Showing posts with label Chef Mike. Show all posts

Guest Post by Chef Mike

in , , , on Friday, April 27, 2012


Today I am honored to welcome the great Chef Mike Baruch to my blog with his guest post ~ a wonderful Kosher Dill Pickle recipe for you!  You will recall my posts about his cookbooks:  Street Food Chicago, posted on July 20th and The New Polish Cuisine, posted on August 9th. 

Take it away, Chef Mike:

With the heat wave that has been scorching the Midwest; everyone's vegetable garden is overflowing with delicious tomatoes and cucumbers. Unfortunately, it leaves a lot of green ones on the vine.

Most people think that pickles are pressure-cooked to last a year, however I've got a great recipe that enables you to eat them in a week. The process is called "cold pack" which means that the pickles are brined in a solution then refrigerated immediately and take on good taste and flavor within 3 days.

The secret to a good pickle is to pick them early in the morning and process them within 2 hours. Never soak in water, a quick rinse is all that's needed. Store-bought pickles are too mushy so try to find them at a green grocer or farmer's market that can supply you with freshly grown product. The recipe yields 2 quarts.













Kosher Dills in Vinegar Brine

4 cups water
2 T Kosher Salt
2 T White Vinegar
1/2 bunch fresh dill, stems removed
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp. mixed pickling spice
Pinch Black Peppercorns
Pinch Dill Seeds
1 Dried Red Pepper Pod

5 Pickling Cucumbers
5 to 6 Green Tomatoes


Rinse the cucumbers and tomatoes under cold water and dry.
Cut into half inch pieces.
Coursely chop the dill and place in the bottom of a 2 Quart canning jar.
Pack in the pickles and tomatoes and slide in the side, the pepper pod.
Now in a saucepan heat the remaining ingredients to a simmer then turn off and cool.
When cool use a ladle and top the pickles with the brine to 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. (Try to scoop up as much of the spice as you can)
Immediately seal with a lid and leave on the counter for 1 hour.
Refrigerate after an hour and you should enjoy them within 3 to 7 days.



Thanks so much Chef Mike for the guest post and the great recipe that I hope you all try!





Visit my friend, Linda’s wonderful blog, My Kind of Cooking, for a chance to win her great cookbook!


Read more from this post in Cooking web notes »

No Comments

Kapusta with Egg Noodles

in , , , , , , , , , on Tuesday, April 17, 2012




Remember on August 9th when I gave you the potato salad recipe from Chef Michael Baruch’s cookbook, The New Polish Cuisine?  Well, here is another great Polish recipe!

This is Kapusta with Egg Noodles and it is great, I mean REALLY delicious!  To be honest, I actually didn’t know what “kapusta” was when I first saw the recipe listed. But, when I turned the cookbook to page 96 and saw the gorgeous photo, I knew immediately that “kapusta” is cabbage.

I like both cabbage and noodles, so I knew this would be good, especially after reading the list of ingredients.  BACON ~ the first ingredient; we all know that bacon is the perfect food!  For Bill and I, this was comfort food all the way.  In fact, that’s what Chef Mike says about it, “Polish comfort food at its best!”

Here’s what else Chef Mike says about it:  “Slow braised cabbage, bacon, onion, and garlic are lightly seasoned, then combined with fresh Kluski noodles. The secret to this dish is to prepare everything at the last minute.”  Give this recipe a try ~ you won’t be disappointed, it’s savory delicious!

Kapusta with Egg Noodles

Ingredients:

1 pound extra wide egg noodles
1 slice hickory smoked bacon, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic puree
1 small onion, finely diced
1 medium head green cabbage, cored and diced
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chicken stock
2 dashes of Tabasco
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, optional

Preparation:

In a large pot over medium high heat, cook bacon until it renders its fat and turns lightly brown, not crisp.
Pour the bacon into a small strainer set over a bowl to collect the excess fat.
Return the pot to the fire, add olive oil.
When hot, add garlic and onion, cook stir for about 1 minute.
Add cabbage and cook stir for about 3 to 4 minutes until the cabbage starts to wile.
Reduce heat to low, add rest of the seasonings and the bacon.
Cook slowly, covered, for about 20 minutes.
While the cabbage is cooking, bring 2 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil.
Add noodles, cook until firm to the bite.
Drain in a colander.
Add to the noodles to the cabbage.
Gently, using a heavy wooden spoon, stir the noodles into the cabbage mixture to combine.
Using a kitchen tong, divide the kapusta among 4 dinner plates.
Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and Parmesan cheese.

Serve and enjoy!


Jedzcie, pijcie i popuszczajcie pasa!  




By the way, there’s still time to enter my $60 Le Creuset, CSN giveaway posted on August 11, 2010!


Be sure to visit my friend Linda's, my kind of cooking, great blog for a chance to win her wonderful cookbook with lots of easy, delicious recipes! 


Check out another great giveaway at Bo's Bowl.  He has fantastic recipes and tells great stories connected with his good Southern cooking!



Read more from this post in Cooking web notes »

No Comments

Polish Picnic Potato Salad and Chef Michael Baruch

in , , , , , , , , , on Monday, April 9, 2012





On July 20th, in my giveaway, I told you about the wonderful Street Food Chicago cookbook by the northwest side of Chicago native, Chef Michael Baruch.

Now, I want to share with you a recipe from another of his cookbooks, The New Polish Cuisine.  Chef Mike is a master of his profession and this cookbook of his demystifies Polish cuisine.  He proves that anyone can make simple and delicious Polish American food in a short time using obtainable and healthy foodstuffs. I have a habit of reading cookbooks like a novel with this one hooking me from the very first page!






The New Polish Cuisine is undoubtedly one of the best cookbooks in my collection.  It’s actually a cookbook that does what any cookbooks’ intention is:  to entice you into the kitchen to start cooking!  Chef Mike has a great writing style ~ especially when telling about his humorous experience as an apprentice Polish baker, his excellent writing about mushrooms and his take on meat consumption during the lean times of the medieval ages for Polish folks. 

We love potato salad here and I have found the perfect recipe for it that is a wonderful thing for picnics; omitting the classic mayonnaise which doesn’t hold up very well in the hot sun.  This is small red potatoes combined with a Polish style garnish of pickles, dill and eggs and are then dressed with a puckery apple cider dressing.  That is exactly what I like about this potato salad, “puckery,” not the typical sweet flavor of most cooks’ potato salad! 


The New Polish Cuisine is filled with mouthwatering recipes and really exquisite beautiful photographs.  It is definitely a cookbook every cook would proud to own!  I know I am and I’m not even Polish!







Polish Picnic Potato Salad

Ingredients:

2 pounds small red new potatoes, cleaned and halved
1/3 cup olive oil
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¾ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 medium stalks celery, finely chopped
4 green onions, white and some of the green part, finely chopped
8 radishes, sliced
1 large dill pickle, finely chopped
4 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped

Preparation:

1. Steam the new potatoes in a vegetable steamer placed over 1 inch of hot water for 12 to 15 minutes until tender.  Remove to a large mixing bowl and cool slightly.

2.  While the potatoes are steaming, combine the olive oil, cider vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic cloves and mix well.

3.  In another large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients until well blended, then add the dressing and stir slightly with a wooden spoon until well mixed.

4.  Arrange the slightly cooled potatoes in one layer, cut side up onto a serving platter, then gently spoon all the mixed dressing onto the potatoes. 
This dish is best served at room temperature.
Serves 4


It is a perfect potato salad you must try! 


Smacznego!


Read more from this post in Cooking web notes »

No Comments

Stuffed Cabbage

in , , , , , , , , , , , , on Saturday, November 5, 2011



I’ve told you before about Chef Mike Baruch and his great cookbooks like Street Food Chicago.  I just happened to come across this cookbook in Borders one day and was hooked from the get go. Here’s another of his recipes from The New Polish Cuisine.  This cookbook is outstanding with its great recipes, easy to follow directions, gorgeous photos and Chef Mike’s keen sense of humor!

 Chef Mike tells us, “Here’s my personal favorite recipe for Golabki!  …Don’t let me catch you sneaking a can of tomato soup in there.”  I’ve made stuffed cabbage before, but never as good as this! 

The mixture of ground beef and pork is a perfect meat duo for stuffed cabbage; however, what took this dish over the edge in deliciousness is the scrumptious tomato sauce topping it all.  It made the dish delectable.   I bought a really large head of cabbage which made stuffing the leaves an easy task.  They rolled up perfectly. 

I love the heartiness of this amazing dish; the way it filled me up and gave me a cozy warm feeling.  It truly hit the spot and was perfect for a chilly evening.  And I must say, it’s just as delicious leftover if you should be so lucky to have any leftover!


Ready for the oven


Now for Chef Mike's stuffed cabbage recipe:

Stuffed Cabbage

Ingredients:

1 large head green cabbage
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, fine diced
½ pound 85% lean ground beef
¼ pound lean ground pork
½ cup long grain rice, pre-cooked and cooled
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
½ cup tomato sauce
1 large whole egg
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 dashes Tabasco
1 dash Worcestershire sauce

1 recipe Spicy Tomato Sauce

Preparation:

  1. In a large stockpot, bring the water and salt to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to a bubbling simmer.

  1. Working very carefully, remove the core from the cabbage with a sharp paring knife, cutting out bit by bit in a circular motion around the core.  Now insert as long handled two-prong roasting fork into the center of the cored cabbage (this will facilitate easier handling when moving the cabbage around).

  1. Immerse the cabbage into the simmering salted water, and cook for 5-7 minutes until a few of the cabbage leaves start to separate from the cabbage head.  Carefully with a kitchen tong, remove any of the cooked leaves to a colander to thoroughly drain, and continue the process until all the leaves are cooked.  Drain and cool completely.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium heat, and add the garlic and onion and cook stirring until slightly softened and golden, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove the vegetables to a small bowl, and place immediately into the freezer to quickly cool.  After 5 minutes remove from the freezer and set aside.

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the remaining ingredients (including the chilled vegetables) except the spicy tomato sauce.  Now gently using a heavy wooden spoon, blend the mixture thoroughly until evenly incorporated.

  1. Pick through all the cabbage leaves, creating two piles.  One for good equal sized leaves and the other for not so good leaves.  Using a sharp paring knife, gently remove from the good cabbage leaves any hard leaf stems that will impair easy rolling, and then place flatly onto a clean work surface.  Depending on leaf size, place 3-4 tablespoons of filling onto each cabbage leaf near their base.  Fold the bottom of the leaf over the filling, then fold in the sides toward the center.  Roll tightly into a bundle and place, seam side down into a medium sized shallow earthenware casserole.  Repeat with the remaining cabbage leaves and filling, being careful to roll tightly and arranging them snugly in the casserole.

  1. Now gently ladle the spicy tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls, and cover tightly with a piece of aluminum foil.  Poke three small air holes down the center of the foil and bake for 1½ hours until cooked.

Serves 4


Spicy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium red or green pepper, sliced
¾ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1½ cups tomato sauce
1½ cups beef or chicken stock
¼ cup dry white wine
Dash of cayenne pepper
Dash of Tabasco
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

  1. Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat, add the garlic, onions, and peppers and cook, stirring until softened, about 3 minutes.  Do not let the vegetables brown.

  1. Now add the bay leaf and thyme and cook for exactly 1 minute to release their oils.

  1. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot and bring it to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer slowly for about 10 minutes.

Makes about 3 cups



Tip from Chef Mike:  Don’t discard any leftover blanched cabbage leaves.  Just roll them up, and cook them along with the stuffed ones for a vegetarian treat.



ENJOY!  This stuffed cabbage with the spicy tomato sauce is amazingly delicious!!!



Be sure to enter my giveaway that was posted on October 29th!


Check out my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great recipes and cookbook giveaway!




Read more from this post in Cooking web notes »

No Comments

My Dill Pickles

in , , , on Thursday, September 8, 2011




Who doesn’t love a good crispy crunchy dill pickle?  Remember when I posted about Chef Mike Baruch’s kosher dills on August 27th?  I made them and now they are ready to enjoy!

I love making homemade pickles and it brings back great memories from when Mom and Grandma would make them.  The ‘making’ was easy; it was the ‘waiting’ for them to cure that was hard. 

These dill pickles are simple and among the things you need are fresh pickling cucumbers, spices, vinegar, salt and aromatic fresh dill.  I love the fragrance of fresh dill ~ I tie a bundle of dill with string and hang it upside down in the kitchen.  Ahhh, the aroma as you enter the kitchen!  Then when dried, I crush the stems and save the seeds for later use.

When the pickles are all gone, keep the juice!  Add a little to tuna salad; it gives it just the right amount of tang.  The juice is great as a braising liquid for beef, in sauces and dips, mushrooms, pasta and potato salads.  Even place peeled hard boiled eggs in the brine for a couple of days or how about a little pickle juice in your Bloody Mary’s?  

These pickles are great!  They’re delicious, so very crispy to enjoy with most any meal and are a perfect low-calorie snack with some crunch!  





Here’s Chef Mike’s recipe:

Kosher Dills in Vinegar Brine

4 cups water
2 T Kosher Salt
2 T White Vinegar
1/2 bunch fresh dill, stems removed
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tsp. mixed pickling spice
Pinch Black Peppercorns
Pinch Dill Seeds
1 Dried Red Pepper Pod

5 Pickling Cucumbers
5 to 6 Green Tomatoes


Rinse the cucumbers and tomatoes under cold water and dry.
Cut into half inch pieces.
Coursely chop the dill and place in the bottom of a 2 Quart canning jar.
Pack in the pickles and tomatoes and slide in the side, the pepper pod.
Now in a saucepan heat the remaining ingredients to a simmer then turn off and cool.
When cool use a ladle and top the pickles with the brine to 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. (Try to scoop up as much of the spice as you can)
Immediately seal with a lid and leave on the counter for 1 hour.
Refrigerate after an hour and you should enjoy them within 3 to 7 days.



Thanks again, Chef Mike!  They’re great!


Be sure to visit my friend, Linda’s blog, at My Kind of Cooking for her great cookbook giveaway.


Read more from this post in Cooking web notes »

No Comments

Popular entries