The inspiration for these salads are from recipes in a new book I bought recently in Poland and from one my Polish friend in Leeds bought for me.
History of the Radish
Radish, in Polish – rzodkiew, Latin name – Raphanus sativus, is a root vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family and is thought to have originated in South East Asia. It is mentioned in Greece in the 3rd century BC and in Europe in pre-Roman times.
It was one of the first European crops to be taken to the Americas.
Some of the recipes used czarna rzodkiew – which translates as black radish. Now I had never heard of this, so looked it up and found it is called Black Spanish radish and sometimes called winter radish. It is mentioned in Europe in the 16th century and in England in the 19th century.
It has white flesh and a black skin and can be round or long and it is much larger than the radishes I have seen. So when the recipes used one or two black Spanish radishes, I used 1 or 2 bunches of radishes.
Cucumber & Radish Salad – Version 1
Ingredients
1 cucumber
1 or 2 bunches of radishes
1 tablespoon of oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt & pepper
Chopped dill & flat leafed parsley
Method
Peel the cucumber or part peel lengthwise in stripes.
Cut the cucumber into thin slices – you can cut these into halves.
Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Add salt and pepper.
Add the oil and lemon juice and mix well.
Garnish with dill and flat leafed parsley.
Sweet Honey Dressing
A lovely sweet dressing made with honey is used on the following four salads.
Ingredients
125ml soured cream
1 tablespoon of runny honey
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Method
Use a little whisk to combine the ingredients.
Cucumber & Radish Salad – Version 2
As version 1 with sweet honey dressing
Radish & Red Onion Salad
Ingredients
1 – 2 bunches of radishes
1 red onion
Sweet honey dressing
Method
Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Slice and chop the onion into small squares.
Mix the radishes and onion together.
Pour the sweet honey dressing over them and mix.
Radish & Raisin Salad
Ingredients
1-2 bunches of radishes
80g raisins or sultanas
Sweet honey dressing
Method
Put the raisins into a small bowl and boiling water over them to cover.
Leave them until they are cold.
Use a sieve to drain away the water.
Use kitchen roll or a clean tea cloth to dry the raisins.
Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Mix the radishes and raisins.
Pour the sweet honey dressing over them and mix.
Optional
Serve this on top of a bed of shredded lettuce.
Served here with liver & rice
Cucumber & Raisin Salad
Ingredients
1 cucumber
80g raisins or sultanas
Sweet honey dressing
Method
Put the raisins into a small bowl and boiling water over them to cover.
Leave them until they are cold.
Use a sieve to drain away the water.
Use kitchen roll or a clean tea cloth to dry the raisins.
Peel the cucumber or part peel lengthwise in stripes.
Cut the cucumber into thin slices – you can cut these into halves.
Mix the cucumber and raisins.
Pour the sweet honey dressing over them and mix.
Served here with liver & mushrooms and rice.
Radish & Apple Salad
Ingredients
1 bunch of radishes
1 large apple – Braeburn is good
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
2 pinches of salt
Method
Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Cut larger slices into two
Put them into a bowl with the sugar and salt and leave these for around 10 minutes
Core the apple and cut into rough cubes
Place the apple into a bowl and our the lemon juice over them.
Having written several posts recently with different ideas for breakfasts, I started to think about how to use some of these ingredients such as smoked bacon & eggs in salads.
Version 1 with lemon juice
Ingredients
1 iceberg lettuce
1 cucumber
4 hard boiled eggs
250g smoked bacon
Lemon juice
Chives to garnish
Salt & pepper to taste
Method
Cut the lettuce into shreds with a sharp knife.
Peel the cucumber or part peel in stripes lengthwise.
Chop the cucumber into small pieces.
Chop up the hard boiled eggs into small pieces.
Chop up the bacon into small squares and fry without extra oil until all the fat has come out.
Use kitchen roll to soak up the excess fat and leave to cool completely.
Mix all the ingredients together
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Add the lemon juice and stir.
Add chopped chives to serve.
Version 2 with soured cream
1 iceberg lettuce
1 cucumber
4 hard boiled eggs
250g smoked bacon
Lemon juice
2 -3 tablespoons of soured cream
Salt & pepper to taste
Chives to garnish
Method
As version 1 with the addition of the soured cream at the end.
Version 3 with tomatoes
1 iceberg lettuce
1 cucumber
4 hard boiled eggs
250g smoked bacon
20 cherry tomatoes
Lemon juice
Chives to garnish
Salt & pepper to taste
Method
As version 1 with the addition of the chopped cherry tomatoes.
I have recently returned from a super, short holiday in Gdańsk and had several delicious breakfasts in a restaurant in the Old Town called Gvara- the name is based on the Polish word gwara which means dialect (Polish does not have the letter v !).
One of the breakfasts was buckwheat pancakes with a filling of chopped cucumber and smoked bacon, topped with a soft cooked egg and chives.
On my return I had to recreate this lovely dish.
Ingredients
Cooked buckwheat pancakes
Chopped cucumber and smoked bacon filling
Soft cooked egg – poached or lightly fried
Chopped chives or the green parts of spring onions.
The hardest part is getting getting all the parts cooked and warm at the same time.
Buckwheat Pancakes
Ingredients
75g buckwheat flour
25g plain flour
2 eggs
125ml of milk (full or semi-skimmed)
125ml of water
25g of melted butter
pinch of salt
Some extra milk might be needed.
Method
Make these in the same way as standard pancakes adding the melted butter after the batter has been standing for about an hour.
Beat the eggs and add then them first to the sifted flour.
Add the milk mixture to the egg and flour mix until you have a batter the consistency of pouring cream.
Mix the milk with the water
Add the milk mixture to the egg and flour mix until you have a batter the consistency of pouring cream.
Leave the batter to stand for at least 1 hour in which time it will thicken, then add a little more liquid.
Use a special thin pan which you use just for pancakes, mine has a base diameter of 20 cm and is made of steel, once seasoned, just wipe it clean between uses with kitchen roll – never scour it or use detergent.
Work out how much batter you need for a pancake and find a measure which will then give you a consistent amount – I use a small ladle which holds 45ml.
Have a dish of melted butter or margarine and sunflower oil for frying so you can add just enough and tip some back if needed.
Heat the pan – you want a high heat but not too much to burn the pancakes – you will find you have to keep adjusting the heat. (As I cook using gas this is easy to do).
Using the ladle pour the mixture into the pan.
Tilt the pan so that the mixture covers the surface completely and evenly.
Cook the pancakes on one side and turn then over – you can make them up one by one or stack then up with a piece of grease-proof paper in between them. You can do this and leave then for later use.
Filling
Cucumber
Smoked Bacon
Peel the cucumber and chop it into little cubes.
Cut the bacon into small squares and cook these in a frying pan – aiming for cooked but maybe not that crispy.
Whilst the bacon is still warm, mix it with the cucumber.
Place some of the mixture on the cooked pancake in the centre and out to the sides – but not quite to the edge.
Fold in two of the opposite sides and then roll up the pancake from the long end to make a long parcel.
Top the pancake with a soft cooked egg – poached or lightly fried.
Sprinkle with chopped chives or the green parts of spring onions.
Served on Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 to 1988.
Gherkins are cucumbers that have been fermented in brine or pickled with vinegar.
Botanically cucumbers are fruit although they are a vegetables from the culinary point of view.
In Polish the word ogórki means cucumbers.
Kiszoneogórki means fermented cucumbers – either in brine or vinegar.
Letnieogórki means summer cucumbers – which are fresh salad cucumbers.
The Latin name for the cucumber is Cucumis sativus and it is a member of the gourd family and so related to pumpkins and melons.
It is thought the plant originated in India and then was taken to Greece and from there to northern Europe.
I have read that the making of pickles by fermenting in brine is over 4,000 years old. This would preserve vegetables throughout the winter – well before the days of frozen food and supermarkets!
A quick look at the journey of the word –Gherkin – according to several dictionary sources.
This is a word that started in Greece and travelled to England & America via Poland, Germany and The Netherlands.
Angourion – Medieval Greek for cucumber.
Ogórek – Polish for cucumber
Gurke – German for cucumber
Augurk – Dutch for a brined or pickled cucumber
Gherkin – English for a brined or pickled cucumber
In Poland, July & August are the main months for making gherkins at home and once when I was there at that time in my relatives’ houses every container seemed to have been put into use for a stage in their production.
Everyone has their own special recipe using brine and sometimes vinegar with the addition of garlic and herbs and spices – the most often used is the flower head of the dill plant – hence we get dill pickles. Some methods are very quick taking just a few days others take longer.
The type of cucumber used is a different variety than the salad cumber it is shorter, fatter, often knobbier and has a lower water content.
I cannot at the moment give you a good recipe for making gherkins as I have rarely seen the right variety of cucumbers for sale in England – maybe now with more Polish shops I might see some next year and try out some recipes.
The bought gherkins I like are the Polish Krakus ones.
Another type I like are ones you can buy in Lidl – these are made with sugar and vinegar and are sliced lengthways – they have only a slight vinegar taste and are sweet – I do not like the very vinegary kind.
There are many uses of gherkins in Polish cookery – the most famous must be gherkin soup – which I just love – but that recipe I will cover later once I start to write about soups.
Of course gherkins – form part of many salads.
Gherkins Sliced Lengthways – a very simple salad
Gherkin and Tomato Salad
Ingredients
3 or 4 Gherkins – cut into discs
4 or 5 Tomatoes- cut into half & then thinly sliced
1 small onion – finely chopped
Flat-leaved parsley – finely chopped – to garnish
Salt and pepper to taste.
Method
In a bowl mix together the gherkins, tomatoes and onions.
Sprinkle with a little salt and add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the gherkin jar (if none is available then use some lemon juice) and mix again.
Place into a serving dish and sprinkle with chopped flat leaved parsley and freshly ground black pepper.
Śmietana – Soured Cream – must be one of the most used salad dressings in Poland.
Soured cream is used just on its own and sometimes if it is thick or because they like it that way people will add lemon juice to make it more runny.
I am going to write about the three classic salads which will have soured cream on them.
Mizeria
Legend has it that this salad was beloved by Queen Bona, the Italian princess, who married King Zygmunt 1 in the early part of the 16th Century.
She is famous for bringing her chefs and a variety of vegetables to Poland and many vegetables names in Polish have Italian roots.
The word mizeria comes from the Latin meaning misery.It is said that this salad made the Queen homesick for Italy. I can understand the cucumber – not sure about the soured cream – but that is the story.
It certainly is a delicious cooling salad for a hot day.
I was talking with one of my Polish friends earlier last week and I said that I was going to write about mizeria and she said “Oh there were 20 people for dinner yesterday and I made a huge bowl of mizeria – it was delicious and it was all eaten!”
It is the salad that everyone loves to make in the summer and it is so easy.
Ingredients
Just – Cucumber, Soured Cream and a little salt.
Option extras
Lemon juice added to the soured cream.
Some people add little bit of icing sugar.
Dill or chives as a garnish.
Take a cucumber and peel off the skin. If the skin is thin then sometimes I do not peel it all off, just stripes so that you have a nice pattern later of dark and pale green.
Cut the cucumber into thin slices and put them into a bowl
Lightly salt the cucumber.
Add several spoonfuls of soured cream to the cucumber and mix them together, you want to coat most of the slices.
Sprinkle with a garnish of chopped dill or chives if desired and serve.
This is delicious with Polish style smoked meats and sausage and also with hot roast meats as a lovely contrast.
Mizeria Garnished with DillDill
Mizeria Garnished with Chives
note
This is best made with young fresh cucumbers in summer. However now that you can get greenhouse grown cucumbers all year round I sometimes find that they are a bit old and woody, if this is the case I would remove the seed area – this is best done by cutting the cucumber lengthwise in two and removing the seeds by pulling a teaspoon down the seedy middle. Then you can slice the cucumber as before.
Some cooks salt the sliced cucumber and leave this for about half an hour and then discard the liquid before adding the soured cream. I do not usually do this unless I am making it for serving at a much later time.
Radish Salad
Ingredients
Radish and Soured Cream.
Chives or Spring onions to garnish.
Prepare the radishes by removing the hairy roots and stalks.
Thinly slice the radishes.
Put the radish slices in a bowl and add several tablespoons of soured cream (thinned with lemon juice it desired).
Garnish with chives or the green part of spring onions, finely chopped.
I love the way the radish skin colour seeps into the soured cream after a while and makes it pale pink.
Lettuce Salad
This is the most simple salad you can make – just use lettuce leaves pulled off from the head of lettuce, wash and dry them using a tea towel or a salad spinner and add several tablespoons of soured cream (thinned with lemon juice it desired) and mix them together.
Garnish with a few chives if you have them and serve.
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 