Figs with rich feeling

Hi everybody!! I'm back too. Apologies for my absence, but summer means buzy time for me.

This summer I made a discovery of “fig”. I know these fruits and sometimes I ate them but I never was delighted with taste of figs... until now. My summer guests brought me Polish culinary magazine “Kuchnia” ( kitchen). On the front cover there is a picture of a fig with pine nuts. I like pine nuts but I never ate them in that combination. I found recipe and made it.

For 4 people
8 figs
40 dag goat's cheese ( any one is good, I tried tihs recipe with a few kinds of goat's cheese )
10 dag pine nuts
olive oil and balsamic vinegar for taste

Every fig on top makes a cross cut. Gently part fig and put inside piece of goat's cheese.
Roast pine nuts . Sprinkle figs with pine nuts. Put fruits on baking tray covered with baking sheet and put in oven. Bake for 8 minutes in 190 C.
Before serving sprinkle fruits with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Recipe is easy but taste is rich – perfection!!!

Enjoy

À la campagne!

I am of the generation born in the countryside that emigrated to the city. For higher education, better job opportunities, an easy access to theatres and cinemas, more comfortable life and generally to have much more of anything... blah blah blah.

Secretly I suppose that I am not the only one dreaming about weeding my sweet promising carrots, picking up my own butterhead lettuce and tender stroking maturing pumpkins. I really believe that one day my garden will be blooming. I can feel it through my skin. I love rubbing the soil between my fingers to smell the land. Anywhere in the countryside everything has its proper time. Nothing is going to happen too soon or too late. You live with the weather and not in spite of. Finally there is the place for a straw hat and some orange dungarees.

Did we fall down? Hand-picked plums were asking each other. No, I was there to help with meeting with their destination. That is to be sampled and captured in jars for the winter days.



These ones could be called hopes instead of grapes. Even if they taste sourly you do hope for the future fruits. Ours taste closely to wild blueberries. Surprisingly.




Nothing more to add. Calmness and beauty.






Man's best friend. Also part of the nature.








Forest treasure inextricably linked with the countryside.




These are the children. Feel responsible. Let them live in the sun. Do not bother with vanities.Watch them growing and be proud!!!





Grant us Lord the fruitful life.

Taste Festival in Krakow

Hi everybody! I am back! Sorry for the huge gap, those who know me know that I am currently managing the restaurant, not mine yet. Not yet.

Me and you dear readers, we have much to make up for the lost time because as you may suppose I was not starving during this time. What do I have to share are the memories of tastes, colourful photos and of course my good look;-), well, I meant mood...

Let' s start with few pictures from the late August's Taste Festival in Krakow. The event shows that we are hunger for our culinary heritage and we need much more space for the future festival. There were crowds in spite of the rain. I particularly liked the idea of cooking the vegetable soup to share it with all the guests. Yummy, yummy matter.

Try our delicious meats! Fresh from the mountains!


Maybe a wholemeal dumpling?
Or an apple from the Bona Sforza queen's dress? (Very notable person in Polish culinary history!)
I prefer doughnuts...


Even deers are waiting for the hot bigos, despite the weather.
Mountains=meat+men
Bread sculpture - stalls decorated ingeniously.


REMEMBER THAT: Polish doughnuts are the best in the world.
Polish oscypek, ewe's milk cheese - range of shapes.

Other photos can be found here.
See you next year?

Bread Holiday in Krakow

It was almost one month ago but that was a memorable experience which I wanted to share with you from the beginning but job kept me away from the computer successfully.

This Bread Holiday (Święto Chleba) takes place in Wolnica Square in Krakow's well known district Kazimierz. This year's edition was held on the 13-14th of June together with the Krakow's semifinal of the fifth Little-Poland Taste Festival (Małopolski Festiwal Smaku). This year Krakow is also celebrating the 750th anniversary of Krakow Bakers' Guild and 100th anniversary of the canonizataion of St Clement, bakers' patron saint.

Certainly this is a place where you can explore the Little Poland cuisine and the variety of regional products and meet the organic producers face to face.There was honey to try, great slimming breads, my favourite smoked cheese oscypek and the grain to grind your own flour!!!

Moreover Polish smoked sausages, hams in herbs, grilled shish and...


But the most of all breads, rolls, knots, Krakow's bagels, pretzels and much more.


Of course there is the competition - you can vote for your favourite breads, products and dishes. Another competition is for kids - shaping in the dough for Krakow bagels.



Regional pottery better than the ancient Greek one, beeswax candels and aboundance of pretzels.



Also you can hear the play of brass bands, regional folk bands and even a rap concert! (Some talks on the matter are also given - in Polish).

Wolnica Square itself is a perfect starting point for a day sightseeing. You can admire the sculpture Fountain of players by Bronislaw Chromy and visit the Ethnograpic Museum for its numerous exhibitions and a special events prepared for the Bread Holiday. Then you can treat yourself in diverse restaurants, take a long walk to discover the Jewish heritage across the district and end up in one of the vibrant cafes.


On the 29-30th of August the final of Little Poland Taste Festival is taking place here, I hope to see you there!!!

P.S. There was also very meaningful exhibition of the few appliances used by bakers over the time. That comes from the museum of bakery in Pleszew in the Great Poland region in the west of Poland. The museum founded by master baker Tomasz Vogt operates from 2006. Must-to-visit!!! And now the contest: what is the machine on the photo? What it was used for? Set of brochures about Little Poland for the lucky winner from any part of the world! Emails to: hilona at wp dot pl.

My mothers yeast cake.

My mother is a yeast cakes master, and she makes the best yeast cakes all over the world. My mum worked in factory where yeast was made and she knew everything about yeast, but she says:“The secret of tasty cake is in hands and heart of the baker. Of course, fresh yeast is very important but you must have patience and love for doing yeast cake." It is true because my aunt doesn’t have patience for yeast cake and she has never made a good one but she makes delicious cream cake.
I know the flavor of yeast since childhood. I remember the smell of hot cake and bread at Saturday night. Every Sunday morning my mother was giving me yeast cake and glass of milk. I loved this breakfast! My mother makes many kinds of yeast cakes and buns but my favorite is yeast roll with cocoa.

Yeast cake with cocoa

1 kg sifted high quality flour
1 l. milk,
10 gr. fresh yeast or 2 tsp dry yeast
200 gr. sugar
100 gr. butter
6 yolk
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
5 tbsp cocoa

1) Put 1 glass of lukewarm milk, 1 tbsp sugar and yeast into a bowl and stir well. Add a few tbsp flour, mixture must look like a cream. Cover the bowl with napkin and leave the mixture to rise. Keep the mixture in warm place to double more or less its size.

2) Put into big bowl ¾ portion of flour, the rest of milk and sugar, melt butter, eggs yolks, salt, oil ,vanilla essence and mixture with yeast. Mix with your hands well, slowly and obviously with pleasure. Knead pouring the remaining flour until the dough reaches a firm and flexible consistency. When dough doesn’t stick to your hands it is ready. Keep the dough in warm place to rise by half size.

3) Put the dough on a board and roll out gently. When dough is flat spill it with cocoa and roll up. Put dough into baking pan and leave to rise.

4) When dough rises a little , put it into the oven at 180 Celsius degrees for around 40 minutes.

5) After baking leave the cake to cool down.

Enjoy!

The problem with Gran Reserva

Last week my husband made me a surprise and he bought me a red wine from Tarragona. The wine is Baturrica Tarragona Gran Reserva, the 2002 vintage. Wine tasted raisin, oaky, and it is a bit rough but nevertheless very pleasant table wine for grilled meats and plate of cheese. It is very good for barbecue. This wine is a composition of Cabernet and Tempranillo wines.
So it was a big surprise when I saw this wine in Lidl store. Wine had a good taste, it was Gran Reserva and I wondered how can it be so cheap? I sought through internet for this wine. I found some information about Baturrica Tarragona Gran Reserva. One of them was a post on other blog containing the quotation: One of the best "cheap" wines. This one from DO Tarragona, sold (exclusive?) by Lidl and described by Anthony Worrall Thompson this way: "For those with a passion for fiery reds, look no further than Baturrica's Tarragona. This elegant and inexpensive Gran Reserva is bursting with vibrant red berry flavours. It's perfect for enjoying with cheese and grilled meats."

Hmm, maybe my stereotypical view about wine with labels “Gran Reserva” is not truth. For me “Gran Reserva” means expensive wine because it must be aged. So this information is very good because I like barrel taste, and European sign usually guarantees quality of wine, but the price often keeps me away. But what does “Gran Reserva” really mean? I found the answer in Wikipedia.

Reserve wine is a term given to a specific wine to imply that is of a higher quality than usual, or a wine that has been aged before being sold, or both. Traditionally winemakers would "reserve" some of their best wine rather than sell it immediately, coining the term. In some countries the use of the term “reserve” is regulated, but in many places it is not.
In similarity to the term "old wines," "reserve" is meant to indicate a wine that is special, or at least different in flavor or aging potential. In general, the more reputable the producer, the more likely the term "reserve" has a genuine meaning.
In Spain and Italy, “reserve” is regulated term controlled by law, at least ensuring that reserve wines get some additional aging. However, in practice it is very difficult to regulate quality, so the term primarily deals with aging and alcoholic strength. In Spanish wines, the requirements varies between regions, but typically, when used on a label "Reserva" means that the wine was aged for at least three years in the cask and bottle, at least one of which must have been in the cask. Those that have been aged for five years (two in cask, three in bottle) or more are labeled "Gran Reserva". Gran Reservas are intended to be made only in exceptional vintages, but this is up to the producer.
Now I see.

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!!!