Hasselback Potatoes

  • Leif Elisson in 1953 was a trainee chef at the Hasselbacken restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden and invented these potatoes à la Hasselbacken.
  • I first came across them about two years ago on a stitching/craft week.
  • One of the ladies there made these for dinner.

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sized starchy potatoes per person
  • 2-3 tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil
  • 1 tablespoon of salt – flakes are good
  • 1 tablespoon of butter

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C.
  • Have a baking tray ready.
  • Keep the skins on the potatoes, remove any blemishes.
  • Place the potato in the bowl of a large wooden spoon.
  • With a sharp knife cut even slits in the potato.
  • The side of the wooden spoon prevents cutting all the way through.
  • Place the potatoes on the baking tray.
  • Open up the fan a little.
  • Brush lightly with the oil.
  • Sprinkle on the salt.
  • Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.
  • Spoon any oil on the tray back over the potatoes.
  • Add a dab of butter onto each potato.
  • Cook for another 8 to 10 minutes.

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Notes

  • You could microwave larger potatoes for around 10 minutes before cutting.
  • You can sprinkle the cut potatoes with dried herbs.
  • You could use spray oil.

White Bean Potato & Sorrel Soup

  • Spring is upon us, though it is still cold.
  • Sorrel started to grow in my pots a few weeks ago – the first green to grow in my herbs.
  • I saw this recipe, which used rocket and thought I could use sorrel.
  • It is delicious.

Ingredients

  • 1 onion – finely chopped
  • 2 celery sticks – finely chopped
  • 300g salad potatoes – eg Charlottes – cut into small pieces
  • 1 litre chicken stock – can be from concentrate, cube or powder
  • 1 can white beans – butter, cannellini or haricot – drained
  • 50 – 100g sorrel leaves – chopped
  • 50g of butter
  • Salt & pepper

Method

  • In a heavy based saucepan melt the butter.
  • Add the onions and celery and cook on a low heat.
  • Stir occasionally and cook for around 10 minutes.
  • Add the potato chunks and season with salt.
  • Cook for about 5minutes.
  • Add the chicken stock.
  • Simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
  • Check with a knife that it slices easily through the potatoes.
  • Add the beans and cook for around 15 minutes.
  • Season to taste.
  • Add the chopped sorrel, stir well and serve.

Served in Royal Doulton – Burgundy 1959 – 1981

Caraway Biscuits 2

This is an old English recipe for caraway biscuits.

Compared to my first recipe for caraway biscuits it has a higher butter content and fewer caraway seeds. (you can always add more).

Ingredients

  • 270g plain flour
  • 225g butter
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
  • 1 egg – beaten

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM2 – 150°C.
  • Flour two baking trays.
  • Rub the butter into the flour so you get fine breadcrumbs.
  • Stir in the sugar and caraway seeds.
  • Mix in enough of the egg to form a soft dough.
  • Roll the dough out to 1cm thickness.
  • Use an 8cm cutter to cut out the biscuits.
  • Re-roll the cast of dough and make more biscuits.
  • Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until light golden brown.
  • Leave on the tray on a wire rack.

Rice & Apples

  • This is a hot pudding I remember my mother often making years ago.
  • It is best to make this with cooking apples, which give off lots of juice.
  • It can also be made with millet or pearl barley instead of rice.

Ingredients

  • 200g long grain rice
  • 250ml milk
  • 250ml water
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 600g of Bramley apples

Method

  • Put the rice in a saucepan with the milk and water.
  • Cook gently, stirring often till all the liquid is absorbed.
  • Stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of butter.
  • Leave to cool.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Peel and core the apples and chop them into small chunks.
  • Mix them with the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of sugar.
  • Butter an oven proof dish.
  • Put half the rice mixture on the base.
  • Put all the apple mixture on top.
  • Cover with the rest of the rice.
  • Dot 2 tablespoons of butter over the top.
  • Bake for around 50 minutes.
  • Serve hot.

 

Served in  – Johnson Brothers Green Pear bowls – 1960 – 1979.

Cabbage & Mushrooms

  • Cabbage and mushrooms are a classic combination in Polish cookery.
  • Recipes abound for combinations  using fresh cabbage through to sauerkraut, cultivated or wild mushrooms – fresh or dried – the list is endless.
  • Recently I wrote about kulebiak a large Polish pastry, which had a filling of fresh cabbage and fresh mushrooms.
  • This filling  can be served hot as a side dish – it goes well with hot roast meats.

Ingredients

  • Small head of white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage.
  • 250 -300g of mushrooms
  • 1 large onion
  • 100g of butter
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Optional – 2-3 hard boiled eggs

 

Method

  • Shred and then chop the cabbage into small pieces.
  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
  • Melt half the butter in a large deep frying pan.
  • Slowly cook the onions and the cabbage but do not brown.
  • Cover with a lid and let them simmer till they are both soft.
  • Stir occasionally – you might need to add a little hot water.
  • In another pan melt the rest of the butter and fry the mushrooms.
  • Add the mushrooms to the cabbage and onion mixture and mix well.
  • Heat gently together to remove most of the excess liquid.
  • Season to taste.
  • Sprinkle the chopped hard boiled eggs on top – optional.
  • Serve hot.

Note

You might want to look at an earlier post for Sauerkraut & Mushrooms

 

 

Szarlotka with Apples & Red Fruits

  • Szarlotka is the word my mother used for (apple) crumble.
  • In some parts of Poland szarlotka is the word used for an apple cake.
  • This cake is a cross between a cake and a crumble and is based around my previous szarlotka recipe.
  • Apples are mixed with bottled blackcurrants – but you can use any red fruits such as raspberries, blackberries, whinberries and so on.
  • The red fruits can be bottled, fresh or frozen.

Ingredients – Filling

  • 4 Bramley Apples
  • Granulated Sugar to taste – keep it slightly tart
  • A little water
  • Around 350g of bottled blackcurrants – drained

Method – Filling

  • Make the filling first, even the day beforehand as it needs to be cold before you use it.
  • Peel and core the apples and cut them into thick slices.
  • Stew the apples gently with some sugar and very little water. You can make this in a saucepan on the stove or place the apples and sugar in a dish in the oven.
  • Do not add a lot of sugar at the beginning as it does not want to be too sweet, you can adjust the sweetness at the end.
  • Do not make it too much of a purée, cook it so that you have some soft apples but with some harder less cooked chunks as well.
  • Leave this to be completely cool.
  • Mix in the blackcurrants.
  • Adjust sweetness is necessary – but keep it fairy tart.

Ingredients – Base

  • 150g  plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 100g butter
  • 40g granulated sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or water.

Ingredients – Topping (kruszonka)

  • 120g plain flour
  • 60g butter
  • 60g granulated sugar

Method – Base

  • You have to use a loose bottom or spring-form tin or you will not be able to get the cake out.
  • I use a loose bottomed anodised aluminium cake tin which is 22cm in diameter and 8cm deep.
  • Grease the tin well.
  • First make the cake base by rubbing the butter into the flour to make crumbs, then stir in the sugar.
  • Add the yolk and lemon juice and bring the ingredients together to form a soft dough – do not handle the dough too much.
  • Cover and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Pre heat the oven to GM 4 – 180ºC.
  • Make the dough into a rough flat circle and press it into the base of the tin.

Method – Topping

  • Make the topping by rubbing the butter into the flour to make crumbs and then stir in the sugar.
  • Put the  apple & blackcurrant mixture on top of the base – it wants to be quite a thick layer.
  • Sprinkle the topping crumbs over the apple & blackcurrant mixture.
  • Bake in the oven for around 75minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • Use a long metal spatula to ease the cake from the side of the tin, then place the cake onto the top of a tin can and slide the side down.

Tea plates – Aynsley – Las Palmas from the 1960s

Using Dried Sourdough

On a recent visit to my local Polish shop I came across packets of dried sour dough.

I had never seen these before and bought a couple to try them out.

There was a recipe printed on the back of the packet and this is what I used.

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  • I have noticed many Dr. Oetker products in Poland and in England.
  • I thought the company name was made up but have found this is not so.
  • Doctor August Oetker was a German chemist and was one of the people who invented baking powder.
  • He started a company in 1891 and the first product sold was Bakin, which was a measured amount of baking powder to be added to 500g of plain flour when making a cake. 
  • His family still run what is now a multi-national company.

Ingredients

  • 150g rye flour
  • 350g strong flour
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • 1½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 packet of dried sourdough
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 400ml of lukewarm water (approx)
  • *
  • 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
  • 2 tablespoons of seeds eg – sesame, linseed, caraway
  • *
  • 1 teaspoon of sesame or caraway seed
  • 1 teaspoon of plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon of water

Method

  • In a large bowl mix the rye flour, strong flour, sugar, dried sour dough and the yeast.
  • Slowly add the water to get a soft dough that you can knead.
  • Knead dough for 10 minutes, set a timer.
  • Cover the dough – a shower cap is good – and leave in a warm place to rise.
  • This could be for an hour or more.
  • *
  • Line a long Continental style loaf tin – approx 10 by 30cm.
  • Use a single sheet and push the paper into the corners.
  • *
  • Add the oil and seeds to the risen dough and mix well in.
  • Knead to a smooth dough for 10 minutes.
  • *
  • Push the dough into the tin and smooth flat.
  • Brush the top with water, seeds and flour.
  • Cut slashes with a knife in the top.
  • Cover and leave for an hour or more to rise.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM7 – 220°C.
  • Bake for 15 minutes.
  • Lower the temperature to GM5 – 190°C.
  • Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.

 

Flour in Poland

  • If you go into a Polish shop you will often find a huge assortment of flours:
  • Mąka żytnia – rye flour
  • Mąka orkiszowa – spelt flour
  • Mąka gryczana – buckwheat flour
  • Mąka ziemniaczna or mąka kartoflana or skrobia – potato flour
  • Mąka pszenna – wheat flour
  • Mąka kukurydziana – cornmeal – maize flour
  • Mąka razowa  – wholemeal flour
  • Mąka Grahama – wholewheat flour
  • Pelne ziarno – whole grain

Rye Flour – Wholemeal Wheat Flour – Wheat Flour

Some of my recipes baked with different grains

Wheat Flour

  • There is no self raising flour in Poland – Polish cooks add baking powder, which is often sold in little sachets, to flour as a rising agent.
  • *
  • Polish food regulations require the use of a numerical system expressed as typ.
  • Typ is expressed as grams of ash per 100 kg of flour.
  • Typ is calculated as the amount of ash that remains after the complete burning of the dry mass in a sample of the product at a specified temperature.
  • For example – typ 500 means that in every 100 kg of flour there is around 500g of ash.
  • The higher the typ number the higher the gluten content of the wheat.

Popular Wheat Flours

  • Mąka tortowa – this is a fine cake flour – typ 450 – excellent for buns, cakes and tort (gateaux or layer cake).
  • Mąka krupczatka – this is a coarse ground flour – typ 450- 500 – excellent for shortcrust type pastry and crumbles.
  • Mąka poznańska – typ 500 – excellent for noodles,  pierogi and a sauce thickener.
  • Mąka wrocławska –  typ 500 – excellent for pancakes and yeast cakes.
  • Mąka luksusowa –  typ 550 – excellent for yeast cakes  – similar to American all-purpose flour and English plain flour.

  • Mąka uniwersalna – typ 480 – all-purpose wheat flour

In the past in Poland to be called chleb – bread had to contain rye, either on its own  or mixed with wheat or other flours.

White bread rolls – bułeczki – would be made with mąka luksusowa –  typ 550.

Nowadays you can find the kind of flour best for English style wheat bread – a strong flour – Mąka chlebowa  – typ 750 – but I have not used any of these yet.

Some of my recipes baked with various wheat flours

I have found that using the specified flour really does make all the difference.

Liver with Potato Topping

Here are a couple of super liver recipes.

I have also found that the potato topping is easy to make and is so delicious and will be using this for other recipes.

The first recipe is a version for liver and onions with sage and the second recipe does not use sage but has fresh mushrooms in the mixture.

Ingredients – version 1

450g pig’s or lamb’s liver

1 tablespoon of plain flour

3 onions

Large handful of sage leaves

250ml of chicken stock

500g of starchy potatoes

500ml of milk & water

1 tablespoon of butter

Butter & sunflower oil for frying

Salt & pepper

Method – version 1

Butter a rectangular ovenproof dish.

Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.

Cut the potatoes into thin slices.

Par-boil them for 5 minutes in the milk and water.

Remove the potatoes from the liquid.

*

Slice the onions and fry them in a butter and oil mixture until golden.

Season and add to the buttered dish.

Slice the liver into small pieces.

Dip the pieces in flour.

Fry in the butter and oil mixture on both sides.

Season and add to the onions.

Mix the liver and onions together.

Add the sage leaves and stir.

Pour the stock over the liver and onions.

*

Arrange the par-boiled potato slices over the liver and onions.

Cover the whole of the dish.

Cover the dish with a piece of foil.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

Melt the butter.

Remove the foil.

Pour the butter over the potatoes.

Put back in the oven and bake for at least 30minutes.

Served on Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998

Ingredients – version 2

As in version 1 but without the sage

150ml stock – a mushroom stock cube is good

200g sliced mushrooms

Method – version 2

As in version 1 plus

Fry the mushrooms and add them to the liver and onions.

Served on Royal Doulton – Tapestry – 1966 – 1988

Yeast Pancakes

  • These would be called placuszki drożdżowe in Polish.
  • They are small American style pancakes.
  • They are similar to dropped scones in the north of England.
  • They are similar to bliny but made with wheat flour.
  • They are a variation on my bliny recipe and you could use half wheat and half buckwheat flour  (I intend to try this soon).

Ingredients

  • 170g plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 250ml of lukewarm milk.
  • 3½ tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 50g of melted butter
  • 2 eggs
  • Pinch of salt
  • *
  • Little bit of sunflower oil for frying

Method

  • In a bowl mix the yeast, 1 tablespoon of  sugar and 125ml of milk.
  • Leave for around 10 minutes to froth up.
  • In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and 2½ tablespoons of sugar.
  • Mix in the eggs, 125ml of milk and the butter.
  • Add the yeast mixture and mix well.
  • Cover the bowl (a shower cap is good) and leave to rise.
  • This will depend on the room temperature – mine took 90 minutes.
  • Use a cast iron gridle pan or similar.
  • Heat the pan up and add a little sunflower oil.
  • Place large tablespoons of batter on the pan.
  • Adjust the temperature to a medium heat so not to burn them.
  • Cook on both sides.
  • Keep in a warm oven whilst making more.
  • Serve sweet or savoury

Served here with caster sugar on La prune by Jet for Ter Steege of the Netherlands.