Pork Roast, Wine Sauerkraut and Dumplings (Czech)

This is a King of Czech Sunday dinners. Without doubt, only competition is Svíčková, loosely translated as “Roasted beef tenderloin with root vegetable and sour cream sauce” which is quite complex to prepare. Pork roast is so simple: just rub a pork butt, preferably with skin on, with mixture of kosher salt, crushed garlic (I like a lot of it) and caraway seeds, place in roasting pan, pour about ½ cup of water in a pan, cover and place into 375°F preheated oven for ½ hour then lower temperature to 325°F and roast, still covered, for 2 hours turning and basting once halfway through. Increase temp to 375°F, remove cover and roast another ½ hour or till meat is golden and skin is crisp. It is traditionally served with hot sauerkraut and bread dumplings.

Note: Notice the perfectly roasted and crunchy skin at top of plate! Is it ever good!

The King of Czech Sunday dinners is ready for plating with no garnish or just bare minimum.

Chicken Breast with Gnocchi and Sundried Tomato Sauce

To describe this dish that I have created for Marjo tonight on a whim would be “Pan fried and roasted chicken breast with sweet and Russet potato gnocchi served over smooth sauce made from roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes and cream”. Yup, a real mouthful but it pretty well describes what I did. According to her it was incredibly light despite 1/4 cup of 35% cream that finished the sauce. I used store bought sun dried tomatoes and grilled red peppers in the sauce. These gnocchi were the lightest I have ever eaten.
I’ll post recipe if there is any interest.

Another Breakfast Idea

This morning when I opened fridge door and saw some asparagus, Swiss cheese and eggs I saw a breakfast.

So simple and utterly delicious. I just peeled bottom half of asparagus stem, nuked it in wet paper towel for 1 minute and then wrapped in 3 thin slices of Swiss cheese and broiled in toaster oven till cheese melted. While this was going on I scrambled 2 eggs plus 2 egg whites that I had leftover from other meal, toasted and sliced English muffins, plated it (on preheated plate as usual, of course) garnished with a sliced tomato and bingo! Breakfast done in about 5 minutes.

Next time I’ll wrap the asparagus in cheese and then slice of ham. My first choice would be prosciutto but no prosciutto for sale in our town.

Pork Loin with Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus and Tomatoes

Today, I have challenged myself (again J ) to come up with a meal that will include only ingredients I have on hand. First thing I touched in freezer were four small boneless pork loin chops, vacuum packed. Good start. Side dish was next and because in last few days we had rice, potatoes and pasta I felt for something else. Sweet potatoes, that Marjo bought just few days ago to keep our pantry stocked, filled the bill and since I had asparagus and tomatoes on hand as well the meal was done. At least in my mind. When I fetched the asparagus I noticed that I still had arugula that I have grown in cold frame and picked about four weeks ago before all the snow came down. It is still as fresh as when I picked it. Now I had a bed for my quickly sautéed chops. Next to chops I’ll plate steamed and then broiled sweet potatoes and then microwave steamed asparagus. Fresh small tomato wedges will complete the meal. I have to mention that this morning I broiled some hot Italian sausage ball in my toaster oven for snacks and knowing that I will broil/toast sweet potato wedges for dinner I left the fat in a pan. When wedges were nice and done I moved them on a paper towel lined plate to drain extra fat. Next, I poured a teaspoon of remaining fat into frying pan and used it third time to cook the chops. The taste was just incredible! I know it sounds like there was a lot of fat in this meal but there was no more then maybe 1 – 2 teaspoons for two people when plated.

Definitely a repeat, when I have the same ingredients on hand.

Stir Fried Beef with Red Pepper

While organizing my freezer I came across vacuum packed piece of flank steak. The method of cooking was immediately obvious but what sort of stir fry I will make wasn’t as clear. At the end I have decided that fewer ingredients the better. “Just follow the KISS principle”, I said to myself. Since I had red pepper, asparagus, green and white onions, decision was made for me. I left the flank in a garage to slowly defrost at 4 °C. In the morning it was perfect for slicing it thin. If you are using fresh beef, place it in freezer for about 30 minutes and it will be much easier to slice. Stir frying is very quick method and meat has to be cut very thin, no more then 1/16” to 1/8”. Then it was to decide what sauce it will be cooked in. Out came my favorite and well used cook book by Gloria Bley Miller “The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook” that I bought back in 1981 when I got really serious about Oriental cooking. I still haven’t seen a better Chinese food cookbook. I refer to it all the time for methods and techniques used, there are so many! This cookbook isn’t for a beginner, you have to have a bit of experience to appreciate and use it.

Here goes the simplified recipe inspired by one in this book.

To serve 2

1/2 lb flank steak, thinly sliced

1” ginger, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper

6 asparagus spears cut in half and separated (stems and spears)

2 green onions

1/2 onion, sliced into wedges

water chestnuts, sliced

1Tbs. peanut oil

Marinade:

1 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce

1 Tbs. Sake

2Tbs. Soy sauce

1 Tbs. Corn starch

Sauce:

2Tbs oyster sauce

1 Tbs. honey

1 Tbs. soy sauce

1 Tbs. sake

1 Tbs. corn starch

Mix all marinade ingredients till smooth and coat all beef slices. Cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Have all ingredients on hand, it will take just a few minutes from start to finish.

Drain marinade (if meat didn’t absorb it) and pat dry.

Preheat well seasoned wok till hot and add cold oil around the sides of wok. Oil should form a haze as soon as it touches sides of wok. Add slices of flank in one layer if possible and let brown (don’t move the meat) for 30 seconds. Flip over with steel spatula and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Remove the meat to preheated bowl and keep warm.

Lower the heat to medium high and sauté garlic and ginger for few seconds.

Add red pepper, asparagus stems, onion wedges and chestnuts. Stir fry for about a minute and then add asparagus tips and half of the green onions. Stir for about 1/2 a minute and increase the heat. Return meat to the wok and add the sauce. Stir till all ingredients are well coated with sauce and serve immediately. Garnish with remaining green onions. Serve with steamed rice.

Pastry Pie with filings (Kolache)

Yesterday, as I was surfing the net I came across a Czech pastry shop website. On a main page was a picture of Kolache. It is almost impossible to translate the word kolache, it is original Czech word. It is basically round pastry pie topped with various toppings; cottage cheese, poppy seeds and prune jam being the three most favorite fillings. When I saw the picture I actually could smell it! I had to make some for Marjo, she never had these. The dough is a bit sweet and super light and similar to brioche but not as rich. Same night I made the fillings and first thing in morning next day I made the dough and in afternoon I baked nice 9 pies, 3 of each. So good, that it is now on my permanent to bake list.

Top picture shows (left to right) poppy seed filling with almonds, cottage or ricotta cheese with raisins and plum jam with pecan.

Dough

3 c. flour

1 pkg. instant dry yeast

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3/4 c. warm milk

1 egg

1/3 c. butter, melted
Place flour in a large bowl. Make a depression in the center. Add sugar, salt and yeast and mix. In another bowl add warm milk, eggs and melted butter and beat till well combined.  Pour the wet ingredients into flour mix and knead until smooth. Or, put all ingredients in a food processor and run till dough clears the sides of bowl (my option).

Shape the dough into a ball, place in warm greased bowl and let rise for about an hour or till doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375 °F.
Divide or pinch a dough just little bit bigger then egg, shape into a ball and place on buttered cookie sheet, flatten to about 3/8” thick and cover with towel. Let rise 10 minutes. Indent center of each pie leaving a rim about 1/2” wide and top center with filling. Brush edges lightly with melted butter and bake for about 25 – 30 minutes.  When golden brown remove from oven and place on cooling rack to cool. Brush rim with butter while kolaches are still hot.

Cottage Cheese Filling:
1/2 lb. dry cottage cheese
1/4 c. white sugar (more if you like)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg yolk
1/4 c. cooked, drained white raisins
Mix together well so it is spreadable.

Poppy Seed Filling:
1-1/2 c. ground poppy seed
1/3 c. milk
1 Tbs. butter
In a saucepan, bring milk to simmer, add butter and poppy seeds. Slowly simmer till milk is absorbed. Let cool before using.

Prune Filling:
1 c. dried pitted prunes, chopped. Simmer prunes in 1/4 cup of water till soft. Add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and mix well. Let cool before using.

Ready for second rise.

Fresh from the oven.

Light as a feather.

Pasta and Cheese Brûlée

Last night I felt like another comfort food so I whipped egg noodles with short ribs Bolognese sauce (from freezer) topped with grilled cheese. I didn’t feel like preheating big broiler in my gas oven so I’ve decided to use torch just like in Crème Brûlée. I thought that it would be original but today I Goggled it and what do you know, there is a dish called Goat cheese Crème Brûlée. I was floored. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if Julia Child was first to use this technique, she was so creative. (And so am I, me think J)

Schnitzel and Potato Salad

Butterflied pork tenderloin cutlet with potato salad, lemon and pickle.

Tonight, I took a test run for North Bohemian traditional Christmas lunch: Schnitzel, potato salad and pickle accompanied by a beer or two. Tonight’s version didn’t include traditional veal cutlet but the substitute under blind taste test would be indistinguishable. I used butterflied and pounded pork tenderloin slices seasoned with fine sea salt, ground pepper and hot Hungarian paprika. Since I used only half of a small pork tenderloin all I got was two butterflied cutlets and two smaller pieces but it was more then enough for two of us. To add more substance to the meat I breaded the cutlets in egg wash and Panko bread crumbs and they came out absolutely perfect. Nice and crunchy on outside and, since the Panko coating provided virtual shell, the pork inside was steamed to tender perfection.

There really isn’t much of a recipe, it is that simple, just a process.

Cut the tenderloin about 1/2” thick almost through and then another 1/2” all the way. Repeat.

Spread flat, put in plastic bag and pound till about 3/16” thick. I prefer see through bag rather then traditional aluminum foil because I can see what I’m doing.

On one side sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika and roll both sides of cutlet in flour. 

Dip in egg wash and then drench in Panko.

The pan and oil is right temperature.

Preheat large frying pan, pour in oil about 1/4” deep, let it get hot and drop as many pieces as will fit without crowding the pan. After 3 minutes start checking for color. When light gold, turn over and shallow fry till other side is done. 

Meanwhile, serve room temperature potato salad on preheated plate, cut slice of lemon and slice pickle into 3 slices and reserve. Plate cutlet next to salad, top with lemon and pickle and serve.