Placek with Prunes – 2

  • I have an earlier post –  prune placek, which is quite different from this one.
  • This placek – flat cake- has a filling of prunes.
  •  The pastry used is a variation on my Polish  kruche ciasto – shortcrust pastry.
  • Prunes often feature in Wigilia – Christmas Eve dishes.
  • A prune filling like this is used in a tart baked in Belgium and eaten on Ash Wednesday. (17 February in 2021)

Ingredients – Pastry

  • 225g plain flour
  • 110g butter
  • 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 5 tablespoons of water
  • *
  • 1 tablespoon of caster sugar to sprinkle

Ingredients – Filling

  • 300g of prunes – stoned
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
  • 1 lemon – grated rind and juice

Method – Filling

This filling needs to be cold – so make this first.

  • Put the prune, cinnamon stick and rosemary in a large bowl.
  • Cover these with boiling water.
  • Leave overnight.
  • *
  • Remove the cinnamon stick and rosemary.
  • Put the prunes and liquid  into a  pan.
  • Add the lemon rind and juice.
  • Heat gently  and stir occasionally until the prunes are soft and the water is adsorbed.
  • Use a stick blender to turn the prunes into a pulp.
  • You might have to heat gently again to make sure the pulp is thick.
  • Leave to go completely cold.

Method – Pastry

  • A rich pastry is made in the traditional rubbed in method with the ingredients listed above.
  • Chill the pastry for around 30 minutes.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 5 – 190°C.
  • Grease and line a shallow tray 21cm x 26cm.
  • Divide the pastry into two.
  • Roll out one piece to line the bottom of the tin.
  • Spread the filling evenly over the pastry – not quite to the edges.
  • Roll the second piece of pastry out and use to cover the filling.
  • Press the edges down to seal.
  • Make some diagonal slashes across the top.
  • Bake for around 30 minutes until golden.
  • Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the caster sugar.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • Cut into squares when cold.

Royal Doulton – Counterpoint tea plates – 1973-1987

Fluffy Potato Pancakes

  • This is a very different pancake to the classic Polish raw grated potato pancake that I love.
  • It is a cross between a potato (krokiet) croquette  and an American style pancake.
  • They are made from boiled starchy potatoes.
  • The recipe below is for an amount to use with one egg.
  • This will make 6 pancakes.
  • I found that any that were left over did not reheat well so it is better just to make them in small amounts.
  • I served these with fried eggs and bacon.
  • Maple syrup also went very well with these.

Ingredients

  • 150g cold boiled starchy potatoes
  • 50g plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 5 tablespoons of milk
  • 3 spring onions or chives – chopped fine
  • *
  • Sunflower oil and butter for frying

Method

  • Have plate warming in a low oven.
  • Mash the potatoes till they are smooth.
  • Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
  • Add the egg and milk and whisk together.
  • Stir in some of the chopped onions – leave a few to add when serving.
  • Heat the oil and butter mixture.
  • Fry large tablespoons of batter gently till golden on both sides.
  • Keep the first batch warm on the plate in the oven.
  • Fry the next batch.
  • *
  • Sprinkle with chopped  spring onions to serve.
  • Serve with fried egg and bacon.
  • Maple syrup is also delicious with these.

 

 

 

Łazanki with Fresh Cabbage

  • I came across a photograph of a dish of  łazanki  with fresh cabbage and decided to have a look at recipes for this.
  • I read that this is a dish very popular in Eastern Poland – strangely enough my mother never made this!
  • Łazanki are a type of Polish pasta often made with buckwheat with the dough being rolled thin and then cut into triangles or rectangles.
  • When the Italian Princess Bona Sforza married the Polish King, Zygmunt I Stary (Zygmunt the Old) in the 16th century, she brought with her many Italian chefs.
  • Łazanki are thought to have originated from that time.
  • The name łazanki comes from the Italian for large flat rectangles of pasta – lasagna(singular) lasagne(plural) – the –ki ending indicates a diminutive in Polish – so these are small and rectangular.
  • I tried out a recipe for wheat łazanki with spelt flour- they were so-so – I bet my babcia (grandmother) made much better ones!
  • I could try using my pierogi dough recipe with wheat flour next time.
  • I tried out a dough for buckwheat łazanki – this was quite reasonable – I might make these again.
  • *
  • Many people now just use ready bought flat pasta such as tagliatelle or pappardelle.
  • Break up the dry pasta or snip it up at the end.
  • Boil the pasta as per the instructions – do not over cook it.

Ingredients

  • 250g flat pasta (such as tagliatelle) (broken up)
  • ½ head  white or sweetheart cabbage – shredded
  • 1 onion – diced
  • 250g Polish kiełbasa (sausage) or smoked bacon – chopped
  • Butter
  • Salt & pepper to taste.

Method

  • Cook the pasta as per the instructions.
  • Steam the cabbage.
  • Fry the onion in quite a bit of butter until soft and golden.
  • Add the Polish kiełbasa (sausage) or smoked bacon.
  • Fry gently.
  • Add the steamed cabbage and stir well.
  • Add the mixture to the drained pasta.
  • Mix well together.
  • Season to taste.
Spelt flour
Buckwheat flour

If I have to choose I would say I prefer the dish with bacon.

With Polish Sausage
With Polish Sausage
With Bacon
With Bacon

Carrot Leek & Apple Salad

I was sorting out my recipe box notes and cuttings when I came across this recipe from one of my cousins in Białystok for a salad made from carrots, leeks and apples.

I had not noted down whether the leeks were just sliced or if they were blanched as well so I tried both ways and both salads were super.

Ingredients

  • 2-3 carrots
  • 1 leek
  • 1- 2 eating apples – Braeburns are good
  • Juice of a lemon
  • 2-3 tablespoons of Mayonnaise
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method – 1

  • Grate the carrots using a coarse grater.
  • Thinly slice the leeks and cut the rings into halve or quarters.
  • Core the apple and chop into small chunks.
  • Pore the lemon juice over the salad.
  • Add the mayonnaise and mix well.
  • Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Method – 2

  • As above except for the leeks.
  • Put the cut leeks into hot water and simmer for a few minutes.
  • Allow the leeks to cool.
  • Drain the leeks and pat dry with kitchen roll or a clean tea towel.
  • Mix all the ingredients together.

Pulpety – Meat & Cheese

  • I came across this version of pulpety  (Polish meatballs) recently and thought I would give these a try as I always have lots of yoghurt cheese.
  • Both beef and pork are used in this recipe and I often do mix these two meat minces together.
  • Dried breadcrumbs are not used in this recipe.
  • The bread is not moistened with milk.
  • The following amounts made 30 pulpety.

Ingredients

  • 200g minced beef
  • 200g minced pork
  • 200g twaróg(curd cheese) or yoghurt cheese (well drained)
  • 2 small onions diced (I might wiz them up in a mini-chopper next time)
  • 2 teaspoons of Italian herbs
  • Fresh white breadcrumbs from a slice of white bread or a roll.
  • 1 egg
  • Salt & pepper
  • *
  • 500ml of chicken stock – can be from a cube or concentrate
  • *
  • 500ml of a sauce of your choice – I used a simple tomato sauce

Method

  • Mix all the ingredients together to a uniform mixture.
  • Hands are best at the end – the mixture is quite sticky.
  • Pinch off small bits of the meat mixture and roll the piece between your hands to make small round balls and place these onto a floured board or tray whilst you make them all.
  • Leave these to chill in a cool place or in the fridge for an hour or so.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4-180°C.
  • Heat the chicken stock in a deep wide frying pan.
  • Add some of the pulpety and simmer with a lid for around 5 minutes.
  • Have a large ovenproof dish ready with your sauce.
  • Remove the pulpety with a slotted spoon and add to the sauce.
  • Repeat with the rest of the pulpety.
  • Put a lid on the dish.
  • Cook in the oven for at least 1 hour.
  • You can lower the heat and cook for longer.

Sauces

The varieties here are endless – make one of your favourite sauces for example mushroom or tomato.

You can then serve them with potatoes, pasta, rice or to be very Polish – buckwheat or pearl barley.

 

Served in Royal Doulton – Burgundy – 1959-1981

 

 

Dauphinoise Potatoes

  • The recipe for Dauphinoise Potatoes is from the Dauphiné region in France.
  • The traditional recipe uses just cream, which can be very rich.
  • I like to use this version with half double cream to milk.
  • Double cream is not usually available in Poland – if I were making this there I would try it with 2/3 soured cream to 1/3 milk.
  • I do not add any cheese, which is given in some recipes.
  • The amounts are not critical.
  • I make these potatoes often now with a roast as the cooking time is very flexible and makes life a lot easier than with many other potato recipes.
  • You need a large (rectangular) shallow oven-proof dish.
  • You can heat up any left over in the oven or the microwave.
  • You can freeze portions wrapped in foil to re-heat later.

Ingredients

  • Around 2kg (8 large potatoes) starchy potatoes – Maris Piper or King Edward are good
  • Equal amounts of double cream and milk – around 500ml of each. (Can use 300ml cream to 600ml milk if short of cream)
  • 3 cloves of garlic – peeled
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • DO NOT USE PEPPER – makes it look grey.

Method

  • Peel the potatoes.
  • Cut them into thin slices – use a mandoline if you have one – I have an electric grater and slicer – which is wonderful!
  • Put the slices in a bowl of water whilst doing all of them.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 3 – 160°C.
  • Put the cream and milk with the garlic and salt into a large pan.
  • Bring to a simmer.
  • Put the potatoes into the cream mixture.
  • The cream/mix mixture should cover the potatoes.
  • Continue to simmer for 3 minutes.
  • Stir occasionally with a wooden spatula so not to burn the bottom of the pan.
  • Take off the heat.
  • Use a slotted spoon to layer the potatoes in the dish.
  • Take out the garlic.
  • Pour the creamy liquid over the potatoes to cover them completely with a little extra.
  • Cook in the oven for around 1 hour till the potatoes are soft.
  • Cover with foil if not fully cooked so as to stop the top burning.
  • Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
  • Cooking times are very flexible – you can lower the heat and leave for longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note – A previous post for  potatoes po-nelsońsku  is a Polish recipe, which is similar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carrot Pancakes – 2

  • I posted a recipe for carrot pancakes more than three years ago.
  • These are normally eaten as a sweet dish – usually served with sugar.
  • This recipe is for a savoury carrot pancake.
  • Both are the American style of pancake.
  • Both in Polish would be called racuszki (z marchwi).

Ingredients

  • 8 spring onions
  • 2eggs
  • 80ml of milk
  • 90g plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • 350g peeled and coarse grated carrots
  • Ground black pepper
  • Butter for frying the spring onions
  • Sunflower oil for frying the pancakes.

Method

  • Chop the white and green parts of the spring onions into little rounds.
  • Fry gently in butter with soft.
  • Leave to go cold completely.
  • Put the grated carrots into a clean tea towel and squeeze out excess liquid.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 1- 140°C.
  • Line a baking tray with kitchen paper and put this in the oven.
  • Mix the egg and milk together.
  • Mix the flour, baking powder, paprika and salt together.
  • Mix the flour mixture and the eggs and milk together till smooth.
  • Stir the carrots and spring onions into the mixture.
  • Add some ground black pepper.
  • A Danish whisk is good for mixing batter.
  • Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan.
  • Drop in tablespoons of the batter and flatten them slightly with the back of the spoon.
  • Fry on both sides until golden brown.
  • Lift onto the baking tray and keep in the oven whilst cooking the rest.
  • *
  • When first cooked the carrots are crunchy – they soften in the oven.
  • *
  • Serve as a starter with a yoghurt or soured cream sauce and some salad or
  • As a vegetable with a roast or with a gulasz.

 

Plate – Royal Doulton – Carnation , 1982-1998

Pierogi with Leeks & Peas

  • Well over a year ago when on a trip to Gdańsk, in one restaurant I saw on the menu pierogi (Polish filled pasta) which had leeks, peas and soured cream as a filling.
  • Although I did not try these, I thought they sounded good and tried out this  mixture as a filling for buckwheat pancakes.
  • At last I have had the time to try this out as a filling for pierogi.
  • I adjusted the filling I had made for the pancakes by using cream cheese (or twaróg or yoghurt cheese) rather than soured cream.

Filling

  • 2 leeks – chopped
  • 50 – 75g frozen peas
  • 2-3 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 -3 tablespoons of cream cheese, twaróg or yoghurt cheese
  • Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Using a deep large frying pan with a lid (a glass one is best), melt the butter and gently cook the leeks to soften them but not brown.
  • Add the frozen peas and cover with the lid and cook for a few minutes.
  • Stir the mixture and continue to heat without the lid to drive off excess liquid.
  • Purée most of the mixture – keeping some of the peas whole.
  • Stir in the cream cheese (twaróg or yoghurt cheese).
  • Season to taste.

Ingredients – Dough

  • 250g pasta flour or plain flour & 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
  • 150ml water
  • 1 tablespoon oil – sunflower or light olive
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg yolk

Method – Dough

  • In a jug or bowl mix together the water, oil and the yolk.
  • Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
  • Pour in the liquid from the jug and initially use a knife to mix this into the flour and then use your hands to mix the liquid and flour to get a ball of dough.

 

  • Turn this out onto a floured board and knead the dough for a few minutes until you have a smooth ball.
  • Cover and leave to rest for about ½ an hour.
  • *
  • Cut the dough into half.
  • Prepare a large tray and cover it with a clean cotton or linen tea towel and sprinkle this with flour.
  • On a floured board roll out the dough a half at a time until you have a sheet of thinly rolled dough.
  • Cut out circles using a 7 cm diameter cutter.
  • The excess dough can be re-mixed and rolled out again.
  • Around a half tablespoon of filling is put on  each circle and then they are folded over and the edges pinched together to make a good seal.
  • You learn from experience how much filling to put in as too much will make it hard to seal them and if not properly sealed they will burst on boiling.  Do not worry if you have a few mishaps – it still happens – even with experience – it is hard to salvage one that has gone wrong – just accept that there will be a few that you do not cook.
  • Place the sealed pierogi on prepared tray until they are all made, do not let then touch each other.
  • *
  • To cook the pierogi, use a large pan of boiling water to which you have added some salt and a drizzle of oil.
  • Drop the pierogi in one by one and allow them to boil.  I usually do about 6 to 7 at a time.
  • As they cook they will float to the surface, let them boil for 2 minutes and then remove them with a slotted or perforated spoon and put into a colander above a pan for a few seconds to drain and serve with melted butter.
  • Continue boiling batches in the same water.
  • If you want to make all the pierogi to serve together then you need to get a large oven proof dish.
  • Melt lots of butter in the dish.
  • Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
  • As you take out the cooked pierogi add them to the dish and coat them with the melted butter.
  • Keep on adding more as they cook.

Plate- Alfred Meakin – Midwinter – Spanish Garden 1960s

To Serve

  • These are good served just with the melted butter.
  • I also liked the gently refried ones, in the butter, the next day.

 

Over the Moon – Beans

  • Butter Beans – Phaseolus lunatus – are also known as Lima beans  as they originally came from Peru and Lima is the capital city.
  • Phaseolus lunatus – means beans shaped like a crescent moon.
  • The Polish name –  Fasola pȯłksiężycowata  – also means beans shaped like a crescent moon.
  • This is a very old recipe for butter beans.
  • The dried beans would have been soaked overnight before being boiled till soft and then used to make this dish.
  • Nowadays you can use tinned butter beans to quickly make this delicious dish.

The recipe calls for a large amount of butter – do not skimp on this!

Ingredients

  • 2 tins of butter beans, drained
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 125g of butter
  • Large handful of fresh flat leaved parsley – chopped
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Melt the butter gently in a large deep frying pan.
  • Gently fry the onions till soft and golden – do not brown.
  • Add the butter beans and simmer, stirring occasionally till they are soft.
  • Use a potato masher to lightly break up the beans.
  • Add some of the parsley and stir.
  • Serve with the rest of the parsley sprinkled on top.

 

Served in a dish by J&G Meakin – Cadiz – 1964 – 1970

Sourdough Crackers

  • Have you got a lot of wheat sourdough starter?
  • Many  instructions say to discard some of your wheat flour starter before feeding it.
  • Do you consider that is a big waste?
  • Here is a recipe that uses some of your starter.
  • Use equal weights of starter and flour.

Ingredients

  • 100g of unfed sourdough starter
  • 100g strong flour
  • 50ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 30g butter (or 30ml more oil)
  • Large pinch of salt
  • *
  • Sea salt
  • Fresh rosemary

Method

  • Pre-heat your oven to GM4 180°C.
  • Line a large baking tray.
  • Melt the butter.
  • Mix all the ingredients to give a soft dough.
  • Roll out the dough as thinly as you can.
  • Put the dough onto the tray – pulling it out to make it thinner.
  • Sprinkle with sea salt and press in some rosemary.
  • Use a knife or pizza wheel to cut the dough into rough squares.
  • Bake for around 25- 30 minutes.

Wholemeal Flour & Rosemary

Rye Starter & Caraway Seeds

These are great as soup accompaniments, with dips or cheese.

I have made some with 50g demerara sugar in the dough and sugar not salt sprinkled on top. and then with 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds as well as the sugar.

 

Other Variations to try

  • Buckwheat flour
  • Rye flour
  • Mixture of flours
  • Other herbs
  • Other seeds
  • and so on ….