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.

Breaded Aubergines

  • I went to my favourite restaurant in the area, which is very near to where I live.
  • It is called Healds Hall .
  • They had a new starter on the menu, which was delicious.
  • I decided to recreate this at home.
  • I used Polish honey from the Mazurian Lakes, which was delicious.
  • The Polish word for aubergine is bakłażan and it comes from the Persian – badigan. 
  • Americans call aubergines – egg plant.

Ingredients

  • 1 Aubergine
  • Plain flour
  • 1 egg – beaten
  • Salt and pepper
  • Dried breadcrumbs
  • *
  • Sunflower oil to fry
  • *
  • To serve
  • *
  • Runny honey
  • Yoghurt cheese or cream cheese

Method

  • Slice the aubergine into 1 – 1.5cm circles.
  • Sprinkle them with salt and put them into a colander over a bowl.
  • Leave for around 30 minutes.
  • Dry the slices with kitchen roll.
  • Sprinkle with a little pepper.
  • Have ready dishes of flour, beaten egg and dried breadcrumbs.
  • Dip each slice of aubergine first into the flour, then the beaten egg and lastly the dried breadcrumbs.
  • In a frying pan heat up the oil.
  • Fry the slices gently on both sides till golden.
  • Remove from the oil, place onto kitchen roll to remove some of the oil.
  • Serve with yoghurt cheese or cream cheese with runny honey on top.
Vintage Pyrex

Cabbage Carrot & Pear Salad

  • This is a variation on my usual cabbage salad.
  • Mayonnaise is not used just lemon juice as a dressing. 
  • Rather than apples I used pears for this salad.
  • Conference pears or other hard pears are good for this.
  • The pears need to be ripe but not too “mushy”.
  • I would peel the pears as the skins are often very tough.

Ingredients

  • ½ head of white cabbage
  • 3-4 hard pears
  • 2 carrots
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • *
  • Chopped flat leafed parsley or chives to serve

Method

  • Shred the cabbage into fine shreds.
  • Peel the pears and then coarse grate them.
  • Coarse grate the carrots.
  • Mix them all together.
  • Pour the lemon juice over them and mix.
  • Sprinkle with flat leaved parsley or chives.

Jagodówki – Whinberry Yeast Buns

  • These  drożdżówki – sweet yeast buns – with whinberries(bilberries) get their own name.
  • Jagodówki or Jagodzianki – – Jagody being whinberries.
  • These grew in abundance in the woods near where both my mother and father used to live in the North East of the then Poland.
  • I imagine both my grandmothers baking these when the fruit was ripe in summer.
  • Some also grew in the area of Lancashire where I was brought up and we often picked these.
  • If you are lucky enough to have these growing near you – go and pick them and bake.
  • Otherwise use imported blueberries – their big American cousins.

Filling

There are 3 ways to make the filling:

  • Berries sprinkled with granulated sugar and left for a while.
  • Berries sprinkled with granulated sugar and cooked in a pan for a few minutes.
  • Use blueberry jam.

Ingredients – Buns

  • 200g & 50g plain flour
  • 150 ml warm milk
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • ½ tablespoon of dried yeast
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • 60g granulated sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • *
  • Egg white for brushing – beaten

Ingredients – crumble topping – kruszonka

  • 30g plain flour
  • 20g butter
  • 20g granulated sugar

Method – crumble topping – kruszonka

  • Rub the butter into the flour to get breadcrumbs.
  • Stir in the sugar.

Method – Buns

  • Mix the milk, yeast,  1 teaspoon of sugar and 50g of plain flour.
  • Leave for 20 minutes.
  • Put the 200g  of plain flour,  60g of sugar, salt, yolks and yeast mixture in a bowl.
  • Mix together to form a soft dough.
  • Add a little extra milk if this is too dry.
  • Knead for 10 minutes – set a timer – till you get a smooth ball.
  • Cover and leave for 1½ – 2 hours.
  • Line baking tray with baking paper.
  • *
  • Lightly knead the dough for a few minutes.
  • Divide the dough into 6.
  • Roll each one to make a ball and then flatten it.
  • Place a tablespoon of the filling in the centre.
  • Take the edges of the dough and bring together and seal.
  • Place the balls, sealed side down, on the baking tray.
  • Brush with beaten egg white.
  • Sprinkle the kruszonka – crumble mixture over the top 
  • *
  • Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven  to GM6 – 200°C.
  • Bake for 12-14 minutes.
  • Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Orange Drizzle Cake

  • My lemon drizzle cake is very popular and I make it often.
  • I decided to make an orange version and was very pleased with the result.

Ingredients – Cake

  • 175g butter
  • 175g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • Juice of ½ orange
  • 175g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder

Ingredients – Drizzle

  • Juice of an orange
  • 100g caster sugar

Method

  • Grease and line a large (2lb) loaf tin – or use a ready bought liner.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180oC
  • Cream the butter and sugar till soft and fluffy
  • Add the orange zest and mix again.
  • Add the eggs, 1 by 1, and mix well.
  • Add the orange juice and mix well.
  • Mix the flour with the baking powder.
  • Fold in the flour with a metal spoon.
  • Put the mixture into the loaf tin and gently level the top.
  • Bake for around 45-50 minutes – check after 40 minutes and cover the top with greaseproof paper if needed to prevent the top burning.
  • Leave to cool slightly in the tin and then remove and place on a cake rack and allow to cool a little more.
  • *
  • Prepare the drizzle by mixing the sugar and orange juice until it dissolves.
  • Remove the greaseproof paper or liner and place the cake onto a plate (a long rectangular one with a lip around the side is the best ) so that the base is flat and excess drizzle does not run off.
  • Prick the top of the cake with a skewer.
  • Gently spoon all the drizzle over the top of the cake.

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Burleigh Blue Mist tea plate- 1930s

Courgette Soups

  • I was interested in why British English and American English have different names for a mini marrow.
  • In Italian zucca is the name given to a squash and zucchini is the diminutive.
  • In French courge is the name given to a squash and courgette is the diminutive.
  • So the two words mean the same thing and one can speculate why one is used in Britain and the other in America.
  • In Poland the word used is cukini – so comes from Italian – as do many vegetable names in Polish.
  • Here are two simple but delicious soups, they start off the same and it is in the finishing that they are different.
  • I think version 1 is more the style of soup served in Poland and version 2 more in England.

Ingredients – Version 1

  • 2-3 courgettes
  • 1 onion
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 2-3 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 tablespoons of soured cream
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Chopped chives or flat-leaved parsley to serve

Method – Version 1

  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Melt the butter and gently fry the onion in it till golden.
  • Chop the courgette into small pieces and add to the onion.
  • Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
  • Simmer gently until the courgettes are soft.
  • Stir in the soured cream.
  • Season to taste.
  • Add chopped herbs when serving.

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Meakin Midwinter – Spanish Garden – Soup Dish from the 1960s.

Ingredients – Version 2 – Cream of Courgette 

  • 2-3 courgettes
  • 1 onion
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 2-3 tablespoons of butter
  • 125ml of soured cream
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Chopped chives or flat-leaved parsley to serve

Method – Version 2

  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Melt the butter and gently fry the onion in it till golden.
  • Chop the courgette into small pieces and add to the onion.
  • Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
  • Simmer gently until the courgettes are soft.
  • Remove the pan from the heat.
  • Purée the soup – a stick blender is good for this.
  • Bring back to the boil.
  • Stir in the soured cream.
  • Season to taste.
  • Add chopped herbs when serving.
Royal Doulton – Carnation 1982 – 1998

Chocolate Macaroons

  • This is an English recipe, which is over a hundred years old.
  • These macarons were very popular in Edwardian England (1901 – 1910).

Ingredients

  • 2 egg whites
  • 85g ground almonds
  • 85g caster sugar
  • 85g grated dark chocolate
  • 30g ground rice

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
  • Mix all the dry ingredients together.
  • Whisk eggs whites until stiff.
  • Gently fold in the dry ingredients until well mixed.
  • Roll tablespoon sized balls in your hands.
  • Place well apart on the baking sheets to allow for spreading.
  • Bake for around 20 minutes.
  • Do not over bake them.

Cake Plate – Dubarry – Crown Devon from the 1930s

Fruity Twaróg Desserts

  • These desserts are a more fruity version of twaróg desserts 
  • As well as flavoured jellies and twaróg, puréed tinned fruits such as peaches, apricots and pears or runny jams are used.
  • The jelly, fruit and twaróg mixture is left to set in a bowl and scoops are then put into individual serving dishes.
  • The flavours and fruits used here are just examples – use the flavours of jellies that you like as well as the fruit.

Ingredients – Raspberry

  • 1 packet of raspberry jelly
  • 250 – 350g of twaróg , yoghurt cheese or cream cheese
  •  4 tablespoons of raspberry jam

Ingredients – Peach

  • 1 packet of lemon or orange jelly
  • 250 – 350g of twaróg , yoghurt cheese or cream cheese
  • 1 tin of peaches

Ingredients – Apricot

  • 1 packet of lemon or orange jelly
  • 250 – 350g of twaróg , yoghurt cheese or cream cheese
  • 1 tin of peaches

Toppings

  • Fresh fruit chopped
  • Tinned or bottled fruit chopped
  • Thickened syrup made from tinned fruit juices and potato flour
  • Sauce made from runny jam or jam and water (heated and cooled)
  • Grated chocolate or chocolate flake
  • Mint or lemon balm leaves

Method

  • Make up a packet of jelly with 200ml of boiling water.
  • Leave to cool.
  • Drain the fruit from the syrup.
  • Purée the fruit .
  • Or gently heat the jam with some water and then cool.
  • Whisk in the twaróg and fruit or jam into the cooled jelly mixture.
  • Pour into a large bowl.
  • Leave to set in the fridge.
  • Put scoops into individual glasses.
  • Add the toppings.

Note – you can make two flavours and serve scoops of each.

Kartacze or Kołduny

  • Kartacze, sometimes called kołduny , are potato dumplings, stuffed with meat and then boiled.
  • They are very similar to pyzy  but they are a different shape – long rolls rather than round balls.
  • Traditionally they are served with some skwarki – crispy smoked bacon bits or slightly charred onions, a mixture of the two or just melted butter poured over them.
  • There are many recipes, some made with raw potato, others with boiled or steamed potatoes and some using a mixture of the two.
  • I have found that using a 50:50 mixture of  fine grated raw potatoes and boiled potatoes gives the best results.
  • You will need some flour, which can be wheat flour, potato flour or a mixture of the two (I prefer just wheat).
  • You also need eggs or egg yolks – around 1 egg to 1 kilo of potatoes.
  • For the filling you needs some cooked meat such as from a klops – meat loaf, cooked kotlety (meat balls/burgers) or meat filling for pierogi.

Ingredients

  • 750g of raw potatoes
  • 750g of cold boiled potatoes
  • 1 egg and 1 yolk
  • 1-2 tablespoons of plain flour  & extra for dusting
  • Salt

Method

  • Grate the raw potatoes using a fine grater.
  • Place the potatoes on a clean tea cloth.
  • Squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
  • Mash or use a ricer to get the boiled potatoes smooth and lump free.
  • Mix the two sorts of potato together in a large bowl.
  • Add the egg and the yolk and mix together.
  • Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
  • Add some salt.

Ingredients – Filling

  • 250g of cooked and then minced or finely chopped meat(usually pork)
    such as from:
    • Klops – meat loaf
    • Cooked minced kotlety (meat balls/burgers)
    • Meat filling for pierogi.
  • Half a grated onion
  • 25g of melted butter
  • 1-2 tablespoons of dried breadcrumbs – bułka tarta
  • Salt & pepper

Method – Filling

  • Mix all the ingredients together to make a stiff filling.
  • Season to taste.

Making the kartacze

  • You are aiming for  a thick roll.
  • Take a small handful of the mixture and shape it into a flat oval.
  • Place this onto a floured board.
  • Add a tablespoon amount of the meat filling.
  • Bring the potato mixture around the filling and with floured hands shape into a roll.
  • Seal up the short ends with the potato dough.
  • Repeat this with the rest of the potato mixture and meat filling mixture.
  • Have ready a large pan of boiling water to which you have added some salt and a bit of sunflower oil..
  • Place around 4 kartacze at a time into the hot water.
  • Let them rise to the top then simmer for 8 – 9  minutes –  not too long as they will start to disintegrate.
  • Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a colander over a pan.
  • *
  • Place into a warm serving dish and top with skwarki – crispy smoked bacon bits, slightly charred onions, a mixture of the two or just melted butter.
  • Keep the dish warm and continue adding to the kartacze in the dish as they cook.
  • The fat in the topping stops them sticking together.
  • Royal Doulton Carnation – 1982-1998

Rhubarb Yeast Buns

  • Today, 4 July 2021, is the 6th anniversary of my blog. 
  • I still enjoy trying out recipes and writing about them.
  • I still have many more traditional and modern recipes to do.
  • Today’s recipe is very Polish –  drożdżówki – sweet yeast buns.
  • The yeast dough I used for onion rolls was very good and I thought I could use it with different toppings.
  • I found that adding some granulated sugar to the dough was better for sweet toppings.
  • I have previously made similar buns – see kołaczyki, which means little wheels from the word koła which means wheels.
  • I like this dough recipe even more than the ones I have used before – this will become the one I will use the most.

Ingredients – Roll

  • 200g & 50g plain flour
  • 150 ml warm milk
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • ½ tablespoon of dried yeast
  • *
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • 60g granulated sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • *
  • Egg white for brushing – beaten
  • 3 to 4 stalks of rhubarb
  • 3-4 tablespoons of granulated sugar

Method – Rhubarb

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Chop the rhubarb into small pieces.
  • Place them on a baking tray.
  • Sprinkle them with sugar.
  • Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes.
  • The aim is to part cook them to be soft.
  • Leave to go cold before using.

Ingredients – Kruszonka

  • 30g plain flour
  • 20g butter
  • 30g granulated sugar

Method – Kruszonka

  • Rub the butter into the flour to get breadcrumbs.
  • Stir in the sugar.

Method

  • Mix the milk, yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 50g of plain flour.
  • Leave for 20 minutes.
  • Put the 200g  of plain flour, 60g of sugar, salt, yolks and yeast mixture in a bowl.
  • Mix together to form a soft dough.
  • Add a little extra milk if this is too dry.
  • Knead for 10 minutes – set a timer – till you get a smooth ball.
  • Cover and leave for 1½ – 2 hours.
  • Line baking tray with baking paper.
  • *
  • Lightly knead the dough for a few minutes.
  • Divide the dough into 6.
  • Roll each one to make a ball.
  • Place the balls on the baking tray and flatten each one.
  • Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
  • Pre-heat the oven  to GM6 – 200°C.
  • Using finger tips or the base of a tumbler flatten the centre of each roll.
  • Brush with beaten egg white.
  • Place around 8 pieces of rhubarb in the centre of each roll.
  • Sprinkle the kruszonka – crumble mixture over the top of the rhubarb
  • Bake for 20 minutes.
  • Leave to cool on a wire rack.
  • *
  • Serve warm or cold.
J & G Meakin – Topic – 1966- 1979
Vintage Pyrex

Optional

  • Dust with icing sugar.
  • Drizzle with runny icing.

Carrot & Sultana Salad

I usually use carrots to make a salad with apples but today I had lots of carrots and no apples so found a different salad to make.

Ingredients

  • 5 carrots
  • 80g sultanas
  • Zest and juice of 1 orange

Method

  • Grate the carrots using a coarse grater.
  • Mix with the sultanas.
  • Mix with the orange zest and juice.

This is best made around 30 minutes before it is needed.