The Ever Elusive Perogie/Pierogi/Pergohy/Piroghi?!?...

For as long as I can remember we have always had perogies at camp, homemade by a paternal aunt......I am not sure the first time I ever ate one of these pillowy potato filled sacks of goodness, but I can tell you this - I just love them!  And who wouldn't?  Potatoes + cheese + onions + pepper = good times!

After recently enjoying a fortnight in the woods of Northwestern Ontario I was lucky to come across an old Ukrainian woman's recipe for pergoies!  I vaguely remember attempting to make perogies from scratch as a child in a yellow kitchen.....however I am pretty sure it was a lumpy dough disaster and each and every single one opened up as they were boiled.....I remember that I used white potatoes (peeled) and some form of orange cheese - most likely a shredded brick of cheddar....but exact species I am not sure....

What I absolutely love love love about perogies is their simplicity.....robust earthen potatoes with a sharp aged cheddar packed inside a pillowy dough soft and supple topped with carmelized purple onions, freshly cracked black pepper, and a dollop of sour cream....this is my west coast spin on an old Ukrainian favorite!

Fun Fact: Pittsburg is rumored to eat something like 10 times the amount of perogies as any other city.

Bonus:  Perogies are easily frozen for a quick mid-week meal!



Dough:
4 cups flour
1 tub of Tillamook sour cream
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP sunflower oil

First blend together with a fork, then gradually begin kneading in the bowl with one hand (disposable rubber glove) while holding the bowl on an angle with the other hand.  As soon as the dough forms a ball cover with Saran wrap and let stand a few hours....I was lucky enough to have 15 loads of laundry to do so I was lucky to be spending the day at home!  For real - I love cleaning..,

Filling:
Red potatoes
Sharp cheddar cheese
butter
olive oil
seasoned salt
garlic powder
milk


Clean potatoes and boil until done.  Mash with all remaining ingredients except for cheese.  When potatoes are creamy and well blended stir in the cheese until it melts with a wooden spoon.  It is imperative that you use a wooden spoon on this part...

Place potatoes in a bowl in the refrigerator until thoroughly cooled.  I made the mistake of making WAY TOO MUCH filling....however I now have enough leftovers for two dinners.....hello week-day-meal-time-saver!


Roll out the dough on a floured surface, I used a water glass to cut out the circles and then rolled them out again.....really I needed to roll the dough out even thinner......I'll let you fiddle around with it.....I just think I need more practice....then place a cigar shaped piece of potato mixture in the middle - brush edges with just a tad of warmish water and then fold in half and seal.....you want to have circles with clean edges......boil in water until they float!  Serve with sautéed onions and freshly ground black pepper and sour cream.....bacon of course would pair well with this either on the inside or with the onions.....and if I could do it all over again I would add some fresh chives to the potatoes.....


~Enjoy

Earthen Orzo

First day back from my twelve day venture in the woods...

Some may say this was in the realm of a mystery box challenge as it literally was, open the fridge, and see what kind of a mess you can make out of all the ingredients!

Right away I was drawn to the contrasting colors of the fresh green beans and ripe roma tomatoes....I knew I needed a starch and since it had been some time since I have made an orzo dish I thought why not?  For some reason I was in an orzo slump, always sticking to the same, brown mushroom and broccoli - don't get me wrong that dish is equally delish!  But not quite the experiment I played around with yesterday...

Earthen Orzo Recipe
2 roma tomatoes
handful of fresh green beans
crumbled feta
cashews
orzo
olive oil
seasoned salt
garlic powder
red pepper flakes
freshly crushed black pepper
fresh basil*

This was a 2 frying pan kinda dish - it was all just throw it in and see what happens!  I was so pleased with the resultant warm earthy flavor profile that I decided to share it with the vastness of the inter-web...what is nice is that you can get both pans started simultaneously and knock this one out rather quickly: hello school night dinner.

Small pan:  heat olive oil and add diced tomatoes, cleaned and cut green beans, and spices - let simmer for a few minutes and then add in the crumbled feta and let them marry in a smooth cheesy harmony.

Large pan: heat up pan with dry orzo and spices - I was simply thinking that maybe I could infuse some sort of "toasted" flavor into the orzo (it may have done nothing, or it may have done something)....what I love about experimenting with techniques is that you (and I mean me) never know what it will contribute to the overall final flavor.  After a few minutes add in water.  I like to go with 1 part orzo to 2 parts water (this way as long as you use the same device to measure - you will get the proportions accurate!).  After about half of the water is gone I added in the cashews - how much is really up to you....to save on dishes I used 1 "part".  Cooking cashews was one thing I learned in Minnesota - it really develops the flavor and to me is one of the best substitutes for meat.  Alternatively, I believe that beef would have paired nicely with the beans and tomatoes......

Just when you think it is almost done (little water remains) add in contents from the small pan and let the magic of heat take over....it should look something like this....

...a marriage of flavor.

Serve with freshly chopped basil!


~Enjoy.








*from the garden (just for looks initially - but then it was POW: flavor explosion in my mouth!)

Cowboy Pizza....aka "BBQ steak leftovers take 2"

This morning I was welcomed to another overcast somewhat perfect day to snuggle on the coach with too much coffee and a book....however having recently "gotten back into" cooking and baking and the whole nine yards I decided to make a pizza to start the day....well actually coffee was first (of course)....then got the husband out the door and then this little experiment began to take shape...

Cowboy Pizza 
= yeastless crust (leftover steak + onions + green peppers + brown mushrooms) (colby & monterey jack cheese) + (grated asiago)


Yeastless Pizza Crust:
3 cups flour
1.5 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1.33 cups hot water (2/3 + 1/2 of 2/3)
0.375 cups extra virgin olive oil ( 1/4 + 1/2 of 1/4)

Mix the dry ingredients together and then flatten out in bowl, add hot water and oil by drizzling around the entire surface of the dry mixture covering as much surface as possible.  Briefly incorporate the liquid into the dry mixture.  Put on disposable gloves and knead dough into the bowl, this works well by rotating the bowl with one hand and knead with the other....the dough will mix together well.  Do not sift the flour.

Let rest while you prepare the toppings.

This was just another way to use the leftover steak that was grilled this past weekend over the charcoal....so much flavor...

I took the steak and cut it up in small pieces and added to some leftover BBQ sauce that I made over the weekend when grilling shrimp (this is another story for another time....but I do have to tell you that the shrimp wontons were a hit!).....back to the pizza: I thinly sliced the yellow onions, brown mushrooms, and green peppers.  I already had these on hand as they were the cheapest at the grocery store, which tells me they are in season!  Frugalness prevails....and leaves you with the best tasting food.

 I of course did not have enough BBQ sauce so I had to make a little extra...NO PROBLEM!

It's simple: sweet baby rays + can o' tomato sauce + garlic powder + red pepper flakes + little water
I like to add this all to a small sauce pan and let the flavors develop and cook into one another!

As soon as everything was set I spread out the dough, it was still warm and so flexible....I have to admit that I was happy with the result....I also have to admit that homemade pizza dough is always a challenge, and for me, often times a crap shoot as I can do exactly (or what I believe to be exactly) the same thing and it turns out to be rough, non-elastically, tough dough.....if this ever happens, it's OK to through it out and start over!  Be not afraid to fail...

Crusty crust comes from adding corn meal to the pizza sheet before spreading out....one day I will be able to do this right and actually have a pizza stone....then I will be able to show you a thing or two.....


Cooked pizza @ 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, then turned down to 347 degrees and cooked another 17 minutes!

Looking forward to enjoying this little experiment for dinner tonight!

Take Care.

Curry Tofu

It's been way to long since I have done this and I am thinking that it is time to jump back into the blogging waters and just get it all out.


Last week I made this.....

The taste was sure a surprise, I had so much fun playing around with some new spices like white pepper and cumin seeds.....it's amazing how quickly sometimes we can get all caught up in the day-to-day and forget about partaking in the activities that we absolutely love, love, love.....for me one of the best places to be is in the kitchen, apron on and ready to cook, experiment, and most of all just have fun!  Is this my calling?

Curry Tofu Recipe:

extra firm tofu

coconut milk

red curry paste

sweet potato

purple onions

cauliflower

red pepper

extra virgin olive oil

ground white pepper

red pepper flakes

turmeric

cumin seeds

I started by taking the tofu and chopping it into cubes and then let it marinate in the red curry paste/coconut milk mixture for a few days, this really infused the favor into the tofu - I would do this again.  Then on the day of, I began by chopping the potatoes first and getting them going in a big pan with the olive oil and spices.  Then I added the onions, let them brown and then added the cauliflower and put the lid on so it would steam a bit. What I love about the turmeric is how it dyes the cauliflower to a bright yellow....it is like the sun on the horizon....then I added the red pepper and let it sweat a little.  Finally, I added in the tofu and sauce and let it come to a simmer....then the secret ingredient that I feel took the dish from good to great: imported Italian fontina cheese.  Nothing but deliciousness!  

Serving suggestion: over a bed of basmati rice.

Mom's Coffee Cake Recipe

It is interesting the memories that we have surrounding the sounds, smells, and of course sights of cooking and baking from when we were children.....I have never made my mom's coffee cake recipe before but I know I have always loved it....as I was baking it in the oven last night the smell of brown sugar and cinnamon melting into a rich moist batter filled the air........I was reminded of a time when my mom would have a few of her friends over to watch Dallas together.....as we got off to bed the sweet smell of cinnamon would fill the house.  Of course, I can still remember laying in bed as a child hearing the theme song and laughter of women....the coffee was on and the chatter was always fun to try and make out what they were saying.....of course until the show came on....I always knew when the commercials were over as silence would fall....and soon I would be off to dream land.....

  What makes this coffee cake kind of special is the fact that I have the same pan my mom used to bake her coffee cake in!  I love old kitchen tools....but I have to admit that although this sweet treat is heavenly.....my mom makes it way better!  Check out the recipe on my blog about baking: Apron Worthy

Here's to an extra day of summer!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I am oh so excited about all of the changes and I wanted to somehow celebrate the wonderful day at work!  So in my apron I got......this what it resulted in....

 Here's what was on tonight's menu:

Carrots & Green Peppers
Spicy Turkey Meatballs in a Chili Sauce Reduction
Basmati Rice topped with Spinach Surprise


  Where to start....it all began a few days ago when I sent my husband to buy some meat....it sounds odd and a little hunter-gatherer-ish I know, but all we had was shrimp in the freezer, the Donna Reed of 1950's would be so ashamed of such a thing..at any rate, he picked up two packages of ground turkey.....what else was I to do....

  I cooked the meatballs in extra virgin olive oil...it makes a ton of meals....I only used 1/3 of them in tonight's dinner and we have enough left over for 2 more servings....you do that math....it's worth it.....in the back of my mind I wonder if it is Donna Reed's Dollar Menu worthy?

Take the 2 packages and add them to a large bowl....add in the following spices.....

seasoned salt
ginger
red pepper flakes
cumin
coriander
freshly ground black pepper

  Mix well....call me crazy but I love to have these on hand for these sort of kitchen tasks.....for some reason I can never get the smell of raw meat of my hands

.....or maybe it's just the science teacher in me that likes to wear rubber gloves!  I scooped the meat out with a soup spoon, I find that the best way to make them uniform size.....before I did this, I think I would get lazy and the last meatball was the size of a hamburger.....it was just wrong. 

p.s. I under-cook the meatballs

  I then took the first batch of meatballs and added them to a pot to simmer* with some of my mom's Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce .....it is the greatest sauce and I believe one of my great grandmothers recipes, my nanny has made chili sauce, my mom has made chili sauce......but this jar of chili sauce was made by the both of them working together......imagine the magic in that jar!....It is also wonderful also over a pork roast....but back to the balls.....I let the sauce reduce and that imparts a little sweetness which compliments the earthy warmth of the spices in the seasoned meat.....it really is something special.....I need to learn how to make that sauce!

The carrots were a lot of fun and super simple.....just peel the carrots....discard the outside......and then keep on peeling to get something like this....

...I then diced up one green pepper and sauteed it in the frying pan....woohoo one less dish to wash.....I ended up adding salt and turmeric....my recently discovered spice....it is a brilliant yellow.  You should check it out, or even better yet....tell me how you use it!

Put that to the side and then in the same pan (unwashed!) I added in the spinach and a little extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.  I decided to serve this over the basmati rice...which was also cooked in the frying pan ...........let it crisp up just a little bit on the outside.

 It was a simple delicious dinner.....

Enjoy!




*(this is why I had under-cook them....if not they would be over done or dry out....also this way they are perfectly cooked when you use them as a starter for leftovers....as the remaining meatballs go in the freezer)

Chicken Fried Steak.....

.... never thought I would see the day that something like this would not only be cooked in my kitchen but made by me as well!

  Chicken fried steak is actually steak (cube steak - it's pounded down so it is rather thin) that is battered and then shallow fried in a pan.....my husband was the one who bought all the ingredients for this one....I on the other hand had always thought that there was just something wrong with chicken fried steak....boy was I wrong....it was sinfully delicious!

 For sides I went with something simple.....asparagus and turnip & carrots.....for the asparagus I just took some of the water that had the carrots and turnip boiling in it and then added a cap full of lemon juice and simply let the asparagus simmer.....what I love about cooking it this way is the green color in the asparagus just pops....it's a beautiful thing!  Then to serve I just added a little parmesan cheese....

  Ever since I made the zucchini canoes with the parsnip filling my husband as been begging me to make them again......never in a million years did I think my husband would be begging for me to cook parsnip!  Fred Astaire sang is best..."Heaven, I'm in Heaven"

  I decided to keep it simple and for color also added in some carrots.....so, start by peeling the parsnip and then cutting it into chunks.....add to boiling salted water and start to cook....I also did the same thing with the carrots but added them later as the parsnip takes longer to cook.....then I drained them.....but I thought about the water - basically vegetable stock....and I didn't want to waste it so I used it to boil up some lentils that I will use for something tonight.....then I used a potato masher.....but since my energy was focused on the meat so much the parsnip and carrots weren't cooked!  So, I added them back to the burner - added a TBSP of butter, salt and pepper, and some milk....crushed it up as much as I could and just let it cook....it ended up tasting delicious so no one is the wiser.....I channeled Tim Gunn and made it work!


 I have to admit that since Chicken Fried Steak falls under the category to me as something that my husband used to enjoy as a kid (much like grits and biscuits and gravy) I thought it best to use a lifeline and call an expert.....so one call to my mother-in-law resulted in me learning that chicken fried steak is usually served with gravy.......oh the fear! 

 Side note about gravy....I love it more than the next person and usually indulge in the warm deliciousness of it at Christmas slathered all over the potatoes and meat....and of course then use the warm buns to soak up the remains on your plate....but making gravy is a different story.....I have really only attempted it once, but the results have encouraged me from that moment on to only buy gravy from a jar....for shame I know, a 1950s housewife much like myself buying gravy!  However, with direction from my mother-in-law and the peace of mind knowing that she was going to keep her cell phone on just in case....I decided to give it a try....

  Now I realize that it looks like mushroom soup....but I can tell you it tastes like heaven....after shallow frying the steak I turned the burner down low and added in some flour....watching flour fry is amazing......what a great chemical reaction....the whole time I was doing this I thought about how fun it would be to teach a food science course!  I kept mixing it up with a fork to get all the lumps out and scrape the flavor off the bottom of the pan....hence the speckled appearance of the gravy....I didn't care I wanted flavor not aesthetics.......then I slowly added milk (cold milk) and it started to clump up and then my continually mixing it came to the perfect texture (lump free!).  I now have gravy confidence and a date with a treadmill!

Finally, the chicken fried steak.....I started by busting out all 3 of my pie plates....they needed to be washed anyway as the pie baking contest is coming up soon!  I added flour to one, 3 eggs (whisked with S&P) to one, and the breading to another......now this was more of a 1980s housewife dish as the breading was from a box.....what can I say....my husband bought it....don't blame me!  But on a side note...the seasoning wasn't too bad!.....next time it's from scratch!.......So, it's flour, egg, then coating, then frying pan......I used canola oil....make sure you get the pan hot...a few minutes on each side and you are done!

  I always used to make fun of my husband for this and comment that it was just wrong....well I am here to tell you that I was just wrong...this for me is the ultimate comfort food.....some people have a thing for macaroni and cheese, or tomato soup and grilled cheese, or even something else from their childhood.....but my adult comfort food is now chicken fried steak!

Enjoy!