Polish Slow Food

This week we were celebrating 650th location anniversary of Ptaszkowa, a village of 3,000 inhabitants located near Nowy Sącz in Beskid Niski mountains in the south of Poland. We were there because of my husband who wrote a book about the truly fascinating history of this noble village.

There was a community contest of local food prepared by the farmer’s wives’ associations from different villages in the district of Grybów. That was a real feast. With delightful food and what is more with smiling faces of vibrant personalities in their regional clothes, singing lively folk songs and celebrating also thirtieth anniversary of the ordination of their parish priest. That was the place where we had our just right to taste!

Let's eat and sing...

...and share the joy of life!

I would go mushroom-picking every day with that kind of stuff! And eat bigos from Biała Niżna! The secret - I was told- is in the way you cook the cabbage!

The traditional figurine made of butter, usually put on the table during the Easter, here we have hen - shaped in the mould counting 150 years! It was made by the grandfather of one of the ladies. Have you recently tried the real butter - I mean did you find the taste of the sour cream in it? I did! There’s no comparison to anything else you name butter. It would be worth to come here just for this one thing! But since there were also traditional sausages...

Cold meat in aspic and traditional Polish yeasted wedding cake called "kołacz" (kolach).

Here one could sample the fruit home-made wine with dog rose syrup - from Polna village. Good mood guaranteed:-)

I got the loaf from Mrs Janka from Gródek and have tried on the regional costume!

But above all we met extraordinary people.
You are highly welcome to Ptaszkowa! The recipes and people are priceless!!!

Tempranillo

A few weeks ago I made a discovery of good wine of Catalunya. This is a red wine Coronas which aroma and flavor is a combination of elements of blackberry and strawberry fruits oak and truffles. Its tannins givea fruity, velvety touch of smoke and spices acquired during ageing. This combineation of flavors is a good background for meats like beef or lamb. I have tried this wine with Irish stew with lamb. So it was a good mix of Spanish wine and Irish meal. After that diner I became interested in Tempranillo produced by Torres, because I didn’t know that strain of grapes.

It was a big surprise for me when a read about this grape because I knew another names. Tempranillo is known by other names in certain regions and I tried this kind of wine from South America but wine of Catalunya tastes the best for me.
Tempranillo is a variety of black grape widely grown to make full-bodied red wines. It is the main grape used in Rioja. It’s name is the diminutive of the Spanish temprano ("early"), a reference to the fact that it ripens several weeks earlier than other Spanish red grapes. In the last 100 years it has been planted in South America, USA, South Africa, Australia, and Canada.

Tempranillo grapes prefer a cooler climate and have low resistance to many wine diseases and pests. Wines tolerate heat well, but the fruit develops indistinct flavors and undesirable characteristics in warm climates. Tempranillo grapes tend to be low both in overall acidity and sugar, but relatively high in tannin from their thick skins. In favorable climates such as the cool higher elevation of Ribera del Duero, Tempranillo can make wine that is moderate in alcohol, but long-lived.
Tempranillo wines can be consumed young, but the most expensive ones are aged for several years in oak barrels.

Tempranillo is less frequently bottled as a single varietal. Being low in both acidity and sugar content, it is most commonly blended with Grenache (known as Garnacha in Spain), Carignan (known as Mazuela in Spain), Graciano, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Blending the grape with Carignan makes a brighter and more acidic wine. Tempranillo is the major component of the typical Rioja blends and constitutes 90-100% of Ribera del Duero wines. In Australia, Tempranillo is blended with Grenache and Syrah. In Portugal, where it is known as Tinta Roriz, it is a major grape in the production of some Port wines.

So I tried Tempranillo many times but I surely wasn’t aware of that because wine makers used different brand names hiding the real origins of the grapes. The first time I came across the actual Tempranillo name was with Coronas wine from Torres.
The traditional Tempranillo variety is the basis of Coronas, blended with a small proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon.
I recommend this wine. Enjoy!

Walnut Asparagus Omelette

Since my husband doesn't like eggs as they are I have nearly lost hope to find my soulmate. Thanks God there is Nuria. She has announced the blogging omelette contest. My first thought: asparagus and walnuts. Spring and autumn together. Brain's stimulants. So that is the story: Nuria's responsible for that spark.

Walnut Asparagus Omelette
for 1 person
(still I must to eat it alone)

2 eggs
pinch of salt and baking powder
5 thin asparagus
a handful of walnuts

1. Roast walnuts in the frying pan.
2. Boil asparagus in water with salt and sugar, drain and cool down immediately. Cut into 2 -3 cm pieces.
3. Beat the eggs with salt and baking powder (I did it really well with my mixer).
4. Mix in asparagus and walnuts.
5. Pour out on a hot oiled frying pan. Cover with a lid and keep on a medium fire for 2 minutes. Turn and keep for a minute longer.
6. Eat as fast as possible!!!
What I like in this dish is the green crunchy stuff and my favourite nuts. You didn't expect that hardship in an omelette, did you? And I like that bubbles caught in the structure. It gives the illusion that it is a light treat;-)
I can't wait to see more wonderful recipes!!! Viva España!

Cabernet-Negrette Aubergines

Hungry mind walks strange ways (you can quote that). Do you too starve yourself to stimulate your mind to create some tasty dish? Lying in bed at night I was thinking about stuffed aubergines, marinated roasted aubergines, pickeled aubergines. For me there is no more French vegetable than this one, even leeks lose the contest with it.

Rosemary Cabernet Negrette Aubergines
(for 2)

1 medium aubergine
1 tsp chopped rosemary
2 Tbsp extra vergin olive oil
100-150 ml Cabernet-Negrette or another red table wine
100-150 ml double cream
salt, freshly groung pepper
pasta for 2 people

1. Slice aubergine into thick slices (around 1 cm) and cut them into four pieces. Start boiling pasta, by the time it will be ready, you will finish with the aubergine and a sauce.
2. Heat the oil in the frying-pan, add rosemary, stir for half a minute. Add aubergine, saute for 2 minutes, mixing halfway.
3. Pour wine and stew under cover for 3-4 minutes tossing.
4. Pour cream, season generously with salt and pepper, mix and leave under cover for another couple of minutes.
5. Remove the lid and reduce the souce, seasoning if necessary.
6. Arrange pasta on plates, cover with the aubergine pieces and the nice purple sauce. Decorate with herbs.

Enjoy delicious flavours of rosemary in this red wine sauce! Absolutely amazing dish, although so simple and quick.

Small note on wine: the good thing about cooking with wine is that you don't need a superb wine to cook a superb dish. Sometimes something hardly drinkable can go well if used in the cooking process.

Whatever is your experience with VdP du Comte Tolosan Allegoria Cabernet-Negrette (vintage 2005) or Negrette in general, please share it here. I only can assure you, it goes well with aubergines!!!

Dandelion bread

Again, we are participating in the 19th Bread Baking Day, an event started by Zorra. This edition's theme are country spring breads. Yuuummy! The host is the previous BBD's winner - Cindy. 'Spring bread? Maybe something with dandelions?' - Gosia, thanks for the idea! Surprising, but working surprisingly well.

Ingredients:

350 g plain wheat flour
150 g wholewheat flour
75 g honey
20 g compressed yeast
245 g warm water
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp salt
50 dandelion buds

1. First you need to find a meadow far away from the road:-) Collect more buds for later use and some leaves if you like to prepare a salad. It is a good idea to use gloves as you may stain your hands with dandelions' sap.

2. Rinse and drain buds. Bring water to boil, toss in dandellions and keep over low fire for a minute. Drain buds and keep them aside. Let the water to cool down.

3. Mix flours and salt in a bowl. Take aside 50 g of it to be used in kneading. Add milk, honey and yeast to warm (not hot!) water and stir to dissolving of yeast.

3. Pour the liquid to the bowl, mix well with flours and take out on the pastry board. Knead pouring the remaining flour until the dough reaches a firm and flexible consistency.

4. Leave to rise in an oiled bowl covered with a wet cloth.

5. When the dough doubles the size, take it out on the board. Don't punch the dough but free the air by delicate flattening the dough into a circle. with your hands. Spread dandelions on the dough and carefully roll it into a roll shape. Stick together every end separately. Roll it a little with your hands to make the log even longer. Transfer it on a baking tray and roll into a snail putting the end at the bottom. Cover with a wet cloth and leave to rise.

6. Make cuts imitating flower's petals and place in preheated oven. Bake 50 minutes in 190 Celsius degrees.

Hm, what should I say now... Wait until it cools down? Well, I should. You can be scalded with dandelions' buds. This bread goes well with the cottage cheese and is rather too sweet to go with meat. I find bundz, Polish sheep milk cheese, very similar to another distinguished Polish cheese, oscypek, the most suitable. Remember that this cheese is the best exactly in May!

I believe that bread is like wine. You should get to know it, taste and learn it. Bread also has its character and can go straight to head. Flour types are like grape varieties. This dandelion bread was made of the mixed flours: plain wheat and wholewheat flour. In its bouquet you may find delicate buds' bodies dipped in the dough. Their scent wafts through this bread's hard crust. I can catch the smell of the bonfire baked potatoes. Imagine the spring bread that reminds that even this time is going by. The bottom smells of raisins and hot cross buns. The top smells of boiled corn. Honey gives a delicate character of the festive bread to it. Warm bread is alive, you can warm up your hands and face. It makes me feel safe. Can you hear bread? Sometimes. Can you talk to it? Yes, you can. But the best of it is that you can feel it. Cool down, my dear. I am waiting for you.

Irish stew

As I moved to Ireland I wanted to try a typical Irish dish for my Easter dinner. The quintessential Irish dish -Irish stew can provoke heated discussion among people in Ireland about its ingredients. They do vary a lot from recipe to recipe, but all are agreed that the meat is always lamb or mutton or beef and there must be onions and potatoes.

Stew isn’t an Irish invention. This dish has a long history. Stew was being made since prehistoric times. Herodotus says that the Scythians (8th to 4th centuries BC) cooked a dish which resembled modern stew. There are recipes for lamb stews and fish stews in the Roman Apicius cookery book, believed to date from the 4th century. Le Viandier, one of the oldest cookbooks in French, written by the French chef known as Taillevent described ragouts or stews of various types.
The first written reference to 'Irish stew' is in Byron's 'Devil's Drive' (1814): "The Devil ... dined on ... a rebel or so in an Irish stew."

There are many kinds of stew in the world and every recipe has some common characteristics. It is one-pot meal and it is made with water, meat and vegetables and boiled long time. So Polish Bigos is a type of stew! But I needed Irish dish and I found a good recipe. I cooked Irish stew according to my Irish cookbook, recipe below.

½ kg of mutton chopped in pieces
2 onions, sliced
3 carrots, sliced
4 potatoes cut in cub
1 tbsp. of pearl barley
1 tbsp. of fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp. of plain flour
3 tbsp of melted butter
1,5 l. of beef stock
1 tbsp of parsley
1 tbsp of salt, ground black pepper

Season the flour with half the salt and pepper mix. Cut excess fat of the mutton pieces. Fry fat pieces in a dish until their fat is released. Discard the fat pieces, then brown the mutton in the liquid fat. Set meat aside, leaving a quarter of it in the bottom of the dish. Place a layer of onion slices over the meat in the dish. Follow this with a layer of carrots, then a layer of leeks. Season, then add one layer of potatoes and another layer of meat. Continue layers and seasoning. Sprinkle last layer of meat with thyme. Add the parsley, pearl barley and the stock, then finish off with a layer of potatoes.
Pour melted butter over the top layer. Replace on stove, bring to a simmer, then skim off any scum. Bring to the boil, then cover the dish with its lid. Boil for 3 minutes, then turn down and simmer for around 2 hours until cooked. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter

New light is coming from the old darkness.

New life is coming from the death.

Have courage to change yoursefl.

Build on the joy of Resurrection.


We wish you a very blessed Passover and a happy Easter!

Gosia & Ila