Little Poppy Seed Cakes -2

  • I posted my little poppy seed cakes post in December 2019.
  • I have been using spelt flour – orkiszowa – a bit recently and decided to try these out using this flour.
  • They were delicious – the spelt flour giving them a slightly nutty taste.

Ingredients

  • 180ml of milk (full fat or semi)
  • Around 100ml of runny honey (extra may be needed)
  • 120g of poppy seeds 
  • 50g of raisins
  • Strong Earl Grey tea
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon

Method

  • Make some strong Earl Grey tea.
  • Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with the hot tea and leave till they go cold.
  • Into a small saucepan put the poppy seeds and the milk.
  • Bring to the boil then lower the heat.
  • Simmer gently for around 20 minutes, stirring constantly.
  • Take care not to let the mixture burn.
  • Add the honey and continue heating and stirring.
  • Drain the raisins and add them to the mixture and mix them in.
  • Keep stirring and try and drive off any liquid left.
  • Taste for sweetness – you may want to add more honey.
  • Leave to go completely cold before using.
  • Add the grated lemon rind.
  • *
  • If this is too much filling – you can always freeze some.

Yeast Dough

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon of fresh yeast
  • 4-5 tablespoons of milk (full fat or semi)
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 250g of spelt flour
  • Pinch of salt
  • 120g of butter
  • 20g of caster sugar
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 egg white for glazing (I always use just egg white now – it does not burn as easily as whole egg)

Method

  • Warm 3-4 tablespoons of the milk to hand heat.
  • Add the teaspoon of sugar.
  • Add the yeast and leave it to froth up.
  • Place the flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
  • Cut in the butter with a knife and then make breadcrumbs with your fingers.
  • Stir in the sugar.
  • Make a well in the centre.
  • Add the egg yolk and the yeast mixture.
  • Use a knife at first to bring the dough together.
  • You may need some of the extra milk.
  • Use your fingers to gather all the ingredients into  a ball.
  • Knead the dough for around 5 minutes till you have a smooth dough.
  • Leave the dough to rest for at least 45 minutes – covered with a tea cloth.
  • ******
  • Grease and line several baking trays.
  • Cut the dough into 3 or 4 portions.
  • Roll the dough out thinly.
  • Use a 6cm cutter to cut out circles.
  • Place a small teaspoon of filling on half of the circles.
  • Place a second pastry circle on top.
  • Use a pastry fork to crimp the edges together making sure they are sealed.
  • Glaze with beaten egg white.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C (quite low for a yeast pastry!).
  • Bake for 12-13 minutes.
  • Dust with icing sugar whilst still warm.
  • Leave to cool.
 

Poppy Seed Cake – 5

  • As you can see from the numbering – cake 5 – I have several recipes for a poppy seed cake – makowiec.
  • This was adapted from a recipe in a magazine I bought in Gdańsk.
  • It is baked in a rectangular tin and has a lemon glaze poured over it when cool.
  • Or you can cut it in half to make two squares and sandwich them together with Polish plum spread – powidła or another dark fruit jam.

Ingredients

  • 125g butter – softenned
  • 125 granulated sugar
  • 100g poppy seeds
  • 125ml milk
  • 2 eggs seperated
  • 150g flour (cake flour is good)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Grated rind of 1 lemon
  • *
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 50g Sugar
  • or
  • Polish plum spread – powidła or Sour Cherry or Blackcurrant jam.

Method

  • Line 3 sides of a 26 x 20 baking tin with one piece of greaseproof paper.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together.
  • Mix in the egg yolks.
  • Mix in the poppy seeds and the milk.
  • Mix the flour and the baking powder together.
  • Fold the flour mix into the cake mixture.
  • *
  • Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.
  • Fold the whites gently into the cake mixture.
  • Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
  • Smoothe the top flat.
  • Bake for 50 -55 minutes.
  • Near the end of baking check the top is not burning.
  • Cover with paper or foil if it is.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • *
  • Mix the lemon juice with the sugar.
  • When the cake is cooling, spread the lemon mixture over the top of the cake.
  • *
  • Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Option

  • Rather than the lemon juice – wait till the cake is cool.
  • Cut it into 2 squares and sandwich together with Polish plum spread or dark fruit jam
  • Blackcurrant jam was used here.
  • Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Red Cabbage Salad – 2

  • I recently got a recipe for red cabbage and carrot salad.
  • After following the instructions, I found all the ingredients were cut into pieces that were too large.
  • Also there was much too much onion in the mixture.
  • And I did not like the virgin olive oil in the dressing!
  • I looked at some of my earlier recipes for Red Cabbage Salad and Red Cabbage Salads.
  • I realised that here the ingredients were cut much smaller and the only difference now was the dressing used.
  • I had another go and this turned out much better.
  • *
  • In the end the difference from my earlier recipes was the ingredients in the dressing.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 red cabbage
  • 2 large carrots
  • 2 eating apples
  • *
  • Dressing
  • 4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of runny honey
  • 1 tablespoon of made mustard (whole grain is good)

METHOD

  • Shred the cabbage and then cut the pieces into smaller pieces or
  • Grate the cabbage on a coarse grater.
  • Grate the carrots on a coarse grater.
  • Core the apples but do not peel.
  • Chop the apples into small pieces.
  • Mix everything together.
  • *
  • Mix the dressing ingredients together and use a little whisk to combine the ingredients into one.
  • *
  • Mix the ingredients with the dressing.

Pea Shoots & Chicken Soup

  • On my last visit to Gdańsk I noticed that many dishes were garnished with pea shoots.
  • Very near to where I live, in West Yorkshire, there are greenhouses that produce varieties of cress and salad mixes.
  • One of these is a mix that contains pea shoots.
  • I recieved several of these packets recently.
  • Besides using them as salads I decided to use them in a soup.
  • The recipe is based on a couple I have posted before for Early Summer Soup and Green Early Summer Soup.
  • This soup has a base similar to rosȯł (clear chicken soup) with the shoots added near the end of cooking time.
  • I used two chicken breasts but if you use chicken pieces still with their skin on them that will be good as well.

Royal Doulton – Burgundy Soup Plate

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 whole chicken breasts (can use chicken pieces with the skin on)
  • 1 large onion – chopped
  • Around 70g pea shoots or pea shoot mixture
  • 1½ litres of vegetable stock – can be from a cube or powder
  • 4 -5 peppercorns
  • Salt – if needed – to taste

METHOD

  • Put the chopped onion, peppercorns and chicken breasts into the stock in a saucepan.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15 minutes.
  • Remove the chicken breasts and shred the meat (you can chop the flesh into smaller pieces if you wish).
  • Put the flesh back into the liquid.
  • Chop the pea shoots into smaller pieces.
  • Add this to the stock and simmer for 5 minutes.
  • Season to taste and serve.

Polish Dark Chocolate Cake

  • I have seen several references to a dark chocolate cake called murzynek – ‘little African boy’.
  • I have looked at several recipes and tried some of them out.
  • I was not happy with the results – either too dry or not dark enough.
  • I then came across this recipe, which I was pleased with.
  • It is a dense cake – not like a tort.
  • This recipe was most unusual in that all the ingredients were whisked together including the flour!
  • Oil & yoghurt are used in this cake (NO BUTTER).
  • Cocoa powder is used and dark fruit jam!

INGREDIENTS

  • 450g plain flour
  • 3 tablespoons of cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 165g granulated sugar
  • 150 ml Greek style yoghurt
  • 100 ml cold water
  • 240g of a good  dark jam/conserve – blackcurrant was used here.
  • 3 eggs
  • 12ml of sunflower oil

METHOD

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Grease and line(3 sides with 1 piece of greaseproof) a 26 x 20cm baking tin.
  • In one bowl, mix the dry ingredients : flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar together.
  • Mix together the water and the yoghurt.
  • In another bowl whisk together the eggs, yoghurt mix, jam and oil.
  • Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk them all together until well mixed in.
  • Pour the batter into the baking and smooth over the top.
  • Bake for 45 – 50 minutes.
  • *
  • Can dust with icing sugar when serving.
  • Keeps very well in an airtight plastic box.

OPTIONS

  • Sprinkle top with flaked almonds or chopped hazel nuts.
  • Next time I am going to look at the ingredients needed for a 2egg

Fish Names in Polish

  • I have added a new page – this covers popular fish names in Polish.
  • These could be helpful when looking at a menu in a restaurant.
  • You will find freshwater fish rather than saltwater fish are on the menu.
  • I have several fish recipes on the blog and I am hoping to write more.
  • Below are a few photographs of some of my fish dishes.

Black Forest Dessert

  • I thought of this dessert after making a new chocolate cake, which did not turn out very well – it was too dry.
  • I decided to make a dessert with this and bottled sour cherries.
  • Warn people if the cherries still have stones in them.
  • Use cherry brandy or wiśniȯwka.
  • It is styled around Black Forest tort.
  • The amouts you use – you have to guesss – depending on how much cake you have to use.
  • My test dessert was on the large size!

INGREDIENTS

  • Chocolate cake
  • Bottled sour cherries – wiśne
  • 125ml cherry brandy (or wiśniȯwka)
  • 1 packet raspberry jelly
  • *

  • Topping

  • Part sieved greek yoghurt & part greek yoghurt
  • 1-3 tablespoons of icing sugar – to taste

METHOD

  • Strain the cherries and put them in a dish of the cherry brandy and leave for at least 20 minutes.
  • Cut the chocolate cake into slices.
  • Line a glass bowl with the cake.
  • Place some of the sour cherries over the base of the dish.
  • Place some more cake over the sour cherries.
  • Put a few sour cherries over the top of the cake.
  • Pour any liquid left from the soaked sour cherries over the cake.
  • Pour some liquid from the bottled sour cherries over the cake.
  • Leave for around 4 hours.
  • *
  • Make up the packet of jelly and leave to cool.
  • Pour the jelly over the cake.
  • Leave to cool and then put in the fridge for around 4 hours or more to set.
  • *
  • Mix the sieved yoghurt with the greek yoghurt.
  • Add the icing sugar to tase.
  • Mix together to make a thick topping.
  • Pour this over the dessert.
  • Chill in the fridge.

Regional Cookery Book

  • I saw this book advertised for sale as second hand.
  • I ordered it straight away.
  • I did not realise how big it was until it arrived.
  • I was very pleased as there are over 600 pages!
  • It was published in 2010.
  • It is divided onto 11 regions.
  • Lots of research for me to do.

Walnut filling for Rogaliki

  • Several recipes mentionned using a walnut filling rather than poppy seed or jam for Polish pastries.
  • It was hard to find a definative recipe so I had to think up the amounts myself.
  • The ingredients were: walnuts, milk, sugar and butter; I experimented to find the right propotions.
  • The amounts given are not set in stone, you need the milk to heat the nuts in but the butter and sugar can be adjusted to taste.
  • This mixture can be used for rogaliki   – 
  • Or for other pastries similar to poppy seed roll.
  • The mixture is usually used with pastry that is not sweet so can be quite sweet – depends on you liking.

INGREDIENTS

  • 150g walnuts – chopped fine or even part ground
  • 250 ml of milk
  • 3 -4 tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar
  • 1 – 2 tablespoonfuls of butter

METHOD

  • Place all the ingredients into a small saucepan.
  • Heat gentley whilst stirring all the time.
  • Heat until all the milk is absorbed.
  • Check the sweetness – add more sugar if needed.
  • Leave to cool completly before using.
  • *
  • This mixture can be frozen for later use.

Honey Loaf

  • I got this recipe from an English friend who lives in Harrogate.
  • It is easy to make and is a bit different to my Polish honey cakes – miodownik or piernik.
  • But I think it could be served over the Christmas period.
  • This recipe does NOT use any eggs nor butter nor oil.

Ingredients

  • 225g plain flour
  • 115g granulated sugar
  • 115g runny honey, plus around a tablespoon to glaze
  • 150 ml hot water
  • 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
  • Zest of 1 lemon

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM3 – 160ºC.
  • Use a liner to line a 1lb loaf tin.
  • Use a little oil or butter on the liner as the cake is quite sticky.
  • Mix together the flour and the sugar in a large bowl.
  • In a saucepan melt together the honey and the water.
  • Sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda over the honey mixture and stir.
  • Add this to the dry ingredients.
  • Add the lemon zest.
  • Mix everything well together till all is uniform.
  • Turn the mixture into the loaf tin.
  • Bake for 50 – 60 minutes.
  • Check at 50 minutes and cover the top of the loaf with greaseproof or foil  so it does not burn.
  • Remove the loaf from the tin and allow it to cool.
  • Heat the honey (with a little but of water if not so runny) slightly.
  • Brush the top of the loaf with the honey.

  • Option – different size.
  • Use a 26 x 16 cm baking tray.
  • Grease and line – 3 sides with one piece of greaseproof.
  • Bake for 25 – 30 minutes.