CookINPolish – Traditional Recipes
Polish Cuisine from an Old Cookbook
I love the flavor of Polish Apple Crumble – Szarlotka in my house – buttery, with a bit of cinnamon. My children love it too, so I make it quite often.
As long as it is Autumn, I try to make the best of it, apples are now the freshest and the cheapest in the whole year.
In October there is still plenty of fresh and still cheap vegetables available in the market. I got large zucchini from my Mum, all other ingredients I had already at home, so I made easy Vegetable pancakes. Delicious, easy and healthy. Highly recommended! 🙂
I found Potato Copa Śląska recipe looking for plum cooking ideas. It so reminded me of Plum Knedle – the same ingredients, the same deliciousness. Making Copa is for me actually a lazy way to have the same great flavor, without time consuming knedle preparation. Silesian cuisine is still a greenfield for me, but all silesian dishes I know are super delicious.
I’ve been really busy this December, I was kind of surprised of the time going by. Christmas Eve is next Thursday!
If you don’t have a detailed plan and feels a little bit lost, you may like to check e-book I prepared: Last Minute Polish Wigilia Traditions and Food Guide.
I remember my mum would often make us Rice and Apples for supper, while we were spending Summer holidays in our Summer small house. We didn’t have a lot of attractions over there, several responsibilities instead 🙂 Rice and Apples was one of my favorite dishes, sweet and creamy, with a dash of cinnamon. We had it with a cup of Inka- popular polish grain coffee.
A season for zucchinis is long, you can get it fresh and full of flavor for the whole Summer and most of Autumn. Some may say that it’s taste might be bland, I say – it’s delicate and once you add favorite seasonings you have your favorite dish <3 . Let’s take for instance Zucchini pancakes – an onion sauteed in butter and garlic sauce on the side add my pancakes a gorgeous twist.
Blueberry Pierogi is the best food in Summer, specially made from wild, picked in the forest blueberries. This year I picked blueberries myself, as a matter of fact I didn’t believe I would make it, but I made it! 2 hours in the forest and I got 3 liters of delicious blueberries. It was enough to make pierogi, blueberry yeast rolls and blueberry tincture 😀
In Poland when you have standard dinner, you eat potatoes, meat and – surówka, which is a salad made of raw fruits and vegetables. There is variety of different salads that can be prepared, but one of the most popular is an apple and a carrot salad. This easy side is quick to make and so delicious. Both: carrots and apples are really easy available all over the year in Poland, so they are quite cheap! This make Apple and Carrot Salad very popular in school’s canteens:) I can live with that, it’s delicious and so healthy.
I am lucky to have birthday in June! I love this month, as strawberries are in full and best season, the cheapest and the most sweet. Polish Cheesecake with Strawberries is a must for me to take to the office for my colleagues:)
This time I prepared baked cheesecake, very easy to make, delicate and not very sweet. It take some time to finish it, as the jelly needs to settle, but this is a case of work organization. Make cheesecake one day before serving, it needs a night in a fridge to get the best of it.
I like to have lot of jelly on my cheesecake, I use double package of it and together with strawberries I add some blueberries, this is the best mix I know:)
This Chłodnik – cold soup – my Grandma was making us quite often, we loved to eat it accompanied by boiled potatoes sprinkled with sauteed onions and/or fried bacon. I remember that we used to have only one shared plate of potatoes (with onions, bacon and dill) for the whole family and we would scooped some potatoes and fill the spoon up with chłodnik from our own bowl.
Chłodnik – cold soup is easy and really quick to do. It’s enough to cut the vegetables and combine them with sour milk or other favorite milk drink, such as buttermilk or kefir. We’ve usually used sour milk- zsiadłe mleko, as it was the most easily available at that time. Our neighbor had a cow and we used to get fresh milk from her. My Grandma would left some milk on the counter covered with a cloth and after 2 days sour milk have been ready. Now it is hard to make a decent sour milk out of the carton milk or it may be even impossible.
I’ve made Dandelion syrup few times so far. It’s so tasty. My children like pancakes splashed with Dandelion syrup just as much as with maple syrup.
In Polish folk medicine it is know from ages as a cure for cough and a help with liver cleansing. Dandelion syrup recipe can be found in Saint Hildegard of Bingen’s books and she lived in XII century:) It is sometimes called Dandelion honey, but actually it is a syrup. Try this easy recipe for homemade Dandelion Syrup. For more immunity booster recipes check: Immunity.
Important Note: Dandelion syrup should not be used by people suffering from hyperacidity nor with dandelion allergy.
Bear’s Garlic Creamy Soup is a full of vitamins Spring soup. A season for bear’s garlic (which can be also called wild leek, ramps, wild garlic) is quite short, use it and cook this healthy soup. If you still have some ramps left, you can try out other recipes: Bear’s Garlic Cream Cheese or Bear’s Garlic Pesto.
Early spring is the only time in the year when you can obtain fresh bear’s garlic (also called ramps or wild leek). In Poland it is a perfect time for it right now. Last year I made delicious Pesto, from this year’s batch I decided to make a bread spread: Bear’s Garlic Cream Cheese and a Bear’s Garlic Soup, which recipe is coming up soon. Stay alert not to miss my next recipe;) You can for example subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Facebook or Instagram. Maybe you prefer Pinterest? Feel invited to choose your favorite way to stay in touch with me:)
Few weeks ago I met a Greek couple leaving in Warsaw. Dimitris asked me to show him how to cook Bigos. When we talked about Polish cuisine, Anja said that soups are something special for Poland. And this is a fact: in Poland soups are a staple in Polish homes for dinner. You can get it also in any restaurant, served as an appetizer. Check my review of 10 Traditional Polish Soups, soups I like the most and which are the most specific to Polish cuisine.
Which one have you tried and which one is your favorite?
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.
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.
Potatoes are one of the most popular food ingredient in Poland. They are cheap and can be easily stored during winter. Potatoes may be easily called a poor food. In the cities you can have pasta and rice more often, but in historically poorer countryside – you have potatoes! It is a popular side dish and a start to many other dishes, such as delicious Potatoe pie, Polish Farmer’s Casserole with sausages or: Polish potato dumplings. Check if you know all 5 kinds of Polish Potato Dumplings, I’m sure you will love it.
There is a whole variety of Polish potato dumplings, they vary in size and ingredients, whether cooked or raw potatoes are used, what kind of flour is used and is it served as a side dish or a main course.
Polish Plum Potato Dumplings are one of my favorite Summer sweet dinners from childhood. Sweet & cinnamon flavored plums, soft potato dough and crispy buttered breadcrumbs, topped with sweet cream, make knedle a special dish, that is loved by all Poles.
One of the tastes of Polish Summer. If you have potatoes left from dinner, it is just half an hour of preparation and less than 10 minutes of cooking.
If you follow the recipe you will get 9 potato dumplings, it is 2-3 servings. Feel free to adjust the portion to your needs.
If you prefer potato dumplings to accompany meat dishes, you will love Kluski Śląskie recipe.
Most of the farmers in Poland would say that Goosfoot is just a weed, quite hard to get rid off, and you actually hate it if you plant vegetables. But on the other side, you can have it free, use in the kitchen and have healthy Goosefoot soup – Zupę z młodej komosy.
When I say Goosefoot I mean a herb called in Poland Komosa. To be sure what kind of plant it is, please check wikipedia source: Chenopodium ficifolium.
What is interesting that a Goosefoot plant and Quinoa are very close cousins. While Quinoa is quite pricey and so much appreciated (at least in Poland), usual Goosefoot is still mostly considered a weed.
