Hi, I'm Chris Fenimore.

We've been doing local cooking shows here on WQED for over 18 years, and the favorite episodes always seem to revolve around some form of comfort food.

Could be potatoes, soups and stews, casseroles.

Call them by any name, and they're still the hearty dishes that we turn to for comfort and solace and memories.

One of our regulars, Deneen Ross, brought us a recipe that combined an ethnic favorite stuffed cabbage with an easy to make and serve method stuffed cabbage soup.

One of the great joys that we have in doing these cooking shows is that we get a chance to actually get to know some of the folks who come on and and invite some of them back.

And, and we've done that today because we have with us.

Deneen come on in here.

Deneen Ross who was on our show.

And and once did a Reuben casserole which we got so many requests for.

And so I saw your that you had sent in a recipe.

You've done another derivative recipe for it.

And in other words, it's not what it is like.

Reuben casserole.

This is you called it stuffed pepper stuffed cabbage soup.

Stuffed cabbage soup.

And, I think we have a recipe for stuffed pepper soup, but stuffed cabbage soup.

I love stuffed cabbage.

But this sounded like a great way to get at it in a comforting way.

So tell us about the recipe.

And an easy way.

I'm browning some meat here.

Yeah.

What kind of meat did you use?

It says to use beef stew meat for basically what I did this time was I bought our sirloin tip roast and sliced it down because I was able to, you know, get this cut with less fat in it, and it's a much more tender cut of meat, so it doesn't take us long to cook.

Yeah.

So all this is, is a tablespoon of canola oil with I have a pound and a quarter here because we like more meat in it.

But you can it calls for a pound.

And you just browned that for it says 8 to 10 minutes.

You brown that, then you add to it one large onion that has been chopped, coarsely chopped.

It doesn't have to be finely messed.

Not at all.

Not at all.

And again this is a very, very easy recipe.

It takes 1 pound package of classic coleslaw mix which is the shredded cabbage and carrots.

Now if you wanted to, you could probably shred your own head of cabbage and, carrots.

But this makes it much, much easier.

Okay.

And you're going to brown those two together.

You're just going to, for about five minutes.

You let it sit for maybe 2.5 minutes, give it a stir.

2.5 minutes.

Just so.

Well, some.

Yeah.

And that's, basically this is the most time consuming part of the recipe.

Now, where did you come up with this recipe?

I've had a few versions of this recipe, but, I'm not real big on peppers and but I like the concept of stuffed peppers, so stuffed cabbage just seemed to take so long making the boil in the cabbage.

And this put it all together in one pot in a matter of few minutes, and you're having the same results.

So basically quick and easy.

That's what made me come up with it.

Well, it sounds great, and it sounds like the kind of thing that you could serve to a big crowd.

You're going to have a party and whatnot, because after you make it, then I guess you could put it into a crock pot.

Sure.

Just to keep it on the side and, and, and serve it.

Is there anything that you serve with this?

You serve bread or what's the what's the the this basically stands on its own.

It's such a heavy soup.

It's more like a stew than a soup.

So usually when I serve this, I serve, Tuscany bread with homemade apple butter and, and this because it has the cabbage, the meat, the, rice.

So you're getting the carrots, you're having the whole meal.

And then I usually finish it up with something fancier, like peach dumplings or something like that, a heavier dessert.

Oh, you didnt bring in the peach dumplings with you today I just didn't make any yet.

You know, Deneen, when I do, Chris, I'll send a couple down.

They are pretty good.

You know, you can come in and cook in our kitchen here any time.

You know, we're not always on television, but we.

You know, I would be glad to.

Well, this.

Yeah, this would normally, I guess this would cook for, you know, a few more minutes.

That's no problem.

Where did you learn how to cook?

I mean, I'm always interested in asking people why.

Some people, they say I love to cook and other people go, I hate to cook.

Oh, I adore cooking, but you love to cook.

I know that.

Thats my favorite.

Yeah, but where did you get that love of cooking?

My grandmother was a very good cook.

Oh, my.

My mother's from an Italian family, and I've watched her sisters cook a lot.

My mom cooks, they go out to eat all the time now, but when we were younger, they cook.

And she made a lot of the very wholesome recipes.

But she let me be right there alongside her.

If I made a mess that was okay with her.

She really was supportive in it.

And they are now very much so.

And I do a menu for a month and they'll come and look at my menu on my refrigerator and go, oh, ham balls or, oh, liver and onions.

And it seems like those are the nights they pop in for dinner, but also they, they get to know in advance what you're cooking.

Yeah, I did the menu in the beginning of the month so we know what what's going on for the month.

And then do you do all your shopping at once too?

Usually twice, twice in a month.

And I'll even like chop up my onions, get a 3 pound bag of onions and chop it up, put them in cup size freezer bags so that I'm all set to go whenever I need onions.

I made the mess one time.

Oh, that's a good idea.

Yeah, it works well, then, you add two cans of beef broth.

Now we really try to watch the fat free, sodium free.

And this brand is 99% fat free and 50% less sodium.

And it really works well because you do put a little bit of salt in this recipe.

But it's amazing how much sodium is in beef broth.

Really.

Oh I was really shocked at that.

Then you just add a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes in light puree.

And then it calls for a cup and a half water.

What I found with this is it, you can put more.

It doesn't really matter.

It has long grain rice in it, so it really does soak up the water.

And what I just do is I rinse my can out.

to get more of the tomato flavor.

You know, that that's another aspect of all of the recipes.

These are recipes that are grounded in frugality.

That's true.

You know, they, and especially the depression recipes that we got because we got a lot of, folks who who said, well, I remember when we used to get a half a pound of chopped meat and feed the whole eight of us, you know, because mom would put ketchup and potatoes in a skillet put it all together, and, nothing is wasted.

Everything.

You know, they used the potato skins for soup and the potatoes for dinner and on and on.

One thing about one of my friends at work was making the comment, he's a vegetarian.

This can very easily be made with ground turkey, or you can use smoked turkey and chop it up and cube it and use it in place of the beef, and then just use your chicken stock.

Right.

In this also goes, a quarter, a cup of brown sugar and a teaspoon of salt.

And I just put them in the same container.

But you can put more of the brown sugar if you like.

We're not real big on overly sweet flavor, but that's part I know that the recipes that I've seen for, stuffed, cabbages, cabbages all have a little bit of brown sugar like on the layers in between.

Sometimes we're actually, you know, in grape jelly.

One thing I've seen them.

Yes.

Some type of sweetening that's is just a tablespoon of lemon juice.

So you have that sweet and sour thing and then just some fresh ground pepper.

And this is just to taste right now.

You didn't put any salt in yet did you?

The salt was with this I had.

Oh you had it with this.

Oh quarter cup of the brown sugar and salt.

Just put it in the same container.

What you do here is you just wait for it to come to a boil.

Right.

It takes maybe 3 to 5 minutes because you've already started with the hot.

The meat was hot.

Then you added the cabbage.

One of my friends I work with made this and she used beef stewing meat.

One thing she found is by the time she got done cooking it, the cabbage completely disintegrated.

So if you using a cut of meat that isn't as tender, probably what I would do is hold off the cabbage for a little bit, maybe add it right now because it is going to disintegrate when you use top sirloin.

I use round steak.

You have no problem at all with that.

Yeah.

I wouldn't mind if, if, if all of the, cabbage melted.

Yeah, that would be okay with me too.

I mean, as long as I know it's in there, I'm going to get the flavor of it.

Sure.

All right, so let's assume that this is now boiling.

Okay.

Boiling.

And basically the recipe is done.

Once it boils we add one cup of long grain rice.

You can add more.

Last night I added a little bit more and I found myself I kept adding water and because it just soaks, it right up.

Yeah, it really thickens up once you add the rice.

Like I said, if it comes to a rolling boil, you add your rice, you take it to a simmer, put the lid on for 45 minutes and you have soup.

So this is a great after work dinner because within an hour you have your dinner ready.

But it's only actually about ten minutes of prep time.

And then you're out of the kitchen.

And it's simmering and you're set to go.

So we'll just go ahead and add the rice.

But like I said, if you make this at home, make sure it's boiling because it'll save a little bit on the time.

All right.

So and that's it.

We stir it in.

Do you cover it when it's when it's simmering.

When you put give it to a light simmer and you put the lid on and about everything.

But every 5 to 10 minutes I start it just to make sure the rice wasn't sticking in the whole bit.

And it was set to go, well, I have, you have this, lovely bowl that you've already made where the rice is already cooked.

And I just want to and this is a soup that's really better the next day too.

And it freezes very well.

Last year I made quite a few.

Now you know, it's amazing.

Deneen.

You didn' put any other thickener in here?

Nothing.

No, because I guess it's the rice that has it.

Almost as if you've thickened the soup with something in a flour roux or something like that.

But there's nothing in there because it looks creamy.

It's a very low fat, low sodium.

It's a very healthy meal.

It really is, because there's nothing besides vegetables and broth and rice.

You really That's a recipe.

Well, I'm not going to hold that against it, you know I'm going to have it.

Let me have a taste here.

Is that what they say, enjoy.

Oh, boy.

I like that sweet and sour combination.

It has a nice kick to it.

Yeah.

It does.

Oh, that is.

Its not like Emerald Kick it up.

That's okay.

As long as you don't look like Emerald anymore.

Okay.

Absolutely not.

If you.

I want to taste a little bit of the beef.

It's sort of amazing because as you're tasting this, all you can think of is stuffed cabbage.

Exactly.

That's what your mind is telling you about a third of the time literally, is that it takes you to make stuffed cabbage.

You're set to go.

You know, we have we have one of you brought somebody with you here.

And I wanted to see if she would come over here and just wave it.

Her friends, this is Tiffany.

Yes, it is.

And she is your niece.

Your brother David's daughter.

How you doing?

The stand over here.

So, and, and, I don't know you want to wave at your friends and whatnot?

You do?

You wanted to come on and and be on the cooking show.

So here she is.

Next time, we'll have you.

Come on.

We'd love to do, kids cooking one of these days.

You know, she did help me last night.

She was a really big help in making the batch last night.

She's a good cook.

She's coming along.

And I have that feeling that you've helped, cook on this.

Then, you know, years later, when you're looking for a comfort food, this might be it, because it will have not only the comforts of the natural comforts of it, but it'll have that nostalgia.

You remember working with your Aunt Deneen, Making some soup.

How about that recipe for a cold winter night or an afternoon of football watching?

Deneen is always sending us inventive versions of popular dishes, like her Reuben casserole.

That was good too.

Coming up next, we have another one of our regular contributors, Debbie Chuba.

Debbie has a Slovak background and it shows up in many of the recipes she sends in, like this tangy and satisfying version of Slovak sour potatoes.

All right, Chris, we're going to start by I guess this is the right burner here.

Yes.

Okay.

And I'm going to take one half stick four tablespoons of butter.

I already like this recipe.

Now you can probably make this low fat, but I don't think it would have quite the same taste.

But there's really not a whole lot of fat in it other than this butter.

And you're going to see going to add some bacon later.

So we're going to melt this butter.

And while I'm doing that maybe you could cut those potatoes into chunks.

Now when you say chunks whatever size you want Chris.

It doesn't really matter.

Large chunks.

You can slice the potatoes for this recipe.

When my mother made it, she slice the potatoes.

When I make it, I cubed the I chopped the potatoes.

And I just prefer it that way because it's sort of conglomerate and it has this wonderful sauce.

And so it really doesn't matter whether they're chunked or whether they're sliced.

Okay.

But those are red potatoes I was going to use Yukon gold.

But I was afraid because it's a new potato.

My mother never used Yukon gold for this.

So I decided to use the red potatoes.

Well they're very good in this.

As I said I found that there are all of these different varieties of potatoes.

Yes.

That I never heard of before.

And I love the Yukon Golds.

They are wonderful.

And they really have a flavor of their own.

And you can make a lot of low fat dishes with those Yukon Golds that are good because they have a buttery taste already, without adding more butter.

Right?

But this you need the butter.

This is one of those old country recipes.

You know, in the old country they like to cook with butter, whatever old country it is.

Yeah, but you see, the problem with the people in the old country is that they used to work from sun up till sun down Yes.

That's right.

So, you know, and we don't get the kind of exercise that they did.

So now I'm going to see if I can turn this down just a tad here.

Okay.

Well not too much.

Look at that.

Oh there it goes.

Okay.

Now the butter's melted I'm going to add three tablespoons of flour.

Now I like wonder of flour the quick mixing flour because oh it doesn't take up.

And it's just so nice.

So you just dump that in and you make what the French would call a roux.

But what the Slovaks calls a zaprashka.

Zaprashka.

And for all the people out there who are Slovak, I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly, I think so the people at my parish, which is Slovak parish, say it's zaprashka and see how that's starting to brown.

We're also going to add some onions now this is about one medium onion that you've chopped that I've chopped pretty fine.

Yeah fine.

You can add less more onion to suit your taste.

I can't tell you.

I think 50% easily of all of the recipes out of 200 recipes include in some way potatoes, onions, butter.

I they're, you know, in almost everything except for sweet potato pie, but for regular potatoes, it's the combination of onions and butter and potatoes that is, really in across different nationalities.

You are right.

as well, and, different types of things fried, baked, boiled.

And it already has.

And it's such an enticing aroma.

I love the smell.

Onions and butter.

And I think a lot of the recipes in Eastern Europe had an onion butter base.

Or you pour onions and butter over the top like you do with pierogies.

And see, this is coming to a nice brown here.

So you can get this even browner.

Some people, like a real brown zaprashka to use that word again.

But, it really doesn't matte if you don't want it real brown.

You don't want that brown taste.

Just so you get this kind of a golden to a brown color is what you want.

I think part of the idea also is that you want to cook the flour so you don't get that.

floury, that's floury taste.

Well that's another thing that wonder helps with.

Wonder is just so mild.

And I really like the wonder.

I don't want to use a brand name, but that's the only flour I know of that's called a quick mixing flour.

They used to sell it in little canisters.

And now I notice you can only but in a big Bisquick sized box.

I wish they'd bring the little canisters back so you to shake in some when you need it.

Right.

It's great to thicken a sauce.

Oh it's great I keep a little container of it right by my stove.

Now this is a color that I like.

Can you see?

It's a golden color but not too brown.

So I'm ready for that cup of chicken stock.

Right there.

Okay.

So this should be at room temp which this is.

But if you would have this a little bit colder it really won't affect much of the recipe.

It's going to get hot pretty quick right.

So you just want to get this to a smooth consistency which happens very quickly.

See the with wonder.

The lumps just disappear.

And it has a real nice color.

And whatever lumps you do see pretty much are the onions in here.

And the onions can be I shaped that or I chopped them in kind of irregularly.

So they're in different shapes.

But see, it's a very nice smooth it was one cup of one cup of chicken stock right.

One cup of chicken stock.

You can use something like this with green beans too.

My father used to make a dish with green beans.

And when I was growing u I called it the Zaprashka beans.

I never knew anything different.

I mean, but it had this this baco and it had this kind of a sauce.

Yeah.

So it's just like a white sauce, but it's made with, chicken stock.

instead of milk.

It's made with chicken stock.

Now we're ready to add some of our other ingredients okay.

So we're going to add some chopped parsley I have chopped parsley there about two teaspoons of chopped parsley.

It's what the recipe calls for.

But if you have a little more it certainly isn't going to hurt the recipe.

So those are two good teaspoons.

Yeah.

Why not.

So we put the chopped parsley in.

When in doubt overdo it.

And then we'll also add one of my favorite things lemon pepper seasoning about a half a teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning.

Again if you put more than that it's can only enhance the flavor.

That's about a half a teaspoon right there.

We'll add that and then we will add two slices of bacon crisply cooked.

That's been crumbled.

And this has been well drained.

Drained well drained.

There's really not that much fat left in it.

No there really isn't much fat left in that bacon.

And stir that and then more than in a glass of skim milk.

But yeah, but the flavor the flavor is wonderful.

See, it already is taking on that flavor of bacon.

And then you add about a half of a lemon rind grated zested.

I brought a zester if you wanted a great more about an extra lemon, bu there's quite a bit in here.

And my friend Rhoda, who's an excellent cook, told me that you can use a piece of Saran wrap over a greater to do.

The lemon rind stays in there.

Yes, we just did that.

Here on another recipe.

She said she saw it with you.

And in fact, my friend Rhoda and her husband, George, have been very helpful.

George's Slovak descent.

And he tried the recipe over the weekend, really liked it, but he remembers it being even more sour.

So when I get to the vinegar, I'll show you that you can add as much or as little vinegar as you like.

Well, that looks good enough to eat right now.

Give me a toast Ill put tha right over the toast, doesn't it We got one more thing.

I don't know my mother was a big fan of bay leaves.

Half of a bay leaf goes into this, all right.

It's a distinctive flavor that's a distinctive flavor.

And of course, we'll take it out.

Yeah, but that will go in now.

This really has to simmer.

Excuse me for about five minutes and, although we're coming along so nicely here, I don't think we're going t have to cook it too much longer.

And then we're going to add our potatoes.

Well, for the purposes, as they say, of television, I knew we were going along.

This is going along great brown very nicely.

So if you want to start adding potatoes we can start adding potato.

How much did you say of the potatoes we have here.

We have six large potatoes.

Why don't you add a little bit and then while you add those I'll add vinegar okay.

If you could hand me that tablespoon right there.

There you go.

Thank you I'm going to add two tablespoons of vinegar.

You add the potatoes and the vinegar together.

That's the last step here.

Now two tablespoons is about the average I have to taste on the recipe.

My friends husband Georg says you could add 3 or 4 maybe.

And some people and I think it depends on the region of Slovakia that you come from too depending on the, the amount of vinegar.

Some people like a sour taste.

Slovak make a sour, Christmas Eve soup.

They make a lot of different recipes that have this sour quality.

And with a lemon, you have an even more sour quality.

But the vinegar is really what gives it that, that really distinct taste.

And then you just sort of get this all coated.

Doesn't matter if you break the potatoes.

That's why a mealy potato works fine.

I like the red.

I will try the Yukon Gold at some point in time, but I think the red works well.

or russet.

Yeah.

Any kind of potato that you like.

Well, this comes together fairly quick.

Oh it is, it's very quick.

15 minutes at a simmer would complete this dish.

And you can really if your potatoes are well cooked and you've stirred real well, you could probably do it in under 15 minutes.

Well 15 minutes is not too much devoted because then you really get that, that's sour flake.

Sour hydrated right into the potatoes.

Right.

It's almost as if it's it' like a German potato salad.

Yes.

It's cooked.

That's what someone said to me.

And it is it has a very has similar ingredients, bu it has such a distinctive taste.

I took some to work on Monday.

I'm a teacher, and some of the people in my lunch period who were not Slovaks really enjoyed it.

They all they said, oh, when are you doing this?

I said, they said, we have to watch.

You know, We want to get the recipe, but they are coming along very nicely here.

And you can smell that the sour I do I mean the whole smell I can smell.

The bacon and that's and the, the smell from the vinegar is very distinct.

And you'd be surprised at how the lemon flavors are too.

And I love lemon in anything.

Yeah.

Well that's something that always perks things right up.

Now we have some of these that are hot.

Oh, yes.

I brought some down.

You know, we should have those.

Let me let me get some of those out of the oven.

You keep stirring.

Ill keep stirring here, looking for that bay leaf, which I see.

I'm going to keep that in plain view here.

There are a lot of variations of this recipe.

Like I said, I think it depends on the area Slovakia you came from.

But this would be more eastern Slovakia.

The people are on fresh off or they are in Slovakia.

They would probably make the potatoes this way.

Someone from the western part.

According to the deacon at our parish who is from Slovakia, he says the western Slovaks make it differently.

So there we have it.

Well, I can't wait to, we've had we've had this sort of sitting in the oven right at it just just warming so you could let's say you were going to have a, a church supper or a group of people over.

You could make thi and then put it into a crock pot to stay warm.

Oh, yeah.

Sure.

But this is best served warm.

Right.

It's best served warm.

And you want to keep it in a low heat or chafing dish or something like that.

Right.

Anything like that would work.

You can start the day before getting some of the things ready.

It's a nice side dish.

It goes with any meat poultry fish for lent.

Take the bacon out.

Fine.

You just don't.

Yeah, yeah.

And you're good.

You could probably be creative and add something else.

Well, we only abstain from meat one day a week, right?

So we can eat these Monday through Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, but not on Friday.

Well, we can eat a Friday all summer.

Yeah, I have to taste some of this as you go along.

Well, that's not too sour at all.

I expected it to be more sour.

It's got like a see, a tangy flavor to it.

But you can add more if you want.

Now what I like about it especially is that the, that sauce gets all of the flavors to adhere to the potato.

It does so that it's not like slopping around in a, in a, in a gravy or something like that.

It's not.

It's really gone right into the potato.

That's a light source.

It does.

It's not a heavy gravy at all.

And people might think, but a half stick of butter for all these potatoes is really not a lot of butter.

Nobody know it but it tastes very rich.

Well that would be good as a side dish.

It's wonderful as a side dish.

My mother made this all the time but she always slice the potatoes.

Like I said she just just sliced instead of a chunk.

Well you chunk them so It's just fast right.

Debbie, once again, thank you for making the trek and for introducing us to something really different.

And, one, which I know you'll want to make.

Frankly, I never met a potato recipe I didn't like, but these were extraordinary.

Over the years, we've received thousands of recipes from hundreds of wonderful home cooks, and we thank them all for sharing their family treasures with all of us.

So I guess you could say we do it for you, but we couldn't do it without them.

Keep sending in those recipes and keep watching.

Hi, I'm Chris Fennimore.

Here's a kitche tip from QED cooks about garlic.

Lots of people love to use garlic, and it's a multi-purpose ingredien because if you leave the garlic, holding in your recipe gives a nice subtle garlic flavor.

If you put it in slices, that's a more robust flavor.

But the way to get the most flavor out of a clove of garlic is to mash it and get it into a nice puree.

And here's the method that I use.

I just break the clove down with the side of the knife and get the skin off.

I'm going to get this one off, and this one.

Just a little soft tap with the side of the knife will get that papery outside coating off of the garlic clove.

And by the way these are cloves.

This is a head of garlic.

But these are the cloves.

So when it says two cloves what it means are two of those little pieces.

Not not two heads of garlic.

All right.

So now again take the side of your knife and just come down on the clove of garlic until it's flattened on the board.

There we go.

And now I sprinkle a little bit of salt, which is going to help keep the garlic on the board.

And I mash it down with the side of the knife and just keep pushing it back into a pile and mashing it again Now once I have it mashed a little bit and mixed up with the salt, I'll run through it with the knife just going up and down and an ar across the whole pile of garlic.

That's a fun thing to do.

And then again, put it into pile and start mashing it again.

And what you'll see is that the garlic start to give up its own natural oils.

And what you're creating is this beautiful, aromatic.

And wonderful garlic paste that will give you the most garlic flavor in any recipe that you use it in.

Now there's some garlic paste.

And that's a quick tip from the QED Cooks Kitchen.