Stanislawa’s Gołabki (Stuffed Cabbage)

My mother would make this economic meal in the fall, when cabbage and tomatoes were available and inexpensive. Polish comfort food. Incidentally, “Gołabki” translates to “little pigeons.”

You will need a large container. The size depends on the size of the cabbage, but the pot or bucket must allow the cabbage to be completely covered with water. Most recently, I had an unusually gargantuan head of cabbage, so I had to boil two large pots of water and used a plastic garden bucket. Not exactly what they teach at the CIA, I imagine, but it worked nicely.

Ideally, make this one day ahead. It’s better reheated.

1 head of cabbage
1 lb. ground sirloin
2 cups of cooked rice
1 onion diced
2 heaping teaspoons chopped garlic
3 medium tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoon Salt
~1 teaspoon Pepper

Wash the head of cabbage and cut out the stem. Boil one or two pots of water. Again, it depends on how much water you need. Once the water is boiling, either place the cabbage into the pot or pour the water into the larger container (such as a bucket) and pour in the boiling water. Place something over the cabbage to weigh it down, so it’s somewhat submerged. Let the cabbage sit in the water for about 45 minutes to an hour so the leaves soften from the heat. Meanwhile . . .

Fry the diced onion in 2 T butter, until golden.

Beat the two eggs and combine with the ground beef and one teaspoon, each, of salt and ground black pepper. Add the fried onions and garlic. Knead until the egg and pepper are well incorporated into the beef. Next, add the cooked rice and knead to incorporate into the beef.

Remove the cabbage from the water. Drain the pot and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Heat it just enough so the butter melts and turn off the heat. Carefully remove the cabbage leaves; avoid tearing the leaves. Throw out the outer layer.  Place a large dollop of the beef mixture on a leaf and wrap the leaf around the meat. Arrange the bundles in the pot. Then add water until it almost covers them. Arrange slices of tomatoes over the top, and add about 1 teaspoons of salt and some additional black pepper. Sprinkle a bit of ground cloves over the top. Turn the heat up to high.  Once the water is rolling, reduce to a simmer and cook for 1-1/2 hours.

Remove the gołabki and remove most of the water, leaving about two cups in the pot. Strain to remove the tomatoes. Reserve the tomatoes. Add the ground cloves and sour cream and whisk furiously for a couple of minutes. Using a flour sifter, add the flour and continue to whisk vigorously until you have a smooth sauce. (Alternatively, add 3T flour to ¼ cup of water and mix well until smooth; add to the water.”) Add the tomatoes and heat to thicken the sauce.

Place a pair of the cabbage rolls on a plate and ladle sauce over them. Pour the sauce over the gołabki and serve with bread and butter.

Note: Add lemon or vinegar if you prefer a sourer flavor.

Kopytka (Polish Dumplings)

 Kopytka, a word that translates to “little hooves,” are dumplings that are similar to gnocchi or spaetzle. This recipe is based on my mother’s oral recipe. Kopytka refrigerate well. Serve with a gravy or simply buttered.   -jb 12-31-12

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-1/2 pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2+ cups of flour
2 tablespoons butter (optional)

Fill a large pot with water, the potatoes and the salt. Boil the potatoes until fork tender.  Remove from heat, drain, and allow to cool, covered. When the potatoes are warm (i.e. not hot to the touch), mash them until they are smooth and not lumpy. Spread 2 tablespoons of flour on the working surface. Heat a large pot of water to boiling.

Add the eggs and mix well. Add the flour, one cup at a time, and work it into the  potatoes with your hands. Place the dough on the work surface and sprinkle with some flour. Create a log shape and squeeze it into the shape of a thin baguette. Use flour, as needed, but just until the dough is no longer sticky. The less you “work” the dough the better. Cut the dough into equal medallions (about 1” wide). (Or you can cut the “baguette” in half lengthwise and make smaller kopytka.)  Heat a large (microwave safe) bowl in the microwave. If you are planning to serve the kopytka without gravy, add 2 T of butter to melt.

Drop 1/2 of the medallions, two at a time, into the boiling water. In about 4 or 5 minutes, the kopytka will float to the surface. After a minute or two, remove them to the hot bowl with a slotted spoon. Repeat until all the kopytka are done cooking and transferred to the bowl. Mix them to coat them with the butter. Cover with aluminum foil to retain heat until serving.

The kopytka store well in the refrigerator. To reheat, simply add some butter and a tablespoon or two of water to a pan. Cover and place pan over low heat until warm. Optionally, you can fry them in butter.

Smacznego!  (translation: bon appétit!)

Cranberry Relish

12 ounces fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/3 cup dried cherries
4 tablespoons Grand Marnier
2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Wash cranberries and combine in a heavy saucepan with sugar, water and orange juice.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce the heat and cook at a gentle boil until cranberries begin to pop.

Remove from heat and stir in the cherries and Grand Marnier.  Chill for up to a week.  Stir in pecans just before serving.

8 to 10 servings

Kolaczki

 

1 lb. salted butter, softened (see note 1)
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Fruit filling (such as Solo brand apricot, raspberry, etc.)
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Using a mixer, whip butter and cream cheese together.  Sift flour and baking powder into the butter/cheese mixture.  Divide the dough into two balls.  Roll out to 1/8" thickness.  Cut into rounds with the open end of a glass and place 1 teaspoon of filling in the center.  Fold two edges together and pinch.

Bake for 12 minutes.  After cookies cool, dust with powdered sugar.

Note 1:  Or use unsalted butter and add 1 teaspoon salt

Carolyn’s Holiday Sweet Potatoes

Christmas dinner isn’t dinner without Carolyn’s signature sweet potatoes.

6 medium sweet potatoes (Garnet variety if available)
1/2 stick of butter plus one tablespoon
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
salt
2 tablespoons Cointreau or Gran Marnier
2 cups mini-marshmallows

Wash potatoes and cut off the ends.  Cook in oven at 350 degrees until soft; about one hour.  You can cook them in a microwave if preferred. Cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cut potatoes into 1/2" thick slices and arrange the rounds in a buttered baking dish so that each round overlaps it's neighbor.

In a sauce pan, melt 1/2 stick butter.  Add sugar and dissolve.  Add orange juice and liquor and stir.  Drizzle over the potatoes.  Dot potatoes with remaining butter and sprinkle with some salt.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Add the marshmallows and broil for 2 minutes, until browned and soft.

Ptaszki (Translation: Little Birds)

Also known, inelegantly but popularly, as Christmas Pork Rolls.  First prepared in 1982 while learning to cook and living in Madison, WI.  -jb

2 large pork tenderloins (will make approximately 20-26 ptaski)
   (tip: buy trimmed tenderloins; cost more but save time)
Bacon, cut strips in half, cross-wise
Green peppers, cleaned and sliced into ½” wide pieces
Onions, sliced into thick ¾” wide pieces
Pickles (Vlassic brand Polish style), spears, cut lengthwise in half and ends trimmed to 4” long (but reserve the pickle juice)
Hungarian Paprika
Salt
Black Pepper
Garlic Powder (see note 1)
Olive Oil
Reserved pickle juice
2 Knorr’s vegetable bullions

Special tools:
Waxed paper
Kitchen mallet
Spray bottle with tap water
large nylon cutting board
round toothpicks
two oven-proof 12” skillets (or work in two stages with one skillet and an oven-proof baking dish) 

Preparation:  Spread waxed paper over a 2’x4’ section of the kitchen counter.  You will be laying out the flattened medallions of pork on this area.  Spray the area with water and keep it moist to prevent the meat from sticking to the waxed paper. Also, cut off a dozen or more sections of waxed paper, 10” long.  You will use these to cover the meat as you pound it flat.  This minimizes splatter of small bits of meat.

Trim off any excess fat from the tenderloin. Cross cut the tenderloin on a slight diagonal, into 1” to 1¼” thick medallions.  Each tenderloin will yield about 12 medallions.

Spray the cutting board with water.  Place a medallion of pork on the cutting board and spray with water.  You want to keep the meat very moist as you work.  Cover the medallion with a piece of waxed paper and pound with the smooth side of the mallet. Carefully pound the medallion until very thin; about the thickness of shirtbox cardboard.  The resulting piece will be about 4” x 7”.  Spray the waxed paper layout area with water and set the meat, flat, on the wet surface.  Repeat until all the medallions are flattened and arranged in rows on the waxed paper.  Remember to spray often as you work to keep the meat moist.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle the meet with about 2-3 pinches of salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika.  Place a slice of bacon over the each piece of meat.  Place a piece of green pepper, pickle and onion at the end closest to you, perpendicular to the length of the meat.  Have toothpicks ready.  Roll the meat, starting at the end with the green pepper-pickle-onion and spear with one or two toothpicks to hold the roll together.  Place on a plate to free up work space.  Repeat the instructions with the second tenderloin. 

Pour 5-6 tablespoons of oil into a 12” skillet, turn up heat to medium high and add ptaszki  to fill the skillet in one layer.  Brown on all sides (as best you can; the toothpicks are in the way).  If your skillet is not oven-proof, place the browned ptaszki into a large oven-proof baking dish.  Brown the remainder of ptaszki until all are browned.  Add 1/3 cup of pickle juice and sprinkle the rolls with a little Paprika.  Cover with aluminum foil and place into the oven.  Bake for 1-1/2 hours.

Gravy:  Pour the liquid from the baking dish into a skillet and add about ½ cup of water.  In a cup, add 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 3 tablespoons of cold water.  Mix thoroughly until smooth.  Set aside.  Add the Knorr’s vegetable bullion in the pan and dissolve, breaking it up with the back of a spatula.  Add black pepper, to taste.  Add the flour-water mixture and stir constantly while cooking over a moderate heat until thickened.  Season with salt, to taste.

Above, cutting medallions from a piece of tenderloin

Above, a medallion covered with a piece of waxed paper

A flattened medallion

All ingredients applied and ready to be rolled up.

Ptaszki, ready to be browned.

Browning in a cast iron skillet

Swedish Meatballs

Every year, the weekend before Christmas, Carolyn and her daughters get together to make Swedish Meatballs.  I have a standing invitation to finely dice the onions and to get out of the kitchen so production can take place unimpeded. (12025013 update: I have been invited to roll meatballs too!) We’ve never actually counted, but the outcome must be about 200 meatballs.  The recipe is based on a recipe passed down by Carolyn’s mother, Martha.
5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons sage
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ginger
2-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup bread crumbs
¼ cup dried or fresh parsley
3 lbs. ground beef
1-1/2 lbs. ground pork
1 lb. ground veal
3 eggs
½ cup half & half 
2 medium yellow onions, very finely diced (about 3 cups)
Butter
Knorr’s vegetable or beef bullion
Mix the first 10 ingredients together and set aside. Mix the eggs, half+half and onions (the "wet ingredients"); set aside. Add a beef bullion, a half teaspoon of allspice, and a cup of water to a large pot.
Add all the meat to a large bowl and add the 10 dry ingredients, as well as the parsley. Mix, with your hands, until thoroughly blended. Add the wet ingredients to the meat and mix with your hands thoroughly.
Form the meatballs by rolling about one tablespoon of the meat between your palms. The meatballs should be small; no larger than 2.5 cm in diameter.
When you have about 20 meatballs ready, melt 2 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet and brown the meatballs over a medium heat, turning occasionally. Once well browned, remove to the large pot and add another 20 or so meatballs to the skillet(s). After all the meatballs have been browned, deglaze the skillet(s) with 1 cup of water and add the liquid to the meatballs. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Refrigerate until Christmas. After reheating, drain off most of the liquid and prepare a gravy with cornstarch.
Leftovers freeze nicely.



Yes, smell that butter!