Braised Polish Red Cabbage

The health benefit of cabbage is not a new and trendy story.  A natural antioxidant and anti inflammatory, it's right up there on the "what to cook for baba" hit parade.  You can, if you're interest read more about the good stuff cabbage has to offer here.

East Europeans have always had cabbage, both green and red as a staple in their diet.  It's simple to prepare and with the right spices, the bitterness is gone and the flavour shines through.

1 medium head of red cabbage, shredded
1 onion, shredded
2-3 Tbls vegetable oil
1 cup water
3-4 Tbsp red wine vinegar
brown sugar to taste
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Wash cabbage and remove outer leaves that are usually dirty
2.  Cut cabbage in half and remove the center core.  Shred as thinly as you can.  Shred onion.
3.  Warm oil in dutch oven or good solid large pot, add cabbage and onion, reduce heat to medium.
4.  As the cabbage releases its moisture, the volume minimizes.  Add water and keep the cooking process at a slow pace until cabbage is soft.
5.  Add red wine vinegar, brown sugar (I used about 1/4 cup) and salt and pepper, mix well and allow to cook a few more minutes.

My mom loved the cabbage!  A hit!!
The condo building I live in has alot of Russian families who live here.  I've spoken to several of them about how they make their cabbage and many have told me to use "sour salt".  If you can find it - it took me a while but it gives it an added kick.  

Bierocks

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

My old friend and realtor extraordinaire in Winnipeg  Chris Krawchenko was showing off his home made Bierocks one day.  I was uber impressed and told him I wanted the recipe.  I didn't even know what a bierock was but they looked rather cool.  I'm always looking to try recipes, especially European recipes in my own small effort to keep some of the simplicity of the "old country" alive and in the kitchen.

My research tells me that bierocks (pronounced beerocks), also known as runza and very similar to the Ukrainian pyrizhky, originate from Germany and Russia and are well known (obviously not to me) as a comfort food of the harvest.  They're savory little pockets of meat, onion and cabbage and apparently the forerunner of the Reuben Sandwich.  Who knew?

1 lb ground beef

1 c. onion, chopped
1/2 green cabbage, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

In a large skillet on medium heat, cook the ground beef and onion until the beef is browned.  Add salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce.  Add the chopped cabbage and continue to cook until the cabbage is soft.  

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You can make your own dough if you like or use a premade pizza dough or do it the easy way.  I opted for the easy way.

The premade dough, although it's probably not the most cost effective way of making large batches, was an excellent choice for me.  I was able to find the dough on sale (my favourite 4 letter word) and it's perferated to a great size and easy to handle.

On approximately 5x5 squares, put a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center.  Bring the corners to the center and pinch all the sides closed.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and line up your bierocks leaving enough space in between for oven expansion.  They'll expand 50% in the oven.

Beat one egg and wash your bierocks before you put them in the oven at 350 F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Beautiful no?  

The most important thing is that these filled pillows are incredibly delicious.  The combination of the filling with the soft texture of the dough are a totally winning combination.  

The volume of filling in this recipe is enough to make 36-40 bierocks.  You may want to even double the recipe.

Reminder:  Don't forget to enter the Mymemories.com giveaway before October 12th.  Just go to the post before this one to get the details.