Vianocná Hríbová Polievka

Christmas Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter or margarine
4 pounds mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 heads garlic, sliced
3 large onions, chopped finely
2 pounds good smoked sausage
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in large soup pot, sauté garlic and onions, and then add mushrooms.
2. When mushrooms are soft, add 4 quarts water and the sausage.
3. Let cook 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the sausages burst.
4. Serve with rice, haluški, or sauerkraut.

Haluški

Drop Noodles with Sauerkraut or Feta Cheese
Note:
The Slovak national dish is haluški with bacon. These types of haluški are eaten more commonly in the home.

Ingredients:
Noodles:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (makes them fluffy)
Enough water to moisten
2 raw potatoes, pureed (optional)

Sauerkraut:
1/2 pound butter
2 onions, chopped
1 small head cabbage, chopped
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, to taste

Feta Cheese:
1 stick butter
2 pounds feta cheese, farmer’s cheese, pot cheese, or cottage cheese

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients for the noodles together in a bowl with handle to form a thick paste. (For potato drop noodles, add 2 pureed raw potatoes to the same recipe. It makes more noodles than without the potatoes.)
2. Boil pot of water.
3. Drop 1/2 teaspoon dough into boiling water. If it stays together, puffs, and comes to the top of the water, it is fine. If it falls apart, add a little more flour to the dough and test again.
4. Drop by tiny spoonfuls into water. Note: Dipping with a spoon into the water makes dough slide off easier.
5. Cook until all come to the top and are tender.
6. Drain.

Drop Noodles with Sauerkraut

1. To make the dumplings with sauerkraut, melt butter in a pot and fry 2 chopped onions.
2. Add 1 small head of chopped cabbage.
3. Fry until browned and add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
4. Use a double batch of noodles and mix them into the fried cabbage.
5. Cook on low until heated.

Drop Noodles with Cheese

1. To make feta cheese and noodles, use a double batch of either the regular or the potato noodles.
2. Fry in pot in butter or margarine.
3. Add 2 pounds feta cheese, farmer’s cheese, pot cheese, or cottage cheese.
4. Mix, heat, and salt and pepper to taste.

Hint:
In Slovakia, these noodles are made with a special pan just for this purpose. However, a pan can be easily improvised. Take a black plastic tray (the kind meat comes in at the grocery store) and drill about 50 holes into the bottom with a 1/4-inch drill bit. Then sand the holes to smooth off all the edges. When your water comes to a boil, pour all your noodle batter into the tray all at once. Holding over water, use a spatula to push the batter through the holes. In less then a minute, all the batter is in the water. This makes very uniform dumplings that all cook at the same time. If they are too big, make them smaller with 1/8-inch holes, or make 1/2-inch holes if you want the dumplings bigger.

Holúbky

Stuffed Cabbage
Note:
This is a Slovak favorite.

Ingredients:
2 heads cabbage
3 pounds ground chuck
3/4 pound ground pork
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
Garlic powder
Paprika
1/2 of a 2-inch onion, sautéed in 1/4 pound butter
Just less than 1 cup rice
Just less than 1 cup water
1 large can sauerkraut
1 large can tomato sauce
1 large can crushed tomatoes

Directions:
1. Prepare the cabbage. Puncture the core with a knife and boil about 45 minutes (when using 2 heads, boil separately). After cooling, pull the leaves off the head in as large of pieces as possible. Remove thin slices off the spines and thicker veins.
2. Mix the meat together and smell it. Remember the smell of the meat. Sprinkle on a little salt and pepper and knead the mixture by hand. Smell again. Keep adding salt and pepper until it just barely masks the smell of the meat.
3. Cook the rice until all the water is absorbed. Set aside.
4. Mix the eggs into the meat mixture. Smell the mixture and remember the smell. Sprinkle in a little garlic powder and paprika; knead well. Keep mixing in small amounts of garlic powder and paprika until you can detect a garlic smell. Add the juice from the sauerkraut, the rice, sautéed onions, and 1/3 cup tomato sauce. Mix thoroughly.
5. Put a small amount of oil in the bottom of a big pot. Roll a small handful of the meat mixture into a firm oval; wrap with a cabbage leaf. Tuck the edges into the roll. Line the bottom of the pot with the Holúbky; cover with a little bit of the sauerkraut, some tomato sauce, and a layer of leaves.
6. Keep building layers, using the small cabbage leaves for the layering. Top with the crushed tomatoes, remaining sauerkraut, and cabbage leaves at the very top. Add enough water to totally cover.
7. Stick a wooden spoon down to the bottom (carefully, along the side of the pot) to break any air bubbles between the layers—do not puncture any of the Holúbky—and add more water, if necessary. Repeat this several times because air between the layers will make a mess when the pot begins to boil.
8. Bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for at least 4 hours. Then keep warm until served. Many people prepare the Holúbky the night before: simmer 2 hours and turn off the heat overnight. Do not refrigerate. Just leave the pot on the stove. Simmer another 2 hours the next morning.

Hint:
Serve with mashed potatoes and milk.

Závin

Ingredients:
Dough:
6 cups flour
1 large fresh yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups warm milk
4 eggs

Filling:
One of the following ingredients: poppy seeds, apricots, nuts

Directions:
1. Scald milk and set aside to cool. Melt margarine and set aside to cool. It is cool enough when you can test a drop of it on your wrist without burning yourself.
2. While waiting for the scalded milk and margarine to cool, sift dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
3. Dissolve yeast in the scalded milk. Pour into the well along with the margarine. Break in the 3 eggs. Mix thoroughly.
4. Cover with a white towel or cloth. Set in a warm place, away from drafts. Let rise until it is double in bulk, about 2 hours.
5. Remove dough to a floured board. Knead the dough. Divide into 6 parts.
6. Let set and rise about 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, break an egg into a cup. Beat well.
8. Roll each piece of dough out. Spread your filling. Bring ends in and roll up.
9. Pinch the ends and place each roll on a cookie sheet.
10. You can get 3 rolls to 1 sheet, but don’t put them too close together.
11. With a pastry brush, brush the beaten egg on the top of each roll. The egg will give the rolls a brown glazed color.
12. Bake at 375°F until the rolls are brown, approximately 30 to 35 minutes.
13. To test for doneness: Lightly tap the top of each roll with a fork. If they sound hollow and they are brown, they are done. Remove from oven and let cool.

Slivkové Knedle

Plum Dumplings
Note:
In Slovakia, sweet dishes sometimes are eaten for the main meal.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 cups boiled potatoes, diced
1 cup fine bread crumbs
12 to 15 plums
1/4 cup cinnamon sugar
Salt
Butter

Directions:
1. Cream 2 tablespoons butter; beat in eggs and salt.
2. Gradually beat in flour and diced potatoes. Dough should be stiff to knead thoroughly.
3. On floured board, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick and then cut 3-inch squares.
4. Lay 1 plum on each square, sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar, and fold edges over plum. Shape with hands into a ball. The wall of dough should be very thin.
5. Drop dumplings into salted boiling water. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Brown bread crumbs in 1/3 cup hot butter. Roll dumplings in buttered bread crumbs and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

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