Tag: Apple

Yeast Racuszki with Apples

This recipe was with several others posted as Racuszki – a Kind of Pancake.

I now know it is better to not have too many recipes together.

This recipe is from my late Aunt in Poland who lived in mazury the Polish lakes district. She made these when I visited her.

Ciocia Pola (Apolonia) Aunt Pola, my mother’s sister lived on a small farm and the eggs and milk were from the farm and the butter was her own and also the apples from the garden. She made  racuszki – using a thick yeast risen batter and roughly chopped apples – a cross between a pancake and a fritter. They were delicious.

I have made them here many times using her recipe. Whilst researching and checking other  variations I saw that several recipes used grated apples – these came out stodgy  with little taste of the apple – you need to keep the pieces fairly large.

Ingredients

  • 125 ml of milk (full is best or semi-skimmed)
  • 25g caster sugar and 1 teaspoon
  • 10g  fresh yeast or 5g  dried yeast
  • 25g  butter
  • 1 egg
  • 125g plain flour
  • Large pinch of salt
  • 2 Bramley apples
  • *
  • Icing sugar, caster sugar or cinnamon sugar to dust.

Method

Warm half the milk and add a teaspoon of caster sugar and the yeast and mix it all together and leave it to froth up.

Melt the butter and leave it to cool.

Whisk the egg with the rest of the sugar until it is thick and creamy.

Put the flour and salt into a large bowl.

Use a wooden spoon (one with a hole works really well) and beat in to the yeast mixture, the egg & sugar mixture and then the melted butter.

Slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing until the mixture has the consistency of double cream.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave this to rise.

Peel, core and quarter the apples and cut them into small chunks or slices cut in half.

Add the apples to the risen batter and mix them well in to coat them.

  • Use a griddle or thick cast iron frying pan and use oil to grease it lightly and heat it up.
  • You need to try and keep a low to medium heat so as not to burn the pancakes.
  • Place large tablespoons of apple and batter onto the pan and cook them so that they are golden brown on both sides.
  • Remove them from the pan and dust them with icing sugar, caster sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Beetroot & Apples – 2

  • The first beetroot & apple recipe was one that contained horseradish and was usually served cold.
  • I bought some organic beetroots and steamed them but thought they did not have much flavour.
  • The Bramley apples in the garden are just becoming ripe so I decided to use these as well.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 steamed beetroots
  • 2 large Bramley apples
  • A teaspon of sugar – optional

METHOD

  • Coarse grate the beetroots.
  • Peel and core the apples and coarse grate them too.
  • Mix the two together and heat gently till the apples are cooked.
  • You might want to add a little water.
  • Check on tartness – you might want to add a little sugar.
  • Serve hot with roast meats 
  • Or cold with salads or smoked meats.

Mince Pies with Apple Mincemeat

 

I make these with the pastry that I learnt from my mother  – a variation on kruche & półkruche,  pastry (a richer shortcrust pastry).  Using the proportion of 2 parts flour to 1 part butter.

Rather than the classic mincemeat – these were made with Apple mincemeat,  which is lighter and more tart.

Ingredients – Pastry

  • 1500g plain flour
  • 75g butter 
  • 1-2 tablespoons of icing sugar (optional)
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Juice of 1 lemon (and maybe 1 tablespoon of cold water)
  • *
  • Glaze
  • Lightly beaten egg white
  • Caster sugar

Method for pastry

  • Rub the butter into the flour to make “breadcrumbs”.
  • Mix in the icing sugar.
  • First with a knife and then with your fingertips mix in the yolk & lemon juice (and  maybe a tablespoon of cold water.)
  • You are aiming to get a dough which is not wet.
  • Rest for about 20 minutes.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C
  • You need to grease the tins well in order to get the pies out successfully.
  • 2 sizes of cutters are needed – 1 – 7cm diameter, plain, for the base, 1 – 6cm diameter, crinkle edge for the top.

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  • My tins are anodised aluminium and have a gentle rounded shape, this I think make for the perfect balance between the pastry and the filling.
  • I put “tops” on my mince pies – but not fully covered ones.
  • *
  • The tops are brushed with beaten egg white and sprinkled with caster sugar.
  • Cut out the bases and place them in the tins.
  • *
  • Place around a tablespoonful of apple mincemeat on the pastry.
  • Place the smaller tops on.
  • Lightly beat the egg white and brush this on the tops
  • Sprinkle caster sugar over the egg white.
  • Bake for around 15 minutes – keeping an eye on them – so they do not burn.
  • Leave to cool slightly in the tins & carefully remove them onto a rack to fully cool.

Beetroots & Apples

This is a delicious way of serving beetroot warm with a roast dinner.

Ingredients

  • 500g boiled or roast beetroots
  • 2-3 cooking apples
  • 60g of butter
  • Juice and grated rind of a lemon
  • 2-3 tablespoons of creamed horseradish sauce
  • 125ml of soured cream
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • Grate the beetroots using a medium grater.
  • Peel and core the apples and grate using a medium grater.
  • Mix the beetroot and apple together.
  • Mix in the lemon rind and juice.

  • Melt the butter in a large shallow frying pan.
  • Gently cook the mixture in the butter stirring often.
  • Cook for around 5-10 minutes.
  • Take of the heat.
  • Add the horseradish sauce and the soured cream.
  • Mix well together.
  • Season to taste and serve immediately.

Serve in Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998.

Note

Should you have any left you can serve it cold with cold meats.

Fruity Cabbage Salad

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.

Cinnamon Fruit Yeast Buns

These  bułeczki – little yeast buns – are based on an English recipe for hot cross buns, which are made for Good Friday.

I love the addition of a chopped eating apple and grated orange rind.

These take most of the day to make – best done on a day you are in with other things to do in between.

Ingredients

  • 330ml of milk (might need a little more)
  • 50g butter
  • 500g strong bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 7g sachet of dried yeast
  • 1 egg beaten
  • 75g sultanas
  • 50g mixed peel
  • Grated rind of an orange
  • 1 eating apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
  • 1 + 1/2  teaspoons of cinnamon
  • *
  • For the glaze
  • 2 tablespoons of apricot jam

Method

  • Bring the milk to the boil.
  • Add the butter and leave till hand-warm.
  • Put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl.
  • Make a well in the centre, add the milk and butter and then the egg.
  • Mix with a wooden spoon.
  • Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a sticky dough.
  • Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for around 5 minutes.
  • Put the dough into an oiled bowl
  • Cover with a shower cap (very useful these!) or cloth.
  • Leave to rise until doubled in size.
  • *
  • In a bowl mix together the sultanas, mixed peel, orange rind, apple and cinnamon.
  • Add this mixture to the risen dough and knead until it is all well distributed.
  • Cover again and leave to rise until doubled in size.
  • *
  • Cover a large baking tray with greaseproof.
  • Divide the dough into 15 even pieces.
  • Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured surface.
  • Arrange the balls on the baking tray with some room for expansion.
  • Cover loosely with a cloth and leave to prove – for around one hour.
  • *
  • Preheat the oven to GM7 – 220°C.
  • Bake for around 20 minutes until the buns are golden brown.
  • *
  • Gently heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan.
  • Brush the jam over the tops of the small buns.

Delicious on their own or buttered!

 

More Celeriac Salads

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

 

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Served in Carnation by Royal Doulton dishes from 1982 – 1998.

 

White Bean Salads

Having tried out this new honey dressing with a potato salad, I thought I would use it with white beans – the result was super!

Honey Dressing

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of runny honey

1 tablespoons of white wine or cider vinegar

1 tablespoons of made-up mustard

Salt & ground black pepper

Large handful of chopped dill

Method

Mix all the ingredients except the dill in a jug or bowl with a little whisk.

Stir in the dill.

Salad Ingredients – 1

1 tin of butter beans or  Canellinni (white kidney) beans – drained

1 onion – finely chopped

1 eating apple – pink skinned eg Pink lady,  rough chopped including the skin

Handfull of chopped dill to serve.

 

 

 

Mix all the salad ingredients together,except for the dill, in a bowl.

Pour the dressing over the salad.

Mix the salad with the dressing.

The salad is best made several hours before serving to let the dressing infuse into the beans.  I often leave it overnight.

Add the extra dill just before serving.

Salad Ingredients – 2

1 tin of butter beans or  Canellinni (white kidney) beans

1 red onion – finely chopped.

1 red pepper – cut into strips and then across – to give rough squares.

Handfull of chopped dill to serve.

 

 

 

Mix all the salad ingredients together, except for the dill,  in a bowl.

Pour the dressing over the salad.

Mix the salad with the dressing.

The salad is best made several hours before serving to let the dressing infuse into the beans.  I often leave it overnight.

Add the extra dill just before serving.

Note

I have found that some tinned butter beans are better than others  – you can improve the absorption of the dressing by:

  • either tipping the beans into a saucepan,  adding some water and heating them up for several minutes, then leaving them to go cold.
  • or  pricking through the skins with a cocktail stick or similar.

Chicken Livers

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.

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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 separate pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
  • Fry the chicken livers in the butter, stirring and turning them for around 3-4  minutes.
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Mix the livers with the apples and onions.

Good served with crusty bread.

Buraki – Buraczki – Beetroots – Beets

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

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  • 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.

 

 

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Medium Grated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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.

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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.

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  • 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.

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Carnation  Serving Dish by Royal Doulton

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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.

 

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  • 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.

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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

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  • 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.