Orange Glazed Chicken Wings

ORANGE GLAZED CHICKEN WINGS
15 chicken wings
1 egg, beaten
20 crushed Breton crackers
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup seafood sauce
1 tsp salt
Dip wings in eggs, then crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Combine remaining ingredients until sugar dissolves. Baste chicken.
Bake 25 - 30 minutes longer, turning occasionally.
For a dip, blend 1 cup sour cream, 1 tbsp orange rind, and 1 tbsp honey or sugar.
Vitamin C on the wing.
* I found I needed more than the 20 crushed crackers, and I have done this recipe with Chicken breasts or drumbsticks. I also browned the wings in a frying pan with a little oil, and then reduced the baking time to just the 25 min. with the glaze.

Lost in translation

I thought I better let you know how I make that white barszcz (Zurek). I start with that Saturday Soup that we eat on Sunday. *I add the mixture that I purchased at my local Polish Deli. The label was somewhat decieving, but once I got my Polish mind going, I figured this must be it, it's a very literal translation."Sour Soup" refers to the method used to obtain the results required for this particular soup. I was so delighted when I read the label at how low in fat this was( 0%), then I remembered I was going to whisk in 1/2 pint 35% cream. Sometimes I find this a little lacking in flavour so I'll add some Vegeta (similar to oxo cubes, but more flavour). And that is it, heat thoroughly. I serve it with hard boiled eggs, horseradish, kielbasa and rye bread. Refrigerate leftovers.

Now you can make this mixture yourself. Place 1 loaf of rye bread in a 2 gallon crock and fill the crock with boiling water. Cover with cheese cloth and allow to sit for 2 -3 days, until it sours. Hence the name "Sour Soup" Strain the liquid and refrigerate liquid until use. Place the liquid in a 6 quart pot and add the 2 1/2 tsp. salt,, 1 3/4 tsp. pepper and 1 1/2 tsp. sour salt (citric acid), bring to a boil. And now you can continue from *.


If I'm not making this for easter and just feel like it, and I do, Nardini Sausage goes great in it. Nardin Sausage is located in Stoney Creek Ontario. Or if you have a favorite sausage by all means experiment. Cook sausage,any way you like, slice and add to soup.

Buraczki, Beets in Horseradish

This is a festive staple at the Polish table. Choose 5 or 6 medium size beets. I like to steam these, I don't peel them until they are cooked to fork tenderness. When they are cool, I grate them and add a little vinegar approx. 1tbsp. 1 tsp. salt, and horseradish also to taste. For me it's usually 50/50. Mix well, put into a jar with a tight lid. Store in Refrigerator.

This is absolutely great with ham, and KIELBASA. My husband and I add it to our Barszcz at Christmas Time. I serve it at breakfast on Easter morning along with our ham and eggs. Enjoy.

One year before we were married, my husband thought he would score points with my mom and decided to grate the horseradish himself, (he was cheap even back then) Well we started in the kitchen and the fumes were so strong he ended up on the porch, in the cold, never accomplished much, it was just too strong a fragrance, burned your eyeballs and squeezed your lungs.
Needless to say he got a 0 for a job not too well done, but she still let him watch Wrestling with her.

Good Friday eats.

I know this will have little to do with a recipe, but our Polish/Catholic Easter traditions sure do have a lot to do with food, and my mothers interpretation of what we're eating. After Ash Wednesday, some forty days, my mother would make us fast on Wednesdays and Fridays. I think now that the Wednesday bit was her not wanting to think of something to cook. I guess pleasing 6 members of the family was quite a challenge. You never said you didn't like something and then she would make you something else, like at my house, you just ate it. If my father was working afternoon shift,which he often did, we would get these unusual concoctions, like sardines with onions, or mustard sandwiches we gobbled them up, my husband would DIE if I served him a plate of onions. So when my family turns their nose up when I serve them Rainbow Trout, I say fooey to you. The option is sardines and onions. Today being Good Friday, we do fast or abstain, not too much though, we'll be having pierogi for supper, just no meat. I usually do "Blackened Sole, but since my gourmet isn't going to be home to eat it, I'm sticking with pierogi. I will however include the recipe.

Blackened Sole with Internal Damnation Sauce


Even the most innocent "soles" will feel the heat from this succulent seafood. This hot dish will spice up your weekend.

Ingredients:
Internal Damnation Sauce:
• 1 lb. fresh hot red peppers, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 drop liquid smoke
Blackening seasoning:
• 1 teaspoon each ground white pepper and ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons each dried thyme and dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon each garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and cayenne
• 4 tablespoons paprika
Sole:
• 4 large filets of sole
• 1 stick melted butter

Directions:
1. Combine peppers, garlic, vinegar, salt and liquid smoke in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Remove pepper mixture from heat and blend in 2-3 batches until smooth, then strain into a clean glass jar and set aside to cool. Cover and refrigerate until use
3. Combine and blend seasoning ingredients and set aside.
4. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat.
5. Turn on the ventilator hood fan, open the windows and disconnect the smoke alarms. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat for 8-10 minutes until hotter than hell.
6. Rinse the sole in water and blot dry. Brush both sides of the filets with melted butter and coat well with seasoning mix.
7. Carefully lay the filets two at a time into the hot pan and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 minutes on each side. Then lay sole in a pool of Internal Damnation Sauce and get ready to feel the burn.

If this seems like a lot of work to you, it is. But, I always tried to get that pain in the neck of my eldest son to eat, he was so skinny, so when he took an interest in food, I jumped on it. He's the one not going to be home today. I think what appealed to my guys was the play on words for this recipe and how we should eat it on Good Friday, annoying little pains that they are.

They found this recipe on the food network, Dinner & a Movie. I hate to tell them this but if they lived in my mother's house they wouldn't be watching television and awful movies on Good Friday either. I told them they didn't have to worry about their "soles" as I was saving them a seat REALLY close to "the fire".

Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Pizza

This is a recipe from The Barn School of Cooking. Pizza without tomato sauce!


Roasted Garlic and Artichoke Pizza

Pizza dough for a 12- inch pizza
1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
1 head roasted garlic*
1 c. grated Asiago cheese
½ c. chopped prosciutto (approx. 50 gr.)
1 398 ml. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered.

Gently work pepper flakes into pizza dough (This is store bought pizza dough) Roll out dough into 12 inch circle. Place dough on greased pizza pan.

Spread garlic on dough and top with ½ c. Assiago cheese and all the prosciutto. Arrange artichoke hearts on top, sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 500 degrees for 12 – 15 min. or until crust is golden brown.

Makes 2 or 3 main course servings or 12 appetizers.

*Roasted Garlic . To roast garlic, cut top off pointed end of garlic bulbs. Place on shiny side of aluminum foil and wrap. Bake at 400degree for 1 hour or until tender. Once cooled, squeeze pulp from garlic bulb. Can be frozen for up to 3 months.


If you are like me, you will not put the oven on for an hour at 400 degrees, for just one head of garlic. So, I usually plan this meal and schedule it in during one of the days that I have a roast in or I'm baking for the whole day. With Easter fast approaching, I know I will be baking, so this pizza is usually made for me, (my son and husband don't like something or other on the pizza, too bad, it's delicious.) I usually made it for us as we were painting eggs on Wednesday night, and they got to have a pizza with their own toppings on it. Remember the garlic flavor subsides and it's quite sweet after roasting. I've actually skipped the prosciutto, added more artichokes and loved it. Sasha loves roasted garlic in his potatoes. I think I might give the dough a try with a recipe from my Artisan Bread in Five Minutes. Enjoy