Zosia’s White Borscht

Around our home, we have many traditions ... one of which is the Polish one to mark Easter with a bowlful of Zosia's (Sophie's) white borscht sometime in the late morning ... while we are beginning to prepare for our Easter repast. This is a unique and very flavorful dish which evokes the old country. Here is the process of preparation as passed down from Zosia:

2 good quarts of cold water in a large enamel cooking pot
1 Polish Kielbasa (we get ours shipped from the East Village Market in NYC, 212-228-5590)

1 piece of smoked slab bacon (with the bones in ... optional ... from the same supplier)

Simmer these ingredients for 30 minutes ... don't boil!

Remove slab bacon and kielbasa and set aside

¼ cup flour (sour rye flour if available)
½ cup water
1 tbs salt
Mix together and slowly add to the above

Simmer for an additional 30 minutes

Add juice of one lemon

Add ½ cup of dried Polish mushrooms (try the Kielbasa supplier)

4-6 fresh egg yolks

1 pint sour cream

Wisk together and temper with a little of the hot liquid

Slowly add this mixture to the soup wisking all the while

Warning! if you boil this soup, it will break ...

Serve with peeled and chopped up hard boiled Easter eggs, small pieces of Kielbasa and the slab bacon.

Grate fresh peeled horseradish root on top (to taste ... very traditional). Try your local supermarket for the horseradish root ... they often have it around Easter.

Mom's Strawberry Sherbert

This dessert is so simple and so good.

Ingredients:
One quart good, ripe strawberries, destemmed and picked over
Three egg whites, stiffly beaten
Juice of one lemon
Simple syrup made with two cups sugar, three cups water -- boiled until well dissolved

Mash and combine berries, lemon juice with simple syrup and briefly continue to boil
Air-cool mixture and put in a freezer tray with the beaten egg whites on top
Place in freezer until almost frozen
Remove to a bowl and beat with (electric) mixer until light and frothy
Return to freezer (in tray) until fully frozen

Enjoy with, say, almond cookies.

Vinaigrette

I don’t remember where I learned this one, but it never fails to bring raves.  I've had to give this simple recipe to numerous friends.

Put a large pinch of kosher salt in the bottom of a wooden bowl. Slice up one large or two small cloves of garlic and place on top of the salt. Use a hefty and narrow-tonged fork or even a mortar to crush the garlic well into the salt … making into a paste. Add a good dollop of Dijon mustard and the juice of one-half a juicy lemon (or all the juice of a not-so-juicy lemon). I also like to add a big splash of good red-wine vinegar now. Mix it well with a fork adding about 3 or 4 turns of a pepper mill. If you must add an herb, try chervil ... about 1/2 a tablespoon.  Next drizzle in about 4 or more tablespoons of good extra-virgin olive oil, mixing all the while with the fork to create a creamy emulsion.

The actual salad contents can vary greatly, but how about a package of mesclun-mix greens, a bunch of halved cherry or grape tomatoes and three sliced-up scallions? And maybe even some crumbled up blue cheese?

Cyetta’s Superb Spinach Salad

Anytime we have a gathering of friends and Cyetta asks what she can bring, I always request this superb salad:

First the most delicious salad dressing (Makes about one quart of dressing. Can be cut by ½ or 2/3rds. Remainder can be stored for months in the refrigerator.)

Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup salad oil (canola oil is good)
2/3 cup good sharp cider vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1 small onion or shallot, grated (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seeds (Cyetta's choice, but I substitute poppy seeds)
½ tsp paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
1 minced garlic clove (or equivalent in garlic powder)
A pinch of dry mustard
½ tsp Worcester sauce

Shake all these ingredients together in jar of sufficient size.

Use this dressing on a salad made from a package of baby spinach, a good amount of crumbled fried or broiled bacon (at least 1/2 a pound), a small cold can of Mandarin orange sections (or cold navel orange sections), and toasted slivered almonds. (The almonds can be toasted in the bacon grease … but are optional.)

Sangria

Sangria can turn a mediocre wine (Two Buck Chuck?) into an afternoon treat with a gaggle of friends. And the more you drink, the better it tastes. It can be made with red wine or white … plain wine or sparkling, so please try all possibilities.

To keep with the theme, you might start with a bottle (or two) of white or red Spanish wine. Chilled is better since you need to add less ice. Pour into a large pitcher. Add a good two tablespoons of caster sugar (or ultra-fine sugar), three or four shot glasses of triple sec or Cointreau.  Squeeze in one sliced-up lemon, one sliced-up lime, one sliced-up orange (Valencia?), and maybe a few slices of fresh pineapple. Then, unless you are using a sparkling wine (Persico or even champagne?), add a good glass of seltzer or ginger ale (Vernor’s). Mix well and add enough ice to fill. Kick back and enjoy.

Then make another pitcher … and another.

Whiskey Sour A Go Go

This is a perennially popular cocktail … too often made with inferior ingreients or (ugh) mixes. This is the real thing:

- The juice of one good-sized smooth-skinned lemon (no seeds please). (Be careful, lemons that are rough skinned have a lot less juice.  You might have to use more of this type of lemon.)
- 3 to 4 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar
- 6 ounces of good bourbon or sour-mash whiskey (I prefer Jack Daniels ... but it was better when it was 90 proof)
- One raw egg white (please … if you use clean, Grade-A eggs, you needn’t get paranoid)
- (If you still can’t chance it, try the product called Frothee.)

Place ingredients in a (Warring) blender. Add ice cubes to about 4 inches from the top.  Put top on tightly and blend until all the ice cubes are crushed to your desired degree.

Put a Maraschino cherry in a short cocktail glass (with a little of its red juice). For more drama, hang a slice of navel orange on the side of the glass.  Fill with the blended whiskey sour.

Enjoy!