Author: jadwiga49hjk

I love cooking and baking. I love trying out new recipes and currently am trying out many old favourites from my Polish cookbooks and family recipes. I am trying out many variations, often to make them easier but still delicious. I collect glass cake stands and china tableware, mainly tea plates, jugs and serving dishes, many of which I use on a daily basis. They are an eclectic mixture from the 20th & 21st century.

Pumpkin Soup

  • All the shops here in England are filled with pumpkins for Halloween, which is celebrated by many.
  • In Poland it is the Christian feasts of All Saints & All Souls on November 1st & 2nd that are celebrated with many people trying to get home to their relatives graves to clean them up and put grave candles on them.
  • As there are all these pumpkins – dynia -in Polish- I thought I would try out a pumpkin soup.
  • This is a very tasty yet simple soup.
  • I have added a couple of options.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pumpkin – small to medium – around 500g of flesh.
  • 1 large onion
  • Butter for frying the onion
  • 1½ litres of vegetable or chicken stock
  • ¼ teaspoon of ground paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • *
  • OPTION 1 – ½ a red pepper
  • OPTION 2 – 1 red pepper
  • OPTION 3 – roasted pumpkin seeds (not tested)

METHOD

  • Peel the skin off the pumpkin.
  • Cut the pumpkin into pieces – leaving the core.
  • Cut the flesh into small chunks.
  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Fry the onion until it is golden – even turning slightly brown.
  • Add the pumpkin and the fried onion to the stock and heat to boiling.
  • Turn down to simmer.
  • Simmer until the pumpkin flesh is soft.
  • Add the paprika.
  • Use a stick blender to purée the soup.
  • Bring back to boiling and serve straight away.
  • *
  • OPTION 1
  • Chop up ½ a red pepper and blanch and simmer for a few minutes.
  • Add some to each serving of soup.
  • *
  • OPTION 2
  • Chop up  1 pepper and add it after you have puréed the soup.
  • Simmer for around 10 minutes.
  • *
  • OPTION 3 – NOT TESTED
  • Add some roasted pumpkin seeds to each serving.
  • You can clean up and roast the pumpkin seeds from your own pumpkin.
  • *
  • Royal Doulton Carnation rimmed soup plate 
  • Royal Doulton Burgundy rimmed soup plate 
  • Johnson Snowhite bowl.

Coconut Cake

  • This is a simple recipe inspired by a large cake recipe in ‘All About Cookery New Edition’, by Mrs Beeton published in 1911.

  • Mrs Beeton writes “ … dessicated cocoanut is now sold at a moderate price, and its use saves much trouble and labour.”

  • Coconuts are the edible fruit of Cocos nucifera, – kokos in Polish, and probably originated in the area of Indonesia and Malaya and then spread to India.

  • Marco Polo came across coconuts and they were then called Pharaoh’s nuts as they were found in Egypt.
  • Venetians were trading in coconuts by the 13th Century.
  • William Dampier (1651-1715), a buccaneer and explorer brought coconuts to England though they did not become popular until the early 19th century.
  • *
  • My father was not keen on coconut so this was not a recipe my mother made.
  • I originally made this cake in a round tin but have now also also tried it out in a rectangular tin, which makes it easier to slice and portion out.

INGREDIENTS

150g butter

150g caster sugar

200g plain flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

75g dessicated coconut

2 eggs

4 to 5 tablespoons of milk

*

2 tablespoons of apricot or strawberry jam

3 tablespoons of dessicated coconut

METHOD

Pre-heat the over to GM4 – 180°C.

Grease and line or use a cake liner in a 20cm high sided cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar till fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time and beat again.

Mix the flour, baking powder and coconut together.

Fold this into the mixture.

Add enough milk to make a soft mixture.

Put into the cake tin – flatten the top.

Bake for 40 – 45 minutes.

*

Leave the cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

Take the cake out of the tin.

Mix the jam with ½ a tablespoon of water and heat gently.

Brush the top of the cake with the jam.

Sprinkle the coconut on top of the jam.

*

Alternative size

26 x 20 cm rectangular cake tin.

Line 3 sides with one piece of greaseproof paper.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Colclough Stardust & Duchess Bramble Rose tea plates

Courgette Soup – 2

  • This is a more hefty soup than my other courgette soup recipe.
  • The addition of honey and pears adds a  lovely sweetness.
  • But the lemon stops it being too sickly.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 courgettes
  • 2 medium potatoes
  • 2 pears
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 1 lemon rind & juice
  • *
  • Optional to serve
  • Chopped chives or flat leafed parsley.
  • Cooked Pasta

METHOD

  • Chop the courgettes into small pieces.
  • Peel the potatoes and chop into small pieces.
  • Peel and core the pears then chop into small pieces.
  • Bring the stock to the boil and add the courgettes and potatoes.
  • Simmer for around 10 minutes.
  • Add the pears and simmer for another 10 minutes.
  • Take the pan off the heat and liquidise the soup with  a stick blender.
  • *
  • Bring back to simmer.
  • Add the honey, lemon rind & juice, stir and serve.
  • *
  • Add chopped chives or flat leafed parsley if you have some.
  • *
  • You can also serve this with cooked chunky pasta.

Royal Stafford Blossom Time rimmed soup plate & Royal Doulton Carnation soup bowl

Brown Onion Gravy – 2

  • I came across this simple English recipe for onion gravy or sauce, which appeared in a cookbook of 1852.
  • The gravy was served with roast poultry.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 onions
  • 3-4 sprigs of thyme
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar
  • 500ml of water
  • Salt & pepper to taste

METHOD

  • Chop the onions into small pieces.
  • Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onions and thyme.
  • Fry with stirring until the onions are brown.
  • Sprinkle over them the sugar.
  • Stir and cook for a couple more minutes.
  • Add the water and mix well.
  • Stir and cook for a few more minutes.
  • Sieve the gravy and season to taste.
  • *
  • Pour the gravy over the cooked bird/roast meat and serve.
  • *
  • NOTE
  • A roast chicken was used for testing the gravy.
  • *
  • Or you can serve the gravy separately.

White Fish & Pepper Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 onions
  • 2 red peppers
  • Around 250g of white fish – cod, plaice, basa etc
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • ½ teaspoon hot paprika
  • A little sunflower oil
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • *
  • Optional – chopped parsley or chives to garnish 

Method

  • Cut the onion in half and then slice it thinly.
  • De-seed the peppers and then cut into long thin slices.
  • Lightly fry the onion and peppers in a little sunflower oil till soft.
  • Add the paprika and the vegetable stock.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for around 10 minutes.
  • Add the pieces of fish and simmer for around 15 minutes.
  • Take out the fish, remove any skin and cut into chunks.
  • Put the fish back into the soup.
  • Stir.
  • Season if necessary.
  • *
  • Garnish with green herbs if you have them.
  • *
  •  Great with crusty French style bread.

Served in a Royal Doulton Burgundy rimmed soup plate.

Kartoflane Placki – 2

  • Kartoflane placki are super Polish potato pancakes.
  • I wrote a post about them many years ago.
  • We always had them with savoury items such as fried eggs.
  • Mama never served them with sweet options.
  • Having seen these in various blogs and Instagram – 
  • I decided to give them a go.
  • I  tried two options –
  • – With plum jam and
  • – With yoghurt cheese and granulated sugar.
  • They were delicious.
  • *
  • I have given the instructions again. 

Ingredients

  • 4 large starchy potatoes such as King Edward or Maris Piper
  • 1 medium or large onion
  • 1 egg or just the egg yolk
  • Plain flour
  • Salt & pepper
  • *
  • Oil for frying

Method

    • Peel the potatoes then grate them using the fine size of the grater into a large bowl, this is the part that takes time – I have tried using the coarse grate but they are not as good.
    • Leave to stand for a few minutes and the water from the potatoes will rise to the surface.
    • If the potatoes are very watery pour of some of the water. The easiest way is to tip up the bowl slightly over the sink and hold down the potatoes with the palm of your hand.
    IMG_20150811_165238337
    Grating the potatoes

     

    • Peel the onion and also fine grate it and add to the potatoes.
    • This is the part that would often result in the grating of my knuckles  as I tried to use every last bit of onion.
    • I now often use some form of electrical mini-chopper to get a pulp of onion.
    IMG_20150811_165955962
    Onion Pulp
    • Add the egg, salt & pepper.
    • Add enough plain flour so that the mixture is thick.

    IMG_20150811_170357625

    • Heat some oil in a frying pan, a thick cast iron one is ideal, place large spoonfuls of the mixture onto the hot oil and flatten them out with the spoon or spatula.
    • A pan should be able to hold 3 or 4. Fry till golden on both sides.
    • They should be thin and  slightly crispy at the edges.

    IMG_20150811_170538654_HDR

    • Do not have the pan too hot or they will burn on the outside and be raw in the centre.
    • Do not have the pan too cool or they will end up too greasy and not crispy.

    IMG_20150811_171517471

    • Serve immediately or keep them warm in the oven on a low heat whilst you make more.

    IMG_20150811_171511857

    IMG_20150811_173653863

  • With yoghurt cheese and granulated sugar.
  • With plum jam made by my friend in Leeds.

Salmon Poached with Peppers

  • After making the Salmon & Pepper soup I thought this would make a lovely light main meal with just a little alteration.
  • The peppers and onion can be cooked on the stove top and then the salmon added and poached in the steam from the stock.
  • Or the dish placed in the oven with a lid once the salmon is added.

Ingredients

    • 2 onions
    • 2 red peppers
    • 1 clove of garlic crushed.
    • 2 portions of fresh salmon
    • ½ litre vegetable stock
    • ½ teaspoon hot paprika
    • A little sunflower oil
    • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • Cut the onion in half and then slice it thinly.
  • De-seed the peppers and then cut into long thin slices.
  • Lightly fry the onion and peppers in a little sunflower oil till soft.
  • Add the paprika, garlic and the vegetable stock.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for around 15 minutes.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  • Season if necessary.
  •  
  • Put the mixture at the bottom of an ovenproof dish – that has a lid.
  • Place the salmon on top of the mixture.
  • Cover the dish with the lid.
  • Place in the oven for  around 15 minutes.
  • *
  •  Great with crusty French style bread or boiled new potatoes.
  • Royal Doulton Burgundy Plate.
  • OPTION – not tested
  • Add 125ml of dry white wine to the peppers when adding the salmon.

Celeriac & Apple Soup

  • I tried out this new recipe yesterday and it was delicious.
  • The balance of flavours can be adjusted depending on how large your celeriac is and how many apples you have.
  • Bramley cooking apples or other sour apples are needed as the soup is not intended to be sweet – more the sourness that is so popular in many Polish dishes.
  • This soup is one that is served warm.

Ingredients

  • 1 celeriac
  • 3 – 4 large Bramley apples.
  • 2-3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1½ litres of vegetable stock ( I use Marigold powder)
  • 125ml of dry sherry or wine
  • Salt & Pepper to taste.

Method

  • Peel the celeriac and chop it into small pieces.
  • Peel and core the apples and chop them into small pieces.
  • Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the celeriac and apples.
  • Heat then gently to soften but do not brown.
  • Add the stock and bring to the boil.
  • Put the lid on the saucepan and then simmer until the celeriac is soft.
  • Use a stick blender to purée the soup.
  • Season to taste.
  • Stir in the sherry and serve.

Meakin – Spanish garden soup dish

Red Cabbage Goląbki

  • I bought this little booklet in Wrocław and have been trying out a few ideas.
  • These goląbki are made with red cabbage and filled with apples, onion and sultanas. 
  • I found that red cabbage leaves seem tougher than white cabbage and did not tear as much.
  • I steamed the red cabbage as I find this easier than boiling.
  • Of course your hands will be full of red/purple dye – lemon juice at the end gets rid of most of the colour.
  • They take a lot of time to prepare – next time I will make the filling the day before.
  • The original recipe used water in which to cook the goląbki.

Ingredients for the filling

  • 2 onions – chopped
  • 3 Bramley apples – peeled, cored and chopped
  • 2 cups of boiled rice – a sticky type is good
  • Large handful of sultanas or raisins
  • 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of marjoram or Italian herbs
  • 2-3 tablespoons of butter to fry the onions and apples

Method for the filling

  • Fry the onions gently in the butter – do not brown.
  • Once the onions are soft and golden add the apples and heat together.
  • Add the rice, sultanas and sugar.
  • Mix well and leave to cool.

Ingredients for the goląbki

  • 1 red cabbage
  • Water or apple juice
  • *
  • Filling as above

Method for goląbki

  • Steam a whole cabbage.
  • Cut off the leaves one by one as they become pliable.
  • You can cut out some of the thick part of the base of the leaf.
  • 11 – 12 leaves are good for this amount of filling.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 –  180°C.
  • Place 2 tablespoons of filling onto each leaf.
  • Roll up the leaves with the thick part inside first.
  • Place the goląbki close together in a roasting tin.
  • Cover the goląbki with hot water or apple juice.
  • *
  • If you have any leaves left over, cover the dish with these.
  • Cover the dish with aluminium foil.
  • Cook for around 2-3 hours in the oven.
  • *
  • Discard the extra leaves which are there to take up any excess heat and prevent the goląbki burning.
  • *
  • You can cook these earlier and reheat for an hour when required.

NOTE

I thought they were even nicer with the apple juice the second time I made them.

Courgette Tart

  • This delicious recipe originated from an old Yorkshire recipe for marrow  tart.
  • Did you know that marrow and courgettes are varieties of the same species – Cucurbita pepo? 
  • As courgettes are more abundant in shops now I decided to use these in the tart.
  • The amount of sugar in the original recipe was too much – everyone thought it was too sweet.
  • The ratio of courgettes to sugar has been adjusted and now very well liked.

INGREDIENTS

  • Shortcrust pastry – kruche ciasto
  • *
  • 500g courgettes
  • 2 large lemons
  • 350g sugar
  • 85g butter
  • *
  • Beaten egg white to brush

METHOD

  • First make the filling.
  • Peel the courgettes and cut them into chunks.
  • Steam the courgettes till they are soft.
  • Leave to cool and dry them off.
  • Mash the courgettes using a potato masher.
  • Put the courgettes, lemon rind and juice, sugar and butter into a small saucepan.
  • Heat them up and simmer whilst stirring until the mixture is thick.
  • Leave to cool completely.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C.
  • Line a tart tin – loose bottomed is best – with the shortcrust pastry.
  • Place on a metal baking sheet.
  • Fill with the filling.
  • Use strips of pastry to partly cover the top.
  • Brush the pastry with the egg white.
  • Bake for 25 to 30 mins.
  • Royal Doulton Sonnet &
  • Duchess Silver Rose Tea Plates
  • *
  • I am sure I will be able to think of other other ideas for this filling.