Here is a salad made with one of Poland’s favourite vegetables – cabbage.
It is a more fruity variation of a cabbage & orange salad I posted over three years ago!
Ingredients
A small white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage
2 oranges
3 eating apples – red skinned for colour contrast.
1 tin of pineapples
80g raisins or sultanas
A pinch of salt & pepper to taste
*
Dressing – Mayonnaise & pineapple juice
Method
Peel the oranges removing all the pith.
Cut them into slices, separate the segments and then chop these into small pieces.
Finely shred and chop the cabbage
Core the apples and chop them into small pieces.
Drain the pineapples from the juice.
Chop the pineapples into small pieces.
Mix the cabbage and fruits together.
Mix mayonnaise and some pineapple juice together to make a thin dressing.
Add the dressing and mix everything well together.
You can add salt and pepper here if desired.
Served here in my mother’s vintage glass bowl.
I tend to make this salad a while before it is needed as with the magic of osmosis – raisins become plumped up with the juice from the oranges and pineapple. The dressing becomes sweet from the sugars in the raisins.
This salad goes well with roast dinners, cold smoked meats and Polish style sausages.
My Polish friend who lives in Leeds, just came back from a visit to Poland and mentioned a celeriac salad with carrots and apples that she had enjoyed.
This started me thinking and I made this one and then I tried out a couple of other ones as well.
Ingredients -1
Half a celeriac – peeled
2 -3 carrots
3 apples
Lemon juice
2- 3 tablespoons of soured cream
salt & pepper
Optional
A little bit of sugar
Method – 1
Coarse grate the celeriac.
Peel and then coarse grate the carrots.
Coarse grate 2 of the apples.
Leave the skin on the other apples, remove the core and chop it into small pieces.
In a bowl mix the celeriac, carrots and apple together.
Add the juice of a lemon and the soured cream and mix well.
Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
Note
I think this tastes best when made a few hours before serving.
Ingredients -2
Half a celeriac – peeled
2-3 hard pears (Conference are good)
3-4 tomatoes
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper
A little bit of sugar
Method – 2
Coarse grate the celeriac.
Peel the pears and remove the core and chop them into small chunks.
Chop the tomatoes into small chunks.
Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix.
Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
Ingredients -3
Half a celeriac – peeled
2-3 apples (Braeburn) are good
2-3 red peppers
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper
A little bit of sugar
Method – 3
Coarse grate the celeriac.
Chop the red peppers into small squares.
Blanch them with boiling water and leave to cool.
Strain and the dry the peppers – with a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.
Leave the skin on the apples, remove the core and chop them into small pieces.
Add the olive oil and lemon juice and mix.
Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.
Three Celeriac Salads
Served in Carnation by Royal Doulton dishes from 1982 – 1998.
Having written about liver in general in Lovely Liver! I thought I would also look at chicken livers in particular.
These would have featured in my shopping on a regular basic many years ago but have been somewhat neglected in recent years – this will now change!
I could not find any fresh chicken livers in my local shops but did find tubs of frozen chicken liver – they contain around 225g per tub and the cost was very reasonable.
Soaking the livers
All my recipe books say to soak the livers for at least 1 hour – to help remove any bitterness.
I do not remember doing this in the past but decided to try this out – they tasted lovely – not sure how much was due to the soaking.
Buttery Chicken Livers with Onions
450 -500g of chicken livers
500ml of milk
3-4 tablespoons of plain flour
3 onions
4-5 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper
Method
Put the chicken livers in a bowl with the milk and leave for at least an hour.
Drain them off and pat them dry and dredge them in the flour.
Cut the onions in half and cut them into thin slices.
Fry the onion gently in some of the butter until they are golden brown.
In a separate pan fry the floured chicken livers on all sides for 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle them with the Italian seasoning, mix well and cook for a further few minutes.
Add the livers to the onions and mix well.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
These are best served with something quite plain such as boiled rice or crusty rolls and maybe a tomato salad.
Chicken Livers with Apples
450 -500g of chicken livers
6 tablespoons of butter
2 to 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
2 onions
2 eating apples (I used Pink Lady)
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
Salt & pepper
Method
This really needs 3 frying pans!
I have described each as a separate stage but you can do these at the same time.
Cut the onions into half and then slice into thin half circles.
In one frying pan, fry the onions gently in 3 tablespoons of butter until they are golden.
Peel and core the apples and cut them into quarters.
In another frying pan, melt the 1 tablespoon of butter and heat the apples gently on all sides.
Add the tablespoon of sugar and continue to cook on a low heat for 2-3 minutes until the sugar starts to caramelise.
Add the apples to the onions and mix together.
In a seperate pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
Fry the chicken livers in the butter, stirring and turning them for around 3-4 minutes.
Beetroot is a very popular vegetable in Poland and is served both hot and cold and is the main ingredients of barszcz (The classic Polish beetroot soup).
Now this may just my imagination but the beetroot in Poland just tastes so much better than the ones I have had in England, maybe it is the variety that is grown there or the soil. I think you have to use home-grown or organic beetroot to get as good a taste.
In the following recipes I have used vacuum packed boiled beetroots – boiling or roasting raw beetroot should give a better flavour but when you only want to make a small amount or you have little time this will work as well especially if you adjust the flavour with lemon juice or a little sugar.
A popular variant is something called botwinka – this is very young beetroot – sold in bunches (rather like radishes) and consists of the small “bulb” and the young green leaves, which are all used. As I have not seen this for sale in England I will not be including any recipes – but if you are ever in a position to try this (often in the form of a soup) you will taste something very delicious.
Ćwikła is the most typical Polish accompaniment to roasted and smoked meats and sausage. This salad or relish is made from grated cooked beetroot which is mixed with grated horseradish – chrzan.
The first recorded recipe for ćwikła comes from the writings of Mikołaj Rej (1505 – 1569) who is known as the “Father of Polish Literature”. He was the first person to write exclusively in Polish.
He was born 59 years before Shakespeare (1564 – 1616).
Ćwikła
Ingredients
2 or 3 boiled beetroots
Horseradish sauce
Soured Cream
Extra lemon juice – optional
Method
Grate the beetroots using a fine or medium grater and put this into a bowl.
In the past I always used a fine grater but now I prefer to use my medium grater.
Medium Grated
Fine Grated
Add a large dollop or two of horseradish sauce.
Below are two kinds, one with soured cream and one without.
I like the one with soured cream more.
A few years ago I thought it would be a good idea to grow my own horseradish – that was a mistake! It starts to take over with the roots spreading underground. However the dark leaves are very attractive and the air does smell of horseradish when you walk up to it. You just need to be able to contain it.
Mix the grated beetroot and horseradish sauce together.
Add soured cream – if using the sauce with this in already you might not need as much.
You can add lemon juice as well.
Carnation Serving Dish by Royal Doulton
Beetroot & Apple Salad
Ingredients
2 or 3 boiled beetroots
1 eating apple with a good flavour such as Jazz, Braeburn or Pink Lady.
Juice of half or a whole lemon
Sugar – optional
Method
Grate the beetroots using a medium grater.
Peel and core the apple and grate this using a medium grater.
Mix the two together.
Add lemon juice to taste.
You can add some extra sugar to taste.
NOTE
This tastes much better if it is left so all the ingredients mingle together for a few hours.
I make this in the morning if I want it for the evening or I make it the night before for lunch time the next day.
Creamed Beetroot
This is a delicious way of serving beetroot warm with a roast dinner.
Ingredients
3 or 4 boiled beetroots
Large tablespoon of butter
1 or 2 tablespoons of flour
Juice of a lemon & some extra water
3- 4 tablespoons of soured cream
Salt & pepper to taste
A little sugar to taste – optional
Method
Grate the beetroots using a medium grater and put them into a saucepan with the lemon juice and a little water.
Put a lid on the saucepan and gently simmer the beetroot – taking care not to let it dry out or burn.
Melt the butter in a small frying pan and add the flour – let it colour slightly.
Add 2 tablespoons of soured cream and a little water and combine this well.
Add this mixture to the simmering beetroots, once again combining well.
Let this simmer for 5 to 10 minutes – keep checking, and stirring and adding more soured cream, lemon juice or water if it looks like it is going to dry out.
Add salt & pepper and a little sugar to taste.
Serving dish is Topic designed by Alan Rogers in 1967 for J & G Meakin.
When cooking was much more seasonal this salad was extremely popular in winter when many other vegetables were unavailable.
Using bottled sauerkraut you can make this salad all year around. You can also buy vacuum packed sauerkraut in many Polish shops.
Preparing the sauerkraut
There are two ways of preparing the sauerkraut. It all depends on the actual sauerkraut which varies with the home-made or vacuum packed being milder usually than the bottled & how sour you like it to be.
Sour is indeed a well loved taste in Poland and sour is a description you can apply to many Polish dishes. There will be more posts on this on the future.
These salads could be considered sweet & sour.
For all the following salads I have used roughly 200g of sauerkraut which is easily enough as a side-dish for two people.
I think all the following salads benefit from being made a few hours ahead and left to allow the flavours to interact and mellow.
Preparation Method 1
Just take some of the sauerkraut and sieve of some of the liquor.
Sieve off some of the liquor
Preparation Method 2
Put the sauerkraut into a jug or bowl and add some water to rinse off the liquor.
Use Water to Rinse the Sauerkraut
Rinse off the Water
My personal preference is to use method 1 with the sauerkraut just drained and not rinsed.
Sauerkraut & Apple Salad
Ingredients
Around 200g of Sauerkraut
1 tasty eating apple such as Jazz or Braeburn
2 to 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 to 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
Method
Prepare the sauerkraut and put it in a dish.
Grate the apple, skin and flesh using a coarse grater and add this to the sauerkraut. Mix the two together.
Add the sunflower oil and sugar and mix well.
Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours before serving.
Serving Dish by J & G Meakin – Topic – designed by Alan Rogers in 1967
In the restaurant in the Polish Centre in Leeds they serve a wonderful sauerkraut and carrot salad – secret recipe of course! – the following is the nearest I can get to it.
Sauerkraut & Carrot Salad 1
Ingredients
Around 200g of Sauerkraut
1 carrot
1 tasty eating apple such as Jazz or Braeburn
2 to 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 to 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
Method
Prepare the sauerkraut and put it in a dish.
Peel and grate the carrot using a coarse grater.
Grate the apple, skin and flesh, using a coarse grate.
Add the grated carrot and the apple to the sauerkraut.
Mix them all together.
Add the sunflower oil and sugar and mix well.
Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours before serving.
Mid 20th Century Pyrex Dish
Serving Dish is Carnation by Royal Doulton 1982 to 1998
Meat Loaf and Sauerkraut & Carrot Salad
Sauerkraut & Carrot Salad 2
Ingredients (as salad 1 but less carrot)
Around 200g of Sauerkraut
Half a carrot
1 tasty eating apple such as Jazz or Braeburn
2 to 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 to 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
Method
Prepare the sauerkraut and put it in a dish.
Peel and grate the carrot using a coarse grater.
Grate the apple, skin and flesh, using a coarse grate.
Add the grated carrot and the apple to the sauerkraut.
Mix them all together.
Add the sunflower oil and sugar and mix well.
Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours before serving.
Tip
Once you have opened a jar of sauerkraut if you are not going to make something else with it in the next day or so you can portion it up and freeze it for later use.
A few years ago on one of my visits to The Netherlands to stay with my Dutch friend, we had a super meal which included a delicious dish of red cabbage that had been cooked with apples.
I thought then that I did not remember my mother ever cooking red cabbage. When I came home I found recipes in both my Polish and English cookery books and tried out many of these.
The following recipe has been refined and altered and this one with lots of apples and spices is the one I now use all the time.
As it takes a long time to cook in a low oven or in a slow cooker, I tend to make a lot at once. It freezes and reheats well, so once made I divide it into small portions to freeze.
I think it goes well with roast pork loin and I usually make some before Christmas and serve it with roast pork loin during the holiday period.
Tip 1
Have a lemon ready after handling the chopped red cabbage as you will find your hands become stained blue/purple. Lemon juice will clear the stains away. Another reason to make this dish in advance.
Tip 2 – Also Excellent as a Salad
I have discovered that this dish is also delicious when it is cold! I now also serve this with cold meats and Polish style sausage.
Ingredients
1 head of red cabbage
3 or 4 large cooking apples
1 onion – chopped fine
1 or 2 garlic cloves – chopped fine
6 tablespoons of soft brown sugar
1 level teaspoon of ground cinnamon
¼ level teaspoon of ground cloves
Salt & ground black pepper
3 tablespoons of cider or wine vinegar
3 tablespoons of water
Method
Pre heat the oven to GM 2 or get your slow cooker ready..
You need a large oven-proof dish with a lid to make this. I either use a very large oval enamel dish or I have now started to use a slow cooker.
I mix the ingredients in a large bowl first and then put them in the cooking dish.
Mix together the sugar, spices, salt and pepper, vinegar and water.
Remove the core from the cabbage head and cut the cabbage into fine shreds and add these to the spice mixture.
Peel, core and then coarse grate the apples and then add these to the cabbage mixture. Mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon.
Put the mixture into the cooking dish (or slow cooker) and put in the oven (or switch on the slow cooker).
It should take about 3-4 hours – it may take longer in the slow cooker.
Red Cabbage Ready to ServeServing Dish is Cadiz by Meakin from the 1970s
When cooking was more seasonal, this was a very popular salad in the late summer and autumn after the apple harvest.
Nowadays with better storage methods, this is a salad you can make all year round.
Serving Dish is Royal Doulton, Carnation 1982 – 1998
The following will make enough for 2 people as a side dish – use the ratio of 2 to 3 carrots to 1 small or medium eating apple if you want to make more.
Organic carrots may have the edge here for taste but regular ones will still be good.
Use sweet and tasty eating apples such as: Jazz, Pink Lady or Cox’s orange pippins.
Ingredients
2 carrots
1 eating apple
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
Juice of half a lemon
Method
Peel the carrots and grate them using a coarse grater into a bowl.
Cut the apple into quarters and remove the seed case.
Hold the apple by the skin and grate the flesh,
also using the coarse grater, into the bowl.
Discard the apple skin.
Sprinkle the mixture with the sugar and add the lemon juice.
Mix everything together, place into a serving dish and serve.
Note
If you do not have any apples then just carrots with the sugar and lemon juice are also good.
