Haluski with Kielbasa

Haluski is typical “hunky” Pittsburgh food that I grew up with.  “Hunky,” previously used to label (not so nicely) Slavic immigrants from Europe, many that came to work in the Western Pennsylvania coal mines, is now used to describe food and/or culture.  My grandmother had to cook a lot of “hunky” food because my Pappy was Czechoslovakian.

Haluski is a simple dish of noodles and cabbage and can be served as a side or add some meat or sausage like I did and it can be a meal.  Haluski is comfort food, however, and so not recommended for those that fear butter or carbs.

Ingredients

1 package of kielbasa, sliced

1 package of egg noodles, cooked

1/2 head of green cabbage, chopped

1 yellow onion, diced

Directions

Slice up the whole kielbasa into pieces.  I cut mine into bite-sized round slices.  Sauté kielbasa in a fry pan with a bit of butter and crisp or brown to your liking.  Remove kielbasa from pan and set aside on a plate.  You will need to clean this pan or use another pan.  If not, the cabbage will turn brown.  In a clean pan, sauté the onions and chopped cabbage in three to four tablespoons of butter being careful that the heat is not so high the butter turns brown, which will make the cabbage turn brown.  You can add just a bit of oil with the butter to offset the potential of browning. When the cabbage is wilted, add the cooked kielbasa and a package of cooked egg noodles.  I had added a nice plop of butter to the egg noodles so they wouldn’t stick together after they finished cooking.  Add plenty of salt and serve.

Results

This was fatty, comforting and yummy, and also quick and simple to make.  Alec and Brent slurped it down in minutes before asking for seconds.  Grace, my new vegetarian, had hers sans kielbasa.  I really enjoyed it because I don’t make it that often, but I don’t think I need the kielbasa because it makes it too greasy, which the boys thought was crazy…Hmmm, maybe I could grill the kielbasa?  Alec and Grace liked it so much I made haluski for them two days later because I had leftover cabbage, and because I need to feed Alec a quick dinner before baseball or soccer practice…and then our family dinner after.