Pierogi Present

We received one holiday surprise this year that was above all other: Julia's Mom Mary's special, amazing, homemade, authentic Polish pierogies on Christmas Eve. This is not an informative entry – this is a brag piece. I do not know how to make pierogies and I will not be pretending to know so that I can tell you. That would certainly make them less special if I could make them whenever I wanted (despite the ominous amount of work involved). They'd be even less special if you all were making them all the time. Aren't I the jerk!

In case you're unfamiliar with pierogies, I'll give you a little hint about what's involved: potato, onion and cheese filling cute, little, delicious pasta dough dumplings. They are can be boiled (we had them that way), steamed or pan-fried (had some that way). I even saw them deep fried on a cooking show once, but I'm not sure if that is the Polish way and surely would be an awful amount of additional work. We ate them with sour cream, nonfat Greek yogurt and applesauce. I didn't like them with applesauce, and actually thought they were terrific and delicious just plain. Warm and soft on the inside with a luscious firm pasta outside. Heaven.

Julia took some of the extra pierogies that had already been boiled off and frozen and made a dinner based on a tip she saw on a show on pierogies. She baked the pierogies in a dish, with layers of thinly sliced red onion and a little butter, salt and pepper on top, and oh, was it divine! The nutty, slightly-browned, slightly-soft onions made this a lovely treat of a dinner.

So now you're a little hungry I bet. And you're probably even hankering for some pierogi, and you're mad because I didn't even bother to tease you with a recipe. Well, it's the time and love involved by the maker of the pierogies that really makes them worthwhile. However, if you must have some pierogi now, we have actually tried some pretty good frozen ones. Hey they ain't Mom's Authentic Polish but they ain't terrible. As an added bonus, we have seen a few brands that have almost no fat in them (far less than a gram per pierogie), and that is nice for a frozen food. Julia started making those in the toaster oven a few months ago, and this method actually gets them browned and puffy and the most enjoyable. Still not Mary's, but hey, we all can't be so lucky as to have her!

So now you have decided that you really need some pierogies now? And you have decided that they absolutely have to be HER pierogies? Well you are in luck. She boiled off a few extra trays of pierogies for us to freeze before she went home to Michigan, so if you're really nice and really lucky, you might score a few before we gobble them all up. I'd get over here by lunch actually. They might not last.

Polenta Feastette

What could be more Christmas appropriate than polenta? Lots of things, you say? I decided that an Italian feastestte (my Mom’s famous phrase) of polenta with tons of toppings would be a perfect Christmas dinner for Julia's Mom and our siblings (except for Jacob to whom we all wished a Happy Birthday). I served the polenta buffet-style with opening bites of Caprese salad skewers and pizza bombs. The skewers were just four mini mozzarella balls, four grape tomatoes and 3 basil leaves with salt and pepper. Simple, classic and always tasty. The pizza bombs came from a recipe – a bad recipe – and though they tasted good were a pain/mess to make and did not come out right. I'll spare you the details since I wouldn't recommend them.

The real winner was the polenta itself. Instead of the painstaking traditional way to make polenta, I used a far easier no-stir, no-stick way – in my slow cooker. I got up around 9:30 in the morning and added 3 cups of medium ground cornmeal into my slow cooker and then added more than ten cups of cold water. I probably would have put eleven or twelve cups but I reached my cooker's capacity and needed room to stir and add a couple more ingredients like three teaspoons of salt and three tablespoons of canola oil. I stirred this whole mixture with a whisk until everything was well incorporated, put on the lid and turned the cooker on low. I was estimating it would be done within six hours but was going to eyeball it. I wanted soft yet thick polenta. From there I gave it a stir with the whisk every hour or so to keep everything incorporated and checking on the consistency. It thickened beautifully and with about an hour left added a few tablespoons of Smart Balance (or butter) and a little more salt since I tasted it and it needed a little more. It seemed just about done around five and a half hours and I switched the cooker to warm to keep it warm yet firm it ever so slightly.

When all my toppings, which I had been whipping together in the final hour or so, were ready, we poured the whole vat of polenta onto our huge platter and garnished with some grilled store-bought hard polenta slices (for fun mostly) and served it buffet-style.

Oh and what were these elusive polenta toppings?

Cold: Cherry tomatoes halves, Roma tomato slices, Radish slices, Kalamata olives without pits, Roasted red pepper slices, Sundried tomatoes, Medium Salsa, Fontina cheese, Reggiano Parmesano cheese, Ricotta cheese, Chives

Warm: Marinara sauce, Red pepper alfredo sauce, Red onion sautéed slices, Grilled Haloumi cheese, Grilled baby zucchini, Grilled patty-pan squashes, Sautéed baby Portobello mushrooms, Crispy diced bacon, Grilled asparagus tips, Seared chicken thighs, Olive oil roasted garlic

Everyone came up for firsts, seconds and as much as they wanted – it made a lot of polenta, and the toppings were aplenty. Everyone got to customize their meal to their tastes, habits and hankerings. It was awesome and I loved it almost as much as our guests loved it.

Don’t let this meal sound elusive to you – with a little coordination it was actually one of the easier party meals I’ve ever pulled off.

White House Christmas Food

I guess one of the best perks of working for the President (non-politically) is the occasional invite to the White House for an evening of great food, drink and photo opp with the President and First Lady (publishing forthcoming). This was the case last week when four from my office (myself, Rebecca, Nora and Maggie), along with our dates, attended a White House Christmas Party. As one of the best perks of being my reader, is getting a chance to glance at the photos - namely of the food. Enjoy!

The Cuisine

Long view of the dinner selections showing lobster and cucumber salad in front of shaved prime rib. Not pictured (sadly) was the amazing lamb chop lollipops and cheddar grits. Also missing a picture of the bar, including the very spiked, very delicious egg nog. Lastly, I'm missing our photo with the President and First Lady - I haven't received it yet, but didn't want you all to miss out any longer on the rest of the festivities.

The cheese end of the table - yes that IS a six-inch-high brie on the right

Lox

Shaved Ham beside Potato Gratin

Rolls next to Asparagus Dippers

Lobster and cucumber salad next to prime rib

Enormous Shrimp Cocktail of Enormous Shrimps with Two Dipping Sauces

Dessert

One of the luxurious dessert tables. Dessert looked beautiful and was overall tasty but didn't blow any of us away. The little caramel truffles were actually my favorite thing on the entire table, but we collectively sampled almost everything.

Patriotic Spice Cupcakes overlooking Bread Pudding

Spangled Star Christmas Cookies and Warm Blueberry Cobbler

Chiffon cake (I think) and pecan squares

Handmade caramels and truffles behind remnants of chocolate log

Company

Jen, Nora & Maggie

Becca & Mike

Yours Truly, and Julia looking fantastic

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, Happy New Year's and Happy Holidays!