Rick Podowski's Polish Christmas

People from Poland have two very distinct ways of celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Rick  and Elaine combined the two at  an open house where one side of the table featured Christmas Eve dishes and the other side featured dishes from Christmas Day.  The Poles love to have fish, but Rick and his friends aren't big on this food, so the meal contains no fish.

Oplatki  (O-pwaht-kee) are thin wafers that have four beautiful Christmas images stamped into them. The images include the Nativity, the Star of Bethlehem, or the Holy Family. Break off a piece of the wafer and do a blessing. This blessing can simply consist of what you desire for your loved ones in the upcoming year - whether it be good health, success, or happiness. The purpose of this act is primarily to express unconditional love and forgiveness for each member of the family.

The Front Side of the Table--The front side represents Christmas Eve in Poland. No meat is served.

Deviled eggs

Borscht

Instead of being the chunky  style of beet soup that is found in other Eastern European nations, Polish Borscht consists of nothing more than rich vegetable broth and a few cut up beets.  The broth consists of leeks, carrots, celery, beets, parsley and dill.

Bigos

Bigos is the national dish of Poland and is made with sauerkraut, cabbage mushrooms and a mixture of Polish sausage, spareribs, fried pork, cooked ham and pork hocks.  The only time bigos is served without meat is on Christmas Eve.

  Pierogies (Potato and cheese)
and Cherry

Red Cabbage Salad

This delicious salad is made from apples, red cabbage, lemon,  sugar, and garnished with fresh parsley and hard boiled eggs.

The Back Side of the Table--The back side represents Christmas Day in Poland.·     

·    

Cabbage Rolls

The cabbage leaves are stuffed with ground pork, ground beef and rice. They are covered with a tomato and beef broth sauce.   See the October 4, 2013 post for the recipe.

Ham

It's hard to believe, but there are some 

guests who don't like Polish food. So, 
in keeping with the Polish tradition of 

serving meat on Christmas day, we

 have added ham to the menu along 

with bread rolls, lettuce, tomatoes

 and cheese for those 

sandwich lovers.

Dessert

Poppy Seed Rolls

Polish Nut Rolls

See the December 23, 2012 post for the recipe.

We started at six in the evening  and ate and drank until ten o'clock. What

 a wonderful way to end Christmas Day.

Teresa’s Pasta Pescatore with Poetic Cellars Mourvedre

This book explores a tragedy resulting from a teacher being falsely accused. Rick Podowski, the head grievance representative for the teacher’s union enters the science lab and finds the body of the teacher hanging by a braided rope from the metal frame of the overhead florescent light fixture.

As Rick and his friends investigate, they find Dan Longreen's secret. He has been charged with sexual misconduct concerning three young girls in his Las Vegas classroom. Even though proven innocent, a small group of parents forced his resignation. He accepts a job in San Jose, California, and is creating a new life. Suddenly, he starts to receive threatening emails and there are questions about his death.

Did someone stage the suicide? Was the principal putting extreme pressure on Dan to resign to protect his forthcoming promotion or was the suicide related to Longreen's fiancée? 

Poetic Cellars 

Poetic Cellars is located on thirty-six acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. One of their most interesting innovations has been to team up with a donut shop in Campbell, CA to offer wine and donut pairings. One can expect to taste the Lady Gaga Blueberry iced cake donut topped with fresh blueberries, paired with Poetic Cellars Petite Syrah or the Kooky Monster, Oreo-cookie topped raised cake paired with rich Poetic Cellars Syrah.

Winemaker Katy Lovell is a hands-on, winemaker who drives the trucks, picks the grapes, runs the de-stemmer, adds the yeast, punches down, crushes, forklifts barrels, and racks, and tops off the bottles. The majority of her fruit comes from her vineyards in Livermore, where she established her first winery, Rios-Lovell, nearly two decades ago. Katy is also an accomplished Oberlin-trained concert flutist, as well as a fabric artist

On the back label of each bottle is a poem by her partner, Joseph L. Naegele. He's an attorney and educator by day (Santa Clara University), and a poet by night. When customers in the tasting room ask, Joseph will take out his notebook and read his most recent poems.

The winery features Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Last Harvest Viognier, a Bordeaux Blend, Petite Syrah, Mourvedre , Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Reserve Port.

On July 10, 2013 winemaker Katy Lovell died.

From top to bottom:  Basil, Italian spice mix,wine, tomatoes and garlic.  Marinara sauce.
Mussels, shrimp, lobster tail, fish clams

Teresa’s Pasta Pescatore with Poetic Cellars Mourvedre

Teresa’s love for “anything pasta’ continues with this simple, but delicious dish. Feel free to change the types of seafood used in this recipe.  The Mourvedre provides    clean and deft flavors that complement the dish.

4 Servings

olive oil

4 portions linguini pasta

2 diced Roma tomatoes

2 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced

2 cups sliced fresh sweet basil

1 cup white wine

8 cups marinara sauce

Italian spice mix - to taste

2 lobster tails (meat only, cubed)

12 clams

12 mussels

2 calamari steak, sliced in strips

12 shrimp

Add the olive oil to the sauté pan and bring it to almost smoking point.  

Add the diced tomatoes and the garlic and toss lightly.

Add the clams and mussels and white wine, cover the sauté pan.  Let the 

clams and mussels steam for about 10 minutes.  

Add the shrimp, calamari, lobster meat, Italian spices to taste and marinara sauce.  Cover and simmer until the clams and mussels open up.

Heat the pasta in boiling water, drain, and add to the pan.  Add the fresh basil.  Combine all of the ingredients and place on a serving dish.  A nice garden salad and Italian bread makes the meal complete.

Jenny's Irish Pork Chops with a Burrell School Zinfandel/Syrah Blend

The original wine pairing was based on a Zinfandel from Vine Hill Winery. Unfortunately, this winery has ceased production and a wine from Burrell School has been substituted. 

From The Winning Certificate                                                                

     After the death of her adopted mother, Sylvia develops an insatiable desire to find her birth mother. She becomes a teenage gang member trapped in a life style of violence and hopelessness. Rick Podowski helps Sylvia through writing poetry and eventually Sylvia is able to leave the gang. She finds her birth mother and becomes an unwilling participant in a plot by her mother's two stepsons. 

From Chapter 19                                                                                
     Antonio, who had been released from the hospital that morning, was sitting at the kitchen table having dinner with Jenny. Even though there were no candles, Mexican love songs were playing on the stereo and the subdued light of dusk made for a romantic atmosphere. Sylvia was spending the night at her grandmother's house.

     Jenny had promised to make her famous Irish Apple Maple Pork Chops. When the chops were fried to a deep golden brown, she brought them to the table on a blue-rimmed oval platter. Three chops covered with apples and  a maple sauce that included Irish whiskey sat in the middle of the platter with a border of piped mashed potato mounds surrounding them. A basic green salad accompanied the meal.

     Antonio opened a bottle of Burrell School Zinfandel. He poured two glasses and they sat down to eat.

       "This is delicious," Antonio said as he finished a piece of the chop. "I love this sauce. It's tangy and not too overpowering. You're a great cook."

     "It's an easy dish to make," Jenny said. "All I did was to fry the chops and the sauce is a fourth of a cup of Irish whiskey, a half cup of chicken broth, one chopped apple, and a fourth a cup of maple syrup."

      "I'm really impressed," Antonio said. "I've never tasted such creamy mashed potatoes."

       Jenny smiled and took a sip of the wine. The Zinfandel was, she thought, perfect with this dish. It pleased her so much that Antonio had taken pains to complement her meal by purchasing such a fine wine.

Burrell School Vineyards & Winery                                                       
     In 1854, Lyman J. Burrell planted the first grapes in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the winery property and in the 1860's the family donated an acre of land to build a school. Little is know about the original school, which burned in a forest fire in 1889. In 1890 a new school was built that served as a K-8 school through 1954. Currently it serves as the residence of the owners.

   The building was abandoned, and the Moultons, Dave, a hardware engineer and his wife Anne, a teacher began to restore the schoolhouse in 1973.

     The winery, which occupies the old carriage house, was bonded in 1994. Initial plantings were to Chardonnay and Merlot, with Pinot Noir added in 2002. They also planted Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah.

     Barrel selection is tailored to each varietal. Long, slow aging from 12 to 18 months in French or American oak barrels produces a superior wine. Bottling follows, with an additional six to twelve months of aging before any wines are released.

     In the 2009 Santa Cruz Mountains Commercial Wines Competition Burrell School won silver medals for its Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah.

Jenny's Irish Apple Maple Pork Chops With Vine Hill Zinfandel/Syrah Blend                                                                             

     Jenny and Erin both love the flavors of Ireland and this dish is one of their favorites. The Irish whiskey combined with the sweetness of the maple syrup and the apples makes for wonderful flavor. The fruity Zinfandel goes well with this dish.

Serves 4

4 - 6 ounces boneless pork loin chops

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup good Irish Whiskey or Bourbon

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 apple, washed, peeled, cored and chopped

1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme

Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook pork chops in a heavy skillet about 10 - 12 minutes on medium heat. Do not over cook the chops. Remove & keep warm. Add oil, garlic, and bourbon to the skillet. Cover and cook over high heat 1 minute. 

Add the chicken broth, maple syrup, apple, salt & pepper cooking until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. 

Stir in the thyme & cook 1 minute. Serve sauce over the chops.