Vegetable Ham Salad - Polish Style

Witamy!

Easter ham gets our prize for being one of the most versatile and delicious culinary gifts of the entire year.  The left overs are delicious and in our kitchen no part of our ham ever goes to waste. 

We always buy a much bigger ham than we really need for the Easter feast.  We like the spiral cut hams because they’re easier to work with when trimming the bone for left overs.  After the feast, when we can barely stand and all we want is a nap, we sharpen the carving knife and attack the bone.  Our daughter and son-in-law always cut off a big hunk to take home for their lunches and favorite left over dishes.  Next, the nice large slices are saved for our own sandwiches or tomorrow’s instant replay supper – no cooking required.   The medium sized pieces are trimmed of their fat, julienned and put in the freezer for a favorite ham and noodle casserole (see our blog post of April 10, 2012.) 

Then we start the final trim to pull off the smallest pieces destined for a ham salad.  But we’re always careful to save enough ham on the bone for a good soup.  The trimmed bone is carefully wrapped and deposited in the freezer as well. 

 Those smallest pieces are perfect for a ham and vegetable salad that is a lovely variation on a classic Polish Vegetable Salad (Polish Classic Recipes, Page 22).  It’s a great way to use up the rest of the ham,  making sure that none of that goodness is wasted. 

Vegetable Ham Salad

Serves 12

6 medium potatoes, boiled, & diced, well cooled

2 packages frozen mixed vegetables, defrosted

2 small dill pickles, diced  (optional)

2 cups ham, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons dill, chopped  (fresh is best)

Salt & pepper to taste

1 ½ cups mayonnaise

2 tablespoons yellow mustard

2 hard boiled eggs, sliced

3 small beets, sliced (canned are fine)

Lettuce leaves & radish for decoration

Boil the potatoes until just firm – when a fork goes in easily.  Boil the vegetables until just done. Combine the diced potatoes, vegetables, pickles, 2 tablespoons of dill and ham.  Season with salt and pepper but go easy on the salt because the ham’s natural saltiness.  Taste.  Fold in the mayonnaise and mustard and combine well.  Taste for final seasoning.  Serve in a pretty bowl or arrange in the form of a dome on a serving platter, garnished with the lettuce leaves.  Sprinkle the remaining chopped dill over the top.  Decorate creatively with the sliced eggs and beets.  Serve at room temperature.  Smacznego!  

Cream-Filled Mini-Babas For Easter

Witamy!  With Easter approaching much too quickly, we hope you will prepare this year’s feast in the traditional style, reminiscent of the classic feast prepared a century ago by Peter’s grandmother.  Easter lunch has always been presented at room temperature (except for the hot clear barszcz) because everyone goes to church in the morning and there is no time to cook extensively.  Many of the dishes were actually prepared several days ahead.

Grandmother’s table was truly a groaning board...the dishes of cold meats, salads, relishes, occupied one end of the table, including a big ham, small roasted piglet, a turkey or goose and all the salads, side dishes and various accompaniments, such as mustard sauce and the iconic cwikla – prepared from chopped beets and horseradish. 

At the other end of the table stood the tall, stately Babas with their shimmery glaze, a favorite cheesecake and endless varieties of flat short-bread mazurkas, decorated artistically in traditional Easter designs.  The table was also graced with beautiful crystal decanters of homemade liquors, reflecting the bright sun with ruby red or amber hues of the rainbow. 

Our two books have all the recipes for the traditional Easter feast.   There is still plenty of time to get autographed copies for yourself and as gifts for your loved ones who may not have Babcia’s recipes.

With the popularity of cupcakes skyrocketing everywhere, we want to share with you a favorite recipe for mini-sized, cream-filled Babas that will look great on your table and will please your guests even more for their portion-sized presentation.

Mini Babas  - yields approx. one dozen pieces

Dough

·       2 cups butter

·       2 ¾ cups sifted flour

·       2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

·       4 egg yolks

·       1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cut the butter into the flour either using your fingers or the dough paddle of a standing mixer, until it forms coarse crumbs.  The goal here is to maintain small, but visible "pearls" of butter in the flour.  Add in the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla and combine well.  Knead the dough, either by hand or using a dough hook, until it forms a ball.  Wrap it in plastic and cool it down for ten minutes or so in the refrigerator while preparing the cream.. 

Filling

·       1 pint light cream, just boiling

·       2 eggs

·       2 egg yolks

·       2/3 cup sugar

·       1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·       2 tablespoons cornstarch

Put the coffee cream on to heat.  Beat the eggs and yolks with the sugar for five minutes.  Add the vanilla and cornstarch.  Beat for 2 more minutes.  Beat some more while slowly pouring in the hot coffee cream.  Cook the mixture on low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens.  Cool.

While the filling is cooling, roll the dough ball out to ¼ inch thickness.   Using a biscuit cutter, glass or paper template,  cut out circles large enough to line the inside of a standard cup of a non-stick muffin pan.  Line the insides of one muffin cup with one circle of dough.

Fill the dough-lined muffin cup about 1/3 full with the cool filling mixture.  Cover the cup with another dough circle and seal the edges.  Repeat until all the dough is used.

Bake the Babas for 20 minutes at 400°F and until golden.  Gently turn them out of the pan. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.  For color, garnish the platter with fresh fruit pieces or mint.

Smacznego!

Chicken Left-Overs - Polish Style

Witamy!

In our house we seem to be eating more chicken these days – it’s lean, healthy and can be delicious.  But since most days there are only two of us, when we roast a whole bird at home, or bring a rotisserie chicken home from the grocery store, we always seem to have a half of the bird left on the cutting board. 

Peter is not a fan of just reheating the odds and ends so he’s always after Laura to find a new way of re-purposing the left over chicken meat to create an entirely new dish.  If we only have a few ounces of chicken left, we’ll just put the remains in the freezer and bring it back when we have two or three cups of chicken meat accumulated.  The goal is to change the texture and add new flavors.  It pays to have a meat grinder even if you only use it a few times a year.  Or, if you have a standing mixer, you can get a meat-grinding attachment. It’s a very versatile kitchen tool.

Here are two ways of preparing left over chicken – Polish style.  Both are easy and delicious.  Smacznego!

Chicken Meat Balls – Polish Style

Serves 6

3 to 4 cups twice-ground, cooked chicken meat

3 slices white bread, soaked in milk and squeezed

1½ tablespoons butter, melted

2 egg yolks

½ cup fine bread crumbs

2 tablespoons oil

Parsley sprigs

1 lemon, sliced

Salt & pepper

Mix the ground cooked chicken meat with the bread.  Season lightly.  Add the butter and egg yolks and mix well.  Form the meat into small golf-ball sized balls and roll in the breadcrumbs.  Heat the oil.  Sautee the balls on all sides until heated through.  Arrange on a warmed dish. Garnish with parsely and lemon slices.  Serve with french fries, a dipping sauce, or fresh vegetables. 

Chicken & Bacon Stir-Fry

Serves 3

6 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups coarsely chopped cooked chicken

½ cup chicken broth or stock

2 or 3 stalks green onions, chopped

2 tablespoons oil

1½ to 2 cups cooked rice (to taste)

                                    2 tblspn chopped dill, divided

                                    Salt & pepper

Fry the bacon until just crisp.  Drizzle the broth over the chicken meat to moisten well.  Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok.  Mix the chicken, half the dill, bacon, green onion and rice in the pan.  Note:  add the rice slowly until your desired proportion is reached.  Stir fry until hot.  Season to taste.  Sprinkle remaining dill over the top.  Serve with your favorite veggies.