Courgette – Journey From A Polish Kitchen

Leczo

My Polish friend came round and talked about a sauce she had made the night before.
I had never heard of it!
Maybe it is more popular in different parts of Poland?
I did a bit of reseach – it was not in my “Polish Bible”.
But I now know it is comes from a sauce that is is popular in Hungary.
So of course you can expect red peppers.
The following is the recipe from my friend.
I will look at some different versions later.

INGREDIENTS

2 red peppers – chopped (yellow or orange – depending on availability).
2 onions – chopped
2 courgettes – chopped
250g Polish sausage eg Silesian – chopped
2 large tomatoes – chopped or 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
Sunflower oil for frying
A little vegetable stock.
Salt & pepper to taste (might not be needed)
*
2 cloves garlic – chopped fine
1 teaspoon hot paprika or chilli flakes

METHOD

Chop all the ingredients into cubes.
Use a large saucepan and add a little oil.
Lightly fry the onions.
Add the peppers, mix together and carry on frying on a low heat.
Add the courgettes and repeat.
You might need to add a little stock – do not let it boil dry.
Add the sausage, mix and add a little stock.
Add the tomatoes or the tomato purée and more stock.
With a lid on, simmer gently for around 20 minutes adding stock when needed.
Checking and stirring during this time.
Season to taste.
*
Add the chopped garlic, hot paprika or chilli flakes before serving.

Usually served with pasta or rice or with Polish potato pancakes (This reminds me of gulasz with potato pancakes.)

I would think of this as a more winter dish in some ways but all the vegetables are around in the late summer.

Some people bottle the vegetable part of this recipe and add the sausage at the end.

Courgette Fritters & Extras

I posted the original courgette fritter recipe in 2017.
Although courgette fritters are not from an old Polish recipe they do have some similarity to Polish potato pancakes and to carrot pancakes.
Courgette in Polish is cukinia – so this is another vegetable that owes its name to Italian – zucchini.
I often make variations on this recipe by adding other vegetables such a baby leaf spinach or sweetcorn (also see sweetcorn fritters).
Chopped chilli is also a good addition.
The amounts of the ingredients are all approximate.

Ingredients

2 to 3 courgettes
1 egg (can be 2 if using more vegetables)
2 -3 tablespoons of soured cream, yoghurt, crème fraise or yoghurt cheese
2 tablespoons of plain flour
Grated rind of 1 lemon(optional)
Salt
Sunflower oil for frying.
*
Baby leaf spinach, sweetcorn and chilli or any quickly cooked vegetable.
Chopped garlic – optional

Method

Grate the courgettes using a coarse grater.
Sprinkle the courgettes with salt.
Place the salted courgettes onto a clean tea towel and place this in a colander for around 30 minutes.
Wrap the tea towel up and squeeze out the liquid from the courgettes.
Note
The green stains on the tea towel will come out in a hot wash but do not use fabric softener for tea towels used for this and similar purposes.

Place the dried grated courgettes in a bowl and add the grated lemon rind.

Keep them on a heat proof plate in a low heat oven whilst you make the rest.

You can place a sheet of kitchen roll on top of the first layer to stop them sticking.
Serve them with grilled meats and salad.

Served here with grilled bacon and fried eggs.

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

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.

Courgette Cake – Version 2

I wanted to bake a courgette cake as I have made before but found I had spelt flour to use up soon and dried cranberries.
Also I did not have any hazelnuts.
So I made a variation of this well loved cake.
It would be called a keks in Polish – a light fruit loaf.

Ingredients – Cake

150g spelt flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
150g of light brown sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
150g of sultanas
150g of dried cranberries
100g of finely cut chopped walnuts
1 medium size courgette coarse grated
3 eggs
125ml of sunflower oil

Ingredients – Lemon Icing

Fine grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
150g of icing sugar

Method – Cake

Pre-heat the oven to GM4 180°C
I used a continental style long loaf tin, greased it and used a single sheet of grease proof paper to line the long sides and the base.
Mix together the flour, salt, sugars and cinnamon, making sure that any lumps in the brown sugar are all pressed out.
Mix together the sultanas, dried courgettes, nuts and the courgette.
Lightly whisk the eggs and oil together.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly together with a wooden spoon.
Add the courgette mixture and mix well in.
Place the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the top.
Bake for 50 – 55 minutes – check after 40 minutes and cover the top with greaseproof or foil if browning too much before it is baked through.
Leave to cool before icing.

Method – Icing

Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add the grated lemon zest.
Mix in the lemon juice until you have a thick icing.
You might have to adjust the thickness with more lemon juice (or water) or with icing sugar.
Put the icing on the top of the cake and let it drip down the sides.

Kotlety with Courgettes

This is a version of my kotlety – Polish meat patties, burgers or large meat balls.
Coarse grated courgettes are added – similar in a way to kotlety with sauerkraut.

Ingredients

400g minced beef or pork or a mixture
Breadcrumbs made from 2 fresh slices of white bread or 2 bread rolls
1 large onion – chopped fine – fried
2 – 3 courgettes – coarse grated
2 eggs – beaten
*
Dried breadcrumbs
Salt & pepper
*
Sunflower oil to fry

Method

Fry the chopped onion until golden.
Leave to cool completely.
Salt the courgettes and leave them in a colander for around 30 minutes.
Place the courgettes in a clean linen tea towel and squeeze all the liquid out.
Mix the mincemeat, breadcrumbs, onion, eggs and courgettes together well.
Season with salt and pepper.
*
Make flattened round patties and cover with dried breadcrumbs.
*
Fry on both sides in hot sunflower oil.
*
Delicious hot but also great served sliced and cold with salads and bread.

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.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is cour.jpg

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.

Courgette Fritters

The first post on this blog was on 4 July 2015 – just over 2 years ago.

Now this will be my 100th post!

Although courgette fritters are not from an old Polish recipe they do have some similarity to Polish potato pancakes and to carrot pancakes.

Courgette in Polish is cukini – so another vegetable that owes its name to Italian – zucchini.

Courgettes belong to cucurbitaceae family as do cucumbers which are very well loved in Poland – so I am sure this recipe would be very popular there too.

I have read that courgettes did not become popular in Poland until the 1970s although the larger marrow and pumpkins were often cooked and many recipes for these can be used for courgettes.

The amounts in the ingredients are all approximate.

Ingredients

2 to 3 courgettes
1 egg
2 tablespoons of soured cream, double cream, crème fraise or yoghurt cheese
2 tablespoons of plain flour
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Salt
Sunflower oil for frying.

Method

Grate the courgettes using a coarse grater.
Sprinkle the courgettes with salt.
Place the salted courgettes onto a clean tea towel and place this in a colander for around 30 minutes.
Wrap the tea towel up and squeeze out the liquid from the courgettes.

Note

The green stains on the tea towel will come out in a hot wash but do not use fabric softener for tea towels used for this and similar purposes.

Place the dried grated courgettes in a bowl and add the grated lemon rind.

Add the beaten egg and the soured cream (double cream, crème fraise or yoghurt cheese) and mix together.
Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and use large tablespoonfuls of the mixture to make the fritters.
Fry them on both sides until they are golden brown.

Keep them on a heat proof plate in a low heat oven whilst you make the rest.

You can place a sheet of kitchen roll on top of the first layer to stop them sticking.
Serve them with grilled meats and salad.

Option

A chopped red chilli or two and also a chopped garlic clove can be added to the mixture.

Courgettes – 3 Ways

Courgettes in Polish are cukini – so here is another vegetable that owes its name in Polish to Italian – zucchini.

Courgettes belong to the cucurbitaceae family as do cucumbers which are very well loved in Poland

I have read that courgettes did not become popular in Poland until the 1970s although the larger marrow and pumpkins were often cooked and many recipes for these can be adapted for courgettes.