KRUSTAI, A LITHUANIAN TREAT
Posted: October 30, 2026 in UncategorizedTags: BAKING, dessert, food, recipe, recipes
Krustai, also called Zagarėliai in Lithuanian (known as Chrusciki in Polish…and sometimes called Angel Wings), are basically strips of fried dough, sprinkled with powdered sugar. What makes them different than your basic funnel cake is that the recipe uses egg yolks to make the batter richer. They’re simple and absolutely delicious, especially if they’re served with homemade applesauce, the way my mom used to serve them to my daughter. (The recipe for that is at the bottom of this blog.)
The traditional recipe my mom and grandmother used for years featured vegetable shortening–good old Crisco–so I still use that, considering how rarely I make them. (It’s the only time I still use it!) But you can also fry them with the oil of your choice.
This recipe can be made gluten-free if you use your favorite one-to-one gluten-free flour. (I like King Arthur.) The dough has less elasticity (as all GF dough does) and they’re crumblier than regular Krustai after frying, but the taste is still delicious!
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
a pinch of salt
8 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sour cream
vegetable shortening (the 3 lb. can)
Combine the powdered sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Set it aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla and mix until combined. Slowly add about 1 1/2 cups of the flour, then add the sour cream. Add flour again, a 1/2 cup at a time, mixing until the dough forms. (You may need more or less than the 3 cups listed.) The dough should be soft, but not too sticky.
Move the dough to a clean work surface, dusting it with flour. Knead the dough a bit, adding flour to prevent it from getting too sticky. Cut the dough into several pieces to make it easier to work with.
The original recipe said to roll the dough out to about 1/8″ thick, and I have a rolling pin that can be set in increments. I found that 1/8″ of an inch, although absolutely delicious, was thicker than my mom’s recipe. So it’s up to you if you want to go thinner with the dough.
Once you’ve rolled the dough out into a sheet, cut it into 4-inch long, 1-inch wide pieces with a sharp knife or a pastry wheel. (I used a pizza cutter.) Traditionally, you make a slit in the center of each strip, and slip one end of the dough through the slit to get the desired “angel wing” form. I made a few of them that way, and then decided to leave the rest of them the way they are. (The gluten-free dough has much less elasticity than wheat dough.) Again, up to you.
Re-roll any unused dough scraps and add them to the next batch of dough.
In a sturdy pot, melt about 2/3’s of the can of vegetable shortening. Most vegetable shortening has a smoke point of about 360°, so I don’t let it get past 350°. Keep an eye on it, and use a thermometer! You don’t want the shortening to burn.
Once the shortening reaches about 325°, drop one piece of dough in the oil to see how it’s frying. If it immediately rises to the surface and sizzles, the fat is ready for frying.
I use 2 forks to flip the pastry once it gets golden brown on one side. Once the oil temperature is right, the frying process goes quickly so keep an eye on your Krustai and don’t let them burn!
I like to place the fried Krustai on a metal rack for a few minutes to drain the oil, before transferring them over to a plate.
Once they’ve had a moment to drip off excess oil and to cool a bit, dust the Krustai with the cinnamon sugar.
The Krustai are delicious just like this, but serving them with applesauce is a special treat. My daughter was lucky enough to get to know her grandmother, and one of the last things my mom ever cooked for her was Krustai with homemade applesauce. Her recipe was simple…
6 to 8 organic apples, different varieties
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup water
My mom always used a variety of apples. Some cook down more rapidly, other stay chunky. Others are sweet. Others, like Granny Smiths, are tart. Whatever the choices, use organic apples to avoid pesticides. (Apples are some of the most heavily sprayed fruits you can buy.)
Peel and core the apples, cutting them into 1/2″ cubes. Combine them with the other ingredients in a large saucepan, and put it over medium heat.
Cook the apples down to the consistency you like. (I like it chunky.) You might need to add a little more water. Store the applesauce in a sealed mason jar in the fridge.
I’m checking out the town of Easton, MD.
I was here a couple of months ago for two nights and ate here both nights! The food is excellent. Really creative. And it’s a great place to chat with the locals, who are friendly and willing to share details about their town.
Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin with a splash of tonic.
New Orleans style gulf shrimp with pasta, and a cream sauce. A bit spicy, and very tasty.
PORK RIBS WITH A BALSAMIC BARBECUE SAUCE
Posted: October 28, 2026 in barbecue, Carnivore!, Food, pork, RecipesTags: balsamic, barbecue, food, pork, recipes, ribs
I’m posting this a few days before the weekend, so you can make your shopping list. Let’s face it: weekends are for ribs, and you can enjoy this recipe whatever the weather, because the ribs bake in the oven.
The balsamic vinegar I use in this recipe is not the super-expensive stuff that should only be drizzled on a fancy salad. I use the $9-a-bottle stuff that you can find in any supermarket. Good quality, and I try to find one from Modena, Italy, the world headquarters of balsamic vinegar.
3 lbs. pork ribs (I like the St. Louis cut)
4 cloves garlic, minced or through a press
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
Place the ribs in a roasting pan, cutting the racks in half if you need to, to make them fit.
In a bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and salt, and then rub the mixture evenly all over the ribs.
Let the ribs marinate for an hour at room temperature or longer in the fridge.
Marinated ribs, ready for the oven.
Place a rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat it to 425. Pour 1/2 cup of water into the roasting pan with the ribs and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
Roast the ribs until the meat is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
While the ribs are roasting, make the barbecue sauce…
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons hot sauce (I like Frank’s)
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
Place the balsamic vinegar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook the vinegar until it is reduced by a third, about 8 minutes.
Whisk in the ketchup, apple cider vinegar, honey, mustard, molasses, Worcestershire, hot sauce and salt. Bring the sauce back to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer until it has thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
After baking, brush the ribs with the barbecue sauce.
Remove the ribs from the oven and transfer them to a baking sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil or parchment.
Increase the oven temperature to 450 .
Brush both sides of the ribs generously with the barbecue sauce and bake them uncovered for about 10 minutes, until the sauce is browned and sizzling.
Delicious balsamic ribs!
Leftover barbecue sauce is great for rib dipping!
My road trip continued today with a stop at Solomon Island, in Maryland. Just a gorgeous day on the water. I can see why people would love to live here.
Grabbed a Caesar salad with a crabcake for lunch, and continued onward.
BUTTER CHICKEN WINGS
Posted: October 26, 2026 in UncategorizedTags: chicken, dinner, food, recipe, recipes
These are even better than they sound!
A few months ago, I received chef Chetna Makan’s book, “Chetna’s 30 Minute Indian,” as a gift. The first recipe I tried was butter chicken, of course, because it’s so delicious. It was a big hit with my daughter and friends, and we’re looking at other recipes to try in the future.
Recently, we had dinner at a relatively new Indian restaurant in our area, Saffron, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Excellent food and service. We had a great meal. But what peaked our curiosity was their butter chicken wings. Wings! I thought that was genius.
So I took their idea, and using Chetna’s recipe, I gave it a shot. They came out fantastic!
Measurements in my recipe differ from the cookbook due to the large amount of chicken wings I used (5 lbs.), but the actual ingredients are the same. I also needed to change the way it was cooked, because the wings were large and had bones, where the original butter chicken recipe used boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into smaller pieces.
5 lbs. large chicken wings
5.3 oz. container (150g) plain yogurt
5 tablespoons mustard oil
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 tablespoon Kashmiri chili powder
2″ piece of ginger, peeled and grated
4 garlic cloves, grated
I prepared the chicken wings by chopping off the tips. (But I do save them in a plastic freezer bag for future chicken stock.) Then I chop the wings at the joint to make two pieces from each wing. I set them aside.
The tips will be used later in for chicken stock.
In a large container that will hold all the wings, I combine the yogurt, mustard oil, salt, chili powder, grated ginger, and garlic. Mix it well. Add the chicken wings and make sure they are really well coated with the marinade. You can let it sit for ups to 3 hours at room temperature, or longer in the fridge.
Mix well.
A tip for fresh ginger: This is something I learned from a local farmer that raises her own ginger. I keep it in the freezer in a plastic freezer bag. When it’s time to grate, I simply take the frozen ginger and grate it, skin and all. The skin completely disintegrates and you don’t have to peel it. Then just put the unused ginger back in the bag and back in the freezer.
After marinating, spread the chicken wings onto a large sheet pan in a pre-heated 350 oven, and bake for 20 minutes.
While that’s baking…
2 tablespoons oil
100g salted butter
8 cloves
8 cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks (3″)
2 bay leaves
16 oz. passata, or pureed canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons Kasoori methi (fenugreek leaves)
Add the oil and butter to a pan over medium-low heat. Add the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves to the pan, and warm the spices for a few minutes.
Add the passata, salt, chili powder, garam masala and Kasoori methi to the pan, mixing well. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat. Don’t let it burn.
After 10 minutes, remove the lid from the pan and let it cook a few minutes more to reduce just a bit. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Using a slotted spoon, remove the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves.
You don’t want to crunch on these!
Pour the contents of the pan into a large bowl, big enough to hold all the chicken wings.
After the wings have cooked 20 minutes, pour off any of the fat in the sheet pan and place the wings in the bowl with the pan sauce. Mix gently, but really well to make sure the wings are really covered with sauce.
Place the wings back on the sheet pan (pour all leftover sauce on top)and bake at 350 for another 15 minutes, until the chicken coating starts to caramelize and get sticky.
2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half
2 teaspoons clear (and runny) honey
Mix the cream and honey together in a small bowl. When the wings come out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes, then drizzle the cream and honey all over.
I served the wings over plain jasmine rice, and some sautéed carrots from my garden.
Dinner at Mirra last night! A wonderful fusion of Indian and Mexican cuisines! Chefs Zubair Mohajir and Rishi Kumar recently on the cover of Food & Wine! Best new chefs of 2026!
Photos were taken by both my daughter and myself, depending on who had the better angle!😆
The road trip continues as I head west to see my daughter at Northwestern University for parents’ weekend. Why did I stop in Toledo?
Toledo, Ohio: home of the Mudhens and Max Klinger from M*A*S*H! Tony Paco’s has been around forever, but Jamie Farr made it famous. These dogs are so good, it’s really tough to limit yourself to just a couple.
And Tony Paco‘s own IPA washes it down nicely.
Burt Reynolds was the first celebrity to autograph a bun, and since then, there are hundreds, if not, thousands of autographed buns on the walls, including former Presidents.
This has to be the cheapest dinner tab I’ve had since…… the last time I was here!
A must-stop if you’re driving through Toledo!
Taking a road trip to Evanston, IL, to visit my daughter at Northwestern University for parents’ weekend. First stop: Syracuse, NY.
Enjoyed buck-a-shuck oysters and Stoli elit martinis at The York. (A great combination, by the way.)
The young bartenders had no idea, with the demise of the Stoli brand, what gold they had in that bottle behind the counter!
MORE CHICKEN WINGS
Posted: October 21, 2026 in UncategorizedTags: chicken, dinner, food, recipe, recipes
I love chicken wings. I could eat them every day. But I like to change up the flavors once in a while. So I often improvise. Sometimes, it’s…meh. But this last time, it was pretty tasty!
To keep calories a little lower–because, let’s face it, chicken wings are full of tasty fat and gristle–I usually bake my wings, not fry them.
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
2 tablespoons granulated onion
2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
I cut the tips off the wings and save them for future use, when I’m making chicken broth. And I like to cut the wings at the joint to get two pieces, but that’s a personal preference. Place all the wing pieces in a large plastic zip bag.
In a bowl, combine the rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Pour this into the bag of wings, seal it tightly, and squish it around so that the marinade gets to every part of the wings. Let this marinate for at least an hour at room temperature.
In a separate bowl, combine the brown sugar, garlic, onion, salt and pepper.
When the wings have marinated long enough, get a bowl large enough to hold all the wings. Transfer the wings to this bowl, and discard the used marinade.
Dust the wings with about 1/3 of the seasonings, and toss the wings to coat. Dust again and toss. Do it one more time, using up all the seasonings, making sure the wings are evenly coated.
Pre-heat a convection oven (or air fryer, for you younger kids) to 325. Place the wings on a raised rack above a baking sheet (I like to line the sheet with parchment paper to catch the drips) and bake for about an hour, until the wings are crispy.
Note: If you bake the wings at a higher temperature, you could burn the sugar, so low and slow is the way to go!
