Turkey Paprikash

Last year, I finally took a trip to eastern Europe - a two week trip to be exact. I traveled to Berlin, then on to Dresden, Vienna, Prague, Krakow, Warsaw and, one of my now favorite cities, Budapest. While in Budapest, I took a dinner cruise down the River Danube. After walking around all day, hopping off-and-on their version of the subway, and drinking in the city, I was pretty excited for this dinner cruise (read: eat and drink until you can't eat and drink no more). I was HUNGRY (no pun intended.) The cruise itself was nice, but unfortunately, it was raining out, so our view of the River Danube and its banks were a little obscured to say the least. But never mind, because the food and drink was plentiful, and at that time, that was all that mattered.

Amongst the stuffed cabbage and other items spread on the table was chicken paprikash, a traditional Hungarian stew. Now I must admit, before Budapest and this river cruise, I didn't even know what paprikash was. The only time I had ever heard of it was while watching "When Harry Met Sally" ("Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash"), and my attempts at searching for it on the Internet were unsuccessful, as I mistakenly left out the "r," spelling it how it sounds when Billy Crystal says the aforementioned line. Whoops.

So imagine my excitement when while flipping through the February edition of Everyday Food, I came across a recipe for turkey paprikash (and noticed that it is spelled with an "r," because the word paprika is in there - duh).

The recipe is very easy to make, as I put it together in no time on a Sunday evening. Given that I am eating for one, I also had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next couple of days. And did I mention it is a healthy version? I didn't use turkey - try finding turkey, or any variety of meat for that matter, in Key Food - and instead used chicken. I also didn't use the full amount of meat the recipe calls for, because the price of chicken was just way to high. And like I said, I am cooking for one.


Turkey Paprikash
Yield: 4 Servings

Course salt and ground pepper
8 ounces whole-wheat egg noodles
1 small boneless, skinless turkey breast half (about 2 pounds), cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbsps. sweet paprika
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (14.5 oz) whole peeled tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Then drain. In a bowl, toss turkey with 1 tbsp. paprika and season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil over medium. Working in batches, brown the turkey (about 3 to 5 minutes). Transfer turkey to a plate. Then add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring, until tender (about 4 to 6 minutes).

2. Return turkey to skillet (along with any juices) and add tomatoes with their juices, 1 tbsp. paprika, and 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook, breaking up tomatoes with a wooden spoon, until turkey is opaque throughout (about 2 to 4 minutes).

3. Remove from heat, and stir in sour cream; season with salt and pepper. Serve paprikash over noodles.

German Sausages with Apples, Sauerkraut, and Onion

Although Oktoberfest and the month of October has come and gone, I found myself coming back to this recipe I found in the October issue of Martha Stewart Living. German sausages on top of sauerkraut mixed with apples and caramelized onions is just perfect for a cold November day. Plus, this recipe can be made in relatively little time with plenty of left overs. Just cook up some German sausages (I used bratwurst), put them to the side, then cook up the apples and onions in the same pan until soft, add the sauerkraut to the apples and onions and cook until heated through. It's as simple as that. A perfect cold weather dish sure to wake you from those cold-weather blahs.

German Sausages With Apples, Sauerkraut, and Onion
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

1 to 2 tbsps. vegetable oil
12 links assorted fully cooked German sausages (such as bratwurst or smoked knockwurst)
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
2 crisp red apples, such as Gala or Braeburn, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/4 cup apple cider
1 lb. sauerkraut
3 large sour pickles, quartered, for serving
1 Kirby cucumber, peeled and sliced lengthwise into eighths, for serving
Assorted mustards, for serving

1. Heat a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, and add 1 tablespoon oil. Halve sausages lengthwise if desired. Cook until browned and heated through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, and cover to keep warm.

2. Add remaining tablespoon of oil to skillet if necessary. Add onion, and cook for 3 minutes. Add apples, stir, and cook until softened, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in cider, and cook for 1 minute. Add sauerkraut, and heat until warmed through, about 2 minutes.

3. Transfer sauerkraut to a warm serving platter, and top with the sausages. Serve with pickles, cucumber, and mustards. (Sausages and sauerkraut can be kept warm, covered, in a 250 degree oven for up to 1 hour.)

Dzien Dobry, Pierogies

Mmm pierogies. The food of my childhood. These little dumplings filled with a mixture of potato, onion, cheese, meat or sauerkraut and mushroom were always around. Growing up, it was a tradition that every Christmas Eve, we ate a Polish dinner with my Polish and Russian grandparents. The dinner always started with my grandmother coming around with the honey-dipped wafer blessed by the priest. Then the adults would start on the first course of gifilte fish (noticed that I said adults - my sister and I would never touch the grey looking lump of fish covered in viscous material), followed by the main course: the pierogies and potato pancakes.

Until she passed away, my grandmother always brought me pierogies whenever she visited. All of her Polish and Ukrainian friends knew I loved pierogies, so they would make stacks and stacks of them, freeze them and then pass them along to my grandmother for me.

Today, I still love pierogies. With my grandmother and her friends gone, it is difficult to find real pierogies, unless you go to Polish deli. And forget about those supermarket pierogies you find in your freezer section in a blue box - they are absolutely dreadful. Pale, watery, insipid, they are nothing like real pierogies.

So I decided that I would carry on the tradition and attempt to make them myself.

I used a recipe one of the secretary's at work found in the free local newspaper. These are "Raymund's Place" pierogies, a restaurant on Bedford Avenue in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn (where nearly half of the residents are Polish).

The filling and the dough are very easy to make. For the filling, you basically make mashed potatoes, and then add a large egg, salt and pepper, fried onions and farmers cheese. I don't like cheese in my pierogies so I omitted it. I also found the filling to be a little dry, so next time, I will add some milk and butter to the mashed potatoes like I normally would.

The dough is very easy to make as well, as it is only flour, margarine, an egg, water and salt. Putting the two together, however, can be tricky. While the recipe calls for a heaping teaspoon of filling, I had trouble sealing the pierogis with that much filling inside (although that may be due to my lack of pierogi making skills), so I only put in half that much. Making sure the pierogies were sealed was also tricky, as the dough was very sticky. But adding flour to my hands, and sometimes to the pierogi itself, helped.

While this recipe states that it makes about fifty pierogies, I found that it only made about twenty-five to thirty. Since I clearly could not eat this many pierogies in one sitting, I placed the pierogies on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper as I made them, and then put them in the freezer. Once they were frozen, I stored them in freezer bags. (Freezing before storing ensures that the pierogies do not stick together.)

After I finished making the piergoies, and finished cleaning up the flour that I had gotten EVERYWHERE, I dropped a few into boiling water for my dinner, praying that I had sealed them properly. And success! They stayed sealed! Disaster averted!

I served the pierogies with butter and sour cream, and they were delicious. Just like my grandma('s friends) used to make.

Raymund's Place Pierogies

Ingredients:

Dough:
4 1/2 cups flour
6 tbsps. margarine
1 egg
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp. salt

Potato and Cheese Filling:
2 lbs. Idaho potatoes
1 lb. farmer's cheese
1 large onion
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter or margarine for frying
Onions

Garnish:
1 8 oz. container sour cream
1/2 lb. bacon

Directions:

The Dough:
Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir in softened margarine, egg, water and salt. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead mixture until dough is sticky. If necessary, sprinkle on additional flour or a few drops of water. Let dough sit for 30 minutes.

The Filling:
Peel potatoes and cut into small pieces. Put the potatoes in a pot of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook 20 minutes or until soft.

While potatoes are boiling, finely chop the onion and fry in butter until golden brown. Set aside about 1/5 of an onion for garnish.

Fry bacon. Drain on paper towels. When cool, crumble into bits and reserve for garnish.

Once potatoes have cooked, mash them until soft. Add fried onions, farmer's cheese, egg, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

Putting the Filling and Dough Together:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Sprinkle counter surface and rolling pin liberally with flour to prevent dough from sticking. Take a portion of the dough (amount will depend on how big your working surface is) and roll until it is about 1/8 inch thick.

Cut circles in the dough, using the top of a standard-size drinking glass.

Place a heaping teaspoon of filling on each circle. Fold each circle around the filling and pinch in the center. Then pinch around each side to close, creating a half-moon shape. Make sure to throughly seal each pierogi.

Once all the pierogies are made, drop in boiling water, being careful not to overcrowd the pot. (Depending on the size of your pot, you can cook 20-25 at one time.) The pierogies are done when they float to the top, about 8-10 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, fried onions and fried bacon bits.


Raymund's Place
124 Bedford Avenue (between 10th and 11th Streets)
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211
718-388-4200

Pasta e Fagioli

Last weekend, when debating what I should make for my lunch during the week, I decided upon Pasta e Fagioli, which means "Pasta and Beans" in Italian. I used Rachel Ray's recipe, which was extremely easy to make.

However, there was one problem with the recipe....

Rachel's recipe instructs you to cook the pasta in the soup. Bad idea. I knew knew knew it was going to be a bad idea, yet against my better judgment I blindly followed Rachel's instructions only to be disappointed. I blame hunger.

While cooking the pasta in the soup works if you eat the soup right away, it does not work if you plan on having leftovers (which you will unless you are Jon and Kate Plus 8). The result? Ten minutes after taking it off the stove, the pasta soaked up all the liquid like a sponge. Alas, soup no more.

My suggestion is to shun Rachel's instructions this one time, and cook the pasta on the side. Then you can add it directly to the soup when you ready to eat it, thereby avoiding soup-less leftovers.

What you will need:

2 tbsp. (or 2 turns around the pan) extra virgin olive oil
1/8 lb. (about 3 slices) of pancetta, chopped (I used turkey bacon for a healthier alternative)
2 (4-6 inch ) sprigs of rosemary
1 (4-6 inch) sprig of thyme
1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dry bay leaves (I used Italian seasoning in place of the rosemary, thyme and bay leaf)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, chopped (I only used 2 cloves)
Salt and Pepper
2 (15 oz.) cans of Cannellini beans
1 cup canned tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 quart (or 32 oz.) chicken stock
1 1/2 cups ditalini pasta
Grated Parmigiano or Romano, for the table
Crusty bread, for dipping

How to put it all together:

Heat the oil in a deep pot over medium high heat. Add the pancetta and brown lightly. Then add the herb stems, bay leaf, chopped vegetables and garlic. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper.

Add the beans, tomato sauce, water and chicken stock and raise heat to high. Bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. (**This part I do not recommend.**) Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until the pasta is cooked al dente. Rosemary and thyme leaves will separate from stems as soup cooks.

Remove herb stems and bay leaf from soup and place pot on the table on a trivet. Let the soup rest and begin to cool for a few minutes. Then ladle the soup into bowls and top with lots of grated cheese. Pass the crusty bread for bowl mopping.

Makes 6 big servings.

Peppers for Cold Meats

I found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, The Wednesday Chef. She, in turn, found this recipe (by Auguste Escoffier) in the L.A. Times. When I saw it on her blog, I thought it looked simple enough to make. So, when I was told we would be having roast chicken on Sunday, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try this recipe.

What you will need:

4 tbsps. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 lb. sweet red peppers, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. mixed spices (nutmeg, allspice)
1 lb. ripe tomatoes peeled and chopped, or 3/4 of a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of raisins
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup red wine vinegar.

How to put it all together:

Start by heating the oil in a big pot, and then add the onions. Fry the onions over low heat until softened. Then add the peppers, ginger and mixed spices. Cook for ten minutes. After ten minutes, add the tomatoes, garlic, raisins, sugar and vinegar. Cook over very low heat, covered, for an hour and fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. After an hour and fifteen minutes, uncover the pot and cook for an additional five to ten minutes. Store in the refrigerator overnight for enhanced flavor.




I ended up modifying this recipe a little by using golden raisins instead of regular, and using 1/2 a tsp. of nutmeg alone, since I did not have any allspice. I also used the entire diced can of tomatoes with the liquid, and did not find the peppers to be watery as a result. I also left the pot to cook uncovered for an additional seven minutes.

This recipe makes a lot of peppers, so if it is just one or two of you, then I would suggest halving the recipe. Also, while this recipe is delicious with meats, a little goes a long way. Think of the peppers as a condiment that you would use like mayo or mustard. I never got a chance to try the peppers out with cold meat - I ended up leaving the left overs with my family - but we did eat it with the hot roast chicken, and it was a hit. Since I don't particularly like eating hot meat with cold condiments, I took the peppers out of the fridge before serving so they could warm up to room temperature.

The result: