[beerocd]

So, no filet - no saffron - no lobster - no truffles, you get the idea.

Baba ganoush
3 medium eggplants halved, salted and oiled on a cookie sheet and roasted
1/4 cup sesame seeds
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon juiced, plus zest
pinch of curry + tumeric
salt and pepper, to taste
drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
drizzle sesame oil

I'm a VitaMix kinda guy. Scape the eggplant away from the skin throw everything into the blender. Voila!

[capozzoli]

Im working on some ideas to post in this thread.

Peasant food is great subject, it is from where all culinary art is perfected.  When people have little they find a way to do a lot with what they have. Almost all great dishes that have been around can be traced back to peasants. I think it happens when people only have a few different  ingredients to cook every day over and over so they get creative and inventive. They start to use spices and other flavors to make that cabbage or those potatoes taste and have a different texture than the night before. Alternately when a culture gets wealthy its food gets more and more bland and ordinary cooked primarily for its speed.

Seems that the more we have the less we appreciate.

[capozzoli]

Hey, where is everyone at? Xmas shopping?

Here is some peasant food, and it is up there as one of my very favorite meals.

Kielbasa sauerkraut and perogies. 

Made with my homemade sauerkraut and some nice smoked kielbasa from the Krakus Market.












Ill post some recipe and instruction tomorrow. Wife is calling me. There is about 18" of snow out there, the kid is asleep and the wife REALLY likes kielbasa. 

[beerocd]

Yep, when the wife is asking for the keilbasa - you gotta drop everything and give her the ol' kielbasa. 
I had that same beer for dinner tonight - paired with Lasagna and Basil bread. Nothing pretty though - so no pics.

Extra Lasagna filling gets mixed up for a quiche or frittatta or caserole or something like that in the morning. 

-OCD

[beerocd]

Oh, meant to ask - you'll really just make up a single meal worth of perogies?!?!
We freeze a buttload - make a mess once, fry em in butter and hit em with sourcream.

[capozzoli]

Oh yeah, one batch. Not really a problem with the Kitchen Aid mixer. You have one?

First I peel a few potatoes and onions. I start boiling the potatoes in a pot of water with a little salt. Then I dice the onions. 

I put a cup or so of flour in the mixer with some salt and a teaspoon of baking powder. I start the mixer on low then I add one egg and some oil. When it starts to bead up I then add some of the starchy boiling potato water to the flour gradually till it starts to form a dough ball. After that let it mix a little longer and then turn it out. The boiling water will make your perogie dough very tender.

Then I mash the potato with some butter salt pepper and onions. Form some golf ball size pieces of dough and then roll them out. Put some stuffing in the middle and then pull up the sides stretching over the stuffing. Pinch the dough closed as to not get any of the stuffing in the joint. If some stuffing is in the joint it could come open when boiling. When they float they are done.

Then I brown some onions in butter, throw toss the perogies in there for a little while and then wow.

[bluesman]

That looks great Capp. Polish food at it's best. That Kielbasa looks familiar only because I bought the same when I was up at your shop the other week. I recently made potato and cheese pierogi's. I make them the same way...fried onions in margarine with sour cream, Kielbasa and Kapusta too. mmm...mmm...delicious.

[capozzoli]

Yep, and did you notice that the entrance for 95 south is right across the street from the Krakus? I should have told you but I forgot. How bout how many different kinds of kielbasa they have. has to be ten or twenty different kinds.

I went to work on sat AM and there was no snow, barely a few flakes coming down. By twelve it looked like ten inches. I bailed out of work and it took me more than two hours to get back to Bristol. YIKES! I stopped at the krakus on the way home. Almost didnt get out of my parking spot, a couple of very tall Polish accented guys helped push me out. I love the Polish. I hate that little truck I have though. I noticed yesterday that it doesnt even have a posi-reat. OMG, only one wheel has drive.  Not good for the snow.

I think we have two feet out there now and still snowing. Tonight if I can get to the Indian store we are going to have Indian, or maybe just a round two on the polish food.

[beerocd]

Man we are hoarders here, none of that Euro shopping each day for each meal.
I bet I can get snowed in for a month without really any issues at all. Bulk grains, beans, nuts and meat.
Frozen tomato sauce and soups from our garden, along with storebought frozen veggies too.
Always got phyllo in the freezer. Plenty of Slivo, wine, and beer.

-OCD

[capozzoli]

Im stocked up too. We could go a whaile.  Just have to go out and get kielbasa, or ginger cilantro etc. The types of things that are not always on hand. The things that dont keep well. We make all kinds of stuff at my house but when I am making ethnic food or an old traditional recipe I want it to be completely authentic, Im not into substitutions. Im kind of a really annoying perfectionist, if you can imagine.

[corkybstewart]

My French mother in law made "potage" every day for the evening meal.  It's basically a pureed soup, mostly just veggies but sometimes she would boil a beef bone for flavor.
Here's my basic recipe for it.
3 leeks, cleaned  well and chopped
8 carrots
4 potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup each of lima beans, green beans and sweet peas
Put in large stock pot with enough water to cover the veggies by at least an inch.  Simmer at a slow boil 2 hours at least.  Using a stick blender puree in the stock pot, add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a pat of butter in the bowl and sliced crusty bagettes.
You can also add noodles, but I like it without.

[capozzoli]

Not sure if this is peasant food, but it is street food. Maybe street food is modern day peasant food.

This popular vegetarian street food sandwich is from Trinidad.
 
'Doubles'.



Named doubles cause they are served with two 'barras'. Fried bread leaven with yeast and spiced with cumin seeds and turmeric. Turmeric also gives it the yellow hue.

They are topped with channa dal (Curried lentil: Made with fried onions, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, garam masala, tomato paste, salt pepper, cilantro.) also mango chutney, hot sauce and grated cucumber.

Man I love these sandwiches so much. I always eat too much cause they are so good. A couple of beers and I am ready to explode.

I want to make the other famous sandwich; Roti,  from Trinidad but havent done it yet. I would also like to learn how to make a Shark and Bake too. That sandwich is from Tobago.

   

[bluesman]

Capp...I think this is the Roti you are referring to?

Roti is a traditional bread originating in India and Pakistan. It is normally eaten with curries or cooked vegetables; it can be called a carrier for curries or cooked vegetables. It is made most often from wheat flour, cooked on a flat or slightly concave iron griddle called a tawa. It is similar to a flour tortilla in appearance. Like breads around the world, roti is a staple accompaniment to other foods, maybe spread with ghee (clarified butter). Roti can also be known as bangali.

Taken from Wikipedia.

[capozzoli]

Oh yeah man, that is it. They look so good. I have never had one.

I have to learn how to make the dough and then do this...



Here is a video on how to make doubles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OV0-Lvr9zw