Czechmatediary

Rizky (Wiener Schnitzel) may be a traditional Austrian dish but it definitely belongs to the Czech and Slovak cuisine as well. The original Austrian Schnitzel is made from veal but most Czechs make it from pork or chicken. It is usually served with mashed or boiled potatoes or one just makes a plain bread-n-schnitzel sandwich from it. Who does not remember a schnitzel sandwich from his school days? Whether  you went on a long school bus trip or for a tremendous mountain hike, guess what you had in your lunch bag? A schnitzel sandwich wrapped in a dump paper tissue, which meant that you spent about a half an hour peeling it off of the poor schnitzel before you actually took a bite :0).

CZ: Recept na rizky jsme sice ukradli od Nemcu, ale i pres to je neodlucitelnou soucasti ceske a slovenske kuchyne. Kdo by si nepamatoval Vanocni kureci (!!) rizek s bramborovym salatem?? Nebo veprovy rizek s chlebem a horcici? At to byl skolni vylet, nebo turisticky vyslap na Snezku nebo autobusovy zajezd do Jugoslavie, hadejte, co bylo k obedu? Rizek s chlebem zabaleny v papirovem ubrousku!!!…a pak jste samozrejme stravili pul hodiny odlupovanim onoho vlhkeho, ulepeneho ubrousku z nestastneho rizku…

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Livance could be described as something in between the French crepes and American pancakes, except livance are not as boring as the American pancakes and not as fufu as crepes - they are just right. For those who are not familiar with them, livance are small, slightly sweetened spongy cakes which are usually served with sweet toppings. Although the recipe itself is very simple you can let your imagination run wild when it comes to these toppings. The traditional decorations are any kind of jam, whipped cream and fruit on top….very Jenny Craig style :0)

Ingredients (makes about 10 livance):

• 2 cups of sour cream
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 2 Tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 Tsp of salt
• 3 eggs
• oil for frying
• Topping material: strawberry jam, whipped cream, fruit (blueberries, strawberries..); nutella…….anything! (more…)
  
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Since February is a love month (i.e. St. Valentine’s Day) I decided to provide you with a sweet recipe - the Palacinky!! Palacinky are the French-style crepes but better. The wonderful thing about them is that you can have them sweet-style (like in the recipe provided bellow) or you can serve them salty-style, filling them up with some warmed-up spinach, bacon, roasted garlic, shredded cheese - and I cannot write about this anymore since my mouth is filling up with drool - you get the point. Enjoy!!!

PS: I attached a very fitting  YouTube video which will entertain the little ones but it can also be used as a language learning tool since the piggies talk quite slow :o)

CZ: Jelikoz unor je mesic lasky, recept na sladoucke palacinky se sem hodi jako ulity! Nic vam o nich nemusim vysvetlovat, kazdy tento bozsky pokrm zna. Co je ale dobre na tomto receptu je to, ze jsem ho predelala do americkeho (nemetrickeho) systemu. Prilozene je take kratke palacinkove video, urcene zejmena  pro ty nejmensi. Dobrou chut! (more…)

Many of us , Czechs and Slovaks living in the US, have been on a desperate hunt for Czech groceries. Some were more succesful than others so  I got the idea to ask around and here is what my friends (thanks you guys!!) and I put together.

PLEASE, let us know if you have anything to add to the list!

CZ: Vetsina z nas, Cechu a Slovaku zijicich v USA, ma ten samy problem. Jsme totiz na nekonecnem honu po ceskych. (nebo alespon podobne chutnajicich) potravinach Nekteri jedinci byli uspesnejsi nez zoufajici vetsina a tak jsem dostala napad optat se v okoli. Toto je list, ktery jsme vytvorily s mymi kamaradkami (diky holky!!).

Jestlize byste radi na list neco pridali, napiste to prosim do komentu. Diky!!!

1. Trader Joe’s

• Trader Joe’s Yogurt cups  (vanila & Cream yogurt) - tastes just like “Pribinacek“
• Trader Joe’s rolls - Czech “rohliky“
• Czech beers -  Broucek, Starobrno
• “Slivovitz” (green bottle) - tastes the same as the Czech Slivovice
• Meringues (Trader Joe’s brand) - Czech “pusinky”
• TJ Potato chips - taste like the ones from the Czech Fair (chutnaji jako ty z poute: premastene a preslanene..vyborne!!)
• Mineral water - taste just like the one in Czech (more…)
  
  If you liked this post buy me a coffee! (Suggested:$3 a latte $8 for a pound) Thanks!

Vanocka ( = “Christmas bread”) has a long history in Czech and Slovakia and without it Christmas is simply just not complete. In the past the Czechs called it pletenice or zemle or ceplik. Before the 18th century it could only be bought at the baker store - people never baked it at home. Since preparing Vanocka wasn’t and isn’t easy, a variety of customs have developed over time to make sure that the baking process is successful. One of those customs, for example, was for the woman to wear a white apron and kerchief while she was cooking so she couldn’t talk, AND she was supposed to jump up and down while the dough was rising (I personally still do that and my Vanocka always comes out perfect; one time I wore an apron that was green and instead of Vanocka I found a baked pig in my oven! So all that to say, please make sure that your apron is WHITE!). Another tradition was (and still is) to bake it with a coin which you insert into a dough prior to baking and whoever finds it in their slice is to be wealthy the following year.

CZ: Jak vsichni vime, bez Vanocky proste nejsou zadne Vanoce. Nagooglovala jsem si jeji historii a predstavte si, ze az do 18. stoleti byla k dostani pouze u pekare! Nikdo si ji “nedovolil” pect doma. Dnes jsou ale jine casy, zeny jsou emancipovane a nejaky ten obtiznejsi recept je preci nezastavi. Tak jdeme na to! Jo, a malem jsem zapomnela; jestlize se bojite toho zapletani copu, nebojte se, je tu YouTube! (more…)

I have already revealed the “secret” recipes of Vanilkove Rohlicky and Linecka kolecka. The Christmas cookie journey is far from being over however. Czech Christmas would not be complete if one did not serve Orechove dorticky (Walnut Tarts). Many of you may know them under a completely different name such as “Grandma’s circles” or “Chocolate circles” or some other names that I am not even aware of. As you will see from the recipe bellow, this Christmas dessert truly is a chocolate suicide. But who cares? It’s Christmas - calories don’t count!

CZ: V nedavne minulosti jsem vam jiz predstavila jak recept na vanilkove rohlicky, tak na linecka kolecka; to ale samozrejmne neni zdaleka konec vanocniho cukrovi - spise zacatek! Dnes se podivame na Orechove dotrticky, ktere jsou zname take pod jmeny jako “babiccina kolecka” nebo “cokoladova kolecka” (a vy je mozna znate i pod jinym jmenem!). Na rozdil od mych predeslych receptu, zdanlive nevinne orechove dorticky jsou prakticky cokoladovou sebevrazdou, nebo-li kalorickou bombou. Nastesti jsou ale Vanoce a kalorie se v prosinci nepocitaji… (more…)

Christmas is just around the corner and I figured I would post some Christmas recipes a little earlier (click here for more Christmas recipes) so that everyone has enough time to practice. This time I am going to show you how to make the most delicious Christmas cookies called Linecka kolecka (or some call them Linecke kolacky).They taste heavenly (I am serious) and are quite easy to make once you get the hang of it. Couple of things you need to be aware of, however: 1/ they are VERY fattening 2/the dough is made mostly of butter (hence the warning no.1) so if it becomes too soft it is almost impossible to work with (the solution to the problem is listed bellow). So roll up your sleeves and let’s go! (more…)

Knedliky (dumplings) are a tough competitor to potatoes in the Czech world. If someone asks me “Would you like potatoes or knedliky as a side dish?” I may just sit there for half an hour to compare the pros and the cons of those 2 food items. The potatoes would probably win in my case, but other Czechs would pick knedliky in no time. To sum it up, knedliky are a VERY important part of the Czech heritage. I myself gave up on making them because for some reason I thought they were really hard to make. Recently however, I was digging through my Czech cookbooks and I found a recipe that is not only very EXTRA easy but also very delicious. For those who are not that familiar with the art of knedliky, let me educate you. There are 2 types of knedliky, the ones made out of bread and the ones made out of potatoes. This recipe shows you how to make easy bread dumplings, which go the best with meat entrees such as Goulash, or Koprovka which you can find in my recipe category. So here we go: (more…)

If you dare to pronounce that “C” word (or rather the “CH” word as “CH” is an actual letter in the Czech alphabet)  in front of a Czech/Slovak person you will probably witness an immediate “Pavlov-dogs” reaction, meaning that after just a few seconds their mouth will begin to water profusely, they may also start to drool really bad. Why? Because what a good cheeseburger means to an American, chlebicky are to  a Czech. Chlebicky are Czech-style, open-faced sandwiches, but more exciting than the traditional American sandwich. What do you find in a sandwich? Ham, cheese, slice of tomato, and a peace of lettuce - very exciting, indeed (not!)! But chlebicky can be topped with pretty much anything under the sun…no strict rules there! There is however the traditional variation on this recipe which I will be presenting today: (more…)

I love anything with potatoes (makes sense since it is genetically wired into my Czech genes): potato pancakes (Bramboraky), potato soup (Bramboracka), mashed potatoes (alone!), and most of all the Potato Salad! There are so many variations on this dish, and as my friend educated me the other day there is the “poor” version (potatoes, canned root of celery and mayo) and the “salad-for-the-rich” version, meaning that it includes “fancy” ingredients such as meat and eggs I chose to do the rich version just because it tends to be more interesting and also a little more tasty: (more…)