Hello all! Let me start off by saying HAPPY SPRING!!!!! It's all I can do not to cartwheel across my neighbor's lawn in celebration of this glorious weather lately. Speaking of celebrations, I hope everyone had a wonderful Passover and/or Easter. After preparing an early Passover dinner for 30 people at work where I had to cook two turkeys (sorry turkeys!) as well as 400 side dishes and things, I was able to have my own Passover at my lovely friend, Stacey's, family's home. I haven't actually celebrated Passover in many years because I have always had to work and it was really wonderful to be part of a Seder.
The following week was Easter Sunday and I got to enjoy a wonderful day with Greg's family. His mother prepared for us the most fantastic roasted vegetable soup. It's one of her specialties and it reminds me of my butternut squash soup but there is so much more going on in there. I believe it has sweet potatoes, butternut squash, onions, parsnips and I am probably missing something but it is so good and has such depth of flavor. Occassionally she adds a dash of curry to it which takes it to another level. Mine is simpler but of course you can add any root vegetables you like. I love adding parsnips to things because it has that lovely sweet taste.
Butternut Squash Soup: I always use a couple of yellow onions because it always adds a wonderful flavor no matter what veggies you use. Peel and cut up your onions and butternut squash into medium sized chunks (size and shape don't matter because you are going to puree it all in the end). Melt two tablespoons of unsalteed butter and a tablespoon of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat and add the chopped yellow onions. Toss in a pinch of good Kosher salt and some black pepper. I personally like to add a little bit of chopped rosemary and thyme. Instead you can add a tablespoon of curry power if you want to give it a Middle Eastern flavor. Stir the onions so they don't burn and let them get to a sort of buttery yellow color and they should be soft (about 7 minutes). Add the chopped butternut squash with another tablespoon of butter and a 1/4 cup of dry white wine. Mix that all up and cook for about ten minutes, making sure the wine cooks off. Next, add your vegetable stock. I like the organic vegetable stock that comes in those cardboard containers. Pour enough into the pot so that is completely covers the vegetables. It should require about 4 cups of stock. Bring this to a boil and lower the flame so that it is gently simmering and cover the pot. Allow to cook for about an hour until all the squash is soft. Once this is acheived, remove the cover and allow it to cool for about a half hour. Then take one of my most favorite kitchen toys....the (drumroll) immersion blender!!!! In most soup or sauce recipes where pureeing is required, they instruct you to pour hot liquid into a standard blender, place the cover on and pulverize this which always ends up a gigantic mess! Apparently hot liquid does not enjoy being contained in a glass apparatus and inevitably tries to make a break for it through the top and all over the cook. Even if you do manage to get the task done without wearing your soup, it is painstaking and annoying and requires a second pot to place the pureed soup into. Thank heaven for little immersion blenders! (Anyone remember Gigi? No...just me?) All you need do is place the stick into the soup, turn it on and puree the soup right in its original pot. It's amazing! And there you have it! People always ask me if there is cream in it because the texture is so creamy and velvety and I answer with a resounding NO! It isn't necessary and then you can proudly declare that it is low-fat. The butter is the only naughty ingredient, really. And I have nothing against naughty ingredients...but that is for another blog ;-) My point is this soup is absolutely amazing but also healthy.
Now to explain the title of Polish Invasion...
I went to a fabulous restaurant the other day with my friend, Evelina. We both live in the Forest Hills area and like to try out the local fare. I love my neighborhood because we have so many restaurants of every possible nationality. But I have lived here for many years and have tried almost all of them. There was one however I have passed many times and never tried. It is called "Just Like Mother's". I never knew what it was but one day I stopped to look at the menu and it turns out that it is Polish. I've been very interested in this type of cuisine lately because of two things. One is the Polish housekeeper I work with who is quite the character. She calls me "Robeeeen" and always tells me that she has a "very heavy life". I love that phrase for there are times that I too have a very heavy life. The other reason is that Greg's family is Eastern European and I have been enjoying pierogies and borscht and things over the past couple of years. So when Evelina asked me where I would like to go I exclaimed "Just Like Mother's" and off we went!
When we entered it was very cozy and homey and the smelled familiar. It had that "grandma's house" smell of cooking onions and potatoes. We sat down at a nice corner table near the window and were immediately given a basket of black and rye bread. That put me right in the mood for this type of cuisine. The menu is very extensive and offers all manner of pierogies, blintzes, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa, veal and salmon in dill sauce. They have a nice sampling platter which gives you a little of a few things, which Evelina had, but unfortunately those contained meat, so I made my own sampling. I ordered potato latkes with sour cream, an assortment of pierogies and red cabbage. Everything was so good! I know some people don't like the term "comfort food" because it has become one of those trendy phrases that gets overused. But this was the quintessential comfort food. The latkes were not at all greasy, but very crisp on the outside and well seasoned and light. I was so excited when I cut into the spinach pierogi and the spinach was bright green! That told me straightaway that they cared about their ingredients and about cooking things properly. The pierogies come either fried or boiled. I chose fried and they were clearly just tossed lightly in a small amount of butter just to brown them and it gave them such a nice texture. I also had the traditional mushroom and sauerkraut and the potato ones. The potato was fluffy and light and the mushroom sauerkraut was amazing. Finally the red cabbage had that wonderful balance of sweet and sour and was cooked perfectly. Mind you, my dining partner is from the Soviet Union and she made a "happy plate" and gave her stamp of approval. The cooking was clearly done by someone who understood these dishes and put alot of pride into the preparation. I saw the waitress walk by with some gorgeous blintzes but was too full to have them, as well. They do offer a brunch so I am hoping to go back in the very near future and try them.
So what did we learn? It is never too late to learn to appreciate a new cuisine and if you are in Forest Hills, Queens, check out "Just Like Mother's Restaurant" at 11060 Queens Boulevard 718-544-3294.
Now go forth and enjoy the gorgeous weather and have some wonderful food! Let me know if you would like me to talk about anything or review anything.
I am the mom of two beautiful kitties so if you are the mother of anything, even if it's a plant, have a very Happy Mother's Day!!!!!
