Thanksgiving: Potstickers, WonTons & Perogies

This year, the menu is unusual, but suitable for our family in an unusual time. I'm saving the turkey for another day, because at .69/lb it is a good buy. This year, it's meatloaf with brown gravy, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, green beans and overnight salad, topped with a dessert of warm apple dumplings and ice cream.

Amazing enough, the most expensive thing on this menu is the apples.

However, because of this unusual year, I'm spicing it up with foods my family also loves: Potstickers, Won Tons, and a new one I hope they love, Perogies.

This is a bag of perogies, my second batch. The first batch remained as my private stock. Translation: Too ugly for anyone to see. I froze them for my own "private stock" chicken soup, etc. Recipe later.

Notice the round ring. That is left-over dough, and some woman on YouTube, (I couldn't find her to give credit, or I would have) said this is something the unmarried girls take. I wish I could find that video, but time has to move on.


 Here they are laid out on an overly floured cookie sheet. Take note: These are doughy/sticky and there's lots of flour involved.

I got the idea from Guy Fieri's road show and some woman-chef who did great perogies. She made hers with filling in the center of 2 rounds. My effort at that went into my frozen "private stock". :)

The potsticker shape worked just fine for me and didn't explode when boiled. (This is a major fear when making anything stuffed/dumpling.)

Here's the filling. It's really tasty. Of course it is. Packed with butter and cream cheese anything is "tasty".

Note the cutter, borrowed from a neighbor. I didn't want to pay $3 for a new one, when I didn't know I'd ever use one again. Now they come bundled with about 3-4 smaller ones. The lady on YouTube (apologies again) had a perogi cutter that she rolled across the dough.

Next are won tons. This is the little hat shape, made with squares: Fill w/tsp of seasoned ground pork filling, water the perimeter so it will stick, fold into a triangle by bringing opposite corners together, bring ends together under the point. Aren't they cute?

Tip: For these and the potstickers below, sit on a chair.

Both need to be boiled, prior to pan or deep frying. Since it is pork and I'm not too much into meat, I mixed tofu into the meat. That's Medium Firm as suggested by a Korean cook. Have to say I love those Korean pancakes, which is basically greens, onions, etc., eggs and tofu. We have an Asian grocery store and there is quite a savings on the tofu, etc.


 Potsticker recipe: Got it from some lady on YouTube again. Need to take note of the people for credits. She called it Mandu and in my traditional style, I altered to suit myself, using gyoza wrappers. It's basically:
1/2 lb ground pork, tofu (maybe 1/3 block), 2 cups green onions, 1 tsp corn starch (I like that better than egg) soy sauce, some minced garlic, 1 T sesame oil, salt, 1/2 tsp ginger, black pepper.

I was given some ground pork, so watch what else I do with it. :)

More potstickers; use that flour so they don't stick.
I freeze these, too. They are great in chicken stock for soup. I take out a few at a time.

Chicken Stock: When making black bean with garlic chicken thighs, and skinning the thighs, use that skin for stock. Sometimes I just freeze it to boil later.

We waste too much. Try making your own stock. However, in a pinch I'll use bullion.

This is the meat mixture, always kept cold. Soy sauce makes it darker. Only use a teaspoon of filling.

The men/boys in my family devour potstickers. They haven't tasted perogies yet, or my take on these Polish dumplings.

The Perogi Recipe is below. Click at the Read More link below. 

The frozen ones are boiled, and I'm not certain just how I'll serve them yet, But there will be Cream Cheese as I bought a big block of it recently at a good price.
Here's the recipe for perogies:


Perogies:

BIG NOTE: You need lotsa flour for kneading, shaping, laying out on cookie sheet whatever.

Filling:
Boil 6 Red potatoes*. This makes a lot of filling, which is good to just eat, too!
Retain water
Mash
Add ½ lb cheddar cheese or some cheese, I used cream cheese
Some paprika
*I agree with the YouTube lady, red potatoes are the best for boiling, mashing. I think of Russets, which are cheaper, as more of baker/fryers.

Saute 2 Vadalia onions
1 stick butter
Add some vegetable flakes or 4 vegetable bullion*
* Guy's lady used Polish vegetable flakes. I could find those and used bullion, which really did add a lot.

I mixed the onions with the potato mixture. But I think it could be used as a topping instead.
Dough:
3-4 cups flour
2T unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
2T sour cream (I used cream cheese)
Add 1 1/2 cups potato water

Knead and use plenty of Flour. This is a beautiful, soft dough, easy to handle.

Let dough rest 10-20 minutes covered.

Cut dough in half (I lack counter space, so that's why half)
Roll thin, cut in 3” circles
Pull/stretch each by hand
Add tsp filling
Fold over, crimp edges securely closed

Place on well-floured sheet

Boil in medium. When floating to top they are done, but need more time, maybe 5-8 minutes.
Drain.
Can be frozen, but thaw before serving

To serve:
Heat in microwave, or pan saute in butter
Top with cheese or fry bacon, saute more onions, add to heated perogi.
A good browned sausage is also good mixed together.

I'm serving sauteed onions as a side dish as some family members avoid onions. (There's always onion powder, folks :))

Many thanks to the unnamed YouTube.com people for their instructions on everything. And Thanks to Guy Fieri for his road show programs.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy your Turkey dinners!

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Friendly Exchanges

While thrifting the other day at my favorite Goodwill, I saw these spindles of wool crochet, "baby" thread as my friend calls them. Multi colors standing in a row like little soldiers, just waiting to be picked up.

I bought a few and then called a friend who actually crochets. She said get as many as I could and she'd repay me, so I did. If you can imagine a kitchen trash sack filled with these things, that's what I bought at .50/ea. They were from the Brown Sheep company, which she said was excellent.

My friend and I are both cooks and have a variety of shared interests, and we'd been discussing artisan breads, which these are my effort, from an Internet recipe. We have a lot in common, including webcamming at times, plus Internet stuff. She's a writer, too, with a wide spread of interests, so it's always interesting what we can learn from each other.

Her husband is quite interesting, too and together, they are quite a pair, with a big bank of how-to knowledge between them.



When we met to exchange the bag of baby wool, ("baby" because it was very fine and soft), her husband came along for a nice lunch at my favorite cafe. How much fun! She gifted me with this 200 Fast & Easy Artisan Breads. I have a favorite oatmeal and honey bread recipe which is sooo easy, but I'm trying these.

Then I had a favorite cookbook to share with her...


I have an older version of Whole Foods for the Whole Family and am enjoying it very much. Based on whole grains and whole foods, it also has a Kids' Cookbook. It is authored by the La Leche League, which focuses on nursing mothers and young children, but this book, based on nutrition is a prize for everyone.

It's amazing how friends can share. I'm really enjoying this one!

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Old Cake Carrier Causes Big Trouble

 
During the holidays, I baked several cakes: 2 chocolate birthday cakes for my grandsons, and one carrot cake--just because everyone loves that.

I usually just do the rectangular pan, but I saw this old cake carrier in a thrift store. I passed it by several times, thinking: What do I need with more stuff? But I was fascinated and hey, it only cost $2.

My fascination ran to imagining all the places and socials this carrier had been taken. It has 2 locks on the bottom, holding the top safely in place. My neighbor has an old carrier but smaller and said this one was intended for an angel food cake. Since I'm not into angel food cakes, it's destined for layer cakes. I love this thing, little dents and all.

But when I dug out my round cake pans, I only had one. A visit to Wal-Mart produced a nice $10 buy, a variety of jelly roll pan, 2 round cake pans, a pizza pan, and one loaf pan. I could use all and they were of a heavier quality, too. I baked tons of gingerbread men for my grandkids to decorate, so the cakes were diversions from so many cookies.

Then, because I used to decorate cakes, I bought a little starter set of decorating tubes/tips, etc. But I had forgotten a lot and these cakes were not pretty. I'm determined to relearn and grow up to the perfect frosting roses again. See how much trouble an old cake carrier can get you into? :)

  Then, these little cuties were on sale and I couldn't resist...

I love the smaller ones and am in love with the little orange ones. There's a big orange pumpkin waiting in the basement, but these small ones are so easy for just a couple of pies.

And I'm a seed saver. So I saved the whole variety of these and tucked them into a bag with the labels. Save those seeds, if they are heirlooms.

While I'm not gardening now, except for potted herbs, I reap a few payback rewards when passing out these seeds to friends with gardens. And this year, I'll be sending some to my grandchildren to plant. I've thought about planting some against the back fence, but I'll see how energetic I am when planting season arrives.

I'm a writer, you know. And Jan/Feb are hard working months for us. You can find more at my blog, Daily or Not.

On New Years Day, my neighbor gifted me with a nut-covered cheeseball and crackers. Oh, my. Now I'm not a chocolate person, but turn me loose on cheese and crackers... So in passing she said how she loved marbled rye bread. Now that would be a nice gift for her.

I found a recipe I liked for German Rye bread and am going to do the dark one first (she doesn't like carraway seeds). I have the rye flour and everything but the molasses, wouldn't you know?

So that's next. Stay tuned...

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Christmas Gifts

I'm mailing packages to loved ones far away and thought you'd like to see some of the presents...

These are new, but donated to a favorite thrift shop haunt. Purchased for .25, I knew immediately what I would do with them. (Hint: think that new/used sewing machine I got some time ago.:)) By the way, these are Navy caps.






I used the machine's embroidery feature to place each child's name around the cap and then a little decoration to match. I don't do that often enough to remember, so some of the time was taken by re-learning the machine.

These are also my gifts, which they are expecting. Remember that 60 lbs of prune-plums at .38/lb?

Some of these are straight plum jam and some are my mother's recipe, plum/nut/pineapple. Jam can be used in all sorts of ways, i.e. mixed with yogurt or over ice cream, or just plain topping for freshly baked bread. And I'm doing a lot of baking now.

Please read the previous posts about these plums. Whew! Don't know that I'll do that one again. :)

Stay tuned for that...

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Christmas Jams

  This is what 60 lbs of plum jam looks like in jars, minus a bit.

One jar went to family, and several "skimmed" batches are in the refrigerator. This skimmed stuff is good to eat, though not as pretty. It's the foamy stuff skimmed off between the cooking and the filling jars. Good for yogurt or ice cream, or spoon-dipping.
  The smallest jar to the bottom right is probably what I consider the most important. Because it is tiny, it's just right for one individual and/or just that dab in the bottom of the pot.

Not a fan of jelly as I like those little chunky dudes in my spread. So here's a few tips about making jam:


Choose prime fruit, but for that fresh flavor, add a little not-quite ripe fruit. Brings up the flavor immensely. This year, strawberries weren't that fine, and I skipped them.

A food processor is great. I make the "mash" at night, so I can can first thing in the a.m.

Jam-making is messy. Place a kitchen towel next to the stove, a large cake pan next, and have your utensils at hand before start.

Wear a wristwatch and use for timing.

Those utensils: a ladle, a jar funnel, a wooden spoon (mine is huge), a flat "skimming" spoon, a lid-lifter or chicken fryer turner for lids.

Always heat more lids than your jars. They're sneaky and they tend to stick to one another. Or in this last batch, I dropped one.

After jars are properly cooled and set for required time, give them a sponge bath to clear away extra drippy-sticky.

These labels are printed with ye old laserjet.

And those are for my Christmas baskets, packed with freshly baked bread, cookies and/or rolls. I wanted to do salsas this year, but somehow didn't.

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