Cheesy meatballs in a dill sauce

Meatballs in a dill sauce are typical of Polish cuisine. Unfortunately, in my mind they took place of when-you're-sick food that is rather bland in taste, especially with boiled meatballs. Thus, to disenchant them, I experimented a bit with the flavours to make them more distinct, but still delicate. Instead of boiling the meatballs I baked them (no oil used so it's still on the healthy side) and added fennel and blue cheese inside. Also, the dill sauce, which in my house was a poor man's sauce based on water, is done using stock and complemented with a pinch od mustard powder and two types of pepper. The result was very pleasing, I'm definitely making them again soon!

You'll need:
For the meatballs:
350gr mince pork
1 egg
breadcrumbs
blue cheese (or gorgonzola piccante)
fennel seeds
white pepper
black pepper
salt

For the sauce:
1/4 glass vegetable stock
3 spoons of dense sour cream
dill
1 spoon flour
English mustard powder (optional)
White pepper
Black pepper

1. Crumble the cheese and mix the ingredients for the meatballs. Form meatballs and put them in an open oven dish. Put in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for around 20-30 minutes until the meatballs turn golden brown on the outside.

2. To prepare the sauce, warm up the stock in a small pot. Mix the flour with the cream and slowly transfer into simmering broth, stirring all the time so as to avoid lumps forming up. Wait until it denses up and season with pepper and mustard. Add dill, et voila!

 Buon appetito!

Placki ziemniaczane

It is time for latke! This simple potato dish is known in many European cuisines, in many cases thanks to the past presence of the Jewish communities who traditionally serve it during Hanukkah. In Germany they are customarily eaten with apple sauce, in Poland the most common way to serve them is with sour cream. They are also known in Korea (Gamja-jeon) where they are eaten with soy sauce (potatoes where introduced to Korea by a German missionary). In many versions the potatoes are supplemented with onion or garlic, and sometimes also other vegetables are added. Here, I present a classic Polish version of the dish, with the grating proportions that allow for the potato pancake to be crisp on the outside, but still soft on the inside. It's a nice dish to eat in company, but it has to be eaten immediately, while still hot, so most likely while you're still in the kitchen. Also, grating enough potatoes for a crowd might be quite a task.

You'll need:

5 potatoes

1 egg

1 spoonfull of flour

salt

pepper (optional)

oil for frying (sunflower oil might be best)

1. To achieve a perfect crisp to soft proportion, grate 4 potatoes on a big cheese grater and one on a finer grater.

2. Squeeze out the moisture from the potatoes, add the egg and the flour and mix. Season the mixture with a generous dose of salt (and some pepper).

3.Warm up well the oil on the (preferably non-stick) pan, you need to use quite a lot, the pancakes need to almost deep fry.

4. Take a spoonful of the mixture and spread it thinly on the pan. At first it might stick to it, but once it cooks on one side (the edges will turn golden brown), it should be easy to move to the other side.

5. Serve your placki hot with good quality sour cream.

  Buon appetito!

White sausages with topinambur

White sausage is one of the foodstuffs that I always miss when I'm away from home for a long time. Polish white sausage is different from white sausages I encountered in Western or Southern Europe, which in consistence resemble more German frankfurters. It is worth paying a visit to a Polish shop for these. Today I combined my white sausage with a side of baked topinambour (also known as Jerusalem artichoke or sunroot), a new discovery of mine. Topinambour is a root vegetable known for its healthy properties for type 2 diabetes that has a slightly sweet nutty taste. It goes very well with white sausage.

You'll need (a portion for one):

one Polish white sausage

one medium onion

4 dried plums

150g of topinambour

white pepper

black pepper

salt

olive oil

1. Wash your topinambour, no need to peel it, and then cut it into thin slices. Put in an oven dish, sprinkle with white and black pepper, salt and some olive oil and put in the oven set to 200 degrees (covered) for around 30 minutes. You might want to remove the cover from the dish towards the end of the baking to make it more crispy.

2. In the meantime chop the onion and fry it on a pan together with plums cut into small pieces.

3. Cut the sausage into half longways and make small cuts across on the outer side, fry together with the onion.

4. Serve hot together with baked topinambour.

Bon appétit!

a taste of Poland: babka ziemniaczana

Babka ziemniaczana is a traditional Polish dish, although also known in Lithuania (and possibly in Ukraine?). A close relative of Jewish Kugel, it is simply a potato cake. Definitely a taste that brings back childhood memories to me ;) my grandma makes the best one, no matter how hard I try to beat her.

You'll  need:
1kg of potatoes
200g of bacon or sausage (or both)
1-2 onions
1 clove of garlic (optional)
1 egg
around 2 spoons of flour
salt & pepper

1. Chop the onions and fry them. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the onions, fry for a few more seconds. Transfer the contents into a bowl.

2. Cut the bacon/sausage into small cubes and fry on the same pan. Transfer the contents into the bowl.

3. Peel the potatoes and grate them using a fine grater or a robot (it won't work on a cheese grate). Transfer into the bowl with the onions and bacon/sausage.

4. Add one egg, salt & pepper, two spoons of flour and stir.

5. Oil a baking pan and then transfer the mixture from the bowl into the baking pan.

6. Bake in an oven set to around 160 degrees for around an hour (the exact time will depend on the thickness of your babka ziemniaczana, you can use a wooden stick to check if it's ready just like in the case of other cakes). If you want the crust to be extra crunchy, add a bit of sour cream on top.

7. It can be served straight from the oven or, even better, cut into slices and reheated on a pan. I served mine on a bed made of a light salad with French vinegret.

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: śledzie w pomidorach (herring in tomato sauce)

Last but not least when it comes to salted herring, herring marinated in tomato sauce. An absolute must on the Christmas eve supper table in my house.

You'll need:

salted herring fillets

tomato concentrate

oil

onion

whole black pepper

bay leaves

vinegar

laurel leaves

1. Just like with other recipes involving salted herring posted here, the fillets need to be put in cold water first for a few hours until they reach the right level of saltiness.

2. Fry onions in hot oil. Add tomato concentrate, black pepper, 2-3 bay leaves and vinegar.
3. Cut the hering fillets into smaller bits and put in a jar.

4. Allow the sauce on the frying pan to cool down and then transfer into the jar with herring.

5. Leave aside for 2-3 days.

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: rolmopsy

Yet another way to enjoy salted herring: rolled herrings (PL: rolmopsy).

You'll need:

4 salted herring fillets (for 8 rolmopsy)

1 sour cucumber

1/2 onion

spicy mustard

oil

vinegar

8 coctail sticks

 

1. Put the herring fillets in cold water for 2-3 hours, depending on how salty they are. Change water from time to time. Remove when they achieve the right level of saltiness.

2. Cut the fillets into halves longways. Spread some mustard on the inner side.

3. Cut the cucumber and the onion into thin slices.

4. Put a slice of a cucumber and onion on the edge of each herring fillet and roll. Pin each rolled fillet with a coctail stick.

5. Put you rolled herrings in abowl or a wide den jar.

6. Add oil to 3/4 height of the herrings and and then add enough vinegar to cover them fully in the marinade.

7. Leave for two days in the marinade, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: śledzie po japońsku

It's December again, and Christmas is getting closer and closer, so it's high time I continue with my Christmas specials series (last year I started off with recipes for breaded mushroom hats and a beetroot fish salad). This time I commence with my favourite Chritmas Eve dish: śledzie po japońsku ('Japanese' herring). It's herring covered in a 'duvet' of apples and cream.

You'll need:

200g of salted raw herring fillets

2 sour apples

250g of sour cream

dill for decoration

1. Salted herring straight from fish monger's is too salty to use, so first it needs to be put in water for 2-3h. The exact time will depend on the level of saltiness of the herring. Change the water from time to time to achieve the desired effect.

2. Cut the herring fillets into smaller bits, like the ones in the picture below, and put them on a plate.

3. Peel the apples and grate them on a cheese grate.

4. Add the apples on top of the herring

5. Cover everything with sour cream, add some dill on top for decoration et voilà!
6. It's even better the next day!

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: beetroot fish salad

This might sound like an unusual combination of flavours, but it is actually really good. The ingredients might be slightly difficult to buy outside Poland.

You'll need:
2 sour cucumbers (one of Polish regional specialties, it's different from gherkins. My grandma makes them herself so we use our own rather than bought ones- perhaps I will reveal the recipe one day ;))
2-3 salted herring fillets
1/2 can of white beans
3 cooked beetroots
2-3 spoons of mayonaisse
salt and pepper for taste

Salted herring fillets are widely available in Poland, but might be a little bit more dfficult to obtain elsewhere. It's basicly raw fish put in salted water for taste and preservation. When you buy them, they are a bit too salty to use straight away. So, you need to put them in cold! water  (it has to be cold, if you put them in hot or warm water they will become hard) for a few hours. You'll need to change water from time to time. The number of times and the time depend on how salty the fillets are to start with. The idea is for them to be only slightly salty at the end of the process.

Once they are ready, cut them into small cubes and put them in a bowl. Cut the cucumbers into small cubes as well. Add to the bowl. Add the beans. Grate the beetroots on a cheese grate and similarly add to the bowl. Add the mayonaisse, a pinch of salt and pepper for taste and mix it all together, et voila!

Bon appétit!

Christmas specials: breaded mushroom 'hats'

Finally it arrived. Christmas. The season to be jolly. Together with all the goodies I've been waiting for all year.

I decided to share some of my family Xmas recipies with you. In Poland the biggest celebration is Christmas eve. On that occassion we traditionally prepare a supper consisting of twelve dishes, none of which contains meat. The exact dishes vary from house to house and from region to region. For this reason in my house we now have fifteen dishes - we couln't agree on the dishes following the joinder of different family traditions.

I will start with one of the easiest elements of our Christmas eve supper: breaded wild mushroom caps.

Wild mushrooms can be seen as a rare delicacy in Western Europe, but back home we collect the mushrooms ourselves (it can be considered a national hobby back in Poland) so we always have lots in strorage. For this recipe you need to select only the finest caps.

You'll need:
dried wild mushroom caps
one egg
breadcrumbs
black pepper

First you need to put the mushrroms in the hot water for around two hours so that they become soft. Then you break the egg into a plate, mix it with a fork and add some pepper to it. You put the mushroom caps first in the egg mix and then coat it in breadcrumbs, just like when making a schnitzel. Then you fry them on a hot pan, et voila! Your first Christmas dish is ready. Bon appétit!

Time for 'festivity'

Apparently the name pierogi derived from a root meaning festivity or festival. Thus, the title of today's post.

What are these? These are ruskie pierogi, or Russian dumplings. Don't let the name mislead you - this is a traditional Polish dish.

You'll need:
flour (type 550 would be best)
water
3 potatoes
150g white cottage cheese (the original should be made with Polish twaróg, but it could also be made with ricotta)
1 onion
pepper

The preparation of pierogi looks more difficult than it actually is, and it actually doesn't take much time after one has had some practice.

You should probably start with the filling. Boil the potatoes and mash them when they are ready (no butter or cream to be added). Chop the onion and fry it. Add the onion and cheese to mashed potatoes and mix it all together. Add a generous doese of ground black pepper. Your filling is ready.

The dough for pierogi is unleavened. You simply need to mix flour with water. I'm not providing any precise measurements, because as my grandma puts it, "you need to feel it". Too much flour and the dumplings will be too hard (and their edges won't stick in the first place), too sticky and they will dissolve when boiled. You'll probably reach the right consistency when the dough no longer sticks to your hands.

Once your dough is ready, roll it out so that it's no more than 2mm thick. Back home I would use a wooden board which serves the fourth generation now to do that, but it's ok to do it on the table for as long as you make absolutely sure it's clean ;). Also, if you don't have a proper roller, don't worry - a wine bottle works equally well.

Find a glass with a sharp edge (a cup with a round edge won't do) and cut circles from the dough.

Put a spoonful of the filling in the centre of a circle.

Bend your dumpling-to-be into half and stick the edges together.

Use your thumb and index finger to create additional horn like edges, like the ones in the picture. This way your pierogi won't get destroyed when boiled.

If your preparation takes time, remember to cover your pierogi with a cloth, because the dough dries up very quickly.

Put your pierogi in salted boiling water, and wait for a few minutes. They will be ready around a minute after they reach the surface. Voila!

The best thing is that you can freeze them. Transfer them onto a plate and wait until they cool down. Once they do, they are ready for freezing.


Bon appétit!