Polish Burgers

 Polish Burgers

1-1/2 lb ground pork

1/2 lb ground beef

1 sleeve crushed saltines

2/3 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 small yellow onion, minced

1 green bell pepper, minced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon dried parsley

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsp butter

Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil. 

Combine ground meats in a large bowl with crushed saltines, milk, eggs, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and mix until well combined.

Form mixture into 10 patties. At this point you can freeze half, with wax paper in between the patties. Arrange patties on prepared baking sheet and set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat the 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer 2-3 patties to the skillet and brown well on the first side before turning, about 5-7 minutes. Repeat with the second side.

Set aside on a plate to rest while you finish with the remaining patties.

For the Sauce:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

2 C. mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C. all-purpose flour

4 C. beef stock

2 Tbsp. sour cream

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Add 1/4 C. butter to the skillet, melt and add mushrooms. Add Worcestershire sauce and garlic and cook, stirring often and scraping any bits from the bottom of the pan.

Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Gradually stir in beef stock until smooth, then bring mixture to a simmer.

Add patties back to the pan, then cover with a lid, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Stir in sour cream and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Great served with buttered noodles or rice!

Creamy Sundried Tomato Chicken Thighs (Instant pot)

 4 boneless chicken thighs, cut in bite sized pieces

1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped

1/2 tsp each dried basil and oregano, or equivalent fresh

3 cloves garlic, minced

* Brown the chicken on saute mode

* add remaining ingredients and saute for about 5 more minutes

*add 1 cup chicken stock

Seal in Instant pot and cook on high for 15 minutes.

Quick release.

Remove chicken and set aside. Set pot on saute, uncovered, for about 10 minutes until liquid is reduced by half.

Add 1 cup heavy cream and return chicken to the pot; stir to reheat

Serve with pasta or rice, sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Optional:

* stir in a can of artichoke hearts (drained) during the final saute.

*stir in a handful of fresh spinach just before serving

Hot Fudge Sauce

Recipe first, story below 💖

Hot Fudge Sauce

Credit: The Joy of Cooking, 1975 edition

(Please see notes below before making!)

Melt in a double boiler (or microwave) (see note below)

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1Tbsp Butter

Stir well and add: 

1/3 cup boiling water

Stir well and add: 

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp corn syrup

Let the sauce boil readily, but not too furiously, over direct heat (not in double boiler). DO NOT STIR.

For regular sauce: Boil, covered for 3 minutes and then 2 minutes uncovered, without stirring.

For sauce that will harden over ice cream (I HIGHLY recommend this option!): boil uncovered for 3 minutes more than for regular sauce - 5 minutes total after uncovering.

Remove from heat. It can be served immediately if you like. Just before serving,  stir in 1 tsp vanilla or 2 tsp rum (I admit I have never tried the rum version, nor do I recall seeing this, so I'll have to try it sometime!).

Store in refrigerator. It will get very thick when cold. Feel free, as I do, to grab a spoonful whenever you feel the craving for something decadent. Or warm it gently in the microwave (probably 10-20 seconds - start low to see how long it takes).

NOTES

* I almost never have unsweetened chocolate on hand, so I looked up a substitution (there's a section in the cookbook - page 594!): 3 Tbsp cocoa or carob powder plus 1 Tbsp butter or shortening (I use butter) OR 2 Tbsp water. I always use the cocoa/butter combo and you don't need to melt it first; just slap it in a pot and start with step 2.

* if using the chocolate squares there is really no need to use a double boiler, if you even have one. 1975 was either before or very early days of microwaves - melt it for 20 seconds or so at a time.

**Now for the personal backstory that I'm sure everyone wants to read!**

Back in the day, the Bible of Cookbooks was "The Joy of Cooking". Mom had a tattered copy (that I may actually have somewhere) and my own copy is one of the first wedding shower gifts I opened! I rarely use it anymore, because I just look recipes online and then post the ones I like when I get around to it. But I used to use it a lot! It's all marked up with spills and such, mark of a great recipe!

I got it down off the high shelf and dusted it off so I could make some Hot Fudge Sauce today. That's always been one of my favorites and I was craving something rich and decadent. It popped into my mind and we have ice cream to go with it.

We had this a lot when I was a child, and it was one of the first things I made all by myself!