Polish Tomato Soup Made by My Tato

My Tato loves tomatoes.  He has about 7 different dishes that he makes just for himself out of tomatoes.  Of course, he is always delighted when someone wants to eat some of his tomato creations.

Because it is the end of the Tomato season for many of us, with frost already either having arrived or about to arrive across the Northern Hemisphere, this is a great time to use up the last of those shiny red beauties in a warm soup.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons butter (or olive oil)

1/2 a Leek, carefully washed and sliced

2 ribs of celery, sliced

2 carrots, washed, peeled and sliced carrots

1 clove garlic, minced

6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2-3 pounds peeled and chopped tomatoes

handful of fresh curly parsley, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon marjoram

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup cooked rice or uncooked pasta

Garnish with sour cream (optional)

 

In a large saucepan, saute leek, celery, carrots and garlic until leek is soft. Add stock, tomatoes, marjoram, bay leaf, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 1 hour or until carrots are tender and tomatoes have "melted" and the broth has reduced a bit.

Add the pasta to cook or toss in the cooked rice.  You can serve with sour cream if you like but we just eat it as is.

Smacznego!

Note:  Before adding the pasta or rice, some people like to puree the soup, which you can do if you like.

I shared a photo of this recipe a couple of weeks ago when we were battling croup in the house.

Have you entered my first giveaway yet?


If you liked this recipe, consider making a donation

A Different Version of a Polish Poppyseed Roll

In my house, we love Makowiec so I decided to try this carrot version called Marchwiak (pronounced Mahr-veeahk). 

Let me tell you how I came across it, as it isn't a family recipe.  I was online looking for inspiration for what to do with the 20 lbs of carrots my husband recently bought.  I've already made a massive dent in it with my Polish twist on a stuffed carrot cupcake and a few other recipes.  This recipe I found on Milk and Pumpkin sounded interesting.

I used the recipe I had used 4 times before for the dough, which is a different version than the one Ewa from Milk and Pumpkin offers.  But I'm sure both doughs are tasty. 

I also was measuring out ingredients for the dough in the midst of dealing with my two daughters wanting snacks.  So, I accidentally measured out too little butter for my own personal taste.  I prefer 1 1/2 sticks of butter but instead used 3/4 of a stick. 

The dough was delicious, just not as buttery as I like.

I also split the filling into two rolls since I added raisins and a tablespoon of butter to the filling.  Next time, I will double the filling since my husband likes his rolls to have a more equal amount of filling to dough.

The children loved eating this and my father and husband both thought it was interesting and delicious enough to try again with the above modifications.  I will be adding this to our family recipes quite happily.



Ingredients:


Filling (per roll):

3/4 cup grated Carrots
1 handful Poppy Seeds
tablespoon of Butter
handful of Raisins, soaked in hot water or warmed rum for 10 minutes
1 Egg White


Dough (for two rolls): 

1 .25 oz packet active dry Yeast
1/4 cup warm Water
3 cups all-purpose Flour, unbleached
2 cups whole wheat Flour
1-2 tablespoon wheat germ or milled flax seed *
1 1/2 sticks Butter
2 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Powdered or Regular Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons grated Lemon Peel, if you like


Glaze:  (optional)

Powdered Sugar
just enough milk to be able to drizzle



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Proof the yeast in the warm water and a teaspoon of sugar or flour for about 5 minutes.   You can skip this step and just add to the dough if you like as well.

Combine ingredients for filling.  Set aside.

Combine the two flours and wheat germ.

Cut the butter into the flour blend until the mixture resembles course crumbs.   Add the salt and sugar.

Mix in the yeast, eggs, egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla extract, and lemon rind.

Mix until it forms a ball of elastic dough, turn out onto a work surface and knead for 8-10 minutes (or use a stand mixer to knead for 5-8 minutes) until the dough is smooth and satiny.

Cut dough in half, roll each piece out into a rectangle, and smear with egg white (a tip from Milk and Pumpkin's recipe that I found to work well in helping to keep from having gaps between dough and filling.  My Ciocia said was something she did as well on the phone Sunday).

Place on baking sheet.

Add filling, allowing about a half inch to inch border around so that the dough is easy to seal.

Roll dough, seal well, place in a warm place covered with a moist clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until the exterior is golden brown. Allow to cool.  You can either serve as is or add a glaze.

Smacznego!



Notes:

Butter, Eggs, Egg Yolks, Sour Cream and all other ingredients should be at room temperature to help the yeast roll to rise better.

*I have returned to adding a tablespoon or two of either wheat germ or milled or whole flax seeds to all my dough recipes or to fillings. 
The reasons are because of the many added health benefits:  added fiber, protein, iron, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, Lignans, Alpha-linolenic acid (Omega-3 fatty acid).  
Because the benefits are so many and it's so simple to add just a tiny bit and make a positive impact on our health, this Polish Mama would recommend this simple step to anyone. 
While these ingredients may seem expensive, you only need to add a very small amount and the benefits will make a large impact on you and your children's health for a long time. 



Other Recipes You Might Like:

Carrots in Cream Sauce

Cold Carrot Salad


Also, if you enjoy my recipes (and perhaps the stories, photos and other topics on my blog) it would be really appreciated if you donated whatever you felt comfortable with using the Donate using the PayPal button on my sidebar.  Every little bit helps.  Thank you.

Wordless Wednesday: Someone's Been Eating The Food

I am so happy that my toddler loves her vegetables. 

She seems to also have an interest in the art of cooking.  Whenever I am in the kitchen (it seems like 1/2 the day), she grabs a dining room chair and stands on it on the other side of the counter.  Watching.

And sampling.

I would peel one vegetable into my scraps bowl in the sink, drop it in the mixing bowl on the counter, turn back to peel the next, and turn back to find...

This.

When I asked her who had been eating my ogórki (ogoorkey, Polish for cucumbers), she would laugh and cover her mouth.  Not to hide the evidence, but to contain the delicious vegetables that Mama had peeled and presented just for her to eat in such a big pretty yellow bowl, how nice of Mama to think of her.

She would then hop off the chair, come around to Mama, grab my kitchen towel, wipe her hands and face, pat my legs while smiling up at me and say "Keh-yem, Mommy!" (toddler-speak for Dziekujem, Polish for Thank you) and walk off to cause mischief elsewhere.

A few minutes later, I would be turning back to drop in another peeled ogórek and there would be more mysterious bites missing from them.

I did not get pictures of the decimated plum cake I made 2 evening ago and which she was attacking all day whenever my back was turned.  She even enlisted her sisters help a few times with it.

Children...  I swear I feed them.

Polish Cold Carrot Salad

My husband just bought me a 20 lb. bag of carrots.  That is a lot of carrots.

So, I scoured my memory for several easy recipes to make.  I remembered a salad that came up very often on our table when I was a child and was almost always on restaurant tables with anything we would order while eating in Poland.

In Polish, it is called Surowka z Marchewki and means Cold Carrot Salad.

We even had this salad as part of my husband's first meal in Poland while on our honeymoon.

This salad is served cold, is very easy and inexpensive to make, and delicious. 

I wouldn't be a Mama if I didn't mention that eating carrots prevents night blindness, are high in Vitamin A and have some Vitamin C, Iron and Calcium in them as well.  Also, a diet high in fruits and especially vegetables significantly lowers your chances of diabetes, obesity, cancer, and all sorts of other health disorders and diseases.  Eat your vegetables!

Alright, Mama's ballad to carrots is over.  On to the recipe...


Ingredients:

4-6 Carrots, tops removed, washed and peeled
1 Apple, washed and peeled
Juice from 1/2 a Lemon
1 tablespoon of Sunflower Oil *
Sugar and Salt, to taste


Grate the Carrots and Apple.  Mix all ingredients together.

Serve cold.  It's that simple. 

Smacznego!



Notes:

This dish goes great with pork and is perfect for hot weather.

* In Poland and many European countries, sunflower oil is used as often as "vegetable" (soybean) oil is here in the USA.  You can substitute with "vegetable" oil, if you like.  I usually buy my sunflower oil in the Polish or European stores since I like to try to avoid soy and corn as much as possible.

Pea and Corn Salad or Sałatka z Groszki i Kukurydzy

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



Mix it all together.  Eat.  That simple.

Smacznego!

Pickle Hamburgers

For Father's Day, I made a dish which forces my father and husband to eat every time I cook it.  Not because of their size, but because they are so delicious that the two men in my life can't eat just one.  I have to point out that these two are not over eaters.

The reason I make the burgers the way I do is, so that as a Mama, I can sneak more vegetables into my 5 year old.  I think most moms will agree that they can relate to that struggle.  My husband is not a big vegetable eater, so I sneak it into his diet this way as well.

I am also not the person who cooks them on the grill.  That is my husband's responsibility.  Meat on fire, man's job.  He uses hardwood, no starter fluid, only natural woods.


Ingredients:

2-3 lbs. ground Beef (can also blend with ground lamb, veal, or pork, if you like)
4-6 Polish Pickles, depending on their size (not the kind with yellow food dye, real pickles), finely chopped
1/2 Sweet Onion, finely chopped, can be caramelized in oil beforehand if you like *
1 Egg, slightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon, Pepper
1 clove Garlic, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon salt or 1/4 stalk celery, finely chopped *

Either:  1-2 teaspoons chopped Dill or
1-2 teaspoons chopped Dill and 1 teaspoon Paprika or
1 teaspoon Paprika and 1 tablespoon Curly Parsley


Combine all, shape into patties, and grill.

Serve on bun with cheese and mustard, or on plate with horseradish sauce if you like.

Smacznego!



*My Mama Tips of the Day:

If you are trying to lose weight or keep extra weight off, a tip my mother would always do is if a recipe calls for salt and finely chopped celery can be used instead, she would use the celery.  Celery naturally has salt in it and requires more calories burned to digest it than the amount of calories you take in by eating celery in the first place. 

If you suffer from digestion issues, raw onion or garlic can be a culprit.  Caramelizing the onion or garlic ahead of time before using in a recipe can help for some people.

If you liked this recipe, consider making a donation

Zucchini in Dill Sauce

I cannot tell you that this dish is Polish or what it's origins are.  I remember having had this once at a Polish dinner when I was a young girl and loving it.  It was an Easter celebration at a church and someone had made this for the "potluck" dinner.

Since my children and my not-a-vegetarian husband loved the Cheese Stuffed Zucchini, I decided to make another dish with Zucchini in it.



Ingredients:

2-4 Zucchini, washed and cut into "fingers"
1/4 cup sweet Onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Butter
1/2 tablespoon Dill, chopped
1 tablespoon Flour
1/3 cup Sour Cream

*Either 2 tablespoons Water and 1/2 cube Chicken Bouillon cube or 4 tablespoons Chicken or Vegetable Broth



In a large saucepan, add Zucchini, Onion, Water and Bouillon cube*, Butter, and Dill.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes until Zucchini is almost tender.  Remove from heat.

Stir Flour into Sour Cream with a fork.  Without draining the Zucchini, add the Sour Cream mixture into the Zucchini mixture.  On medium heat, cook and stir until it is thick and bubbly.  Cook for 1 minute longer.

Serve immediately.  Smacznego!

Also, if you like my recipes and stories, you can help support my blog by donating with my PayPal button on the right side of my blog.  Any donations appreciated.

Fried Cabbage or Kapusta Smazona

The classic Polish dish, many would say, is Kotley Schabowe, a Polish dill pickle, boiled potatoes, and Fried Cabbage. It is a dish seen at many Polish restaurants across America and served at Polish festivals as well.

At the Polish festival when I worked at my church’s stand, the priest’s wife made this dish and it was always just like my mother made it when I was a child. The Polish immigrants could usually be spotted in the line because they would order this dish instead of Golabki, Kielbasa, or many other popular dishes.

Of course, I wouldn’t be a mama if I didn’t point out that this dish is extremely inexpensive to make. In fact, the week or two after St. Patrick’s Day, cabbage can be purchased for as little as 19 or 29 cents per pound. So, the dish could easily be made to feed 6-8 people for less than a dollar.

And I have to point out that cabbage packs a huge nutritional punch. Per cabbage head, the Percentage Daily Values are impressive, with Vitamin A at 23%, Calcium at 43%, Iron at 28% and Vitamin C at an astonishing 636%. Easy to understand why I have never heard of a case of Scurvy in East European countries where cabbage is an important part of the diet.

So, as your mama always told you, “Eat your vegetables!”, starting with cabbage.
　


 Ingredients:

1 head Cabbage
1 cup Chicken or Vegetable Broth
2 tablespoons Butter
2 tablespoons Flour
Salt,  and Pepper to taste1-2 tablespoons Lemon Juice or White or Apple Vinegar to taste
1-2 tablespoons Sugar
Optional: ½ Sweet Onion, diced (Cook in butter until translucent, if you like)
1-2 Carrots, peeled and julienned

Core the Cabbage, slice into quarters and finely shred. Place into large pot and pour in Broth. If using Carrots and Onions, place in pot at this time. Bring to boil, then cover and cook on low for ½ hour, until tender.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk in butter. Pour in 1 cup of broth from cabbage pot. Whisk and cook until thickened. Scrape out into cabbage pot and mix well, cooking on medium low until all broth thickens.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Add Lemon Juice or Vinegar, a tablespoon at a time to your liking, I usually use 3 tablespoons. Add sugar to your liking, I usually use 1 tablespoon.　

Serve with Beef or in the Polish Classic Dish above.

Smacznego!

Join the Barn-Hop!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup or Zupa Kalafiorowa

I will always remember the lesson I learned once from a chef who decided to give a few pointers to me when I first started cooking for others.  "There are two things which say how good a chef is.  Their eggs and their soups.  If you can't cook these two things, you just can't cook."  It's one of my life's goals to master as many ways to cook these two.

And because soups play such an important part in the Polish diet, I have many recipes and inspirations to draw from. 

Typically, soups in Poland are eaten before the meal and are very common place.  My father often requests that I make for him a soup of some kind and there are often times when we make soup together while spending time together.  As long as I remember, he and my mother have told my brother and I that eating soup before a meal is "good for the digestion".  It's a line I have also heard many times from my Dziadkowi (grandparents).

Children in preschools and in schools everywhere might eat soup as part of their lunches provided by the school or sent from home.  My older daughter has fond memories of her first trip to Poland being filled with such soups.  One of my cousin's mother-in-laws made a fantastic lunch for us all to share together one day before a trip to the local zoo.  We had freshly made Ruskie Pierogi and "Pickle Soup".

"Pickle Soup" is a phrase my older daughter had thought she had made up once as a two year old joking whether turkeys ate certain foods.  And every time I had told her, "You know, there is such a thing as Pickle Soup in Poland."  I had even made it for her a few times without telling her because she was convinced she would hate it since she hates pickles.  She always called it "Vegetable Soup" and gobbled it up.

So, the other day I made Zupa Kalafiorowa, a dish I had always loved.  Once again, my children gobbled it up.  I had made a very large pot of it and it was gone within two days. 

When I had told my father I made it, he came right over for dinner and was very pleased with it.  He even said it was just like his mother's, except that it is usually not made with dill.  But, I love dill and for me, dill celebrates Spring.  And since I am now living in a place that is two months slower in Spring's arrival than what I am used to, I have been using more dill to keep my spirits up.  So, contrary to the classic version of this soup, I added dill this time.  But the dish does not need it, so it is up to you.



Ingredients:

1 large head of Cauliflower, washed and cut into very small florets
Vegetable Broth
2-3 Carrots, washed, peeled and julienned
3-4 Potatoes, washed, peeled and finely diced
Salt and Pepper
1 Egg Yolk
Heavy Cream (or Sour Cream, if you need to substitute)
Dill and/or Curly Parsley, if you like



In a large pot, add the Cauliflower, Carrots and Potatoes.  Add enough Broth to cover the ingredients.  Bring to a boil, cover and lower heat to a simmer.  Allow to cook until all ingredients are soft. 

Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Remove from heat.  Quickly mix in the egg yolk and enough Heavy Cream to lighten the soup and thicken a bit, perhaps about 1/2 cup.  Bring back to heat and allow to warm up but do not bring to a boil.

Serve with a garnish of Dill or Curly Parsley, if you like.  I added the dill to the soup as it was cooking as my own personal preference.

I served this soup with a Polish Meatball in the center this time since my husband is not a soup or meatless meal person and I am slowly easing him into eating more like in Poland, since his dream is to one day live there.

This dish is always much more tasty the next day since the flavors get a change to blend together more in the refrigerator overnight but is still really delicious the day you make it.

I hope you will forgive me that the picture is taken with my phone as the picture needed to be taken quickly since my toddler (I can't believe I can't call her a baby anymore) is teething three fangs at once and just not happy.

Smacznego!

Guest Post: Ewa Kuc on Potato Pancakes and Being Polish in America

I have been following a fellow blogger for a few months now, Mom Photographer.  She is a fellow Polish immigrant who came to the US just a few short years ago and takes amazing photos.  I love her perspective because so many times I can either relate or learn from her.  And her daughter looks remarkably like my younger daughter as well. 


So, I asked her to do a guest post on my blog on whatever she wanted and here it is:




After I was asked if I want to write a guest post for Polish Mama I’d been thinking about the topic.  I thought I’ll write something about being Polish in US (because I’m Polish as well), about dealing with everyday consciousness that I’m different. 


Wherever I go, whatever I say the first thing people ask me is:
“Hm ... where are you from?”
“Hm... I’m from Poland”
“Oh ... from Holland, NICE”
“No, NOT HOLLAND. POLAND. I’m from POLAND” and I see the confusion in people eyes. Yes, just a few of them knew where Poland is, and no, it’s not in Africa.  Why everybody knows where Holland is but they have such a big problem with Poland!  That’s amazes me.

Anyway, I thought that I better write something about cooking.  Much easier.  I like to cook; I like to take pictures of what I cook; I like to share recipes and I wouldn’t have to write a lot because I’m not very good at that.  Not in English at least.

I consider English as my SECOND language.  Still.  Polish is what I’ve been using since I was born, long time ago. English is what I’ve been using along with Polish for the last 3.5 years.  It’s really hard to teach an old dog new tricks (don’t get me wrong I’m not THAT old).

I read and talk in English for most of my days. I’ve limited my Polish to minimum. Not because I don’t want to talk in Polish anymore, but because I wish I could speak English fluently.  I’m getting tired of using very simple vocabulary when it comes to very serious conversations. I’m tired of people saying that I sound cute, when I want to sound and to be treat serious.  It was cute at the beginning. Right now is frustrating.  Right now I prefer to abandon the discussion than make myself look (or sound) even more silly and childish.

These days I feel like I’m in a middle of a transition between English and Polish and it frustrates me even more.  Every time I talk with my parents or Polish friends I find myself looking for the right Polish words, and it happens that I can’t find them (I have to go around). 


At the same time I don’t want my family or friends to think: Oh, she’s been living there for only 3.5 years and she already forgot Polish [sigh].  How is she gonna teach our granddaughter to speak Polish?  Then when I speak with my husband or I try to write a post for my blog (in English) I find it very hard to find the right words to describe something.  I feel like I’m loosing something instead of gaining.  I’m losing my Polish, but I’m not actually gaining much English, either.  I know I know, I should just take the dictionary and start memorizing words.  Yeah, right!  My laziness is calling ;)


Somedays I think how much easier it would be to just go back to Poland, where everybody speaks your language, where you’re familiar with the food, and customs.  Where going grocery shopping I won’t be asked “Where are you from?” or ...“HOW DID YOU GET HERE?” (based on true story!).  I ran and swam to here in case if you want to know ;-)


Where french fries are made from potatoes and not from potato like substance.  Where cherry, apple, plum, pear trees grow wild.  Where you won’t see a single waisted fruit under those wild trees.  That thought came to my mind while looking at all those rotten oranges, grapefruits, lemons, pomegranates in our neighborhood.  Why would you want to have so much that you can’t even digest?!  I go for walks and think that if I had those trees on my front/back yard I would be making all bunch of different jams, juices, fruit cakes and smoothies.  If it’s still too many I would be giving it away to people. 


In Poland if you have to much you share it with your friends, family, neighbors.  I remember when I was a kid when we had bunch of plums and cherries from our summer garden I would go visit my friend and take with me bucket or two of those cherries or plums.  The next day while visiting my friend again (she lived next door) I would get a piece of a fresh baked plum cake.  If somebody was visiting us they wouldn’t leave without a basket of fresh picked fruits.



I know that there is many different opportunities here (in US), but sometimes I think: is it worth it.  I know many Polish people that really don’t care about those kind of things, they would laugh at those silly questions at the store or simply snap back with an answer that is as silly as the question was.  I’m not one of them.   For me it was cute and funny two years ago but today it’s annoying.  I really want to get my grocery and go home, and I do not need anybody to reminds me that I’m different, that I have an accent, or look original (whatever that means).



One more thing I want to talk about (did I say that I’m not good at talking about myself in English... hm... lol).  When I left Poland I didn’t really expect how much I’ll be missing Polish food.  Not all of it.  Just particular dishes that reminds me of my childhood, that I call my comfort food.  


It is even more difficult because my husband doesn’t like Polish food.  He likes pierogi, but who doesn’t?!  He doesn’t like cabbage and many Polish dishes that I like have cabbage in it.  For example bigos, or cabbage rolls, or boiled cabbage with apples.  He can’t stand the smell of boiling cabbage.  So, I try to cook it once in a blue moon.  Read:  Never!  That’s how good wife I am! :)



I love barszcz, he doesn’t.  I love żurek, he doesn’t know what that is, and actually doesn’t want to know.  I love potato pancakes, he definitely does not want to eat them, and so on!  I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but I wish he was a little bit more open to new food.  


Today if I want something Polish I need to cook it myself rather than find it in a store or restaurant, and it’s a cooking 3 dishes for three people:  Something different for my husband, something different for our Little One (thanks god she is getting to that age that she can eat what her dad or mom eats.. uff...), and something Polish for me.


So you can imagine how often I’m willing to cook something Polish for myself. I rather skip this part that stay in the kitchen for extra hour. My laziness again ;). If I want to go out to eat it’s hard to find a good Polish restaurant if any.  



So when this day comes and I really feel like I can’t put my craving away anymore I like to make something what’s very easy and fast to cook. Placki ziemniaczane, potatoe pancakes.  That’s what I actually was planned to talk about in this blog post, and only about this.  Oh well, I hope you don’t mind my previous ramblings.  



So, for this recipe I use:
3 medium size potatoes (You can use whatever potatoes you have.)
1 egg
1/2 medium yellow onion
1cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup corn (optional)
1/4 cup peas (optional)
1 stick of butter, (or 1/2 cup oil)
spices - sal, peper, marjoram, complete seasoning (if I use this I don’t use salt)

Peel them and cut into small pieces. I wash it after all to wash the starch out. So those pancakes are not very starchy.

I do not have food processor so I use blender. I have much easier that my parents anyway. When I was a kid I remember my parents grating the potatoes one by one using the old school shredder.  When me and my siblings got older they would use us to do “if you want to help me cooking” part.

Move the batter to the bowl and mix in egg, chopped into really small pieces onion, and spices

Add all purpose flour. I remember my parents used to mix it half and half (potato starch and all purpose flour). I do not use the starch, because I like those pancakes not so starchy, and heavy.

Add corn and peas. This is optional. My parents would never do that, but I try to smuggle as many veggies to my cooking as it’s possible. I try not to overdo it, though. So sometimes I would grade one or two carrots, and use it instead of corn and peas, or in addition.

Heat oil in a large skiller over medium heat. Spoon the mixture into skillet. Fry, turning once, until golden brown. Transfer to paper towel to drain.

Eat

In Poland people eat it with sour cream, sugar, mushroom sauce or so called gypsy sauce. I eat it with ketchup! :)

Cheese Stuffed Zucchini

Last week for Lent, I made a delicious dish which is technically Romanian.  But, as Europe has been exchanging words, ideas, recipes, trade, and many other things for centuries upon centuries, I thought this recipe could be changed a bit to be more Polish influenced.

In Romanian it is called Dovlacei cu Brenza.  In Polish, it would be Cukinia Nadziewana z Serem.  Instead of using Curly Parsley in the Romanian recipe, I used Dill.  And I did not make the typical 2 cup whipping cream mixed with 1 tablespoons sugar which is poured on top.

In the end, though, the question with recipes is "Will the family eat it?"  My definitely non-Vegetarian husband and both children enjoyed it and said it was allowed to be made again sometime for our Meatless Friday meals. 

We eat Meatless every Friday of the year for several reason.  To save money.  To lower our environmental impact.  To eat more vegetables.  To teach the children to think more about and appreciate what they eat.  And because we are Catholic, it makes it easier to do.

So, here is a Vegetarian dish which I am quite sure has Peasant origins and is simple and delicious.



Ingredients:

5 Zucchini
1 cup sharp white Cheese, such as cheddar, grated
handful of Dill, chopped finely
several tablespoons of plain Breadcrumbs
several tablespoons of Butter
Salt and Pepper



In a large pot, fill with salted water and add Zucchini.  Cover and boil for 10 minutes or until soft but in mushy.

Grease a baking tray with Butter and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Breadcrumbs.

Slice Zucchini in half and place, cut side up, on baking tray.

Sprinkle with Cheese.  Sprinkle with Dill, Salt and Pepper.  Dot each Zucchini with Butter.

Bake in oven 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, until cheese is melted and golden brown.

Smacznego!

Asparagus a la polonaise (z bulki tarta)

I have written before about making an a la polonaise topping, also known as "z bulki tarta" (pronounced "Z Boo-w-kee Tah-r-taom" and meaning "with bread crumbs").  I wanted to show an example of a vegetable with the topping.

Asparagus should be cooked as usual, with a wide 2-3 inch frying pan filled to about 1/2 way with boiling water, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar.  After trimming the wooden ends off and cutting an "X" into the bottoms of the wider stalks, boil for3-5 minutes until tender.  Top with the a la polonaise topping, to which I recommend a 1/2 lemon's juice for complimenting the taste of the Asparagus.



Delicious and many people who hate vegetables, including my older daughter, will eat it quite willing!

Smacznego!