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.

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!

A Non-Traditional Twist

Over the weekend we had the pleasure of revisiting Ann Arbor for the first time since moving south. The trip was highlighted by food, and of course family. A good combination. That pairing came out in all its glory on Thanksgiving itself with a wonderful feast prepared and coordinated by my Mom, with contributions from my Dad, Julia and her Mom, my Grandmother and my cousin Susie. And me! The buffet sparkled with a beautiful 18-pound brined and roasted turkey, a delicious feat my Mom has mastered over the years. By its side was a menagerie of other delicious Thanksgiving classics: turkey dressing and gravy, green beans, creamed pearl onions, maple roasted acorn squash and sweet potato squash, my Grandmother’s drunken cranberries and vegetarian dressing, vegetarian gravy, bakery rolls and Susie’s mashed potatoes. Oh yes, and one very non-traditional dish – mine. Italian roasted fennel. And people actually liked it’s a lot taste as well as its relation to the rest of the traditional meal. Bingo!

When my Mom asked me to bring something green to Thanksgiving, my mind raced through creative and not-so-creative variants of Brussels sprouts, collard greens, spinach, broccolini and even a salad as a cooler, lighter, fresher Thanksgiving diversion. But I finally settled on a green that is not so green but more white: fennel. Finally fennel. I grabbed the most enormous bulb of fennel I’ve ever seen – it looked like a head, especially with all the greens sprouting out of the top. I then grabbed a brick of Reggiano parmesan, olive oil, Panko bread crumbs, two small white onions, salt, pepper, mustard powder and ground sage. And of course, a large, disposable, aluminum roasting pan.

Earlier in the day on Thanksgiving, while Julia and her Mom were concocting their delicious apple and lemon meringue pies to go with my Mom’s pumpkin pie later for dessert, I put together my fennel dish. I took the fennel bulb and cut off all of the green tops and set them aside before thinly slicing the entire fennel bulb and stalks. I also finely diced the two onions and put all of the onions and all of the fennel into the aluminum roasting pan. I added a pinch of salt and pepper to the mixture as well as about four tablespoons of the olive oil. I then grated with a micro planer about 8 ounces of parmesan. I might have even been more generous than 8 ounces. It doesn’t matter. I took about three quarters of the cheese and put it in with the fennel, onions and oil and to that added about three quarters of a cup of the panko bread crumbs. Now, with clean hands, I mixed the entire concoction together to be sure that the seasonings, crumbs, cheese, oil, fennel and onions all were mixed together and well incorporated. The mixture wasn’t quite getting as moist as I wanted, so I added a little more olive oil to be sure it would roast well. Finally, I evened it out in about a one-inch layer in the pan and created the topping. The topping was the rest of cheese and another quarter to half cup of bread crumbs mixed well and pressed on top of the entire layer. Over that I drizzled a little more olive oil and then sprinkled a little more salt and pepper as well as a pinch each of the mustard powder and sage to give it that earthy Thanksgiving feel. I finished it with a few of the fennel greens, roughly chopped.

I could have cooked it then, but I covered it and put it in the fridge to be cooked later. Julia actually finished off the dish that afternoon by roasting it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour before putting it under the broiler for another minute or so to get it a little extra crispy. Of course, at this point you need to keep an eye on it, because it could very well burn and I wouldn’t want that. The final result was golden and crispy and had thinned down to less than half an inch thick. In the mean time though, the flavors had concentrated and mixed together and the fennel – normally an intimidating and strongly-flavored ingredient – was tender and flavorful and salty and earthy and teeming with succulent decadence.

I was very impressed with the turnout of the dish and will definitely be making this one for future holiday meals. The crowd, after their initial fennel intimidation, actually loved it and the different kind of aspect it brought to our otherwise spectacular meal. I can’t say my dish made the meal, but it was a yummy twist that certainly made the meal a little more distinctive than most. And I suppose that’s all I can hope for amongst all those yummy-cookin’ (and bakin’) ladies!