Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage
Filed Under Beef, Entree, Pork, Recipe, Vegetable
Written by kris
Both of my parents were born in Hungary, and, lucky for me, my Mom still loves to make Hungarian dishes. Stuffed Cabbage is a family favorite, especially in the colder months, and I’ve adapted my Mom’s recipe a little bit over time. If you decide to make the dish, be sure to set aside enough time (1-2 hours for prep, 4 hours or longer for cooking time). This is a great leftover meal, as it tastes better when reheated.
Paprika is a key ingredient in Hungarian cooking, so when using it, take the time to look for a good quality Paprika, preferably Hungarian. Hungarian Paprika is a little spicier than Spanish Paprika, and provides a wonderful color as well as needed flavor to the dish. Our local supermarket carries Hungarian Paprika in the spice aisle (Pride of Szeged Hungarian Paprika), and we buy a lot of our spices from Penzey’s - they have several varieties of Paprika, but I prefer to use the Hungarian Sweet. Read more
Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice Soup
Filed Under Chicken, Recipe, Soup
Written by Andy
We normally make this soup the day after Thanksgiving, but with turkey and turkey stock. It uses the leftover Wild Rice Casserole which we make extra of just so we can have this soup! The wine (Marco Negri) that is used in this soup is a sweeter white wine. My cousin gave us this wine as a gift about 7 years ago and I am completely puzzled as to how it survived as long as it did without us drinking it.
Chicken stock is a great substitute whenever using water to add flavor. Whether we are making soup or rice, we always like to have homemade chicken stock in the house; you can make extra and put it in the freezer for later use. Read more
Here is a side dish that is always served on thanksgiving in our family. It comes down from my Mothers side of the family where it has been made for many generations. Growing up I thought it was standard thanksgiving fare like turkey and pumpkin pie yet I have never seen this on anyone else’s thanksgiving table. In fact most people do not even even seem know what wild rice even is. Admittedly it is not the most attractive dish being various shades of gray and black but is sure is good.
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Up next: A soup that uses the left overs of this great casserole.
I first learned to make this bad boy at a little neighborhood pizza joint in Minneapolis called Casalenda’s. It was one of those things that was not on the menu, but if you were knew what to ask for, you just might get one. It makes for a great appetizer when sliced thin or a fantastic sandwich when cut into larger pieces. You can use any variation of meats and cheeses that you like. I like to serve a tomato-based sauce on the side like our Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce.
Being married to a former pizza place cook isn’t easy…my husband is a pizza snob. Needless to say, we have tried just about all of the pizza places here and none have met Andy’s approval. We started to buy frozen dough from a really good bread store in order to make our own pizza (then we could blame ourselves if it wasn’t good). However, the store is not in town, and I don’t get up that way too often, so it became an inconvenience. One day I picked up the book The Bread Bible and in it, among the 600+ pages, was a recipe for homemade pizza dough. I made the recipe (only a single serving), and it was good, and over time have just added one ingredient (olive oil) and quadrupled the recipe (we use half and freeze the rest). This really couldn’t be easier, and, if you are like us, you won’t want to buy frozen or delivery pizza ever again - this tastes better and is a lot less expensive! Read more
This turned out really well . It is a bit spicy so if you can’t handle the heat just cut the amount of peppers in half or use jalapeños. I make a few differnent peanut sauces and this one is my “no cook” sauce.
No new content until the 2nd week in October.
Filed Under Site News
Written by Andy
Just wanted to post a quick note that with vacations going on and back end updates with this site I will not be posting any new content until the 2nd week in October. Expect things to look pretty out of whack while I hack away at trying to “upgrade” things around here. 
One of the things I love about fall is making spring rolls. We fry them out in the garage to avoid the greasy, smelly mess they can leave in their wake. Here in Wisconsin, it is too hot and humid in the summer and way too cold in the winter, so we stock up in the fall and spring and make them by the boatload. When I first started making these, I was very confused. Are they made with raw pork? What is with the wrappers–are they rice paper wrappers? What kind of noodles do I need in them? How do I deal with Asian ingredients, when the directions are not in English? I consulted various websites, but unfortunately today none of the links work anymore. What you will find here is a combination of some of those recipes with my own ideas, tricks and tweaks to create the ultimate spring roll guide. Well, maybe ultimate is going a little too far, but I hope to take some of the confusion and disasters away that I faced when beginning to make them.
Spicy Sweet and Soy Dipping Sauce
Filed Under Recipe, Sauces / Dips
Written by Andy
This is a really great dipping sauce for spring rolls and it also makes a fantastic marinade for grilled meats. I have found that it is best to make it a day ahead of time. Keep it in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake periodically to help the flavors come together.
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