caramel wafer cake - no baking involved

I have been promising to make a dessert, so I have decided to start with one of my grannie's easier recipes. The hardest part about this recipe is finding the ingredients, which can be found in most super markets and boiling some water. The one disclaimer I have to make is that it takes a few days prep time for this to come out just right. This is a cake that anyone can make and everyone should try. Your friends and family will be very impressed and they will be asking for more.

Ingredients
4 cans of 14oz condensed milk
2 packs of wafers (the round ones pictured below are a little thinner and work better than the square ones that are also avialble)
1/2 lemon
1/2 stick unsalted butter
teaspoon vanillin sugar
1 1/2 cups of walnuts (can be done with pecans or mixture)



















This recipe is best done when you take a couple of days to prepare before serving. The 4 cans of condensed milk need to be placed into a pot with boiling water for 3 hours. You will probably need to add water to the pot every hour or half hour since the water will be evaporating. The cans need to be completely submerged the entire 3 hours.














After 3 hours, remove from the water and let cool until the next day.

*****DO NOT OPEN THE CANS AFTER BOILING****

It will explode in your face and you will go to the hospital if you open the can while it is still hot.












The next day get a large mixing bowl and combine the contents of the 4 cans of condensed milk that will now be a beautiful brown caramel color with the juice of half a lemon, a teaspoon of vanillin sugar, half a stick of unsalted butter. It's best if you let the butter stand out at room temperature for a while so it becomes soft. Mix everything well so that there is an even
consistency throughout (about 4-5 minutes of mixing). Take the nuts and put them into a food processor or use a rolling pin and turn into a fine crumb.

Now you are ready to begin assembly. Take a large cutting board and place the first wafer sheet down and start applying a generous scoop of cream mixture so that the entire surface is covered. Make sure you get all the edges as well, don't worry if some of your cream goes over the edge. then take a small handful of the the crumbled nuts and sprinkle over the top of the cream. A little like making a pizza. adding sauce then cheese.













You will repeat the same process for every layer. Depending on how much cream you add per layer you should end up with about 9-10 layers. The top sheet will not get cream or nuts. Once you add the final top wafer, you will want to take whatever cream is left over and apply to the edging around the cake. Then you will take a small brush and dip into the cream as a glue and then dip into the nuts and apply to the outside edge of the cake.











Now that the cake is assembled it needs to be pressed. Add another cutting board to the top and weigh done with about 10lbs of weight and let stand over night. Does not need refrigeration at this point but I would leave somewhere that is cool.










As you can see I stalked a bunch of my cook books right on top of the second cutting board. I assembled in the afternoon and let stand until the next morning.












When I returned the next morning, I removed the books and sliced into my beautiful cake. I usually cut into diagnols to make the pieces look nicer. You should slice up the entire cake at this point.











Once you slice up the entire cake, find a large tupper-ware to place all your pieces into. Feel free to taste your creation. You should be pretty impressed at this point with what you created. Now you want to refridgerate so that it stays mooistr and fresh. when the cake is cold it tastes that much better.













I hope you have enjoyed making a cake without baking. This dessert is a family favorite as well as a highly requested by friends.

I will be going to visit grannie for the holidays, so I should have some more recipes coming soon.

Happy Holidays... and keep on cooking!

grannie's infamous potato perogi's (dumplings)

This is one of my grannie's most requested dishes. She makes many variation on the fillings but today we will be working on the potato perogi's. When I was younger I told her that she should go into business and mass produce them, but of course they probably would not taste as good as truly home-made. Let me warn you that it is a little tricky but well worth the attempt because the payout is so good. As i had mentioned before the filling for these is the same as the mashed potato recipe that was posted earlier.

Ingredients
8-10 medium sized potatoes
2 medium yellow onions
sugar
salt / black ground pepper
gyoza skin
corn oil

Your first task will be to create the potato filling so here it is again for you:

Peal and wash the potatoes and cut into quarters. Place quartered potatoes into boiling pot of water with 2 tablespoons of oil and tablespoon salt - cover and let cook for approximately 30 minutes.

While the potatoes are boiling take the onion and dice finely and place in medium frying pan coated with corn oil (about 4 tablespoons) add a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of sugar. Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until onions turn golden brown. Here is where it gets interesting. When the the onions become golden brown remove pan from heat and let onions continue cook/brown in the pan, they will also suck up all the oil.















When the potatoes are ready drain through screen/colander to remove excess water. Place back into the pot and add all the contents of the frying pan, onions and oil. Start mashing and add salt and pepper to taste. Continue mashing and tasting, adding salt and pepper as needed.

















Once the potatoes are ready transfer to mixing bowl and set to the side to cool. Prepare a small bowl of water and a small basting brush as well as a tray to layout the dumpling when created. Open the dumpling dough package and remove about half the dough covering the other half so it does not dry out. Each package contains about 50 dumpling sheets and you can make about 75-100 dumplings from the amount of potatoes that you have made.
















Take a dumpling sheet and brush ever so lightly with a little water to cover one side of the dumpling dough. scoop about a teaspoon of potato and place in the center of the dough. Fold the dough in half so the two ends meet and pinch all the way around making sure the potatoes don't get in the creases so that the dough meets and creates a tight seal other wise when you go to cook then they will fall apart.












Once you have repeated for all the perogie's and have them laid out on a tray. Get a large pot filled with water and bring to boil. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and some salt to the pot.

While waiting for the pot to boil take the another yellow onion and dice finely and place in medium frying pan coated with corn oil (about 4 tablespoons) add a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of sugar. Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until onions turn golden brown just like you had done for the potatoes. When the the onions become golden brown remove pan from heat and let onions continue cook/brown in the pan, they will also suck up all the oil.
















When the water begins to boil drop in about 10 dumplings and lightly stir, to make sure they are sticking to the bottom. they should cook for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes turn off the heat and remove from pot with perforated ladle and place in a separate tray making sure they do not touch each other so that they don't stick together. When ready turn the heat back on and wait for the water to boil again, should only be a minute then repeat the entire process.














When all the perogie's are boiled you can get a container ready for the finished product. Take a few perogie's at a time and coat with the oil and onions in the frying pan. This will keep them from sticking together when you put them in your final container.














I know it's been a little difficult but they will be devoured before you even notice. I will work on getting the recipe for the other filling but for now practice on making these so the process will be easier next time around.

Until next time... keep on cooking.

golden fried pork chops

This recipe might not be for the very health conscious but it is very good and if you decide to treat yourself, this is the perfect recipe to make for a comfort meal. This recipe goes great with grannie's mashed potato recipe.

Ingredients
2lbs pork chops about 4, 8oz pieces (with or without bone)
1 cup of vodka
Vegeta seasoning
Ground black pepper
Matzo meal
eggs
corn oil

I used pork chops on the bone for my recipe. After washing the meat, I tenderized it with a meat hammer and then left in a pan with about a cup of vodka for 2 hours. The meat should not be swimming but the vodka will continue the tenderizing process and will give you soft juicy meat when cooked. This process can be used for any thick cuts of meat like steak, lamb, pork etc. After 2 hours remove the meat from the pan and drain any excess liquid and rub each pork chop with the vegeta seasoning and ground black pepper and let sit over night in the refrigerator.














The next day prep an egg wash by beating 2 eggs and a pinch of salt and pepper and pan with some matzo meal or cake meal ( might only be available during passover). Have a large frying pan pre-heating with a generous amount of corn oil. Take each pork chop and drop in the egg wash and then proceed directly to the dry matzo meal coating and straight into the pan.













Remember if you add some salt to the oil in the pan it will not pop or spray as much. continue with the other pork chops until pan is full. cook about 5-7 minutes on each side until golden brown and delicous. Might need to be flipped a couple of times so it all cooks evenly.













When done let stand and cool for a few minutes before serving. They should soft, juicy and making your mouth water just looking at them. As I mentioned before, goes great with mashed potatoes but can be served with rice or salad if you are trying to mitigate how bad you want to be.


















Enjoy this recipe and until next time... keep on cooking.

sweet and sour meatball stew (tsief-tel-yeah)

I have received a few offline inquiries as to this recipe. It is a classic Russian dish especially at my house called (tsief-tel-yeah), no direct translation, so I decided it was time. This dish is a little more complicated but the payoff is well worth it. You will need a few hours of free time to work on this dish, and there are multiple stages. Let me just tell you, that you already have a head start... the meatball recipe that I posted earlier will be slightly modified and used as one of the main building blocks to the recipe. So, if you have not tried to make the meatballs yet, I would suggest practicing that dish before attempting this one.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground chicken
½ lbs chopped veal
2 eggs
1 carrot pealed & grated
3 garlic cloves minced
3 onions
3oz tomato paste
2 bay leaves
handful of fresh dill
mayonnaise
vegeta seasoning mix
blk ground pepper
matzo meal
baking soda
sugar

Step one is to get out either a cast iron pot or dutch oven like Le Creuset. In the dutch oven drop in 2 onions chopped coarsely, add 2-3 tablespoons corn oil, 1 teaspoon sugar - cover and cook over medium heat till onions brown.

After onions are glassy and begin getting golden, add 1 lbs chopped veal (cubed) with bone is acceptable as well - will even give better flavor, add 1 carrot peeled and grated and 2 bay leaves, season with black ground pepper. Add small amounts of water as needed so not to burn onions or meat on the bottom of the pot. After ½ hour of browning and stewing add enough water to cover meat and stew while preparing meatballs. After 5 minute of stewing add 3 big squirts ketchup to pot.














Now back to the meatball recipe except this time you are only using ground chicken and you will not be frying the meatballs all the way to the end because they will finish their cooking process in the stew. So just to recap...

Take the foloowing ingredients for the meatballs and combine in a mixing bowl:
1 1/2 ground chicken
2 eggs
2 teaspoon mayo
1 ½ teaspoon vegeta
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1 onion grated
¼ cup spring water
4 tablepoons matzo meal
½ tablepoon baking soda

Create small sized balls and lightly brown evenly in large frying pan with corn oil.













After all the meatballs have been browned, add them to the dutch oven which has been stewing for the last 45-50 minutes and cover with broth. Be very careful when placing the meatballs int he stew and when mixing not to break any. Season with ½ tablespoon vegeta and ½ small can of tomato paste about 3oz, ½ teaspoon black ground pepper. This part is a personal taste area - some people like the taste a little sweeter than others, you can always adjust salt and pepper proportions to balance out sweetness.














Total time of about an hour has elapsed. Set heat to low and simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes. 15 minute into simmer add handful of chopped dill. Let stand an cool.













This is a hearty main coarse that everyone will enjoy - sometimes even better the second day when reheated. This dish will serve at least six for dinner with no problem. Hope everyone enjoys.

Until next time... keep cooking!

grilled eggplant salad

Today we are going to make a quick and easy grilled eggplant salad with a little twist. Picture layers of eggplant filled in with a pepper and tomato mixture. This dish would be best served after cooking and letting the ingredients all settle and mix their flavors.

Ingredients
3 long, skinny (italian) eggplant
3 red peppers
3 tomatoes
3 garlic cloves

Clean and chop the peppers, tomatoes, garlic and process in meat grinder or food processor.
Add a tablespoon of vinegar, salt, ground black pepper and sugar. Mix well and let stand.















Cut the eggplant in round circles about ½ thick and put in bowl of water with half a teaspoon of salt and cover for 20 min - dry on paper towels.

Heat medium fry pan with corn oil an cook both of sliced eggplant on both sides until light/golden brown. After they have been fried pat dry to remove excess oil - layout in container and cover each layer with processed mixture and repeat - for about three layers.













As mentioned before, served best when left standing and marinating for about 30 minutes. This dish can be served as side dish or appetizer salad. Great vegetarian option that has a little spice and a lot of flavor.














Enjoy the new recipe, until next time... keep cooking.

grannie's mashed potatoes

I know, your wondering what is so special about grannie's mashed potatoes... let me tell you and show you. Fist of all this recipe is going to be key when the time comes to prepare the infamous potato perogie's, because if you didn't already know it's all about the filling.

Ingredients
8-10 medium sized Idaho potatoes
1 yellow onion
salt/ground black pepper
corn oil

Peal and wash the potatoes and cut into quarters. Place quartered potatoes into boiling pot of water with 2 tablespoons of oil and tablespoon salt - cover and let cook for approximately 30 minutes.

While the potatoes are boiling take the onion and dice finely and place in medium frying pan coated with corn oil (about 4 tablespoons) add a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of sugar. Cook on medium heat stirring occasionally until onions turn golden brown. Here is where it gets interesting. When the the onions become golden brown remove pan from heat and let onions continue cook/brown in the pan, they will also suck up all the oil.















When the potatoes are ready drain through screen/colander to remove excess water. Place back into the pot and add all the contents of the frying pan, onions and oil. Start mashing and add salt and pepper to taste. Continue mashing and tasting, adding salt and pepper as needed.

















When complete the potatoes will be smooth and delicious. As I said before, this will the filling for the perogie's which I will post soon. But it tastes incredible on its own as a side to any dish.

Coming soon, a grilled eggplant salad with a twist.

Until next time... keep on cooking.

fried fish filet

I have a quick and easy recipe for fried fish filet and if you use the fish that I did then you will think you are eating chicken cutlets - no fish smell when cooking or fishy after taste. This recipe can be done using any white fish filet like Tilapia, Bassa, Whiting but I used obviously what my grannie uses which is a fish called Nototenia.

Ingredients
2 lbs fish filet (fresh or frozen)
Vegeta (seasoning mix) grannie's favorite seasoning
ground black pepper
eggs
cake meal (might be hard to find since usually only sold over passover but grannie stocks up for the year - so matzah meal also works)
corn oil

If your fish is frozen let completley thaw and wash and pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture, might have to sit for a little while. Cut filets in half to about 5 inch pieces. Rub each piece individually with vegeta and black pepper. Let stand for a few minutes while you prepare your 2 egg wash mixture with some salt and pepper and your dipping station for the cake meal or matzah meal.

















This part is important - unlike chicken cutlets or porkchops which I will have a recipe for in the near future make sure that you bread the filet into the cake meal first then in the egg wash. This will give the final product a different look.















Prep your frying pan with a generous coat of corn oil and be sure to add some salt to the oil - learned this today... thew salt will keep the oil from popping & spraying when it gets hot. Place your battered filt in the pan and let cook for about 3-5 minutes on each side depending on how thick or thin they are. Needs to be monitored so keep your eye on them and flip after a couple of minutes. When golden brown remove from pan and let rest for a few minutes before taking a bite.
















If you use this fish there should not be any aroma of fish as would normally be the case when cooking fish in the house. Can be served with any side dish or salad. Tastes great with spicy red horseradish.

Coming soon... Grannie's mashed potatoes - very easy recipe but not your traditional mashed potatoes - this will also be the intro to my grannie's infamous potatoe perogies.

Until next time... keep on cooking.

oven roasted chicken drummies

As promised I have taken my grannie's recipe for oven roasted chicken and modified it slightly to drumsticks, but the over all recipe and technique can be applied to Cornish hens and whole chicken or thighs and wings. This recipe is very easy to prep and requires about an hour to hour and half of baking time.

Ingredients
4lbs chicken drumstick (about 14 drummies)
vegeta (seasoning mix)
blk pepper
paprika
4-5 garlic cloves
mayonaise
dill

















As with all meat, poultry and fish make sure it is rinsed and cleaned (do not remove skin). Take the washed chicken and pat dry with paper towel to remove excess liquid and moisture. I prefer to cut off the drum stick bone at the end because I find it looks better for presentation purpose but his step does not affect the final taste ot cooking process. Create a dry rub with the vegeta seasoning , ground black pepper and paprika. Apply dry rub to each drum individually and let stand a few minutes. Take large roasting pan with tray and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take chicken and coat (under the skin as well) each drum with dash of mayonnaise and place on baking pan - cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350.












Remove foil after 30 minutes and raise temp to 375-400 degrees depending on your oven performance and let get golden for approximaelty 30 minutes. Check on the chicken after 15 minutes and turn over if you see browning. Once the the chicken is ready pour off all the juice from the chicken into a bowl and mix in the 4-5 minced cloves of garlic. If the chicken did not let enough juice drip off take some olive oil instead and mix with the minced garlic. Take the mixture and baste the chicken drummies and add some dill to taste or garnish.















This is a very simple dish that will yield mooist and juicy chicken with a great garlicy taste. can be served with any side dish or salad. For the serioulsy health conscious the skin can be removed before eating but it is key to the cooking process beacuse it keeps the moisture in the chicken.

Cooming soon... I will be working on a fried fish filet dish that will amaze your taste buds especially with a little spicy horseradish.

Until next time... keep on cooking

grannie's russian meatballs

It took a little while but I am here like I promised with one of my all time favorite recipes.

Russian meatballs (kut-ley-ti) come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be made from a variety of ingredients. I have never tasted the same meatball twice. I prefer to make them medium sized - larger than a swedish meatball but smaller than a hamburger. I have even seen them made with fillings. I am going to give you the foundation and you are welcome to experiment to your hearts delight. This recipe is fairly easy to make and doesn't take that much time as long as you have all your ingredients handy.

Ingredients
¾ ground chicken
¾ ground veal
2 eggs
2 teaspoons mayonaise
1 ½ teaspoon vegeta (seasoning mix)
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1 onion grated
¼ cup spring water
4 tlbsppon matzah meal
½ tablespoon baking soda














Combine all your ingredients in a mixing bowl. If your mixture is too liquidy ad more matzah meal to thicken it up. The mixture will be soft unlike a beef meatball that might be a little drier.
Heat up a large non-stick skillet with some corn oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan but not so they are swimming in oil). Scoop out a small handfull of mixture. Create medium sized balls and brown evenly on both sides - takes about 5 minutes per side - if you like them darker you can cook longer. After removing from pan let cool for a few minutes. They should be soft, moist and juicy.














Can be served with any side dish (potatoes, rice, couscous) or can be eaten on their own (hot or cold). I hope you will enjoy as much as I do.

Check back soon for a great recipe for oven roasted chicken.

Until next time... keep on cooking.

spiced carrot salad

Welcome back to Grannie's Kitchen.

Today, I am creating another simple side dish which can also be served as an appetizer salad. This would be a great option for vegetarians. You will see that the ingredients are very similar to the cheese spread I had made the other day. This will continue through a majority of the dishes. Garlic especially, is used in many dishes that you will see me making.

Ingredients
1 lbs carrots - 4 large
4-5 cloves garlic
mayonnaise
sour cream
salt / blk pepper















Clean and peal carrots then finely grate into a mixing bowl, mince 4-5 cloves of garlic. Add 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1 ½ tablespoons sour cream. 1 teaspoon Salt and ½ teaspoon pepper to taste. Mix well, taste after combining initial ingredients, if you like more garlicy feel free to add more, same goes with salt an pepper, if you enjoy creamier add more mayonaise before adding sour cream - refrigerate and serve.

Can be served on its own as an appetizer salad or as a side dish to any meat or fish dish .















Coming soon... I will be preparing grannie's famous meatballs, this is one dish you can not live without.

Until next time... keep on cooking.

welcome to grannie's kitchen

I would like to begin by saying I love food.

I love to eat, going out to eat and cooking. As much as I go out to New York's finest restaurants and prepare recipes from the finest chefs, I still find myself yearning for the home cooking that I grew up with. When I say home cooking I am talking about my grannie's cooking. My grannie has been cooking and baking since she was a teenager (over 60 years) in the former Soviet Union.

The purpose of these posting will be to share and record my favorite recipes from my grannie's arsenal of European delicacies. If you too, are a food enthusiast, these recipes will blow your mind with their great taste and simplicity.

My first recipe is for a garlic cheese spread appetizer (bey-la-chka) that is quick and easy to make and will be an instant favorite and staple for any occassion.

garlic cheese spread

Ingredients
1 lb block muenster cheese
Mayonaise
Sour cream
3 cloves garlic
salt/ blk pepper
plum tomatoe
parsley











Remove orange skin from cheese - finely grate the Muenster cheese adding in 3 cloves of minced garlic. If available use a meat grinder instead of cheese grater, a lot less work and final consistency will come out smoother. Add 2 tablespoons mayonnaise and 1 tablespoon sour cream. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Mix well until smooth consistency.

Can be served on crackers or with vegetables. I have spread onto mini bread toast with a slice of plum tomato and pinch of parsley.

In my next posting look forward to a quick and easy salad/side dish made from carrots.

Until next time - keep on cooking