“Our Food is Our Identity”

• Claudia Roden was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1936.
• She moved to Paris in 1951.
• Then to London in 1954.
• Her family was Jewish.
• She collected recipes from family, friends and anyone else who would contribute.
• She has written many cookery books.
•  I recently bought a second hand copy of ‘Jewish Cookery from Samarkand to Vilna’- mainly because of the Polish connections, especially Vilna (Wilno), the nearest large town my father identified with.

• A few years ago I heard a programme on the radio in which Claudia said
• “Our Food is Our Identity”.
• I so agree with this statement.
• *
• Polish Cookery is influenced by food from other countries  – in the past from France, Italy & Germany as well as – Lithuania, Finland & Sweden.
• Jewish cookery has also influenced some of the dishes served in Poland.
• Many people say  that when they made a recipe they always remember the person that gave then this recipe.
• Do you have such recipes?

• Here are just a few of my Mama’s recipes, which will always remind me of her.
• *
• Bigos
• Pierogi
• Polish Apple Cake
• Polish Potato Pancakes

Fish Pie

• This is a popular dish in the North of England.
• Although it is called a ‘pie’ it is not topped with pastry but with mashed potatoes.
• This is a simple, more traditional version using just white fish.
• Haddock would have been the most common fish used in the past, here Basa was used.
• This could easily be made in Poland.
• Everyone loved this so I have included it in my recipes.

INGREDIENTS

300-400g of white fish

400ml of milk

2 tablespoons of plain flour

2 tablespoons of butter

50g of cheddar cheese – grated

2 hard boiled eggs

Flat leafed parsley – chopped.

Salt & pepper

*

400 – 600g of starchy potatoes – depends on the size of the top of the dish being used

Butter & milk to make mashed potatoes

METHOD

Pre-heat the over to GM4 – 180°C.

Have ready a rectangular or round deep oven proof dish.

Peel and boil the potatoes.

Drain and mash the potatoes with butter and milk.

*

Poach the fish in the milk.

Drain the poached fish, break into small pieces and place them in the dish.

Cut the eggs into halves or quarters.

Place the cut eggs on top of the fish.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Use the milk for the poaching and the flour and butter to make a sauce.

Add the grated cheese and mix well.

Pour the sauce over the fish and eggs and mix slightly.

*

Cover with a thick layer of mashed potatoes.

Use a fork to make patterns in the top.

Bake for around 44 – 55 minutes.

*

Serve with green vegetables such as peas, green beans or cabbage.

Cake with Pears

• Having made an apple cake – in a different way with eating apples – I thought this recipe would work well with pears.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g of butter – softened.
• 95g of granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 4 tablespoons of soured cream
• 100g of cream cheese (or yoghurt cheese)
• 3 eggs
• *
• 150g plain flour
• 50g potato flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• *
• Butter to grease the tin
• *
• 3 large fairy ripe pears – such as Conference or 6 small ones
• ½ tablespoon of granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ground ginger (or cinnamon)

METHOD

• Brush a 26cm in diameter loose bottomed tin with the melted butter.
• Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
• Cream the butter with the 95g of sugar.
• Add the cream cheese, soured cream and eggs and whisk well together.
• Mix the plain flour, potato flour, salt and baking powder together.
• Add the flour mixture gently to the other ingredients and mix well together.
• Leave in the bowl whilst you prepare the pears.
• *
• Mix the ½ tablespoon of sugar with the ground ginger.
• Peel and core the pears and cut then in quarters (or halves if small pears)
• Criss-cross the domed end of the pears with a sharp knife.
• Put them into the sugar mixture.
• *
• Put the cake batter into the tin and smooth flat.
• Put the pear quarters (or halves) around the top of the batter.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes.
• Leave to cool in the tin.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Pierogi – Sauerkraut & Mushrooms

• I started to write up a new filling for pierogi and realised that many of my different fillings were in one general pierogi – Polish filled pasta  post.
• This was one of my earlier posts before I realised that shorter posts were better.
• So I am going back and posting shorter versions of this original post.
• Each with just 1 filling.
• Sauerkraut & Mushrooms is a very popular filling.
• Some people make these for Wigilia – Christmas Eve.

Ingredients – Filling

• 1 jar of sauerkraut
• 25 – 30g of dried mushrooms
• 1 or 2 onions – chopped fine
• 1 -2 bay leaves
• Ground pepper to taste

Method – Filling

The filling must be allowed to cooled before using  –  you can make it in advance – even the day before.

At the end the filling must be as dry as possible to make the assembly of the pierogi easier.

• Put the mushrooms in a small bowl and cover them with boiling water.
• Leave them overnight.
• Strain the mushrooms – but keep the liquid.
• Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
• *
• Strain the sauerkraut, keep the liquid, and chop into small pieces.
• 
• Put the sauerkraut into a pan, add the liquid from the sauerkraut and some from the mushroom liquid.
• Cover with boiling water if need be.
• Add the bay leaves.
• Cover the pan with a lid.
• Simmer gently for around 30 minutes.
• Checking it does not dry out.
• Remove the lid.
• Then boil off as much liquid as possible without burning the sauerkraut.
• *
• Allow the sauerkraut to cool and remove the bay leaves.
• Strain the sauerkraut using a sieve to get it as dry as possible.
• 

  

  
• You can put this into a clean dry cotton or linen cloth and twist the ends together –
• Squeeze 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 onions finely and fry them till they are soft and golden.
• Add them to the mushroom mixture and mix well together.
• Mix the sauerkraut, mushrooms and onions together.
• Add some ground black pepper to taste; salt should not be necessary.
  

  
• OPTION 
• Add fresh mushrooms fried in butter and chopped fine to the filling.

• 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
• *
• Melted butter for serving or chopped onions cooked in butter.

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.
• 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.
• I have noticed some people make them larger – I will try this out soon.
• 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.*
• Put in the pierogi and add melted butter.
• Keep the dish warm in a low oven.
  • *I often open freeze them for later.

• Serve with melted butter or
• Melted butter and breadcrumbs or
• Onions fried in butter or
• Fried bacon bits – skwarki.

Chocolate Orange Cake – 3

• This is based on my Chocolate Orange Cake – 2 with the addition of small chunks of chocolate to the cake mixture.
• Sunflower oil and Greek style yoghurt help to make this a moist cake with a great texture.

INGREDIENTS

• 200g of plain flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 200g granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 large orange
• 190ml of Greek style yoghurt
• 3 eggs
• 125ml of sunflower oil
• 100g of dark chocolate
• Large pinch of salt

METHOD

• Add the zest to the sugar and leave for about 30 minutes.
• Chop the chocolate into small chunks.
• Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
• Use a loaf liner to line a 2lb loaf tin.
• Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Add the yoghurt, eggs and oil to the sugar mixture.
• Gradually add the flour mixture and mix well.
• Stir in the chopped chocolate.
• Pour the batter into the loaf tin and smooth the top.
• Bake for around 45 minutes.
• Check a little earlier and cover with greaseproof paper if it is starting to burn.
• Leave to cool in the tin.

Chocolate Orange Icing – Ingredients

• 50g dark or milk chocolate
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• 25g butter
• 2 tablespoons of icing sugar

Method

• Put the chocolate into a bowl over a pan of hot water.
• Add the orange rind and butter.
• Stir whilst the chocolate melts.
• Add the icing sugar until you have a thick icing.
• Use this to cover the top of the cake.

Colclough Stardust tea plate

Apple Tart – French Style

• This recipe is based on one in a new (to me) Polish book about pastries & cakes.
• It is however rather like some French tarts.
• I have changed it around quite a bit.
• The shortcrust pastry used is different from my own in that a whole egg is used rather than just yolks.
• Having the egg white in the pastry makes the dough much harder and stronger and easier to work with.
• But it is not as “short” or crumbly.

INGREDIENTS – Pastry

• 250g plain flour
• 1 egg – beaten
• 125g butter – softened
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• Water
• Pinch of salt

INGREDIENTS – filling

• 3 – 4 eating apples depends on the size
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• *
• 150ml soured cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• *
• Melted butter for greasing the tart tin.

METHOD 

• Rub the butter into the flour till it is like breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the salt and sugar.
• Start to add the egg yolk and then the water as needed.
• Make into a ball – leave in a cool place for 30 minutes.
• *
• Pre-heat the oven to GM5 – 190°C.
• Brush the melted butter over the base and side of a 20 cm loose bottomed tart tin.
• *
• Peel and core the apples and cut them into quarters or eighths – depending on the size of the apples.
• Pour the lemon juice over them.
• *
• Roll out the pastry and line the base and sides of the tart tin.
• Prick the pastry all over with a fork.
• Place the apples in a neat pattern on the pastry.
• Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the apples.
• Bake for around 20 -30 minutes. 
• *
• Meanwhile whisk 2 yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar until creamy.
• Mix in the soured cream.
• *
• Take the tart out of the oven and pour the egg mixture over it.
• Put back in the oven and bake until the “custard” sets – could be 20 to 30 minutes.
• Cool the tart on a wire cooling rack.
• *
• Royal Grafton Woodside tea plate

Lithuanian Book

• I have been buying lots of Polish cookery books lately, some new and some second hand.
• In Gdańsk, I bought “Wilno”, which is written in Polish.
• In England, I then came across “Lithuanian Tradition Food”
• The original was written in Lithuanian.
• This version has been translated into English.

• As Poland & Lithuania were joined together for centuries it is not surprising that there are many similar recipes to Polish ones.
• As ingredients do not have borders, there is a long list of them that you will find in both traditions.
• Rye, curd cheese (twaróg), poppy seeds, caraway, dill, mushrooms, dried fruits and fruits of the forest to name just a few.
• In the next few months I will be trying out some of the recipes especially those that are a bit different.

Apple Cake – a different way

This is my 600th post!

• For this apple cake use eating apples.
• You can use Gala or Braeburn – I think the Braeburn were the better ones.
• It is made in quite a different way to my usual Polish apple cake.

INGREDIENTS

• 100g of butter – softened.
• 95g of granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla essence 
• 150g plain flour
• 50g potato flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 4 tablespoons of soured cream
• 100g of cream cheese (or yoghurt cheese)
• 3 eggs
• *
• Butter to grease the tin
• *
• 5 or 6 eating apples – such as gala
• 20g granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

• Royal Doulton Carnation Tea Plate

METHOD

• Brush a 26cm in diameter loose bottomed tin with the melted butter.

• Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.

• Cream the butter with the 95g of sugar.
• Add the cream cheese, soured cream and eggs and whisk well together.
• Mix the plain flour, potato flour, salt and baking powder.
• Add the flour mixture gently to the other ingredients and mix well together.
• Leave in the bowl whilst you prepare the apples.
• *
• Mix the 20g of sugar with the cinnamon.
• Peel and core the apples and cut then in halves.
• Criss-cross the domed tops of the apples with a sharp knife.
• Put then into the sugar mixture.
• *
• Put the cake batter into the tin and smooth flat.
• Put the apple halves cut side down on top of the batter.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes.
• Leave to cool in the tin.

Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Stuffed Eggs

• This dish is one often found on buffet tables in Poland.
• It is easy to make in advance.
• It could also be served as an hor d’oeuvre.
• It works well will any tinned fish.
• The hardest part is peeling the hardboiled eggs.
• Did you know that very fresh eggs are the hardest to peel?
• It is better to boil eggs that are slightly older.
• They can be served on a bed of lettuce with sliced lemons.

Ingredients

• 6 or more hard boiled eggs – large are best
• 1 small tin of salmon, tuna or sardines – drained
• Juice of ½ a lemon
• 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• Salt & pepper to taste
• *
• Flat leaved parsley to garnish
• *
• OPTION – 1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup instead of 1 of the mayonnaise. 

Method

• Hard boil the eggs and leave to cool completely.
• Carefully peel the eggs.
• Cut the eggs in half.
• The yolks are used in the filling.
• In a bowl use a fork to mix the yolks, fish, lemon juice and mayonnaise.
• Put a large tablespoonful of fish mixture into each egg white hollow.
• Arrange the eggs on the serving plate with the flat leaved parsley.
• Grind some black pepper over the tops.

Oat & Rye Biscuits

• I have been able to buy lots of second hand Polish cookery books in the past few weeks.
• Inside one of them was a handwritten recipe for these biscuits.
• It is written in the lovely handwriting people are taught in Poland.
• I wish my writing was clear and neat as this.
• I decided to try these biscuits and was very pleased with the result.
• They only have a small amount of sugar so they go well with cheese.

Heathcote cake plate – Made in England

INGREDIENTS

• 120g butter – softened
• 70g soft brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 100g rolled oats
• 140g rye flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder.

METHOD

• Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
• Grease two baking sheets.
• Beat the butter and sugar together
• Add the egg and carry on beating.
• Mix the oats, rye flour and baking powder together.
• Add this dry mixture to the butter mix.
• Mix together until everything is combined.
• Make small balls of the mixture and place these on the sheets.
• Bake for 15 – 20 minutes.
• About half way through the baking – flatten the balls with a spatula.
• Leave the trays to cool on a wire baking rack.