No Bunny Does it Better

Photo by Susan Wenzel

Easter is just around the corner which means it’s an egg’s time to shine!  So, I have to share my favorite way to prepare colored eggs for some bunny special.  

I usually hard boil and decorate at least three dozen eggs (one dozen per kid and one for ME!) which means there is blue and pink tinted egg salad to spare – for days.  This year, I’m excited to say, in keeping with my husband’s heritage, I found Egg-in-Wrap Polish egg sleeves available through Leemar Enterprises. They can also be found in a Polish grocery store near you.  This year's eggs are sure to be gorgeous - wrapped and then dyed coordinating colors. 

     

As for the coloring part, I quit buying the egg decorating kits with the cardboard punch out rings on the back of the box for dip drying the wet eggs long ago and now use regular old-fashioned food coloring in the little squirty bottles (and dry on a cooling rack set over newspaper).  The colors are brilliant and can be as varied as your wildest dreams.  The McCormick food dye we buy (Neon and Regular, if you please) has instructions on the back of the box for all kinds of brilliant and crazy colors (Stormy Blue or Watermelon Red, anyone?).  I follow them to the letter and am always pleased with the results.  (1t white vinegar, 20 drops dye, 1/2c boiling water.  Leave eggs in solution for minimum of 5 minutes for best results).

Now that you have a new, old way to color your eggs, I have to share the absolute best way to hard boil them.  I used to think I knew how but sometimes still ended up with green coating on the yolks indicating I’d overcooked them – yet again.  However, I’ve been using this fail-safe method for many years now and always have perfect results:  Place eggs in a pan and cover with one inch of cold water.  Bring to a full boil over high heat.  Remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand for ten minutes.  Using slotted spoon, remove eggs from hot water and place into bowl of ice water for five minutes.  Dye eggs a rainbow of colors and leave in an easy-to-reach location for the Easter Bunny to find and hide.

As a note, if you are not going to color your hardboiled eggs for Easter, you might still add a few drops of dye to the water to tint the eggs and ensure they don’t get mixed up with the raw ones in your fridge!

Happy dipping!

By the way, here’s what I don’t get about that rabbit, though.  The chickens lay the eggs and we cook them and color them, but he gets all the credit.  That’s some funny bunny business, if you ask me.    

Magic Mushrooms

Every year when we make our annual pilgrimage to Philadelphia, we set aside time to go to Krakus Market – a Polish grocery and restaurant. (www.krakusmarket.com/)  We eat a huge lunch, ordering way too much food – perhaps some Golabki (stuffed cabbage rolls), Bigos (a meaty stew), Placki (potato pancakes), and Borscht (beet soup). It is just so good and so rare for us to get up there (or to Hamtramck) that we typically stuff ourselves. Before we leave, we hit the grocery store and stock up, so I can cook some authentic Polish food when we get back home.

Tonight was one of those nights that I felt compelled to dig into my stash and make a Polish feast! I grabbed a pack of Adamba Polish Style Cabbage Soup mix for a starter along with a Silesian Style Potato Dumpling Mix. (I know I don't usually use mixes but I can't resist trying something new like these)

Then, I spied the container of dried Polish wild mushrooms staring out of the pantry shelf at me. I have never cooked with these before – ever – but noticed every single Polish grocery and deli we visited (both in Philly and Michigan) had copious rows of the expensive, funky dried brown mulch looking things, and eventually bought a 3.5 ounce jar of the intimidating Polish Borowiki. These highly prized and most popular of the edible Polish mushrooms are carefully picked in the forests of Poland and dried for later use. They are essential to many Polish dishes including mushroom soup, mushroom pierogi and Hunter’s stew (Bigos).

I briefly considered cream of mushroom soup but already had the cabbage soup thing going, so I hit the internet. Amazingly enough, I found a website called www.polishwildmushrooms.com/  There, I discovered a recipe featuring the "mulch" and some chicken breasts. It sounded good and relatively simple, so I got out my cast iron skillet and got to cookin’. First, though, I had to soak the mushrooms in warm water for 30 minutes.  And, just like magic, the mulch plumped up into recognizable mushroom-looking pieces.  Amazing. 

The end result was a plate loaded with tender chicken coated with a rich, thick and delicious mushroom laden sauce, the Silesian dumplings, a bowl of cabbage soup and a side of sauerkraut left over from the German style ribs I cooked Sunday (pork ribs rubbed with onion salt, fresh ground black pepper, garlic powder and paprika laid on a bed of sauerkraut, sealed in a foil package with a bottle of amber ale and baked at 275 for about 4 hours until the meat fell off the bones).



No longer will I be scared of dried Polish wild mushrooms though the price I paid is terrifying enough.

Try the recipe – it was delicious!

Polish Chicken and Wild Mushrooms
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (cut into halves for a total of 8 pieces)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1T butter
• 1T olive oil
• 1oz dried Polish wild mushrooms (soaked for 30 minutes in warm water and drained but not squeezed)
• 1.5 cups vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1t dried parsley
• 1/2t garlic powder
• ground black pepper

1. Season flour with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in seasoned flour. Lay onto a sheet of wax paper. In a nonstick pan (I used my cast iron), combine the oil and butter or margarine and heat over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned on both sides and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.

2. To the same pan, add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes. Combine the water, stock, cornstarch, parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper and add to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until liquid is thickened.

3. Return chicken to the pan and cook until chicken is heated through. Serve.

Pączki Day

Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival, Pancake Day - whatever name one gives it - this day is synonymous with good eatin'. Today - a day of excess and indulgence - is the last day before the Catholic Lenten period of fasting, prayer and penance. Some feast upon King Cake (I had a slice a few days ago and, for the first time ever, found the baby inside!) and others have their pancakes, but the Polish community has their Pączki.

Oh, to be in Hamtramck, Michigan today!  In my Christmas-time post, I wrote about the vast array of deliciousness found in the Polish bakeries there.  Few things, though, can rival the ultimate indulgence...the Pączki. This traditional Polish "doughnut" (for lack of a better term) consists of a round of deep fried dough filled with jelly, custard or chocolate and covered with glaze or powdered sugar.  In theory, these were made to use up all the goodies "forbidden" for consumption during Lent - lard, sugar, eggs.  (A single pastry can impart 800 or so calories - but who's counting?)

The crowd I encountered at Christmas pales in comparison to those crammed in on Pączki Day - or so I hear. (New Palace Bakery had t-shirts declaring, "I survived the crowds on Pączki Day!") While I once had the distinct privilege of sampling a raspberry jam-filled, powdered sugar dusted version, I long to stand hours in line with several THOUSAND of my closest friends on Pączki Day to buy my own white cardboard box tied with string!

(Thanks to the City of Hamtramck webpage http://www.hamtramck.us/ for the Pączki picture.)

Worth the wait

Photo by Susan Wenzel

The morning of December 23rd, my husband and I stopped by New Palace Polish Bakery in Hamtramck, Michigan (a Polish community within the city of Detroit) to buy Chruściki.

I first tasted “angel wings” years before when my husband took me to Hamtramck to visit some of his family still living in the area. His little Polish aunt presented us with cut crystal glasses of sweet wine and a platter piled high with this delicate holiday favorite to nibble while we chatted. So crispy and light, sweet Chruściki dough is irresistibly twisted into the “wing” shape, deep-fried golden and generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Although I tried to restrain myself, Aunt Dorothy nonetheless noticed my enthusiastic consumption – I challenge anyone to stop at just one – and presented me with an entire box tied shut with string to take home.

Photo by Susan Wenzel 

Now wedged in with several dozen of my closest friends, I took a number and eagerly awaited my turn to order from an extensive selection of breads, cookies and other traditional Polish delicacies piled high in the glass cases lining the walls and front window of the store. As I listened to people order, some in English but many in their native Polish, I dreamed of ordering some of each – Seven Sisters layer cake akin to a huge petit four, braided Chalka bread topped with sweet crumbles, Christmas tree shaped Keks adorned with multicolored candied fruits, even several kinds of Perogi and locally made Kowalski sausage (a favorite of my husband's I occasionally have shipped overnight down here to Virginia Beach).

Over a half-hour later, I stepped up to the counter and asked for three pounds of Chruściki and, tempted by the handwritten menus displayed on the back wall, a pound slice of Makowiec (a traditional holiday jellyroll type yeast bread crammed full of rich black poppyseed filling) and two pounds of Kowalski holiday kielbasa perfect for Christmas breakfast.

As I left the warmth and sweet smells of the bakery with my string-tied white boxes, I looked forward to sharing one of my favorite Polish treats with my own family.