Dad's Polish Potato Soup (Zupa Ziemniaczana)

Palm frond received at church on Palm Sunday.

Palm fronds remind me of the season of Lent and the beginning of Spring. Polish-Americans would make extravagant arrangements of folded palm fronts and hang them somewhere in their homes. It's not done very much in the U.S. anymore, but I still like to make a simple cross-shaped palm frond and hang it somewhere in my home. Directions for making a palm frond cross may be found here.

I got to thinking about how I could never spot the fresh asparagus shoots as my dad and I drove slowly along the fence rows in Willis looking for the gourmet treat that signaled the beginning of Spring. “There. Over there. Can’t you see it?” He said. No, I couldn’t. I only realized my problem until I became an adult and found out that I had some color blindness. It wasn’t severe, only a few degrees off kilter. Maybe it was enough to make the difference between my recognizing between the green stems of asparagus and the brown weeds of winter.

I decided it would be a good time to make my dad's recipe for Polish potato soup. Dad didn't cook much, so I cherish his recipes. I don't even know if this is a classic "Polish" recipe or simply one associated with my dad's mother and my dad who made it in her style.  Either way, it is delicious.

Potatoes are a staple in so many Polish recipes. I especially love my dad's recipe for homemade Polish Potato Soup!

I hadn’t made Dad’s Polish Potato Soup in awhile. When I looked at the recipe I had it just didn’t seem right. The recipe called for browning the butter, but I remembered Dad browning the flour, not the butter. So I called my sister, Barbara, and she said that I was right, Dad browned the flour, not the butter. She had changed the recipe because it was easier. It may be easier, but if you don’t brown the flour it will still be potato soup, it just wouldn't be Dad’s Polish Potato Soup. And he would know.

Dad’s Polish Potato Soup (Zupa Ziemniaczana) 

6 medium potatoes, sliced and cubed
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1 quart of water or chicken stock
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups warm milk or half and half
1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste

Cover vegetables with water or chicken stock (I usually use lower sodium chicken stock) and cook until well done, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Cool slightly.

Put about one cup of the cooked vegetables in a blender and puree, adding some of the reserved liquid to the blender. Puree until smooth and return the mixture to the stock pot.

In a small frying pan, lightly brown the flour, stirring constantly over medium heat with a wooden spoon. This is the critical part. You must stir constantly until the flour starts to smoke and begin to brown. Don't wait too long as the flour will burn.  Set aside.

In a large pot melt butter, stir in the flour, and let the mixture cook until it bubbles and is well blended, about 2-3 minutes. Gradually stir in the warm half and half to the flour mixture and let simmer just below the boiling point or until the mixture is smooth and thick.

Add the reserved liquid and vegetables, stir, and let simmer until smooth and thickened.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the soup with pumpernickel bread. I sometimes have small bowls of cubed pumpernickel, shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled homemade fried bacon, and chopped chive available for guests to add as they wish.

You can also serve this soup with sardine sandwiches that were one of Dad’s favorites.

Dad's Sardine Sandwich

Sliced pumpernickel bread

Mayonnaise

Canned sardines

Sweet onion

Salt and pepper

Liberally spread mayonnaise on two slices of pumpernickel bread. Slice onion into quarter inch slices.

Cover one slice of bread with onion. Liberally salt and pepper the onion. Add 4 to 5 sardines on top.

Cover with other slice of bread.

Don’t plan on kissing anyone after you eat this sandwich unless they have had one too.

Morel mushrooms were a spring mushroom. At Mom and Dad’s house in Howell, Michigan, my dad found a lot of these in the woods just off the garden. They are a delicacy, hard to find these days. I have never seen a fresh one since those days in Howell.

Find them. Eat them! Enjoy! I wish I could!

Morel Mushrooms

One dozen fresh morel mushrooms

Salt

Rinse and pat dry. Cut off bottom of stems.

Sauté in butter and sprinkle with a little salt.

Wild asparagus is found along roadsides in southwestern Michigan. My dad and my sister, Felicia, were experts at finding them. I never could. Simply delicious!—Adam.

Fresh Wild Asparagus

Several stalks of fresh asparagus

1 tablespoon butter

Salt

Rinse, pat dry and cut into 2 inch pieces. Saute in butter. Sprinkle with salt.

When I Think of Spring

Rhubarb Pie--a spring favorite in Michigan.

When I think of Spring, I think of fresh wild asparagus, daffodils and tulips, and rhubarb. I don’t know why I think of rhubarb, but I do. I know that there were two hills of rhubarb growing way in the back of the farm behind the chicken coop and the asparagus beds, to the left of the orchard that never really bore fruit.


Our house on McKean Road in Willis, Michigan circa late 1950s.

In my own personal mythology I can’t remember my mother ever making anything with rhubarb. Maybe she made a pie, but it doesn’t stand out in my memory. But I have this obsession, every spring, to make a rhubarb pie. So I watch for it at my local supermarkets. Sometimes they don’t have it. Other times the stalks are just too green and I know there won’t be much taste or the taste will be too bitter. But sometimes I get lucky and I find a decent batch of rhubarb, not as good as fresh-picked, but it will do when you have the obsession.

In 1974, after graduating from the University of Michigan, I left for Florida in January in a snowstorm, and never looked back. Somewhere in the three years I spent in Naples, Florida, I acquired a cookbook titled “A Treasury of Great Republican Recipes” compiled and edited by The Women’s Republican Club of Greater Naples, published in 1970. The recipes included Mrs. Richard M. Nixon’s Barbecued Chicken Sauce and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Sugar Cookies, but the only one that caught my eye was Mrs. John Kyl’s (Wife of U.S. Representative Kyl of Iowa) Rhubarb Cream Pie.

It isn’t really a cream pie, more custard than cream. And some people don’t care for it because of the custard, expecting a pie more like cherry or strawberry that is only fruit. But for me, when the rhubarb is good, and the sweetness of the custard melds just right with the tartness of the rhubarb, it is nirvana. I think of spring and dream of new beginnings and fresh starts, and the scent of daffodils and tulips.

Rhubarb Cream Pie with Almond Crumb Crust

Crust:

1 9- inch pre-made pie crust (I like the Marie Callender Frozen Pie Crust when I don’t have time to make a real pie crust)
1 egg white, slightly beaten

Filling:
3 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 and 1/2 cups white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons half and half
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2 cubes
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare pie crust. Brush with slightly beaten egg white. This helps to seal the crust.

For the filling, stir together in a large bowl, the sugar, flour, eggs, butter, and nutmeg and mix just until combined. Add the rhubarb and stir gently until all of the rhubarb is coated with the filling.

Spoon filling into the chilled uncooked pastry shell.

To make crumb topping, sift together sugar, cinnamon and flour. Put in food processor. Add butter. Pulse until the mixture begins to look like coarse crumbs, about 2 minutes. Empty mixture into large bowl and add sliced almonds. Use two knives to break up flour mixture and incorporate almonds.

Spoon crumb crust topping over top of pie.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes. If crust edges are browning too much put a foil collar around the edge of the pie.

Cool the pie to room temperature before serving.

Serves 8.

Prep time: 30 minutes.

Bake time: 45 minutes.

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

This recipe would never have been served during Lent as it is such a treat, but I was making it for a pot luck this evening and I thought you might enjoy it. The theme of the pot luck was bring a dish that you associate with your childhood. Something with strawberries in it came to mind. We grew them at home and there were several small farms in the area that grew them for sale near Whittaker, Michigan.

Whittaker, Michigan has always been a small town in southeast Michigan. A railroad track ran through it, but I don’t ever remember seeing a train. There was an old sawmill near the tracks, I think abandoned, even when I was a child. There were a couple of small churches, I remember one because it was an African American church, and the other was our mission church, St. Joseph Catholic, served by the priest from Immaculate Conception in Milan, about 15 miles away.

Whittaker was the home of the Augusta Township Hall and the Augusta Township Volunteer Fire Department. Both buildings sat at the corner of Talladay and Whittaker Road. Each summer the fire department would have a strawberry social as a fundraiser. Picnic tables were often set up in the field next to St. Josephs. Even though we grew our own strawberries at home, there was something special about getting a dollop of stewed strawberries on a piece of yellow cake and vanilla ice cream served in a cardboard container.

Last year, my 80-year-old friend Paul was celebrating a very special anniversary and he was hosting a reception for his friends. He was planning to make strawberry shortcake for a very large group of people. We convinced him that that would be too much work for him as friends would be visiting from out of state so a group of friends of his got together at my house and made strawberry shortcake for about 75 people. We made three 9”x13”x4” pans. Less than a month later we once again made the same strawberry shortcake, but this time it was for his memorial service as he had passed away. His goal had always been to live long enough to make that 50th anniversary and he did.

Paul was very kind to me during a very difficult time of my life. He told me to keep things simple. And he asked me to quit smoking. And I’ve done both.

Strawberry Trifle

The recipe that follows is sometimes called a Strawberry Trifle as it incorporates vanilla pudding instead of ice cream. It has become my go to dish when I am asked to bring something for a crowd. It’s easy and everybody likes strawberries, cake, pudding and whipped cream. When I make this recipe I usually have some leftovers as not everything will fit in the pan, so even if I leave my dish behind, I know that a midnight snack awaits me at home! You can also readily adapt this recipe for folks that are on a low sugar diet by substituting Splenda for the sugar in the strawberries and using artificially sweetened pudding and whipped topping. We did this for one of the pans for the memorial service and I don't think anyone noticed the difference, except those who had to watch their sugar were extremely appreciative of the tasty treat!

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

1 box butter recipe cake baked as directed
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 quarts fresh strawberries
2/3 cup sugar
2 4.6 ounce packages cook & serve vanilla pudding
6 cups milk
1 21 ounce can strawberry pie filling
2 tablespoons butter, divided and cubed
1 16 ounce container Cool Whip whipped topping
4 tablespoons red currant jelly
1/2 cup sliced almonds, slightly toasted (optional)

Prepare cake mix as directed adding in 1 teaspoon of grated orange rind. Bake cake as directed. Allow to cool completely. When cool, slice about 1/2 inch off of the top. This piece can be reserved in a medium serving bowl. Put remaining cake in a 9”x13”x4” disposable aluminum serving pan.

Wash and hull the strawberries. Set aside about a dozen nice ones. Slice the remaining berries into halves or more if very large and sprinkle with 2/3 cup of sugar. Cover and put in refrigerator and allow to set for about 4 hours until sugar is dissolved and some juice is released from the strawberries.

Mix strawberries with one can strawberry pie filling. Spoon strawberries over cake, covering cake completely. Don’t put too much in as you have to keep room for the pudding and whipped topping. Pour remaining strawberries over leftover cake. Refrigerate.

Prepare pudding as directed. Whisk constantly during cooking as you do not want the pudding to burn. When done, remove from heat and whisk in butter. Continue whisking until butter is absorbed. Put pan in a cooling bath of ice cubes and water and cool until almost room temperature, whisking occasionally to keep the pudding smooth.

Spoon pudding over the strawberry layer until complete covered. Leftover pudding can be put on the leftover cake and strawberries. Return to refrigerator and chill for about four hours.

Top with whipped topping. Again, use leftover topping for cake, strawberries and pudding that was set aside.

Heat red currant jelly in small saucepan. Stir until dissolved and allow to come to room temperature.

The finished Strawberry Shortcake Trifle.

Slice all but one of the strawberries in half. Gently brush all of the strawberries with currant jelly. Arrange sliced strawberries in a rosette patter on top of the whipped topping using the whole strawberry for the center.

Decorate edges with toasted sliced almonds (optional). Allow to chill for about an hour before serving.

If you have a large enough round glass container, you could break up the cake and then layer in the strawberries and pudding leaving room for the whipped topping on top. It makes for a very dramatic presentation!

The Beginning of Lent: Busia's Polish City Chicken for Fat Tuesday!

A plate of City Chicken with Busia's Fried Potatoes and Mizeria (a dill and cucumber salad).

I wanted to create a dinner menu that would be suited to the weekend prior to Lent. It would have to be rich and filling as Lent is a time of fasting and sacrifice so the contrast needed to be obvious. I settled on a salad of cucumbers and sour cream, City Chicken for the main dish, and Busia's smashed potatoes for the side, with Paczki, Polish jelly-filled doughnuts for dessert. That should be rich enough! You can always skip the doughnuts!

Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream (Mizeria)

Ingredients for Mizeria.

“When my grandmother made this recipe, she would pick fresh cucumbers from the garden, slice them and salt them, let them sit for ½ hour to drain, rinse them and add some thinly sliced white onion. She would put them into a large bowl, add vinegar and sour cream, stir it up, no measuring.”—Barbara, my sister.

Mizeria (Dilled Cucumber Salad).

1 medium cucumber peeled and thinly sliced (I used the English hothouse cucumber because has less acidity)

Salt
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
4 heaping tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh dill weed (optional)

Sprinkle the cucumber with plenty of salt and leave to drain in a colander for at least 1/2 hour. Then rinse in cold water and drain. Mix the vinegar with the sour cream and sugar. Add dill and cucumber and mix well. Chill for 30 minutes. Put in serving dish and garnish with remaining dill before serving.

Busia’s Fried Potatoes

Busia's Fried Potatoes - simple, but delicious!

4 large potatoes, quartered and parboiled
2 cups carrots, sliced and parboiled
1 medium onion, quartered, sliced, and chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sauté onions in butter and olive oil in an non-stick frying pan until golden. Slice and add potatoes. Add carrots. Sauté over medium heat, until potatoes and carrots are soft. Stir occasionally. Golden bits of potatoes are good.

This bowl of Busia's Fried Potatoes makes my mouth water just looking at it!

Dad took Busia and me to Chicago to visit her sister and other family in the area. I have lost touch with all of the cousins in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It was a long trip then, along US 12, Michigan Avenue from Detroit to Chicago, so Busia brought along a casserole of City Chicken, so that we would have a snack along the way. Driving into downtown Chicago was awesome. It was incredible as we drove along Michigan Avenue, trying to find directions to our family.

A platter of city chicken.

City Chicken contains no chicken. It is made up of chunks of pork and veal that are put on a skewer, breaded, and then fried. Tradition has it that during the Great Depression, city folk did not have access to chicken as it was too expensive, so they made do with "mock" chicken. If you use your imagination City Chicken can look a bit like a breaded chicken drumstick!

Christenings were another event that were so important to my memory, as so many of us were born in the summer. Everyone would gather in the backyard of the house on McKean Road. If it were too hot, some would gather on the side porch off the garage. Food would always be served in the basement, where it was cooler. There would always be an oven roaster full of stuffed cabbages. Kielbasa was always served as well as potato salad. Sometimes there was City Chicken, but I never realized the time it took to make them!

Prepping for city chicken.

City Chicken

1 pound pork for stew

1 pound veal for stew
1 onion
Flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 celery tops, very coarsely chopped
Bread crumbs (I use Japanese Panko breadcrumbs, made finer using a rolling pin)
Wooden or bamboo skewers
Vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut onion in half. Cut halves into thirds. Turn and cut again into thirds. You should have many half pieces of onion. Microwave for 1 minute. Check to see if tender. Continue to microwave until tender.

Cut pork and veal into 1” or chunks. Spray skewers with cooking spray. Alternate one piece of pork, 1 piece of onion, 1 piece of veal, 1 piece of pork, etc. until you have about a 4” skewer of meat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Dredge in flour. Shake off excess flour. Beat eggs, add milk, and whisk together. Dip meat into egg mixture. Coat with breadcrumbs. Fry in medium hot oil until lightly brown on both sides.



Transfer to baking pan. Top with celery. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.



Serve hot or cold.

Finished platter of City Chicken.

Fat Tuesday! Polish Paczki Day!

My Aunt Sophie and my grandmother "Babci" would make these at Easter, but they take a lot of work to make. I am happy to find them here in Florida at my local Publix supermarkets.

It is the weekend before the beginning of Lent, a forty day period of fasting, sacrifice, and penance for those who are devout Catholics. My remembrance of Lent was of dry fish sticks, only marginally better than cardboard, with a little ketchup on them if we were lucky. We did have, on occasion, beet soup and potato pancakes, recipes I will post in the next few weeks.

A treat I did remember was Paczki, Polish jelly-filled doughnuts that were traditionally made on Fat Tuesday, except that in Detroit in the 1950s everyone had to work during the week, so my Grandmother and Aunt made them on the Saturday before Lent began.

Along the stairwell leading to the partially finished attic in the house on Florida Street, was a cutout pantry where many of the kitchen utensils were stored. I was especially amazed at the wealth and the large sizes of the mixing bowls, every color, size, and shape imaginable. The big bowls were brought out to make the Paczki.

They were nothing like typical jelly doughnuts found in a supermarket deli or even a doughnut shop. These were big, hearty, orbs of dense, rich, eggy pastry, often filled with jelly, usually raspberry, or sometimes only with a handful of white raisins in the dough.

Paczki are very labor and time intensive. The recipe I provide below is from our family, but I have never made them. In fact, I don’t remember having seen Paczki being made. I only saw and savored the end result! I called my sister before posting and even she, the great cook that she is, doesn’t make them by hand, but orders them from a bakery in Detroit.

I have no such nearby bakery, but this year our local supermarket, had something they called Paczki. They weren’t as brown or as dense or as rich as those of my childhood, but they will have to do. If you do make my recipe I would love to hear your comments. on how they turned out.

Polish Doughnuts (Paczki)

1 package dry yeast

1/4 cup water
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 whole egg and 3 yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
1/2 cup raspberry jam
Optional: 1/4 cup white raisins

Dissolve yeast in water. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, gradually beat in egg and egg yolks. Add yeast mixture, vanilla, orange rind and salt. Gradually add flour, blend ingredients well, and knead until dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Set aside in warm place until doubled. On floured board roll out until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into circles with glass or biscuit-cutter.

Place a spoonful of raspberry jam at center of each circle, fold in half, pinch and roll into balls snowball fashion.

Fry in hot oil or shortening until dark brown. Transfer to paper towels. When cool dust with powdered sugar.

Note: For a lighter texture, the formed and filled paczki can be set in a warm place to rise once again before frying.

Paczki come in several flavors, but I like the raspberry filling best.