I decided to cook Polish this year for Fat Tuesday to accompany my pazckis. My mom made halushki when I was growing up and I loved it. It was such an odd combination of ingredients. Noodles, bacon, cottage cheese, potatoes, and topped with sugar. Something about it really works. Aya loves when I make this one. Even her mom loves it!
As far as authentic Polish, I really have no idea if this is or not. This recipe could be Polish, or it could be Hungarian. My aunt makes a halushki dish too, but it is completely different than this.
This was Ellie’s first time eating halushki and I found it funny that in being a true halvsie kid, she used her chopsticks.
This was my first time making dill pickle soup. I used a recipe recommended from my friend. I really liked how it turned out. It was just the right amount of pickle flavor. I didn’t add the extra chicken bullion cubes and used soy milk instead of regular milk. But everything else I did according to the directions.
RECIPES:
Halushki
My mom wasn’t very detailed with this recipe. There was a lot of “a little bit of this,” “approximately,” and “maybe” when she told me the recipe.
Ingredients:
Potatoes(3) peeled and cubed
Onion (1) diced
6 strips of bacon
About 8oz. wide egg noodles
Almost 16oz. of cottage cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Dried parsley
Sugar
Cook the bacon and set aside. Brown the onion. Cook the potatoes in boiling water. Cook noodles in a separate pot. Once everything is cooked, combine in same pan as the onion. Crumble the bacon on top and mix. Add the cottage cheese while noodles are hot and combine. Serve on plate and sprinkle with sugar. It sounds so gross, but it’s really good.
Dill Pickle Soup
Ingredients:
8 cups chicken stock
2 cubes chicken bullion
1 large carrot – grated
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
1 cup chopped celery
5 small dill pickles – grated
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbs flour
1 egg
5 Tbs sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh dill – finely chopped
In a large saucepan, combine chicken stock, bouillon, carrot, potatoes, and celery. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook covered over low heat until potatoes start to get soft.
Add pickles and continue cooking about 15 min. In a small bowl, beat milk and flour until smooth then stir in a small amount of the hot soup. Add this mixture to the soup pot and bring all to a boil until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
In a small bowl, beat egg and sour cream until smooth and stir in a small amount of the hot soup. Add this mixture to soup. Keep soup warm but do not boil, as this will make it curdle. Garnish with dill.
