Mushroom gathering in Poland is a National pastime and has been in the past, a source of food and income for many.
Mushrooms can be dried, pickled, salted and marinated.
On those damp misty days in autumn when in England people would think – what a dull day, a Pole would wake up and think – Great, a good day for gathering mushrooms!
Most Poles think the best dried mushrooms are Boletus edulis, in Poland they are called borowik, prawdzik or prawdziwek(translates as – the real thing!), in Italy porcini and I try and use these whenever I can.
Packets of dried mushroom in England tend to be 25g or 30g and can be of mixed types.
My father knew all about mushrooms but never really passed the knowledge on to me – mainly because of the limited availbility of transport to suitable woods around where we lived in Lancashire.
On my first visit to Poland I did go to Białowieża forest and went with a guide and collected lots of mushrooms including chanterelles which in Poland are called kurki.
Nowadays, the common field mushroom – Agaricus bisporus – is produced on a huge scale and makes up a large part of commercial mushroom production with Poland being the 3rd biggest producer in Europe, following Italy and The Netherlands.
Mushroom soup in olden days was nearly always made with just dried mushrooms.
I make my soup with both dried and fresh mushrooms.
As with all soups the quantities do not have to be exact.
You can make your own vegetable stock or use cubes or powder.
Ingredients
25-30g of dried mushrooms – Boletus edulis are good.
250g of fresh mushrooms – chestnut type are good.
Around 125ml of soured cream
1 onion – diced
Butter to fry the onion
1 – 1.5 litres of vegetable stock – can be from power or a cube (I use Marigold bouillon)
2 tablespoon of cornflour – optional
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped Flat-leaf parsley or chives to garnish
Method
Start the night before by preparing the dried mushrooms.
Put the dried mushrooms in a jug or bowl and add around 250ml of boiling water.
Leave the mushrooms overnight.
Strain the mushrooms from most of the liquor – saving this for later.
Chop the mushrooms into smaller pieces.
Gently simmer the mushrooms in a little of the liquor for about 5 minutes.
Gently fry the diced onion in some butter till they are golden.
Seperate the caps from the stalks of the fresh mushrooms.
Thinly slice the fresh mushroom caps – if the caps are large cut the slices into 2 or 3.
Optional
If the stalks are not too “woody” – chop them into very small pieces – otherwise discard them.
Add the mushrooms to the onions, mix and fry gently.
Into a large pan or stockpot, add the onions and mushroom, the re-constituted mushrooms and the liquor from the soaked mushrooms and mix well.
Add the vegetable stock and bring the mixture to the boil, then cover with a lid and leave to simmer.
You could put the pot into a low oven around GM2 – 150°C.
Allow to simmer for a couple of hours.
Add the soured cream and stir gently – check for seasoning.
or
Mix the cornflour with some of the soured cream, add and stir to thicken, then add the rest of the soured cream.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley or chives to serve.
Served on Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998 & Queen Anne side plates – pattern name unkown.
Po nelsońsku – in Lord Nelson’s style – is when mushrooms and soured cream are added to the sauce. (I have not been able to discover why this name is used.)
In the traditional version of this dish, dried mushrooms are used and are soaked overnight.
I have also made a version with dried and fresh mushrooms.
Floury potatoes such as King Edward or Maris Piper are the best for this dish.
Packets of dried mushroom in England tend to be 25g or 30g and I have used a full packet for the recipe (you can use more).
The best dried mushrooms are Boletus edulis, in Poland they are called borowik or prawdzik, in Italy porcini.
Dried Mushroom in Hot Water
Ingredients
1 kg of floury potatoes
10 -15g of dried mushrooms
2 onions
60ml of soured cream
250 ml of milk for soaking the mushrooms & 125ml (or more) for the sauce
100g of butter for frying the onions & the sauce
2 to 3 tablespoons of plain flour
Salt & pepper
Method
Start the night before by preparing the mushrooms. Put the mushrooms in a jug or bowl and add around 250ml of boiling water. When this has cooled add around 250ml of milk.
Leave the mushrooms overnight.
Alternately you could start this very early in the morning and make the dish in the evening.
Boil the potatoes till nearly cooked and leave them to cool.
Slice the potatoes into around 2cm thick slices.
Strain the mushrooms from most of the liquor – saving this for the sauce.
You can chop the mushrooms intosmaller pieces if you want.
Gently simmer the mushrooms in a little of the liquor for about 5 minutes.
Make a sauce by first melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add the flour, stir together with a wooden spoon and gently cook until you have a thick roux.
Slowly add the liquor from the soaked mushrooms and mix and heat till you have a thick sauce.
Add more milk if needed – you want a very thin pouring sauce.
Then add the soured cream and mix together.
Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C
Halve the onions and thinly slice and then fry them till golden in some butter.
Butter a deepish ovenproof glass or ceramic dish.
Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom followed by the onions, then the mushrooms, some of the sauce and finish with a top layer of potatoes.
Season with salt and pepper as you go along.
Pour the rest of the sauce over the top.
Depending on the size and depth of the dish you could have more layers but always start and finsh with potatoes.
Bake in the oven for at least an hour (You can lower the temperature and leave to cook for much longer).
This goes well served with roast chicken or pork.
Served on Royal Doulton – Tapestry 1966 – 1988
Ingredients – Version 2
This has fewer dried mushrooms & fresh mushrooms are added.
1 kg of floury potatoes
10g of dried mushrooms
100 – 150g of fresh mushrooms (chestnut type are good)
250 ml of milk for soaking the mushrooms & 125ml (or more) for the sauce
100g of butter for frying the onions, mushrooms & the sauce
2 onions
2 to 3 tablespoons of plain flour
60ml of soured cream
Salt & pepper
Method – Version 2
Start the night before by preparing the mushrooms. Put the mushrooms in a jug or bowl and add around 250ml of boiling water. When this has cooled add around 250ml of milk.
Leave the mushrooms overnight.
Alternately you could start this very early in the morning and make the dish in the evening.
Boil the potatoes till nearly cooked and leave them to cool.
Slice the potatoes into around 2cm thick slices.
Strain the mushrooms from most of the liquor – saving this for the sauce.
You can chop the mushrooms intosmaller pieces if you want.
Gently simmer the re-constituted mushrooms in a little of the liquor for about 5 minutes.
Thinly slice the fresh mushroom caps and fry them gently in butter.
Mix the two types of mushrooms together.
Make a sauce by first melting 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, add the flour, stir together with a wooden spoon and gently cook until you have a thick roux.
Slowly add the liquor from the soaked mushrooms and mix and heat till you have a thick sauce.
Add more milk if needed – you want a very thin pouring sauce.
Then add the soured cream and mix together.
Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C
Halve the onions and thinly slice and then fry them till golden in some butter.
Butter a deepish ovenproof glass or ceramic dish.
Place a layer of potatoes on the bottom followed by the onions, then the mushrooms, some of the sauce and finish with a top layer of potatoes.
Season with salt and pepper as you go along.
Pour the rest of the sauce over the top.
Depending on the size and depth of the dish you could have more layers but always start and finsh with potatoes.
Bake in the oven for at least an hour (You can lower the temperature and leave to cook for much longer).
This goes well served with roast chicken or pork.
Version 3 – Less Expensive & Quicker
In Poland there are mushroom stock cubes which are very useful especially for making sauces.
Years ago I brought loads back to England, now you can find these in the many Polish food shops.
The ones I use are made by Knorr. These stock cubes contain a small amount of dried mushroom extract.
Dissolve the stock cube im 250ml of hot water, when this has cooled add around 250ml of milk.
Increase the amount of fresh mushrooms to 150 – 200g.
I think certainly for me and most Poles it is love it!
The Polish for liver is wątroba – which means “waste maker” – as the liver is the organ in the body where substances are broken down.
In Poland the most sought after livers are calves liver & rabbit liver.
My aunty in Białystok- cooked some rabbit liver for me when I was there last – I thought it was utterly delicious – but as far as I am aware it is not readily available to buy in England.
I see calves liver for sale more and more here in England and I buy this whenever I can.
My mother always cooked pig’s liver, never ox liver.
I usually cook lambs liver if I cannot get calves liver.
I think liver is best lightly cooked, even slightly pinky, it becomes hard and tough if over cooked.
There is a restaurant in Krakow called Dom Polonii ( House of the Poles) just off Rynek Główny (Main Square) it serves very traditional dishes.
Rynek Główny (Main Square)
I like to eat there very much and can never make up my mind which dish I want the most. Their fried liver is super and I will have that at least once when I visit Kraków.
Liver is the main ingredient of pâtés and similar dishes which are very popular in Poland – I will look at these in future posts.
Cooking Liver
These recipes are all variations on a simple theme.
I use calves or lamb’s liver for these recipes .
Preparing the liver
Depending on how it has been prepared by the butcher, you might have to remove some veins or membranes.
Slice the liver into thin equal sized slices.
Dip each piece into a mixture of plain flour and ground black pepper.
Simple Style Liver
Lightly pan fry the liver slices in a mixture of butter & sunflower oil on both sides.
Sprinkle on some Italian Herbs.
Add around 150 ml of chicken or vegetable stock (can be from a cube, concentrate or powder) … depends on the size of your pan.
Put the lid on the pan (a glass lid is good for this) and simmer gently for 2 -3 minutes. (The time will depend on the thickness of the slices)
Liver with Soured Cream
Follow the instructions for the simple style but only cook for 1 -2 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of soured cream and mix well.
Return to the heat and allow to simmer for 1 -2 minutes.
Liver with Onions 1
In my old Polish cookery book (my bible in many respects) this simple recipe (without the herbs) is called …. po angielskiu which means …. English style!
Kuchnia Polska – Polish Kitchen or Polish Cookery
Thinly slice 1 or 2 onions (I like lots of onions with the liver).
Fry the onions in butter & sunflower oil till golden.
In a separate pan lightly pan fry the liver slices in a mixture of butter & sunflower oil on both sides.
Sprinkle on some Italian Herbs.
Add the onions to the fried liver and mix together and serve.
Liver with Onions 2
Thinly slice 1 or 2 onions (I like lots of onions with the liver).
In a pan, fry the onions in butter & sunflower oil till golden. (You can fry a little longer to slightly char or caramelise them if you like)
In a separate pan, lightly fry the liver slices in a mixture of butter & sunflower oil on both sides.
Sprinkle on some Italian Herbs.
Add around 150 ml of chicken or vegetable stock (can be from a cube, concentrate or powder) … depends on the size of your pan.
Put the lid on the pan (a glass lid is good for this) and simmer gently for 2 -3 minutes. (The time will depend on the thickness of the slices).
This will give a tasty sauce with the liver.
Place the fried onions on top and serve.
Liver with Mushrooms
Thinly slice mushrooms around 100g of button mushrooms
Fry them gently in a mixture of butter & sunflower oil.
Add the mushrooms to the fried liver as in the simple style above and mix together.
Add around 150 ml of chicken or vegetable stock (can be from a cube, concentrate or powder) … depends on the size of your pan.
Put the lid on the pan (a glass lid is good for this) and simmer gently for 2 -4 minutes. (The time will depend on the thickness of the slices).
Liver with Mushrooms & Soured Cream
Follow the instructions for the Liver with Mushrooms but only cook for 1 -2 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of soured cream and mix well.
Heat up slowly and allow to simmer for 1 -2 minutes.
Served here on Royal Doulton – Carnation, 1982-1998
Serving suggestions
Sprinkle liberally with chopped parsley.
All of the above go well with boiled potatoes, creamy mashed potatoes, boiled rice, noodles or pasta such as tagliatelle.
Having made kotlety mielone (minced meat burgers ) with first fresh and then cooked cabbage, I started to think of a variation which in a way is more Polish!
I decided to use sauerkraut and also some fresh mushrooms – though dried ones might even be more Polish.
* I often freeze the other half of the jar in a plastic tub for another time.
Method
Drain the sauerkraut and rinse with cold water.
Place the sauerkraut in a pan of water and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes.
Drain the sauerkraut and leave to cool then dry it with a tea towel.
Chop the sauerkraut into small pieces using a sharp knife.
Fry the chopped onion in a little hot oil and butter.
Chop the mushrooms into small pieces and add them to the onions and continue frying until the onions are lightly browned – leave the mixture to cool.
In a large bowl mix the minced meat, the sauerkraut and onion and mushroom mixture until they are evenly mix.
Add the eggs and mix.
Add the semolina, salt and pepper and mix until you get a uniform mixture.
Try to make each one the same size, take a handful of the mixture and press it between your hands to make a flattened circle and then place this in the dried breadcrumbs and turn it over to cover both sides and edges.
Once coated place them on a tray dusted with breadcrumbs until you have used all the mixture up.
Pre-heat the oven to GM3 – 160°C
Shallow fry the kotlety in hot oil, depending on the frying pan size, you can do 4 to 5 at a time, turning them over so that both sides are done.
Place them on a metal tray and put in the oven and keep adding to these as you keep frying the batches.
Pierogi arelittle semicircular parcels of pasta which are made with a multitude of fillings.
Even though I make these myself, it is the dish I always crave when I go to Poland.
There are several theories as to how pasta style dishes came into Poland.
The general word for pasta especially noodles is makaron , which certainly has its roots in Italian; and as Italian cooking has influenced Polish cooking from the 16th century I used to think that was where the dishes originated. I find it amusing that ravioli in Polish are called pierogi włoskie (Italian pierogi).
After doing some research it seems however that pierogi were around in Poland in the middle ages, they are mentioned in the 13th century and the name comes from an old Slav word for feast or festivity.
Many people believe that they came to Poland from the Far East through Siberia and Russia.
When I was in China in the 1990s, imagine my surprise when I was on several occasions offered dishes which were called Jiaoxi (dumplings) and they were exactly the same shape and size as pierogi and cooked in the same way!
Whatever the origins, the Poles have made pierogi their own; there are lots of traditional fillings, both savoury and sweet, and several ways of serving them.
In a pierogi cookery book I bought in Poland there are around 40 traditional ones and more than 20 new style ones. In a pierogi restaurant I went to in Kraków there were around 30 options on the menu.
Home-made pierogi
Pierogi
Pierogi are made from a thinly rolled out dough using a circular cutter, about 7 cm in diameter, we used to use a medium sized wine glass. A largish teaspoon of the filling is placed on the circle and this is then folded in half and the edges pinched together to seal them – this is done to give them a slightly crimped edge.
You learn from experience how much filling to put into the pierogi 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.
Pierogi Dough
Pierogi dough is made from flour, egg and water and I have seen many variations of the recipe. The following is my mother’s and I think it is the best I have ever used and tasted.
She never used whole eggs, just the yolks and this gives a dough which is soft and not tough and can be easily rolled out. The recipes which use whole eggs give a tougher dough which is much harder to roll out.
My mother originally used plain flour and added a tablespoon or two of fine semolina but now that strong flour or even pasta flour is readily available this is what I use the most.
Another point is that flour does vary and it is possible to add more flour to the dough as you are mixing it but you cannot add more liquid if it is too dry!
As you mix the ingredients in the first few minutes you should be able to tell if it will be too dry and you can add some more water initially but once it is all mixed together you cannot – if it goes wrong – just start again.
The quantities that I have given work well and but you should allow for extra flour if needed.
Ingredients
500g pasta flour or strong flour or plain flour & 2 tablespoons of fine semolina
300 ml water
1 tablespoon oil – sunflower or light olive
½ teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
Method
In a jug or bowl mix together the water, oil and yolks.
Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
Pour the liquid mixture into the well and then with your hands incorporate the flour into the liquid until you have a large ball of dough.
Turn this out into a floured board and knead the dough for a few minutes until it is a smooth ball.
You can then use the dough straight away, cutting it into 4 quarters and rolling out a quarter at a time on a floured surface until the dough is thin. You can pull it out a bit at the beginning to give a more rectangular shape of even thickness.
You can cover the dough with a cloth and place it in the fridge till needed.
You can freeze the dough for a few days for later use, it is best to cut it into quarters and wrap these in cling film or plastic and place these in another bag or container.
Shaping The Pierogi
Rolled out the dough until it is thin and use a circular cutter, about 7cm in diameter, to make lots of circles. You can re-roll the cuttings to make more circles until all the dough is used.
A largish teaspoon of the filling is placed on to the dough circle and this is then folded in half and the edges pinched using your thumb and first finger to seal them – giving them a slightly crimped edge.
This quality of dough will make about 70 to 80 pierogi – depends on how thinly you roll the dough and the size of your cutter.
You can open freeze pierogi so sometimes I make a batch and open freeze half of them – then store them in a plastic box. They should be cooked from frozen just allowing a little extra time.
Pierogi Fillings
The quantities that I have given should be enough for the 500g batch of dough. Many of the fillings once made can be frozen; I sometimes make the mixture and freeze it in 2 to 3 small batches for later use.
A good tip is not to make the filling too moist, as any liquid on the dough will prevent you getting a good seal.
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.
Cooking The Pierogi
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.
Serving Suggestion
Traditionally savoury pierogi are served with melted butter, skwarki – crispy smoked bacon bits, small pieces of fried onion or melted butter and dried breadcrumbs (à la Polonaise).
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 or skwarki or fried onions into the dish and 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, skwarki or onions to prevent them sticking. Keep on adding more as they cook and keep shaking the dish to coat and mix them.
Once your have had your meal and you have any left (I leave some deliberately) then they are wonderful fried up later. You need a hot frying pan and should be able to just use the butter etc that they are coated in, maybe adding a little extra oil if needed. Fry them till the dough is golden and crispy.
Tip – spread out the cooked and coated pierogi for later frying to prevent them sticking
Savoury Fillings
Below are some of my favourite fillings.
All the filling must be allowed to cooled before using them – you can make these in advance – even the day before.
Sauerkraut & Mushroom
These is often served at Wigilia – the Christmas Eve meal
Ingredients
Approx 500g of sauerkraut (I used to get small jars but have not seen these lately – use part of a large jar – use the rest for something else)
20- 30g dried mushrooms.
1 onion
1 bay leaf
Ground black pepper to taste
Method
Put the mushrooms in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water and leave them overnight.
Strain the mushrooms but keep the liquid and then chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
Strain the sauerkraut but keep the liquid and chop the sauerkraut into small pieces.
Put the sauerkraut with the liquid from the tin or jar into a pan and cover with boiling water. Add some of liquid from the soaked mushrooms and the bay leaf. Boil 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 and remove the bay leaf. 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).
Whilst the sauerkraut is cooking heat the chopped mushrooms gently in a small pan with the rest of the liquor, stirring to prevent it burning but reducing as much of the possible.
Chop the onion finely and fry it till it is soft and golden and add this to the mushroom mixture and mix it well together.
Mix the sauerkraut, mushrooms and onions together and add some ground black pepper to taste; salt should not be necessary.
Note
If your sauerkraut is very sour, you can add a little sugar to the mixture or you can put it into a sieve or colander and wash it for a few minutes in cold water.water before you start cooking it – you might want to add a little salt at the end if you use this method – taste and see)
Peel and boil the potatoes in salted water, strain and mash, then leave to cool.
Chop the onion finely and fry it till it is soft and golden, allow it to cool.
Mix together thoroughly, the potatoes, onions, cheese and egg yolk.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cheese 2
When my mother did not have any curd cheese, she used Lancashire cheese, as that was the cheese most readily available to her. Both versions taste good, the secret with this one is to grate the cheese as finely as possible and mix it in well.
Ingredients
400g floury potatoes
1 onion
200g white crumbly cheese such as Lancashire
1 egg yolk
butter & oil to fry the onion
salt & ground black pepper to taste
Method
Peel and boil the potatoes in salted water, strain and mash, then leave to cool.
Chop the onion finely and fry it till it is soft and golden, allow it to cool.
Grate the cheese as finely as possible.
Mix together thoroughly, the potatoes, onions, cheese and egg yolk.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Note
My mother would boil extra potatoes on one day and save some to make these fillings the next.
In Poland you may see these savoury cheese ones on a menu as Pierogi ruskie – that is Ruthanian pierogi – from the old word for the Ukraine
Pork
Ingredients
300g shoulder or spare rib pork
1 onion
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of dried breadcrumbs
approx 250 ml of chicken stock – can be from stock cubes
butter & oil to fry the onion
salt & ground black pepper to taste
Method
Pre heat the oven to GM 3 – 1600C
Put the pork into a small casserole dish and cover it with the stock and put on the lid.
Put the dish in the oven for at least 1 hour, depending on the meat you might need longer.
I cook the meat until it is tender and can be broken up with a fork and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Allow the meat to cool. You can mince the meat but I find that if you cook it long enough you do not need to, you can just chop it with a sharp knife .
Chop the onion finely and fry it till it is soft and golden, allow it to cool.
Mix thoroughly together: the meat, onion, yolk and breadcrumbs and then add salt and pepper to taste.
Chicken
You can cook a piece of breast chicken as for the pork filling, however neither my mother or myself ever did this; we used leftover roast chicken from a roast dinner.
Ingredients
300g of roast chicken
1 onion
1 egg yolk
1 slice of white bread
small amount of milk
butter & oil to fry the onion
salt & ground black pepper to taste
Method
Take the slice of bread and remove the crusts removed and leave this for half an hour in a bowl with a little milk – do not use the excess milk just the wet slightly squeezed bread.
Finely chop or mince the chicken.
Mix together the chicken, onion, egg yolk and bread to get a uniform mixture.
Sweet Fillings
The dough and method of making sweet pierogi is just the same as for the savoury ones.
Once boiled sweet pierogi are dredged with icing or caster sugar and are often served with soured cream. They are best eaten straight away.
I must admit that when I was younger I did not really like sweet pierogi but now I think they are utterly delicious especially when with soured cream.
Sweet Cheese 1
Ingredients
200g curd cheese/twaróg or yoghurt cheese
40g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
2 drops of vanilla essence
tiny pinch of salt
Method
Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together.
Sweet Cheese 2
Ingredients
250g curd cheese/twaróg or yoghurt cheese
40g caster sugar
2-3 tablespoons of soured cream
tiny pinch of salt
Method
Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together.
Red Fruits
In the summer in Poland, when all the fruits of the forests and the garden are ripe, that is when these pierogi are at their best. However bottled fruit is available all year round and I often make my sweet pierogi with these.
The following fruits are traditionally used –
Morello Cherries
Blackberries
Whinberries (bilberries) these grew in Lancashire near my home and also could be bought in baskets imported from Poland. (I think the larger American Blueberry is nowhere near as tasty.) When we went to pick these I know this always made my mother think of her childhood in Poland.
I tend to use half the amount of dough when making these fruit ones as they do not freeze well with fruit.
Depending on the size of the fruit, you need about 3 or 4 per circle.
Do not add sugar to fresh fruit as this will make too much liquid and the pierogi will not seal.
If using bottled fruit you need to strain as much juice away as possible.
Drenched the cooked pierogi in icing sugar and serve with sour cream. The sugar contrasts with tartness of the fruit.
A Variation ….
Knedle – Dumplings – With Plums
To me these are sweet pierogi – but I have been assured by my aunties in Poland – who made them for me on my last visit – that because of their shape – round balls – these are always called knedle.
The dough is just the same as for pierogi and they are boiled in just the same way but will take a bit longer to cook depending on the size of the plums.
Serve them dusted with icing sugar and serve with soured cream.
Plum Filling
500g fresh plums – small ones are best for the round shape & sugar – you will need about a half a teaspoon per plum.
Wash and dry the plums and remove the stalks. If the plums are small then use whole ones and if they are large use a sharp knife to cut them in half and remove the stone.
Cut strips of dough more than twice the size of the plum or plum half. Place the plum on one side and sprinkle with the sugar.
Fold over the other part of the dough and seal the edges well with your fingers – take care as the added sugar produces liquid – use excess dough to give a good seal then cut away the excess dough to give a more rounded shape.
Uszka
Uszka – means ‘little ears’ and they are much smaller and a different shape than pierogi and are always savoury.
They are made from squares of dough, about 4cm square. Half a teaspoon of filling is placed onto the square and then it is folded into a triangle and the edges sealed. The two ends at the folded side of the triangle are brought together and then pinched together giving a shape which is slightly rounded triangle with a pointed part, looking like a little ear.
When you have rolled out the dough until it is thin you cut the dough into squares no more than 4cm square. I used to use a sharp knife but have now found that using a pizza wheel to cut the dough is much easier. There is little waste dough with each rolling but you can still use all the scrapes to make one last batch.
The quality of dough will make about 150 and because of this I often only make half quantities – using 250g of flour, 150ml of water, 1 egg yolk and half a tablespoon of oil. (Except at Wigilia – the Christmas Eve meal, when I make the full amount)
The uszka are boiled in just the same way as pierogi, they are usually ready when they float to the surface.
The most traditional fillings are mushroom – see below – and Sauerkraut & Mushroom.
Uszka can be served just as pierogi with melted butter or they can be served floating in a clear soup such as rosól – clear chicken soup or in barszcz – beetroot soup.
Traditionally mushroom uszka are made for Wigila – the Christmas Eve meal either on their own with butter or served floating in barszcz (clear beetroot soup).
Mushroom Filling
In Poland these will have been made with just dried mushrooms, here in England my mother made them with fresh mushrooms with the addition of dried mushrooms when she could get them. I like them like this the best.
Ingredients
250g mushrooms – older open ones are better than button mushrooms.
Pour a small amount of boiling water into the dried mushrooms and leave these overnight.
You can remove the stalks from the older fresh mushrooms as these tend to be ‘woody’ and then cut them into thin slices.
Chop the onion into small pieces.
Fry the mushrooms and onions together in the butter. It does depend on the mushrooms and the way they are fried as to how much liquid is produced, if you get a lot, then let them simmer gently to evaporate as much as possible or strain some of this excess off (you can use this liquor in soups or sauces).
Allow the mixture to cool.
Chop the reconstituted dried mushroom (again you can save the liquor for other recipes) and add these to the mixture.
The mixture then needs to be minced which used to take me a long time and much effort. I now use a hand blender which works really well taking care not to liquidise it too much.
To the minced mixture add the egg yolk and then enough breadcrumbs to make a stiff filling.
Add salt and lots of ground black pepper.
Cut the dough into quarters
On a floured board roll out each piece until it is thin.
Using a sharp knife or pizza wheel cut the dough into 4cm squares (they can be smaller but they are harder to work).
Fold over each piece to form a triangle and pinch the edges together with your fingers.
Half a teaspoon of filling is placed onto the square and then it is folded into a triangle and the edges sealed. The two ends at the folded side of the triangle are brought together and pinched together giving a shape which is slightly rounded triangle with a pointed part.
They are cooked just as the pierogi in boiling water with the addition of salt and oil.
I serve them with melted butter.
If you are going to add them to soup do not coat them with butter – 2 to 4 are added to each serving.
Our New Tradition
After the Wigilia meal on Christmas Eve we always leave some uszka for the Christmas Day breakfast and we have fried eggs, grilled bacon with fried uszka – delicious!
PS
This must be my longest post as there is so much to say – I have only touched on the fillings that you can use & you can always make up your own.
I have tried this out as a just vegetable variation.
In my Polish cookbooks there are many variations without meat and they use mushrooms or other vegetables and grains, but these tend to use just dried mushrooms and often rather than rice use buckwheat or pearl barley. Whilst these grains are maybe more traditionally Polish in style I wanted to do a recipe which would initially be more appealing to the English taste. Also I wanted to use mainly fresh mushrooms.
Ingredients for the filling
150 to 200g of rice
400g of mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
Some butter to fry the mushrooms
5g of dried mushrooms (more if you desire)
A few tablespoons of boiling water
Salt & pepper to taste
Method
In a small bowl add the boiling water to the dried mushrooms , just enough to cover them, and leave overnight.
Stepped Dried Mushrooms and Chopped Fresh Mushrooms
Parboil the rice and leave to go cold. (You can use any already cooked rice you might have cooked already – it is not that critical – it will just have a softer texture).
Finely Slice up the mushroom caps (You can chop them into smaller pieces) and fry them in the butter until they are soft.
Making a Pulp of Dried Mushrooms
Using a knife make a pulp of the dried mushrooms or chop them into small pieces if they have not softened enough.
Add the mushroom pulp and the liquor in which they were steeped to the frying mushrooms and continue cooking the mixture evaporating of most of the liquid or about 10 minutes.
Leave the mushrooms to cool.
In a large bowl mix the parboiled rice and mushroom mix, add salt and pepper to taste.
Mushroom & Rice Mixture
Prepare the cabbage leaves
You need a large white cabbage or a savoy cabbage or I have now started using sweetheart cabbage – you might need 2 of these as they are not usually so large.
Patience is called for here to avoid getting scalded fingers. You have to heat or steam the cabbage to make the leaves pliable so you can remove them one by one and use them to encase the filling.
You need the largest pan you have into which you place the cabbage head.
I boil some water in a kettle and pour this over the cabbage in the pan. With some heat under the pan I let the cabbage cook a little. The temptation is to boil too quickly so making some of the leave too soft and runs the risk of getting scalded as you try to remove the leaves.
Another method is to place the cabbage into a metal colander and set this over the pan of water so that it is steamed rather than boiled – I think this method is the one I like best.
As the leaves become soft, you have to cut them off from the stalk and stack them up for to use later, you can cut out the thickest part of the stalk from the first few larger leaves. Pre heat the oven to GM3 – 160oC
Fill the leaves with the rice & mushroom mix and roll them up from the stalk end, tuck in the sides and secure with the outer edge of the leaf to make a small parcel.
Place the rolls into a large casserole dish, packing as many rolls as possible in rows in the dish. Depending on the depth of the dish repeat this for another layer.
If you have any extra cabbage leaves place these on the base of the dish and then to put extra leaves on the top of the rolls.
The rolls sometimes have a habit of getting slightly burnt on the top as they come out of the liquid and sometimes at the base if they have been in the oven a long time, these extra layers protect the rolls and can be discarded at the end.
Make a vegetable stock and pour this over the cabbage rolls.
Ingredients for Vegetable Stock
Vegetable stock – I like to use the Swiss Marigold Bouillon vegetable stock powder which is in a tub mixed with boiling water
1 tube of tomato purée
2 bay leaves
3 or 4 peppercorns or allspice or both.
salt & pepper ( note there might be enough salt in the stock cube)
Mix up the stock powder in a jug with boiling water, add the tomato purée and then the rest of the ingredients. You need a large amount to cover the cabbage rolls.
Pre heat the oven to GM3 – 160oC
Cover the rolls with this liquid. It is a good idea to have extra which you can use to top up as they are cooking.
Cover with a lid and place in the oven and cook for several hours. Check them occasionally and keep them covered with liquid as much as possible.
As mentioned earlier I make these a day beforehand and then put them back in the oven for an hour or so before serving.
They are a complete meal in themselves but you can give serve them with some bread to mop up all the liquid sauce.
Note
Wigilia – Christmas Eve
I will be writing a post all about the special meal on this day later when all the dishes are meatless.
Cabbage Rolls in the style of Dom Polonii in Kraków.
KrakówKrakówKrakówKrakówKraków
In Kraków, just off the main square (Rynek Główny), there is a building called Dom Polonii (The House of the Poles). It is a medieval tenement building and hosts Chopin concerts in a lovely room with a grand piano on the first floor. I have enjoyed listening to many concerts there. On the ground floor there is a small restaurant. On my trips to Kraków I have found that I eat there the most as it is very reasonably priced and the food is very much like home cooking.
They serve gołąbki there which are cooked without tomatoes and then served with a creamy mushroom sauce.
The following is my recreation of this recipe.
First I made the gołąbki as in my previous post but without tomato purée in the cooking stock but adding some lemon juice as this prevents the leaves from falling apart too quickly.
I will give a quick re-cap of this recipe at the end of this post.
Then I made a mushroom sauce and served the gołąbki with this poured on the top.
Mushroom Sauce
I looked through my Polish cookbooks and many of the mushroom sauces are made with just dried mushrooms. These are delicious and have a strong flavour however it works out very expensive and are not available everywhere.
I am going to give instructions for a sauce using fresh mushroom and just a small amount of dried mushroom.
I will give 2 versions of this mushroom sauce, the first using dried mushrooms, the second a mushroom stock cube.
The best dried mushrooms are Boletus edulis, in Poland they are called borowik or prawdzik, in Italy porcini.
Knorr – mushroom stock cubes
In Poland there are now mushroom stock cubes which are very useful especially for making sauces. Years ago I brought loads back to England, now you can find these in the many Polish food shops. The ones I use are made by Knorr and are shown on the photographs in this post. These stock cubes contain a small amount of dried mushroom extract.
The 2 sauces have the same starting points it is the addition of reconstituted mushrooms or stock cubes for the extra taste which is the difference.
Mushroom sauce 1 – using dried mushrooms
Ingredients
150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
5g of dried mushroom (around 3 slices)
500ml hot boiling water
1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
3 tablespoons of milk
2 large tablespoons of soured cream.
butter to cook the mushrooms in
salt & pepper to taste
Method
You have to start this sauce the night before or in the morning for use in the evening.
Cover the dried mushrooms with 500ml of boiling water and leave to soak.
Preparing Dried MushroomsDried Mushroom in Hot Water
The following day take out the reconstituted mushrooms and using a knife you can chop then up into tiny pieces or if the are soft enough you can spread out the pulp on a chopping board.
Reconstituted MushroomsMaking a Pulp of Mushrooms
Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
Add the dried mushroom pulp and the liquor in which they were seeped.
Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.
In a little dish mix the cornflour with the milk.
Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Remove from the heat and add the 2 large spoonfuls of soured cream and mix well in.
Note
None of these amounts are exact – they are a rough guide depending on what you have – you can use more water, milk or soured cream and so on.
Mushroom sauce 2 – using a mushroom stock cube
Ingredients
150g fresh button mushroom caps – white and/or chestnut
500ml hot boiling water
1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour
3 tablespoons of milk
2 large tablespoons of soured cream.
butter to cook the mushrooms in.
note
I rarely have to add any more salt or pepper as the stock cube has enough seasoning in it.
Method
Dissolve the stock cube in the hot water.
Preparing a Mushroom Stock Cube
Slice the mushroom caps into fine slices and fry them gently in some butter till they are soft.
Simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes.
In a little dish mix the cornflour with the milk.
Add the cornflour mixture to the cooked mushrooms and stir gently over the heat until the sauce thickens.
Remove from the heat and add the 2 large spoonfuls of soured cream and mix well in.
If you can get the stock cubes then version 2 is the quickest.
Basic gołąbki recipe without tomatoes
Ingredients
1 large head of white cabbage or Savoy cabbage*
400g rice
500g of minced beef or pork
Chicken stock – a cube or concentrate will do
salt & pepper
2 bay leaves
3 or 4 peppercorns or allspice or both
juice of 1 or 2 lemons.
*As you need whole largish cabbage leaves I sometimes use 2 cabbages to get the bigger leaves. Recently I have started to use Sweetheart cabbage which has large leaves on the outside but you will most likely need 2 of these.
Instructions from my Polish cookbook “bible”
You need to parboil the rice in salted water so that it is about half way to being cooked and then strain the rice and let it go cold, but if you have some plain boiled rice left from another day you could use this, as this is not critical.
In a large bowl mix the rice and minced meat and add salt and pepper. The exact amounts do not matter. I like it to look about 50/50 white and pink but these can be made with much more rice to eke out the meat available.
Next comes the hardest part and patience is called for here to avoid getting scalded fingers. You have to heat or steam the cabbage to make the leaves pliable so you can remove them one by one and use them to encase the filling.
You need the largest pan you have into which you place the cabbage head. I boil some water in a kettle and pour this over the cabbage in the pan with some heat under the pan I let the cabbage cook a little. The temptation is to boil to quickly so making some of the leave too soft and runs the risk of getting scalded as you try to remove the leaves.
Another method is to place the cabbage into a metal colander and set this over the pan of water so that it is steamed rather than boiled.
As the leaves become soft, you have to cut them off from the stalk and stack them up for to use later, you can cut out the thickest part of the stalk from the first few larger leaves.
Pre heat the oven to GM3 – 160oC
Place a small handful of the rice & meat mixture onto a cabbage leaf and roll up from the stalk end, tuck in the sides and secure with the outer edge of the leaf to make a small parcel.
Place the rolls into a large casserole dish, packing as many rolls as possible in rows in the dish. Depending on the depth of the dish repeat this for another layer.
A tip I got from my late cousin, Krystyna, is to use extra cabbage leaves on the base of the dish and then to put extra leaves on the top of the rolls.
The rolls sometimes have a habit of getting slightly burnt on the top as they come out of the liquid and sometimes at the base if they have been in the oven a long time, these extra layers protect the rolls and can be discarded at the end.
Make a large amount of stock with hot water and lemon juice and add bay leaves, peppercorns and allspice.
Cover the rolls with this liquid. It is a good idea to have extra which you can use to top up as they are cooking.
Cover with the lid and place in the oven and cook for several hours. Check them occasionally and keep them covered with liquid as much as possible.
I always think these taste better when made a day before hand and left for the liquid to seep in more and then reheated in the oven as required.
In the style of Dom Polonii
Sprinkling some chopped dill or flat leaf parsley on the top will be even better (Sadly I did not have any on the day of this photograph).
Journey From A Polish Kitchen 