Creamy Carrot Sauce

This is actually not a Polish dish.  This is a cooking experiment by a preparations-for-Thanksgiving-frazzled Polish Mama gone right.  Happily.


I tried to make a creamy sauce for Pork chops and noodles inspired by Carrots in Cream or Marchewka w Smietanie

It was very easy to make and snuck vegetables into the kids.  Well, I'm not sure it's sneaking when they see tiny bits of carrot in the sauce.  But they didn't even really think twice to try the sauce and loved it.

So, I'm sharing with you a, what I would call, Polish American twist for dinner.  Obiat!  As my toddler calls to everyone when she sees Mama start to plate up.



Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Butter or Sunflower Oil
5-6 Boneless Pork Chops, seasoned with Salt and Pepper on both sides
5-6 Carrots, washed, peeled
1/2 Sweet Onion, peeled, washed, diced
2 tablespoons Flour
1-2 tablespoons any combination of the following:  Curly Parsley, Marjoram, Dill
1 cube of instant Beef or Cicken bouillon *
1/4 cup dry white Wine
1 1/2 cup of Milk or Cream
Pepper to taste


Finely chop carrots or place in food processor.  Set aside.

Melt butter in large skillet and cook pork chops over medium heat for about 5 minutes.  Turn pork chops.

Add carrots and onions and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until pork chops are cooked through.

Set pork chops aside. 

In same skillet, add flour and herbs and stir together.  Add wine and milk.  Add pepper to taste.  Cook and stir until thickened. 

Return pork chops to sauce and cook a few minutes longer until the flour flavor is gone from the sauce.

You can mix in whole grain pasta to the sauce, if you like.

Forgive the hastily taken photo, Thanksgiving preparations are leaving us very busy...

Smacznego!





Notes:

*  Instead of Instant Bouillon cubes, you can use a 1/2 cup or so of broth and just add as much milk as you like, probably a bit less.




Related Posts:

Stuffed Pork Chops, One Way

Pork Chops in Sauerkraut or Schab w Kiszonej Kapuście

Polish Herbed Meatloaf or Klops Wolowy





Also, if you feel that you would want to, please donate using the paypal button below to help us pay for our next trip (I promise to share pictures when we go!)...

Stuffed Porkchops, One Way

By now, I'm sure you are aware that we Poles love to stuff our foods.  Stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers, stuffed chicken breasts, stuffed rolls, we even like to stuff under the skin when roasting a chicken.

For dinner last night, I decided the thick cut pork chops I had were begging to be stuffed. 

The review by my father was "Good idea!  Like stuffed peppers.  Next time, we put some green peppers chopped in it maybe."  My husband thought it was delicious.  My toddler gobbled it all up but my elementary school aged daughter hates tomatoes and didn't enjoy it.  Sadly for her, I will continue to feed her dishes with tomatoes in it.  Because I am raising two future foodies.



Ingredients:

3 thick cut Pork chops
1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked Rice
2 Carrots, peeled, finely chopped *
5 dried Polish mushrooms, crumbled
1 Egg
1 tablespoon, Parsley
1 teaspoon, Marjoram
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 can Tomato Sauce


Slice a pocket into each pork chop, using the bone as a guide to the back so that you don't cut all the way through.

Mix together the rice, carrots, mushrooms, egg, parsley, marjoram, salt and pepper.

Stuff into the pork chop and pour the remainder around the outside area of the pork chops in the baking pan.

Pour the tomato sauce on top of everything.

Bake covered with aluminum foil on 350 degrees until pork inside temperature is about 170-175.  About 45 minutes to an hour.

Finished baking...

Served with a roll of Whole Wheat Cottage Cheese bread, which I baked earlier that day...

Smacznego!



* Because I sneak vegetables in my family constantly.

Other Posts:  Rice Keugel

Polish Tomato Soup Made by My Tato

If you liked this recipe, consider making a donation:

Photos of Some of Our Cooking Last Weekend

We are battling a nasty bout of croup at my house at this moment.  I hope you will forgive me as I will today just be sharing photos of some of the items I cooked here the past few days.  Recipes will be shared as we start feeling better.

"Glazed Porkloin", also known as Applesauce Pork Roast or Pieczony Schab

"Polish" Roasted Chicken stuffed and baked with potatoes and onions

The drumstick my 5 year old stole off the chicken before I could photograph it all together...

Cheese bread

Kuchen or Placek made with three different plum varieties and a new recipe I found in a handwriting I don't recognize...

Cheesecake stuffed Carrot cupcakes...

My Tati (Dad's) Polish Tomato Soup...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a wonderful week. 

Na razie...

My First Attempt at Zeberka w Miodze or Polish Spare Ribs in Honey

I recently tried to recreate a recipe my mother and father would make when I was a child.  The Polish version of Barbecued Spare Ribs- Zeberka w Miodze.  The difference being, less tomato and honey instead of brown sugar.

The odd thing about this, I believe it's an older recipe.  And my parents had never had barbecue when I was younger, yet the similarity between this and the American version is uncanny.



Ingredients:

2 lbs. Pork Spare Ribs, rinsed
Salt
Pepper
Oil for frying (I used vegetable oil, since I ran out of Sunflower oil)
2 Onions, thinly sliced
6 Garlic cloves, diced
1 Tomato (see Note)
5 tablespoons Honey
1/2 cup Vinegar
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Marjoram, to taste

Optional:
Basil, to taste
Dried fruits, such as apricots, plums, raisins (you can reduce the honey a bit in this case)



Sprinkle salt and pepper on the spare ribs and allow to sit for 1/2 hour to hour.

Fry the spare ribs on all sides on medium high heat. 

In the meantime, in another pot, sweat the onions in a tablespoon of oil.  Add garlic.  After a couple of minutes, add tomatoes, vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, herbs.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.  See Note.

Place meat in crock pot.

Pour the sauce on top.

Cook on high for about 7 hours.

The question with children, American husband, and picky father?  Yes, they all gobbled it up.  Although, this is one of very few meat dishes my older daughter is now eating, as she has decided to become a vegetarian for ethical reasons.  I'm a proud Mama.

Smacznego!



Note: 

My first attempt, I used 2 fresh tomatoes and 1/2 a can of tomato paste, as well as a cup of water for the crock pot.  While it turned out delicious, it wasn't what I wanted.  Next time, I plan to use one tomato or 1/2 a can of tomato dice, (plain) sauce, or puree and no water. 

I am also thinking to maybe marinade the meat in honey, as well as the salt and pepper, before frying to crispy outside and adding to crock pot.

You can also just add the ingredients into the crock pot without cooking first.  Place meat, then onions and garlic, mix the tomatoes, honey, and spices in a bowl and pour over.  However, if you have a sensitive stomach, I highly recommend cooking the onions and garlic first and also adding a 1/2 teaspoon of caraway seeds to the crock pot.

I did not have time to thicken the sauce a bit with a tablespoon or two of flour, as I had added water.  I would recommend the flour if your sauce turns out too thin.  (Make a roux, add cup of sauce into roux until thickened and bubbly, add back into crock pot for a few minutes until all thickened).