POTATOES from DONALD . . . Lezhni Kartoplyani

My brother Donald has always been a tease.

One of my first memories is of laughing and running from Donald in one door way to George in another doorway and not being allowed through.

In 1955, when Donald was away somewhere working, I wrote him that my 9th birthday was coming soon, and he brought me my first watch, a really nice gold-plated Gruen.  He still teases me about that!

Here Donald’s teasing my daughter with the I-got-your-nose trick.

We just visited him and Karen so Donald asked me if I’d like some potatoes for making perogies.  Naturally, I said yes!

But instead I’m going to make one of Bohdan Zahny’s recipes:

POTATO ROULADE with SAUERKRAUT

1 pound potatoes

4 eggs 

1/3 cup flour  :  What do you do with this, Bohdan?

½ pound sauerkraut

1 onion

¼ pound salt pork

¼ tsp pepper

1 cup sour cream

Salt

1.      Boil potatoes in salted water.

2.     Peel potatoes and mash.

3.     Mix in eggs.

4.     Put mixture on floured surface and pat into rectangle.

5.     Simmer sauerkraut in a saucepan for 15 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper.  Drain.

6.     Preheat oven to 350.

7.     Chop onion and salt pork.  Brown them together.

8.     Add onion & pork to drained sauerkraut.

9.     Spread sauerkraut filling over potatoes to within 1 inch of edges.

10.                          Roll up and brush with melted fat.

11.                          Transfer to greased baking pan.

12.                          Bake for 30 minutes.

13.                          Serve with sour cream.

I’ll let you know how it works out.  J

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DONALD!

***************

            The roulade was really good.  I served it with chicken, salad, and corn.

As usual, though, Bohdan’s recipe needed tweaking.  4 eggs is WAY too much; I left out one and the potatoes were still too mushy.  Also, he didn’t say, but the 1/3 cup of flour should be mixed into the potatoes.  Anyway, here’s the revised recipe:

POTATO ROULADE with SAUERKRAUT

1 pound potatoes

2 large eggs

1/3 cup flour

½ pound sauerkraut

1 onion

¼ pound salt pork

¼ tsp pepper

*Sour cream is optional.  You can put a small dollop on the finished potatoes, or not.

1.      Boil unpeeled potatoes in 3 cups of water with 1 tsp salt.  (No more salt will be used in this recipe.)

2.     Peel potatoes and mash.

3.     Beat 2 eggs and mix into the potatoes.  Also mix in 1/3 cup flour.

4.     Put mixture on floured surface and pat into rectangle.  (I had to heavily flour the counter and the top of the potatoes because the potatoes were so mushy, but if you use only 2 eggs, you probably won’t need so much flour.)

5.     Simmer sauerkraut in a saucepan for 15 minutes.  Season with pepper.  Drain if necessary.  (I had only a small amount of sauerkraut juice in the saucepan so it cooked away.)

6.     Preheat oven to 350.

7.     Chop onion and salt pork.  Brown them together.

8.     Add onion & pork to drained sauerkraut.

9.     Spread sauerkraut filling over potatoes to within 1 inch of edges.

10.                          Roll up and brush with melted fat. (I used bacon fat.)

11.                          Transfer to greased baking pan.  (I had to cut the roulade in half to move it.)

12.                          Bake for 30 minutes.

                         Serve with sour cream.  Optional but very good!