Cook In Polish – Traditional Recipes
Polish Cuisine from an Old Cookbook
Sauerkraut and Mushroom Croquettes are one of the staple dishes in Poland for Wigilia. We serve it to Beets Borscht instead of Uszka. If you changed the filling to meat, you can just have it for family dinner as a separate dish or with chicken soup. There is quite a lot of frying involved, so I limit krokiety in my diet to few times a year.
In Poland we love one pot dishes, just like this one: Polish Pork Stew. You invest your time once and get a dinner for a whole family and friends and few extra servings to take to work the next week:)
Check other Polish main courses here: Polish Dinner.
Beef Tongues in Aspic is a dish that in Poland is served for Christmas or New Years Eve. This is an old style food, zero waste cooking and oh so yummy:) The best beef tongues in aspic I remember made our neighbor, Mirka:)
The whole preparing process may be repulsive to some people, but the tongue’s meat is very tasty and quite usual in texture.
Polish Bigos (Hunter’s Stew) is one of the most known Polish dishes. It’s pronounced: [ˈbʲiɡɔs]. Each family has it’s own recipe for bigos and each bigos is different, but the core is sauerkraut or/and fresh shredded cabbage and various kinds of chopped meats. You can use meats you like or which have left in the fridge. Yes, this is a great way to get rid of leftovers:) The more kinds of meats you use, the richer the taste, just follow your likes.
You need to stew all the ingredients for couple of hours. Some cooks are making bigos for 3 days, each day stewing again and cooling, so that bigos’ flavors combine and give the best taste:) People in Poland say that the more times you warm up bigos, the better it tastes.
The recipe for Polish Beans with Kiełbasa is very easy, there is a lot of freedom involved, you can add more beans or more kiełbasa or seasoning according to your taste. Once you make it, you won’t need a recipe any more. Making is quite intuitive, try and let me know in comments how you liked it.
Let’s be honest, this is not a dietetic food;) Beans and sausage? But once in a while – why not? they will bring you back to your childhood and mom’s and grandma’s cooking. At least I have this feeling. I remember that my mom in Fasolka po bretońsku used all the meat leftovers, which I hated, because she had tended to use too much fat. Those days it was quite hard to feed a multi-generational family of 7-8 people, so all the food was used, no throwing away a thing.
For more Polish comfort food, check the link: Comfort Food.
Polish Oven Roasted Sausage and Sauerkraut is a perfect idea for Autumn and Winter warming, hearty and comforting Polish meal. Choose good Polish smoked kiełbasa – it should have some fat in it, to spread the taste all over the sauerkraut and make the dish complete:)
Don’t forget about caraway seeds – in Polish: kminek. As the cabbage is rather hard to digest and can cause gases, caraway seeds are here to help you and ease your stomach.
Check other ideas for Polish comfort food: http://cookinpolish.com/category/recipes/autumn-food-recipes/.
Rosół with Drop Noodles is a special homemade soup in many Polish families. It reminds our Grandmas and childhood. One of the readers on facebook said: “First soup and noodle making lesson I had, standing on a stool, at the stove with my babciu”. Thank you DaMo!
Rosół in Poland is the best medicine, if you are cold or get a flu, your Polish Mama would start making rosół, to take care of you in the best way she knows:)
Kluski lane are easy to make, they will be great in other soups as well. You can prepare them in few minutes, so if you suddenly run out of pasta, you will be fine with this recipe:)
Delicious vegetarian Millet Stuffed Peppers are a staple in my house. In fall months peppers are cheap, so I buy them often and serve them fresh and baked. This time I had them stuffed with vegetables and millet. I cook seasonally and locally.
Check also other Polish recipes best in Autumn: Autumn food.
Mid November is perfect to think ahead about Christmas. This confirms a fact that in some areas of the world first Christmas decorations are already set! For me it’s to early, but there are some aspects of Christmas that need to be taken care of before. Just like homemade Orange Christmas Liqueur.
I make a lot of tinctures in Summer: cherry, bird cherry, rowan berry, strawberry, black currant and few more. I prefer to call them a tincture than a liqueur. Polish nalewki are to cure: an alcohol is extracting all the beneficial substances from fruits and other tinctures ingredients. Of course they need to be drunk in small amounts. Orange Christmas Liqueur is actually a liqueur not a tincture – not a cure it is just purely to enjoy:) It smells like Christmas:)
My Mum used to bake this kind of small Sauerkraut and Mushrooms Buns to accompany beets borscht on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately when I asked her, she did not remember the recipe, what is more interesting, she even didn’t remember that she has been actually baking them:) Eventually I decided to go for Paszteciki recipe I found on Kwestia Smaku, one of my favorite cooking websites.
I don’t remember my Grandma using pumpkin, it was not popular those days. It became popular only recently, my sister would cook spicy oriental version of the soup, with curry powder and chili. I decided to cook delicate Baked Pumpkin Soup, milky, buttery, with a hint of garlic.
Try also other Polish seasonal Autumn food recipes: Autumn food.
Dumplings are Polish favorite dish. They can have a whole range of fillings: sauerkraut, meat, farmers cheese, fruits. I had Zamojskie Buckwheat Dumplings for the first time when I was in college. I went with other students for hiking in Bieszczady Mountains. On a way back my friend Kasia took me to her hometown: Krasnystaw, near Lublin and Zamość. Her mum cooked Buckwheat Dumplings and they were delicious. My new favorite dumpling flavor:)
Lately I found out that buckwheat dumplings are specialty of this area of Poland. They are called Zamojskie (from Zamość), and sometimes Lubelskie (from Lublin).
Mushroom Barley Soup is a great seasonal food idea for Autumn. If you happen to get fresh wild mushrooms you need to try it. The add of barley makes the soup more filing and comforting in chilling weather.
In September my friend Agnieszka took me to her old Summer place at the end of small Masovian village. She did not go to this place for few years, it appeared that a lot of young trees have grown there, most of all – spruces. How surprised we were to find a lot of Slippery Jacks all over the place:)
Last weekend we went to Mazuria district to visit my parents. It was the second year we celebrated our family’s Baked Potato Day:) After dark we lighted a campfire and we baked sausages and potatoes. My sister-in-law, Marzena told us about an onion water from Kurpie, she tried few years ago visiting her friends. It sounded interesting, so I asked google and found an easy recipe I followed: Woda cebulowa. Actually when we were drinking it, we remembered that our Grandma was sometimes preparing this kind of drink and we had it with boiled potatoes, only she was also adding sour cream and called it Kvas.
What is the must have of each Polish housewife? To prepare an every day soup or Sunday broth, you need these popular in Poland vegetables. Check if you know their Polish names!
Last weekend we went to Mazuria Lake district in the North East of Poland. We went mushroom picking twice and they both were successful:) Check more photos from the woods on my Instagram account. I was hunting for parasol mushrooms and I was lucky to find them in one of my places:) I made fried parasol mushrooms for dinner. They were a delicious alternative for a piece of meat. Remember to pick only mushrooms that you are absolutely sure that are edible or ask for expertise someone experienced and trustworthy, who can recognize them.
Check more seasonal recipes under section: Autumn food.
Polish Farmers Goulash Soup is a thick, full of meat, country style soup, filling and warming, perfect in Autumn. It is one pot dish, a complete meal: you got meat, potatoes and vegetables inside.
For more Autumn recipes check a new section on my blog: Autumn food.
When there is a season for tomatoes, we should use it and cook this gorgeous Tomato soup with fresh tomatoes. In winter and in spring, or when you are just tired and you need to put quickly dinner on the table – then you can cook traditional Polish Tomato Soup. The soup is more related to PRL tradition, but still – it is one of the most favorite Polish soups.
People in Poland laugh that when we have a chicken broth on Sunday, then on Monday we eat tomato soup:) Yes, actually it is as easy as this: if you add tomato concentrate to the broth – your budget tomato soup is ready:)
Poles cannot agree whether tomato soup should be served with rice or rather with pasta:) In my family house we used to have it with rice, but I like both options:)
Last days of summer and the beginning of autumn is a perfect time to cook Fresh Tomato Soup. In the middle of the season tomatoes are cheap and beautiful, there is a whole range of tomato species available. Remember to choose only the ripest pieces of your favorite tomatoes. They may be soft and not really best looking, but believe me, they will make delicious soup.
Check also winter version of Polish Tomato Soup with tomato concentrate. Believe me, it is also delicious:)
