I Love Uszka

For the Vegetarian Thanksgiving Radical, & the Dumpling Devoteé

My first cookbook, the one that taught me basic French cooking technique, was The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas.

I wasn’t a vegetarian. I was 16 and had to look up “epicure” in the dictionary. My big culinary triumph in those days was probably meatballs. (Worthy!).

When I first skimmed Anna’s chapters, I saw she had a “holiday” section in the back, an inspiration to cook a vegetarian Thanksgiving or Christmas feast.

“Radical!” I thought. Her audaciousness endeared me.

I eventually tried every winter feast recipe in the Epicure, and it turned me into, at the very least, a part-time vegetarian foodie. I discovered what it was like to forget you even had a taste for flesh! ;-)

One of the most remarkable creations Thomas brings to the table is her Polish family’s recipe for “Uszka” in broth— a clear borscht (barszcz) filled with mushroom-stuffed dumplings.