I posted the recipe forogórkowa – gherkin soup, which is a classic Polish soup, over a year ago.
It is sour, a taste much loved by the Poles!
It is traditionally made from brine fermented gherkins but you can also use pickled gherkins.
I was sorting out my cutting and notes the other day and came across this recipe from my aunt in Białystok and decided it was time I made this version.
Ingredients
250g gherkins
125ml gherkin liquid
1.5 litres of vegetable stock (can be from cubes or powder)
4 medium potatoes, peeled – boiled or steamed
3-4 carrots whole – peeled – boiled
125ml of soured cream
Chopped dill – some to add and some to serve
Method
This is easiest to make if you have some potatoes and carrots boiled already.
Add the gherkin liquid to the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
Rough chop the gherkins.
Drop the gherkins into the liquid and simmer for around 20 -25 minutes.
Chop the boiled potatoes into rough cubes.
Chop the boiled carrots into circles or half circles (depending on the size)
Add the potatoes and carrots, stir and simmer for around 5 minutes.
Chłodnik means coolant and it is a refreshing start to a meal in summer.
This classic version is usually make with botwiny for which I cannot find a good translation into English.
Botwiny are young beetroots with the stalks and some leaves still attached. In Poland you can buy bunches of these for sale or you can pick them early from your garden or allotment. Here in England I have not see them for sale so if you want them you will have to grow them for yourself.
If you do have some you use all the parts – the roots, stalks and the leaves otherwise you just use cooked beetroot.
The classic version uses soured milk but unless you have access to this then Greek style natural yoghurt or soured cream and lemon juice are good alternatives.
I use beetroot concentrate which is convenient and very tasty.
1 tablespoon of beetroot concentrate to 250ml of yoghurt is a good proportion.
Ingredients
250g of cooked beetroots
3-4 gherkins
Spring onion – green parts or chives
500ml of yoghurt or 300ml soured cream
2 tablespoons of beetroot concentrate
Handful of dill
Lemon juice and gherkin liquor and cold water
Salt & Pepper & Sugar to taste
*
Hard boiled eggs to serve – ½ egg per person
Method
Chop the beetroot into small cubes.
Chop the gherkins into small cubes.
Chop the spring onions or chives into small pieces.
Chop the dill into small pieces.
Mix the yoghurt or soured cream & lemon juice with the beetroot concentrate.
Thin this down with lemon juice, gherkin liquor & water to suit.
Add the chopped beetroots, gherkins, dill and spring onions or chives.
Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Chill in the fridge for several hours.
*
Serve with quarters of hard boiled eggs and a sprinkle of chives or dill.
Served in Carnation by Royal Doulton – 1982 – 1998
I recently returned from a trip to The Netherlands to visit my friend again.
I always have a great time visiting different parts of the country and enjoying the wonderful hospitality.
One dish I have had many times is Koudeschotel – this translates as Cold Dish.
I think it is a sort of “posh cousin” to several Polish cooked salads such as Potato Salad and Mixed Vegetable Salad.
It is often made in large quantities as the centrepiece in a buffet meal.
There is a central mound made with boiled potatoes mashed with mayonnaise, onions, peas, carrots and cooked meat like chicken, pork or beef.
This is then decorated with items such as hard boiled eggs, gherkins, silver-skin onions, prawns or shrimps, asparagus, tomatoes, cooked or smoked meats and dusted with a little sweet paprika.
The koudeschotel on my arrival from England this year.
If the central mound is made without meat it is sometimes called Huzarensalade – Huzar’s Salad.
Ingredients – for the central mound
The original recipe was for a large amount suitable for a big party – I have scaled it down.
1 Kg of cold boiled potatoes
Around 200ml of mayonnaise – real full fat is best
100g of cooked peas
1 large onion chopped fine
2 boiled carrots – diced
200g of cooked chicken, pork or beef – shredded (meat used to make soup or stock is good)
Salt & pepper to taste
Notes
Many supermarkets and delicatessens in The Netherlands sell this mixture ready made.
Method
Mash the potatoes with the mayonnaise.
Add the peas, carrots, onion and meat and mix well.
Season to taste.
Arrange the mixture in the centre of a serving plate.
Decorate with a selection of the following:
Hard boiled eggs – sliced or quartered
Gherkins – small or large ones sliced
Silver-skin onions
Cooked prawns or shrimps,
Cooked asparagus spears or slices
Tomatoes – quartered
Cooked or smoked meats – chopped or in little slices
Dusted with a little sweet paprika.
Now is the time to be a little creative with the decoration – I tend to do rows of the different ingredients and dust with sweet paprika at the end.
(For smaller gatherings sometimes the mixture is placed in a bowl and the eggs and gherkins etc are just placed on top)
Other Salads
One day we went to a neighbour’s house for a BBQ and koudeschotel was one of the dishes served with the grilled meats.
We were also served the following two lovely salads –
Cabbage & Pineapple Salad
Ingredients
Small white cabbage
8 rings of fresh or tinned in juice pineapple
50 – 80g of raisins
Method
Soak the raisins in pineapple juice for at least 30 minutes
Shred and chop the cabbage
Chop the pineapple rings into small pieces
Mix the cabbage, pineapple and the raisins in juice together
Salad with Smoked Salmon & Capers
Ingredients
Crunchy lettuce such as Cos or Little Gem – I used a Red Little Gem
100g Smoked Salmon
2 or 3 sticks of celery – finely sliced
1 tablespoon of capers
100g of cooked small sized pasta
Juice of half a lemon
Ground black pepper
Method
Hand tear the lettuce into medium sized pieces.
Chop the smoked salmon into small pieces.
Mix the smoked salmon, capers and pasta together and
Mix this with the lettuce.
Pour the lemon juice over this and mix.
Season with black pepper.
Extra salt should not be needed because of the capers & smoked salmon.
You could serve this as a starter using a few lettuce leaves as a bed on each plate with the smoked salmon mixture in the centre.
Potato salad is very popular in Poland especially as it can be made nearly all year round.
This can be served with cold meats and Polish style sausages as well as with hot dishes such as roast pork or chicken.
I like to make potato salad using starchy potatoes as I love the soft fluffy texture.
My favourite starchy potatoes are King Edward and MarisPiper.
The King Edward variety was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1902 and was named after King Edward VII as this was his coronation year.
The Maris Piper variety was released in 1966 and was named after Maris Lane in Trumpington on the outskirts of Cambridge which at that time was the home of the Plant Breeding Institute.
Classic Potato Salad
Ingredients
Starchy Potatoes – from 3 large potatoes upwards
1/2 – 1 onion – chopped fine
Mayonnaise – I like to use Hellmans – original or light
Salt and pepper to taste.
Method
Peel the potatoes and cut any large potatoes into quarters and then boil or steam them to cook them.
Strain the cooked potatoes in a colander and leave them to cool slightly.
Rough chop the cooked potatoes using a knife or a spoon – you do not want the pieces to be too uniform in size.
Add the chopped onion to the potatoes and then several tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise and mix together.
I like to use potatoes that are still slightly warm as I find the mayonnaise coats them better.
However you can use cold potatoes – maybe some you have left from another meal – the salad will still be good.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Leave to cool completely before serving.
Simple Classic Potato Salad
Variations on the Classic Salad
Potato Saladwith Gherkins
Chop 2 or 3 gherkins and add these to the Potato Salad.
Chopped Gherkins
Potato Salad with Gherkins
Potato Saladwith Gherkins and Boiled Eggs
Chop 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs and add these to the potato salad with the gherkins.
Chopped Hard Boiled EggsPotato Salad with Gherkins and Hard Boiled Eggs
Potato Saladwith Peas
Cook some frozen peas and add these to the classic potato salad
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.
