Luci's Tasty Adventures

Every time my dad goes to Chicago to visit his family he always comes home with Kielbasa Czosnkowa Sausage (Polish Sausage).  This sausage has always been such a treat to me.  I decided to barbeque one link and serve it with some tasty potato pancakes (Latkes).  These Latkes are so nice because they can be made in advance and reheated in the oven.  They make a great appetizer or a side dish to so many meals.  Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

• 2 large Russet potato, peeled
• 1 large, or two small onions, chopped
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Method:

Grate potatoes and place them in a dish cloth or some cheese cloth.  Squeeze all the moisture out of the potatoes over the sink.
 











Put grated potatoes in a bowl along with the egg, onion, garlic, flour, salt and pepper.














Heat a skillet with the vegetable oil over medium heat.  While the skillet heats up make your Latkes.  You can use a ice cream scoop to get uniform style pancakes or just eyeball it, should make 8-10 pancakes.

Fry Latkes for about 4 minutes aside till they are golden brown.

























This can be done in batches and stored in a warm oven before serving.

Yum... Stuffing has always been my favorite part of Thanksgiving.  My recipe is a combination of my Mother's and my Aunt Brenda's recipe.  Its actually a very simple common stuffing, but I just adore it and never seem to try any other recipes when it comes to turkey day.

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp non salted butter
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 cups chopped celery
2 cloves of garlic finally chopped
4 ounce can of chopped mushrooms drained
1 lb Jimmy Dean sausage
10 cups white bread cubed stuffing- not seasoned
2 tsp Bells Seasoning
2 14 ounce cans of chicken broth

Method:

Heat olive oil and butter in large skillet on medium heat.  Add onion, celery, and kosher salt.  Sweat vegetables down till they are almost tender about 5 minutes.  Add chopped garlic and mushrooms.  Cook for another minute and remove from heat, and place vegetables in a large mixing bowl.  Return skillet to stove and reduce temperature to medium low.  Break sausage into small pieces and cook on low heat for about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat when finished and combine with vegetables.  Add cubed bread crumbs, bells seasoning and mix well.  Slowly mix in chicken broth and transfer stuffing into a butter greased baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about a half hour and then  remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes till crispy on top.

This recipe makes enough to fill 9 by 13, 3 quart casserole dish.

 






Pastry Ingredients

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
½ tsp kosher salt
3 cups white flour

1 beaten egg for pastry egg wash

Filling

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, minced
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves minced
¼ pork chorizo sausage
½ pound ground pork
½ pound ground beef
1 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes, I used fresh
¼ cup Spanish brine-cured green olives, pitted and chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and finely chopped

Method

Pastry

Beat cream cheese, butter, and ½ tsp salt until well blended.  Slowly add in the flour.  Mix till incorporated and form dough into two balls.  Place balls in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator.

Filling

Warm olive oil in a large fry pan over medium heat.  Add onions, bell peppers and garlic, cook till tender about 10 minutes.  Add the chorizo, pork, and beef and cook till no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, olives and cumin.  Cover and simmer until heated through, about 10 minutes.  Uncover and cook till all moisture is gone, about 5 minutes.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.  Put aside to cool.

Assemble
















Heat oven to 375.  On a floured work area roll one dough disk out to 1/8th thickness.  Use a cup or a jar with a 3 inch diameter to cut pastry disks.  Fill each disk with a nice teaspoon size ball of filling, top with a few pieces of hard boil egg.  Roll dough over and crimp edges with fork to seal.  Rinse and repeat till your cooking sheet is packed, brush with egg was and bake for about 15 minutes.