Pickled and Fermented and Ground Up, Oh My!

While the boys played in the snow I made giardiniera, which is Italian pickled peppers and such for topping sandwiches and brats. For lunches, I also did a batch of granola bars- craisin and chocolate chip!

After Eric came from snow duty he made sauerkraut! We made this last spring and our fatal flaw was not having a mandoline to cut the cabbage on. The cabbage wasn’t thin enough so once it was ready to eat we were chomping on some pretty big bites of cabbage. Good taste, but not ideal texture. It has to sit in its own fermenting juice for another 30 days. Once it’s done we’ll let you know if the last batch’s issue was in fact due to a lack of appropriate tools or if it’s chef’s error. Let’s hope it was the former!

The Chef also made some homemade Italian Sausage. The taste was perfect blend of sweet and spicy. The only downside, however, was the meat grinder. It’s not a very good one and pork has a lot of fat within the meat and that fact kept getting caught in the gears of the grinder, so every so many cranks you had to take the grinder apart clean it and start over. Quite the process, but it was successful and delicious! 

Fun in the Snow!

The boys were out last weekend enjoying the snow and playing. I got some pretty good “action” shots of Indy. 

Restaurant Week

Over the summer when we were browsing the Cherry Creek farmers market we came across a booth that was selling a basket of pierogis. It’s sacrilegious to not stop and eat pierogis so we obliged. Holy mother were these amazing pierogis! They were made by an authentic Polish restaurant that had just opened in downtown called the Polished Tavern. We agreed that after eating these pork filled pockets of magic we’d be eating dinner there at some point for sure.

During Restaurant Week, or 5280 week as it’s known out here, we made reservations at the Polished Tavern. This was a fun night with amazing food! We loved everything we ate and would have had seconds of it all!

Shared Appetizer: mushroom and onion filled pierogis

Main Dishes: Eric ordered the Schnitzel and I had the cabbage rolls, which were served over dill mashed potatoes

Dessert: Goblet of Pleasure (it was jello and fruit) and sweet cheese pierogis with a raspberry syrup (Ate it before I remembered to take a picture)

Vodka Shot: Yes, this restaurant is also a vodka bar so a shot of vodka came with the meal. I had strawberry and Eric had dill infused vodka. Eric liked his and no offense to the restaurant, but I hate vodka, so I wasn’t thrilled about mine nor did I finish it.

  

As I said AMAZING meal overall and we’d definitely go back.