Thursday, April 23, 2009

Veranikas

My husband is of German descent and his family has several traditional recipes that were passed down through the generations. Veranikas is one of them. Whenever we can get our hands on authentic German sausage to make this meal, our family is thrilled. It's not exactly healthy, but we call it soul food around here. Everyone gets involved when making this meal; that's part of the fun of it, as you can see below. We made the meal on vacation in FL with all 20+ Martens'-truly memorable & yummy!

Veranikas

Ingredients:
3 egg whites and yolks, separated
½ C milk
1/8 C sour cream
2 C flour plus
1 t. salt
¾ - 1 pint dry cottage cheese or hoop cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
German sausage or ham slices
Evaporated milk

In a large bowl whip 3 egg whites, add ½ C milk & whip again. Add about 1/8 C sour cream. Add 2 C flour and 1 t. salt. Mix and use enough flour to knead.

Filling: Mix ¾ to 1 pint dry cottage cheese (hoop cheese), 3 egg yolks, salt and pepper to taste. Roll out half of dough on floured board. Put 1 heaping teaspoon of cheese mixture on rolled out dough, fold over and cut with cookie cutter or water glass. Pinch edges together. Have pan of boiling salted water ready and drop in one at a time. Cook until they rise to the top, then carefully lift out of the water. Fry in oil – lightly brown on each side.

Sauce: If no German sausage is available, fry slices of ham and remove. Put enough flour in pan to soak up grease, then add evaporated milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, then serve over fried veranikas.

Serving:
Recipe Given By: the Grandma's Martens


Hint: In northern VA hoop cheese is called Farmer's cheese. It is much tastier than cottage cheese by far. We cut rounds out with a large cup and then fill them with the cheese mixture-like filling ravioli.

Two cuties working on Veranika's to take on vacation.

Dad Martens' dinner plate on vacation.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

It is nice to know that there are other families out there carrying on the German traditions. Sometimes I feel like our family is the only group left that knows how to make Veranikas. We also like to gather for the holidays and work as a team to make this delightful meal. We always make ours with sour cream and onion gravy.

Anonymous said...

I know you've made this for Mark.. Awesome.

Anonymous said...

i love them but mine are allways a flop wish they came frozen

Anonymous said...

This is the exact rceciepe my grandma gave my mom. We love them and now my children love them too it is difficult to find the hoop cheese here in California. But oh so yummy!