Gammon & Apricot Sauce

  • After cooking grilled gammon and apricots I thought about making the dish with a larger gammon joint.
  • Mine was around – 1kg.
  • I think this is best with an unsmoked joint.
  • Tinned apricots in syrup are best.

Ingredients

  • Unsmoked gammon joint – 1kg or more
  • Tin of apricots in syrup
  • *
  • 1 tablespoon of potato or corn flour – optional
  • Sugar – optional

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190° C.
  • This is best cooked in an enamelled tin with a lid.
  • Empty the apricots and the syrup into the base of the baking tin.
  • Place gammon joint on top.
  • Place the lid over the tin.
  • Place in the oven and cook for the time specified for that weight of meat.
  • *
  • Just before the cooking time is up seperate the apricots and the meat.
  • Put the meat back into the oven with the lid on the tin.
  • Put the apricots into a small saucepan and heat up a little whilst stirring.
  • The apricots should have become a thick pulp with just a few large pieces.
  • Though this will depend on the size of the joint.
  • *
  • Optional
  • Mix the potato flour or cornflour with a little water.
  • Stir this into the apricots and heat gently with stirring to thicken the sauce.
  • Sweeten the sauce with sugar to taste.
  • *
  • Slice up the joint and serve with the sauce.

Meakin serving plate and Royal Doulton Burgundy dinner plate.

Thought – will be trying this with a pork loin joint next!

Fried Kopytka

  • My Mama often made kopytka potato dumplings but I do not remember them ever being fried afterwords.
  • I had this dish of rabbit in a garlicky cream sauce with fried kopytka in a restaurant in Wrocław.
  • They were super!
  • I decided to have a go at these myself.
  • Now you can cheat if you have a Polish shop near you that sells ready made kopytka that you can boil first.
  • I decided to make these from scratch, which does involve a few steps & time.
  • *
  • THE STEPS
  • *
  • Boil starchy potatoes
  • Leave to go cold
  • *
  • Make kopytka
  • Boil the kopytka
  • Leave to go cold
  • *
  • Fry the kopytka

Ingredients

  • Starchy potatoes – boiled and left to go cold – around 500 – 600g
  • 1 egg & 1 egg yolk
  • Plain flour – around 200g
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Sunflower oil for frying

Method

  • Peel the potatoes cut them up into pieces and boil them in salted water.
  • Drain the potatoes
  • Mash them so that there are no lumps.
  • I have a ricer which is very good for this.
  • Leave the potatoes to cool.
  • Use a large bowl and put the cold potatoes into the bowl.
  • Lightly beat the egg and the yolk together and add this to the potatoes.
  • Add a little salt.
  • Weigh out the flour to give an idea of how much is needed,
  • This will depend on the type of potato and the size of the eggs.
  • Add the flour and mix first with a wooden spoon and then by hand, you might not need all the flour or you may need more.
  • Mix until you have a soft dough.
  • *
  • Divide the dough into quarters and using a floured board shape the dough and roll it with you hands until you have a long sausage about 3cm in diameter.
  • If the dough sticks to the board then you need to add more flour.
  • Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into pieces, make the first cut at a diagonal and make the thickness about 1 to 1.5cm.
  • You will get a sort of oval shape.
  • Repeat this with the rest of the dough.
  • *
  • Fill a large pan with water, add some salt and bring this to the boil.
  • When the water is boiling, add the dumplings one by one, do not over fill the pan or they will stick together.
  • I tend to do this in 4 batches.
  • As they cook they will float to the surface, give them about another minute and then remove them with a slotted  or a perforated spoon and put them in a colander.
  • I have a colander sitting in an empty pan by the side of the large pan in which I am boiling the dumplings.
  • I find that the maximum from putting  them into the water to taking them out will be 3 minutes, if you cook these too long they will start to fall apart.
  • *
  • You need to let the kopytka dry off and go cold.
  • NOTE – kitchen roll tends to stick – baking paper is better.
  • Gently shallow fry the kopytka in sunflower oil.
  • Take care not to burn them.
  • Served here on a vintage pyrex plate.
  • Good with other fried foods or served with a sauce.

VERDICT

Everyone thought them delicious and want them to be made often!

Dividing the timing of boiling potatoes, making and boiling kopytka and then frying them to serve with a meal needs to be spaced out to make life easier!

Silesian Heaven – 2

  • Silesian Heaven  – Śląskie niebo
  • Previously I cooked this dish more as a gulasz (casserole).
  • I really liked the mixture of dried fruits: apples, apricots and prunes.
  • Use dried pears also if you can source these.
  • The fruits are rehydrated overnight.
  • I thought why not use this mixture as the base of a roast pork dish as in an old Polish style or as in More Pork and Prunes.

INGREDIENTS

  • Piece of pork loin or leg for roasting
  • 300g of mixed dried apples, apricots and prunes
  • Plain flour & pepper
  • A little oil to seat the joint

METHOD

  • Place the dried fruits in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
  • Leave overnight.
  • *
  • Preheat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Roll the joint in flour and pepper.
  • Seal lightly on all sides.
  • Place all the fruits and liquid at the base of  an oven roasting tin – one with a lid.
  • Place the joint on top.
  • Put the lid on top.
  • Cook in the oven for the time required for the weight of meat.
  • *
  • You can take the lid off nearer the end of the cooking time.
  • *
  •  Serve the meat surrounded by the fruits.
  • *
  • NOTE – how much the fruits are cooked will depend on the size of the joint.

  • Served here on a serving dish by Allenton & Son

Option

  • Prior to serving, cover and keep the meat warm.
  • Remove the fruits and place in a saucepan with a little more water.
  • Heat with stirring to make them more  a thick sauce.

Soup with Rocket

  • The Genus for rocket is Eruca.
  • It is part of the Brassica family.
  • The Polish word for this peppery vegetable is rokulka – 
  • Taken from the Italian word rucola.
  • In America it is called arugula.
  • Chopped rocket is added to this soup just before serving.

INGREDIENTS

  • 400g starchy potatoes 
  • 1 onion
  • 1 can of cannellini beans
  • 100g rocket
  • 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock
  • Butter to fry onions
  • Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

  • Chop the onions into small pieces
  • Fry the onion in butter gently till golden.
  • Peel and chop the potatoes into small pieces.
  • Add the potatoes and stock and simmer for around 20 minutes till the potatoes are nearly cooked.
  • Drain the beans from the can and add to the potatoes.
  • Simmer for another 10 minutes.
  • Season to taste.*
  • *
  • Chop the rocket into small pieces and add to the soup before serving.
  • Stir in the rocket  and serve.
  • *
  • NOTE
  • Cook to this point if making the soup ahead of time – reheat and add rocket to serve.

Silesian Heaven

  • Just back from a short holiday in Wroclaw which is in Silesia, Poland.
  • In a restaurant in the Old Town  I had Silesian Heaven  – Śląskie niebo – which was delicious.
  • Dried fruits such as apples, apricots, pears and  prunes are cooked with pork.
  • I have several recipes for pork with prunes – this has even more fruitiness.
  • This would have been a recipe for the winter months using all these dried fruits.

IMG-20230217-WA0003 (2)

  • I looked up several recipes for this.
  • I decided that shoulder pork would be the best option.
  • I used dried apples, apricots and prunes – I did not find any dried pears.
  • The recipe has to be started the evening before by soaking the dried fruits.
  • Some recipes cooked the pork and fruits for the same time BUT this makes the fruits like a thick sauce – this way I think is better.
  • NOTE
  • The prunes and apricots I used were the soft kind now more available –
  • If using the traditional very dried fruits you could adapt the timing of the fruit addition to earlier in the cooking.

Ingredients

  • 1kg of shoulder pork – steaks
  • 250g of prunes, dried apricots and dried apples
  • 750ml of vegetable or chicken stock
  • Sunflower oil for frying
  • Salt & pepper
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Method

  • Cover the dried fruits with boiling water.
  • Leave overnight.
  • *
  • Preheat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  •  
  • Fry the pork on both sides.
  • Place the pork in an ovenproof dish.
  • Pour the stock over this and stir.
  • Place a lid over the dish.
  • Cook for around 2 hours.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • *
  • Add the dried fruits and the liquid.
  • Add more liquid if a lot has evaporated.
  • Stir and put back in the oven for another hour.
  • *
  • Pour the lemon juice over top before serving.
  • *
  • Here served with pearl barley – but buckwheat or rice would be good or  boiled or mashed potatoes or potato dumplings.

Royal Doulton – Burgundy plate

OPTION – To be tried later

  • Use a joint of pork and roast over the dried fruits.
  • Similar to the recipe for Pork & Prunes.

Chocolate Budyń

  • Budyń is similar to a thick English custard.
  • The word comes from the French  –  boudin, as does the English word pudding.
  • It is made from milk, egg yolks, sugar  and potato flour.
  • Here it has added cocoa powder to make it chocolate flavoured.

INGREDIENTS

  • 500ml milk (full or semi-skimmed)
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons of potato flour ( or cornflour if potato is not available)
  • 1 tablespoon of cocoa
  • 3 egg yolks

METHOD

  • Put 300ml of the milk, the butter and sugar into a saucepan.
  • Heat gently till the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved, stirring all the time.
  • Bring this to the boil for a few seconds and then take of the heat.
  • Mix together the potato flour and the cocoa.
  • Blend this together the rest of the milk (200ml) and with the egg yolks.
  • Add some of the boiled mixture to this and stir well.
  • Add the mixture to the rest of  the boiled mixture and stir well.
  • *
  • Put the pan back on the heat and bring back to boiling point, stirring gently.
  • Keep at boiling for 1 minute, stirring all the time.
  • Pour into a glass dish (or several small dishes) – leave to cool.
  • *
  • Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
  • Best chilled overnight
  • Add grated chocolate or shavings to serve and
  • Thick yoghurt or soured cream.

Kotlety with Courgettes – 2

  • I got this idea from one of my new Polish cookery books.
  • It is similar to my Kotlety mielone  –  large meatballs with the addition of coarse grated courgette.
  • Instead of the usual way I do my onions – the chopped green parts of spring onions were used.

Ingredients

  • 400-500g minced pork
  • Green parts of a bunch of spring onions
  • 1 bread roll or 1 slice white bread
  • Milk to soak the bread
  • 1 large courgette – coarsely grated
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs
  • Salt & pepper
  • *
  • Dried breadcrumbs – Bułka tarta
  • *
  • Sunflower oil to fry the kotlety.

Method

  • Soak the bread in the milk for around 20 minutes.
  • Squeeze out the excess milk.
  • Chop the green parts of the spring onions into small circles.
  •  
  • In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together except for the dried breadcrumbs, it is best to do this using both hands, making sure that all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

  • If the mixture seems too wet then add a tablespoon full of dried breadcrumbs and mix this in.

  • Pour some dried breadcrumbs onto a large plate or board.

  • Try to make each one the same size, take a handful of the mixture and press it between your hands to make a flattened circle and then place this in the dried breadcrumbs and turn it over to cover both sides and edges.

  • Once coated place them on a tray dusted with breadcrumbs until you have used all the mixture up.

  • Shallow fry the kotlety in hot oil, depending on the frying pan size,  you can do 3 to 4 at a time, turning them over so that both sides are done.

  • Place them on kitchen roll on a plate or metal tray till they are all cooked –  you can keep them warm in a low oven.

     

UPDATE – 3 April 2023

  • The original recipe used minced chicken.
  • I tried this out yesterday.
  • We all thought PORK was much tastier!

New Polish Cookery Books

  • I have returned recently from a short trip to Wrocław.
  • A lovely city and I stayed in the old town, which was super.
  • I ate in several restaurants and picked up some ideas for recipes.
  • I also bought 3 Polish recipe books which are very interesting and you will be seeing ideas coming through from these in the next few months.
  • One of the many lovely doors in Wrocław.
  •  
  • IMG-20230216-WA0018 (1)
  •  
  • Souvenir Krasnoludki (gnomes) – reading and eating ices  – 2 of my favourite pleasures!

  • Krasnoludki are all around the town – from the 1980s as anti Soviet protests.

Yorkshire White Bread

  • I came across recipe whilst doing some research on Yorkshire recipes.
  • It is the best white wheat loaf I have ever made!
  • Not technically a bread in Poland as it does not have any rye flour.
  • Baking it in a tin works well.

INGREDIENTS

  • 450g strong bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried yeast
  • 300 ml warm water
  • 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

METHOD

  • Use 4 tablespoons of the water and add the sugar and dried yeast.
  • Leave for around 10 – 15 minutes until the mixture is frothy.
  • Mix the flour and the salt.
  • Add the yeast mixture to the flour.
  • Add the rest of the water and the oil.
  • Bring it all together into a soft dough ball.
  • Knead the mixture for 10 minutes – set a timer.
  • Cover the dough and leave to prove for 1 to 2 hours or until it has doubled in size.
  • *
  • Grease an 18cm in diameter cake tin with a loose bottom.
  • Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board,
  • Knead again for around 5 minutes.
  • Make a round shape of the dough and place into the greased tin.
  • Leave to rise again until it is doubled in size for around 1 to 1 ½ hours.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C.
  • Using a sharp knife score a cross in the top of the loaf.
  • Bake the loaf for around 20 minutes until the top is golden brown.
  • *
  • Leave to cool in the tin for around 20 minutes.

NOTE

Using melted butter rather than sunflower oil might be an option – Not Tested.

Cake with “Sour” Fruits 2

  • This is the second fruit recipe I have been given from my Polish friend in Leeds.
  • It is quite unusual and contains a large proportion of fruit to cake.
  • It works best with sour fruits such as –
  • Bilberries (Whinberries)
  • Cooking apples
  • Plums – not too ripe
  • Rhubarb
  • Sour cherries
  • *
  • I have tried it out with Bramley apples from the garden as rhubarb is not yet in season. (This will be my next trial).
  • Some potato flour is used and the recipe says you can use budyń –– Polish custard powder.
  • The second time I tried it out using English custard powder.
  • I used 180g of granulated sugar, which was enough for the apples.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1kg of fruit
  • *
  • 180g – 220g granulated sugar – depends on how sour the fruit is.
  • 3 eggs
  • 170g plain flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 90g potato flour 
  • 125g butter
  • 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
  • *
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons of mixed spice or cinnamon or 5-6 drops of vanilla essence
  • *
  • Butter or oil &  bułka tarta – dried breadcrumbs
  • *
  • Icing sugar to dust

METHOD

  • Grease a 32 x 22 baking tin and cover thinly with breadcrumbs.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C.
  • Melt the butter in a small saucepan and leave to cool.
  • *
  • Prepare the fruit – for apples these were peeled and cored and chopped into small pieces.
  • Mix the spices with the fruit.
  • *
  • Mix the plain flour, baking powder and potato flour together .
  • In a large bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar (180g for apples).
  • Mix in the flour mixture
  • Add the cooled butter and mix well.
  • Add the sunflower oil and mix well.
  • *
  • Add the fruit and mix so that the fruit is coated with the batter.
  • Put the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth it down and into the sides.
  • *
  • Bake for 45 -50 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • Dust with icing sugar.
  • *
  • It is hard to take out whole from the tin – easier to cut squares or rectangles in the tin and take these out individually to serve. 
  • Royal Grafton – Woodside tea plate
  • *

  • Option 

  • The recipe says you can use budyń –– Polish custard powder  instead of  potato flour.
  •  I did not have any budyń but  tried it out the second time using English custard powder it worked well.
  • See photo below served on Royal Doulton – Carnation.

withcustard