Heat large heavy skillet over medium high heat and add canola oil when hot. Season meat with salt and pepper then add to hot oil. After browning the meat reduce heat to medium and add green onions, saving some of the green for garnish. Cook until onions are translucent then add consommé and stir in mustard. Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente and set aside after draining and rinsing. Thoroughly mix water and corn starch together and add to pan and stir so there aren’t any lumps. Cook until meat is tender adding water to pan as needed so the meat is covered by water. When meat is tender add sour cream and mushrooms to pan and cook for five minutes. Serve hot over prepared noodles and top with green onion tops, sour cream and bleu cheese.

Step 1: In a large bowl (I use my Kitchenaid mixer bowl), beat together room temperature butter, sugar, lemon rind, vanilla (or vanilla sugar), 3 egg yolks, and about ¼ teaspoon salt, until smooth.

Step 2: To the butter mixture above, alternately add the flour, instant/quick rise yeast, and heated milk. I switch to my mixer’s dough attachment halfway through this task. Otherwise, mix together and knead by hand. If the dough is very sticky, you can add a little more flour. [I usually do.] If very dry, add a little more heated milk. Then knead in the drained soaked raisins and slivered almonds, until distributed evenly throughout dough.

Step 3: Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise for about an hour, in a warm place.

Step 4: Knead the dough again, briefly. On a large parchment lined baking sheet, form dough into a round loaf shape. Let rise again for 45 to 60 minutes or so, then decorate with several blanched and skinned whole almonds (or slivers). Gently brush dough with the egg wash. If you like, cut a small shallow cross shape in the middle of the dough mound. [Note: The dough may or may not look well risen, but will rise quite a bit more during the baking process.]

Step 5: Preheat oven to 350˚F (180˚C), then bake Mazanec on the center oven rack for about 45 to 60 minutes. Check color of the loaf at almost 45 minutes in. If the Mazanec is getting very brown, cover lightly with aluminum foil, to finish. Cool completely and slice, as needed.

Hard Boil 1 dozen eggs, peel and set aside. Take thawed out chicken livers and dry the liquid out of them on paper towels. While they are drying out, finely dice the onion. Using a medium to large pan, turn the burner to medium heat and melt the stick of butter. Add onion and cook until starting to become translucent, 2-3 minutes. Then add the chicken livers and cook every thing together, stirring occasionally until livers are browned on both sides, about 5-7 minutes. Once livers and onions are done put into a large bowl along with the hard boiled eggs. Use a potato masher or a fork and mash to combine everything together. Once everything is combined evenly, run the mixture through a meat grinder and place into a serving dish. Refrigerate till you’re ready to eat! Before serving sprinkle chopped parsley on top.

Combine eggs, sugar and salt; beat well. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth.

Heat a rosette iron in deep, hot oil (375 degrees) for 2 minutes.

Drain excess oil from iron. Dip in batter to 1/4 inch from the top of the iron, then dip iron immediately into hot oil (375 degrees).

Fry rosette until golden, about 30 seconds. Lift out; tip upside down to drain. With fork, push rosette off iron onto a rack placed over paper towels.

Dust with powdered sugar.

Grate farmer’s cheese, then mix it in a medium-sized bowl with the beaten egg, flour, and salt to form a soft dough. Only add a bit more flour, a tablespoon at a time, if very sticky. Knead on floured board.

Set a large pot of water on to boil and add a little salt.

While water is heating, on the floured board, work the dough into a long cylindrical shape, which you’ll slice into roughly 12-15 even-sized pieces. Use these individual pieces of dough to wrap around the fruit until the fruit doesn’t show anymore. The dough wrapping will not be that thick. Flour hands frequently so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands. I usually first flatten the dough piece in my hand, then work it around the strawberry. Then I roll the wrapped “ball” in my hand to help distribute the dough more evenly around the strawberry. Put wrapped dumplings on a lightly floured or wax paper lined plate, as you wrap the rest.

Gently drop the prepared dumplings into the large pot of boiling salted water (make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot). Cover with a lid, and simmer for about 6 minutes. Most or all dumplings should be floating by then.

Spoon cooked dumplings out of pot with a large slotted spoon, draining off water. Put onto serving plates. Serve with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar, a drizzle of melted butter, more farmer’s cheese, and optional whipped cream and fresh strawberries, to decorate.

If desired, these dumplings can be frozen before the boiling process. Simply freeze wrapped dumplings on a waxed or parchment lined tray or large plate. Once frozen, they can be transferred to a freezer bag. To cook, simply boil from frozen, but for about 5 or more extra minutes, than usual.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Cut up chicken, or buy one that’s already cut up (2 breast halves, thighs, drumsticks, and wings, all with skin and bone). If the breast halves are large, they can be split in half. Salt and pepper pieces and then lightly coat them with flour.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a wide oven proof deep frying pan. Heat until bubbling hot, then add chicken pieces.

Brown chicken pieces in butter on all sides, turning down heat if necessary, to ensure butter doesn’t burn. After the chicken pieces are browned evenly, remove from heat. If desired, remove chicken temporarily and pour off all but 1-2 tablespoons pan fats.

Return chicken to pan. Pour the brandy over the chicken and quickly flambé.

Once the flames have subsided, cover the pan with foil or oven-safe lid and bake in the oven until the chicken is tender and cooked through – about 30 to 40 minutes (or 165 F with meat thermometer).

While the chicken is baking, prepare the grapefruit for later use. Squeeze juice from one large grapefruit (or 1.5 medium sized) and reserve, discarding seeds. Skin the second large grapefruit (or 1.5 medium sized) – removing the pith – and carefully cut out sections from membrane, removing seeds. Set aside separately from the juice.

When done, remove the cooked chicken from the pan, reserving pan juices, and set aside in a large serving dish, keeping warm.

Prepare the sauce in the pan (with juices) over high heat. First add the sherry, then the chicken broth and grapefruit juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then boil until the liquid is reduced by half. If you desire a slightly thicker sauce, stir in 1/2 teaspoon corn starch that was dissolved in a tablespoon of water or chicken broth.

Add the prepared grapefruit sections to the sauce. Cook 2 more minutes, and then pour all of the finished sauce over the chicken in the serving dish. Garnish, if desired, with fresh sprigs of parsley.

Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites, with salt, until they just form stiff peaks. Then, little by little, beat in the confectioner’s sugar and cinnamon, at low speed.

With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the ground walnuts and grated chocolate, until incorporated. The batter will obviously deflate a little.

Spoon rounded teaspoon sized globs, in mounds, on the parchment paper lined baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches (5 cm) between mounds. Quickly decorate with the almonds and bake for about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool briefly on the cookie sheets, then transfer the cookies (still on the parchment paper) to cooking racks. Cool completely before removing to platter or container.

Add lentils to a medium pot with broth, onion, bay leaf, green pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 mins.

Add herbs and chopped ham to the pot and simmer 5-10 minutes more, or until lentils are tender, but not mushy.

On each of 4 plates, put a pile of the cooked lentil mixture topped with 1 or 2 cooked eggs. Garnish with parsley and freshly ground pepper.

1. Cut cooking pumpkin in half, then cut 1 half of cooking pumpkin into 5-8 pieces.
2. Arrange on a microwave safe plate, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave 4 minutes, or until flesh is soft and mashable.
3. Scoop innards of each piece into a mixing bowl. Mash with fork.
4. Dice onion.
5. Caramelize onion with 1tbs oil.
6. Mix onion into mashed pumpkin.
7. Dice half a can of black olives.
8. Mix diced black olives into onion/pumpkin mixture.
9. Sear 2 fish fillets in 1-2tbs oil. 4 minutes non-skin side, 4 minutes skin side. At 1 minute in, cooking the skin side, add 2tbs butter, 1tbs garlic, salt, pepper. Use a spoon to rub melted butter/garlic over the fish.
10. Once fish is cooked, add 1 cup milk and let simmer 10 minutes.
11. After simmering, separate fish into its own mixing bowl. Separate milk into cup for later use.
12. Melt 2tbs butter, low heat.
13. Whisk 2tbs flour into melted butter.
14. Once mixed, whisk in strained milk (use milk from simmering earlier, step 11) Add more milk as necessary to create a medium consistency, then turn off heat.
15. Add mixture to the bowl of flaked fish.
16. Add frozen peas to flaked fish mixture.
17. Layer pumpkin mixture 1st in a 9×9 glass pan. Layer fish mixture 2nd.
18. Cut pie crust to size and cut decorations.
19. Layer pie crust 3rd with egg wash between each crust layer so the design sticks.
20. Decorate with black olives cut in half.
21. Bake at 400° for 45 minutes.