Fresh Summer Barszcz (Chłodnik)

Witamy!

Welcome to summer!  This cool refreshing soup is a meal unto itself and a clear winner, even for friends who have not yet discovered the goodness of beets.   This soup is a mainstay of classic Polish cuisine and has been around for centuries. Full of garden flavors and vegetable crunch, it’s immensely refreshing as the most perfect lunch or light supper. We're having a bowl tonight  (see photo below), with a hunk of fresh aromatic rye bread smeared with soft sweet butter and paired with a dry white wine. 

 

Serves 10

• 2 cups beets, drained and cut in 1/4 inch julienne (fresh roasted beets are waaay better!)
• 1/4 cup beet juice
• 1 cup chopped kale or swiss chard
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 4 cups beef broth 
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
• 1 small cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup sliced roast pork or veal
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon chopped dill
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onion
• 1 fresh radish sliced thinly

Simmer the beets, stems and leaves in 1/4 cup of beet juice and the vinegar for 3 to 5 minutes.  Add the beef broth and simmer 5 minutes longer.

Mix the flour into 1/4 cup water, add to the beet mixture and stir.  Cook for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.  Cool completely.  Mix in all the remaining ingredients and chill for several hours.  Serve cold.

Tip:  for a truly stunning presentation, garnish the soup with a few whole "head-on" shrimp, slices of hard boiled egg, radish slices, and chopped fresh dill.  While not everyone appreciate a "head-on" shrimp, the visual presentation is stunning. 

Smacznego!

Ten Minute Cheese Dumplings

Witamy!

This is a nourishing tasty meal especially handy when you have a houseful of guests, or the kids bring their buddies home, or you are just tired and in a hurry.  They only take a few minutes to prepare and everybody will be well fed and happy.  Note:  The recipe calls for Farmers cheese, but if that’s not available, you can substitute Ricotta cheese or small curd cottage cheese that has been drained very well and pressed thru a sieve to remove as much of the liquid as possible.  Serve with a green salad.

Serves 6

2 pounds farmers cheese
4 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cream of wheat
1½ cups flour
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons plain breadcrumbs

Crumble the cheese well and mix in the eggs and salt. Add the cream of wheat and flour. Mix with a spoon or mixer on low for 2 or three minutes.

Using a teaspoon, drop small pieces of the dough (try to make the size consistent) into a pot of salted, boiling water.  Bring to a hard boil and cook on high heat for 3 minutes.  Note:  Larger dumplings will obviously take longer to cook so take one of the larger ones out (with a slotted spoon) and cut in half to make sure they are cooked through. 

Drain well and transfer to a warmed serving dish.  Slowly melt the butter over low heat or in the microwave. Add the breadcrumbs and saute for a few minutes, continuously stirring, until golden brown.  Pour the mixture over the dumplings and serve.  Smacznego!

Czarnina...really?? (Polish Duck Blood Soup)

Witamy!

You say you want to make Czarnina  (Polish duck blood soup)? 

Because your grandmother used to make it when you were a child?   Well good luck with that!    Curiously enough, Czarnina is one of the most frequently mentioned classic recipes that is not in either of our books.  It’s not there for good reason – because it is almost impossible to find duck blood anywhere...  Peter called all around Northern Virginia looking for duck blood and no one here carries it – not the Safeway, not the Polish deli, not the gourmet grocery store, not the butcher, and not the Asian store.  No one carries fresh or frozen duck blood - unless you happen to live next to a duck farm.  And even then you have to get it fresh, and make the soup before the blood coagulates  (ugh!) 


You can find cow blood in most Asian stores and we suppose from a decent butcher, but Peter doesn’t have a clue how it would taste in comparison to duck blood.  He has never tried either and he is not about to.  Let Andrew Zimmern (the weird foods guy on the Travel Channel) tell us. 

So while researching this bloody topic Peter ran across several recipes for imitation Czarnina, also known as Blind or Bloodless Czarnina.  It gets its flavor from smoked meat, dried prunes and other fruit.  The flavor is very unique and intriguing, so here is an adaptation from different several recipes that could be easy to prepare and could be quite tasty. 

Imitation Czarnina
Serves 8

1 ham bone, meaty
3 quarts water
1 cup chili sauce
4 stalks celery, sliced thinly
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces pitted prunes
1 small can (8 to 10 ounces) pears
½ cup golden raisins
¼ cup vinegar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
½ cup half-and-half or ¼ cup heavy cream
1 package cooked egg noodles

In a large pot combine the ham bone, water, chili sauce, celery, onion, salt & pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer about one and a half hours, or until the ham meat starts to fall off the bone.  Let the soup cool; remove the bone and anything inedible.  Chop any large pieces of meat to a small dice.

Add the prunes, pears, raisins, and vinegar.  Bring to a simmer; cover and simmer for one more hour, then bring to a low boil.  Adjust the salt, pepper and vinegar to your taste.  Whisk the flour into the cream and add gradually to the pot while whisking enthusiastically.  Cook until thickened to the consistency of creamy tomato soup.  Taste one final time.  Serve over the egg noodles.

We promise to make a batch “soon” but in the mean time you be the next and be sure to let us know how it came out! 
Smacznego!