Flan-tastic!

Ingredients:
1 can of condensed milk
1 can of carnation evaporated milk
4 whole eggs
one capful of vanilla (perhaps this amounts to a tsp?)
For the caramel coating:
1 tablespoon of sugar
3-4 tablespoons of water

round cake pan
9X11 rectangular pan (I the same pyrex one i make lasagna in. the point here is that the cake pan needs to fit inside the rectangular pan. There are other ways to do this, but the goal is to create a double boiler situation)

Directions:

1. Combine the condensed milk, evaporated milk, and 4 eggs in a large bowl, mixing until completely blended.
2. Pour the 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan, set to high heat. allow the sugar to melt and turn brown, and after it's already brown throw in the 3-4 tablespoons of water. if you do the water+sugar first, it won't turn brown, but will instead be a clear caramel. and as a warning, you'll get a pretty big sizzle when you add the water, so be careful! but it's ok! adding the water will make it a little less viscous, but please do be careful, cuz melted sugar is essentially napalm.
3. pour the caramel/melted sugar into your round cake pan and coat the bottom and sides (this will be the top of your flan).
   
4. Pour the eggs n milks mixture right into the cake pan.
   
5. Now place the cake pan inside the 9X11 pan. Fill the 9X11 pan/dish with water until the water level is half-way up the cake pan.
   
6. Place this in an over preheated to 350 degrees F. Let cook for about an hour.
7. When the flan is looking solid, you're ready to pull it out. Remove the cake pan, and using a knife go along the edges of the flan (the circumference of the pan), to separate it from the pan. If you don't do this, removing the whole thing will be extra difficult.
8. After doing the knife trick, find a BIG plate (it can be super messy if the plate is too small), and place it atop the round pan. It's flipping time! Flip the flan over, and the top will be brown and glazed.
9. Ta Da! Enjoy!
   

Little trick: I've also used tuna cans (well cleaned, etc) to make baby flans. It's exactly the same premise -- coat the cans inside with the sugar, fill with egg n milks mix, and place inside a pan with water. Delicious and cute :)

(Picture to come).

Cabbage Patch Kid

You can't entirely tell from the photo, but this, my friends, is stuffed cabbage. Mmmm. Imagine, blanched leaves of the finest green cabbage wrapped around a delicious melange of ground pork and beef (sorry, Suzanne :( ... though I'm sure you could make it with veggies!). Next, bake in the oven, douced in a special tomato sauce. The result is deliciousness. And, of course, it had to be a Polish delight. I made this months ago (the same day I made the pierogi). I just wanted to share the pic, in preparation for tomorrow, when I will be making poppy seed cake. See the recipe for stuffed cabbage below (from foodtv.com):

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Galumpkis)

Ingredients

Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 1/2 quarts crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cabbage Rolls:

• 11/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• Splash dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups steamed white rice
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large heads green cabbage, about 3 pounds each

To make the sauce:

Directions

Coat a 3-quart saucepan with the oil and place over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar; simmer, until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

Place a skillet over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until soft. Stir in the tomato paste, a splash of wine, parsley, and 1/2 cup of the prepared sweet and sour tomato sauce, mix to incorporate and then take it off the heat. Combine the ground meat in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg, the cooked rice, and the sauteed onion mixture. Toss the filling together with your hands to combine, season with a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the large, damaged outer leaves from the cabbages and set aside. Cut out the cores of the cabbages with a sharp knife and carefully pull off all the rest of the leaves, keeping them whole and as undamaged as possible, (get rid of all the small leaves and use them for coleslaw or whatever.) Blanch the cabbage leaves in the pot of boiling water for 5 minutes, or until pliable. Run the leaves under cool water then lay them out so you can assess just how many blankets you have to wrap up the filling. Next, carefully cut out the center vein from the leaves so they will be easier to roll up. Take the reserved big outer leaves and lay them on the bottom of a casserole pan, let part of the leaves hang out the sides of the pan. This insulation will prevent the cabbage rolls from burning on the bottom when baked. Use all the good looking leaves to make the cabbage rolls. Put about 1/2 cup of the meat filling in the center of the cabbage and starting at what was the stem-end, fold the sides in and roll up the cabbage to enclose the filling. Place the cabbage rolls side by side in rows, seam-side down, in a casserole pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pour the remaining sweet and sour tomato sauce over the cabbage rolls. Fold the hanging leaves over the top to enclose and keep the moisture in. Drizzle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 1 hour until the meat is cooked.

Pierogi Preparation Pics

Here's what you call the "stuffing." Mashed potatoes, salt, chopped onions, and shredded cheddar cheese (mmmm, the cheese gets all melty cuz of the hot potatoes).

Aren't they so cute? After you roll out the dough, you cut into squares (in this recipe's presentation), you put the filling in the center and fold over into triangles. I think next time I'll make they more rounded.

The final, delicious products.

On Becoming a Polish Housewife

For my first post on this matter, I figured I'd just go ahead and upload the recipe to the first Polish thing I ever tasted, and then learned to make, Pierogi!

See below Ania's mama's recipe, and what I love is how "a little bit of this, not too much of that" it is. If you have any questions, let me know -- I successfully made cheese n potato ones as well as blueberry several months ago, though I was inspired to post this today because
a) I'm making more soon.
b) I will also be learning to make Makoviec -- poppyseed rolls. More to come....

Courtesy of Ania's mama, a recipe for pierogi:

"I start with the stuffing first. I boil potatoes (3-5 medium size). I don't like pieces of onion in my pierogi so I cut one onion and fry it on butter or oil till golden. Then I use sitko ( I forgot English name for this thing used to drain pasta) and put only liquid part of onion to well mashed, boiled potatoes. I add to that chesse, the best is farmers cheese but i experymented with others too and it was OK. I mix everything very well and add salt and pepper.

Then or when potatoes are boiling I make the dough. In a bowl i put some flour, one egg, salt and boiling water ( it is very important for the dough to be elastic). I mix everything with a spoon, since it is hot and then I use hands to make a good dough. It shouldn't be too hard or too soft. I add more water or flour to make it right.

I cover the whole dough and cut a small piece which I roll and cut squares. In the centre I put a small spoon of stuffing and make a pierog.

I boil water to which I add salt (not too much) and a spoon of oil ( it prevents pierogi from sticking to each other while boiling). I put pierogi to boiling water and when ready ( start coming to the top) I remove them. I put some butter on them so they won't stick to each other and later I will use this butter to fry them."