Best Family Favorite Czech Recipes

Broccoli finally arrived in my garden and I have cut three to four bunches for meals later in the year. I like to eat a handful and freeze the rest. Preparing broccoli for later use or freezing is pretty simple. Typically I prepare my cut veggies like beans and broccoli by blanching in hot water bath then transferring to a cold water shock, then into the freezer. However, time has seemed to have got away from me this past week.  My veggies were cut a few days ago and their time spent in the crisper was just about up. (My cut broccoli was going on day three of refrigeration). As I got home last night to a very warm home courtesy of our current heat wave, I decided to forgo the traditional stove top blanch technique and  opted to steam the broccoli or as I call it, “microwave blanching” or steaming. I basically precooked the broccoli in a microwave safe container. I placed the small portion of broccoli in a microwave safe dish and placed a few teaspoons of water in the dish. I cov

Allow me to intoduce a family favorite recipe that brings back many fond memories of waking up to the smell of baked apples, pancake batter, and bacon on occasional sunday mornings in the late fall and early winter. Restaurants and households that I have visited all seemed to have done a pretty decent job of creating the Apfel Pfannekuchen, but this home recipe seems to take the cake. Yes, that pun was intended. I like the flavor and texture of the german apple pancake as it seems to be a "culinary mixer" in which custard meets bread pudding who in turn meet french toast with baked apples. Please give this one a try next time you want to create a fun breakfast for family or guests. The recipe is ideal to prepare right now as apple harvest season is upon us. The beauty of this recipe is that the batter can be prepared the night before and refrigerated prior to the next morning's use. I also highly recommend a crisp tart apple such as a granny smith to offset the sweetne

A few weeks back, I had a desire to make a sour dough starter to initiate my own homemade bohemian rye bread.   As mentioned in previous posts, this experiment has failed for a few reasons, so I went to option number two – using dry yeast. I scoured the internet in pursuit of Bohemian rye bread recipes and found one here at cooks.com. I was disheartened that there weren’t any pictures nor testimonials next to this recipe, but the recipe appeared to be easy to follow and used a combination of rye flour and all purpose flour.   Since I was a young child, I enjoyed a good Czech or German rye bread at restaurants and have been in pursuit of trying to imitate some of those good table breads. I like Bohemian rye bread because it is lighter in appearance and density (not too heavy on the rye grains) and it works well as pre-meal offering and partners well with soups or with assorted meats and cheeses.   This rye bread recipe I found adds in the European accent of caraway and fennel seeds.

One of my latest endeavors currently is preparing a Czech rye bread. There are so many variations of how to make a rye bread that it gets really confusing on which one is the appropriate method. One common theme I am realizing while I research via the web is that the rye flour in the states is much different than those sold in Europe. The rye flour here in the states is much coarser and produces a tougher texture than the smooth rye found in the Czech Republic. I have not begun my search yet for rye flours but will maybe have to suffice with what is available at the local store if I cannot find any refined rye flour. So, the first step in preparing rye dough is by making a starter. Many recipes prefer that the rye bread is made with a starter as opposed to using quick or instant yeast. The "starter" process is basically growing your own yeast /bacteria culture by mixing flour with water and covering it. Throughout the next seven days or  more, the yeast will become activ

Some of my favorite after dinner Czech treats are kolacky.   There are hundreds of kolacky recipes out there, but I still stick with this simple one, especially when I am worried about having time to prepare other items be it dinner or other holiday bakery such as a houska/vanocka. Most kolacky recipes you will find do not use cream cheese in the dough; which is one of my favorite ingredients in this recipe. The rich cheese dough tastes delicious aside from the fruit filling. I have posted a raspberry recipe on this site before and I just recently prepared a batch of apricot kolacky. For the filling, just about any apricot fruit filling will work whether using Solo filling, preserves, or jam. The recipe is a family keeper and I even enjoy one or two of these for a quick breakfast. Fruit Filled Kolacky 1 Cup All Purpose Flour 1 Stick Butter, softened 3/8 Cup Cream Cheese, softened ¼ cup sugar Apricot Fruit Filling (Jam, Preserves, or Canned Pastry Filling)

Whether hosting a large backyard cookout with friends or having a low key Sunday family grill out, chances are if you are cooking a large batch of bratwurst, one will most likely have leftovers. Typically, leftover grilled meats are usually served up the second time in a same manner as the initial offering. In other words, leftover sausages and hot dogs are most often micro waved the next day for lunch or dinner and eaten in a bun with condiments on top. Been there, done that. Then there are those times when the party will provide a bounty of extra bratwurst in which a little creativity and imagination are required especially if there are no longer any more buns or you are tired of the condiments. Here are some creative ways to use up Bratwurst without eating them in their typical setting. Bratwurst and Pasta There are numerous ways to prepare bratwurst with the aid of pasta. Dishes can be a simple as sautéing cut up brats, peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes in a little olive

So this past Sunday for dinner, I decided to prepare the usual grilled burgers, but this time with a twist. I decided to make   hamburger buns from scratch. A lot of time is spent making the perfect patty and having the right condiments, it made sense to develop a really tasty bun. I don’t have a family recipe for homemade sandwich buns, so I proceeded to search the web and found a recipe here . The ingredients list are short and simple. The recipe yields eight decent sized buns which is perfect since that is the typical count in a store bought package of buns. The recipe was fairly easy to follow using nothing more than yeast, sugar, all purpose flour, and some liquid (milk, oil, egg). The dough was easy to mix and knead with prep time taking a few hours. I productively use the time (between kneading and rising) to do some overdue backyard work and play with the kids. After the dough had risen, and was separated into balls to rise again, I baked them with a little brushing of b