2010-03-30

Wholemeal Apple Muffins

Clearing the pantry I managed to get off with soya bean paste finally. Recently I am working on my flours. Cornflour was used for few variations of bread. Wholemeal wheat flour is much more demanding as it has very distinctive flavour. I try not to overdose....

Wholemeal Apple Muffins

Ingredients:
160 g wheat flour
40 g wholemeal wheat flour
pinch of salt
1 Tsp baking powder
65 g icing sugar

1 egg
150 g strawberry yoghurt - fill up with milk to obtain 200 ml volume
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 apple diced

1. Sieve into a bowl two flours, icing sugar, salt and baking powder, mix well.
2. Mix in another container slightly beaten egg, oil, yoghurt, milk and diced apple.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until the flour is just incorporated.
4. Divide the dough into the oiled muffin tins and bake 25 minutes in 180 degrees.

What is different for these muffins it is the lack of spices what tends to be characteristic of the apple muffins. And that is why my husband loved these ones:-)PS. A successful recipe for to'okutu is mostly wanted. Help very appreciated.

PS. 2. It is obvoius that I was absent recently despite cooking every day and baking every second day. I will try to improve. Enjoy the muffins!

2010-03-26

My subjective guide on restaurants in Cracow - part 3 - My zone around Bagatela theatre.

The cross of the streets Szewska, Karmelicka, Krupnicza, Podwale was my middle part of Cracow.



I love this point where one can meet tourists and real Cracow live. My favourite places were situated around Bagatela theatre. There are theatre bakery, bookshops , photography and clothe shops, library, churches, colleges, touristic office, tram stops and of course restaurants, pubs and coffee shops. This area has many places where I can eat something and enjoy and meet with my friends.

On Karmelicka street close to the theatre there are three bars where sometimes I had lunch. There are “Polska kuchnia”, “Bar rybny” and “ Lunchowisko” in the neighborhood. “Polska Kuchnia” serves traditional polish food. There is a menu in English. I liked to order pierogi and meals with herring. Decor inside is still in communism style, but it is clean and nice.

Opposite to Kuchnia Polska is “Bar rybny” (fish bar) where only fish is served. Maybe they don't have wide selection but they always have fresh fish. All are served with frying or cooking potato and salads. I remember this bar from my childhood when my granddad took me there for dinner. My granddad loved fish. When I was five years old I tasted salmon and cod first time in my live. They were delicious and very expensive because that time sea fish was a luxury stock.

There is also a sweet bar “Czarodziej” on the same street. They serve a wide selection of sweetness and polish cakes, desserts and beverages. It is good place for evening coffee and talking with friends. The “Sweet bars” offer delicacies so popular in Poland like kremówka, ekler, chocolate cake, cheese cake, doughnuts. I loved to eat there a cream dessert with raisins which is called “deser słutański”, it is so tasty.

The best place for me for meeting and eating is “Dynia” on Krupnicza street. It is austere place with beautiful garden. All there is simple: decor, garden, and also food but everything is tasty. The front of this restaurant suggests small interior but inside it is huge and there is lots of intimate tables. I love so much a green garden which looks like a wonderland. During spring and summer this place is a piece of forest in heart of the city.“Dynia” is very good place for breakfast, lunch, diner and meeting over coffee or wine. Menu is typical Mediterranean with polish influence. Chefs serve healthy and light food. When I had a bad day I used to go to “Dynia” and I order coffee, sit in the garden or near the window in winter and contemplate silence. It was good therapy for me.
I recommend you this place when you visit Cracow. This coffee bar is open all day.


Next to Bagatela Theatre we find “CK- browar”.This is a pub where I often went with my friends and guests.
It is situated in deep cellar and it makes impression of the gate of hell. Underground this place is dark, noisy, stuffy but enjoyable. It is typical beer pub but there is also a restaurant and night club area. There is a good selection of old polish food, I recommend you especially schabowy with cabbage. There is small brewery as well and you can try beer which is served in special way. The waiter brings a pipe with beer to use it by yourself. This is good idea for budget party of any kind: birthdays, graduate party, stag party, hen night or other. The parties are often sponaneous and don't require advance booking. This pub houses about 500 people in the some time. History of this place is short. It was open in 1996, but owners furnished pub in nineteen century style when Cracow belonged to Austria- Hungarian empire. CK means Imperial King it was knighthood of Austrian emperor. We can find the marks and traces of Habsburg's empire in the whole pub. There are portraits of last Austrian king and decor is like art nouveau style. I love the atmosphere of this deep cellar.


It is my Cracow: modern and vintage, old and young, fast and slow, magic and realistic.

I invite you to visit my city and see this miraculous place. See you.

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Similar Posts:


My subjective guide on restaurants in Cracow - part 1

My subjective guide on restaurants in Cracow - part 2

2010-03-09

Influence on Polish cuisine - part 1 - Japanese herring - śledź po japońsku









My Belgian friends were suprised when they saw the following names in the restaurant's menu: Greek fish, Ukraine borsch, Japanese herring. So it may be a surprise for foreigner in Poland, but they are still Polish meals. Polish cuisine was open to influences of other cultures and it took over a lot of ingredients, recipes and the techniques of cooking. Some meals were directly taken from other countries, but some of them are only foreign named, and the rest is typical Polish. It is Polish phenomena and we can compose long Polish menu with dishes of only foreign influence, so today let's start a new series about it.

Chapter 1

Japanese herring

The first I want to say – Japanese herring has nothing to do with Japanese cuisine. This dish is relatively new on Polish table. Nobody knows who thought it up and called this meal. Probably it was a coincidence.
This dish was born during communism time when ingredients were scarce and people tried to vary their menu by giving fancy names to ordinary meals. The names of new meals had nothing to do with ingredients and influence of other cultures but it sounded good and people felt better when ate for example ordinary pickled herring in mayonaise and it was called “Japanese herring”. That was weird time.
Japanese herring probably was called this way because it is simple, contains fish and nobody knew what is a Japanese cuisine like. I heard a lot of stories about Japanese tourists and they are surprised when Polish host serve Japanese herring. Currently Japanese influence on Polish cuisine is very small. Polish chefs make sushi, use a few Japanese ingredients and thought up “Kashi “ (this is a type of sushi with groats. I wrote about it in one of my previous posts “Adventures with sushi” ).

Japanese herring is a simple dish and it is very good for a party especially when you plan to serve vodka or as a starter.


for two portions

4 pickled filets of herrings
1 onion
4 large gherkin
½ can of green beans
2 hard boiled eggs
olive
mayonaise
salt and fresh ground pepper

Cut fillets of herring on half and sprinkle few spoons of olive. Cover it with aluminum foil and leave about half a hour. Cut onion and gherkin on small pieces and mix with green beans add mayonaise, salt and pepper.
Put this salad on middle part of plate. Cut egg in four and put on salad, sprinkle salt and pepper and one spoon on each piece of egg. Put herring pieces on salad and serve. This is one of the ways of serving Japanese herring. In Poland you can meet other ways but it still the same dish. Enjoy!



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Similar Posts:

Influence on Polish cuisnie - part 2 - Knuckle of pork in Bavaria - Golonka po Bawarsku

Influence on Polish cuisnie - part 3 - Beef Strogonow

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