Eastern Europeans like their meatballs served with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and a side dish of well seasoned sautéed cabbage.
You might think this is a strange combination, but it’s just a matter of acquiring a taste for it, and loving it.
One of the most popular dishes in Eastern European cuisine is Filled Dumplings, known as: Varenyky or Pyrohy in Ukrainian, and Pierogi in Polish. They are made from homemade pasta dough and filled with varieties of fillings, but potato and cheese filling being the most popular.
It is definitely “labor of love” for those who make them from scratch, as it requires several hours of preparation time, but it is so well worth it.
Most of us here in the US are used to preparing meatballs in tomato sauce, however, Eastern Europeans customized this dish to their own taste and ingredients.
A soup, chili, or stew is one of those satisfying comfort foods we look forward to on a chilly day. My grandchildren enjoy this dish as well, so I occasionally prepare it for them as well. Preparing beef stew on top of the stove, the traditional way could be time-consuming, but it only takes 15 minutes in a pressure cooker.
I created this recipe based on my childhood memory of Apple Pancakes prepared by my Godmother which she called “Ratsushki”.
These pan-fried Apple Fritters (pancakes) are very easy to make, as they are made with all-purpose flour mixed with finely diced apples (or any fresh fruit), which makes them a little bit denser than the ones made out of a pancake mix, but they absorb less syrup at serving time.