Tag Archives: Potatoes

Belushi


Today would have been my husband’s grandmother Nanny’s 91st birthday. She was such a wonderful lady. Nanny was always all about her family. Nanny showed her love like most mothers and grandmothers do by cooking and baking from the heart! One of her favorite things to make in the kitchen was Belushi. Her Belushi was always a family favorite. The bread never lasted very long at gatherings. Matter of fact you can never make enough to please everyone. This weekend we made three batches.

Belushi is a Slovakian dish. If you have never had this cheesy potato flatbread, you are truly missing out.  There is nothing quite like it. The flatbread is prepared with flour, yeast, sharp cheddar cheese, colby jack cheese and sprinkled with salt and slathered with butter. Everyone has an opinion as to when it tastes best. Most like it right out of the oven but some prefer it cold out of the refrigerator.

The traditional bread was not made all the time but as special treat. My mother-in-law mentioned to me the bread was baked more during the months of lent since it was rich in protein with the folding of the potato cheese blend. My mother-in-law states Nanny learned how to make this dish from her Grandma Anna Palonder. If you try to look up this recipe online there is nothing to be found. It truly is the Kessman special flatbread. 

Nanny gave me this recipe in 2007 for a wedding shower gift. My husband and I tried to prepare it my ourselves a few years ago and it did not turn out. Luckily this past weekend my husband’s sister came to town and give us the Kessman 411 on the family classic.

  

Servings: 90 servings

Ingredients:

1.5 lb Idaho Potatoes (pealed and quartered)

5.5 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese (shredded)

5.5 oz Colby Cheese (shredded)

1 box of Hot Roll Mix

1 cup AP flour

1 1/4 cup warm water (like bath water)

1 tsp salt, plus more for dusting

1 egg

1 tsp sugar

2 TB Unsalted Butter, softened, plus more for brushing out of the oven

 

Directions:

1. The night before, boil the potatoes in a large stock pot for 15 minutes. Run the potatoes through a food mill. Place the potatoes in a large bowl. Add the cheese and mix thoroughly with wooden spoon. Cover and let cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight.

2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the potato cheese mixture out of the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.  Also line half sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.

3. In the meantime work on the dough. Place the additional flour, sugar, & salt in a standing mixer along with the contents of the hot roll mix box. Use the dough hook attachment. Mix with stand mixer on low. Slowly add the warm water, egg, and softened butter. Gradually increase the speed to medium and allow the dough to form a ball (kneading with dough hook for 5 minutes). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest in warm area for 30 minutes.

4. Once the dough has risen evenly divide into 6 dough balls. On a heavily floured surface, roll out each dough ball into a 5 inch diameter. Place a generous scoop # 8 (4 oz) of the potato cheese mixture into the center of each circle. Wrap the dough around the cheese ball and pinch together the ends and place the sealed side down. Using a rolling pin, take the dough and roll it out on the heavily floured surface and roll the dough into a rectangular shape (large enough to fit a half sheet pan).  The flatbread should be very thin (1/4 of an inch or less, thinner the better!). Prior to placing in the dough in the oven take a fork and make random hole marks onto the dough to prevent the dough from bubbling in the oven.

5. Bake 2 sheets at a time in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and flip the pans top to bottom halfway through and bake another 10 minutes.

6 Immediately remove the belushi to a cutting board and brush with pastry brush melted butter and season lightly with salt. Cut as you wish and enjoy!

DSC_1852

 

Chicken Pot Pie

A piece of Pie

 

 

The best thing about roasting chicken is the leftovers. I am always trying to be more resourceful and my husband usually only likes leftovers one time. But I strongly dislikes wasting food, and that is why I try and come up with recipes that use leftovers but in a new way.

 

Honestly the only reason I made the roasted chicken recipe was because I wanted to make a pot pie. My husband and I went to see Ina Garten last week and she inspired me to make a roasted chicken dish, she had mentioned it is one of her favorites to make this time of the year.

 

The recipe I used was from from Bon Apetit Magazine

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/oven-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-carrots-and-yukon-gold-potatoes

 

Roasted Chicken Thighs

 

But I am sure any leftover chicken roast recipe will do.

 

Filling Ingredients:

1 Leftover Chicken Thigh (bone removed and chicken pieces chopped uniformly

1 Cup of left over roasted potatoes and carrots

1/2 cup of sautéed onion

1 10 oz Can of  reduced fat cream of mushroom soup  (or cream of chicken or celery )

1 Tsp dried Sage

Salt and Pepper to taste

Crust Ingredients:

2/3 Cup of Shortening butter flavored

4-6 TB of ice cold water

2 Cups of AP flour

1 Tsp Salt

1 egg beaten for egg wash (for on top of crust)

Directions for crust:

 

Preheat oven to 375

1. Mix flour and salt with whisk. Cut in shorting into flour and salt with either a pastry cutter or using your bare hands. I like to use my bare hands until particles are pea sized. Sprinkle water using a TB at a time mixing with a fork or bare hands until flour is moist and pastry cleans side of bowl. Be careful not to over mix.

2. Divide dough into two balls. Roll out one of the dough balls onto a lightly floured surface (enough to fit pie dish). Once the pie dough is fitted into dish add pie weights or dried beans on top of dough and pre bake the bottom crust for  at least 5-7 minutes.

3. While baking crust, sauté chopped onions in 1 tsp of butter in a nonstick pan. Once onions are transparent add chopped leftover roasted carrots, potatoes, and soup. Season with salt, pepper, and sage.

4. Remove pie from oven and remove pie weights or beans and add in filling mixture. Set aside.

5. Roll out using rolling pin the second dough ball onto a lightly floured clean area on your counter. Roll  the dough out just enough to fit over the pie crust and filling. Pinch sides to seal and make 6 to 8 slits with sharp knife on the top of the pie so the steam can seep out and prevent a soggy crust.

6. Brush egg wash on top of pastry crust.

7. Bake pie for 40-50 minutes or until crust is beautifully golden brown.

Pot Pie/ Apinchofluv.com

Yields 8 to 10 Servings!