fall we go to northeastern Tennessee for vacation. Usually we do some hiking and camping but one of our favorite things about this season is the food, of course. Fall festivals abound around the country during this time of year, especially in a little nook of Tennessee known as Apple Country. If you're ever in the Erwin, TN area around the first of October make sure to check out their AppleFest. The little town has an excellent, several block display of everything Autumn, including the famous Blue Ridge Pottery. Local farmer's markets and hometown festivals are the best places to breathe in the warm, wafting, mingled fragrance of kettle corn, funnel cakes, caramel everything, sausages, earthy pumpkins and fresh, crisp apples.

My grandmother was an excellent cook in her heyday and one of her specialties was fried apple pies. Shortly before our trip last year I was visiting my Daddy and we were reminiscing about those pies. Off-handedly he said if we happened to see any dried apples to pick some up and he would take them to my grandmother. Let me translate for you: You better not come back from Apple Country without some dried apples. So, we did happen to see some, lots, at the Apple Barn in Sevierville. A cell call later and we had 10 lbs, that's right - 10 lbs, of dried apples in our trunk. A couple weeks and about 450 miles later I showed up on my Daddy's doorstep with the requested apples. What?! You don't want them?! You all of a sudden don't think she can't cook anymore?!....but...I did call you and ask how much you wanted right?...but, it's 10 lbs of dried apples. Keep them, right, what am I going to do with 10 lbs of dried apples? To put this in prospective: There are roughly 3 fresh apples to a lb, 4 lbs of fresh apples makes 1 lb dried apples. 10 lbs dried apples = 120 fresh apples.

Luckily, dried apples keep very nearly forever. A year later, I still have over half of them. Which leads us to the cupcakes that I made last night. These little jewels scream Fall. An earthy, spiced cake with flecks of crystalline ginger and apples topped with lightly spiced, fruity cream cheese frosting. These would be great topped with buttercream frosting too. I can almost hear the festival vendors hawking their goods.

I was bound and determined to make these as minis, despite the fact that I don't have a mini cupcake pan. I just took a couple of my glass 13x9 baking dishes, lined up the little liners edge to edge and plopped the batter down into each using my mini cookie scoop. If you go this route, make sure not to touch the batter at all once it hits the liner because it has a tendency to collapse the cup. Don't worry, the batter ball will ooze down and settle as it bakes. I was pleasantly pleased with my results. The edges of tiny cakes were slightly warped and wavy, which somehow made them look fancier.

**A quick note about nutmeg. I am not usually the kind of cook that has to have this or that particular form of spice or salt. Freshly ground pepper, pure vanilla extract and freshly ground nutmeg are my exceptions. Freshly ground nutmeg has a totally different flavor, well not totally, but definitely different flavor notes than store bought ground. Pre-ground seems to be sharper without the fruity backnotes of the freshly ground. If you haven't tried grating it yourself you should, at least once. You could get one of those snazzy microplane graters, but why waste the money? I just lightly rub the whole nutmeg against the smallest holes on my box grater.

*** Remember, if you frost with cream cheese then you'll need to store the cupcakes in the fridge.

Makes ~5 dozen mini cupcakes (probably ~24 regular cupcakes)

1 box spice cake mix
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp finely chopped crystallized ginger
¼ c. dried apples, finely chopped
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
½ c. butter, softened
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven 350°.
2. Set up liners in a 13x9 baking dish (mine holds 24) or a mini cupcake pan.
3. Combine the cake mix, spices, ginger and apples. Stir well to incorporate the spices.
4. Add the pumpkin puree and butter. Stir until smooth.
5. Add the eggs and vanilla.
6. Beat until the batter is fluffy and smooth.
7. Fill each mini cupcake liner with about 2 tsp of batter. (Alternately, fill regular cupcake liners ½ - ¾ full)
8. Bake 24 minis 15 min or until a toothpick comes out clean. (I had to bake in shifts because my oven is relatively small.)
9. Remove to wire rack and cool completely.
10. Frost using my Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting, Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting or as desired.

Ruskie Pierogi

With that crisp smell of Autumn in the air, I long for German food. Well, let's clarify that a little. Not exactly German, but Polish food. Close enough right? I mean, the countries do border each other and were at one time one kingdom. My mother-in-law is of Norwegian descent and my father-in-law is Polish. When my hubby and I first started dating I was quickly coerced, I mean gently shoved, into trying Polish cuisine. Well, it wasn't really a choice. It was either eat it or spend our first Thanksgiving together without food. Turns out, I love it despite my initial hesitation of all things sauerkraut. I could eat my weight in pierogi, bratwurst, or kaluski and kapusta. It gets a little confusing with all the Oktoberfest jargon though.

Our family celebrates this regional cuisine, along with the trusty turkey and southern cornbread dressing, in November during the US Thanksgiving holidays. The original Oktoberfest, however, was held October 12, 1810 in Munich to commemorate the marriage of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Traditionally, the festival always ended on the first Sunday in October, and began 16 days prior to that date. The royalty decided to hold their anniversary festivities at the end of September because the weather is usually nicer in Germany then. Most recently, though, the dates have been extended to include German Unity Day which is October 3, regardless of what day of the week that actually falls on.

Pierogi is the Polish term for stuffed dumplings. When someone says they had pierogi though, you never know exactly what they were eating because Polish people use this word indiscriminately to mean any kind of filling from fruit to meat. For those poor souls who don't know what a pierog looks like, they are very similar to oversized half-moon ravioli, Chinese pot stickers, or the tiny fried pies that my grandmother used to make. Unfortunately, we don't make them very often, usually once or twice a year because they are relatively time-consuming. I will post a sumptuous picture of these little jewels later.

This is my mother-in-law's version of the Ruskie Pierogi, literally translated as Russian Pierogi. Don't ask me why they call it that. Maybe for "ruski" which was the Polish word for the Ruthenian region of Bavaria, or today's Ukraine. Ruski Pierogi are made with onion, potatoes and cheese, traditionally farmer's cheese. We have southernized it and now use Velveeta Cheese. Also, partly for time conservation and partly from popular opinion, we use jumbo pasta shells instead of the potato pastry. I just can't express how much I love these. Crispy on the edges, gooey and cheesy on the inside, savory onion butter dripping all over, mmmmmm. It doesn't get much better than this. This recipe feeds a Thanksgiving crowd. You can scale as needed. I usually fill the shells the night before, chill them and then pour over the onion and butter and bake just before serving.

Serves 10-12

5 lb red skinned-potatoes, peeled and chunked
1 large block Velveeta cheese, cubed
1 lb jumbo pasta shells, cooked almost done
½ c. butter
1 jumbo onion, or 2 medium, finely chopped

1. Boil potatoes until fork tender.
2. Mash slightly and then while still hot add cheese and continue mashing and stirring until smooth.
3. Fill each pasta shell with the potato mixture.
4. As you go, place the shells open side up in a greased 13x9" baking dish, stacking is fine.
5. Preheat oven 350°.
6. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, add the onion and cook until translucent.
7. Pour onion mixture evenly over shells.
8. Bake 25-30 min.

Our Carbonara Breakfast

Last Sunday we woke up starving, which is normal. Because we've been so busy lately and thus neglecting grocery shopping there weren't many options as far as breakfast without going out. Hmm, bacon, eggs, cheese. No, not bacon and eggs which would have been much more normal. I decided on carbonara because I'm just weird like that. After searching my shelf for about 30 seconds and not finding a recipe I was not deterred. I figured that I knew enough of the basics and so barreled on. Boiling pasta, check. Crispy bacon (this time with peppers and garlic), check. Now, hmm, how does the egg sauce go? I ended up making it in a moderately time consuming way. Then, I made the mistake of adding olive oil at the very end. I wanted a shiny sauce but instead the olive oil caused my creamy concoction to break slightly. Oh well, it was just a casual breakfast anyway and was still very tasty. I did, however, underestimate the richness of this dish and we decided to cut the meal with ice cream of course. It was an interesting way to start the day. For a more traditional, and reliable, method for making carbonara check out this Italian Food Network video.
You can also watch PrincessDiana161 on YouTube, who, along with her husband Frankie, is hilarious. She has quick version for making carbonara where you cook the eggs in the steaming hot pasta. Although it looks super easy and is probably safe, I like the idea of cooking the eggs in a pan better.

Serves 4-6

1 lb pasta (I used long cut ziti)
1/2 lb bacon, chopped
1 small bell pepper (I used a small red mexibell and half a green bell)
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
3 eggs
1/4 c. ice water
1/4 tsp black pepper
2-3 c. boiling pasta water
1/4-1/2 c. parmesan, grated

1. Boil the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving the water. Put the pasta in a large mixing bowl, cover, and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon and peppers over medium heat until crisp. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 min. Remove bacon mixture to a small bowl.
3. Drain all but 2 tbsp of the bacon grease and return the pan to medium-low heat.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the eggs, ice water and black pepper until frothy.
5. While stirring adding the egg mixture to the grease. You want the eggs to begin to thicken but not scramble. Stir continuously. If the mixture begins cooking too fast remove pan or turn heat down.
6. Add the boiling pasta water a ladle at a time, cooking about 2 min between additions.
7. After you've added about 2 c. of water, add the parmesan and continue stirring. Your sauce is done when it is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
8. Add the finished sauce to the pasta, along with the bacon mixture.
9. Stir well to combine. Serve immediately.

Shepard's Pie

We've been eating out a lot lately due to the fact that we've been spending so much time planning our up-coming camping trip. Well, I was just absolutely tired of take-out. It was all starting to taste the same even though we we have plenty of choices. I wanted something homey and comforting. Looking back, this is probably the first time in my life that I've ever had Shepard's Pie. Now, my version would probably be more aptly called Cottage Pie or some such because it doesn't actually use lamb. My husband, however, refuses to call it anything except Shepard's Pie, so, Shepard's Pie it is. Although I feel like this recipe is more or less traditional, it is a mishmash of several recipes that I came across. I felt like it need a bottom crust but just could not bring myself to making a pasty dough. After throwing several ideas around I settled on pressed stuffing. It was pretty funny. I brought everything home from the store and laid it all out on the counter. Because I was in a hurry, I called my hubby in to help prepare it. He takes one look at the stuffing mix, glances at me and asks what it's for. "The shepard's pie, of course." A second or two goes by. I could see the confusion working across his face. Then, he responds with, "But we don't like stuffing..."

We really liked this casserole though. Normally, my husband and I will eat about half of any given casserole and then it just sits in its little chilled tomb until I either throw it away or feed it to the dogs. This time though, and maybe it was the take-out rut, but the 13x9" pie was gone in 3 days. I've been thinking a lot about making a version using chicken and chicken gravy instead of beef. Hmm, maybe this next week.

There are essentially 3 components to this casserole. 1. pressed stuffing crust 2. beef and veggie filling 3. mashed potato topping. I used instant mashed potatoes simply for convenience. It was 6PM after working a busy day and skipping lunch. If you have the time, make up some tasty real mashed potatoes by all means.

Serves 6-8

Preheat oven 350°.

Crust

6 oz package stuffing mix (I used cornbread flavor.)
1 c. water
2 tbsp butter

1. Combine all ingredients in a small microwave safe bowl.
2. Cover, heat on HIGH ~4min. Stir.
3. Pour stuffing into greased 13x9" baking dish. Cover surface with plastic wrap and press mixture firmly into pan, forming a crust. Remove plastic and set aside.
   

Topping

Make 8 servings, about 4 c., of mashed potatoes. Then before baking add in one egg yolk and 4 oz shredded cheese.

Here's what we did: When making instant potatoes, we always use Hungry Jack brand.

2 2/3 c. instant mashed potato flakes
1 1/3 cup half & half
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 1/2 c. water
1 egg yolk
4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Combine flakes, half & half, salt, butter, mayo, and water in a medium microwave safe bowl. Cover, heat in microwave on HIGH 5 min.
2. Add cheese and egg yolk. Stir well.
3. Set aside.

Filling

1 lb ground chuck
1/2 tsp black pepper
16 oz package frozen peas and carrots
12 oz jar brown gravy (I used Heinz Homestyle Brown with Onions)
6 oz water

1. In a large saucepan, season beef with pepper and brown. Drain grease off.
2. Add peas and carrots, gravy and water. Stir gently.
3. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until peas are hot to the touch, about 5 min.

To Assemble

1. Pour filling evenly over crust.
2. Spread mashed potatoes evenly over filling.
3. Sprinkle with additional shredded cheese. (Optional)
4. Bake 25 min or until bubbly and potatoes are just starting to brown.