Bread& Wine, Polish, European, Asian, cuisine

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka - Pischinger

2012-01-18T21:23:00.000Z

In Poland there was a "night of communism" when I was a child. Sweets in shops were either very expensive or very tasteless. So our mother and grandmother prepared home-made sweets. One of my favourite is Pischinger – wafer cake. It is a traditional Krakow dessert which comes from the nineteenth century. It was invented by a baker from Vienna - Oscar Pischinger, and hence the name of this dessert. This cheap and very tasty dessert has been very popular in Poland since the nineteenth century. Currently every family have their own recipe for this dessert.

The original dessert is a combination of milk, sugar, butter, chocolate but there are many other varieties of this sweet. Somebody can make it as butter cream with raw eggs but in my opinion it is dangerous for health. For the lazy or the ones who don't have time, you can do the Pischinger dessert with the cream Nutella. You just need to spread wafers and cut them.

Below you will find the original recipe for Pischinger.

250 ml of fresh cream

100g unsalted butter

¾ cup golden caster sugar

3 tbs vanilla sugar

pack of wafers (I used 23 cm / 9 inches round wafers)

1 bar of chocolate

200g walnuts

a few tbs cocoa powder (depending on which flavour you choose)

Cook cream, butter and sugar until they start to thicken. Add chocolate and vanilla sugar, and cook until the mixture thickens. Add ingredients for the flavour.

When the cream is ready, cool it down and spread it on the first layer of wafer, cover with another one, repeat the same till you have only one more left to cover the top.

Wrap the wafer cake with a cling film, leave aside for 3 hours covering it with a book or some other heavy item.

After 3 hours you can cut the cake into pieces.

Store in the fridge.

Other options

for Coffee Pischineger (my personal favourite)
Dissolve 2-3 tsp of instant coffee it in a little bit of hot water before adding to the cream.

for Walnut Pischinger

Ground 200g walnuts before adding them to the cream. If the cream is too thick and not fluffy, add a little bit of water and whisk a bit.

for Lemon Pischinger

Just add lemon juice to taste.

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka - Maczanka krakowska

2012-01-13T20:44:00.003Z

Caraway is very popular spice in the Malopolska cuisine. Caraway seeds have many opponents and supporters in Poland due to its characteristic, slightly scorching and spicy flavour.

If it is added with caution, it gives the dish unique taste. Caraway was often used in traditional Polish cuisine for its medicinal properties. It improves digestion and has antibacterial qualities and it was often added to greasy meat or bean dishes. Currently, caraway is often used in dishes in Malopolska. Caraway is added to many dishes: salads, white cheese, baked apples, sauerkraut and bread. It is used in soups from mushrooms, potato and cabbage soups,. We can add it to meat dishes but it can also be used to make flavoured vodka. I like caraway seeds and I often use them in my kitchen.

Now I wish to introduce one of my favourite dishes with caraway – Maczanka krakowska.

In the past Maczanka was a good way to utilise remnants of roasts as food .

It lies in the fact that meat is cut into small pieces, heated in the sauce and eaten with bread. You dip pieces of bread in the sauce and eat them . You can eat them with your hands. So my grandparents ate it this way in a restaurant in Krakow before the war, and now I serve it this way in my home.

I prepare this dish with fresh meat rather than from the remaining roasts from dinner.

80 grams pork meat,

1.5 tablespoons lard or butter ,

3 large onions,

salt and pepper, to taste

bay leaves, 2

a half tablespoons of caraway,

spoon of flour,

6 buns

Rub the meat well with salt, caraway and pepper and put in the fridge for a few hours, preferably at night.
In an oven-pan dissolve fat , pour water (a few tablespoons), put the meat, cover and bake in the oven for about 1.5 h at 180 degrees.
In the middle of baking the meat, add the onions sliced .
After baking, remove the meat and thicken the sauce with flour.
Cut the meat into slices, serve in a deep plate with sauce and a bun.

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka

2012-01-08T18:53:00.008Z

I am going to start the journey through the Polish regional cuisine from my native region – Malopolska.

This region is rich in flavours and it has formed my culinary tastes. My family lives both in the mountain villages and in Krakow. This way I know both simple rural cuisine rich in natural flavours and refined cuisine from Krakow.

The Malopolska cuisine developed for centuries but it obtained its final shape in the nineteenth century.

Krakow, as the capital, was the place where various culinary innovations arrived.

They quickly penetrated traditional recipes. Jewish and Viennese cuisine had huge influence on the Malopolska cuisine. In the past the Malopolska cuisine was known as the Galician cuisine and it was based on rich culinary traditions of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

It can be seen quite clearly in the names of certain dishes, such as Viennese eggs, Viennese schnitzel or Viennese cheesecake.

Austrian influence can be also spotted in pastry shops which invariably offer two Viennese specialities: Sachertorte and Piszinger. Semolina with nuts and raisins is a typical dessert from Krakow. This was reportedly one of the favourite delicacies of Queen Anne Jagiellon.

One should also mention buchtach, yeast dough filled with plum jam, which is another typical Malopolska cake.

The most characteristic type of bread from Krakow are pretzels and bagels. Now you can buy it on every street from street vendors. They are a symbol of Krakow.

Małopolska may also boast of many other kinds of bread. I will only mention rolls called sztangielki or oatmeal buns called bośniaczki. ,Both have clearly perceptible aroma of cumin, so characteristic of the Galician cuisine.

Cumin can also be found in marinades, sauces and soups. It is very popular specie in the Malopolska cuisine. Maczanka krakowska and cumin soup are very popular dishes with cumin.

Dry sausage from Krakow is a regional product which is also appreciated by other Europeans . Traditionally it is made from the finest pieces of pork. Next it is smoked and then stored for a long time, maturing to gain its characteristic taste and aroma.

Rural cuisine of this region is rich in apples, plums, mushrooms and beetroot taste. The Maloposka region is very diverse geographically and culinary. Every part has its own typical dishes and taste. The Podhlanska cuisine is the most popular in Poland. This is cuisine of highlanders living in the highest Polish mountains, namely the Tatra mountains.

I will tell you about the most interesting flavours and dishes from Małopolska in the next posts.

Christmas Eve!!!

2011-12-24T15:23:00.003Z

Rejoice that we are all together

For a day like this.

Two things keep us happy, warm

A Christmas hug from you my dear

And in return a Christmas Kiss.

Merry Christmas from the heart,

To ones I hope will never part.

Weosłych Świąt!! Merry Christmas!!

Gosia and Ilona

Today is Christmas Eve. It is very important and family day in Poland. Tonight every Polish family have a Christmas Eve dinner. Now in thousands of Polish homes are prepared festive meals and. We are waiting for the guests, the first star on sky and we will start Christmas time.

There is my Christmas Eve menu:

White herring
Carp in aspic
Salad with smoked fish and mushrooms
Pierogi ruskie (Russian dumpling)
Łazanki with mushrooms
Borscht
Salmon in a sauce with dried fruit with potatoes
Celeriac salad
Salad with sauerkraut
Puding of sweet chestnuts
Yeast strudel with poppy seeds
Compote of dried fruits

Christmas Eve - Dish 7 - celeriac salad

2011-12-17T21:59:00.000Z

I apologize for my absence. My laptop had a crash. So, I go back to continue publishing the Polish recipes for Christmas Eve .

1 medium celeriac
1 apple
3 tbsp lemon juice
10 gram of walnuts
10 gram of raisin
1/2 cup of natural yogurt
2 tbsp of mayonnaise
salt, black pepper.

Clean,peel and grate celeriac and apple. Pour a lemon juice on vegetables. Chop walnuts and add to vegetables. Add also raisin. Mix yogurt, mayonnaise, salt and pepper and add to vegetables. Mix the salad well and serve immediately.

Christmas Eve - Dish 6 - mushroom soup

2011-12-07T23:09:00.001Z

There are many types of soup which are served on Christmas Eve. Apart from fish soup, borscht is the most popular but mushroom soup is also well-known. In my family there are always two soups served on Christmas Eve - borscht and mushroom soup with dried wild mushrooms.

The smell of cooking mushrooms reminds me of Christmas in my Polish home and of my childhood. I love that smell and there are always Polish dried mushrooms in my kitchen even if I'm in a very distant place.

60 grams of dried mushrooms
2 carrots
1 onion
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp fresh cream
salt, black pepper
2 l. vegetable broth

łazanki (Polish pasta cut into squares) or other small pasta

Soak mushrooms overnight in 4 glasses of water. Cook mushrooms slowly until they are boiled. Strain mushrooms. Cut mushrooms into small pieces. Add mushroom broth to vegetable broth and boil. Clean and peel carrots, cut into thin slices and add to broth together with salt, and cook unlit carrots are soft. In the meantime cook pasta. Cut the onion into small pieces and fry on butter until gold. Add the onion and mushrooms to soup and cook 5 minutes. Next add pepper and fresh cream. Strain pasta, add to soup and serve.

Christmas Eve - Dish 5 - fish in aspic.

2011-12-06T08:06:00.001Z

If you don't like carp, the other option is fish in aspic.

for 10 portions

300 grams of fish
1 carrot
1 parsley root
2 onions
1 bay leaf, black pepper, salt
5 tbsp of instant gelatin

Clean the fish very carefully. Clean and peel vegetables but don't cut. Put vegetables into a pot with 2 litres of water, add salt, pepper and bay leaf and cook 25 minutes. Put the fish into the broth and cook slowly about 25 minutes. Cool down the fish and broth. Divide the fish into small pieces and put in small bowls. Cut carrots into slices and add to the fish. Cook two cups of broth and add gelatin, mix well and add to the rest of the broth and mix. Pour the fish into the broth and put into the fridge overnight.

Christmas Eve - Dish 4 - carp in aspic.

2011-12-04T22:37:00.001Z

Carp is very popular and traditional fish on Christmas Eve in Poland. In Polish tradition we have many recipes for this fish but the most popular is carp in aspic.

1 carp (about 2 kg)
1 carrot
1 parsley root
1 leek
2 onions
1 bay leaf, black pepper salt
5 tbsp of instant gelatin
1 tbsp of butter

Clean the fish very carefully and cut into rings. Clean and peel vegetables, and cut into small pieces. In a pot melt butter, add vegetables and fry 5 minutes. Pour vegetables into water, add salt, pepper and bay leaf and cook 15 minutes. Put rings of carp to the broth and cook slowly about 25 minutes. Cool down the fish and broth. Put the fish into a deep dish in which it will be served. Cook two cups of broth and add gelatin, mix well and add to the rest of broth and mix. Pour the fish into the broth and put into the fridge overnight.

Christmas Eve - Dish 3 - salad with smoked fish and mushrooms.

2011-12-03T23:50:00.005Z

1 smoked mackerel or other fish
150 gram of fresh white mushrooms
1 apple
1 small onion
3 large gherkins
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tbsp of lemon juice
salt black pepper

Clean the fish from skin and bones and divide into small pieces. Peel and grate the apple and sprinkle lemon juice over it. Cut the onion and gherkins into small cubes. Clean the mushrooms and cut into thin slices. Put all ingredients into a bowl, add oil, salt and pepper and mix well. Put the salad into the refrigerator for minimum 1 hour. Serve cold.

Christmas Eve - Dish 2 - white herring.

2011-12-02T21:26:00.002Z

Today let me present the second dish with herring - white herring. Herring is very popular in Poland and we have many dishes from this fish.

for 2 portions

2 large pieces of marinated herring
1 large apple
1/2 onion or 1 small onion
20 ml of fresh cream
1 tbsp of lemon juice.
salt, black pepper.

Cut the onion into very thin slices, put the onion into a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Peel the apple and grate it. Add the apple, fresh cream, salt and pepper to the onion and mix well. Put one piece of herring on a plate and put a layer ayr of the apple and onion salad on it. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Christmas Eve - Dish 1 - red herrings.

2011-12-01T23:40:00.002Z

Today is the first of December. Christmas will be in 24 days. So let's start the countdown! In the next days I will publish recipes for traditional Polish dishes on Christmas Eve .
Let's start. Today my favourite Christmas Eve starter - red herring.

10 pieces of marinated herring
2 large onions
100 grams of cranberries or raisins
6 tbsp of tomato purée
3 tbsp of honey
1 tbps of oil

Cut the herring into large squares. Cut onions into cubes. Heat oil in the pan and add tomato purée. Mix gently and fry about two minutes and add onions. When onions are a little transparent, add cranberries and mix it well. Fry about 5 minutes and add honey. In a wide bowl put a layer of herring and on top put fried onions and cranberries. Cover the bowl with kitchen foil and put into the fridge for about 24 hours. This dish can be kept in the fridge even a week.

Enjoy!

Irish restaurants lives

2011-11-16T20:00:00.000Z

At the beginning of my stay in Ireland I met Dublin restaurants, but not as a customer. I was looking for a job. I needed a job immediately. So I decided not to wait for the reply to my emails or notification from the job centre. I started to walk from one restaurant to another and ask about a job. During two weeks I visited almost all the restaurants in the city centre. At that time I came across many types of cuisine and culinary tastes of the Irish people.

What surprised me most? There was a large number of Italian restaurants and big influences of Italian cuisine on the modern Irish cuisine.

When I read about Ireland, every guide talked about Irish or English cuisine as the most popular in Ireland, but it isn’t true. In every Irish Pub, in the menu, you can always find at least one Italian dish. Sometimes in the Pub menu there are just two or three Irish meals, the rest of the dishes are Italian. This regularity is not only in Dublin but also in provincial Pubs. If you want to eat a typical Irish meal in the Pub, you will order this dish which doesn’t seem too much Italian or you will order classic fish and chips.

There are many Italian restaurants in Dublin. Three years ago there was about one hundred. There are good places to try good cuisine and you can also find good Italian wine and coffee there. I have one close to my home. In addition, there is amazing espresso in Dublin.

The second European cuisine very popular in Ireland is the Spanish one. The Irish love Spain and everything what is from Spain. They spend holidays in Spain, learn the Spanish language, like to enjoy with the Spaniards. Spanish restaurants are always full in the evening. I'm not surprised at this because Spanish restaurants employ the greatest Spanish chefs.

Asian restaurants are the third most popular type of restaurants in Dublin. There are typical national restaurants. Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian restaurants are very popular but you can also find very exotic restaurants. Asian restaurants are often at a very high level and are open even in small towns.

The best Vietnamese restaurant I have ever been to is in a small village Ashford, outside Dublin.

The Irish love the spicy taste of Asian cuisine. Now during the crisis many restaurants are liquidated but they are still opening new Asian buffets and have lots of customers.

If you want to find a Polish restaurant in Dublin, you can visit just two bars in the city centre but very simple and very expensive dishes are served there.

Dublin Bay chowder with scampi

2011-11-06T15:43:00.000Z

In every good restaurant in Dublin you can find scampi or Dublin Bay Prawns in the menu. It is the same shellfish. Scampi look like a prawn but it is not. It is a slim, orange-pink lobster which grows up to 25 cm long, and is the most important commercial crustacean in Europe.

I tried scampi during my first dinner in a restaurant in Dublin. It was my second day in Ireland and we celebrated my arrival.

I ordered the strangest dish in the menu as a starter. It was Dublin bay chowder with scampi. I was very much surprised when in my soup I saw familiar to me ingredients and I asked the waiter which one were scampi. He pointed at pink prawns. At that time I thought that scampi is the Irish name for prawns. I'd probably be in this belief if I hadn't attended the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival. A lady explained to us that scampi are a type of lobster, and she was proud of Dublin cuisine. Scampi are served in hundreds of sophisticated ways but my favourite is Dublin bay chowder with scampi.

Dublin Bay Chowder

For two

2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp each minced green onion, celery, fennel
1 tsp tomato puree
200 ml clam juice (or mild fish stock)
100 ml milk
½ cup medium shrimp (peeled, deveined, tail removed)
½ cup bay scallops
1 tsp each fresh chopped parsley, dill
pinch cayenne pepper
salt & white pepper to taste
1 Tbsp heavy cream

In a heavy saucepan melt butter. Add green onion, celery, fennel. Sweat until translucent. Add flour. Cook 4-5 minutes (do not allow to darken.) Add tomato puree.
Add clam juice. Bring to boil. Lower heat to simmer. Add seafood. Cook 1 minute.
Season with white pepper, cayenne and salt.
Add fresh herbs and heavy cream. Simmer 1 more minute.

Serve in warm soup plates with crusty, warm bread.

Whisky Chocolate Cake

2011-10-21T18:05:00.000+01:00

The second popular alcoholic drink in Ireland is whisky. There are three main distillers of whisky in Ireland: Dublin's Powers, Cork's and Bushmills from County Antrim. There are also varieties of whisky: Paddy, Redbreast, Green Spot and Tullamore Dew. Those are not so well known except for Ireland.

I don't like whisky but I know some people who love this beverage and who know much about it. I saw a big collection of whisky from many Irish and British distilleries. The owner of this collection offered us one of the oldest vintages of Tyrconnell whisky. He also showed me how to taste whisky and told me about the flavour content in that glass. Tyrconnell has an oily and wooden flavour and excellent light whiskey called Millar's, named after an old Dublin tipple,, is produced from it.

After that meeting I know a little more about whisky but I don't like it too much. I drink whiskey only when I am offered this beverage. However, I have found many recipes with whisky. My favourite dish with this expensive drink is Whisky Chocolate Cake. You will see the recipe below.

½ kg dark chocolate

½ kg biscuits

2 eggs

100 gram of butter

6 tbsp. of castor sugar

8 tbsp of whisky

3 tbsp of double cream

100 gram of whole hazelnuts

200 gram of crushed hazelnuts

100 gram of glace cherries

Whisk the eggs and sugar together. Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan and fold in the egg mix.

Mix in the crushed hazelnuts and fold in half the whiskey. Line a greased cake baking dish with crushed biscuits. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dish. Place in refrigerator overnight. Mix remaining whisky with cream. Remove cake from refrigerator and pipe top with the cream. Decorate with whole hazelnuts and cherries and serve.

Mint sauce

2011-10-15T22:39:00.000+01:00

In Poland mint is used only as a remedy for stomach disorders or as addition to beverages or food decoration. In Ireland I discovered many other culinary uses of this herb. I often use mint sauce to lamb but I often experiment with mint and I add it to some Polish dishes.

There are around seven types of mint, three of which are more commonly used in cooking.

These are spearmint, peppermint and pannyroyal.

Spearmint is used for medicinal purposes and to stimulate appetite. This mint is used in sauces and jellies to flavour meat.

Peppermint has a high menthol content, and is often used as tea and for flavouring ice cream, confectionery, chewing gum, and toothpaste.

Pennyroyal was commonly used by the Greeks and Romans. The ancient Greeks often flavoured their wine with pennyroyal. A large number of recipes in Roman cookbooks of Apicius call for the use of pennyroyal, often along with such herbs as lovage, oregano and coriander. Although it was still commonly used for cooking in the Middle Ages, it gradually fell out of use as a culinary herb and is seldom used so today.

In Ireland mint is generally used to prepare mint sauce. Mint sauce can be made in many ways, but the basic recipe combines the flavour of mint with vinegar and sugar. The following mint sauce is classically used to accompany lamb or mutton.

3/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves

2 tsp caster sugar

1/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

Dissolve sugar in water. Place mint leaves with water and blend until fairly fine. Pour into serving bowl. Add vinegar. Add more sugar or vinegar to taste. Will keep about 2 or 3 weeks in refrigerator.

Oysters

2011-10-11T17:11:00.000+01:00

I love shellfish and since I moved to Ireland this love has grown deeper. There is a wide selection of fresh shellfish the whole year. In the north of Dublin I discovered a fishing port. This port is located on the Howth peninsula.

There are many shops with really fresh fish and shellfish. I often visit this place and do the shopping.

When I lived in Poland, I tried just a few kinds of shellfish. In Ireland I have come across more sea animals. Here for the first time I tried scallops, octopus, lobster and oysters.

Oysters now are my favourite type of shellfish. I like eating it raw. My Polish friends are disgusted by my liking but it is their problem.

I tried Irish Oysters for the first time during a trip to Galway. In Galway every year there is Oysters Festival and every restaurant and pub serves Oysters. Some restaurants prepare special menu with this shellfish as the main ingredient but Oysters are often served raw with lemon. So, for the first time I tried raw Oysters. That was a really strange experience to eat something that is still alive but I like challenges.

I laughed to my friends that I went back to the times before the discovery of fire.

The Irish love Oysters and they have many sea farms with this shellfish. In September in the whole country there are many Oysters festivals. The main one is in Galway. That is great time and Oysters are the best then.

The Irish PR invented new Irish breakfast. It is a plate with raw Oysters, lemon and a glass of Guinness, but you can see this breakfast probably only on postcards.

Irish Ham

2011-08-16T19:50:00.000+01:00

Irish ham has been the best culinary discovery in Ireland. I have always thought that Polish smoked meat is the best in the world but Irish ham is also very good. Ham sold in supermarkets is made by several big companies. I was surprised by the taste of Irish ham. Irish ham is pickled in brine, then smoked over peat or over juniper. This gives it a spicy, evergreen taste that is difficult to find in other types of ham. It is simply delicious. Ham is made in several types and each has a various taste by adding some spice but all are smoked and all taste very well. Irish ham is served cold with sandwiches or hot as the main dish for dinner.

During my trips around Ireland I often eat ham with cabbage for dinner. In all traditional Irish pubs there is always smoked ham and bacon on the dinner menu.
The Irish are avid smokers. In many country cottages ham was smoked on two beams over the fireplace. Smokehouses exist all over Ireland. The Irish seem to smoke anything that runs, swims or flies, from beef and pork to pheasant and chicken, and from salmon, haddock and eel to trout, cod and herring. Currently there are more than a dozen smokehouses in Ireland which smoke ham in a traditional way.

Baked and smoked ham is served during Christmas dinner in all Irish homes and that type of ham is the one that I like the most and I serve it not only at Christmas.

Christmas Ham

Irish Smoked Whole Ham on the Bone

10g Whole cloves
1 cup brown sugar -
1 tbsp Balsamic or cider vinegar
½ tsp mustard

Orange slices

Maraschino cherries

Heat the oven to 160° C. Place the ham, fat side up, on the rack in a shallow roasting pan. Insert a meat thermometer so the tip is in the thickest part of the ham and does not touch the bone or rest in fat. Bake 1¼ to 2¼ hours or until thermometer reads 60°C (13 to 17 minutes per half a kilo).

About 20 minutes before the ham is done, remove it from the oven. Pour drippings from the pan and remove any skin from the ham. Cut it into uniform diamond shapes on the fat surface of the ham. Insert a clove into each diamond. Stir brown sugar, vinegar and mustard together; then pat or brush onto the ham.

Bake uncovered for another 20 minutes. Cover the ham and let it stand for about 10 minutes or until the thermometer reads 70°C. Garnish with orange slices and cherries to serve hot with potatoes and salads.

Any leftovers can be used in sandwiches or salads and you can save the bone for making soup!.

Enjoy!!!

Irish butter

2011-08-11T23:13:00.003+01:00

Irish butter is the best one in the world. It tastes like my grandma’s home-made butter. I have been in love with it since the first bite of bread with this butter. The best butter brand is the Kerrygold butter. I was surprised that such a big company offers such tasty and natural products. I have tried other types of butter made by other companies but I have always come back to the Kerrygold butter. It tastes fantastic when it is spread on a piece of bread. It adds a lot of complexity to each bite. It is available in salted and unsalted varieties. That extra flavour is the result of cows in Ireland having a rich grass diet .
Irish cows are very happy animals because grass is fresh the whole year and they spend their entire lives on the pasture.

Butter is made from cream. Cream from around 15 litres of milk goes into making just half a kilo of butter. Around a third of the world’s milk is changed into butter. Ireland is the fourteenth largest producer of butter in the world.

Butter contains vitamins A, D and calcium and, of course, is high calorie.
In the past in Ireland butter was packed into wooden churns and stored in peat bogs, where it would keep well for some length of time. Sometimes forgotten butter turned into creamy cheese, which was often discovered by archaeologists.

Buttermilk is used extensively in traditional Irish cooking. I have found many recipes for traditional Irish food where butter or buttermilk is used . My favourite are apple tart and buttermilk pudding.

Buttermilk Pudding

100 gram of sugar

250 ml of cream

500 ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon of powdered gelatine

1 vanilla pod

Dissolve 1 cup of gelatine in 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Cut the vanilla pod in half. Place it in a pan with sugar and half of the cream. Heat but do not boil. Remove a pan from heat and stir in the gelatine blending well. Remove the vanilla pod, then whisk buttermilk into hot cream. Whip the remaining cream until stiff, then fold it into the hot mixture. Pour into a bowl and chill well.
Serve with a teaspoon of your favourite jam.

The story continues... under the grill exactly

2011-08-10T16:36:00.001+01:00

So the chicken died of curiosity. Be careful when you cross the road next time.

Grilled chicken with kumara and passionfruit dressing

I was too hungry to take a better picture.

Under the grill

2011-08-05T12:01:00.006+01:00

The more I cook the less I write, sorry! You are welcome to pop in for a tea instead!

My favourite food magazine, New Zealand’s Cuisine, has a nice short interview column titled Under the grill. I liked the latest issues so much that I decide to answer the questions (almost the same every time) myself. I guess the answers don’t change much with time.

When did you first become interested in food?

There where few episodes in my teenage years smashed by overbearing parents and the lack of groceries – I grew up in a small village far away from everywhere. Then as a history student I got tired of non-illustrated books and began buying colourful magazines. Then I was trying to impress my boyfriend. Maybe the kiwifruit tarte helped him to make a decision of marriage? And with my first job in the kitchen I totally fell in love with cooking.

What’s your first food memory?

When I was a child food was simple and not so diversified. I was raised in the countryside so I recall milk fresh from the milking, hot and fat, the incredible strawberry jam and bread with butter and sugar only, vanilla sugar and semolina porridge. These are the first. My menu has changed much and often from that time.

What is your ideal party menu?

I rarely cook the same thing twice. I prefer aboundance and a huge choice. I had twice prepared a party consisted of 25 dishes. Usually I would serve few starters, one main and again the choice of desserts. For the starter a savoury muffin, for the main a simple pasta with a nice sauce and then I have time for several refined desserts! Last time I served pizza muffins, meaty pasta with courgette, vegetarian pasta with broadbean, New Zealand’s lemon snow, roasted peanuts brownie and rhubarb pie.

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

There are many of them, alive, and they pay us visits every now and then. And for the deads, I guess my three favourite poets, Mieczysław Jastrun, Tadeusz Chudy and Władysław Broniewski. For another party I would certainly invite Gaius Julius Caesar and Octavian Augustus.

What’s your pick of food destinations?

Big eclectic cities like London. This is where I learn most and where cookbooks and resources are easily available. When I travel for food I want to experience it very intensivly. In a big city you can meet not only the region’s cuisine but all of the world. My dream is to visit Melbourne and Singapore.

What’s the worst food crime?

There are many I guess. I particularly hate serving hot dish on a cold plate, carelessly washed lettuce and serving meat reheated or kept for some time under the grill meat. I prefer it straight from the pan!

What is coming next in the food world?

Sharpening the division between fast food and good food. Food prices may drive us towards old methods and skills at homes but shops will be full of junk food.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To check what’s on the other side!

Answer yourself!

Irish Soda Bread

2011-08-03T18:51:00.000+01:00

When I moved to Ireland, shopping for groceries was the first thing I did. I needed the basic ingredients for my kitchen. I bought tradition Irish bread and flour in a bakery. I wanted to make a home-made cake. After shopping, I baked an apple cake and I was very surprised when I saw the cake after baknig. The cake was huge and tasted a little too much of soda. I didn’t know what had happened because that recipe is without soda. As it turned out, I had bought flour with the addition of soda. I was wondering why the Irish added soda to flour.
The answer was on a wrapping of traditional Irish bread. It was soda bread.

In the book of the history of Irish cuisine I read that Ireland didn’t have a strong tradition of yeast bread making. The use of baking soda as a leavening agent is quick, effective and it produced a much more consistent result than yeast did.

The original soda bread contained nothing more than flour, buttermilk, baking soda and salt. The dough should not be kneaded too much.
I have never liked soda bread because it tastes to me like salt cake. However, Irish bread is different. It doesn’t taste as normal bread and is heavy and dense. Soda bread is made using either wholemeal or white flour but you can often find bread with the mixture of both types of flour. In some recipes, buttermilk is replaced by yoghurt or even stout.

I am not enthusiastic about soda bread and I don’t eat it every day but in a restaurant I always order soup and soda bread as a starter. Some restaurants bake their own bread and every one tastes different.
I ate the best bread in the north of Ireland.

Below there is a recipe for a traditional version of this bread.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread

1 ½ cups wholemeal flour

1 cup white flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 – 1 ¼ cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 280 C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients and stir together. Add buttermilk and mix with a large spoon (or with your hands, shaping your fingers into a “claw”) until the dough comes together. You might need two tablespoons more or less buttermilk depending on the weather. The dough should be moist, but not so sticky it is very hard to handle.

Shape into a round and place on baking sheet. Cut an X into the top with a sharp knife and bake for about 45 minutes, until dark golden. A toothpick will come out clean.

Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

This bread is best served soon after baking with Irish butter.

Guinness -Black Irish Gold

2011-07-20T14:05:00.000+01:00

Guinness is called the Black Irish Gold. People sometimes don’t know where Ireland is but they know that Guinness comes form Ireland and means – enjoy.
Guinness is Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness. Arthur Guinness started brewing ales in 1759. On 31 December he signed up to a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum for the unused brewery at the St. James’s Gate Brewery. When I saw the lease in the Guinness Museum, I began to wonder how beer would taste in the year10759.
Arthur Guinness started selling dark beer porter in 1778. The first Guinness beer to use the term was Single Stout and Double Stout in the 1840s. Guinness produced ‘only three variations of a single beer type: porter or single stout, double or extra, and foreign stout for export’.

Guinness is made from water, barley, hops and brewer’s yeast, and is treated with isinglass finings made from fish air bladders, although Guinness claimed that this material was unlikely to remain in the finished product. This means it is generally deemed unsuitable for a vegetarian or vegan diet. A portion of barley is roasted to give Guinness its dark color and characteristic taste. It is pasteurized and filtered. Despite its reputation as a “meal in a glass”, Guinness only contains 198 kcal per pint (1460 kJ/l), fewer than skimmed milk or other non-light beer.

The reputation as a “meal in a glass” has come from the the fact that in the past one part of the salary paid to workers was in pints of beer. Until these days there are many pubs around the Guinness factory .

Studies claim that Guinness can be beneficial to the heart. Researchers have found that “antioxidant compounds in Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruit and vegetables, are responsible for health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.”

Guinness ran an advertising campaign under the slogan “Guinness is Good for You” since the 1920s. This slogan stemmed from market research – when people told the company that they felt good after their pint. Now this type of advertising of alcoholic drinks is prohibited in Ireland.

I have also heard that at the beginning of the 20^th century in hospitals pregnant women were given one pint of Guinness per day as protection against anaemia.

Now Guinness is treated as a normal alcoholic drink with all its consequences.

The very good Guinness marketers still make a special atmosphere around this beer.

In Ireland and abroad Guinness is treated as the king of beers. A pint of Guinness should be served in a slightly tulip shaped pint glass, as opposed to the taller European tulip glass or ‘Nonic’ glass, which contains a ridge approx ¾ of the way up the glass. Every bartender needs to be able to pour the “perfect pint” of Guinness.

The “perfect pint” of Guinness is the product of a “double pour”. The waiting time between the first and second pour should take 119.53 seconds. Guinness has promoted this wait with advertising campaigns such as “good things come to those who wait”. Guinness should be served at 6°C while Extra Cold Guinness should be served at 3.5°C.

In the Guinness factory there is a museum where you can see how beer is made. There is exhibition devoted to the history of company. You can watch old advertisements of Guinness. Ain addition, in the Guinness bar you can learn how to pour “the perfect pint” and drink a pint of Black Irish Gold.

Irish chefs have invented many meals with Guinness which are a good lure of tourists. I have discovered the following dishes in Dublin restaurants: Irish stew with Guinness, chicken with Guinness sauce, Guinness soup, Guinness cake and ice cream with Guinness. My favorite is Beef In Guinness.
You will see the recipe is on karott.com

Beef In Guinness

for 4 servings:

1/2 kg Beef, cubed
1/2 cup Flour, seasoned
Oil; for frying
2 Onion; sliced
4 Garlic clove; minced
3 Carrot; sliced
1 tsp Parsley; minced
1/2 tsp Thyme
Salt; to taste
Pepper; to taste
Beef broth
200 mlGuinness

Dip beef in flour and coat on all sides. Brown in oil, in batches and remove to heat proof pot or casserole. Sauté onions and garlic in same oil and add to beef. Add carrots, parsley and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Pour enough beef broth to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Lift meat, onions and carrots from pot to serving plate with slotted spoon. Over high heat, reduce sauce to half the original volume. Pour sauce over meat and serve.

Enjoy!!

Irish breakfast

2011-07-16T08:24:00.001+01:00

My first meeting with truly Irish cuisine was when I started working as a breakfast chef. I was very surprised when I saw the menu. There were ten meals to choose but only two were healthy and light. I was scared. The head chef showed me Full Irish Breakfast. There was a plate with fat and fried food, even tomatoes were baked. I was really surprised. I know, in Poland we serve heavy breakfast but with a wide selection of vegetables and fruit. Irish breakfast is not only heavy but also unhealthy. After the first day in that restaurant, I understood why so many Irish people are so obese.

Irish breakfast is the result of famine in Ireland. Farmers normally ate only one warm meal a day in the morning before work. Breakfast rich in fat and calories was a source of energy until the evening, when they returned home to eat an evening meal.

The traditional Irish breakfast consists of some components which are fried in deep fat or baked in the oven. Traditionally the most common ingredients are

fried or grilled bacon, also referred to as "rashers" or "slices", baked beans,

black or white pudding, fried mushrooms, sausages, fried or grilled tomatoes and hash browns. Eggs, fried, poached, or scrambled are very important ingredients of this breakfast. Full Irish breakfast may be accompanied by strong Irish Breakfast tea such as Barry's Tea, Lyons Tea, or Bewley's, and it is always served with milk. Fried potato bread, or toast, is often served as an alternative to brown soda bread or French toast.

This meal is very fat and high-calorie - not least because in recent times, there has been a variety of mutations, such as the vegetarian version. Juice and porridge are also not traditional for this type of breakfast. They have been served since the 1950s of the twentieth century. Due to the relatively time-consuming procedure for preparing breakfast, in recent years the fast food version has become very popular: a roll (which looks like a small French stick) filled with the selected components of the traditional Full Irish Breakfast. This sandwich can be purchased at many bars, grocery shops and petrol stations.

In restaurants, pubs, cafés, bars or even petrol stations you can find Full Irish Breakfast. However, in travel guidebooks or on postcards from Ireland you can see pictures with other Irish Breakfast – a plate full of oysters served with a glass of Guinness. So, I have looked for this type of breakfast in restaurants and pubs but I have never found it. The Irish have a great sense of humor and a good knowledge of marketing strategy.

The English influence on the Polish cuisine -English luncheon meat

2011-07-12T16:52:00.001+01:00

As a child I thought how good English cuisine was . Somebody might be very surprised now. I know but you need to know that when I was 5 years old there was martial law in Poland. Groceries were completely empty. My grandfather sometimes brought English biscuits and a can of English luncheon meat. I loved English luncheon meat. I was sometimes angry when my granddad didn’t bring a can of English luncheon meat. I was a child then and the adjective “English” means “luxury” for me.

That year at Christmas we got a food parcel from our family. They live abroad. Among rice, sugar, cans of meat and sweets I found English tea. The box of tea became the best Christmas gift for me. I was very young and I don’t remember the political situation in Poland but I remember empty shops and long queues for food and “English delicious”.

During my whole childhood I thought that England had the best food in the world. Until I discovered that English luncheon meat is made in Poland. However, I still like it but after this discovery my love to England got weaker.

There was no love lost between me and English cuisine when I met true Englishmen. When I was in high school, my town was visited by cultural delegations from England. My parents hosted two women of this delegation. One day they prepared a real English dinner for my family. That was the worst meal I have ever tried.

Two years ago I was in Great Britain and I tried English food, but it did not convince me. I still think that English cuisine isn’t good. I am wondering why one Polish company named grocery products English. I was looking for the influence of English cuisine on Polish cuisine, but I didn’t find it. In the past Great Britain was far away from Poland. Before the twentieth century Poland didn’t have any political or economical influence from England. In the twentieth century Great Britain was a place to which political emigrants from Poland moved. Maybe the adjective English in the names of food as an expression of opposition to the authorities and a symbol of freedom?

I don’t know, but English luncheon meat means freedom for me. I had cans of this food in my backpack during multi-day trekking travels. I can eat it hot and cold, with bread and alone. It is always very tasty. Now when I sometimes miss Polish sausage and ham, I eat English luncheon meat and all my childhood comes back to me.

This is last post about influence on Polish cuisine. I plan two new series about Irish and also Polish regional cuisine.

Influence on Polish cuisine - Japanese herring - śledź po japońsku

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

Influence on Polish cuisnie - Beef Strogonow

The Hungarian influence on the Polish cuisine - Leczo

The Czech influence on the Polish cuisine -Bohemian dumplings

The Jews influence on the Polish cuisine - Szlajmzupe

The Turkish influence on the Polish cuisine - Coffee

The Lithuanian influence on the Polish cuisine - Bigos

The Austrian influence on the Polish cuisine - Vienna Schnitzel

The Greek influence on the Polish cuisine - Greek Salad

The Ukrainian influence on the Polish cuisine - Ukrainian borscht

The Tatar influence on the Polish cuisine - Tatar sauce

The Italian influence on the Polish cuisine - Faworki

The influence of French cuisine on Polish cuisine -"Mizeria"

The Hungarian influence on the Polish cuisine - Leczo

2011-07-08T18:08:00.000+01:00

I don't know why but for centuries Poles and Hungarians have regarded themselves as brothers. Both countries share linguistic and cultural differences, but the impact on each other is huge. Hungarian merchants have traded with the Polish since the early Middle Ages. Royal families in both countries were closely related through numerous marriages.

King of Poland - Jadwiga

The culinary side of this influence is very evident in Poland. The first wine drunk by the Poles was the Hungarian wine. This wine is still very popular in Poland.
According to a legend, the Hungarian Princess Kinga brought salt to Poland. Princess Kinga who was to marry a Polish king was asked by his father what she wanted as a dowry. She replied that Hungarian salt for the Polish nation. She threw her engagement ring to one of the salt mines and went to Poland.
In Poland she pointed out to the place where to dig and salt was found there.
In the first salt mine the princess' engagement ring was found. This is a very romantic story. Princess worship as she gave the salt in Poland is very strong since today.

Florian Cynk: st. Kinga

Red pepper is the pice which was brought to Poland by the Hungarians .
Red pepper as a spice has been very popular in Polish cuisine until today. In Polish groceries you can also find Hungarian vegetables and fruit such as red peppers, tomatoes, melons, watermelons and many others.
Poles love Hungarian stews, lecza and soups. One of my favorite dishes is Hungarian pancakes. This dish combines Polish and Hungarian cuisine in one piece. Polish potato pancake is served with Hungarian stew. Recipe on potato pancake is here.

Leczo

200g stewing steak diced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 very large potato peeled and diced
Half an onion chopped
half a red pepper thinly sliced
1 heaped teaspoon paprika
1 clove garlic crushed
150ml water
150 gram of thick pork sausages sliced

Take a large saucepan and begin by frying the potato, onion, pepper and garlic in a little butter or oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until everything has softened a bit.

Add the meat and fry for a further couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, paprika and water, cover and very gently simmer together for at least 2 hours, or up to three if you can wait! You may need to add small amounts of water towards the end if it has become too dry.

Serve with potato pancake.

Enjoy!

The Czech influence on the Polish cuisine -Bohemian dumplings

2011-06-12T18:51:00.000+01:00

Poles know the Czech literature, film and history, they often go to the Czech Republic and they are especially fond of delicacies of the Czech cuisine.

The Poles and the Czechs have almost always lived in harmony and the history of both nations are similar. The Poles were baptized by the Czechs. Czech bishop Wojciech became the first Polish saint. The wife of the first Polish ruler was Czech. In later centuries the Czech rulers came from the Polish royal dynasty.

Jan Matejko - Christianization of Poland

Polish and Czech cuisine have become similar to each other in many places through the centuries of mutual contacts. Seldom in Poland can you find dishes with the adjective “Czech”. Czech and Polish cuisine is quite similar. First of all, in both countries the following dish is very popular: pork or beef served as simple stew with onions and peppers, cooked over low heat . In addition, this dish is fried with cabbage and bacon. In the Czech Republic it is also popular to eat potato pancakes which the Czechs, like the Poles, sprinkle with sugar and pour cream on.

The typical Czech dish “Knedliki”( Bohemian Dumplings) is very well known in Poland and it is the only dish which is a synonym for Czech in Poland.

Bohemian dumplings are cooked by steaming or boiling yeast dough in water. It can be stuffed with meat or fruit, or they might be an addition to pork stew. Of course, there are several types of bohemian dumplings . The simplest, called the ordinary, are prepared from the pulp of wheat flour buns with krupczatki, water and yeast. Roll dumplings are different from the usual addition of toast with butter. Potato dumplings are prepared in a similar way as the Polish dumplings. Bohemian dumplings are served sweet with fruit and thick cream based sauces. They can be filled with strawberries, plums, or peaches. They are often served for dessert.

The Gniezno Doors -St. Wojciech lands in Gdansk by ship.

At the end there remains nothing else but to give the recipe for Bohemian dumplings.

Bread dumplings with Czech goulash

    0,5 kg pork or beef, cubed
    1 medium onion, chopped
    2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
    1/2 teaspoon paprika
    1/4 teaspoon hot paprika (optional)
    1 teaspoon caraway seed
    1 teaspoon marjoram
    salt and pepper, to taste
    2 1/2 cups water
    1 potato and 1 teaspoon oil

Dumplings

    1 egg, beaten
    1/2 cup milk
    1 cup flour
    1/8 teaspoon baking powder
    1 teaspoon salt
    4 -5 slices white bread, use stale bread, cut into small cubes (trim hard crust off)

Goulash:.
Sauté onion and garlic in oil until translucent.
Add meat with spices and sauté till brown.
Add water; simmer, covered, until meat is tender, about 1 hour.
Add finely grated potato into the meat and simmer 5 minutes stirring often.
Serve with dumplings or bread.

Dumplings:.
Mix together beaten egg, milk, flour, baking powder and salt until smooth.
Add bread cubes to batter and mix well.
Make two small loaves. Drop into large pot of vigorously boiling water. Cook 10 minutes, then roll dumpling over and cook an additional 10 minutes. Remove immediately from water and cut ends off to release steam.
Cut into 1 cm slices and serve with Goulash.

Enjoy!!!

The Jews influence on the Polish cuisine - Szlajmzupe

2011-06-05T21:47:00.001+01:00

The Jews were settled in Poland during the reign of Boleslaw Chrobry Casimir III the Great was favourably disposed towards the Jews. On 9 October 1334, he confirmed the privileges granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by Bolesław V the Chaste. Under penalty of death, he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforced Christian baptism. He imposed heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. King Casimir allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as people of the king.

Wojciech Gerson - Jewish and King Kasimir

In 1492 Spain and a few years later Portugal and other countries drove the Jews out of their territories. Some of them moved to Poland. The Jews became an important part of Polish economy and culture.

Many of the dishes and many methods of processing and storage of food in Polish cuisine are owed to the Jews. Sweet juice, cooking fish and veal, cholent and other dishes prepared by the Jews during the Sabbath have survived in Polish homes to this day.

Aleksander Gierymski -Jewess with Lemons

In Jewish cuisine kosher food as a form of respect for biblical health rules, officially scorned by Poles, is used. However, these rules played a significant role in the slaughter and cutting up the animals in Poland. Indeed, Poles pay special attention to the Jewish model of slaughter where the purity of place and sharpness of the tools which are use to slaughter are important. Of course, nobody dissuaded Poles from eating pork, but Polish cuisine has adopted a number of recipes, ingredients and spices used in Jewish cuisine.

My favourite dishes coming from Jewish cuisine are Jewish carp, Cholent, Szlajmzupe, Holiszki, Challah,

Below there is a recipe for Szlajmzupe which is often served by my grandfather.

150 gram the offal of geese (wings, legs, stomach)

150 grams of mixed vegetables (no cabbage)

150 grams barley groats (Pearl)

2 dried mushrooms (porcini)

Salt, pepper

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 cup of cooked beans

Cleaned and washed offal put into boiling water (4 cups). Boil and afterwards peel meat from the bone, cut meat and stomach into small pieces and put into the broth. Rinse barley, pour in the broth and cook slowly. Grate purified vegetable large mesh, pour three cups of water, add soaked and cleaned mushrooms and cook until soft. Add the broth with vegetables to the broth with barley, season to taste with salt and pepper, bring to boil. Serve with cooked beans, which were cooked separately with chopped parsley.

The Turkish influence on the Polish cuisine - Coffee

2011-05-22T19:44:00.000+01:00

Turkish cuisine is one of the oriental cuisine which had a big impact on Polish cuisine. In the Middle Ages Turkish merchants brought it to the Polish spices. Among the spices there were ginger, saffron, pepper, cloves and cinnamon which symbolizes the splendour of the Orient. They were used for meat dishes and pastries. They were also used to suppress the musty smell of bad meat. People believed that the spices contributed to digesting food, sharpening the appetite, and even "purifying the blood”. However, their prices were high, so the spices were used only for the rich . Foreigners were amazed at the excessive use of spices in a multitude of Polish dishes.

The oriental influences increased even more during the reign of Jan III Sobieski. During the siege of Vienna Polish soldiers captured a load of Turkish coffee. The custom of drinking coffee first appeared in the affluent circles of Gdansk.

Jan Matejko - "Sobieski at Vienna "

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries drinking coffee spread among the middle class. In rich homes a special department, kawiarki, was maintained-. Although the Polish coffee reached the East and the West, Turkish mocha was regarded as the best It was later supplanted by different varieties of coffee from Brazil.

In the eighteenth century the influx of oriental sweets increased. The sorbet, or frozen fruit drinksfried in honey fruits, candied fruits fried in sugar syrup, and especially having a spicy taste enjoyed recognition. The oriental sweets included nuts, almonds, honey, sesame seeds, raisins, sugar, fat and spices with natural dyes. They aroused enthusiasm by their taste, aroma and colour. Makagigi, rachatłukum (which in Arabic means "throat comfort") and biscuits with kajmak (which in Turkish means the cream) were sold. In the nineteenth century Krakow and Lviv welcomed a arrival of sweets such as halva, bambuchy, nugaty and many others.

Turkish coffee in the Polish style

It is a coffee which I remember with the communistic time in Poland but some times you can order it in Polish restaurant.

2 tbsp ground coffe

boiling water

glass

Into the glass put ground coffee,
pour boiling water and if you like add sugar.
Serve it with cookies.

Enjoy!

The Lithuanian influence on the Polish cuisine - Bigos

2011-05-15T16:39:00.003+01:00

In the fourteenth century Lithuania had the same kings as Poland. In 1569 Poland and Lithuania signed a union and one federal state was created.

Jan Matejko "Lublin union"

In his poem “Pan Tadeusz” Adam Mickiewicz described the culture mix which resulted from the merger of these two countries. Mickiewicz wrote there that Poland and Lithuania were like a marriage that loves and hates each other at the same time. “Bóg łaczył a diabeł dzielił. (God reconciled but devil divided)”. The last separation was in 1918 when Poland and Lithuania regained independence as two separate countries.

Polish and Lithuanian culture and cuisine had a large influence on each other. Some traditional Polish meals originated in Lithuania. The borsch, bigos and cepelinai (pyzy), which belong to the Polish tradition, are typical Lithuanian dishes. Lithuanian cuisine uses lots of fresh cream in many dishes. Polish housewives started to use fresh cream more often. Currently in every Polish fridge you can find a cup of fresh cream ready to use in soups, sauces, desserts or sometimes we add it to coffee.

Andrzej Wajda "Pan Tadeusz" part of movie

Lithuania was rich in forests full of wild game and its rivers were full of fish. There were Kings who liked hunting in summer. The meat of wild game, mushrooms and fruit from Lithuania often dominated on Polish tables.

The mead, which was very popular among Polish nobility, comes from this country too. In his poem Mickiewicz described nobility feasts, serving dishes and their preparation in Lithuaniain great detail. At those times most of the Lithuanian nobility considered themselves as Poles and used the Polish language. The poem “Pan Tadeusz” isn’t only about the Lithuanian nobility, it is also about the impact of both nations on each other.

I love this poem, especially descriptions of food. It is a historical poem but for me it is a very sentimental cooking book.

Andrzej Wajda "Pan Tadeusz" part of movie

Now Lithuanian cuisine still has an influence on the Polish one but it not to such a huge extent.

Poles rediscovered kindziuk, kugelis, bliny and bread drink. I think that the cuisine will be a platform for communicatione between Poles and Lithuanians.

Bigos is my favorite dish which comes from Lithuania. Below is translation of part of poem "Pan Tadeusz" where is described Bigos.

In the pots warmed the bigos; mere words cannot tell
Of its wondrous taste, colour and marvellous smell.
One can hear the words buzz, and the rhymes ebb and flow,
But its content no city digestion can know.
To appreciate the Lithuanian folksong and folk food,
You need health, live on land, and be back from the wood.
Without these, still a dish of no mediocre worth
Is bigos, made from legumes, best grown in the earth;
Pickled cabbage comes foremost, and properly chopped,
Which itself, is the saying, will in ones mouth hop;
In the boiler enclosed, with its moist bosom shields
Choicest morsels of meat raised on greenest of fields;
Then it simmers, till fire has extracted each drop
Of live juice, and the liquid boils over the top,
And the heady aroma wafts gently afar.

Adam Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz, Book 4: Diplomacy and Hunt

Translated by Marcel Weyland

Bigos recipe

1 kg. sauerkraut, washed and drained

1 kg white cabbage, shredded

250gram of sausage, sliced into ½" pieces

250 gram of smoked ham, cubed

250 gram of smoked pork, cubed

250 gram of bacon, chopped

250 gram of beef or venison cubed

10 gram of dried mushrooms;

4 prunes, chopped

2 apples, cored and cubed

1 glass of red wine
1 tbsp of honey

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp juniper fruit; (optional)

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp peppercorns.

Prepare the ingredients as listed above. Simmer the cabbage until soft (1/2 to 1 hour), then drain. Meanwhile, cook the bacon and set aside, preserving the fat. In the bacon fat sauté the onions and garlic, and brown the remaining meat except the sausage. Combine all ingredients in a pot and cook: in a slow cooker, set on "low" for 5–10 hours; on the stove, cook briefly on medium and then simmer 2–3 hours.
Refrigerate any leftovers and reheat for serving. The flavor improves each time, peaking around the third day. Many like to freeze it solid before thawing, heating and eating. Traditionally, it was left out in the freezing cold to store.

The Austrian influence on the Polish cuisine - Vienna Schnitzel

2011-05-06T22:42:00.000+01:00

What is Austrian cuisine is difficult to determine. Austrian experts say that "The Austrian National Cuisine" as a concept does not exist. This has good reasons. In the past the following parts of Europe belonged to the Austrian territory : the present Czech Republic and Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, ex-Yugoslavia, and the northern regions of Italy. Each of the conquered nations had its own language, culture and also culinary traditions. It is therefore understandable that they had a substantial impact on what Austrian people cook and eat today. In contrast to the regional cuisines, Vienna built its own "Viennese cuisine” which spread under that name in the world. To the obtained from different parts of Europe recipes they added their own creations, often creating entirely new dishes, but from a distance similar to their prototypes.

Viennese cuisine had a big impact on Polish cuisine, especially on Krakow cuisine. The spirit of the Habsburg Empire cuisine still hovers over Krakow. When you are in Krakow, you can very easily find places where CK-cuisine is served. CK-cuisine in Krakow means Vienna cuisine. Between 1848 and 1918 the Grand Duchy of Krakow was created. It was dependent on Austria. This way, Vienna cuisine had a very deep impact on Polish and especially Krakow cuisine.

Entry of Emperor Franz Joseph to Krakow - Juliusz Kossak

Polish cuisine owes Vienna cuisine "salceson" with pork served in mustard sauce as an appetizer, the Viennese schnitzel, and the Viennese eggs served at breakfast.

Austrian cuisine has also clear influences on Krakow pastry shops which invariably offer two specialities from Vienna: Sacher cake and Piszinger. The first one which was invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 is a chocolate cake layered with apricot jam and chocolate sauce. The second one is devised by a confectioner Oscar Pischinger and is based on waffles, milk, butter, sugar and cocoa. Viennese cheesecake served with vanilla cream or chocolate sauce is also of Austrian origin.

Below there is a recipe for my favourite Vienna Schnitzel.

4 veal cutlet from the thigh (about 200-250g each)
2-3 eggs
200 g breadcrumbs
200 g flour
salt
3 tablespoons pork lard or oil
4 tablespoons butter
1 lemon
bunch parsley

Beat the veal cutlet and season it with salt. Coat each chicken cutlet in flour, then dip in beaten eggs and toss in bread crumbs. Make sure the meat is evenly coated. Fry on both sides in hot lard or oil for 3-4 minutes.

When the schnitzel becomes golden brown, drain it off the fat on a kitchen cloth and serve it with lemon and parsley.

Enjoy!

Lithuanian Honey Kvass

2011-05-01T18:31:00.001+01:00

I wouldn't like to die too soon. There is so many things to try, to eat! Grass-smelling olive oils, crispy ethnic breads, strange fruits, wild meats and papaya moonshine. I couldn't tell what I would like to have for my last supper. Two of my most beloved dishes were... chocolate desserts while in a properly disigned meal you are supposed to have only one dessert. Certainly I am not going to die because of hunger. I am going to try as much I can through my whole life. Egg starters, so popular decades ago when it was not so easy to cook in old-fashioned kitchens - so basic yet so tempting as so many others. Not to mention our Lithuanian red beetroot blinis -haven't you heard that the British version of the beetroot blinis was served last Friday in Buckingham Palace with salmon rosettes?

Following some request, I come back to bread matters but from a different perspective. Kvass generally is known as a Russian beer made from rye and barley must or from soaked and fermented black bread. It is dark in colour, slightly alcoholic (0,5-1,05 %) and has a bitter-sweet taste considerably depending on the bread used. At home you use freash yeasts and sugar to drive the fermentation process. In Lithuania they got a plethora of recipes for their refreshing drinks. As soon as the warmer period comes, it is late spring, they put a kvass to develop.

Lithuanian Honey Kvass

150 ml fair honey

1,5 l water

3 g fresh yeasts

30 g washed raisins

half of one lemon

1. Dissolve honey in a boiling water (you don't have to boil it). Cool down to 30 Celsius degrees.

2. Pund yeasts with about 5 tablespoons of the tepid honey water and leave for about 20 minutes in moderate temperature (about 20-25 degrees) to start working. When frothy add to the rest of the honey water, cover with a cloth and leave at the same temperature for 24 hours.

3. Remove the froth from the surface, strain through a sieve covered with a cloth (do not pour in the rubbish from the bottom). Pour into clean, dry bottles, with few raisins per bottle. Close tightly, place in a cold place and wait. This kvass is the best after 5-7 days and keep well in the fridge for another week.

I would suggest a plastic bottle as you will see the pressure inside the bottle would rise. Be careful while opening it as you would open a beer can. I used the plastic drink container with gasket and immediately after sieving I put it to the fridge, it worked very very well. Certainly your friend will be surprised where the hell you got this nice and cheap chateau from a plastic bottle!

This is a noble kind of kvass, it is said that is's best after seven days, I found it best after five, maybe ageing went faster because of the temperature in my flat (around 26 Celsius degrees). It has a distinctive honey taste, is ideally sweet and at the 5th day it has an appropriate amount of little bubbles. You would feel a tickle in your nose and changes in your body's weight later. Generally honey kvass tastes like a nicely balanced white wine. Just please remember, there are other varieties, like caraway seed kvass, cranberry, apple juice, mint&tarragon, whey (!), red beetroot, carrot...You would forget the Coke exists. Unless you would find yourself on a tropical island - then you would discover an absolutely different refreshing drink. But this is totally different story...

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T11:33:00.000+01:00

Bronisława Rychter-Janowska, Traditional Easter table in Polish home.

We have an Easter wish for you
that is quite sincere
We wish for you contentment
at this special time of year

The Easter season comes to us
with rebirth, joy and hope
It's ours for the taking
given to help us cope

We can claim the promise
God has all things planned
We may have some trials
but he will hold our hand

Easter symbolizes
dying away of ones old ways
Renewing self awareness
making better all our days

On this special Sunday
celebrating as you do
We wish for you and all you love
that all your dreams come true!

Written By:© Marlys

The Greek influence on the Polish cuisine - Greek Salad

2011-04-15T13:15:00.001+01:00

The influence Greek cuisine on Polish cuisine is poor. Greeks have been known in Poland since the Middle Ages but Greek population in Poland has been very small.

After 1949, more Greeks came to Poland. During the Greek Civil War 14,000 refugees who supported communist guerrillas arrived in Poland. The Polish government organized a field hospital on the island of Wolin for them. Some of them came back to Greece but about 9,000 people moved on the South of Poland where they still live. The Greek minority has a strong influence on the development of Polish culture. Greeks have a lot of influence primarily on the creation of popular music in Poland. The most famous Greek musician with a Polish passport is a singer Eleni.

Thanks to this last emigration, the Greek cuisine is famous in Poland.

The most famous dish is the Greek salad ( choriatiki). Poles also copied the feta cheese. Polish Feta has little in common with the original cheese, but it is often used as a substitute of the feta cheese. Greeks who live in Zgorzelec made Zgorzelec cheese. It recalls traditional Greek feta, but in Polish conditions, in addition to milk from goats and sheep, they also used cow milk. It isn't widely known in Poland, however it is considered one of the regional products.

Currently in Poland traditional Greek cuisine is making a big comeback. There are many restaurants with Greek menu and shops where Poles can buy original Greek food.

Some celebrated chefs who come from Greece popularize Greek food in Poland. Poles like the Greek cuisine because it is an alternative to Italian cuisine and it has introduced light and healthy dishes to the Polish cuisine.

Bellow recipe on classical Greek salad

1 head crunchy lettuce, shredded
2 large tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 onion, cut in half and sliced into thin strips
1/2 cup olives
1 feta cheese, crumbled

Dressing:
olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and onion in a large bowl. Pour enough olive oil over the salad to just coat it. Add the lemon juice and oregano. Season well with salt and pepper and toss the salad. Adjust the seasoning to suit your taste and toss again.

Add the crumbled feta cheese and the olives to the top of the salad before serving.

Enjoy!!!

The Ukrainian influence on the Polish cuisine - Ukrainian borscht

2011-04-12T17:02:00.000+01:00

For me one of the best cuisine is the Ukrainian one. I love Ukrainian soups and pierogi. Ukrainian cuisine has had a big impact on Polish cuisine. Some dishes which come from Ukraine are known in Poland very well, and nobody usually wonders about where they come from. I mean dishes such as slips wrapped , Ukrainian borscht, boiled pierogi, stuffed cabbage, and kutia which Poles commonly think of as theirs.

The fertile Ukrainian soil yielded plenty of cereals and oilseeds, vegetables and fruit as well as honey. The chancellor Duchy Ruthenian Yuri Nemyrych confirmed the agricultural richness of Ukraine in the Polish Parliament during the approval of the Treaty of Hadiach.

In Ukraine the production of cereals was relatively easy and it meant that the diet was based on farinaceous of dishes. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century there was enough grain, not only for the Ukrainian and Polish population but the Ukrainian people were the most nourished population of Western Europe. Ukraine was the granary of Europe, and Gdansk was the gate to this granary. This city was a centre of handling and transport of cereals.

The Ukrainian wheat flour was highly valued by Polish cooks. Very popular in Poland “pierogi ruskie” (Ruthenian dumpling) originate from Ukraine.

In Poland dumplings are often served with greaves from bacon - this way comes from the Eastern neighbours of Poland.

One of thecharacteristics of Ukrainian cuisine is the use of animal fat not only to bake and fry, but they were also used to garnish dishes. Lard also is added to borscht, cabbage soup and broth. Greaves of bacon are very tasty gravy for some meals, hałuszek and dumplings. In many Eastern regions of Ukraine lard was eaten with bread, cucumbers and garlic for breakfast or afternoon tea.

Stewing dishes is another characteristic thing from Ukrainian cuisine which has had a big impact on Polish cuisine. In Ukraine, since time immemorial the oven has had multiple functions. It was used to heat cook, bace, stew. Stewing is a method of preparing meals in the stove and it allows to preserve the natural taste and smell and it is much healthierthan frying or roasting on an open fire.

Currently the Ukrainian cuisine is known in Poland but only with the influence of Polish cuisine. The main soup of Ukrainians, the Ukrainian borscht, is prepared very often in Poland. In my country there are just a few restaurants where truly Ukrainian meals are served. One of them is in Krakow.

How to make the Ukrainian borscht? Below you'll find a recipe.

    0,5 kg of beef with bone
    0.5 cup dry beans
    3 medium beet root
    0.5 medium cabbage
    5 medium potatoes
    3 medium carrots
    2 medium onions
    2 medium parsley roots
    2-3 bay leaves
    2-3 tbsp tomato paste
    1 garlic clove

1tsp vinegar
2 tbsp sunflower oil

3 tbsp fresh ceram
salt, black pepper

   You will need a 5-6 liter cooking pot in order to contain your borscht.

   1. Soak dry beans for 2-3 hours.
   2. Cut the meat into pieces and place them in a pot filled with cold water. Bring to a boil and skim off any fat on the surface. In 30 minutes add the soaked beans, cover and cook for about 1 hour.
   3. While the meat is cooking, chop the beet as thin as you can. Place the beet slices into a frying pan with sunflower or vegetable oil and fry until soft (but be careful not to make it too soft!). You can add 1 tea spoon of vinegar to save beet color if you'd like.
   4. Chop the cabbage (also trying to make the slices thin), peel and chop the potatoes.
   5. Chop 3 carrots, 2 onions and 2 parsley roots. Fry them until the onion is becoming golden.
   6. When the meat is ready add some salt, your 2-3 bay leaves, peppercorns and potatoes.
   7. In 5-10 minutes add your fried carrots, onions, parsley roots and beets. Also add the chopped cabbage. Now slow cook for about 10 minutes.
   8. Add 2-3 table spoons of tomato paste, wait until it boils.Add a little bit of sugar if it is too sour for you. Add fresh cream and stir soup and cook 3 minutes. Serve hot.

   Enjoy!

The Tatar influence on the Polish cuisine - Tatar sauce

2011-04-04T21:55:00.000+01:00

Tatars are one of the very exotic ethnic groups in Poland. In the thirteenth century during the Tatar invasions of Poland, the Polish met Tatars for the first time. Those invasions were deeply rooted in social consciousness which manifested itself in legends about Lajkonik
or the Krakow bugle call. In the fifteenth century, Tartars became allies of Poland and began to settle in Poland and Lithuania.

Polish Kings gave them many privileges. As a result during the wars they fought on the side of Poland. Tatars were good soldiers and they were rewarded by Kings. Polish Kings allowed them to create their own autonomous social group.
This ethnic group is the most different from other groups in Poland but its influence on Polish culture and cuisine is significant. Typical Tatar dishes are spicy, high-calorie and easy to prepare. Dairy products, vegetables and meat (especially sheep) play a major role in this cuisine. Dumplings (pierogi) are the most popular dish of flour. Tatars taught Poles to marinate meat, “tatar's lamb” was very popular. Its influence can be seen today in Polish cuisine, especially in the very popular Tartar sauce. The most famous dish with Tatar roots on Polish tables is " Tatar steak " or simply "the Tatar" - made from minced beef, eggs and spices, served raw. Some restaurants in Poland still serve this dish, but you have to be careful because this dish made from raw meat is dangerous for health.
I have two variations of the Tatar. Instead of raw meat I use chopped smoked salmon or chopped fresh tomatoes. I serve both dishes with olive oil, salt and black pepper.

What I like most are true Tatar dishes such as czebureki, dolma, Tatar skewers, płow. My favourite Tatar dessert is kołacz. It is a yeast cake filled with cottage cheese. If you want to try typical Tatar meals I invite you to Sokółka, Bohoniki, Bobrowniki. There still live Polish Tatars.
Below one oft the best cold sauce

Tatar sauce

50 dag mayonnaise

15 ml fresh cream
200 g. gherkin
150 g.marinated mushrooms
1 tbsp. mustard
pepper
salt
sugar

In bowl mix together mayonnaise, fresh cream, mustard, pepper, salt and sugar. Cut on small pieces gherkin and mushrooms and add they to bowl with sauce. Mix well sauce. Serve with hot meats like beef or pork or serve with smoked meats and bread. This sauce is very good to barbecue meats.

Enjoy!!!

Labriole Saint Mont 2006

2011-03-30T12:10:00.005+01:00

I tried the Labriole Saint Mont 2006 wine in Paris. It was recommended to me by a waiter from the “Cremerie Restaurant Polidor” restaurant. I heard about this wine for the first time and I wasn’t sure if it is from southwestern France.

After I came back home, I found this wine area in the Internet. Mont Saint is the area to the east of the town of Auch. This wine area is a part of the Gascony region in France. There are wonderful landscapes with plenty of streams, lush valleys, forests, vineyards and small towns with timbered houses that look like the ones from medieval times. I know Gascony from Aleksandra Dumas' books about d'Artagnan. I heard about the local brandy called Armagnac but I had never drunk wine from there.

I was impressed with the taste of the Labriole Saint Mont 2006 read wine. The glass reveals nice purple glow. Flavours are clean and vinous. In the first sip I found the blackcurrant flavour. Sweet fruit and pleasant acidity makes the wine ideal for food. I don't have the slightest doubt that it is the grape of the highest quality.

This wine contains about 70% of Tannat grape. Tannat is a kind of red wine grape, which has sharp taste and is rich in tannins. In the past wine made only from these grapes wasn’t popular. The name of main grape may be one reason. The word resembles tannin, ie tannins. But modern winemakers know how to select grapes and to make good wine, so now wine rich in tannins is soft to drink. It is important to do this by master of discipline, because the law requires that he/she has to add at least 70% of Tannat grapes. This rule has been introduced to preserve local characteristics of wines.

In modern Gascony it is statutory for wine to consist of 70% of Tannat. The rest is cabernet. There is a small label that shows that the grapes are handpicked . Fermentation and storage occur in steel tanks to preserve the best fruit flavors. So, the wine coming from Saint Mont contains a lot of nice secrets for me. They are worth being discovered .

Lithuanian kidney bean fritters

2011-03-08T10:39:00.000Z

Another Lithuanian dish and the first bean dish I liked! No starchy bean taste, smooth texture and this gorgeous sauce!

Kidney bean fritters (Pupu kukuliai)

1 cup dry white beans

½ cup flour

1 egg

salt

100 g fresh bacon

2 Tspns cream

1 small onion

1. Soak beans overnight. Drain, cover with fresh water and cook.

2. Grind beans well in food processor. Add egg, salt and some water. Form small fritters with floured hands. Thickness of about half centimeter is the best. Toss to the boiling salted water and cook for about 7-10 minutes. Drain and keep warm.

3. Now is the best part: Cut bacon into small cubes, melt and brown in the frying pan over low heat, then brown the onion in this fat. Add few spoons of cream, season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over bean fritters.

4. Serve in a clay bowl with a wooden spoon!

The Italian influence on the Polish cuisine - Faworki

2011-03-04T11:40:00.011Z

The Italian influence on the Polish cuisine dates back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries when there were significant trade links with the Polish merchants of Genoa, Florence and Venice.
In the fourteenth century the court bills mentioned that royal cooks used fruit such as figs, raisins, almonds and lemons. In the fourteenth century Italian cuisine reached only the aristocratic mansions.

Bronisław Abramowicz "Wierzynek banquet"

The opinion that the Italian Queen Bona brought vegetables to Poland is untrue, since lettuce, beets, cabbage, turnips, carrots, peas and cauliflowers had been eaten as early as at the court of King Jagiello. The undeniable thing is that Queen Bona employed only Italians as cooks. They were also hired for the preparation of receptions for magnates. At the court of Queen Bona very large quantities of fruit were used. They included oranges, lemons, pomegranates, olives, figs, chestnuts, raisins, almonds and Italian vegetables, rice and various kinds of roots: black pepper, fennel, saffron, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, sugar, marzipan and olive oil.

Jan Matejko "Poisoning of Queen Bona"

Most Polish names of vegetables are derived from the Italian language (cauliflower, artichokes, leeks, onion, asparagus, beans, zucchini, lettuce). In the nineteenth century tomatoes, scorzonera, endive, spinach and chicory joined the list.
The Polish confectionery was created by Italians. The domain of Italian confectioners was ice cream, doughnuts, sugary drinks such as lemonade and orange soda and a chocolate cake with fruit and jelly, fruit syrups and fried chestnuts.
Doughnuts, which probably originate from the Roman Empire, currently are the symbol of Polish carnival.
On the last Thursday of the carnival in Poland Fat Thursday is celebrated . This day nobody counts calories and everybody eats doughnuts or other fried sweets. This tradition was born in Krakow in the sixteenth century where Queen Bona organized carnival balls. That's why Fat Thursday on my table is dominated by doughnuts and Faworki.

Pieter Bruegel "The Fight Between Carnival and Lent"

Last year I published a recipe for doughnuts. Today I publish a recipe for Faworki. This recipe came from my Grandmother's kitchen notebook. She didn’t like Italian cuisine and doughnuts. She didn’t understand my fascination with Italian cuisine but she made the best Faworki in the whole country. The taste of these sweets reminds me of her and our discussions about cuisine. She died a few weeks ago and she left me the notebook full of old recipes. Thanks Grandma.

FAWORKI
500g flour
5 egg yolks
100 ml fresh crème
2 tbsp rum
½ tsp salt
fat for deep frying
icing sugar

Flour, yolks, fresh crème, rum and salt mix together. Mix with your hands well, slowly and obviously with pleasure. Knead until the dough reaches a flexible consistency. When dough doesn’t stick to your hands it is ready.
Divide dough into four parts, and roll each one out very thin. Cut on strips 5 cm long and 2 cm wide. Make an incision 2 cm long in the middle part of each strip. Each strap take in his hand and horn of strap to scroll through an incision in the middle until you get a cookie similar to the one in the picture.

heat up a fat in wide pot. When it is hot put few Faworki and fry for gold colour one side and turn on and fry second side. Ready Faworki put on plate and sprinkle they with icing sugar and fry next part of cookies.
Serve cold down.
Enjoy!!!

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From doughnuts to herrings - Polish Shrovetide

Polish Jeudi Gras - Tłusty Czwartek

2011-03-03T17:10:00.001Z

The fat Thursday with no doughnut(s) is awful as doughnut with anything else but roship jam is awful. Polish doughnuts are the best in the world! They have nothing in common with plastic doughnuts sold in the western countries. The perfect doughnut is light and fluffy, the dough itself is not fat nor very sweet. The rim of the doughnut should be as fair as possible which indicates the freshness of the fat used for frying. Roship jam is essential of course but also frying on the real pork lard. That gives a special smell. And don't be afraid - adding vodka or vinegar to the leavened dough will prevent doughnut from soaking up the fat! My favourite finishing touch is icing and candied orange peel but icing sugar is more simple and also delicious way. Today's news were full of senseless comments on fat-free and sugar-free light dougnuts. There is nothing better than the real doughnut. It was proved that the yummy food don't make us fat! Try Gosia's best ever doughnut recipe or come to Poland!

The influence of French cuisine on Polish cuisine -"Mizeria"

2011-02-17T12:46:00.008Z

The influence of French cuisine on Polish cuisine goes back to the seventeenth century.
Mary Louise, the wife of a Polish king, brought her huge royal entourage to Poland. There were French chefs among them. They started to serve light French meals and wines, which was shocking for the Polish people. At that time Polish cuisine was heavier and it added to dish more spice than now. Fashion for French cuisine took on slowly. Later, more diplomats and priests travelled to France as the king's messengers and they also explored the cuisine of this country.

Bartłomiej Milwitz - Entry of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga of Poland into Gdańsk

The royal habits started to have an impact on the residences of the magnates. The magnates began to employ French chefs. They drew attention to the delicacy of dishes, menu variety and the decoration of dishes which were served by chefs. Necessary additions to the elaborate dishes included capers, anchovies and truffles. French wines competed with Hungarian and Italian ones.
In the seventeenth century, the French cuisine was only for very rich people and only on special events.

The French travellers resulted inthe great abundance of food, but very often lack of basic table utensils. Guests invited to adopt these manners were often forced to bring with them their own spoons, knives, forks and napkins. To remedy this situation, the magnates began to import equipment from France.

Jean-Pierre Norblin - Concert in the Park

In the eighteenth century the French art of cooking gained a growing number of followers.
Traditional Polish food was replaced by French meals. Roasts were administered with a suit of vegetables or meatballs. Vegetables were to be served as a separate dish. At the end of the dinner a salad, fruits and cheese were served. Desserts such as sweet pudding, omelets, soufflés, party, mousses, cakes and ice were novelty in Poland.
A new way of presentating and serving food on the tables was first introduced by means of the arrival of French mores in Poland.

Alfons Karpinski - painters and artists meeting at the cabaret Jama Michalika, Cracow

Polish cuisine was enriched with new techniques and methods of cooking and food preparation, such as:
-stuffing
-blanching (blanchir)
-browning (au gratin)
-marinating (mariner)
-larded (piquer)
-bread-crumbing (paner)
-cooking in water "au bain marie"

In the nineteenth century the art of French cooking became available to the wider community in restaurants. Restaurateurs imported luxury food such as oysters, lobsters, sole, turbot and tuna. French culinary art began to occupy a unique position in first-class restaurant menus, acting in competition with traditional Polish cuisine.

Now French cuisine has become a permanent part of Polish cuisine and has become an integral part of the Polish culture. Currently some Poles think that some meals are typically Polish while they come from the French cuisine. The most popular salad “mizeria” is a classic example. It is a cucumber salad which is served to pork chops or chicken for Sunday dinners.

Mizeria

0,5 kg cucumbers
1 medium onion
bunch of dill
100 ml fresh crème ( or natural yogurt)
1 tbsp of lemon juice
Salt, black pepper.

Cut in thin slices a cucumber and put into bowl. Cut in thin half- sliced onion, chopped dill and add to cucumber. Mix together fresh crème, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mixture add to vegetable and mix well. This salad is more healthy with natural yogurt instead fresh crème.

Enjoy!!!

Similar Posts:
Influence on Polish cuisnie - part 3 - Beef Strogonow
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Lithuanian red beetroot blinis

2011-02-08T17:51:00.000Z

Why any ethnic cuisine is great? Because it is not a McDamn. Now I am going to surprise you with a culinary journey to the east of Poland. For the next two months I’ll be presenting some Lithuanian staff apart from my regular coconut-banana recipes. My guide is Biruta Markuza, a Polish food writer specialising in East European recipes. I liked her book on Lithuanian cuisine straight away. It is both simple and diverse. The ingrediends are easily accessible. And the recipes says something familiar that you know you will like that food. Lithuanian cooking has influenced Polish cuisine with many recipes, some of which are particularly known as Lithuanian in our cookery books. There is a hunter’s stew of a Lithuanian provenience and a cold soup of red beetroot, just to name the best known.

Red Beetroot Blinis!

2 portions (for main course) or 4 for starter

3 medium size red beetroots

2 apples

0,5 kg cottage cheese (quark)

few Tbsps milk

1 egg

1 cup flour

sugar

salt

oil for frying

sour cream/plain yoghurt to serve

1. Wash well the beetroot, put to the cold water and cook. Peel and grate with small holes grater. Mix cheese and milk for a smooth paste (ok, it doesn’t have to be that smooth). Peel the apples and grate with large holes grater.

2. Combine beetroot, cheese, apples, egg and flour, season with salt and sugar.

3. Heat the oil in the frying pan. To make small blinis, place one tablespoon of batter in the pan, flatten and fry until dark a bit.

4. Serve hot, absolutely with sour cream!

These blinis have an extraordiary colour and a surprising sweet taste. It reminds me the breadfruit French fries or the onion rings, which are also sweet and chewy. Serving them without sour cream will spoil their potential.

100

2011-02-01T06:25:00.004Z

It is the 100th post. We officially launched our first post on 8 Nov 2008. It took us 2 years and nearly 3 months to get here.

Ilona and Gosia, we are the authors of the 'Bread & Wine" blog. This blog is a continuation of our cookery school friendship and experience. While at school and later, we were meeting in our homes and trying new recipes and cooking techniques frequently. Tree years ago Gosia moved abroad and a few months later we decided to open this blog. Our blog is a place where we share our ideas, recipes and culinary adventures and where our relationship is developing. We also want to spread our vision of cooking and Polish cuisine and culture in the whole world. Why does this blog have the name 'Bread &Wine'? It is simple. Ilona loves bread. Gosia likes wine. Our characters are reflected in these symbols. In this post we are going to write about our expression and plans on next posts. We are also going to select our favourite post. Finally, we will write about how we will celebrate the hundredth post.

Gosia summary I love cooking and every day I try new recipes. In the past I wrote down the best recipes in the notebook. When I discovered “blogs” in the Internet, I decided to collect my kitchen experiences in this way. When I moved abroad and started working as a chef, I wanted to make something else than my everyday tasks. I also needed to practice language skills. I told Ilona about my ideas and we decided to make a blog together. Now our blog is a place where I write down every important experience with cuisine. I met some interesting people through the blog. My passion is more systematic than in the past and my husband is happy because I sometimes cook traditional Polish food. This year I plan to write more about wine and cheese. I want to bring Polish cuisine and culture to the Bread &Wine fans. I will continue the series about the influence of the other cuisines on the Polish cuisine. This topic fascinates me. Currently I live in Ireland. So I also want to show a few interesting places and recipes from this country.

Gosia's favourite posts of her own:

“My subjective guide to restaurants in Cracow - part 3 - My zone around the Bagatela Theatre.” – This post is full of memories from Cracow

“Influence of the Polish cuisine - part 1 - Japanese herring - śledź po japońsku “– Because I love herrings.
My experience with Canarian food” - This is a post about my journey and it was a time full of new experiences.

Gosia's favourite Ila's posts
“Polish Slow Food” – beautiful photos and ideas

“Dandelion bread” - for sophistication

Homage to Poilâne – It is the first post on our blog, and my bible of bread.

I will celebrate the hundredth post with my friends. I made dinner with meals from different cuisines. It was very happy time. In the next posts I’ll provide you with recipes of some meals from this menu:

Menu Starter: Sushi bar, Herring salad, French duck liver pate

Main course : Chicken baking in French style with potatos puree , mizeria (cucumber slad), polish carot salad, salad with horseradish.

Desert: Parisian macarons, chocolate muffins, my mum yeast buns,

Ilona summary In the beginning it is surprisingly hard to estimate what are the results of my free lance writing and publishing here. However when I look through all the posts I did make I see that my friend was so encouraging in all this journey. I am especially grateful for opening my mind to the possibility of photographing food which became my true fascination till today. With more and more recipes tested every year I have discovered that the perspective of cooking all the recipes from one particular cookbook is not so scary as I thought. Consistently I am devoted to breads, pastries, cookies and soups. It is so difficult to chose my favourite posts! I cannot do it another way as distinguishing between photo collection posts or strictly informative Gosia's texts and others treating exactly on preparing food and searching for a taste.

Ila's favourite post of her own - because of the photos bringing wonderful memories:

2009 review - because of the beautiful photos collected together
Polish Slow Food - because of the photos and the wonderful people met there
A Gourmet in London - because of the both aforementioned...plus dream of vacation...

Ila's favourite posts of her own - for the food purposes:

Hawaiian chocolate cake - one of these things the children love their mothers for, discovered in 2011
Coriander bread and Dandelion bread - for the method of preparation, taste and the stories behind the recipes
Aubergines in wine - my first experience in cooking with wine and a very successful one straight away

Ila's favourite Gosia's posts - for the high informative quality:

My experience with Canarian food - mojo sauces and all the yummy rest
Soave -wine - humble beginnings of the blog
Winter leeks - history from the ancient Romans to the 20th century NY

Ila's favourite Gosia's posts - for the food purposes:

From doughnuts to herrings - Polish shrovetide - for the best doughnuts recipe ever
Pumpkin cookies - I wouldn't think of that
World famous dessert of Italy - for sophistication

I decide to celebrate the 100th post with a bread that was in my mind from the very beginning: the wine bread. It has a nice pink colour while still raw and an incredible smell while baking! And then it is quite dense and nourishing. Ila's 100th wine bread recipe 600 g wheat flour 80 g rye brans 200 g tepid water 15 g fresh yeasts 2 tspns sugar 2 tspns salt 1/4 tspn coarsely ground pepper 230 ml dry red wine oil for the baking metal sheet 1. Dilute sugar and yeasts in water, add some wheat flour just to get the consistency of a yoghurt. Leave to bubble. 2. Mix two flours with salt. Add the leaven, wine and pepper. Knead the dough for at least 5 minutes. Leave in an oiled bowl under the wet cloth to double the size. 3. Take the dough out on a floured surface and form a loaf. Leave for proofing. 4. When the dough double the size, glaze with water, puncture with a toothpick and bake in preheated oven at 175 degrees for 45 hours.

Finally, we ended up with a mango & papaya seeds vinegrette pasta. But this is the theme for a separate story... My plans? Starting in New Zealand and Australia, we'll sail further into the South Pacific! I guess there is the time now to congratulate ourselves this wonderful time devoted to cooking, eating and blogging. Let's wish each other more celebrating with good eating and less drinking and more good friends around!

Smacznego! Enjoy! E ai kakou!

Paris cafe

2011-01-28T16:03:00.010Z

I read in painters' biographies about Paris cafés. I dreamed about Montmartre cafés full of artists, eccentrics and discussions about art and philosophy. When I was on Montmartre, I found some cafés from the nineteenth century. Only the name or décor was the same as in books. Customers and discussions are different from the ones in the past. Artists are also other than in the nineteenth century. They don't do uncompromising art but cheap art for tourists. I was very disappointed.

After this experience I was afraid to visit the La Dome café which is a very famous place. It was a big surprise to see full of memorabilia décor. The waiter was a very polite man. We felt like queens in this place. We spent two hours on discussions about art. There were artists around us. Old women were writing poems and drinking morning coffee. A young lady was sketching a portrait of her friend. A man who was near us was talking probably with an art dealer by phone. When we were leaving, a group of young people with easels came to the café. So, I dreamed about that typical Paris morning.

One day we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was too early to fully admire the stained glass windows. We decided to wait and to go for coffee. We found the Esmeralda café. It was a sunny day and this café was very bright. We ordered coffee and enjoyed the sun. The aatmosphere was nice but the coffee was a little sour. We talked about Esmeralda’s story. We recalled scenes from “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” written by Victor Hugo. We planned to find places form these scenes in the Cathedral. We found some of them.

The last café which I visited in Paris was the “Three mills café”. You probably know this café form movies about the charming Amelia. Her portrait is in every place of the café: on the menus, on the walls. I thought that this café is probably a very touristy place. I was surprised because we met many Parisians inside. They were drinking morning coffee. There were only a few typical tourists. They were sitting in the corner and taking pictures under the big portrait of Amelia.
This Café has a wide selection of coffee. We ordered these types which we had never tried: coffee crème with amaretto, cappuccino with ginger, and cappuccino with cherry. They tasted nice.
I could sit like that for a long time because the atmosphere was wonderful but I had to go back to Dublin.

This post is my last story about my trip to Paris. I believe that I will come back to Paris soon.
Edi and Marek - thanks for this amazing time which we spent together.

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Paris, Paris, Paris
New Year in the French style

French cheese

2011-01-25T15:33:00.007Z

You remember Meg Ryan in the „French Kiss” movie. She felt happy in France after eating cheese for breakfast. It all ended up with a stomach upset. There was a hilarious scene with French cheese and lactose intolerance.

I had a similar experience to the one in the movie but I am not allergic to lactose. My journey between the airport and the hotel was terrible. In the first instance I hated the French. When I arrived at the hotel, I was angry and hungry. My friends waited for me with a plate of French cheese and fresh baguettes.

After this very late breakfast, I felt happy and open to new experiences.
I have loved cheese since my childhood. My grandma made cheese. I was the first person in my family who tried smelly cheese form France. In my family I had a nickname – mouse.

We found many shops with French cheese on Lepic street, the same place where there is the “Three mills café". It was an amazing view for me. Big counters full of many kinds of cheese. I wanted to try every one, but it was impossible. In France you can find more than 1000 types of cheese. Every day we tried other types of cheese and we were so happy that our hotel didn’t serve breakfast. I brought to Dublin about one kilo of different types of cheese and a customs officer at the airport looked at me as if I were a mad woman.

Maybe I should start new a series about cheese? Do you want to know my opinions about cheese?

----------------
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Paris is sweet.

2011-01-20T19:24:00.013Z

Paris is sweet. That’s true. On every street you can find some shops with sweets.
Chocolate, macaroons, croissants, cakes, cookies - you must try something every day. How do the French make it that they aren’t fat? I don’t know, but I know why they love sweets.

In every famous part of Paris I saw macaroons in every bakery and confectionery kiosk. Macaroons are small cookies made from egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar and almond powder. A macaroon is commonly filled with butter cream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. In Paris they were made for the first time by an Italian chef for the wedding of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici in 1533. In Paris the French confectionery Laduree is well-known for making quality macaroons in traditional and new flavours. I didn’t try macaroons from that confectionery but I ate them on Montmartre. They are very delicious and light, but the price of a single macaroon is very high. Maybe I’ll try to bake them.
Currently a box of macaroons is a very fashionable souvenir from Paris.

An éclair is a more common pastry. It is a long thin pastry made from choux dough filled with cream and topped with icing. An Éclair is very popular in Poland. I often bought it in a confectionery near my university in Krakow. I tried éclairs in Paris and the taste was the same as in Krakow. I was so proud of Polish confectioners. The éclair originated in France in the nineteenth century. It is a popular type of cake served all over the world, but only in Paris and Poland its taste is amazing.

Probably nobody knows that a very popular croissant is a Polish idea. In 1683Austria celebrated the Turkish defeat of the Polish forces in the Turkish siege of the city. A Polish diplomat Franciszek Kulczycki convinced a baker Petera Wendela to make buns in the shape of a crescent moon, similar to the moon from Turkish flags. This is only legend. How the croissant was invented is a secret.

The truth is that the croissant origined in Austria. When an Austrian artillery officer, August Zang, founded a Viennese Bakery at 92, rue de Richelieu in Paris. This bakery served Viennese specialties including the kipfel, the Vienna version of croissant. It quickly became popular and inspired French imitators. The French version of the kipferl was named after its crescent (croissant) shape and it has evolved into puff pastries.
Parisian croissants are ones of the best which I have ever eaten.

I always like Opera cakes. I tried the first slice of this cake at my uncle's wedding when I was 6 years old. I first tried to do it when I was 12 years old.
In Paris I tried the French version of an Opera cake, but I still don’t know which version is true. I have several recipes for this cake: my French family, recipes from cookery books and the Internet, but every one is a little different. Maybe you have true recipes of the Opera cake?

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Parisian bakeries

2011-01-18T09:40:00.014Z

I fell in love with Parisian bakeries. They are in every part of Paris. These are small bakeries with shops at the front with large display windows. The display window, which is full of sweets, tempts potential customers. You must stop and even look at these miracles of the confectionery artistry. When you go inside, you can find there not only sweets but also fresh bread, French sticks, croissants and everything is in a few sorts. Every bakery is a bit different. One sells only bread and croissants, the other has a wide selection of sweets and sometimes you can find a part where there is a café or bistro.

Near my hotel there was a bakery where there served sandwiches and hot takeaway food. Sandwiches were huge, with fresh salads and a few levels of ham or cheese.

But my favourite bakery on Monmarte is Coquelicot on Des Abbesses street. This is a bakery with a small bistro on the first floor. Every time I was there, the bistro was full. So I could never try hot food in that place. But I tried a wide selection of bread, baguettes and croissants. There are the best croissants in Paris. There I also ate brioche and Magdalene cakes.

On the Saint Louis Island I came across ten or more confectionery kiosks in one street. I saw the Louis cake in every place. It is a chocolate cake with chocolate on top. Louis has amazing taste and it is available only on this island.

A special street where I found many bakeries is Saint Honore street. In the past it was a bakery district. This street is very long and you can find not only bakeries but also restaurants, bistros and wine shops.

I found there the award-winning bakery of Jean Noel Julien. This bakery is as a fairytale kingdom of sweets. Excellent display windows tempted pedestrians with beautiful cakes. The smell of fresh bread invited us inside. The bakery was full of people who wanted to buy some of the wonderful sweets. I bought a chocolate cake. It was one of the best cakes which I have ever eaten.

When I came back to Dublin, my suitcase was full of Parisian bread, croissants and sweets. I know, maybe it looked like a mad idea but when you first time try French bread and sweets, you never cease to yearn for them.

In the next post I will write about my favorite French cakes in detail

----------------
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My subjective reviews about restaurants in Paris

2011-01-14T16:31:00.013Z

I spent four days in Paris. Paris is a very interesting and huge city and I could see only a few places during my trip.
In next posts I’ll write about my other experiences from my visit in Paris. Today I am going to write about restaurants where I ate.

Paris as the capital of cuisine has many restaurants. I saw very expensive and cheap restaurants. In the capital of France there is a wide selection of restaurants ranging from the typical French cuisine to exotic one from Bangladeshi.

On Montmartre where there was my hotel I came across restaurants with Turkish, Indian or French cuisine.
French or Indian restaurants are places where you can eat good and healthy food, but Turkish bars serve typical fast and stodgy meals. What surprised me most was Clichy boulevard where there is Moulin Rouge. There are many fast-food bars.
This street is tourist-oriented and restaurants have many clients and are expensive. The restaurant which I had found by the Internet before my trip was closed, so we had to find another place. It was Saturday night and I and my friends had big trouble finding any restaurant in this district.

Finally, we found a free table in Royal Trinité on Châteaudun street.
The restaurant was almost full and everything looked typical, but the waiter was a little impolite. We were too tired and hungry to look for another place. As starters we ordered salads with fresh vegetables, for main course we had duck and steak. The salads were fresh but without sauce so we had to ask for olive oil. The duck was dry and the mushroom sauce tasted like instant one. The steak was underdone and also dry. The waiter, after serving the main course, ceased to pay attention to us. This experience resulted in the fact that we stayed away from places where meals for tourists were served.

The next day we visited the Latin district. It is a beautiful place with restaurants which have Michelin stars. There are many Japanese restaurants in Paris. We came across these types of restaurants near the Luxemburg garden and the Opera.
They were expensive and full of elegant people. I was surprised at the popularity of these restaurants in Paris. I think these places are a good alternative for people who want to eat fast and healthy food. But we wanted to try true French cuisine.

In the Latin district I found a restaurant “Cremerie Restaurant Polidor” on 41 Monsieure-Le-Prince street.
This restaurant was opened in 1845. Inside we found decor coming from the nineteenth century. A very polite waiter who spoke English showed us a long table where there was a Parisian family. We sat together with these people and we felt as a part of this family.
The food in this place was amazing. My friends ordered beef with pepper sauce. I ordered kidneys in madera sauce. My dish was served with very delicious potato puree. Aditionally, we ordered Melba desert as the other people at our table. I think that dinner was typically French and we ate it among Parisians.

The following day we visited places near Louvre. This is a very tourist and fashion district and finding a nice restaurant in there is difficult. My friend who studied in Paris gave me an address one of her favourite restaurants near Opera avenue, but this place was closed on Monday. However, on the next street we found Bistrot Richelieu. Inside there were only people who spoke French but the waiter spoke English. He recommended us terrine as a starter. It was amazing pork liver with something else what was a secret of the chef recipe. This time I ordered steak and chips, my friends had tuna and beans. The steak was well-done and very good.
For dessert we got very tasty chocolate mousse. Now “ Richelieu” took on a new meaning for me and it means good French bistro.

The last place where I ate in Paris was an Italian restaurant near Champs Elysée’s. Maybe it sounds weird that I ate in an Italian restaurant during my visit in Paris, but why not. We found this restaurant by accident. We were on Champs Élysées where there are very expensive restaurants, so we went to the next street. Because we were very hungry and tired, we decided to go to the first restaurant which was not too expensive. “PastaPaPa” was the first restaurant which we found on the next street. The place was nice and warm. We ordered ravioli, truffle pasta and four-cheese pizza. This order was our mistake. We got huge portions. My ravioli looked like a portion for two people. After this dinner I felt gargantuan, but the food was very good.

In next post I’ll write about bakeries in Paris.

----------------
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Hawaiian chocolate cake

2011-01-10T22:03:00.001Z

This is my obsession. Since I have made it, and ate it, I think about this cake at least few times a day. It is so rich, moist, warming, quite and simple. One of the best cakes I have ever tried, better even than Sacher torte, but this may be individual choice. It doesn't matter that it is not quite a dobosh cake. For in Hawaii, the rich chocolate cake, for which there are many recipes, simple and more elaborate ones, is originating from the Hungarian version but the method of cooking has been much simplified. For our pleasure!

The recipe I have used comes from Taste of the Pacific by Susan Parkinson, Peggy Stacy and Adrian Mattinson. I have modified it a bit. Try out the book, it is full of useful hints and really exotic and simple food for every occasion!

Hawaiian chocolate cake

0,5 cup cocoa powder

125 ml water

1,5 tsp baking soda

130 g butter

1,5 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 package of vanilla sugar

2 cups flour

0,5 cup potato starch

dash of salt

1 cup (400 g) kefir

1. Place cocoa powder, water and baking soda in a small pot and heat slowly. Mix until you get a smooth paste and cool down.

2. Sieve flour, starch and salt together.

3. Beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, beating, and then the cooled chocolate mixture.

4. Gradually add flour and kefir, beating well.

5. Grease well two 23-cm cake tins, divide the batter.

6. Bake at 180 degrees for 35 minutes (no longer - it is meant to be that moist). The cake likes to rise as a dome so I cut out both tops and made the third layer of it, of course on cooling down.

7. Cool down for few minutes, then loose from the tins and cool on wire rack.

Easy chocolate frosting to finish:

2 cups icing sugar

0,5 cup cocoa powder

80 g butter

1 egg (optional)

60 ml milk

few drops of rum essence (optional)

Again, all you have to do, is to mix well all the ingredients in the above order and decorate the cake! And then you can enjoy the silence created by the table when you serve everyone his or her piece of Hawaii.

Next week I am serving this cake in Krakow for free. Drop in!

Korean seaweed soup

2011-01-08T08:09:00.000Z

It is so amazing how many times Korean food has inspired me! I am devoted lover of the Korean pancakes among others. Although Gosia has inspired me more frequently, to be true. Last time I got a nice package of the dried seaweed that I love. As I felt that the cold is attacking me, I decide to prepare some warming soup.

Korean inspired seaweed soup

(2 portions)

4-6 pieces od dried seaweed

2 drops chilli sauce

1 Tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp rice vinegar

1/2 carrot

1 small onion

1 garlic clove

cooked rice

1. Soak dried seaweed in cold water until soft. Drain and cut into smaller pieces

2. Cut carrot into julienne stripes and onion into fine slices.

3. Place together in a pot seaweeds, carrots, onions, 500 ml water, dark soy sauce, chilli sauce and fish sauce. Bring to the boil, boil for few minutes. Season with vinegar and salt if necessary.

4. Place cooked rice in a bowl, pour in the soup, sprinkle with the finely chopped garlic clove.

Simple but nourishing. And it helps my brain, they say. I guess I may like Korea.

And what is your favourite recipe for seaweeds? Krakow visitor's pack for the best proposition! You have a week for entries, starting from now on till 14th of January. Please place your proposals in comments. Happy cooking!

Paris, Paris, Paris

2011-01-07T11:34:00.011Z

Tomorrow I’m flying to Paris. It is my first time in the world capital of cuisine. I want to visit several places related to my culinary passion. I will also see the most popular tourist attractions.

Paris is sweet.

In childhood I associated Paris with sweets and French sticks. My aunt who lives in France sent me sweets at Christmas. When she visited my family, she taught my grandma how to make croissants. In high school I ate French sticks with jam on lunch - it was my diet. In cookery school I learned about La opera cake, éclair, macaroons and many more traditional French sweets.

Ilona familiarised me with Poilâne bakery and I want to see that special place .
I think that I’ll visit bakeries and confectionery kiosks many times during my trip.

Café life in Paris

My passion is also the 19th and 20th century painting. I have read biographies of many artists from that period and for me French artistic life means café life. At that time many Polish artists studied in Paris and afterwards they moved Paris lifestyle to Krakow.
So I’m familiar with café life very well.
In Paris I particularly want to visit Café du Dôme. This restaurant was visited by many famous artists like Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso and others. And I‘ll go to the café “The Two Windmills” which is famous for the “Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain” movie. Also I’ll look for other artistic cafés on Montmartre.

Paris is fashion

My godmother always told me that Paris means fashion. When she went to Paris, she came back with additional suitcases full of dresses, sweets, wines. In my wardrobe I have two dresses from her trips. They are twenty years old and still are in fashion.
But probably I’ll focus on groceries because I don’t like shopping for clothes.
I want to find a good wine shop, as well as the Fauchon and Lanotre shops.

Next week I’ll tell you about my Paris discoveries.

New Year in the French style

2011-01-01T22:56:00.007Z

I started New Year in the French style. I savoured La Opera cake and Champagne. It was not accidental because next week I’ll fly to Paris. I’m very excited about this travel. It will be my first time in Paris, I have a lot of plans and ideas what to do in world capital of fashion and cuisine. One of them is to see the building of Paris Opera and try La Opera cake. Today I’m eating my version of this cake. I will write soon about my trip.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

• 125 g non bleached powdered almonds
• 125 g sugar
• 30 g flour
• 4 egg yolks
• 25 g butter
• 4 egg whites
• 20 g sugar

Chocolate ganache
• 5 g instant coffee
• 200 g bittersweet couverture chocolate
• 150 g 35% cream

Coffee buttercream
• 15 g instant coffee
• 200 g sugar
• 70 g water
• 2 eggs yolks
• 200 g unsalted butter

Glazing
• 80 g bittersweet couverture
• 80 g 35% cream

Almond biscuit: Whip together the almonds, sugar, flour and egg yolks for approximately 15 minutes. Beat the egg whites and sugar until stiff. Gently blend in the egg whites to the rest of the preparation using a spatula. Melt the butter, let cool down and add to the mixture. Spread the preparation on parchment paper. Cook at 220 ºC 10 minutes. Remove the biscuit from the plaque as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Coffee buttercream: Cook the sugar in 70 g of water until rise to a thick syrup. In bowl whipped whole eggs yolks and still whip eggs add the sugar mixture. Whip the mixture until it cools down. Gradually add previously softened butter and continue whipping. The mixture should double in volume and whiten. Add 15 g of coffee dissolved in a small amount of water.
Chocolate ganache: Bring the cream to a boil with the remaining coffee. Blend in the chopped chocolate. Allow to cool.

Combination: Cut biscuit to 3 or 4 squares. Spread the ganache on a first layer of biscuts. Cover with the next layer, garnishing with the coffee buttercream. Cover with the last layer. Cool down in fringe. Chop up the topping chocolate and mix with the cream. Bring to a boil. Glaze the cake. Cool down in fringe.
Serve with champagne.

Enjoy!

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Happy New Year

2010-12-31T12:32:00.002Z

Here are our Wishes for You...

Hours of happy times with friends and family
Abundant time for relaxation
Prosperity
Plenty of love when you need it the most
Youthful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

Nights of restful slumber
Everything you need
Wishing you love and light

Years and years of good health
Enjoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
Rembrances of a happy years!

Gosia and Ilona

Christmas reminiscences

2010-12-29T10:14:00.000Z

A little quiz game: what is that?? Some strange pink coloured coconut?

A pork skin from a ham!!

Happy New Year and many culinary adventures to everyone!

Ila

Polish Potato Pancakes (Placki ziemniaczane)

2010-12-28T16:22:00.004Z

In Poland everybody knows how to make potato pancakes. Some like it with sour cream on top or with sauce, some like it with jam or sugar. I like potato pancakes plain.

When I was a child my mum made the top of potato pancakes for me and my friends. In high school we made them in hostels during mountain trips. When we made potato pancakes in college in campus kitchen sometimes it turned into a spontaneous party for everybody. Currently I make them when I miss Poland or I’m in bad mood. I love these small golden rounds. I know they aren’t healthy and have lots of calories but who tries pancakes for the first time they will love them forever.

For 4

1 med. Onions, grated
half kg potatoes, grated
1 egg
3 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Ground pepper, to taste
1- 2 tbsp. sunflower oli
2 tbsp butter

Peel and grate potatoes and onion into a large bowl. Add salt, pepper, flour, egg and mix well. (Potatoes turn brown as they stand, which is natural.)
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil in large heavy skillet. Drop potato mixture by spoonfuls into hot fat, and make 10 cm in diameter pancakes. Potato pancakes fry about 3 minutes or more on each side to become crisp and golden. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

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Merry Christams

2010-12-25T13:12:00.000Z

Love, Peace and Joy came down on earth on Christmas day to make you happy and cheerful. May Christmas spread cheer in your lives!

Wishes from Gosia and Ilona

This is the old Polish carol for you.

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SpanishTomatoes Salad

2010-12-21T21:50:00.005Z

This is the first post from the new series – “quick kitchen”, but it doesn’t mean we recommend “fast foods” to you. We will show you recipes which are easy and quick to make and healthy at the same time.
Spanish Tomatoes Salad is a perfect dish for a warm day but not only. It is light, tasty and refreshing. If you need to prepare something at the last minute, this salad is a great idea, since it takes just a few minutes to prepare!

Prep Time: 5 minutes

For 4
2 cucumbers
2 tomatos
1/2 medium red onion (or white)
2-3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
6-7 Tbsp extra virgin Spanish olive oil
salt to taste

Preparation:
Peel cucumber and cut in strips about 5cm long. Cut tomatoes into eight pieces each. Thinly slice onion into half rings.
Place all ingredients into a serving bowl. Sprinkle approximately 1/2 teaspoon of salt over the top. Pour 2-3 tablespoons vinegar over vegetables and 6 tablespoons of olive oil and mix well.
I usually serve this dish with grilled meats.
Enjoy!

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Tortilla or Spanish omelet

Tortilla or Spanish omelet

2010-12-18T18:17:00.005Z

One year ago I was on Canaries Islands. It was a very nice trip. Today I organized blog a little and read my post about “My experience with Canarian food” again.
I went back in time and refreshed my memory of what I ate on this trip and I decided to do Tortilla on lunch. It is easy and very tasty dish.

For 2
4 eggs,
1 teaspoon flour
10 ml milk
1 tbsp butter
2 medium size potatoes
1/4 teaspoon salt
A dash of white pepper

1. Peel potatoes and slice on very thinly in squares.

2. Mix with the eggs, milk, flour, salt and pepper (prepare like normal omelet)

3. Mix together eggs and potatoes

4. Melt the butter in a pan and add the mixture.

5. As soon as it begins to stiffen, draw it away from the edges of the pan or gently slide a knife under the center to allow the uncooked egg to reach the hot pan and cook evenly.

6. When the omelet is a rich golden brown, turn over and cook until the second side will be gold and potatoes ready.

Serve with ketchup or Canaries sauces.
Enjoy!!!

Sea bass with ginger and leeks

2010-12-15T13:49:00.006Z

This is very tasty and elegant dish, easy to make. You can use whole fish or thick
fillets for recipe, which is also excellent made with bream, pomfret and trevally. I made it with filets of sea bass. Serve the fish with fried rice and stir-fried Chinese green vegetables if you like.

For 4

2 sea bas filets
4 spring onions
2tbsp cornflour
4 tbsp teriyaki sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar
1 tsp ground ginger
4tbsp sunflower oil
2 leeks shredder
2,5 cm piece fresh ginger root, piled and grated
7tbsp chicken stock
Salt and ground black pepper

1) Season the fish salt and black pepper. Cut the spring onions on slice. Put half of the spring onions on the fish and reserve the rest for later using.

2) In a shallow dish, mix together the teriyaki sauce, the cornflour, lemon juice, vinegar and ground ginger to make smooth, runny paste. Turn the fish in the marinade to coat it thoroughly, leave it to marinate for 20 minutes, turning it several times.

3) Heat a wok and oil, then the leeks and grated ginger. Fry gently for about 5 minutes, until the leeks are tender. Remove the leeks and ginger and drain on kitchen paper.

4) Lift the fish out of the marinade and lower it carefully into the hot oil. Fry over a medium heat for 4 minutes on each side. Stir the stock into the marinade. Pour the mixture over the fish. Return the leeks to the wok, together with spring onions. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

5) Serve with fried rice and stir-fried Chinese green vegetables.

Enjoy!!!

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Great Australian jelly

2010-12-12T10:45:00.001Z

Australians love jellies. Theu simply do. Maybe that's the echo of the fight with the climate in the past. All the colours, flavours and shapes are acceptable. And who doesn't like fruits soaked in a fragrant wine? Or a wine with some ripe fruits soaked?? Especially if it's a light fair Australian wine? This jelly is especially good with some ripe melon but you can also try other soft fruits like watermelon or strawberries. Anyone's freezing? It's an Aussie summer right now!

Melon jelly

makes 4 portions

300 g melon flesh, cut into small pieces

400 ml white Australian wine (necessarily!)

80 g sugar

1 Tbsp gelatine

6 dried apricots

1. Soak the cut melon in wine for half an hour. Drain.

2. Bring the wine to the boil, dissolve sugar. Take from heat and dissolve gelatine in wine. Leave until it starts to set (egg white consistency).

3. Scald apricots with boiling water and drain. Chop into stripes.

4. Combine wine jelly with soaked melon and chopped apricots. Divide into four 150 ml glasses and leave in a fridge for about two hours.

5. Decorate with fresh melon, strawberry sauce or fresh strawberries.

This dessert is especially nice for a cold evening to heat you up. So simple yet elegant, typically Australian.

Mango muffins!!!

2010-12-07T22:18:00.000Z

Gorgeous mango pulp was waiting for me since the conference. I really wanted to bake something with it. Muffins were the laziest idea but the result was not so cheap. Here you have deeply orange in colour, not too heavy and full of good stuff muffins. Ones of the best available!

Mango muffins

makes 12

200 g flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsps cream of tartar

30 g oat brans

30 g raisins

40 g sugar

1 egg

50 ml vegetable oil

180 ml mango pulp

2 Tbsps condensed milk

an EXTRA mango (a half is enough)

Orange icing

3 Tbsp icing sugar

1,5 Tbsp boiling water

2 drops of orange essence

1. Sift flour and baking powder together, mix in sugar, oat brans and raisins. An EXTRA fresh mango chopped into cubes would make a sensation.

2. Beat the egg slightly, add oil, mango and milk and mix well.

3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry ones and combine well trying not to overmix. Divide quickly into 12 muffin wholes.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 190 degrees for 15 minutes. Check with a skewer if it comes dry.

5. Cool for a minute and take out on a rack.

6. Add orange essence to the icing sugar and mix well with boiling water to make the icing. Make check on cold muffins pouring down the icing from the teaspoon.

Bread& Wine, Polish, European, Asian, cuisine

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka - Pischinger

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka - Maczanka krakowska

Regional Polish Cuisine - Maloposka

Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas Eve - Dish 7 - celeriac salad

Christmas Eve - Dish 6 - mushroom soup

There are many types of soup which are served on Christmas Eve. Apart from fish soup, borscht is the most popular but mushroom soup is also well-known. In my family there are always two soups served on Christmas Eve - borscht and mushroom soup with dried wild mushrooms.

The smell of cooking mushrooms reminds me of Christmas in my Polish home and of my childhood. I love that smell and there are always Polish dried mushrooms in my kitchen even if I'm in a very distant place.

łazanki (Polish pasta cut into squares) or other small pasta

Christmas Eve - Dish 5 - fish in aspic.

Christmas Eve - Dish 4 - carp in aspic.

Christmas Eve - Dish 3 - salad with smoked fish and mushrooms.

Christmas Eve - Dish 2 - white herring.

Christmas Eve - Dish 1 - red herrings.

Irish restaurants lives

Dublin Bay chowder with scampi

Dublin Bay Chowder

For two

Whisky Chocolate Cake

Mint sauce

Oysters

Irish Ham

Irish butter

The story continues... under the grill exactly

Under the grill

Irish Soda Bread

Guinness -Black Irish Gold

Beef In Guinness

for 4 servings:

Enjoy!!

Irish breakfast

The English influence on the Polish cuisine -English luncheon meat

The Hungarian influence on the Polish cuisine - Leczo

The Czech influence on the Polish cuisine -Bohemian dumplings

Bread dumplings with Czech goulash

0,5 kg pork or beef, cubed 1 medium onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced (optional) 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon hot paprika (optional) 1 teaspoon caraway seed 1 teaspoon marjoram salt and pepper, to taste 2 1/2 cups water 1 potato and 1 teaspoon oil

Dumplings 1 egg, beaten 1/2 cup milk 1 cup flour 1/8 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 4 -5 slices white bread, use stale bread, cut into small cubes (trim hard crust off)

Goulash:.Sauté onion and garlic in oil until translucent. Add meat with spices and sauté till brown. Add water; simmer, covered, until meat is tender, about 1 hour. Add finely grated potato into the meat and simmer 5 minutes stirring often. Serve with dumplings or bread.

Enjoy!!!

The Jews influence on the Polish cuisine - Szlajmzupe

The Turkish influence on the Polish cuisine - Coffee

The Lithuanian influence on the Polish cuisine - Bigos

The Austrian influence on the Polish cuisine - Vienna Schnitzel

Lithuanian Honey Kvass

Happy Easter

Bronisława Rychter-Janowska, Traditional Easter table in Polish home.

The Greek influence on the Polish cuisine - Greek Salad

The Ukrainian influence on the Polish cuisine - Ukrainian borscht

The Tatar influence on the Polish cuisine - Tatar sauce

Labriole Saint Mont 2006

Lithuanian kidney bean fritters

The Italian influence on the Polish cuisine - Faworki

Polish Jeudi Gras - Tłusty Czwartek

The influence of French cuisine on Polish cuisine -"Mizeria"

Lithuanian red beetroot blinis

100

Paris cafe

French cheese

Paris is sweet.

Parisian bakeries

My subjective reviews about restaurants in Paris

Hawaiian chocolate cake

Korean seaweed soup

Paris, Paris, Paris

New Year in the French style

Happy New Year

Christmas reminiscences

Polish Potato Pancakes (Placki ziemniaczane)

Merry Christams

SpanishTomatoes Salad

Tortilla or Spanish omelet

Sea bass with ginger and leeks

Great Australian jelly

Mango muffins!!!

0,5 kg pork or beef, cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced (optional)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon hot paprika (optional)
1 teaspoon caraway seed
1 teaspoon marjoram
salt and pepper, to taste
2 1/2 cups water
1 potato and 1 teaspoon oil

Dumplings

1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 -5 slices white bread, use stale bread, cut into small cubes (trim hard crust off)

Goulash:.
Sauté onion and garlic in oil until translucent.
Add meat with spices and sauté till brown.
Add water; simmer, covered, until meat is tender, about 1 hour.
Add finely grated potato into the meat and simmer 5 minutes stirring often.
Serve with dumplings or bread.