A Mama born in Poland with "Gypsy Blood" living on the American Prairie with her daughters, two future Miss Poland and Nobel Peace prize recipients :: Food, Travel, Life...
In Poland, sandwiches are called Kanapki(pronounced Kah-Nahp-key) and are similar to Canapes. The sandwiches tend to be open faced, on good bread and with various toppings.
Here is just one example of a kanapka I've made for the kids.
Pumpernickel bread, mayonnaise, hard boiled egg, diced red bell pepper, curly parsley, salt and pepper.
Kanapki use up whatever ingredients a cook might have in her kitchen.
Here are some suggestions:
Rye bread, farmers cheese, thin slices of radish, diced green onion, pepper, paprika
White country bread, butter, morski cheese, slices of bell pepper, dots of ketchup
Rye bread, slice of ham, lettuce, slices of polish dill pickle, dot of horseradish mustard
Rey bread, slices of gypsy kielbasa, pickled tomato slices, slices of yellow cheese, dots of mayonnaise
Country bread, cottage cheese, chopped curly parsley, hard boiled egg, green onion
Kanapki are very easy to make and can cost as much and take as much effort as you like. They make an excellent idea for a platter at a party. My cousins and I have always spent a few short minutes in the kitchen quickly and effortlessly whipping up some kanapki to pass around for all to nibble on.
I hope you try this for your Easter table or next gathering. Or, do as I do at lunch time, present them to your children as fancy Polish tea party sandwiches, pinkies out of course.
A couple of days ago, one of my absolute favorite bloggers MomPhotographer posted that she made home made ricotta cheese. I had tried making this before and it had curdled and smelled and tasted horrible, like rancid milk. I decided to try it again after reading her post. After all, I had company coming over.
It came out perfectly.
I rolled it in a mix of spices to dress it up a bit and served it with crackers. It was gone in minutes!
Spice Mix:
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon dried Curly Parsley *
* I save a lot of money by either growing my own herbs or at least buying at the local ethnic store for a large bunch for around 75 cents and hanging upside down to dry near the store and then crushing and transferring it to empty spice jars.
I have a ton of other recipes I want to share but got behind on, so keep an eye out the next few days! Also, if you like this post, please comment and also go visit Momphotographer and give her some comment love.
Na razie...
Today is the last day to order from my Scentsy party!!
A recipe that my mother sometimes made when I was a child called Placek (pronounced pwah-tsek and basically means a yeast cake) was always for eating with coffee with friends while the children snacked on fresh fruits.
I would always be envious of those Polish Mamas at the thought of them getting to eat such tasty sugary treats while we children would nibble on fresh peaches we had bought at the local farm. Of course, the peaches would end up being delicious and extremely juicy and we would all end up outside enjoying the tastes and laughing as peach juice would run off our chins and down our arms.
My brother would always end up flinging his arms around and trying to direct the mess in my direction.
When the guests would leave, my brother and I would each get a piece of the Placek my mother had made and I would drink "coffee" (weak tea with sugar and milk).
This recipe makes 2 cakes so you can top each with different fruits or cheese.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached Flour
3/4 cups whole wheat Flour *
1 package active dry Yeast
3/4 cup Milk
1/3 cup Butter
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 teaspooon Salt
2 Eggs
1 beaten Egg
3 tablespoons Half and Half (light cream or milk or evaporated milk would also work)
1 cup Sugar
2-3 cups thinly sliced Fruit (plums, peeled apples**, peaches) or
2 cups Cottage Cheese, Ricotta Cheese, or Twarog
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon or 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, if using fruit
For Dough:
Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour and the yeast. Set aside.
In a saucepan, heat and stir the milk, butter, 1/3 cup of sugar and salt until warm and the butter is almost melting (120 to 130 degrees).
Add warmed milk to flour mixture. Add the two eggs. Mix well together with spatula or wooden spoon for about a minute. Beat with mixer on high speed for 3 minutes. Remove from mixer and add in the remaining flour with a wooden spoon.
Divide flour in half. Be sure to grease your fingers a little bit with oil to avoid the dough sticking to your skin. Press each piece of dough evenly into two greased baking pans (I used two glass 8 x 11.5 x 2 pans). Make sure to press the dough up the sides a bit. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside somewhere warm until the dough is risen to double the size (about 45 minutes to an hour).
For Topping:
Combine the Half and Half and beaten egg in a bowl. Stir in the 1 cup of sugar and the cinnamon or cloves, if using fruit.
If using fruit, arrange on top of raised dough. Evenly spoon cream-sugar mixure over the fruit.
Plums (3 different varieties) called Placek ze Sliwkami
If using cheese (Twarog, etc.), mix into cream-sugar mixture and spoon evenly onto dough.
Cheese topped (I tried with cinnamon this time) Placek z Serem
Bake 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting. The cream-sugar mixture will still look very wet on top but will soak into the cake as it cools. Serve warm.
Smacznego!
* The proportion between the all-purpose unbleached flour and whole wheat can be changed. I have found this one over the years to work when serving people who don't regularly eat whole wheat bread and it has worked enough to make them change their minds and try whole wheat after that.
** Apples should be peeled, cored, sliced and simmer in water for about 2 minutes covered until softened a bit. Drain well and place on top of dough. Be sure to use baking apples.
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I made this dish knowing what the results would be.
My younger daughter ate all of hers, a second serving, and some of her older sisters, who proclaimed the onions to be "spicy" but ate a large amount once the onions were removed.
My husband ate all the rest that was made and then requested that I make more.
I secretly felt guilt at feeding them "GMO" foods, but salved my "Mama Guilt" with the knowledge that we rarely eat corn and that at least they were eating their vegetables.
My father looked at it, shook his head and stated that he does not eat corn because "we feed corn to chickens in Poland. People don't eat corn, except maybe once in while on cob."
I said that I thought this salad was a Polish American adaptation and he nodded, "Yes, I think so. This is not Polish dish. What else you make for dinner, Ges (goose in Polish)?" and I produced various containers filled with other Polish salads. Which I will share recipes to another time.
But, right now, I am sharing the recipe to this dish.
Ingredients:
1 can of sweet Green Peas, drained
1 can of yellow Corn, drained
1/2 sweet Onion, finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Optional: (Any of the following in any combination, if you like)
1-2 Eggs, hard boiled, peeled, and diced
Chopped Ham
Chopped mild yellow Cheese
