Keep reading to find out more about a delicious new recipe from my friend that I made for my occasional FOODIE FRIDAY blog! It's "Kluski z kapusta" (Polish noodles & cabbage)...

Gen dobry! That's Polish for "Good day!" One day I hope to visit Poland, being a fan of classical composer Henryk Wieniawski. As a violinist, of course I have many recordings of his famous violin concerto! Luckily, I have some very good friends who are Polish American. Which means... they send me yummy Polish recipes to try at home!

I had recently seen a fun episode of Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" on my favorite channel, The Food Network. On one episode, he featured the Polka Restaurant in Los Angeles. (Their website is here: http://www.polkacatering.com/index.html). The owner made this incredible dish she called "Kluski." It was this comfort food pasta with cabbage and onions and bacon. I know it sounds very simple, but it looked DIVINE.

So of course I was obsessed over this "Kluski." I emailed my friend and she graciously sent me a wonderful recipe for "Kapusta with Egg Noodles (Kluski)" from Chef Michael J. Baruch's book, "NEW POLISH CUISINE." (The book link is here: http://www.amazon.com/New-Polish-Cuisine-Michael-Baruch/dp/0971531390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260506034&sr=8-1)

Given the recent gloomy rain and cold snap in LA (yes, it gets slightly cold here in SoCal and I've lost my Connecticut hardiness and am now a wimp when the temp goes below 65 degrees), I wanted some hearty comfort food. What a perfect night to make some "kluski"!

First, I boiled some water for the egg noodles while I fried up some bacon:

I then diced a whole head of cabbage and set it aside:

I then prepared the other ingredients: diced onion, minced garlic, grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese, chicken stock, sea salt, Tabasco sauce, freshly ground black pepper, olive oil and the egg noodles:

After the bacon was fried, I drained it and then diced the bacon. I drained the excess bacon fat from the pan but left a little for flavor. (Okay, so I just lied. You're supposed to drain ALL the bacon fat and only use olive oil, but I like to keep the bacon fat and add olive oil to it cuz well, rendered bacon fat is soooo yummy.) I then added diced onions and minced garlic to the bacon fat/olive oil and sauteed it for a couple minutes, then dumped in the diced cabbage. I added a dash of sea salt (1/2 teaspoon) and lots of freshly ground black pepper and a couple dashes of Tabasco sauce. I added the bacon back in as well. I also poured in two tablespoons (well, I spilled and it really ended up being half a cup) of chicken stock. I let this cook on medium heat for 20 minutes.

Here's what it looks like after 20 minutes when the cabbage is all translucent and wilted and cooked through all that bacon and salt and pepper and sauteed onions and garlic, mmmmmm!!!!

Then you add in the noodles to the cabbage bacon mix:

Then you add in a ton of freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese:

And then you serve and eat it! Gen dobry!

I thought this dish tasted DIVINE. I still want to visit Poland, but until then, I'll just have to keep making this "Kluski" and pretend I'm there! Grateful thanks to my wonderful Polish American friend, Izabella, and her family for sending me this recipe. Dzienkuje! (That's "Thank you" in Polish!) 

And I know I normally end my blogs with a "Happy Writing!" wish, but my Foodie Friday blogs always end with Happy Eating!

#######

If you want the exact recipe, here's a copy of it below, courtesy of The Chicago Sun-Times:

http://www.suntimes.com/recipes/pasta/707165,FOO-News-apolish19r.recipe

Kluski z kapusta (noodles and cabbage)
December 19, 2007

MAKES 4 SERVINGS
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons pureed garlic
1 small onion, finely diced
1 medium head green cab- bage, cored and diced
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chicken broth
2 dashes red hot sauce
12 ounces kluski noodles or extra-wide egg noodles
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

"Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook and stir for about 1 minute. Add the cabbage and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the cabbage starts to wilt.

"Reduce the heat to low, add the salt, pepper, chicken broth and hot sauce, and cook slowly, covered, for about 20 minutes.

"While the cabbage cooks, bring 2 quarts of lightly salted water to a boil in a large pot, add the noodles, and cook until firm to the bite. Drain the noodles, then gently stir into the cabbage mixture.

"Sprinkle on the cheese and additional pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

"Note: When it's not part of a meatless meal, Baruch adds a slice of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled. Other traditions call for adding reconstituted dried mushrooms to the cabbage."

Adapted from The New Polish Cuisine by Michael Baruch

Nutrition facts per serving: 432 calories, 11 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 97 mg cholesterol, 66 g carbohydrates, 14 g protein, 360 mg sodium, 4 g fiber