Best Family Favorite Czech Recipes

As the weather starts to heat up I like to cook out more frequently on the weekends. I like to fire up the grill and enjoy the outdoors as the kids play in the backyard and I can avoid using the stove and oven creating unnecessary heat in the home. Grill food is always a treat especially when accompanied by a tasty side dish and cold beverage. One of my favorite spring and summer side dishes to serve with barbecue is coleslaw. I have had coleslaw prepared so many different ways that you really can’t mess it up. Coleslaw in essence is cabbage salad with your choice of additional vegetables and a dressing to bind the salad together. I have tasted oriental slaw, three-cabbage slaw, broccoli slaw, and many others. For years we have prepared the traditional mayonnaise based coleslaw and it is delicious as always. As with all foods, it is good to prepare and try new alternatives to traditional dishes. My father has created a mayo free coleslaw recipe that goes great with pulled pork sandwich...

Spring is finally here ushering in warmer temperatures during this Holy Easter week. This time of year always reminds me of the great Easter feasts we would have at my Grandmother or Teta’s home after church. The meal usually involved a spiral ham with lots of side dishes and tons of desserts. The one dessert we all enjoyed in addition to the poppy seed cake was the annual Easter Lamb Pound Cake my dear Teta made. She and my Grandmother had the old cast iron lamb molds and would prepare several of these pound cakes every Easter. Though my dear grandmother and great aunt have passed on, my mother has fortunately kept the lamb pound cake tradition alive as she gifts all of her children a lamb every Easter Sunday. While our family enjoys these gifts from mom every year, I decided to go out and purchase one of our own lamb molds so we can prepare these for future generations of my own family. My newest acquisition is not the heavy cast iron model, but aluminum. It does a great job and se...

While Czechs are known for quality pork and beef dishes, they also have a fine appreciation for seafood. Some of the more common types of fish Czech’s will enjoy include carp, trout, salmon, and occasionally cod. Trout and carp are more prevalent in Bohemian cooking given the large (and very clean) rivers and lakes in the mountains . The carp is very popular in Czech and Polish culture as it is the highlight of the Christmas Eve meal. I personally do not care for carp though I have had it prepared in the U.S and the meat itself possessed an extremely muddy flavor that could not be disguised by any amount of lemon or garlic. Perhaps I would give it a second try if I was to have it prepared “smoked” sitting down in a Bohemian or Polish restaurant. My favorite fish on this list aside from cod would be trout. Trout is a very delicious flaky fresh water fish that can be easily prepared with simply a skillet and some fat for frying. As we are currently into the Lenten season I am excited ...

Many eastern European pastries are based on a variety of fillings which include fruits, cheeses and nuts. One of the fillings that truly stand out with Czech and Polish baked goods are poppy seeds. As a young child I did not immediately succumb to the taste of poppy seeds when I had the pick of kolacky filled with tasty fruits such as apricot, plum and raspberry. My young taste buds at the time had no desire for any cookie or slice of coffee cake containing this thin black paste containing seeds. Our poppy seed consumers in the home were mainly mom and dad. My spat with poppy seeds did not stop there. While attending college I worked part time in a hospital kitchen. Our particular kitchen (or hospitality) unit prepared the meals for the patients temporarily residing in the substance abuse wing. Working in an institutional kitchen, I actually learned a great deal of cooking and quickly realized hospital foods could actually be quite tasty given the right menus, management and a respe...

As Christmas week draws in, I felt the urge to bake some kolacky for the family. I went with the strawberry cream cheese variety this weekend. This kolacky recipe is similar to the other kolacky recipe on this site as the dough consists of simply cream cheese, butter, and flour producing a light flaky puff pastry when baked. The pastry will end up light in color (almost white)when baked. I do not mind the light cream cheese flour tone so I do not add anything to create a golden or yellowing effect such as egg or extra vanilla. Give this recipe a try and remember to pinch the edges shut to avoid the pastry from unraveling. If strawberry cream cheese does not sound like the filling of your choice, you can opt for just about any fruit or nut based pie filling or jam whether apricot, plum, poppy seed or almond. Merry Christmas to all. Strawberry Cream Cheese Kolacky Kolacky Dough 1 cup all purpose flour 3/8 cup cream cheese 1 stick butter Kolacky Filling 1 small jar stra...

I found a great deal at the store for which I snagged a 3 pound bag of apples for a measly one dollar. I love cooking with apples in the fall and winter as they are easy to come at a reasonable price. I usually like to prepare these apples in the form of german apple pancake, apple pies, or even a hot apple crisp. My plans for these apples involved something different, bread pudding with apples. The results were tasty and I recommend this as a worthy finish to your holiday dinners or get together. I recommend using day old bread cut or torn into larger pieces. If you have leftover baguettes or buns, that will work even better. You can top this pudding with sauce, though I just use a dollop of whipped cream upon serving. Also consider substituting dried cranberries in place of raisins to make the dish more holiday-oriented. Also consider immersing sliced apples into a bowl of cool water mixed with a little lemon juice until you are ready to combine with the other ingredients. Bre...

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I love cooking with a dutch oven. This stove top marvel creates all sorts of tasty stick to your ribs kind of meals. One of these family favorite meals is chicken and dumplings. There are so many different varieties of chicken and dumpling recipes out there. I have one that is a “cheater” recipe since it uses the aid of bisquick rather than creating the dumping from scratch with flour and baking soda. On a side note, I prefer the use of the heart healthy variety of bisquick since there aren’t any transfats in the mix. I like this recipe opposed to those chicken and dumpling recipes that have dumplings consisting of a more “noodle” or pasta consistency. Some people claim that is true chicken and dumplings, though I prefer the more bread or biscuit style of dumpling as created in my recipe. If you have a whole chicken readily available and a box of bisquick in the cabinet, I recommend you try this one. This recipe also leaves the chicken parts with b...