A Dish That Guarantees Good Luck in 2017

Bigos, pierogi, and salad

Let's face facts, 2016 was not a very good year.  We had a terribly divisive election, mass shootings, a worldwide refugee crisis and many Hollywood icons died.  It's time to do something to make sure that 2017 turns out better.  The best thing we can do is to eat Sauerkraut on New Year's Day which is a long-held Pennsylvania Dutch tradition that's believed to bring good luck throughout the upcoming year.  Bigos is a wonderful stew made from sauerkraut.                       

 

Bigos—Hunter's Stew (The Polish national Dish) 

This recipe comes from the Bigos Bar website first developed by Mike Oborski, the honorary consul of the Republic of Poland in Kidderminister, England. Rick Podowski likes this dish with a glass of Syrah because the boldness of the dish is complemented by the boldness of the wine. 

More information about rick's love of this dish can be found in  Murder Before The Bell

Serves 4 (This recipe can be doubled or tripled)

1 lb. sauerkraut

1/2 lb. ham with bone, pork spareribs pork rib roast, or chicken

1 bay leaves

1/2 ounce. dried mushrooms, chopped

1/2 onion chopped and sautéed in butter

5 black peppercorns

3 allspice berries

1/4-teaspoon salt

4 cups beef broth,

1 lbs. green cabbage chopped like sauerkraut

1 tablespoons butter or margarine

l pound of Polish Kiełbasa
1 chopped onion

Rinse sauerkraut with cold water and drain well. In a large stockpot, combine sauerkraut, ham or pork, bay leaves, mushrooms, peppercorns, allspice and salt. Add 2 cups of broth, bouillon, or water. Cook, uncovered, 15 minutes over medium heat. Cover and simmer over low heat 45 minutes. Remove meat and let it cool.

Place cabbage in a large saucepan. Add remaining 2 cups broth, bouillon, or water. Bring to boil. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat, 1 hour or until cabbage is tender. Add to sauerkraut mixture. Bone the cooked meat. Cut cooked meat into 1/2-inch cubes.

Melt butter or margarine in a large skillet. Add cooked meat and Kiełbasa. Sauté over medium heat 10 minutes or until browned. Add to sauerkraut mixture. Also, add the onion. Cover and cook over low heat 1 hour or longer. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve hot.

Bigos, pierogi and salad--delicious!

 The secret of old-time Bigos is that it gets better as it's reheated on successive days, peaking at the 6th or 7th day. In between, store covered in the refrigerator.

A Special Christmas Treat

It's Christmas and that means Rick Podowski will make his famous Polish Nut Strudel for all of his students and friends.  This tradition has been happening for almost fifty years.  Read Murder Before The Bell to find out how this tradition began.

Rick's Famous Polish Nut Strudel 

Rick makes fifty small rolls for all of his students and friends at Christmas.  People love it because it is not too sweet.

Serves 20 (10 small rolls)

5 cups flour

8 tablespoons sugar

1 pound margarine

4 egg yolks

1 cup milk

2 packages of dry yeast

1 tablespoon vinegar

Stuffing

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 pound walnuts, ground

Spread

1 egg white

In a food processor, make the dough in two batches, using ½ the ingredients for each batch.  Combine the flour with the sugar; slice the mar­garine or add it in tablespoons.  Add the egg yolks (save the whites for the stuffing).  Put the yeast in a 1/2 cup of warm milk and add it to the processor.  Add the vinegar.  Process until a ball forms.  Put the ball into a large bowl.  Complete the second batch, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The Egg Whites and Nut Stuffing

Beat the egg whites till stiff; add the sugar by spoonfuls, beating constantly.  Add lemon juice, beat 1 minute more.  Add the walnuts and mix slightly.

The dough with the stuffing spread on top

Brush the rolls with egg white

Place on a buttered cookie sheet seam down. or use parchment paper  Spread with egg white.  Bake in a moderate 375-degree F. oven for 40 minutes (350-degrees for non-stick pans).  Check at thirty minutes.  Rick cuts the finished rolls in half and stores them in his freezer.

Some Very Special Co-Authors

The Rick Podowski and The Hefty Trio series is about four pleasantly plump high school English teachers that like to pair Santa Cruz Mountain wines with Polish, Irish, Mexican and Italian dishes while they are working on solving the murder.  In addition to the five books in the series, there is another book that helps people to mellow out.

Mellow Out--Lessons Learned From Household Cats is a fun read that explores the influence cats have on our lives. The book delves into twenty areas where their behavior provides a calming effect.

The four co-authors of the book are shown below.

Chubby Wubby

The Mitzer

Willie

Samantha

The Updated Website

The Rick Podowski and The Hefty Trio website has been updated.  I invite you to come and explore the new colors and the feel of the site.  Click here to enter.

The five books in this series are different than most murder mysteries. Some basic information will help you, the reader, to understand these eccentric characters.

The four of them have been working together for over twenty-seven years and so far they have solved five mysteries.

All four of them have put on lots of weight over the years because they like to eat gourmet foods and drink fine wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains in California.

They seem to end up in the middle of a murder mystery and by consulting with their students and using logic they are able to solve the crime.

Each book contains seven ethnic (Polish, Italian, Irish, Mexican) recipes and seven wineries are presented. A wine is then paired with the recipe. A reader who completes the series will have learned about thirty-five boutique wineries and have thirty-five recipes paired with the appropriate wine.

Three of the books explore moral issues--good people doing bad things, loyalty to our country and falsely accusing another person. Two of the books explore the adoption issues related to birth parents and the challenges of foster care.

Rick Podowski, Leti Rios, Erin McGinty, and Teresa Spinelli are English teachers at Central High School in East San Jose.

Pozole--A Feel Good Food From Mexico

Pozole is one of the best-known dishes of Jalisco, Mexico. A traditional pozole  requires most of a day to cook, but this version at Texas cooking.com is much faster.  Pozole is served with a garnish tray with fresh ingredients, so that each person adds his own final touches. A nice Zinfandel/Cabernet blend goes well with this dish.

This dish was featured in The Winning Certificate.  The book 

won the 2011 Global eBook award in the amateur sleuth category.

.​

Serves 6

2 tablespoons canola oil

2-1/2 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

10 cups good chicken broth

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons ground mild red chili (New Mexico, Anaheim) or chili powder

3 cups canned white hominy, drained

Garnishes:

thinly sliced radishes

shredded iceberg lettuce

finely chopped onion

chopped cilantro

lime wedges

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, turning, until browned on all sides for about 5 minutes. Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and keep warm.

Reduce heat to medium, and add the onion and garlic to the pan, cooking just until onion softens, about 3 minutes.

Return the pork to Dutch oven and add the chicken broth, oregano, salt, and ground chilies or chili powder. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 90 minutes. Add hominy and cook for 15 minutes more. Check seasonings and add more chili powder or salt according to taste.

Baked Apple Pancake And A Word About Friendship

Baked Apple Pancake

     

     

The clocks will soon be turned back and that means more time for a wonderful weekend brunch.  

 A baked apple pancake was first mentioned in Murder Before The Bell when Rick tried to

 woo his new girlfriend. When it comes from the oven it is absolutely beautiful.

Batter

4 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Fruit

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 large tart apple (no need to peel)

Blend eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in food processor.  With the machine running add vanilla, butter and nutmeg.  Let it stand for thirty minutes.

Slice the apple.

In a 10 inch ovenproof skillet melt the butter and coat the sides of the pan.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar cinnamon and nutmeg over the butter.  Cover with apple slices and the other 1/4 cup of sugar.  Use medium high heat until the mixture bubbles.

Pour the batter over the apples and place in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for fifteen minutes.  Reduce the heat to 375 and bake for ten minutes more.  Serve immediately

Makes 3-4 servings.

This recipe adapted from Machine Cuisine Cooking Classes

And Now For Some Advice

Mellow Out--Lessons Learned From Household Cats is a fun read that explores the influence cats have on our lives. The book delves into twenty areas where their behavior provides a calming effect. Each section begins with a quote that reflects mainstream thinking on the topic. This is followed by comments on how this concept plays out in society, and then, how the cats respond. Finally there is a discussion on how to use the behaviors of the cats to improve our lives. The broad themes of the book focus on how to take care of ourselves, how to tolerate adversity and how to embrace our emotions. Topics include such things are dealing with getting high, being overweight, love, and brown-nosing at your place of employment.

More Information about Mellow Out--Lessons Learned From Household Cats can be found by clicking here 

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A strong friendship doesn’t need daily conversation or being together. As long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends never part.

Anonymous

Chapter 19 
Friendship Requires Work

In 1968, after completing three years, nine months and twenty-seven days, I received my early discharge from the United States Air Force so that I could attend San Jose State University (it was a college back in those days). Since money was very tight, I would hang out in a church-run coffee shop called Jonah’s Whale. Liberal college students, some ex-military and some people who were into drugs frequented the place—after all, it was the 60’s.

I loved to talk about politics, and I spent most of my time with a guy named Al. Even though there was pressure about ending the Vietnam War, I still believed in the American dream and that our military was keeping us safe. However, the transition was beginning, and within the year, I would be involved in peace marches. In fact, there was a huge march in San Francisco, and I walked behind a flatbed truck where the Jefferson Airplane was playing.

My friendship with Al continued to grow. We played chess, we talked and we took road trips. Graduation came; I got married and started a family. We would see each other a couple of times a year. In 2007, we decided to have monthly dinners together. At first they were random places; then we established goals. Our first goal was to eat at all the restaurants on the Capitola Wharf. When that was completed, we decided to eat at all of the restaurants in downtown Campbell and finally all the restaurants between Campbell Avenue and Stevens Creek Boulevard—a five mile strip.

We kind of got off schedule and I wrote an email to Al in November of 2011, but he never responded. I later found out that he had died from a heart attack. The point of all this is that long-term friendships are great, and most of us have very few of them. The friendship between Al and myself grew. 

It was a bit different with my cats. The Mitzer didn’t like Willie—end of story, period. Willie would sit next to the Mitzer and the Mitzer would hiss and hiss. This would happen day after day. The bedroom would be dark and the Mitzer would be on the bed with me. I would be petting her. All of a sudden, there would be this low growl and Willie would appear right next to the Mitzer. No matter what we did, Willie would always be there.

Willie is a kitten, and he wants to play, and since the Mitzer is ten years old, she has different ideas. 

However, recently things have changed. Willie attacks the Mitzer and they both kind of hit at each other. You can tell that they are playing because the growling has stopped and their claws aren’t out. The other day, my wife was asleep and Willie and the Mitzer were sleeping in my spot on the bed. They were less than six inches apart, and I think that they have finally become friends.

The cats became friends because Willie worked at their friendship. In our world, we have good friends at work or in our neighborhood, then we change jobs or move to another area and these friendships go by the wayside. We move on.

I worked with this woman for several years and she got a job out of the area. Of course, we lost touch with each other. A decade later, I saw her at a conference and told her I was so happy to see her again. She gave me her new address and phone number and said that I would probably never call or write. Unfortunately, she was right. I never called.

My cats remind me that friendships just don’t continue. You have to work to keep them alive.