Tag: Carrots

Pierogi with Chicken & Carrots

  • This is my 500th post – so I thought I would do a variation on a classic!
  • I have been trying out new fillings for pierogi – all with chicken – here is the first.
  • The fillings are made with cooked chicken as usual but I have found the chicken thighs make a tastier dish than chicken breast.
  • I cooked the chicken as for  rosȯł – chicken soup.
  • 5 – 6 carrots were in with the chicken.
  • You can mince the chicken and carrots but I used a mini-chopper, which gave a great smooth filling.

Ingredients

  • 200g of cooked chicken thighs – without bones or skin
  • 5-6 carrots boiled with the thighs
  • 1 tablespoon of melted butter
  • 1 egg yolk
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • Mince or use a mini-chopper to get a smooth mixture of chicken and carrots.
  • Mix in the melted butter and egg yolk.
  • Season to taste.
  • Use the filling to make pierogi in the usual way.
  • *
  • Serve with melted butter.
  • *
  • I have added how to make pierogi – below the photographs.

  • How to make pierogi

  • 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 5 to 6 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.

Mixed Vegetable Sałatka – another version

  • This recipe is a slightly different take on the classic Polish mixed vegetable salad.
  • Rather than potatoes, I used boiled parsnips and carrots.
  • This is a salad you can tinker with often – depending on the ingredients you have at hand. 

Ingredients

  • 2 – 3 cooked carrots cut onto small pieces
  • 2-3 cooked parsnips cut into small pieces
  • 1-2 gherkins cut into small pieces
  • Bunch of spring onions cut into small pieces
  • 3-4 hardboiled eggs – cut into small chunks
  • 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise 
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

  • Mix all the vegetable together.
  • Add the mayonnaise and mix all together.
  • Season to taste.
  • Place in a dish.
  • Add the eggs and spring onions on top.
  • Mix together when serving.

The dish is Freiberg – Cordoflam made in East Germany.

Honeyed Carrots

  • The original recipe was for whole small young carrots and used a bunch of around 15 carrots still with their tops.
  • I tend to use medium carrots and after topping and tailing them, I cut them lengthwise to give strips of carrots, say into quarters.
  • Here the difference between the two recipes below is the additions to the honey dressing used.
  • I used some lovely Polish honey from the Mazurian lakes.
  • Both versions are delicious.

Carrots with honey and thyme

Ingredients

  • 4-5 medium to large carrots
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of runny honey
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
  • 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • Salt & Pepper

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C
  • Peel the carrots.
  • Top and tail them.
  • Cut into quarters.
  • Place the carrots on a baking sheet.
  • Pour the olive oil over them.
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Roast for 20 minutes.
  • Strip the leaves from the stalks of the thyme.
  • Mix the thyme with the honey and lemon juice.
  • Pour the mixture over the carrots and roast for another 10 minutes.

Carrots with honey and orange

Ingredients

  • 4-5 medium to large carrots
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of runny honey
  • Zest and juice from a small orange
  • Salt & Pepper

    Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM6 – 200°C
  • Peel the carrots.
  • Top and tail them.
  • Cut into quarters lengthwise.
  • Place the carrots on a baking sheet.
  • Pour the olive oil over them.
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Roast for 20 minutes.
  • Mix the orange zest and juice with the honey.
  • Pour the mixture over the carrots and roast for another 10 minutes.
Thyme – Orange – Cold on Egg mayonnaise

Note

Should you have any left , chop them up and use as a topping to sandwiches or add to salads.

Keks – Carrot Fruit &Nut

This is a variation on the courgette keks – light fruit cake –  I posted a couple of years ago.

Ingredients – Cake

  • 150g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
  • 150g of light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 100g of raisins
  • 100g of currants
  • 100g dried apricots chopped fine
  • 80g of roasted and roughly chopped hazelnuts or almonds
  • 1 large coarse grated carrot
  • 2 eggs
  • 125ml of sunflower oil

Ingredients – Lemon Icing

  • Fine grated rind of 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 150g of icing sugar

Method – Cake

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 180°C
  • I used a continental style long loaf tin, greased it  and used a single sheet of grease proof paper  to line the long sides and the base.
  • Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugars and cinnamon, making sure that any lumps in the brown sugar are all pressed out.
  • Mix together the raisin, currants, nuts and the carrot.
  • Lightly whisk the eggs and oil together.
  • Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly together with a wooden spoon.
  • Add the carrot and fruit and nut mixture and mix well in.
  • Place the cake mixture into the tin and smooth the top.
  • Bake for 50 – 55 minutes – check after 40 minutes and cover the top with greaseproof or foil if browning too much before it is baked through.
  • Leave to cool before icing.

Method – Icing

  • Place the icing sugar in a bowl and add the grated lemon zest.
  • Mix in the lemon juice until you have a thick icing.
  • You might have to adjust the thickness with  more lemon juice (or water) or with icing sugar.
  • Put the icing on the top of the cake and let it drip down the sides.
  • Tea Plate – Greenway by John Russell – 1960s

Note

  • Keep in an airtight container.
  • Keep in the container for at least a day before serving.

Cabbage Carrot & Pear Salad

  • This is a variation on my usual cabbage salad.
  • Mayonnaise is not used just lemon juice as a dressing. 
  • Rather than apples I used pears for this salad.
  • Conference pears or other hard pears are good for this.
  • The pears need to be ripe but not too “mushy”.
  • I would peel the pears as the skins are often very tough.

Ingredients

  • ½ head of white cabbage
  • 3-4 hard pears
  • 2 carrots
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • *
  • Chopped flat leafed parsley or chives to serve

Method

  • Shred the cabbage into fine shreds.
  • Peel the pears and then coarse grate them.
  • Coarse grate the carrots.
  • Mix them all together.
  • Pour the lemon juice over them and mix.
  • Sprinkle with flat leaved parsley or chives.

Carrot & Sultana Salad

I usually use carrots to make a salad with apples but today I had lots of carrots and no apples so found a different salad to make.

Ingredients

  • 5 carrots
  • 80g sultanas
  • Zest and juice of 1 orange

Method

  • Grate the carrots using a coarse grater.
  • Mix with the sultanas.
  • Mix with the orange zest and juice.

This is best made around 30 minutes before it is needed.

Red Cabbage Salad

This recipe was inspired by the ones I wrote up in Red on Red! after looking at the ingredients that were in my fridge and cupboards.

Ingredients

  • ½ red cabbage
  • 4-5 carrots
  • 1 onion
  • 1-2 apples
  • *
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 1-2 tablespoons of runny honey

Method

  • Grate or finely shred and chop the red cabbage.
  • Peel and coarse grate the carrots.
  • Finely chop the onion.
  • Finely chop the apple.
  • Mix all the ingredients together.
  • *
  • Mix the lime juice and honey together.
  • Mix the dressing over the salad.

Tastes good straight away and even better after a few hours.

Carrot & Thyme Soup

  • This recipe was given to me by one of my cousins that lives in Wembley.
  • It is from an old French recipe but all the ingredients can be found in England and Poland.

Ingredients

  • 400g carrots
  • 1 onion
  • 6- 8 sprigs of thyme
  • 40g rice
  • 1½ litres of chicken stock (can be from a cube or concentrate)
  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  • Chop the onion into small pieces.
  • Gently fry onion in the butter till it is golden.
  • Peel the carrots and chop them into small circles.
  • Put the onion, carrots and stock into a large saucepan.
  • Strip the leaves of thyme from the stalks and add these to the pan.
  • Add the rice to the pan.
  • Bring to the boil and then simmer gently until the carrots are soft.
  • Stir occasionally.
  • Purée the soup – a stick blender is good.
  • Season to taste.
Royal Doulton – Tapestry Soup Plate – 1966 – 1998

Ukrainian Salad

  • I bought this jar of salad from my Polish shop.
  • It is Sałatka ukraińska – Ukrainian salad.
  • It was very good.
  • Good to have in as a standby.
  • I wanted to make a similar salad.
  • I looked this up and could not find a recipe similar with beetroots.
  • I noted down the ingredients written on the label.
  • Vinegar and sugar were used in the jar – I used lemon juice and honey.
  • The salad will come out differently each time if you change the proportions of the vegetables.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium boiled beetroots
  • 1 onion
  • ½ a small white cabbage or sweetheart cabbage
  • 1 large or 2 medium carrots
  • 1 red pepper
  • Juice from 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons of runny – honey 
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Method

  • Grate the beetroots using a coarse grater.
  • Chop the onion into fine pieces.
  • Shred the cabbage into fine strands.
  • Grate the carrot using a coarse grater
  • Chop the pepper into small pieces.
  • Mix all the vegetables together.
  • Mix the lemon juice and honey.
  • Mix the dressing with the vegetables
  • Season to taste.

Note

  • Tastes good straight away but can be kept in the fridge for several days as well.

    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.