For some Jewish people, celebrating aspects of Christmas is a common occurance. Do a Google search on "Jews celebrating Christmas" and you'll find several debates on whether having a Christmas tree (or Hanukkah Bush) is acceptable. It's hard not to feel like you're missing out on something when everyone around you is preparing for Christmas.
Growing up, we celebrated Christmas because there have always been non-Jewish family members. Actually, we probably celebrated it more than a lot of Catholic families (we had all nine reindeer in our basement next to a manger scene, with so many presents that you couldn't even touch the tree) -- a slight glimpse into the insanity that is my family.
Nowadays, I go on a "we're Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas" soapbox starting about 1 month before Christmas. Inevitably, I still get "Hanukkah presents" on Christmas. It's a losing battle.
Never ones to miss out an opportunity to cook way too much food, here's the feast we had at Giz's place.
Giz will tell you about the desserts -- there were just as many selections of desserts as mains and sides combined. It's a good thing there were 7 of us The seven of us combined hardly made a dent in the food.
Earlier in the summer, R and I took a trip to Winnipeg for a 2nd wedding reception (a compromise for having a small reception in Ottawa that excluded extended family).
Where is Winnipeg, you ask? It's the capital city of the Province of Manitoba, located at the geographic centre of Canada. The population is around 650,000
Going to Winnipeg requires a visit to some of the local institutions to get my fill of the treats I grew up with. Let me show what would easily be a "not-so-healthy but filled with delicious food day".
The first stop was a place I had never been to, The Eye Opener, but a good place for breakfast. R had the "Winnipeger", stuffed with chopped kulbassa, green onions and cheddar cheese.
Giz had "The Eye Opener"
Knowing that we would be running from one food store to the next, we took pity on R and dropped him off. We then proceeded to Gunn's bakery. This well known bakery has been providing Winnipegers with old country style, kosher baking since 1937. Well, it's kosher -- but open on Saturday.
After Gunn's, we stopped in to Alycia's Perogies. This is, apparently, the recipe for their dough.
Both Giz and I have blueberry perogies on our minds since seeing Adam's post. Unfortunately, they hadn't received their shipment of blueberries yet. So, I picked up a couple dozen cheese and onion stuffed perogies to freeze and take home with me. WAY better than the mass-produced crap R buys at the grocery store here.
After Alycia's, we headed went to a family dinner. On the menu was steak flown in from Toronto (care of Giz's Purolator Services).
Kosher steaks are available in Winnipeg, but not as readily as Toronto.
Such a good meal -- the steak was so flavourful. It makes me want to invest in some kosher steaks.
I was also thrilled to find that another favourite was on the menu....Jeanne's cake! Jeanne's cakes are a favourite of many Winnipegers, so much so that they're sold at the airport.
Yes...the cake says, "Can't leave Winnipeg without a Jeanne's cake".
Jeanne's cakes are known for their cookie bottom and shaved chocolate sides. I'm drooling already.
Ok...I know you're thinking -- holy crap, how much did you eat in one day. But, it doesn't end there. Oh the shame.
Unfortunately, we had to run quickly from dinner to catch a Bombers' game, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, that is. It was nice to catch up with some friends, but with the Bombers' making only one down during the first half, it was probably one of the worst games all year.
Since it had been a couple of hours since dessert, it seemed reasonable to go for a second dessert at Baked Expectations.
It was a long shot, but I had high hopes for my favourite cake being available.
I've had some unlucky experiences with this cake before (note: language warning if you follow the link). But, the stars were aligned and when I walked in, I saw that there were two slices of pavlova left. Before sitting down, I found a waiter and told him to save a slice for me and sat anxiously waiting for my slice.
Oh..pavlova...I miss you.
My friend got a slice of German Chocolate Cheesecake...
and R got a slice of Cinnamon Tort...
50 gazillion calories later, we decided to call it a night. The next day would be the reception, so we needed to rest up.
There you have it, a quick tour of some of the food sites Winnipeg has to offer. Proof -- Winnipeg truly exists!
This month's Recipes to Rival event (a monthly savoury challenge) gave Kat from A Good Appetite and Equal Opportunity Kitchen an opportunity to co-host. Growing up in Winnipeg, with a large Ukrainian community, it was not uncommon to smell beet leaf holopchi roasting in the neighbourhood. On a business trip to Dauphin, located in Northern Manitoba, I scored when I found a local cookbook that featured beet leaf holopchi. Inspired by the Keld Community Ladies Club in Ashville, Manitoba, we chose a recipe rooted in peasant culture. The beet leaf holopchi recipe depicts the ability of people to take the most modest of ingredients and make them into something entirely delicious.
This is not your usual cabbage roll - can you imagine a bread dough wrapped in beet leaves and baked in a creamy, garlic, onion and dill sauce.
Bread Dough:
2 pkgs. yeast 1/2 cup warm water 1 tsp sugar 2 cups scalded milk 4 cups warm water 1/4 cup melted butter 8 cups flour 3 eggs, beaten 2 Tbsp salt 1 Tbsp Sugar 6 1/2 cups flour
Note: When I first saw this recipe I thought it was wrong - how many recipes need THAT much flour. I used the recipe and indeed had to add more to get the right consistency. AND I ran out of dough before I ran out of beet leaves.
The next time I made these I would just go out and buy a frozen unbaked dough - so much easier and I suspect the result would be very similar.
Directions
1. Dissolve 1 ts. sugar in 1/2 cup tepid water, sprinkle with yeast and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. To the milk-water liquid add the melted butter, dissolved yeast and 8 cups of flour. Let rise in a warm place until double in bulk (about 1 hour)
3. Add salt, beaten eggs, sugar and remaining flour.
4. Knead well until dough is smooth and top with melted butter or oil.
5. Place in a warm place and let rise until double in bulk. It will take about 2 hours. Punch down . When dough has risen to double in bulk, place a piece of dough, the size of a walnut on a beet leaf and roll up (leaving sides open)
6. Place holopchi loosely in a pot to allow for dough to rise to double in bulk again.
7. Arrange in layers, dotting each layer with butter.
8. Cover tightly, bake in a moderate oven of 350 F for 3/4 to 1 hour. Serve with dill sauce or cream and onion sauce. (I baked mine longer - about 1 1/2 hours and was happy with the result)
Sauce 1/2 cup butter 2 cups whipping cream 8 small onions (I used chives) 2 handfuls of chopped fresh dill (this makes the whole dish) 2-4 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine
Melt butter in saucepan. Add onions (chives) garlic, dill and cream. Let it come to a boil and then turn down the heat. I like to cook the holopchi with the sauce but you don't have to. You can add it later - just make sure you have enough butter in roasting pan before layering your beet leaf rolls.
For a very saucy holopchi, double the recipe - you'll be happy you did.
The verdict: This is not a 5 minute recipe. When you commit to making it - it's an adventure - most definitely a worthwhile one. This recipe filled an open roaster and a turkey sized roaster
Whether we call them pyrohy, vareniki, perogy, perohi, pirogen or dumplings, it's all essentially the same unleveaned dough filled with a myriad of fillings. My hometown community had two very large populations of Ukrainians and Poles and there was always this ongoing banter about whether cottage cheese filling or cheddar filling was the "right" way to make them. At the end of the day - who cares - they're all delicious. This delicious dish is flying over to Potato Ho Down sponsored by Cathy at Noble Pig and Krysta from Evil Chef Mom . I mean I can't even imagine that you haven't visited either of these blogs but if in the very remote chance that you haven't, sit down, go visit and tell me later that you haven't been entertained. If you do, I just won't even believe you.
The ladies' church groups start very early in the morning and gather round a very large table creating this assembly line cranking out literlly hundreds of dozens of perogies. I doubt this tradition will live to the next generation but what an incredible site to see these arthritic but still nimble perogie fingers pinching dough at the speed of light.
This dough is really a no fail dough. It's another one of the country favourite recipes gleaned from the Keld Community Ladies Club in Ashville, Manitoba. It's fun to get a few friends together and make about 30-50 dozen and share them among families. The kids love pinching the perogies too and at the end of it all, everybody eats. What could be bad?
Ingredients:
6 cups all purpose flour 2 tsp salt 4 Tbsp cooking oil Approximately 2-7/8 cups warm water
Method:
Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add oil to water and pour over flour. Knead well. Use a little more flour if the dough is sticky, however, try not to add too much flour, as this will make the dough tough.
Perogie dough should be soft. Let rest in a covered bowl about 15 minutes. Roll out thin (as in pie crust) Cut into circles using a drinking glass or an empty soup can.
Place about one tsp filling on each circle.
Fold over and pinch edges well.
Drop into boiling salted water and cook until perogies float to the surface and appear puffy (a distinct culinary term).
Drain and pour melted butter over them (or not) Serve with onions fried in butter or with sour cream. These are just boiled with sour cream on top.
Psychgrad's note: Pan or deep fried perogies are also quite good!
This dough should make approximately 14 dozen.
Note: I don't cook them right away. I put them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and flash freeze them (very important for avoiding one big clump of frozen perogie), put them in ziplock bags and take out what I need when I need it. Perogies freeze very well.
Fillings
The fillings for perogies are plentiful - from potato with many variations such as fried onion, raw onion, bacon, and/or cheese, to meat fillings to fruit fillings. For this batch I went very easy - a simple combination of mashed potatoes and cheese whiz, more or less depending on how cheesy you want them. I could also have used shredded cheddar.
Psychgrad's note: Like, Giz, I really encourage you to try this recipe with a group of 2-3. 15 dozen perogies may not seem like much, but can be very tiring to do on your own.
Coming from a city in the midwest with a large Polish and Ukrainian population, this dish would be considered a staple in either ethnic home. I've learned that everyone creates their own version and whether you call it holopchi (hole-op-chee) or cabbage rolls, it's all good. Some prefer a combination of more rice to meat while others do the exact opposite. Some people add bacon, others don't. It's not exactly a Rachel Ray 30 minute special, but the extra time you spend is so worth it, especially if you're making alot. These freeze well and when reheated, you'd think you just made them. They also warm up well in the microwave.
Usually in the spring, when the beet leaves are young and small, a dish called beet leaf holopchi is made filling the young beet leaves with dough and smothering them in a creamy dill sauce. At first I thought this sounded a little gross, but, I guarantee you, it's highly addictive. I'll find and create this recipe as the warmer weather comes and vegetables begin to grow again in our part of the world.
I'm sharing my personal recipe and I'm sure holopchi purists may take issue but hey, it's my blog and I'll fry if I want to.
Ingredients:
1 medium size head green cabbage 3 lb ground meat (I used 1 lb each of minced beef, veal and pork) 1 large onion diced very small 3 eggs 1 1/2 cups raw rice - any rice will do (I've even used minute rice and it works) 1 28 oz can of tomato juice salt and pepper to taste
Filling:
1. Place minced meat, eggs, raw rice, salt and pepper in a bowl. 2. Saute finely minced onion until just lightly carmelized. 3. Add to bowl and mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Process:
1. With a sharp knife, carefully cut a square around the core. If you don't do this it'll be such a pain to get the leaves off. 2. Place cabbage in a stock pot and add water as high as you can without giving it cause to boil over. If you can, put a lid on the pot. 3. Bring water to a boil and turn down to medium. As the steam works it's way through the cabbage, the leaves will begin to loosen up. 4. With a pair of tongues gently take each leaf off one at a time and place in large colander to cool.
5. Cut away the centre rib from each leaf. I started doing this and then just got impatient and managed with the rib in. When it cooks it'll all soften up anyways.
6. Fill each leaf with a heaping tablespoon of filling - sometimes more if the leaf is very large. Place the filling in the centre of the leaf on the portion that's closest to you.
7. Start to roll away from you, folding the sides to the centre and continue to roll 8. Repeat until you've used up all the filling and as many of the leaves as you can.
9. Pour scant amount of tomato juice on bottom of the roaster to just cover. 10. Line with leftover cabbage leaves. This keeps the cabbage rolls from potentially burning on the bottom 11. Add all the cabbage rolls to the roaster and add the remainder of the tomato juice.
Note: I find I like more tomato juice especially for a reheat when alot of the juice seems to disappear so I added more. I didn't have any more tomato juice so I used V8 and it was fine. 12. Cover roaster and cook in 350 F oven for 2 - 3 hours. After 2 hours, I checked them and they weren't tender enough so I just turned the heat down to 325 F and left them for another hour. That was the magic.
