Capers – Journey From A Polish Kitchen

Tartar Sauce

Sos tartarski is a classic cold sauce in Poland.
Books say that this is a French sauce but they must have been influenced by Polish ingredients!
Usually served with fish (hot or cold) or hard- boiled eggs.
Very easy to make especially if using bought mayonnaise.
Use the best bought mayonnaise – full fat not the reduced type.
I usually use Hellmann’s mayonnaise.
Soured cream and lemon juice can also be added.
Amounts are not fixed but you are aiming for a soft dropping sauce.

Ingredients

4- 5 tablespoons of mayonnaise
2 -3 gherkins
1-2 tablespoons of capers
1-2 tablespoons of soured cream
½ to 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
*
Some chopped fresh dill to serve – if available.

Method

Mix the mayonnaise, soured cream and lemon juice to a soft dropping density.
Chop the gherkins into small pieces.
Stir the chopped gherkins and capers into the mayonnaise mixture.
Put the sauce into a serving bowl and sprinkle the dill on top.

Potato Salad with a Honey Dressing

I came across this recipe for potato salad which instead of using mayonnaise has a dressing made with honey.

In my other potato salads, I use starchy potatoes but with this dressing the firmer more waxy potatoes work best.

Ingredients

Salad

500g of boiled or steamed baby salad potatoes (chopped into quarters if large)

2 tablespoons of capers

1 green apple such as a Granny Smith (chopped into small pieces)

Chopped chives or the green part of spring onions

Chopped dill

Dressing

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

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Garnish – to serve

A few handfulls of torn baby spinach

Chopped dill

50g of chopped walnuts

Method

Mix all the salad ingredients together and place in a bowl.

Mix all the dressing ingredients together – use a little whisk.

Mix the salad with the dressing.

The salad is best made several hours before serving to let the dressing infuse into the potatoes.

Add the garnish just before serving to prevent the leaves becoming soggy.

The dressing is so delicious – I will be trying it out on other salads and vegetables .

Capparis spinosa is the caper bush. The plant is best known for the edible, unripened flower buds – capers – kapary (in Polish) which are often used as a seasoning and are usually pickled in brine, vinegar or wine.

These perennial plants are native to the Mediterranean and some parts of Asia. Their use dates back to around 2,000 BC where they are mentioned as a food in Sumerian literature.

The caper buds are picked by hand which can make the cost of a small jar expensive.

Pickled nasturtium (Tropaeolum maius) (nasturcja in Polish) seeds – often called poor man’s capers are a good substitute.

Cooking With Capers

Capers have long been used in the Mediterranean region especially in Italian cooking.

Capers are usually added to the dish toward the end of the cooking process, to keep their shape and flavour.

Sos kaparowy – Caper sauce

This is very popular in Poland and is made with chopped capers and mayonnaise and is served with hard-boiled eggs.

Potato Salad with Capers

This is my variation of the classic Polish potato salad with caper sauce.

Ingredients

200g waxy potatoes
100g whole green beans
100g peas
2-3 spring onions – green part
2 tablespoons of capers – drained
2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise – home-made or a good full fat bought variety
1 tablespoon of made up mustard
Salt & pepper
2 – 3 hard-boiled eggs

Method
The potatoes, green beans and the peas all need to be boiled or steamed, drained and then dried as much as possible using a clean tea towel.
I usually use starchy potatoes for potato salad but have found that waxy ones are better for this one.
Chop the beans into small pieces.
Chop the green parts of the onion into fine pieces.