I like to joke that my husband tricked me. He’s an attorney. He wears nice suits to work every day, has shiny shoes, and an awfully nice briefcase. But the guy I fell in love with? That guy was a guitarist in a ska band, and that’s who I thought I was marrying. Back then, he wore combat boots, punk-band T-shirts, and these hilarious red plaid, knee-length shorts that were so utterly geeky, they were cool. In those days, I guess you could say we had a lot of, um, late evenings. He’d play a late-night gig and we’d be out ‘til the wee hours with that boundless, seemingly inexhaustible energy that only twentysomethings can maintain.
The Veselka cookbook isn’t just stuffed with delicious recipes from the eatery’s 55-year history, but also with stories, like the one about the four Polish women—Ala, Maria, Danuta, and Maria--who churn out 3,000 hand-made pierogies a day, how Ukrainians celebrate Christmas Eve (with food, of course!), and the history of Ukrainian settlers in downtown Manhattan. And the recipes are fun—rib-sticking traditional dishes like beef stroganoff, stuffed cabbage, and veal goulash along with the simple yet vital (how to make good chicken stock, for heaven’s sake, and how to make a proper fried-egg sandwich). And then there’s the nod to New York’s anarchists, celebrities, and the all-around famous and infamous: The Leon Trotsky tuna sandwich, the Andy Warhola (that is, egg salad on homemade challah bread, which Veselka bakes daily), and the Milla Jovovich sandwich (grilled chicken with Vermont cheddar and roasted peppers on ciabatta bread).
The book is wistful and fun and funny, and when so many things seem to change so quickly, the fact that Brichard thought to tenderly and methodically record a lifetime’s worth of delicious work is something that I can definitely stop and appreciate. I don’t find myself at restaurants at 3am so often these days, but at least I know I can throw together a late-night version of the same in my own kitchen. Next to those cheese and potato pierogies, potato pancakes were always a favorite late-night guilty pleasure of mine. Here's the recipe from Veselka that fed my mispent youth:
- 1 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 4 medium potatoes
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tsps salt, plus extra to taste
- 1/2 cup durum flour
- vegetable oil for frying
- freshly ground black pepper
- sour cream
1. Combine the onion and garlic in a the bowl of a food processer fitted with a metal blade. Pulse a few times until finely ground, almost pureed. Set aside.
2. Peel then shred the potatoes.
3. In a large bowl, combine the onion, garlic, potatoes, eggs, and 2 tsp of the salt. Mix together, then add the flour a Tbs at a time and combine. The mixture should be moist, not soupy or overly dry, says Brichard.
4. Heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a cast-iron pan (it should be hot but not smoking). When its ready, drop spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the oil and cook until crispy on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until side two is golden brown as well.
5. As the pancakes finish cooking, remove them and place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Season to taste and serve with sour cream.
