Mom's spinach and knoefla

Another favorite Slovak dish my mother used to make and that was passed down from her mother is creamed spinach served over knoefla. Here is the recipe for creamed spinach:

Ingredients for creamed spinach

1 nine-oz bag of spinach (or 1 pkg frozen)
1 c water
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 T flour
2 T butter
1 cup milk

Place spinach and chopped garlic in 2-qt saucepan with water and cook until spinach wilts down and is tender. Drain the spinach and save the spinach water in separate containers and let cool. After the spinach has cooled, put it into a food processor and blend until chopped. Be careful not to over-process to ensure that the spinach does not turn to a liquid (it should be "finely chopped" spinach). I use the Nutribullet and process the spinach with the nut-chopping blade for about 3 seconds. Set aside.

Using the 2-qt saucepan, melt 2 T butter and mix in the 2 T flour to make a rue. Cook and stir this until bubbly. Then slowly add spinach water and milk to the rue, all the while stirring. Be careful not to add the liquids all at once so that the rue does not cool down and become lumpy. When you have added all the milk and water, you should have a smooth cream sauce. To this cream sauce, add the chopped spinach. Heat through and serve over knoefla (recipe below).

Prep time (including knoefla): 1/2 hour; serves 2 nicely with leftovers

This dish is delicious served with breaded pork chops or just hard-boiled eggs cut in half.

Mom's sauerkraut and dumplings

My mother frequently made this wonderful meal of Sauerkraut and Knoefla (apparently also known as "knedliky"), which she learned from her mother, who was from Czechoslovakia. I recently made this dish and realize how fantastic it is, and I hope it never gets lost to future generations!

Ingredients for sauerkraut

Pork chops (with or without bones) (no more than 3 for this recipe)
1 package of sauerkraut
1 onion
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 potato
2 T butter
2 T flour

Brown pork chops in oil or butter then cover with water and let simmer.
Rinse sauerkraut with water in a colander and add to meat along with 1 chopped onion and 1 teaspoon of caraway seed. Grate a medium size potato and add to the boiling sauerkraut and meat mixture. Simmer for approximately 1 to 1.5 hours until meat is tender and falls off bone or breaks easily. In a separate pan, melt 2 T butter and mix in 2 T flour along with some of the juice from sauerkraut to make a rue. Then add this to the sauerkraut and meat mixture to thicken slightly. Serve over dumplings.

Ingredients for dumplings, or Knoefla

1 cup flour
1/3 t baking powder
1/3 t baking soda
1 egg
1/4 t salt
2 slices cubed bread
3/4 c milk

Fill a 2 quart saucepan with water and boil. Mix flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in mixing bowl. Make a dent in the middle of the flour, add egg, and beat with fork. Add milk slowly until mixture is smooth and thicker than cake batter. Meanwhile, take 2 slices of bread and cut into half-inch cubes (I use whole wheat slices, but you can use any bread, including the crust). Fold the bread into the dough and mix well. The dough will be too sticky to handle, but use extra flour, and with your hands, shape dough into 3 2-inch balls. Drop the balls into the boiling water and cook for about 30 minutes until they float to the top, which indicates they are done. When you cut the balls in half, there should not be any uncooked dough; if there is, simply place these back into the boiling water for another few minutes.

To serve

Cut 1/2 dumpling into small bite-sized pieces and spread on plate. Top this with the sauerkraut mixture and a piece of meat. Enjoy!!

For leftover dumplings

Cut into bite-size pieces and sauté in frying pan with butter; add onion and mix in a beaten egg. Delicious!! You can also sauté the dumplings with onion and potatoes for an interesting and tasty "home fry."