COOKING in FOREIGN TERRITORY

Off to Laredo

I thought I was supposed to help Nicole out.  Instead she’s spoiling me.  

First dinner: Curried Chickpea Calzone with Collard Greens 

Taho for breakfast (consists of Boba, which is Vietnamese tapioca, and tofu)

Back home, Bryan is making dinner for our other daughter.  She says he kicked things off nicely.

Bryan wrote:  I survived my first dinner.  

We had a lovely evening. I served pork chops (cooked in red wine) and 

mashed potatoes with garlic and green onions. The endive with sundried 

tomatoes turned out surprisingly well. Every plate was cleaned. I served 

a sidecar as a cocktails and, damn, it was good!

I’ll be in Laredo for a while so I'll get be taking a few turns at cooking, too, but Elif Batuman has equipped me with the perfect excuse for any cooking disasters.

In her book, The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People who Read Them, there’s a story about a baker who was imported by the emir of Bukhara to bake the famous bread of Samarkand which is called lepyoshka in Russian or Obi non in Uzbek.

Unfortunately, the bread did not come up to expectations and the baker was about to executed.  “But there isn’t any Samarkand air here,” he pleaded, in his own defense, “to leaven the bread.”  And his life was spared.

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And no, I will not be trying to make lepyoshka.  It’s a circular flat-bread, thicker than naan, which is baked in a tandyr oven.  Another blogger attempted it and commented that her bread got too hard by the time it was browned.  My first thought was “Try a hotter oven.”   But my next was “Better still – visit Samarkand.”

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     Marilyn has just come back from the States and she says: 

"I had read blogs on flour and how Canadians who live in the States stock up on Canadian flour and I thought, "Nonsense!  Flour is flour!”  Until I was using what they said was the closest to our flour, Kings.  I did do pizza crust and cinnamon buns; they were okay but the texture was not as nice!"

Nestor's First Sailboat and Sam

"Coming about!"  . . .   "Cleat that!"  

1970s:  Lake of the Woods: 

Good times and wonderful food, often prepared by Nestor on a tiny barbecue.   

1976: sailors on dock: Nestor, Bryan, and Sam

Charting a course  

Bryan, on the lookout for rocks or shallows

Nestor, at the helm

Bryan and Sam, taking their turn

An island break

Not much of a sailor

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2012:  Barbecue Master 

Happy Birthday, Nestor!  

   Here are those big dill buns you asked for at Christmas:

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    

                            

1 cup milk                                                      

1 ½ tablespoons butter                                

1 package or 2 ½ teaspoons yeast              

¼ cup warm water                                         

½ teaspoon sugar                                           

3 eggs                                                               

1 teaspoon salt                                               

¼ cup vegetable oil                                      

2 tablespoons sour cream or plain yogurt

2 tablespoons sugar 

4 ¼ cups flour  to 5 cups

 Ingredients for Filling                                          1 ½  pounds potatoes

 1 cup chopped onion (a 6 ounce onion)

 2 teaspoons butter

 ¾ cup chopped fresh dill

 1 cup dry cottage cheese

 1 teaspoon salt

 ½ teaspoon pepper

 1 egg

 First prepare the dough:

1.      Bring milk almost to a boil and set aside to cool.  Add to it one and a half 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 up to another 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.      Cook the potatoes in lightly salted water.  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 onions, cottage cheese, dill, salt, and pepper into the mashed potatoes.

7.      Beat the egg and mix into the potatoes.

Preparing the dill buns:

1.      Grease a large cooking sheet.

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

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

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

5.      Put slighltly less than one-third of a cup of filling into the center.

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

7.      Leaving just a little space between each bun, make the rest of the buns.  There is enough dough and filling for 16 buns.

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

9.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

10.  Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

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

12.  Serve hot with sweet or sour cream.

***They are even better reheated!

To Reheat:

            Chop an onion finely and brown it in 2 tablespoons butter.  Add 1/3 cup cream (or milk) to the pan.  Put buns in and cover.  

Heat on low for 10 minutes. 

Before serving, cut into one to make sure it’s nice and hot.

When serving, spoon some of the thickened cream on top.

These are so much easier to make than perogies!  And so delicious!

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CRYSTAL and PINWHEEL BISCUITS

 Crystal, the photographer says

a fresh snowfall always looks so pretty when you're inside looking out! HA HA HA !

Crystal, the cook:  her Pot Roast

Crystal’s descriptions of the dinners she makes for her family make my mouth water:

January 9, 2013

supper is ready! just have to wait for Shawna Hebert to get home from basketball practice. Beef pot roast..(with potatoes, asparagus, onion, garlic, and gravy), garlic Alfredo pasta, marinaded shrimp, and a tray of tomatoes, ham, bologna, and cucumbers with dilly dip!!!
after supper I plan on hitting the couch and NOT MOVING UNTIL I NEED TO MAKE MY WAY TO THE BED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crystal in the Distant Future:

·         Crystal’s Friend:  We're looking good!!!! A night on the town is needed.....off to the bingo hall.

Crystal  i was thinkin more along the lines of prowling for guys! after all.we are pretty hawt!

Crystal October, 2012

floors washed, laundry done, kids picked up after, beds made, dishes washed.........
NOW I CAN GO TO MY "PAYING" JOB!!

thank gawd i'm not bitter about things! LOL

Crystal, the mom

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Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Crystal, and . . . 

Running shoes.   Your funny comments remind me of 1988, when my girls were about the same age as Nathan and Justin are now.

That’s also when I first discovered one of my best recipes:

    

PINWHEELS

From The New Purity Cookbook

1/3 cup butter (at room temperature)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

2 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ cup butter (at room temperature)

1 cup milk

1.      Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2.     Grease a baking sheet.

3.     Cream together 1/3 cup butter and 2/3 cup brown sugar.  Set aside.

4.     In a food processor, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.

5.     Add butter and blend until mixed in.

6.     Turn flour mixture into a large mixing bowl.

7.     Stir in milk to make a dough.  Do not overwork it.

8.     Turn dough out onto a floured surface.  Sprinkle top of dough lightly with flour and pat and roll it out until about one-half inch thick.

9.     Spread the dough with the reserved butter and brown sugar.

10.                         Roll up like a jelly roll.

11.                         Cut into slices and place on baking sheet.

12.                          Bake for 14 minutes.  (This will depend on your oven.  They might be done in 12 minutes.)

LONG WALKS and HETMAN SOUP

Rain or shine, a long walk-and-talk with my daughter is lovely.

Blackie Spit, February, 2012

Raccoons, pheasants, eagles, herons, loons, amazing  ducks, an escaped parrot  . . .  we never know what we'll see.

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30 below on the Prairies or 6 above on the West Coast, soup is the answer.

         From The New Ukrainian Cookbook by Annette Ogrodnik Corona

Start making Hetman soup a day ahead of when you want to serve it so that you can degrease the broth.  It will taste great and be so much better for you.  J

HETMAN SHORT-RIB SOUP  (Yushka z reber, po-het’mans’ky)

             

2 lbs beef short ribs

2 cloves garlic

¼ cup flour mixed with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper

2 tbsp bacon fat (or vegetable oil)

½ cup finely chopped ham

1 ½ cups dry red wine  (or vegetable stock or water)

½ cup vegetable stock  (or water)

1 large onion

2 cups sliced mushrooms (6 or 7 mushrooms)

1 large potato

2 cups meat stock  (from boiling chicken, duck, pork, or beef bones)

1 cup stewed tomatoes

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

DAY ONE:

·        Crush the garlic and rub into the ribs.

·        Using a plastic bag, toss the ribs to coat in the seasoned flour.

·        In a Dutch oven, over medium high heat, brown the ribs in the bacon fat or oil.

·        Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

·        Add the ham, wine, and vegetable stock (or water).         

·        Bring to a boil. 

·        Cover and cook in the oven for 90 minutes.

·        Let cool.  Separate the meat from the broth.  Refrigerate both overnight.

DAY TWO

*Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

*Remove the congealed fat from the broth and pour into Dutch oven.

* Add the additional 2 cups of meat stock.

* Add the meat to the broth.

* Chop the onion.

* Slice the mushrooms.

* Blend the stewed tomatoes in a food processor.

* Add onion, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and tomatoes to the Dutch oven. 

* Bring to a boil.

* Meanwhile, chop the potato in one inch squares.

* Add potato to the Dutch oven.

* Cover and cook in preheated oven for  another hour.

* Taste for seasoning.

I served this in bowls first as a stew.    

This left enough broth to serve later as a soup.

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P.S.   According to Wikipedia, a hetman was a commander of the Zaporozhian Cossacks at the end of the 16^th century.  In 1764, the position was abolished by Catherine the Great of Russia.

 Ukraine:  Outdoor Museum

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“Love is like a good horse; it carries the man.”

(Old Ukrainian Proverb)