Slovenian Recipes

We love beets! We love pickles and pickled ANYTHING. How is it possible that we have not pickled beets until now? This recipe, from Michael Symon's master pickling recipe in his Live to Cook cookbook, is easy and delicious. Symon's recipe pickles two pounds of beets. The 2 Chicks figured if we are going to peel and slice two pounds of beets, why not six or seven? You will need the following ingredients:   vinegar , (we used a combination of white and rice) sugar , salt , mustard seeds , red pepper flakes , coriander seeds , black peppercorns , garlic cloves , and bay leaves . Determine the amount of liquid you need and use half vinegar and half water.* Put your liquid and the rest of your ingredients in a large pot. We used about 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons salt for every 3 cups of liquid. Bring to a boil over high heat and allow to boil for 2 minutes. *To determine how much liquid you need, fill one jar with water and note the amount. Multiply the amo...

Menu Chicken Ajmoht II (with red wine) Greens Latkes (Potato Pancakes) Chicken ajmoht, sometimes called obara, is a simple stew or ragout. Its special tang comes from a dark roux, something that my mother recalled from her childhood.  For my first attempt, I had used a simple recipe from the Progressive Slovene Women of America.  This time, I wanted to add some additional vegetables and seasonings. For inspiration, I consulted a couple of traditional sources.   The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe had an obara recipe with a few more vegetable choices.   Slovenian Cookery included a recipe for chicken stew with cviček, a unique Slovenian red wine. So I added a few new touches to my earlier recipe:  Carrots and leeks. Lemon peel and red wine.  For quicker cooking, I used boneless, skinless, chicken breasts. For the result, read on. Chicken Ajmoht II  (chicken ragout, kurji ajmoht, obara) 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts...

Until today I thought I did not like polenta. My memory of polenta is far from positive. I was served a big bowl of this mushy mixture that reminded me of a breakfast dish. Did I mention it was lunch? I swore I would never eat it again or put my kids through that same awful experience. As the saying goes, never say never. My mom ate polenta prepared in a new way (to her) at a restaurant recently and wanted to recreate the recipe at home. She knew that if we both were going to enjoy the polenta it would have to be sautéed in olive oil to make sure that it was nice and crunchy rather than creamy. (Or as I describe it. Mushy!) To ensure success I asked the advice of my friend Karen, "the polenta queen." Karen always makes polenta for her husband; he grew up eating it often and he loves it. I needed to know if my polenta expert had any tips or secrets for the perfect polenta. Her recipe was similar to my mom's, but she shared a technique for achieving the texture we were a...

Menu Lentil Soup (Lečina Juha) Coleslaw Rye Bread It was the second Tuesday in December.  I was in the mood for soup. Should I continue with my string of makeovers?  The soups I had prepared earlier in the year didn't seem to need much tweaking.  So I decided to try something new.  But what? I had covered most of the traditional Slovenian favorites. Finally, I had it.  Lentil soup. The Progressive Slovene Women had a recipe for lentil soup.  A little checking online reassured me that this was indeed a traditional Slovenian dish called lečina juha. The soup looked easy, even when I incorporated a few additions from an Internet source. Simple and straightforward seemed like an especially good idea, right about now. I had barely started my holiday baking, so that would have to be the focus of my cooking energy for the next few weeks. I even took a few shortcuts with the soup recipe: canned beans and no pre-soaking with the lentils. For ...

We discovered this recipe for flour tortillas after a long search. We just weren't happy with the tortillas from the store. Flour Tortillas Mix 2 cups all-purpose flour , 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon kosher salt in a large bowl. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil and combine. Slowly add ¾ cup warm 2% milk . Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed. Knead the dough right in the bowl and sprinkle flour over the dough if it is too sticky. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes or until it is nearly smooth and not sticky. Cover dough with plastic wrap and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes. After resting, break dough into 6-8 pieces, depending on how big you want each tortilla. Roll each piece into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for another 20 minutes. We allowed ours to rest for several hours and rolled them out right before cooking. Alternatively, you could roll out and keep covered until ready to cook. Heat ...