Polish Potato Noodles AKA Kartoflane Kluski

2 large potatoes shredded finely

The secret to this great dish are the shreds because too big will not work-

they'll fall apart as soon as they hit the water.

1 ½ cup flour

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 egg beaten

Boil a pot of salted water. Then turn down to a simmer.

Mix all ingredients together to be slightly doughy, pasty but still mushy enough that it would fall apart. Put some on a cutting board or other flat surface to slide small amounts (about 1 tsp worth) into the simmering water.

Let the noodles float on the surface of the water for a minute or two before taking them out.

We serve them with caramelized onions, butter, salt and pepper or mixed with cottage cheese. In this case we had fresh ricotta cheese and it was de-lish. We also used chestnut flour instead of white because it’s what we had. If I were to use it again, I would cut it in half with white flour. It has a slightly bitter, strong flavor that almost takes over the noodle.

My grandmother typically serves this with sweet and sour cabbage. Easily made by cutting cabbage and putting it in a pot with a little water to cook it. Salt. Add apple cider or white vinegar and some sugar to balance it out. Serve!

This is a delicious meal commonly eaten among poor, country folk and has now become one of those wonderful meals you long for because it’s seldom made. When all you had to eat was potatoes, it was transformed so people didn’t get tired of eating the same thing.

Even if you cook too much of something and are tired of eating it, put it in the freezer for a couple weeks then eat it again. Or chances are you can change the taste by adding some new ingredients or spices and you have a new dish. This is where creativity and practicality meet in the kitchen.

Chocolate Mousse Pie

This recipe comes straight from Erik's Aunt Katie...believe us- you WILL NOT be disappointed. It's so rich and fluffy and full of everything you ever want to crave that it's satisfying with each bite! It is loaded with things that one with high cholesterol SHOULD NOT be indulging in. So proceed at your own caution.

This recipe is for a spring form. If you don't have one, you should know that it will make two pie pans but you will have to double the crust recipe. or you could pour off the extra mousse into individualized dishes to be served without crust- no fun, but it will work.

Get out a large, two med bowls. hand mixer, measuring cups and spoons, double boiler or two pots and a spatula.


Crust
1 cup chocolate crumbs, oreo or other
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
(if you're using a springform follow this, if using pie pans-double the crust recipe)
Mix them together and press into pans, refrigerate to solidify while you prepare the filling

Filling
1 pound good semisweet chocolate-not hershey's or something similar or it will coagulate with the cream
2 cups heavy cream
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
2 cups whipping cream
4-5 tbsp powdered sugar
4 egg whites, room temperature


In a large bowl...
Soften chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water. Let cool to luke warm (95 f). Add whole eggs plus 4 yolks and mix well.

Medium bowl...
Whip cream with powdered sugar until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Stir a little of the cream and whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold in the rest until completely incorporated. Put it into the crust and let it chill for at least 6 hours or overnight. (we were in a hurry and did it for an hour)

Cook OFF

So i arranged for the first of hopefully many dinners involving surprise ingredients. I invited people to come with any ingredients they wanted to bring with out telling what it was before hand. I made a meal with all of the ingredients only using those things plus salt pepper, flour and oil.

What inspired this? Well, many years of making something out of nothing. I've never been one for planned out meals with a chest full of recipes. That's one thing I love about cooking. It's art. I get to make up something. So when the ingredients in the fridge and cabinets get low it's always exciting to see what I can make with things that initially don't make sense together. For this dinner I tried to recreate this happening. It was a little small in numbers but great for the first time trying it. We had a lot of fun.

List of items
2 lemons
1 lb of cod fish
1 pineapple
1 head of iceberg lettuce
1/2 c quinoa
8 jalepeno peppers

I made a salsa to put atop the fried fish:
juice of one lemon, 1/4 of the pineapple chopped, 4 jalepenos all in a food processor with a pinch of salt.

lightly floured and salted the fish and fried it til golden brown.

salted the water + cooked the quinoa and cooled it for a bit. chopped the lettuce, add juice of one lemon (these suckers were pretty juicy) added the quinoa and tossed.

that was it! simple and delicious

Red Bean Chili

Chili mmmmmmmm oh chili how you make our systems get revved up!

I lived in Florida for about 20 years. As I got older, I started to discover the different food cultures that existed in my back yard. They've definitely influenced my cooking. So one day I went to this produce stand in Lake Worth to get some veggies. I always noticed the dried peppers from Mexico and decided to ask how to cook them. I've realized this is one of the ways I've learned to expand my repetoir. So this Mexican guy gives me this recipe. Today I've altered it a bit. See blow for original recipe.

Beans

Night before....soak 1 1/2 cups red beans or what ever kind you like. Boil with salt for 15 minutes. pour off liquid and refill with fresh water. Boil until tender. Add one large beef boullion.

Chili sauce base

10-15 Dried Guajillo peppers, take out seeds
1 Dried Chipotle pepper
3-4 cloves garlic
1 whole onion
3 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp red pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp sugar

Boil all ingredients together for about 30 minutes until the peppers are tender. Put in a blender and liquify. Pour back into the pot and simmer down a bit more until a mild thickness develops.
taste and add more salt to taste and 2 tbsp sugar to round off the dryness of the peppers. If you want it smoother, strain before adding other ingredients.

Meat

1/2 lb your favorite breakfast sausage
the one I used has a base of sage
1 chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil

pan fry onions, garlic and meat in olive oil untill all is cooked.

Add chili sauce and meat to cooked beans and simmer until it thickens. Et voila! Serve with chips, tortillas, I've seen some eat chili with rice. Top with your favorite fixins. I love sharp cheddar on mine with some Cool ranch doritos on the side for dipping. I know...crazy. Especially those who know my eating habits and lack of junk food. (except chocolate that is and special pies). I'm a sucker for great sweets.....stay tuned for the posting of Chocolate Mousse Pie.


Original Recipe for Chili Sauce

10 Guajillo peppers
10 Ancho chili peppers
1 whole onion
3 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp red pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp sugar

Instead of using sausage, I would use ground turkey or buffalo. The rest is the same.

pancakes with cranberry compote

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.


Compote

1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water

Cook ingredients together until the cranberries are soft, then reduce until it becomes thicker.

Pork RIBBBBBS

One thing I love about going to visit my Mom is not just her company and the beautiful mountains, rivers and lakes of the smokey mountains, BUTT the butcher. The first time I went there with her I had to use the restroom and in order to get to it I had to pass a huge pig hanging from the ceiling, draining of blood. For all you non-meat eaters suck it up; it's life. Anyways...the meat from this place actually tastes like meat is supposed to with out the price of whole foods digging in your pocket. So now when I visit I tend to stock up on meat, freeze it and take it on the plane with me. It's funny going through security but they don't seem to mind.

One thing I learned from a great cook is that there is a covering on the back side of ribs (which is the portion that rests against the organs) has a membranous skin that should be removed. It's pretty easy to do with a fork orcut a piece and peel it back. It allows the meat to absorb more flavor from the marinade and be more tender after cooking without getting that chewy skin. Sorry I don't have a photo of it.

I marinaded them the day before cooking.

Marinade

2-3 tbsp finely shredded ginger
3 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cane vinegar
1 tsp fresh cracked black
optional
1 bunch chopped scallions
I didn't have any to use
1/4 honey if you want a more glazed meat

cover the meat well rubbing all that goodness into the ribs and put it in the fridge. At some point you should take it out and rotate so that they don't dry out and the meat resting on the top gets some more marinade action.

preheat oven to broil
I cinched them on both sides then turned the temperature down to 325 to cook slower.
These are great! on the grill. And if I wasn't rushing them I probably would have cooked them at 325-350 the whole time to induce fall off the bone syndrome. If you have left over marinade put it in a pan and cook with extra soy and honey and pour over the meat (if you didn't glaze the meat with it while cooking).

Lamb Soup

To stir things up in life a bit, and to satisfy my cravings, we made lamb for thanksgiving. When all of it was gone i made this soup.

1 leg of Lamb with meat remnants
2 carrots
2 onions, 1 whole, 1 chopped
bunch of kale
1 chopped portabella mushroom, or other type
3 cloves garlic
2 lg bay leaves
1 tsp thyme
2 tsp sea salt
1 chicken boullion cube
1/2 cup lentils, any kind
1 cup brown rice, coked separately

Boil the bone in enough water to cover it. Add garlic, bay leaves, thyme, salt, boullion, carrots and one onion. I probably cooked it at least an hour. I tend to loose track of time in the kitchen. So I would say taste the broth and see if it has developed a well rounded flavor.

In another small pot, boil the lentils in some water and a pinch of salt. After it boils, simmer for 5-8 minutes. turn off and pour off most of the water. add lentils to the pot with bone.

Add kale and cook down until tender. taste again...adding more salt if desired. when it's all tender and tasting pretty good, take out the boiled onion and add chopped onion and portabella. Take out the carrots and chop them, put back in. if they are flavorless replace with fresh ones. Sometimes they survive, sometimes not. Take out the bone and cut off all remaining meat add to soup.

Serve with brown rice.



If you're wondering how I cooked the lamb for thanksgiving here you go...

the lamb was about 4.25lb
I marinated it over night by melting 2 tbsp of butter and mixed it with 2 tbsp olive oil, 3-4 cloves of garlic, 2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary and 2 tbsp +- dried thyme, fresh cracked black (pepper). mix it all together and rub and massage that leg like it's your partner. Poke a bunch of small holes in it like it wasn't your partner and kepp rubbing the marinade all over.

preheat to 450 F put it in the oven for about 20 min then turn down the temperature to 325-350 depending on your oven. It took about 3 hours to finish cooking. When you take it out...LET IT REST FOR ABOUT 10-15 MINUTES!!!!! You'll thank me later after you eat really tender, juicy meat.

Cheers to all lambaterians!