Polish smoked cheese potato casserole

Remember my two cheese potato casserole? Soon after I made it I became a bit homesick and decided to make another version with Polish ingredients. The results turned out to be very satisfying, so I post the results here ;)

You'll need:
5 medium size, waxy, low-starch potatoes
1 medium size onion
150g of smoked cheese
150g of Polish sausage
oregano

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into thick slices. Pre-cook in salted water making sure they are not completely cooked.

2. In the meantime, chop the onion, cut the sausage and  proceed to fry them together.

4. Assemble the elements of the casserole in a casserole dish. Start with a layer of potatoes at the bottom, season them with oregano, add half of the sausage/onion mix and a  few slices of smoked cheese. Repeat the process again. Leave some potatoes for the final layer. Cover the top layer of potatoes with smoked cheese, it will deliciously melt in the oven.

5. Put the casserole in the oven pre-heated to 200 degrees for around 15 minutes. The oil from sausage/onion frying should suffice to make sure the dish does not dry up, but if you're worried you can add some more before putting the lid on the casserole.

Bon appétit!

Pappa al pomodoro

 

You have some leftover stale bread? This typically Tuscan recipe comes to the rescue! Never again will you be faced with the problem of having to get rid of stale bread. In fact, this primo piatto (first dish) is so yummy that you might want to put some fresh bread aside just to make pappa al pomodoro again :)

You'll need:

500g stale white bread

400ml tomato passata or 4 fresh tomatoes

1 medium onion

1 garlic clove

olive oil

salt & pepper

1. Warm up some olive oil in a pot and fry some previously chopped onion on it. Once the onion starts to turn golden, add garlic and fry for 30 seconds more, being careful not to burn it. 

2. It is best to add fresh ripe tomatoes at this point and cook everything until the tomatoes reach a saucy consistency, but if you want to speed things up you can take a shortcut and add a tomato passata.

3. Cut the bread into small cubes and add to the pot. Add also some water and stir. Let the bread absorb the liquids and dissolve into a gluey smooth consistency. Add some more water as you go along if need be.

4. Season with salt and pepper for taste and add fresh basil leaves (these should be added only towards the end of the cooking as otherwise basil will loose its colour and characteristics).

5. Sprinkle some extra vergin olive oil on top before serving, decorate with a basil leaf, et voila!

Bon appétit!