Cucumber Salad

My Czech grandmother used to make cucumber salad. She soaked the cucumber slices in white vinegar, while I prefer lemon/lime and rice vinegar, and she used sugar, which of course I don't.

SALAD
1 cucumber, sliced paper thin.
1/4 onion, sliced thin
DRESSING
sprig fresh dill, chopped fine (optional)
1 tbsp lemon/lime juice
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt

Prep: Peel the cucumber and slice paper thin. My grandmother would score the outside with a fork to make a pattern before cutting. Some recipes remove the center seeds, which I think wasteful.
Chill: Mix and let the vinegars and any seasonings soak with the cucumber and onion, best 1+ hours refrigerated. Serve chilled.

Potato Dumplings

My grandmother served potato dumplings and sauerkraut on holidays. She made big round dumplings, and the dumplings leftovers always quickly disappeared. My favorite way to serve potatoes, especially with soups. Dumplings can also be stuffed with sauerkraut or with dried fruits like plums or apricots. I prefer to use oats over wheat, because Czech dumpling flour is traditionally coarse, and oats make white dumplings, while whole wheat flour colors the dumplings brown.

DUMPLINGS
- 3 medium potatoes, baked and cool, skinned and riced
- 1 cup oatmeal, ground coarse
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 cup water

Prep: Bake potatoes in microwave (high, 10 min) or oven (350F, 40 min). Allow to cool, then skin and discard skins. With food processor, course grind oatmeal, and mix salt.
Mix Dough: Into mixing bowl, rice potatoes. With fork, mix together potatoes and oats. Splash water and continue to mix until moisture is distributed into dough. Form dough into balls.
Steam: Steaming is most gentle way to cook dumplings, which keeps them from falling apart, and allows dumplings to absorb moisture if needed. Microwave heats quickly and evenly. Place dumpling dough onto plate, with 1/8 cup water to make steam, under plate cover to retain steam. Then cook in microwave on high, covered, 10 min.

Beet Potato Soup

Beet and Potato Soup, full of winter root chunks, is a hearty lunch soup. Some Borscht strains the solids into broth. I prefer a more hearty, rustic and frugal soup that keeps the solids. Beets were a primary root vegetable of Eastern and Central European, preceeding the potato. Polish Christmas Eve feast serves vegetarian Borscht with mushroom or sauerkraut-filled dumplings. Good with dumplings and sauerkraut.

BASE
1 onion
2 celery (optional)
SPICE
1 garlic
2 bay leaf
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (6-12 peppercorns)
MAIN
3 beets, peeled and diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
FINISH
lemon juice or vinegar (sour)
1 tbsp fresh parsley

Prep: Chop vegetables. In sauce pan collect tops, skins, peels and other leavings, including beet stems and leaves, and potato peels. Simmer in just enough water to cover.
Roast: In saucepan, brown onions, 10 min. Add and sweat celery, 5 min.
Simmer: Add spices, chunks of roots, and stock to cover, and simmer 30 min.
Finish: Add lemon juice and fresh parsley and serve.

Pita Pagach

Pagach is a Slavic or Eastern Europe dish of flat bread and topping, traditional for meatless fast days and Christmas Eve. Topping can be potato or cabbage. Served open faced like pizza or folded like calzone. My father remembers his mother making Pagach. Easy to make with whole wheat pita rounds instead of dough and bread from scratch.

Ingredients
BREAD
6 whole wheat pita rounds
TOPPING
1/2 medium onion; chopped
2 large potatoes
1/2 tsp cumin; ground
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
handful fresh parsley

Preparation
To start the topping, in small saucepan, brown onion, 10-20 min. Can save time by browning onions in batches and using saved brown onions. While onions are browning, either boil potatoes with skins until soft, then slip skins and break up, or microwave until soft, cut open and scoop out inside. Grind cumin seed to coarse powder in spice grinder, 10 sec. Deglaze onions with a splash of water and turn down heat. Avoid high heat which can burn paprika. Add cumin, paprika and salt. Mix in potato.
Spread topping onto pita round, and top with fresh parsley. Bake in 400 F oven 7-10 min. Or toast in toaster oven ~3-4 min until bread is just golden and crisp and topping warm. Serve hot and whole.