Cook In Polish – Traditional Recipes
Polish Cuisine from an Old Cookbook
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.
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.
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.
In Poland we love cauliflower. We use it in soups, as a side dish, in salads. In high season can cost only 1 USD per piece of cauliflower. And we love fried cauliflower.
Raw cauliflower has a high content of vitamin C and moderate levels of vitamin K and B vitamins, it’s good to have it on the plate! You can eat it raw, steam it or fry.
Fried cauliflower is a great idea for supper or just an appetizer. If you would like to try other very popular Polish side dishes, try String beans in butter with breadcrumbs.
In July in Poland string beans are getting cheaper and cheaper, so I’m having them every second day. I eat it steamed, keeping it low caloric or.. fry and add garlic and breadcrumbs:) Believe me, once you try it, you will love string beans with breadcrumbs. Or not, hmm, maybe it’s just me:)
Try more Polish seasonal recipes on: http://cookinpolish.com/category/seasonal-cooking/
Few days ago I prepared Homemade Polish Paprykarz. In Poland during PRL you could buy Paprykarz Szczeciński, which was low quality fish spread with rice. You could take it with you for camping or holidays abroad:) Bulgaria was popular destination in 1980ties, because of the fact that Poland and Bulgaria were under the same communistic regime and there were restrictions on traveling to Western Europe.
You can still buy Paprykarz in stores, which looks a little bit better if you check ingredients, but I invite you to prepare it yourself at home:)
You may also like Polish Smoked Mackerel Bread Spread.
Lithuanian Cold Borsch is my soup number one in Summer. When there is hot outside, you will love cold cooling soup made of beets and beet’s leaves, buttermilk and Spring greens: dill, spring onions and cucumber.
If you like Cold Borsch, check my favorite Summer dish: Polish Plum Potato Dumplings – Knedle ze śliwkami.
Nobody knows why fried fish with steam veggies is in Poland called Polish ‘Greek fish’:) It is just a common name, used from decades by our grandmothers and mothers.
Greeks, please do not get offended:) Almost all Poles love it, when we eat Greek fish, we think warmly about Greece and Greeks:)
Try also: Traditional Polish Vegetable Salad.
Early spring is a great time for using stringing nettle in the kitchen. It’s free, it’s healthy and easy to prepare. Remember to get only top parts of the youngest nettles, away from the motorways.
For the soup I also use other herbs I find. This time it was young sorrel and lovage. I also used bluszczyk kurdybanek: ground- ivy, which is very aromatic. In Old Polish cuisine ground-ivy was as popular as parsley is nowadays (wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glechoma_hederacea).
Sweet and sour soup, easy to prepare, if you use vegetable stock – will be great for the last days of Lent. Try pickled cucumber sour soup – popular Polish soup.
First vegetables available in spring- horseradish and spring onions are the basis of my favorite Polish spring cottage cheese. I use both horseradish balls and sprouts. Sprouts are rich in minerals and can be easily grown at home.
In Poland we use dry write cheese – Twaróg. It is easy available in each grocery store in Poland. My Grandma was sometimes making curd herself, using fresh milk from her neighbour, who has cows.
Try also Paprykarz, smoked fish bread spread, very popular in PRL.
Phrase “peas and cabbage” in polish common language is defined as mixing two things which do not match. This dish is not a mess, try:)
Historically in Poland cabbage is one of the most popular vegetables. It is cheap, so it’s available for poor people. Is easy to store during winter, so can be used during the whole year. For years people in Poland use it widely, so we have many traditional dishes with cabbage as ingredient.
Peas and cabbage stew appears on official list of traditional polish cuisine of Łódź voivodeship, but is known in the whole country. Can be prepared as fast dish with fried onion, or with greaves.
Lenten cabbage with mushrooms is usually served on Christmas Eve, but it is also popular dish during Lent. Healthy, sour – enjoy!
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which is a 40 day period of fasting, reflection, repentance and prayer . On Ash Wednesday you go to church and the priest sprinkle your head with ash and says: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. This is to remember, that our mortal life should not be of our biggest concern. What we really need to take care of is our eternal life.
Continue reading “Ash Wednesday/ Środa Popielcowa”