Category Archives: Vegetables and Salads

Where the greens and the fresh crunch come in.

Cabbage with sour cream

1 cabbage, shredded
1 T wine vinegar
2 oz. fat
1 pint sour or double cream
1 large tomato
3 or 4 green peppers
2 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon caraway seeds

Cook the shredded cabbage in very little salted water with the quartered tomato, the seeded and sliced peppers, caraway seeds and seasoning. Cook till all vegetables are tender. Make a light roux with the flour and fat and mix it into the cooked vegetables. Stir in the cream and heat through before serving.

Potato Mushroom Croquettes

Croquettes are popular appetizers, bite-sized and easy to handle in party situations. They’re usually made with mashed potatoes or some other starchy base combined with other ingredients such as fish, mushrooms, herbs, meat, etc., that impart flavor. Egg or a white sauce is often added as a binder. Croquettes are breaded or rolled in breadcrumbs or cracker meal and then deep fried until golden.

In Spain, croquetas are found on all tapas menus, many times flavored with Spanish Serrano ham (jamón Serrano, cod, mackerel, or shrimp.

Potato Mushroom croquettes

Ingredients for Potato-Mushroom Croquettes

  • 1-1/2 lb. potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 5 cups water
  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 t oil
  • 1 T water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup Matzo or cracker meal

Boil potatoes in water until tender. Drain and mash.

In a separate pan, saute onions and mushrooms in oil and water over medium heat for three minutes.

In a large bowl, combine mashed potatoes, sauteed onions and mushrooms, seasonings and matzo meal.

Form into 10 croquettes.

Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and fry croquettes for 8 minutes on each side.


Broccoli with Star Fruit

  • 3-1/2 lbs. broccoli
  • 2 starfruit, slightly green around ribs
  • 1/4 lb. butter
  • salt and pepper

Cut broccoli into flowerettes. Steam until just tender. Drain, plunge into ice water, and drain again.

Cut starfruit into thin slices and pop out the seeds carefully. In large pan, melt butter. Add broccoli. Season with salt and pepper and saute gently about 2 minutes.

Add starfruit and toss gently. Serves 8.

Starfruit
Wikipedia Photo. Author: pinay06

Wilted Cucumbers

Gurkensalat

  • 1 large cucumber
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar

Peel the cucumber. Slice paper thin. Place in glass or ceramic bowl with salt, sugar and vinegar. Let stand at least 15 minutes, and up to several hours, in fridge.

Dilled Mashed Potatoes

Dill is an herb of the celery family and is best known as a flavoring for pickles and many typical Central and Eastern European dishes.

A bit of fresh chopped dill weed in mashed potatoes gives a savory boost to this old favorite.

Ingredients for Dilled Mashed Potatoes

  • 8 large potatoes
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 T butter
  • 2 tsp fresh chopped dill
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper

Boil potatoes and mash with rest of ingredients. For thinner mashed potatoes, add more milk.


Elote con Queso

A Mexican corn and cheese casserole with a zing of fresh green chiles.

Elote Con Queso Ingredients

2-1/2 cups corn kernels (from about 5 ears)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 lb Manchego cheese, cubed or grated
1/4 lb. cheddar cheese, cubed or grated
4 fresh green chiles (serranos, for example), seeded and chopped
3 tbsp sugar
9 eggs
3 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp salt

Heat oven to 250º F. Butter an ovenproof 3-quart baking dish.

In a blender, break down corn kernels slightly. Mix with cheese, chiles, sugar, and baking powder.

Whisk together eggs and cream. Add to corn mixture with salt.

Pour into baking dish. Bake until just set, 45-55 minutes. Serve immediately. 12 servings.

Corn cobs

 

Green Bean Salad

  • 1 lb. cut green beans, cooked
  • 3 pimientos, chopped
  • 1 T minced onion
  • 5 or 6 sprigs parsley, chopped
  • 3/4 cup oil and vinegar dressing
  • Lettuce

Toss together all ingredients except lettuce. Let sit, refrigerated, for an hour or two. Serve on a bed of lettuce. Servings: 6

Mixed Bean Salad Variation: Add 1 cup of cooked and drained white cannelli beans or alubias and 1/2 cup cooked and drained garbanzo beans to green bean mixture and marinate together.

Avocados with Cilantro Dressing

A fresh, green, tangy way to dress up your avocados,

  • Avocados
  • 2 T fresh lime juice
  • 2 T chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 T salad oil
  • 1 T chopped green onion
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1/4 t sugar
  • 1/8 t ground pepper

In blender combine all ingredients. Blend well. Drizzle over 2-3 ripe, sliced avocados.

Avocado

Persea americana, or the avocado, is possibly thought to have originated in the Tehuacan Valley[6] in the state of Puebla, Mexico,[7] although fossil evidence suggests similar species were much more widespread millions of years ago. However, there is evidence for three possible separate domestications of the avocado, resulting in the currently recognized Mexican (aoacatl), Guatemalan (quilaoacatl), and West Indian (tlacacolaocatl) landraces.[8][9] The Mexican and Guatemalan landraces originated in the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala, respectively, while the West Indian landrace is a lowland variety that ranges from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador to Peru,[8] achieving a wide range through human agency before the arrival of the Europeans.[9] The three separate landraces were most likely to have already intermingled[a] in pre-Columbian America and were described in the Florentine Codex.[9]

Wikipedia contributors, “Avocado,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Avocado&oldid=815535461 (accessed December 21, 2017).

Potato Paprikash (Paprikás Borgonya)

Paprika is sweet and/or pungent dried red pepper and a staple in the Hungarian kitchen. Paprikash is made by stewing your ingredients in a thick, paprika-based gravy-like base.

paprika red pepper

Recipe from Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook)

Ingredients for Potato Paprikash

  • 1-1/2 kilos (3-1/4 lbs) potatoes
  • 4 oz bacon or 3 oz lard
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 or 3 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 green pepper, sliced
  • 1 t paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste

In frying pan, cook bacon or lard, add finely chopped onion, and brown till golden. Add chopped tomatoes, green pepper rings, and paprika. Cook until pepper is well wilted.

Peel and quarter the potatoes. Add the bacon/tomato/pepper mixture, barely cover with water, and simmer until tender and liquid is reduced to a thick gravy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


Cabbage Noodles

Hungarian Cabbage Noodles

  • 1 head white cabbage, finely grated
  • Oil or lard*
  • Salt (lots)
  • Pepper (lots)
  • 1 lb. bow or spiral noodles

CEJXJEHPlace grated cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle liberally with salt. Allow to sit for an hour or two. Squeeze out excess water.

In large, heavy frying pan, heat oil and add cabbage. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until cabbage is well browned, adding more oil as needed. Some people sprinkle on a teaspoon or so of sugar to help brown the cabbage without actually sweetening it. Season with extra salt and pepper to taste.

Cook noodles, toss together with cabbage and serve in liberal quantities.

Many recipes for Hungarian Cabbage and Noodles also call for a small, finely chopped onion to be fried with the cabbage. I haven’t tried that version but I have added one small, crushed garlic clove and just a pinch of crushed, dried basil just before tossing the cabbage together with the noodles, and it’s one of my favorite taste treats.


* The recipe calls for lots of lard or oil, and the cabbage seems to sop up whatever grease you throw at it. However, I have several times used only the minimum of oil (avocado oil or any other mild, unrefined vegetable oil will work) to keep the cabbage from sticking and burning, and it has come out fine, albeit drier than the traditional version. I’ve used grated cabbage and coarsely shredded cabbage, and the coarser cabbage tends to hold the moisture better. I’ve even used the dry cabbage pulp left over from making cabbage juice in my masticating juicer. It works, too, although, since the pulp is super fine, it is also much drier.