Weekend before christmas
That translates into laundry, cleaning, cooking, baking, running around like crazy.
All this so we can have a big, family dinner on Christmas eve (Poles have the 'big dinner' on the eve as opposed to Christmas day, we also get our gifts after the dinner not next morning). On the bright side, Christmas eve is a lenten day so for once I can cook all-veggie dishes and not listen to a litany of complaints about the lack of meat on the table.
What I make ever year:
- Dumplings with dried mushroom filling - uszka - they look a bit like ears, so that's what we call them and they're served in barszcz (spicy red-beet soup).
- Sauerkraut and mushroom (fresh) filled pierogis
- Cooked vegetable salad - carrots, potatos, eggs, onions, apples, pickles all finely diced and mixed together with mayonnaise, bit of mustard and few drops of vinegar.. salt, pepper, etc..
- Cauliflower and peas samosas - this is a hindu dish, not Polish with tumeric and other spices - it's really yummy
Time permitting I'll probably make other things.. plus the staples.. potatos and such.. and then there are the numerous fish dishes my mom always makes..
Comments
hmmm. I never put mushrooms in my pierogi filling. Ishould try that sometime. Then again, I'm a potato stuffing man myself. I keep the kapusta on the side.
Posted by: Naladahc | December 21, 2002 03:30 PM
I'm half polish. I have eve with my Irish side, and day with my Polish side. Don't know why though. It's just the way it's been. Probably for convience more than anything. But I can't wait, we're also having pierogis! Probably also have kilbasa too. I love Polish food...:-)
Posted by: Techie2000 | December 21, 2002 03:32 PM
Eewwww... Mushrooms.
Posted by: Jeremy Zawodny | December 21, 2002 04:50 PM
Hey, it's Polish cooking.. how can it not have mushrooms? I use dried wild mushrooms imported from Poland.. probably picked by old grandmas in the woods..
Posted by: kasia | December 21, 2002 06:11 PM
Hey everyone!
Nothing beats 'kluski z makiem' if you ask me. Unfortunately, not all Poles know what that is.
For English only people 'kluski z makiem' are dumplings with poppyseed sauce-type-of-thing.
Delicious.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Wesolych Swiat!
Posted by: |majky| | December 22, 2002 05:06 PM
kasia: Christmas eve food is soooo special, isn't it? Mniam, mniam (I mean yum, yum ;-)
Techie2000: "I have eve with my Irish side, and day with my Polish side. Don't know why though." Well, it's so easy: you couldn't have kielbasa the other way around :) Keep up the good habits ;-)
Do you all full/half/etc good Polish people out there remember / know there's a really beautiful tradition of leaving one empty dish for a visitor on Xmas eve? Or is it more universal than just Polish?
Anyway, Merry Christmas Everyone!
Posted by: Greg "Grzes" Klebus | December 22, 2002 05:25 PM