When my sister Robin and I were little girls, by mother sponsored a lady from Yugoslavia to come to the United States. My mother was very busy working in the greenhouse and in the floral business- plus she had seven children – three of us – 6,4,and2 years of age- needing to still be watched over.
Mrs. Benko came – speaking only Slovak-and spent a year (or maybe, less) with us- cooking and cleaning. She was a very nice lady- I remember she could ride a bike in her skirts and didn’t seem very interested in learning English. I was little and I was never in on the details- but I don’t think she liked it here much and went home to be with her husband.
I do remember two things very clearly.
Robin and I teased her, by running through the kitchen and untying her apron when she was cooking. It was probably more me than Robin doing the teasing, but I loved getting her upset, because she would chase after us, shaking her wooden spoon in the air and shouting out words in Slovak. Once, she chased us into the bathroom where we scrambled into the bathtub and hugged each other while she shook that spoon under our noses.
Then she tied her apron back on and went back to work in the kitchen.
The other thing I remember is her cooking. My mother was a good cook. But she was an American and used to short cut cooking. Mrs. Benko made food from scratch. Breads, strudel, cookies, soups- all homemade and delicious.
And she made her own noodles. All the time.
One meal ALL she made were noodle dishes.
Poppyseed noodles.
Cottage cheese noodles.
Buttered crumb noodles.
Potato noodles.
AND Cabbage noodles.
My family sat down at the table and my brothers started commenting on all the noodle dishes. That’s when my father spoke sternly- ” Everybody shut up and eat. And smile- she made us a meal to enjoy. Eat it!”
I was happy to eat all noodles. I love carbohydrates! And I love cabbage noodles. Here’s a recipe for the home made kind.
Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup flour (about)
-Beat egg slightly.
Add flour and salt and mix together.
Knead until smooth.
Flour your surface liberally.
Roll out dough until very thin. Add flour as needed.
Roll out and flour, again, until very, very thin.
Dust with flour and fold into thirds.
Cut with sharp knife into medium thin pieces.
Then cut those pieces in half.
Separate and drop into large pan of salted boiling water.
Boil for only about 5-7 minutes, then take out with a slotted spoon.
I boiled them in batches- about 1/3 at a time- it takes some time to separate the noodles.
Now, just chop up some cabbage fine, salt it and let it sit for a while.
Then squeeze out most of the liquid and sautee the cabbage in either a little evoo or bacon fat. In my family, we always let the cabbage get a little brown- but you can stop when it becomes soft and translucent and add to the noodles. Stir well and you have an excellent side dish.
One that would make Mrs. Benko proud.
