Friday, April 2, 2010

Good Friday Easter Preparations: Cooking

Today was a day of cooking and cleaning. I guess that despite my dirty windows, I really am turning into a Polish mom and housewife.

I cooked a lot today. I’ll give you the lowdown on all my tasty dishes tomorrow, but I can tell you about the main player in our Easter menu this year – ham. In case you didn’t know, ham is not pink. It’s whitish brownish like regular pork. If your ham is pink, that means it is cured. It’ll probably be salty too, so adjust for that in your recipe. (I’m telling you that because a few years ago I didn’t know it, hee, hee) Last year we waited till Good Friday (Wielki Piątek) to do our meat shopping. That was a mistake, and we came away empty-handed. This year, we reserved a raw ham at out local butcher’s. I split the ham in half and cooked it two different ways.

Na słodko – Sweet Glazed Ham

I prepared a sweet glaze of honey, brown sugar, mustard, some water and a clove. I smothered the ham with the glaze and baked covered in foil. It is delish!

Piercarkowo – Ham and Mushrooms

I baked the rest of the ham with mushrooms, garlic, marjoram, pepper, and a little olive oil. Also delish.

It helped that I had fresh mushrooms. And when I say fresh, I mean super fresh, like practically still growing. That’s because they came from our new home mushroom farm (a present from our client).

Our mushrooms yesterday in the evening2010 062

Our mushrooms this morning before harvesting2010 072

Our mushrooms after cooking 2010 075

More to come tomorrow. Gotta go. There’s a glass a bottle of wine waiting for me.

5 comments:

michaszyj said...

don't u know that u're not supposed to drink any alcohol on good friday:P lol:) and i want your sweet ham:) sounds lovely:) happppppy easter:)

Tabdel said...

mniam mniam mniam.

My first Easter here in Dublin... I am missing the Polish tradition and the lovely food as well. Anyway, my window and home looks like a Polish one. heheheh

Enjoy Ester

Chris said...

michaszj - I know, I know but in my defense the wine was an Easter gift from our nanny. It was so needed and appreciated after a long day of cooking and cleaning. Glazed ham is a popular dish in the US. It's also good cold...with wine :)

Tabdel - I've managed to clean only half my apt. (and my housek hasn't been cleaned in ages). I think I'll just spend the weekend in the clean half of the apt. That'll work.

Stardust said...

Chris--> I am reading this with a BIG smile on my face:)) I didn't clean my windows ever and I still had a happy holidays here, and I will have a this one.
Wine is good any time it shows up:))
Happy Ester to all of you !!!!

Unknown said...

Chris, I love your mushroom farm! And now I want one for myself.