This is not a Polish recipe and my mother would not have made this cake, especially as my father did not like bananas.
But looking online and on Instagram I find that bananas are used in many new recipes from Poland.
Banana bread recipes originated in the USA in the early 1930s.
They tended to be made in bread or loaf tins but I have found a flatter rectangular tin gives better results.
For the best results the bananas have to be as ripe as possible – very black spotted skins and ‘squidgy’ flesh.
I have adapted an old recipe of mine by using dried cranberries and am very pleased with the contrast between the bananas and the cranberries.
I used a packet of cranberries which was 1`70g and made the dried fruit up to 250g with sultanas – you can adjust these amounts – but I found these worked well.
Ingredients
225g plain flour
2½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
110g butter
150g of granulated sugar
170g dried cranberries
80g sultanas
450g – mashed ripe banana flesh
2 eggs – beaten
Method
Grease and line 32 x 22cm baking tin.
Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C.
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
Rub in the butter till the mixture is like breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar, cranberries and sultanas.
Mix this with the eggs and mashed bananas till uniform.
Recently I used duck, red cabbage & dried cranberries as a filling for pierogi and really liked the combination. I was pleased with the easy way I made the red cabbage mixture so I decided to use this with pan fried duck breast.
It turned out well very and I think this will be replacing my slow cooker red cabbage method especially to use with quicker pan fried or grilled meat.
Ingredients for Cabbage & Cranberry Mixture
1 small red cabbage (around 600g once core removed)
100 -150g of dried cranberries
2 – 3 tablespoons of butter
Salt & ground black pepper
Method
Rather than boiling, steaming or slow cooking the red cabbage, I used a sort of stir-fry & braising method which worked very well.
Put the cranberries in a dish and cover them with some boiling water and leave them for about half an hour.
Shred the cabbage.
In a deep frying/ saucepan heat some water and add the butter.
Stir in the cabbage and simmer gently for a few minutes.
Cover the pan – a glass lid is good so you can see what is happening – you need to check and stir occasionally.
Simmer for around 10 minutes.
Add the cranberries & water, stir and on put the lid back on.
Simmer for around 10 to 15 minutes.
Keep a check on the water so it does not dry out.
If the cabbage has not cooked enough – adjust the water and cook for a bit longer.
Ingredients – Duck
Duck breasts – 1 per person
Italian herbs
Salt & ground black pepper
Method
Rub the duck breasts with Italian herbs, ground black pepper and salt and leave for at least an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190°C
Put a baking tray in the oven for around 10 minutes to heat up.
Heat a heavy based frying pan (I use a cast iron pan) until it is very hot – you do not need any added oil or fat.
Place the duck breasts in the pan skin side down and turn the heat down to medium and cook for 2 minutes. Turn them over and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Put the duck onto the heated baking tray.
Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes.
You can serve the duck breast as whole pieces or slice them up.
Place the duck on top of the cabbage and cranberry mixture to serve.
I have recently returned from a super, short holiday in Gdańsk during which I tried out many old favourites and several new dishes.
I tried pierogi in several restaurants, choicing some unusual fillings and have been inspired to make them with some new fillings.
I did find that some of the meaty ones were too big – I use a 7cm diameter cutter, which for me gives a better filling to pasta ratio. and have been inspired to make some with some new fillings.
I had several delicious meals in a restaurant in the Old Town calledGvara– the name is based on the Polish wordgwara which means dialect(Polish does not have the letter v !). This restaurant serves Polish cuisine – often with a modern take and it has given me much inspiration for some new recipes.
One of the dishes there was pierogi with duck in the filling.
On the way back to the airport the taxi driver told me that his wife would be cooking duck with red cabbage for Easter Sunday – this set me thinking!
Because I had several ducks in the freezer, I roasted these and took off all the meat – however in the future I would just buy duck breasts or legs and roast or poach them.
3 Duck Fillings
Cooked duck meat – roasted or poached – is used in these recipes – amouts are not critical.
Fillings must be left to go cold before using.
Duck & Apple
150g of cooked duck meat
4 eating apples – Braeburn or Coxes are good
Method
Core the apples and place them in a oven proof dish
Cook them in a medium oven until the flesh is soft
Scope out all the apple flesh
Chop or mince the cooked duck meat
Combine the duck and apple flesh together.
Serve with melted butter – here on Royal Worcester – Evesham from 1961 onwards.
Duck, Red Cabbage & Cranberries
150g of cooked duck meat
300g red cabbage
50g of dried cranberries
1 tablespoon of butter
Method
Rather than boiling, steaming or slow cooking the red cabbage, I used a sort of stir-fry & braising method which worked really well.
Put the cranberries in a dish a cover them with some boiling water and leave them for about half an hour.
Shred the cabbage.
In a deep frying/ saucepan heat some water and add the butter.
Stir in the cabbage and simmer gently for a few minutes.
Cover the pan – a glass lid is good so you can see what is happening – you need to check and stir occasionally.
Simmer for around 10 minutes.
Add the cranberries & water, stir and on put the lid back on.
Simmer for around 10 to 15 minutes.
Keep a check on the water so it does not dry out.
If the cabbage has not cooked enough – adjust the water and cook for a bit longer.
Leave to cool completely
Use a mini-chopper or stick blender to shred the cabbage mixture.
Chop or mince the cooked duck meat.
Combine the duck and cabbage & cranberry mixture together.
Serve with melted butter – here on La prune by Jet for Ter Steege in The Netherlands.
Duck & Sauerkraut
150g of cooked duck meat
Around half a large jar of sauerkraut
1 onion
1 tablespoon of butter
Pepper to taste
Method
Put the sauerkraut with the liquid from the tin or jar into a pan and cover with boiling water.
Simmer the sauerkraut gently for about 30 minutes.
Then uncover and boil off as much of the liquid as possible – without burning the sauerkraut.
Allow the boiled sauerkraut to cool.
Strain it using a sieve and pressing it down with a spoon to get the mixture as dry as possible (If you want you can put the strained mixture into a clean dry cotton or linen teacloth, twist the ends together to squeeze it to get it really dry).
Chop the sauerkraut finely with a sharp knife.
Chop the onion finely and fry it gently in the butter until it is soft and golden – leave it to cool.
Chop or mince the cooked duck meat.
Combine the cabbage mixture, the fried onion and the chopped sauerkraut.
Add some pepper to taste.
Fried pierogi
All the butter coated pierogi that are not eaten can be fried up later – equally delicious!
I have written much previously about pierogi – but have included the instructions for the dough again below.
Ingredients – Dough
250g pasta flour or strong 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
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.
Cut the dough into quarters.
On a floured board roll out a quarter at a time until you have a sheet of thinly rolled dough.
Now prepare a large tray and cover it with a clean tea towel and sprinkle this with flour.
Have a large surface such as a tray covered with a cotton or linen cloth which has been lightly floured ready and place the sealed pierogi on this until they are all made, do not let then touch each other.
I cut them out 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 to me 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.
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 6 to 8 at a time (I only do 6 at a time if using frozen ones).
As they cook they will float to the surface, let them boil for 2 to 3 minutes, a bit more if they were frozen, 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.
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 shallow dish and put the melted butter into the dish
Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
As you take out the cooked pierogi add them to the dish, mix them with the butter to prevent them sticking.
Keep on adding more as they cook and keep shaking the dish to coat and mix them.
This is very popular in Poland, especially in the wintertime, and is served with hot roasts or cold meats and smoked sausages.
I cannot find any reference to when and why these two fruits were put together but they do make a good combination.
It is more like a conserve or a salsa – it is not a pouring sauce.
Many years ago I got a recipe from my aunty in Białystok. However I did not get around to to making this until recently, mainly because the pears in my garden are ripe in September but fresh cranberries are not in the shops in England until around December.
As I could not use my own pears and I decided to make this with bought produce.
The following proportions are used, 2 parts cranberries to 1 part pears (once they are peeled & cored).
Hard pears, such as Conference pears are best and it is better if they are ripe as they provide sweetness.
I find that “bought” cranberry sauce is often much too sweet and sickly.
It is difficult to judge how much sugar to add, I have given the quantities I used, it is easier to add some later, hard to take any away!
Version 1
This will keep for at least a week in a fridge – I pack the sauce into oven sterilised jars.
Ingredients – 1
600g Cranberries
300g Pears (once peeled and cored)
300g Granulated sugar
300ml of water
Method
Rinse the cranberries and drain and put them into a plastic bag, flatten the bag and place it into a freezer for 24 hours.
The next day, take the cranberries out of the bag and put them into a bowl and cover them with boiling water then leave them for 30 minutes and then strain them.
Peel and core the pears and then cut them into rough cubes.
Place the cranberries in a thick bottomed pan and add the pears, sugar and the water.
Bring to the boil, mixing often then simmer gently for around 30 minutes, still stirring often.
Pour the sauce into hot sterilised jars – leave them to cool thoroughly before putting on the lids.
Version 2
This will also keep for at least a week in a fridge – I pack the sauce into oven sterilised jars – it has a “fresher ” taste than version 1.
Ingredients -2
600g Cranberries
300g Pears (once peeled and cored)
70 -100g Granulated sugar
Method
Peel and core the pears and then cut them into rough cubes.
Place the cranberries in a thick bottomed pan and add the pears and 70g of the sugar and stir well.
Cover with a lid and heat gently for around 5 minutes.
Remove the lid and give the mixture a stir, continue doing this for around 15 minutes, when you check and stir you can test for sweetness and add up to another 30g of sugar.
Pour the sauce into hot sterilised jars – leave them to cool thoroughly before putting on the lids.
These biscuits are not at all Polish in origin – I like to think of them as a Scottish & Polish Alliance!
Cranberries & Lingonberries
Cranberries and lingonberries grow wild in acidic bogs around many forests in Poland and especially in the countryside where my father lived, in what was North East Poland before the war.
Cranberries & Lingonberries belong to the genus Vaccinium and the plants are small, low growing, evergreen shrubs.
Cranberries in central and northern Europe are Vaccinium oxycoccos , whilst Vaccinium microcarpum or Vaccinium macrocarpon are to be found in the USA.
Lingonberries are Vaccinium vitis-idaea .
The berries of the cranberry are larger and oval.
The berries of the lingonberry are round and much smaller than the cranberry, about a third or quarter of the size.
Image of lingonberries taken from Wikipedia
The Polish for cranberry is żurawina, the word comes from żuraw which means a crane – so the same as the English word, as parts of the plant reminded people of the bird.
The Polish for lingonberry is borówka or borowina, both these names contain the part bor which means (from) the forest.
Notes
1 -There are dozens of different names in English for lingonberry which in fact comes from the Swedish name.
2- The commercially grown dried cranberries used in this recipe were grown in the USA.
Oats
Oats (Avena sativa) – owies in Polish, are grown in Poland but for this recipe I have considered them Scottish!
Rolled Oats
Royal Scottish – Polish Alliance!
The mother of Bonnie Prince Charlie(1720-1788) was – Maria Klementyna Sobieska(1702-1735) – she was the granddaughter of the Polish King Jan III Sobieski(1629-1696) and she married James Stuart(1688-1766), The Pretender.
In March 2016, The Scotsman printed an article titled
Scotland and Poland a 500 year relationship.
Some of the facts & figures below are taken from this.
More Polish nationals now live in Scotland than any other group from outside the UK and the two countries share a rich history.
The links were forged back in the late 1400s when trade agreements were established between Aberdeen and the old Baltic seaport of Gdańsk.
Under King Stefan Batory(1533-1586), Scottish merchants became suppliers to the royal court in Kraków and grain and timber from Poland was traded with Scotland.
Many Scots moved to Poland to seize new business opportunities and buried in St John’s Archcathedral in Warsaw is Alexander Chalmers (written as Czamer) , from Dyce near Aberdeen, a judge and four times mayor of Warsaw between 1691 and 1703.
There are many surnames in Poland which are Scottish in origin such as: Machlejd(MacLeod), Makolroys(MacElroy) and Szynklers(Sinclaire).
Around 38,000 Polish soldiers were stationed in Scotland after the fall of Poland in WW2 and many of those who were unable to return to their homeland after the end of the war stayed and it is estimated that around 2,500 Polish-Scottish marriages took place around this period.
There was a wave of immigration in the 1980s with the declaration of Martial Law in Poland and then again after 2004 when Poland joined the European Union.
One of the most popular brands of tea sold in Poland is Yellow label which was created by Sir Thomas Lipton( 1848-1931) who was from Glasgow, Scotland.
Since 1995 Krakòw has been twinned with Edinburgh.
Ingredients
100g butter or block margarine
100g granulated sugar
5ml of golden syrup
5ml of boiling water
100g of self raising flour
100g of rolled oats
50g of dried cranberries
Dried cranberries
Method
Pre-heat the oven to GM 5 – 190°C.
Grease at least 2 baking trays – (you will have to take the biscuits off when they are cooked and re-grease these tins.)
Place the butter or margarine in a pan with the granulated sugar and heat slowly so that the butter is melted.
Add the teaspoon of golden syrup and then the teaspoon of boiling water and mix well together.
Take the pan off the heat, add the flour and oats and mix this together.
Then mix in the cranberries.
Using your hands, make small balls and place them on the trays, leaving space around them as they will spread.
Place in the oven and bake for around 8 – 10 minutes, watch them carefully as they suddenly seem to catch & burn.
I often look at them half way through and flatten them with a spatula.
Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool a little before you use a spatula to take them of the trays and leave them to fully cool on a wire cooling rack.
Plate is by Royal Grafton – no pattern name – made in England
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 