Augustine (Gus) Vincent

1908-1997

Gus was Peter Vincent’s father and thus Merle Bruno’s father-in-law.  Born in Lithuania, he learned from his mother to collect wild mushrooms in the woods. For most of his life, he picked and preserved thousands of what he called bevarushkis, belitis, brownies, and shelbodavikis every year, and also recreated many old Lithuanian recipes some of which are shown here. Peter introduced Merle to vitatinis and inherited his father’s recipes and cooking instincts for the old country dishes. Peter's recipe here is a slightly spiced up version of the one he learned from Gus.

Recipes

GUS's  PIEROGI

Dough

3 1/2 cup flour

1 egg beaten

1 1/2 cup warm water

1/2 tsp. salt

Mix egg, water, and salt.
Stir in flour gradually and mix well, adding a little more flour if needed.
Roll out very thin on floured board.
Cut with 4-inch round cutter.

Filling 1 (cheese)

1 cup farmers' cheese
Dash salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 T sugar
1 egg yolk
(serve with sour cream or melted butter)

Force cheese through sieve (or squeeze in cheesecloth to get water out).
Add salt, sugar, lemon juice, and egg yolk.

Filling 2 (potato)

1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
Bacon drippings
1 cup mashed potato (hot)
1/2 lb. cream cheese

Cook onion in bacon fat.

Mix with potato and cream cheese

Construct Pierogis

Fill round dough pieces with cheese or potato filling.
Wet edge of each circle, pinch to seal.

Cook in boiling salted water 5 minutes or until they float.
Fry in butter until crisp.

PETER'S VITATINIS

This is a variation of the recipe Peter learned from Gus. Peter adds more pepper, hot pepper, and garlic to his. Gus would have loved them. Although I’ve never heard the word vitatini used elsewhere (and am not certain of the spelling), the final product is similar to pierogi or kuldunai. 

Dough

Follow Gus' Pierogi recipe

Filling (meat)

1 lb hamburger
garlic (fresh minced)
hot peppers
bread crumbs
1 egg

Knead together all the ingredients and fill the round pierogi dough pieces with a spoonful each.
Seal the dough packets and drop into boiling water for 20 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, salt, and coarse ground pepper.

A richer fancier way to serve them is to drop them into a heated vat of milk, sour cream and butter and serve in a casserole.

The vitatinis can be frozen before you boil them. Gus and Peter always have a few freezer bags they can open and boil up at the drop of a hint.

SIMPLE BREAD

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

1 1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)

1 package active dry yeast

2 T. soft shortening

2 tsp. salt

2 T sugar

3 level cups flour (fluff up but don't sift)

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.

Add shortening, salt, sugar, and 1/2 of the flour.

Stir until smooth.

Add remaining flour and blend in using a spoon.

Cover and set in a warm place (85 degrees F) to rise.

Let it rise until doubled in volume (about 30 minutes).

Stir down by beating dough (25 strokes).

Spread batter into a greased loaf pan using floured fingers to spread dough into the corners.

Cover with a cloth and let it rise until the dough is 1" from the top.

Bake for 45 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped with fingernail.

Remove from pan and brush with melted butter.

Cool before serving.

BUNDALAIS

This is also a word I’ve only heard from Gus and his family.  These rolls may have been named after a city in Lithunia called Bundalai.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

3 cup flour
10 oz. water (warm)
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 T sugar
2 T oil
Ricotta or farmers' cheese

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
Add salt, sugar, oil and add 1/2 the flour and stir.

Let rise in a warm place (85 degrees F) for a few hours until it is 2/3 times its volume.

Punch it down.

Take a small handful, poke a hole into it, and put a blob of ricotta in the hole.

Dip the bottom into oil and put it into a greased baking pan.

As you add each roll to the pan, squeeze them together so they fit in.

They should reach half way up the side of the pan.

Let rise until just over the edge.

Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Dump out on rack to cool and brush butter on top.

TEDDY'S ZUCCHINI BREAD

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 T vanilla

2 cups grated peeled zucchini

2 cups flour

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup finely chopped nuts

1 cup raisins

Beat eggs and add sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix until thick.

Add zucchini and stir thoroughly.

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt.

Add and stir until smooth.

Add nuts and raisins.

Bake in greased floured loaf pans for about 1 hours.