PYROHI, the REAL ONES

                  On the farm, Mom made Dill Buns in early summer – HUGE ones FULL of potatoes and dill.

                “These pih-roh-hih are  the real pih-roh-hih,” my mother told me, as she deftly stuffed and shaped another plump dill bun.  “They are baked.  Boiled perogies are vareniki.”

                “Then why are they called pyrohi?” I objected.

                 “If people get mixed up when they move away from their countries, maybe words get mixed up too,” suggested my mother.

MARY STADNYK’S Ukrainian Dill Buns  (Veh-lih-kee  Pih-ro-hih z  Kropoo)

            For dinner at 6:00 p.m., start preparing the buns at 4:00 p.m.

Ingredients for Dough                     Ingredients for Filling

1 cup milk                                                       1 ½  pounds potatoes

1 ½ tablespoons butter                                    1 cup chopped onion (a 6 ounce onion)

1 package or 2 ½ teaspoons yeast                   2 teaspoons margarine

¼ cup warm water                                        ¾ cup chopped fresh dill

½ teaspoon sugar                                          1 cup dry cottage cheese

3 eggs                                                              1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon salt                                                          ½ teaspoon pepper

¼ cup vegetable oil                                          1 egg

2 tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt

2 tablespoons sugar 

4 ¼ cups flour to 5 cups

First prepare the dough:

1.      Bring milk almost to a boil and set aside to cool.  Add to it 1 and 1/2 tablespoons butter.

2.      Put yeast and ½ teaspoon sugar in a small bowl with ¼ cup warm (not hot) water. 

3.      Separate the eggs; the whites in a medium-sized bowl and the yolks in a large bowl. 

4.      Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks.

5.      Add salt, oil, sour cream, oil, and 2 tablespoons sugar to the egg yolks.  Beat together.

6.      Mix in yeast and milk.

7.      Lightly fold egg whites into the other liquid ingredients.

8.      Add 4 cups of flour, one cup at a time, and stir.

9.      Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.  Work in extra flour as needed – you will use about another ¼ cup.

10.  Generously flour the working surface again.  Set the dough on top and turn the large mixing bowl over to cover the dough.

11.  Let the dough rise 45 minutes or more.  Meanwhile, you have lots of time now to prepare the filling.

Preparing the filling:

1.      Peel and set the potatoes to boil in 3 cups of water and ½ teaspoon salt.  This takes about 17 minutes after the water comes to a boil, then drain and mash the potatoes.

2.      Finely chop the onion.

3.      Over medium heat, melt 2 teaspoons butter in a non-stick saucepan.

4.      Add the onions to the saucepan, turn the heat down to very low, cover the saucepan, and sweat the onions for 10 minutes, until tender.

5.      Finely chop the dill.

6.      Mix the cottage cheese, onions, dill, salt, and pepper into the mashed potatoes.

7.      Beat the egg and mix into the potatoes.

Preparing the dill buns:

1.      Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  (I used 375 degrees in my new oven.)

2.      Grease a large cooking sheet.

3.      Punch down the dough and knead it to remove air bubbles.

4.      Divide the dough in half.  Divide each half into 8 sections, (16 sections in all).   

5.      With your fingers, shape each section into a circle 3 – 4 inches wide. 

6.      Put a large tablespoon of filling into the center – it should be larger than an egg.

7.      Pinch the dough together around the filling and set the bun, seam-side down, on the cooking sheet.

8.      Leaving just a little space between each bun, make the rest of the buns.  There is enough dough and filling for 16 large buns.  (A bit less than 1/3 cup in each bun.)

9.      Cover the buns with a tea towel and let rise for 10 minutes.

10.  Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

11.  For a nice, shiny look to the buns, melt 2 teaspoons margarine and brush the top of the buns lightly.

12.  Serve hot with sweet whipping cream or sour cream.

Smach-noh-hoh!  (Enjoy!)

To Reheat:

            Chop an onion finely and brown it in 1 tablespoon butter or margarine.  Add 1/3 cup milk or cream to the pan.  Put buns in and cover.  When cream thickens in about 2-5 minutes, serve.

            Big pyrohi may need a bit of time in the microwave to make sure they’re really hot.

Note:  Mary also made smaller buns.   

As a child, I preferred these PYRIZHKY to the larger buns because I was more interested in the bun than the filling.

TO MAKE PYRIZHKY: 

Divide the dough into 32 sections.   Bake same length of time.   

                  

                 

                 

               

TELYACHI VIDBIWNI (Veal chops)

To balance Savella’s creamed scalloped potatoes (I just had the yummy leftovers yesterday) I needed a simple meat dish so I chose the simple recipe below.  

  

Savella’s Telyachi Kotlety (Breaded Veal Cutlets)

            4 veal chops or cutlets                                  1 cup bread crumbs 

1 egg                                                               ¾ tsp salt

2 tbsp water                                                    ½ tsp pepper

2 tbsp butter                                                  ½ cup soup stock or water

                                     

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Set out a casserole with a lid.
3. Beat egg slightly and add 2 tbsp water.  Pour onto a plate.
4. Mix salt and pepper with bread crumbs and spread out on a plate.
5. Measure out your soup stock or water and set by the casserole.
6. Pat the veal chops dry.
7. Start heating the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat.
8. Dip a chop in the beaten eggs and then in the seasoned bread crumbs.
9. Put the chop into the frying pan and repeat with other chops.
10. Brown the chops on both sides and remove to the casserole.
11. Pour soup stock or water around the chops.
12. Cover tightly and cook in oven for 30 minutes.  (They can stay in there longer and they’ll still be good – this is nice to know if your company is late.)
13. When serving, pour pan drippings into a small pitcher.

* A tossed salad with a vinaigrette dressing goes well with the scalloped potatoes and veal.  Just add chopped green peppers, capers, and a sliced hard-boiled egg to the lettuce.

**  I couldn't believe how good those scalloped potatoes were as leftovers.  They really are a company dish.  You could cook them a day ahead if you're expecting company and make your day so much easier.

UKRAINIAN FOOD EQUALS CREAM?!?

Savella notes that one of her dishes is very much like scalloped potatoes except, she says, that a Ukrainian cook would use sweet or sour cream instead of milk. 

My mother’s scalloped potatoes actually were made with milk, and I loved them.  Mom said she made them for Dad when she was just married.  "He just loved them, " she said, "I put parsley in it as well."

However, since we needed to use up some whipping cream, my chef-lovik followed Savella’s recipe, and it was delicious.

Kartoplya Zapechena v Cmetani (Potatoes Baked in Cream)

2 pounds potatoes

1 small onion

¾ cup whipping cream

½ cup sour cream

salt and pepper

paprika  (Mary Stadnyk’s touch)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a large casserole dish that has a lid. 
3. Finely chop the onion.  Put it on a dinner plate and set beside the casserole dish.  This is your assembly area.
4. Blend the sour cream with the whipping cream.
5. Fill a large bowl with cold water.
6. Peel the potatoes and put them in the cold water so they won’t blacken.
7. Dry one potato and slice finely.  Layer it into the bottom of the casserole dish.  Sprinkle it lightly with salt, pepper, and onions.
8. Repeat with remaining potatoes and onions.
9.  Pour on the cream.
10. Cover and bake for 40 minutes.
11. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes.

MARY STADNYK and CHINESE FOOD

When Mom was in her nineties, she was put on a restricted diet.  “But food is my hobby,” she protested.

                The restricted diet soon went the way of the dodo.

                Chinese cuisine was one of Mom’s favourites dating back to the late 1920s when she worked in a Chinese restaurant before she was married.  

                 In the 1960s, Mom found a recipe for spareribs that earned high praise from my father.  “Not bad,” he said.

Since there would be no UkrainiYum without my mother and her passion for good food, here is her recipe.

 MARY STADNYK’S SWEET and SOUR RIBS

2 pounds pork spareribs

3 tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2 tbsp oil

1 ½ cups water

½ cup brown sugar (not packed)

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tbsp soya sauce

1/3 cup vinegar.

1. Cut ribs in pieces.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Mix together water, sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and soya sauce.  Set aside.
4. Mix salt and pepper with the flour.
5. Shake the ribs with the seasoned flour in a plastic bag to coat them lightly.
6.  Brown ribs quickly in hot oil.
7. Pour sauce mixture over ribs.
8. Cover and bake in oven for 1 and ½ hours.
9. Serve with plain rice.  There will be lots of sauce.

And Mom loved Chinese Dim Sum . . . hey, chicken feet  . . . now you see the connection?

We even held Mom’s ninetieth birthday party in our favourite Chinese restaurant. 

    

DILL HERE? YOU BET!

 At a dinner party, a ‘wit’ once remarked that I probably thought the dish being served was Ukrainian because it had mushrooms in it.

But perhaps I might have agreed if it had had dill.

This  DILL DRESSING Bryan made for our salad tastes fills the air with a mouth-watering tang and tastes just as great as it looks.

2 garlic cloves

¼ cup parsley

½ cup dill

½ cup sour cream

¼ cup vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1.       Mash garlic cloves in a garlic press.

2.      Chop parsley.

3.      Chop dill.

4.      Mix all the above into sour cream.

5.      Add cup vinegar.

6.      Add olive oil.

7.      Beat all together with salt and pepper.

TOBE TATO, ZHORITISYE, ORATI: MARY STADNYK’S STORIES

Mom was wonderful at telling stories and jokes. 

Over and over again we asked to hear the “song/chant” about a young man talking his father into buying a car: 

Tobe, Tato, zhoritisye, sye-ati, orati.

Mi-nye, Tatoo, zhoritisye yak to garoo mati.

Ah vi, Tatoo, coo-peet mi-nyee garoo.

Ah ya boodoo z Mi-low na piragee

Ah vi z Mamoo zadoo.

Ah ya boodoo steermoovati,

Ah Mila troo-beeti.

Ah vi z Mamoonankoo boodati sigeeti.

Oozhiw garoo na dorohoo.

Pontiacih, Chevroletih

Ya ooshikh minaiyoo.

Yeedoo dalyee

Dorohi niznaiyoo.

Vay-yeekho na corner;

Ni-stalo dorohi.

Gara syi pervernoola;

Polomiw si nohih.

Kazhi Tato garoo prodavati;

Nohi reekhtoovati.

Ah ya garoo po feex-soo-yoo

Shob dobri robila.

Ah ya nohoo zeebyoo chvikom

Tai booda kho-di-la.

Summer, 1965:  Dad let me get behind the steering wheel of the car in the top picture.  Being the most silent man in the world, he gave me almost no directions at all -- just sat there, patiently.  When I got going too fast and hit three deep ruts together on a gravel road, Dad never said a word.  He just came around, drove the car out of the ditch, and let me take over again.  

PORK CHOPS and ASPARAGUS

There was always a slop pail in the kitchen for the pigs, but they were never pets on the farm. 

Come fall it was time to catch the first pig; not easy -- they’re fast and they’re strong.

Dispatched, the pig could be hoisted and dipped in boiling water before being scraped.  A better way, resulting in tastier skin, would be to cover the pig with straw and burn it before the scraping.

When winter came, frozen meat would keep nicely in a granary, but, before then, the meat was stored in Melnyk’s Locker Plant in Birtle

I remember a lot of fried pork chops because that was Dad’s favourite.   

Savella has a fancy take on this:  


Nachinyoovani Svinyachi Kotleti (Stuffed Pork Chops) – absolutely delicious!


4 rib pork chops, 1 inch thick
1 tbsp grated onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 tbsp chopped dill
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp butter
1 cup soft bread crumbs (I used rye)
3 tbsp milk
2 more tbsp butter
1 tbsp oil
1/4 cup sour cream


1.  Remove bone from the chops.
2.  Cut a large pocket into each chop.
3.  Cook the onion in the butter.
4.  Add the celery and cook a little.  Then turn off the heat but leave pan on the element.
5.  Fill the pockets with the stuffing and sew them up.
6.  Pat the chops dry with paper towels.
7.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8.  Heat oil and 2 tbsp butter in large frying pan.
9.  Brown the chops on both sides.
10.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add the cream.
11.  Cover and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.
12.  Remove string and serve.

My brother contributed some Holubtsi (Cabbage Rolls) he had made and I also followed Savella’s recipes for:

Zapikanka z Kalafiora (Baked Cauliflower)

Morkva Vipechena oo Cmetani (Baked Creamed Carrots)

For the asparagus I used my own recipe because it never fails.  I was interested, however, in Savella’s comment that, in the 16^th century, an Englishman observed bountiful amounts of asparagus growing in Ukraine!

PERFECT ASPARAGUS

1.  Wash asparagus.
2. Slice a stalk into 3 inch lengths.  Keep the tip separate from the other pieces.  Peel the bottom-most length.
3. Repeat with other stalks.  Keeping the tips separate, you will end up with 2 piles on a plate.
4. Bring ½ inch of water to a boil in a saucepan with ½ tsp salt.
5. Put pieces, except tips, in the boiling water, cover, and cook 2 minutes.
6. Add tips, cover, and cook 3 minutes.
7. Drain and serve with butter, hollandaise, sauce, etc.