any variety of fish baked or fried, but if frying use only vegetable/olive/hemp oil (in keeping with the meatless nature of the meal)
Pickled Fish
Ingredients:
filleted Whitefish (preferably caught while ice fishing) or 4 salt herrings Milt
large onions (sliced)
cup white vinegar
/4 cup water
/2 cup dry white wine
tbsp pickling spices sugar if desired
glass of dry white wine the whitefish (or herrings) fillets and soak in cold water for about 12 hours, changing the water 2 or 3 times. Wash again and cut into the size you want to serve. Place into a jar or crockery with a layer of sliced onion and some milt between the layers of fish. Boil vinegar, water, wine, spices, and additional sugar for 10 minutes. Let the boiled mixture cool. Strain and pour it over the fish. Let stand at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours. Then store in the fridge for another half day.
Holubtsi (Cabbage Rolls)
- buckwheat and rice filled prepare the cabbage:one large head of cored cabbage in a deep pot of boiling water to which salt has been added. Remove the leaves as they become soft. Cool and drain the leaves and remove any remaining core. Cut the leaves to the desired size (personally I cut them about 3" wide). Grease a cassarole dish and place a few leaves of cabbage to line it. Put a tablespoon full of filling (filling recipe follows) into each leaf and roll it up tucking in the edges of the leaves as you roll. Arrange the holubtsi in layers, adding some fried onions and garlic (to taste, sauteed in olive oil) between the layers. When the dish is filled place extra prepared cabbage leaves over the top to prevent scorching. Cover and place in 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs or until both the cabbage and filling are tender. For a nice variation you could also use grape or beet leaves. Also, you could pour some tomato juice over the top to add flavour. :
. Rice Filling 2 cups rice
cups water
tsp. salt
medium onion (chopped)
tbsp olive oil rice well. Add water and stir in salt. Bring to boil and cook for one minute. Stir and cover. Turn down heat and simmer until rice starts to get tender. Take off of heat and let stand covered until the rest of the water is absorbed. The rice at this stage will only be partly cooked. Saute chopped onion in olive oil and add to the rice. Season to taste. Cool and roll into cabbage.
. Buckwheat Filling 2 cups buckwheat groats
tsp. salt
medium onion (chopped)
-5 tbsp. olive oil
cups water groats very lightly in the oven. Place in pot with boiling salted water. Add 4 tbsp olive oil. Cook until water is absorbed. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. After baking allow the buckwheat to cool. Saute chopped onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add the sauteed onions to the cooked buckwheat. Cool and fill the holubtsi.
Varenyky (pyrogies)
Dough 4 cups flour 1. Combine flour and salt
tbsp olive oil 3. Kneed until smooth and elastic
eggs well beaten 4. Cover and let stand at least 15 min.
cup water 5. Roll out thin on a floured board
. Cut out rounds with a glass or beer mug . Potato2 cups mashed potatoes 1/2 cup chopped onion
tbsp. vegeatble oil salt and pepper to taste
saute onions in oil, season, add potatoes and mix well. . Kapusta (sauerkraut)2 cups sauerkraut 4 tbsp. vegeatble oil
/2 cup onion, chopped pepper to taste
bring sauerkraut to boil in some water. Rinse, cool, drain and squeeze out water. Chop finer if you want. Saute onions in oil and add to sauerkraut, season to taste. . Prune filling1 cup prunes honey to taste
/2 cup water
bring prunes and water to a boil, let cool and drain. Chop prunes very fine and add honey to taste. make:1 tbsp of filling to each round of dough, fold over and pinch the dough together well. When boiling add a little salt and oil to the water so they don't stick together. When they come to the surface, they're ready.
Cooked beans
2 cups white beans 2 cloves garlic
cups water 1 onion, diced
/8 tsp. baking soda 2 tsp. cooking oil
tsp. salt beans in water and add baking soda and salt when almost done. Continue simmering until beans are tender. Drain if necessary and set liquid aside for later. Mash beans well, adding bean liquid a little at a time until it is of a thick consistency. Crush garlic and stir into beans. Saute onions in oil and put on top of beans before serving.
Kapusta and peas
2 cups sauerkraut
/4 cup vegetable oil
/2 cup water salt and pepper
/2 cup dried peas
clove of garlic, crushed
medium onion, chopped
tbsp. flour peas overnight. Rinse and drain. Cover with fresh water and cook until tender. Drain. Rinse sauerkraut in cold water and drain. Add the water and cook for 15 minutes. Combine peas and sauerkraut. Save the liquid. Saute onion in oil. Sprinkle flour over onions and brown lightly. Pour liquid from cooked sauerkraut and peas; add crushed garlic and stir until sauce thickens. Add sauce to sauerkraut and peas, stir and add salt and pepper to taste, simmer for 30 minutes and serve.
Beets with Mushrooms
3 cups chopped beets 1 clove garlic
medium onion, chopped finely salt and pepper to taste
-4 tbsps. oil 1/2 tsp.lemon juice
cup mushrooms (fresh or canned) the raw beets finely and then boil in a bit of water until tender yet firm. Add lemon juice to beets. Simmer for 5 minutes. Rinse mushrooms in hot water. Drain. Saute onion in oil, then add mushrooms and crushed garlic and simmer for a half hour. Combine with beets and simmer a further 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.
Compote
Get an assortment of dried fruits such as apples, apricots, prunes, peaches, pears, figs or raisins and soak the fruit overnight in water. Next day, simmer until tender and add honey to sweeten to taste.
Donuts
For the dough, it's easiest if you have a bread machine with a manual setting. In that case all you do is make up a batch of sweet dough, letting the machine take care of the kneading then following the directions after the (*). If not here is the longer, more traditional method.
cups flour
pkg. yeast
cups milk
tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp sugar
eggs
tsp. salt
Dissolve yeast as instructed on package. Let stand 10 minutes. In a large bowl, put in part of the flour (about 6 cups), making a well in the middle. Beat the eggs lightly, add melted butter, milk, sugar and salt. Add this mixture to the flour along with the yeast. Mix well and knead until dough is soft and not sticky adding the remaining flour only as necessary. Knead about 10 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until double in bulk. Punch down and knead lightly. Let rise again. (*) Take a small amount of dough, roll on a lightly floured table. It must be fairly thick. Cut out rounds, coffee mugs work well. Place a small amount of filling in the centre bringing the edges together and pinch well to seal tightly. Place pompushky seam side down on lightly floured surface, cover and let rise a while, about 15 minutes. Do not let over rise. Deep fry in Canola Oil, about 375F for about 3minutes turning them to brown on both sides. When removing try to have most of the oil back into the pan, then leave the pompushky on paper towel for more oil to come off.
Fillings:Seed (Maky)-1 cup poppy seed
/3 cup honey
/2 cup finely chopped nuts
cup raisins (opt)
tsp. vegetable oil the clean dry poppy seed in a coffee grinder and add to the moistened raisins. Add honey, nuts, vegetable oil well and then fold into the poppy seed- raisin mixture. Ready to be used.
Apricot-1 lb. apricots to taste
/4 cup crushed walnuts
Dash of cinnamon
tsp. of lemon juice apricots until soft. Drain thoroughly. Put through food processor or blender. Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend well. Ready to be used. Prune - the same recipe as for apricots but with 1 lb. of pitted prunes.
3. Christmas carols
Shchedryk, shchedryk, a shchedrivka [New Year's carol];little swallow flew [into the household]started to twitter,summon the master:
"Come out, come out, O master [of the household],at the sheep pen,the ewes are nestlingthe lambkin have been borngoods [livestock] are great,will have a lot of money, [by selling them]not money, then chaff: [from all the grain you will harvest]have a dark-eyebrowed [beautiful] wife.", shchedryk, a shchedrivka,little swallow flew.