A Ukrainian Night

Tonight we had the pleasure of welcoming some dear Ukrainian friends for dinner. We met them a couple of years ago at the Washington DC LDS Temple Lighting Ceremony at Christmastime. They came as part of the Ukrainian delegation, as Andriy works in the embassy. His wife Mariia is expecting their second son in 2 months and is busy running after their son Mark, who is 18 months old. We have kept in touch since we first met and have enjoyed their friendship. They've invited us to a few Ukrainian events and we have had them over to the office a few times. We had invited them over for dinner before all of the craziness started in Ukraine, and we are grateful they were still able to come. We also had the Wests over - Jon, Kylee and their 4 darling children. Jon served an LDS mission in Ukraine, so we thought it would be fun for them to join us. Jon made plov, an authentic Ukrainian dish, and we loved it! Kylee also made an amazing salad with fennel and blood orange - I might dream about that salad!

I made Ukrainian cabbage rolls, served with mashed potatoes and sour cream. I also made a yummy Ukrainian apple cake for dessert. Both of the dishes turned out so well that I thought I'd like to keep the recipes for future reference. (Please forgive the photos - I forgot to take pictures until after the dinner was over.)

Ukrainian Stuffed Cabbage (Halupki)

1 head cabbage, cored
1/4 t. salt
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1 c. cooked white rice
2 T. butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. reserved cabbage water
1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 c. white vinegar
2 2/3 T. white sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the cabbage in a stockpot with enough water to cover. Add 1/4 t. salt to the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn cabbage every 2-3 minutes and remove leaves that separate from cabbage and place in a strainer to cool. Boil until all the leaves have cooked, about 15 minutes. Reserve 1 1/2 c. of the cabbage water. Trim thick center vein off center of each cabbage, while cutting leaf in half.

In a sauté pan, melt butter and cook onion until tender and cool. In a large bowl thoroughly mix together, ground beef, ground pork, rice, onion, parsley, egg, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Lightly pack a small amount of meat mixture sand place in the center of cabbage leaf. Fold sides over the filling and start at the stem and roll the cabbage up until the meat is encased. Repeat with the remaining leaves and filling. Grease a 9" X 13" glass baking dish and layer the cabbage rolls on the bottom.

In a bowl, mix the tomato sauce, reserved cabbage water, white vinegar and white sugar. Pour half of the mixture over the cabbage rolls. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat is no longer pink. Baste the stuffed cabbage rolls with more tomato sauce every hour.

Serve the cabbage rolls along side mashed potatoes topped with the extra tomato sauce. Ukrainians also like to put sour cream on top of it all - which I also think is yummy!

Ukrainian Apple Cake (Yabluchynk)

3 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
4 t. baking powder
1 c. butter (cold)
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 c. heavy cream
5 lg. apples, peeled, cored & thinly sliced
4 T. butter (cold)
1 c. brown sugar
4 T. flour
4 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9" X 13" baking dish. Sift together 3 c. flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut in 1 c. butter until the mixture is crumbly. Stir together the egg with the cream and gently mix into the flour until a soft dough has formed. Press into prepared baking dish. Layer the apples on top, overlapping, in neat rows. If you have extra apples, just add another layer. Prepare streusel by mixing the brown sugar, 4 T. flour, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut in 4 T. butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the apples.

Bake for 25 minutes at 375 degrees. I served it with a little vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce, which was delicious!

Kraut Burgers

Rick's mom made these often for him when he was growing up. I keep forgetting to get her actual recipe (I'm sure I've gotten it numerous times and have lost it), and since we were craving them today, and she was at BYU all day, I had to just go off of memory. They turned out great and the boys devoured them!

Don't let the dough scare you off, as it's so simple to make and only rests for an hour, which is plenty of time to cut everything up and get the mixture cooked thoroughly. This recipe makes 24 large rolls and would be easy to cut in half. I ate two, the boys each ate two, and Rick had four + one later tonight! Hopefully that gives you a good idea of how many to plan on. If you end up with extras, you can easily freeze them, either after they're cooked or uncooked.

Whenever Jane makes these, she will also make extra dough and make "pigs-in-a-blanket" for the kids. They bake the same amount of time, so it's a fun addition when you have younger kids or are feeding a crowd.

Dough

1/2 c. warm water
4 t. active dry yeast
4 T. sugar
1 3/4 c. warm milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. butter softened
2 t. salt
7-8 c. flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water (make sure it isn't hot or it will kill the yeast). Once it starts to activate, add all the other ingredients and knead for 8 minutes (either with a mixer or by hand). Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth; let it rise until double (about an hour). Punch down and divide in half. Roll dough out on a floured surface, into a rectangle. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 12 squares. Fill each square generously with the hamburger filling. Fold in two opposite corners, then the other two corners and pinch into a little "purse" so all the ends are secure (making sure to not stretch the top of the bun too thin). Spray cooking spray onto a cookie sheet and place the rolls seam side down. Continue with the second batch of dough, so you end up with 24 rolls total. Let the rolls sit for about 20 minutes to rise (this step isn't completely necessary if you're in a hurry). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until nice and golden brown. Once they are out of the oven, rub tops with a little butter. Serve with mustard and ketchup.

Filling

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 head of green cabbage, chopped
1 lg. onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 c. sauerkraut (optional)
olive oil

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan, and cook onion until translucent. Add garlic and stir a few times. Add hamburger meat and stir, breaking up the chunks into small pieces. Add cabbage and sauerkraut and cook for at least 15 minutes, until all cabbage is soft and looses it's color. Drain any excess liquid off and it's ready to be used.

Apricot Chicken

This recipe originally came from my sister Elaine who cooks it in the dutch oven when she's camping. Karen and I started making it in the large roasting pans to feed a crowd. When I was in charge of the menu for funeral dinners in my Cedar Hills ward, I started serving apricot chicken and it was so easy to feed up to 150. I think they are still using my menu and it's now known as "funeral chicken."

Apricot Chicken

15 boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 bottle Russian salad dressing

1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix

1 sm. bottle apricot jam

Remove as much fat as possible from thighs. With a little oil, brown chicken thighs and then add to crock pot or roasting pan. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. Serve over rice.

Kalua Pork

The Fishers used to have us over each year for their amazing annual luau. It's one of the things I miss the most about our old neighborhood in Cedar Hills. Kulani and Cindy go all out and usually cook a pig in the ground for the event. They have cooked at many ward parties as well and have often made their kalua pork. One time I asked Cindy how to make it and I was shocked at the simplicity of the recipe. It's a favorite of mine now and I often make it when I have to feed a huge crowd and put 2 or 3 roasts in a big roasting oven. But sometimes, like today, my family asks for it out of the blue and I just use my crock pot. I love to use the leftover pork for BBQ pork sandwiches later in the week.

Kalua Pork

1 lg. pork butt or shoulder roast, bone in

2-3 T. liquid smoke

1-2 T. kosher salt

Prick the roast all over with a large meat fork. Pour liquid smoke all over the roast (I usually use about 1/4 of the bottle for one roast). Cover the roast in salt and cook on low overnight. The next morning I usually take all the meat out and separate the bone and fat out. Then I drain the drippings and take most of the fat off. I shred the meat and put back into the crock pot, with the drippings. I like mine very moist, so I usually add about a cup of water. Let it continue to simmer on low until you need it. Serve with rice.

Korean Beef

My friend, Amy McAllister, told me about this great recipe she's been trying lately. It's from a darling little blog called lizzy writes. I tried it last night, and it was amazing! She used hamburger, but since I was taking dinner to a friend in the hospital, and it was Sunday dinner, I decided to use flank steak. I got a huge steak at Wegman's, which I thought would be plenty to feed the 7 of us, plus take dinner to two others, but I underestimated how much my family would love it! We ended up eating all of it in one sitting, without saving some to take to our friends. I had to act quickly and I cut up some chicken breasts. I added some red peppers to the chicken as it sautéed, and it turned out amazing. Essentially, this is a really good teriyaki sauce, or a stir fry sauce. It's just the kind of sauce Rick loves-with garlic, ginger and very sweet. I've adjusted the recipe slightly from Lizzy's by adding a little corn starch to thicken it and I used a little less brown sugar  than she does.

2 lbs. flank steak, lean ground beef or chicken
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. soy sauce mixed
2 T. corn starch
1 T. sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. fresh ginger, minced
1/2 t. crushed red peppers
salt & pepper
1 bunch green onions, diced

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown meat with garlic in the sesame oil. Whisk corn starch into soy sauce and add to meat along with the brown sugar, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Add any other vegetables at this point (peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, etc.) and cook until tender-crisp. Simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors and thicken. Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions.

BBQ Sandwiches

This recipe is another that is almost embarrassing to post, but I assure you it is amazing! I even fed it to a US Senator and his staff this past Sunday! It's something my mom used to make all the time with left over roast beef and it's one of Rick's favorite meals. You can use either beef or pork. If there is time, I like to make homemade rolls to serve it on, but the kaiser rolls at the bakery will do just fine on a busy day!

1 medium roast
1 lg. bottle of ketchup
3 T. yellow mustard
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. dried onion

If you are cooking a roast for this recipe, cook it for a couple hours in a crockpot, with salt and pepper, just until it's cooked through. Take the roast out and drain it and slice it up (it's usually not tender yet). If you are using a left over roast, slice it up and continue from this point on.

Put the roast in the crockpot (which should be empty of liquid) and add the ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and onion. Cook for another couple of hours until it is falling apart. This is a recipe that really has no measurements. Just keep adding things until you get the perfect taste. It is such a yummy, mild, BBQ sauce.

When you are ready to eat, slice rolls in half, spread with butter and broil until toasted. Spread the BBQ beef onto the rolls and serve!