Are you as excited as I am about this recipe!? Bear with me as the route we took to get to this recipe was a bit of a windy road. First, my aunt suggested making our family’s “Pumpkin Roll” recipe. I will admit it had been awhile since I had read through the recipe book, so in my creative mind I immediately thought “roll” as in “cinnamon roll” and “pumpkin” as in the pureed pumpkin one gets to make pumpkin pies and I was immediately sold and willing to try this seemingly sweet treat!
Jump ahead to about a week before we are set to get crafty in our kitchens and lo and behold there is nothing sweet sounding (to me) about this dish. First, you use REAL PUMPKIN to shred and put on the same dough as we used for the pasti. I knew this was going to make a LOT (as most of our family recipes have) and I was nervous about trying something with real pumpkin as I am not convinced I actually like it. Hesitantly, I began drafting an email hoping that I wouldn't hurt any feelings, that like the elusive Sour Soup, this is yet another shall I say "questionable" family dishes? The virtual cooking is an extra challenge with recipes like this because if we don't care for a recipe, there was at least three of us together making a dent in the dish! However, to use a whole pumpkin when I knew at least in my household I'd be the only one trying the dish - didn't seem fair to the poor pumpkin! I was pleased to see that my Auntie M. was on board with not being thrilled for the pumpkin roll recipe. She had found a recipe for "Ryba Po Grecku" (or "Polish Fish in the Greek Style, aka, Polish Greek Style Fish) which she said sounded good and suggested we try it out. Granted, this is not in our family's cookbook, but as the electronic communiques continued to flow, we realized we may be at a small breaking point in our cookbook album - for now. There are still a lot of recipes that need to be recreated, a goal that I have not given up on, however given the circumstances of 2020 and realizing a lot of the recipes left make a large amount of food, we decided to deviate slightly while continuing to cook through our family heritage. Who knows, maybe some of these fun dishes will end up being added by us to our cookbooks (except we will include accurate measurements and probably less Campbell's Soups!)
Without going into too much detail, I discovered that the fish dish is actually a traditional Christmas Eve dish popular within Polish culture. If you haven't guessed, I'm a sucker for tradition and felt the dish would be best to cook as our December adventure. So it was my turn to toss in a recipe to the gauntlet to try for our November adventure. Thanks to my dearest cousin Penny, I turned to my trusted Classic Polish Cookbook given to me as a bridal shower gift. There was a recipe for Pork Cutlets (Kotlety Schabowe) that sounded pretty straight forward and delicious. Another option on the chopping block was Hunter's Stew, but the Schabowe won the votes. I perused through the cookbook and decided to also try the Red Cabbage Slaw with Apples recipe to accompany the dish. Once we had agreed on what we were going to try, it was time - you guessed it - to GET CRAFTY IN THE KITCHEN!
I am pleased to announce that this time I was not on a solo mission in my kuchnia - I had called my step-dad to see if he would be interested in trying the fish dish next month, while discussing he said "I like Pork Chops, too!" and that my dear friends and readers is how you round yourself up a sou chef for your next adventure! Food is almost always a welcome offer!
Before we convened virtually with my aunts to begin the kotlety schabowe, my step-dad and I had to make the Red Cabbage and Apple slaw as it says it is best to chill for about an hour before serving. Once ingredients had been gathered it was time to get to work. Many of these photos are in large thanks to the sou chef, it's amazing how much easier it is to navigate a knife and a camera when you don't have to handle both yourself!
Instead of shredding the cabbage, I chose to cut mine by hand into small slices, in a shredded-esque fashion.
Next step was to peel and shred the apples. Also, be sure to remove the seeds and core (although this step seems obvious, you never know and I want to guarantee a thorough walk through)! After the apples were shredded, we also needed to juice a lemon (we cut back on the recipe and used 1 instead of 2 since it was only two of us eating the apple cabbage salad).
Now that all our salad ingredients were prepared, we simply added together in a large bowl, sprinkled in a little sugar, mixed together, and placed in the refrigerator to sit for an hour.
My aunts are awesome and waited because resident Scrappy Gidget over here is bad with timing, at times, (aren't we all) and I was running a little behind schedule with the salad. Luckily they enjoyed having conversation with us while we finished up our side dish. Now onto the main event!
We had thick cut loin pork chops so first thing we did was filleted ours in half to create four thin chops. (Be EXTREMELY careful with this if you are cutting yours in half, don't want to cut any hands or flanges, that is not part of the process!)
Next, we needed to cut any excess fat, if there was any, then pound out and tenderize the chops until about 1/4 inch thick. A trick my step-dad mentioned was to put whatever the meat you are trying to pound out into a plastic bag when pounding it down to prevent the juices from getting everywhere, which also helps eliminate or minimize cross-contamination of the raw meat onto other surfaces or surrounding items.
I still find the virtual experience different and challenging at times, but one thing I do enjoy is having "cooking-ception" with the technology - taking silly photos like this next one always makes me laugh because it creates perspective - and a thankfulness for the ability to have technology during these challenging times to stay connected to loved ones.
Once all the cops are done, it was time to set up a dredging station. A traditional dredging station is made up of three steps, flour, egg, and breadcrumbs. My aunts used gluten free breadcrumbs for a healthy alternative to the traditional ingredients.
I also was unaware that my aunts don't care for Marjoram, the herb the recipe we used called for. Instead, they cut up some fresh sage leaves to season their breadcrumbs with and it looked incredible!
Once the mis en place was assembled, it was time for each of the little (or big, we have no size judgement here) schabowes to take a dip in the delicious preparation that is dredging station.
After seasoning each chop with salt and pepper, the first stop was the flour - just enough to lightly coat the outside.Next stop, the oooey-gooey egg station.
A dip or two on each side just to coat, letting the excess drain a bit before moving on to the final stage - breadcrumb bay!
The final step to achieve the ultimate coating and delicious golden brown crunch is the breadcrumbs. When I do this step I find it sometimes helps to put a little pressure on the protein to help the crumbs stick under pressure and adhere to each side. Then, Voila! You're chops are ready to take on the heat!
Okay - I may have fibbed a little earlier. At this point we are getting the oil into the - you guessed it - cast iron pans we are using to cook the chops. Noticing of course that there is indeed a size difference between chops in the Gidget House and the chops at Aunties Abode. Solution - duh just get another pan if they won't all fit (you can also cook in batches, but who has time for that!) Into the skillet (or skillets) they go!
The cook time will completely depend on a couple variables - your stove temp (should be set to about Medium but every stove is different), how many chops in the pan, and the size and thickness of the pork chops. "But Scrappy, I thought you said 1/4 inch thick!?" Yes - that is exactly what I said and the chops should roughly be that, but even though I am a crafter, quilter, cooker extroidinaire, I too know that some people (including me) have difficulties in determining whether something is at 1/4, 1/8, 1/2, inch so unless you are an expert or a ruler, this may be a factor! Should take about 5-7 minutes and you want to continue to cook until the pork is no longer pink and cooked through.
Then, serve immediately with your choice of side and hope that they came out as deliciously toasted and golden brown as ours did!
I am pleased to say that not only was this dish an absolute win for my aunts, my step-dad, and myself, my husband also gave it his stamp of approval! This recipe (both versions) will definitely be finding their home in our family cook book, along with the Red Apple Cabbage Salad. I was skeptical, but there is a reason cabbage, apples, and pork are a combination that has been around for centuries - it was delightfully delicious in every way!
The night ended with our video dinner discussing how things are going, life experiences, repeated resounding revelations on how absolutely incredible this dinner turned out! Also, a virtual tour of "Christmas" at the Gidget House, because 2020 has been crazy I felt it fit to ignore the standard "no Christmas until after Thanksgiving" and decorated our house November 1st!
We ended the call with confirmation that the next dish will most definitely be the Polish Greek Fish Dish recommended by Auntie M. Although I am not a huge fan of fish, this specific recipe sounds really good and I am excited to continue on challenging not only my cooking skills, but also my tastebuds!
Do widzenia na razie! Until next time, remember, regardless of what is surrounding you that is out of your control, one thing you can always do is make time to do the small things that make you happy - life is too short to not make memories, no matter how you decide to make them! Stay happy and safe my friends! Twoje Zdrowie!
NEXT EPISODE: Polish Greek Style Fish courtesy of Lois Britton, the Polish Housewife
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Due to copyright, I do not want to post the recipes used from the Polish Classic Recipes Cookbook verbatim on my blog. However, Laura & Peter Zeranski have an amazing blog themselves in which they share some of their delicious recipes! Visit their site at www.polishclassiccooking.com
If you wish to purchase your own copy of their cookbook that I am using, you can find it to order here: http://www.polishclassiccooking.com/p/polish-classic-recipes.html
