Palačinky - Czech Crepes

My mom used to make Palačinky, Czech crepes, for us when we were little. We would help by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and my mom would fry the crepes, impressing us with her flipping skills. Then we would take turns spreading the jam and rolling the Palačinky. We enjoyed these both warm and cold the next day.

 

2 eggs

3 Tbsp sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
Pinch of salt
Oil (for frying)

Your favorite jam

Powder sugar

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, milk, flour and salt. Over medium high heat, add 1 tsp oil and spread over frying pan. Pour a thin layer of batter and spread over pan by tilting and rotating pan. Crepes should be very thin, almost transparent. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Spread with jam, roll up and keep warm until served. Dust with powder sugar before eating.

Battle of the Potato Salads: Czech Potato Salad vs. Vinaigrette Potato Salad

When my husband told me that he didn’t care for the Czech style potato salad that my family makes, 1) I was shocked that I’ve never heard this before considering we’ve been together for 10 years, and 2) how can you not like the potato salad?! It’s so good! His friend did confirm that it was strange to have peas and carrots in a potato salad, which didn’t occur to me as strange considering that’s how I’ve always had it. 

 

So, since we were having our friends over for a BBQ this weekend, I decided to have a ‘battle of the potato salads’ and let our guests decided which on was better. Here are the two contenders: Czech Potato Salad and a Vinaigrette Potato Salad. Let the battle begin. 

 

I recommend making the salad a day before to let the flavors blend overnight.

 

Czech Potato Salad vs. Vinaigrette Potato Salad

Czech Potato Salad

3 large Yukon Gold potatoes
2 large carrots, diced
½ cup frozen peas
2 celery stalks, diced
1small yellow onion, minced
2 green onion sprigs, diced
2 large pickles, diced
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley

Dressing:

¾ cup mayo
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp pickle juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot of salted water, boil potatoes whole until skins break and they are fork tender. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel skins and cut into cubes. Add potatoes into a large bowl.

While potatoes are cooling, dice carrots and place in a small pot of boiling salted water. Add peas and cook until carrots are fork tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and add to large bowl. Add remaining ingredients.

In a small bowl, combine ingredients for dressing. Whisk together until combined. Add to potatoes and veggies. Gently toss with dressing. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Vinaigrette Potato Salad

3 large Yukon Gold potatoes
5 strips of bacon
3 green onion sprigs, diced
½ small red onion, finely minced
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
2 celery stalks, diced
3 hardboiled eggs, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Champagne vinaigrette (store bought)

In a large pot of salted water, boil potatoes whole until skins break and they are fork tender. Drain and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel skins and cut into cubes. Add potatoes into a large bowl.

While potatoes are cooling, cook bacon in a frying pan until crispy. Remove bacon from pan onto a paper towel lined plate to soak up extra grease. Once cooled, roughly chop and add to bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl. Mix together. Add the eggs last, gently folding in with dressing. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Egg Noodle and Vegetable Casserole

I know when some people hear the word ‘casserole’ they scrunch up their nose and say eewww! My mom is Czech so we didn’t grow up eating the traditional American casseroles, like green bean casserole or tuna noodle casserole (I couldn’t even type these without saying eewww!) – the kind of casseroles where you add a can of Campbell’s soup. Growing up, my mom used to make an egg noodle and ham casserole (fleky se šunkou) for us. This was great to eat warm, or even cold and cut into squares the next day.

 

4 servings

Wide egg noodles (about ½ a bag)

2 slices of butter
3 eggs
¾ cup half & half
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
6 oz grated Cheddar cheese
½ red bell pepper, diced
½ green bell pepper, diced
¼ cup chopped flat leaf Italian parsley

Cook noodles in salted water according to directions, about 6 minutes; drain. Toss noodles with butter and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, half & half, salt, pepper and mustard.

Add noodles to a large bowl. Pour egg mixture over noodles, add cheese, peppers and parsley. Mix until combined.

Add mixture to a greased casserole dish. Bake uncovered on 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until eggs set. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy with grilled pork chops, or as a light meal with a salad on a warm summer night.

Variations:

·         Add Pepper Jack cheese or a few dashes of hot sauce for a kick!
·         Add broccoli florets
·         Add ham
·         Add mushrooms
·         Add chopped fresh spinach
·         Add asparagus spears
 

Roasted Pork, Red Cabbage and Potatoes

Growing up, my mom would make a Czech dish similar to this, with the pork and cabbage. I was craving it and it turned out to be very simple (and tasty) to make.

Pork:

1 ½ lb pork loin
2 garlic cloves, slivered
½ yellow onion, sliced
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make shallow slits in pork and stuff with garlic slivers. Season with salt and pepper.

Place pork and onion in shallow a casserole dish. Uncovered, bake for about one hour, until juices run clear or internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Red Cabbage:
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp EVOO
¼ tsp caraway seeds
¼ tsp salt
Pepper
2 cups shredded red cabbage
¾ cup chopped granny smith apple

Over med-high heat, in a large skillet combine sugar, vinegar, water, oil, caraway seeds, salt and a dash of pepper. Wisk together and cook for 2-3 minutes. Stir in cabbage and apples. Cook, covered for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cabbage should be tender-crisp.

Potatoes:
2 large red skinned potatoes, cubed
EVOO
Salt and Pepper

In a skillet over high heat, heat a few drizzles of EVOO until it ripples. Add potatoes. Brown and crisp all sides. Turn heat to low, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes all cooked through; mix occasionally. If potatoes seem to be burning, add a little water or broth to create steam.

Plate sliced pork aside cabbage and potatoes. Drizzle pork with juices from casserole dish and top with onion slices.

Spinach with Noodles

I was craving this Czech dish that my mom makes, which consists of pureed spinach and boiled eggs over dumplings, but the problem was I don’t know how to make dumplings. So I settled on potato dumplings, which I thought would be easier. The potato dumplings turned out to be a disaster in every way possible, so I will have to try those again in the future.

This is what I ended up with, since I already had the eggs and spinach ready to go.

2-3 handfuls of dry egg noodles
10 oz of fresh baby spinach
½ yellow onion, diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp EVOO

Water or broth

Salt

2-3 boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges
2 sausage links, score one side

Boil noodles in salted water according to directions.

In a medium pan, heat EVOO over med-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté for a few minutes. Add spinach with a little water or broth; sauté until spinach is wilted. Add garlic mixture to a blender and puree until almost smooth. Add more water or broth to get the blender going, but not too much to make it watery. Season with salt to your liking.

In a small frying pan, cook scored sausage until browned on all sides.

To serve, plate noodles, top with spinach puree, add egg wedges and cooked sausage.

NOTE: If you want a stronger garlic flavor, do not sauté, but instead add raw garlic to blender with sautéed onion and garlic.

A Czech Dinner: Fried Cauliflower, Mashed Potatoes, Cucumber Salad

This meal is similar to the traditional Czech dish my mom used to make growing up, which we loved! My mom, brother and I would each take a "station" as a part of the cauliflower breading line.

 Typically, the Czechs serve the cauliflower with boiled potatoes mixed with butter and caraway seeds, sprinkled with freshly minced chives. In this dinner, I used mashed potatoes instead.

I didn't make the dish with any meat because I don't think it needs it, though my husband kept saying 'it needs more sausage,' which he always says when I sneak in a meatless dinner.

Fried cauliflower:

1 head of cauliflower, separate florets

Flour, for dredging
2 eggs, beaten
Breadcrumbs, for coating

Vegetable oil, for frying

Cilantro Lemon Mayo:

¼ cup mayo

1 Tbsp freshly minced cilantro

2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 small garlic, finely minced or grated

Freshly cracked black pepper

Mashed Potatoes:
2 large red skinned potatoes, quartered
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
Salt & pepper, to taste

Cucumber salad:
1 1/2 Chinese cucumbers, sliced thinly

¼ small red onion, sliced thinly

½ cup of white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
½ salt
½ freshly crushed pepper

Fried cauliflower:

Steam cauliflower florets for about 10 minutes, until fork tender. Let cool so you can handle them. In this order, fill each bowl with the following: flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Dredge cauliflower in the flour first, then dip in egg and lastly, coat with breadcrumbs.

In a frying pan, heat about ½ inch of oil over medium high heat. Fry cauliflower, turning over on all sides until golden brown. As they are done, set on a paper towel to help absorb some of the excess oil.

Cilantro Lemon Mayo:

In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mashed potatoes:

In a pot with a steamer, steam potatoes until fork tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove steamer with potatoes from pot, drain water from pot. Add butter and milk to pot and return to stove top over low heat; stirring until butter melts. Add potatoes back into pot and mash until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Cucumber salad:

In a medium mixing bowl, add vinegar, sugar salt and pepper. Wisk until sugar is dissolved. Pour over cucumbers and onion; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serve cauliflower with potatoes and a side of cucumber salad. Serve with a ram

Fried cauliflower is delicious hot… or eat them cold the next day as a snack!

Enjoy!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls in Mushroom Gravy

This is a Czech dish that my mom used to make for us growing up. In Czech, it’s called Holubky. As I researched it on-line, it seems that it’s usually made with tomato sauce. My mom always made it with a brown gravy, so I am too. I can’t remember exactly what my mom made the filling with so I’m trying it this way. My official taste tester (a.k.a. my husband) definitely approved!

1 head of green cabbage, leave leaves removed

Filling:
1 lb ground beef
½ yellow onion, finely chopped
1 baby Bella mushroom, chopped
1 large carrot, shredded
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
A few dashes of Worchester sauce

Mushroom Gravy:
1 packet of brown gravy
¼ cup dried mushrooms (my grandma picks these wild mushrooms in the Czech forest, cuts them, dries them and then mails them to me)

In a large pot of boiling water, add the cabbage leaves and cook for about 3-4 minutes until soft. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the filling. Fill each cabbage leaf with the beef filling, roll and put in a 9 x 9 casserole dish, seam side down. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes or until meat is cooked all the way through.

In a small sauce pan over high heat, add one cup of water and dried mushrooms. Turn heat to low and let mushroom simmer for 15 minutes. Wisk in gravy mix, and follow directions on packet.


Serve cabbage rolls on rice. Spoon gravy over dish.

Spanish Birds (Spanělský Ptáček)

This is a delicious Czech dish that my mom made for us growing up. They are meat steaks rolled with egg, ham, hot dog and pickle.

Yummy Camping Dinner: Sausage on a Stick, Czech Style

It's a family affair! Cooking sausage on a stick is a great family activity to do around the fire.

Cook the sausage until the ends curl up and get nice and crispy.

Serves 5 people

2 packages of beef kielbasa sausages, cut each package into 3 pieces
Crusty French bread loaf, sliced
French mustard

Make a nice, big camp fire. Everyone should find a stick for themselves that’s at least 4 feet long. Sharpen one end of the stick, which will poke through the sausage. Cut an ‘X’ in the end of each sausage, and score along the top and the bottom of the sausage. Poke the stick through the middle of the sausage. Cook sausages over the fire until the ends curl up and get crispy.

Serve with bread and mustard. Enjoy with a pivo (Czech for beer!).

Czech Fried Cauliflower

This is a traditional spring meal that Czech people eat with boiled potatoes. We like to serve it with a dip made of chopped capers mixed with mayo. I’ve also brought these to a work potluck and they were a big hit!

1 head of cauliflower, separate florets
Flour, for dredging
2 eggs, beaten
Breadcrumbs, for coating
Vegetable oil, for frying

Steam or boil cauliflower florets until just fork tender. Let cool so you can handle them. In this order, fill each bowl with the following: flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Dredge cauliflower in the flour first, then dip in egg and lastly, coat with breadcrumbs.

In a frying pan, heat about ½ inch of oil over medium high heat. Fry cauliflower, turning over on all sides until golden brown. As they are done, set on a paper towel to help absorb some of the excess oil.

These are delicious hot… or eat them cold the next day as a snack!