Halushki! Bless You.
Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 07:34pmI made halushki for dinner tonight. My grandmother used to make it all the time - noodles, cabbage, onions and butter (although we use Smart Balance instead of real butter). The cabbage and onions are from the local farm, and I even threw in some kale for good measure. SO GOOD. That is all.
Lake on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I’m just commenting all over the place today - I didn’t know you were Polish, too! I LOVED my grandma’s cabbage!
freakgirl on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:52 pm
My grandma is Polish! I used to love when she made halushki…unfortunately she’s in a nursing home and can’t cook anymore, but I have just a few of her recipes. I haven’t had halushki in ages, and I mentioned to my parents the other day that I had a head of cabbage from the farm, and they both said, “HALUSHKI!”
GeekBoy on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I am also part-Polish, but I’ve never had halushki before. It was yummy!
Kerry on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Oh, you are so lucky–good egg noodles are essential for halushki, but it’s so hard to find decent noodles outside the NJ area. I had a terrible time in Cleveland.
You can put chicken apple sausage in it too. Very good. And caraway seeds!
ken on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 4:20 am
It ain’t just a Polish thing, I’m half Slovak (as in Slovakia) and my late grandmother made some mean Haluski (no “h” in the Slovak spelling). Love the stuff. It was best used in a dish Hungarians also make called Chicken Paprikas (the Hungarians use an “h”, Paprikash). Oddly enough, about an hour ago I was thinking how good some Papriaks would taste this weekend.
Do you use a device to make the Halushki? I used to use a homemade Haluski maker my grandpa made by drilling holes in an aluminum frying pan but about a decade ago, they bought me a professionally made Haluski maker for Christmas. In a pinch, if we didn’t feel like homemade, we’d use Spaetzle but would never tell my Grandma, she would’ve had a stroke.
Damn, now I’m hungry for some Paprikas again.
I should add that in Slovak cooking, Haluski only refers to a homemade egg/flour dumpling that goes in various dishes, not to an actual dish. The Slovak Haluski is quite similar (as mentioned above) to Spaetzle.
Maggie on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 4:45 am
I didn’t know your grandma was Polish, I thought she was Italian.
That halushski sounds like it needs feta cheese crumbled throughout it while it’s still hot.
freakgirl on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 8:28 am
Kerry, my grandma used to use bowtie pasta, but I like egg noodles too.
Ken, we don’t put potatoes in our halushki — it’s just noodles, cabbage and onion:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/.....96,00.html
I don’t boil the cabbage, though. I brown the onions in butter/butter substitute and then throw in the cabbage with a little bit of vegetable broth and simmer.
Maggie, yep, Grandma is Polish. But Pop-Pop was Italian and Grandma was really good at Italian cooking, too.
sandra on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 9:48 am
Maggie may know of some noodle recipes I am not aware of but we Macedonians don’t use noodles in traditional cooking, save for egg noodles in soups. If I saw a dish on a menu consisting of noodles, cabbage, onion and butter, I doubt I would order it but now I’m intrigued! I may have to try it.
freakgirl on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 9:49 am
It’s so good, sandra. The cabbage gets very sweet.
Maggie on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I’ll have to ask my mom about noodle recipes, but I can tell you we grew up eating those Lancia egg noodles because my mom said they were the closest thing to something they could get back home. Also durham semolina stars, because they were also like something from back home.
sandra on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Tarana! That’s right! How could I forget, considering I cook stelline (i assume similar to the stars you mention) on a regular basis, then add feta and milk, just like they do back in the “old country”… of course, there they cook this for little kids but I still love it
Maggie on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Yeah, tarana, stelline! I still love it, too.
Jeanne on Saturday, August 02, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Haluski with Grated American Cheese
I am 1/2 Slovak as well. I miss the “old country” food I had at home. This is a variation on Haluski/Halushki, however you pronouce it.
Grate 2 large potato’s (very fine)
Add flour to make a stiff dough
Salt to taste.
(No eggs, they make the dumplings rubbery).
Shred 3/4 to 1lb. of American Cheese.
Small cubed potato’s cooked till firm (about 1 cup)
1/2 pound of bacon fried crisp and crumbled.
Place dough onto the back of a moistened dinner plate. Chip the dough off of the plate with a wet teaspoon into salted boiling water. The old country rule of thumb was, the tinyier the Haluski the better cook you were.
Drain Haluski once they rise to the top of the water.
Add shredded American Cheese, cubed potato’s and 3 tablespoons of real butter. You can add some dill to your taste to if you like. Mix and stir. Add some milk to get to a real creamy texture. Plate it up and top with crumbled bacon.
A real Slovak recipe for a rib-sticking and delicious meal
Good luck!!
Gerry on Monday, August 04, 2008 at 9:33 am
Message for Ken if he comes back to this site- where can we get a haluski maker?