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Polish Housewife

Polish recipes served up with tidbits of folklore, customs, and history

Cheese

Blue Cheese Dressing

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We bought some Gorgonzola, an Italian blue cheese from cow’s milk, to pair with our onion jam on a pizza and were surprised by how much we enjoyed the rich, salty flavor.  We bought another package just to mix with caramelized onions as a topper for crudites, but we both found the second cheese lacking in flavor.

Checking the cheese shelf next time we were at the supermarket, I realized that the very mild cheese had been the least expensive; you get what you pay for.  We splurged on the most expensive Gorgonzola and also a Roquefort, French blue cheese from sheep’s milk.  We enjoyed nibbling on both, and combined the two to make this dressing.

As I thought about these blue cheeses, the phrase “you either love it or you hate it,” came to mind, and I’m not the only one to whom this thought has occurred.  There are numerous sites on the Internet combining those words with blue cheese.  It even made The Huffington Post’s list of The 10 Most Polarizing Foods.  I hope they were just searching to expand their list to 10 items, because I really like these foods.  Liver is the only one I have issues with, and I have to say the last time I tried it, in a Polish home, it was very good – prepared in a way that overcame my previous objections about the taste and texture.  If these are polarizing foods, I’m afraid that we have become a nation determined to subsist on fast and overly processed foods.  What do you think?

  1. cilantro
  2. celery
  3. licorice
  4. green bell peppers
  5. marzipan
  6. mayonaisse
  7. coconut
  8. blue cheese
  9. yeast extract spreads such, as Marmite and Vegemite
  10. liver

Let me get back to the topic at hand.  After a week of sensible eating, including lots of salads with oil and vinegar, this blue cheese dressing has provided just the stimulation my taste buds craved.

Ingredients

1 cup crumbled blue cheese (ours was half Gorgonzola and half Roquefort)
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced (this would be even better if it was roasted garlic)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 teaspoons dried parsley
3/4 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vinegar (we used a champagne vinegar)

Directions

  • I tried mashing the cheese with the salt, garlic, pepper, and parsley, reminiscent  of Julia Child’s technique with garlic and salt.  It mashed into a ball rather than crumbling into to separate, little pieces as I had hoped.
  • Not to worry, when whisked with the mayo, sour cream and vinegar, it dispersed nicely.

CalorieCount.com has this to say about a 2 tablespoon serving:
83 calories, 7.3g fat, 2.8g carb,  0g fiber, 1.9g protein

Paprika & Cheddar Diamonds

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The Cheesemonger’s Kitchen was a Christmas gift from our daughter, Rachel.  It’s full of color photos – my favorite part of any recipe, so I’ve been reading and planning.  So far, I’ve made their Red Chili and Cheddar Diamonds, twice.  Both times, I substituted La Chinata Hot Smoked Paprika for the Red Chili.  The paprika adds the perfect complement to the cheese in color, flavor, and just a bit of heat.

These cheesy crackers have a wonderful addictive crunch.   There easy to make, give yourself time to let the dough rest for an hour

Ingredients

1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, chilled and diced
8 ounces (225 g) best-quality aged Cheddar cheese,grated
3 – 6 tablespoons water

Directions

  • Combine flour with salt and paprika
  • Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal
  • Mix in cheese
  • Add enough water to get the dough to form a ball
  • Wrap the dough in plastic warp and chill for one hour
  • Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C)
  • Roll dough to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thickness,  the exact thickness is important to get a light puffy cracker
  • Cut the dough with a knife, fluted pastry cutter, or cookie cutter
  • Place on a parchment covered baking sheet, giving them just enough room so they’re not touching
  • Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown and are crunchy
  • Cool completely, they can be stored in an airtight container for a week, but they’re better the first couple of days

Disclaimer:  La Chinata provided me with a free sample of their product to use in my recipes.

Zapiekanka

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Kebab zapiekanka with ketchup and garlic sauce

Zapiekanka comes from a Polish word which means to bake.  Zapiekanka can mean a casserole, but the more common use is  this popular street food – a bagette half, topped with cheese and other toppings, baked until crisp and then finished off with ketchup and or other sauces.

Grilled Cheese and Jam Sandwich (Oscypek)

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I first tried oscypek, a salty Polish smoked cheese made from sheep’s milk, at an outdoor barbeque.  It was cooked on the grill and served with lingonberry jam.   It’s a staple at outdoor festivals, so I had to take some home with me two summers ago for a 4th of July party.   Our friend, Mike, graciously stepped up to do the grilling since my husband was away.  He was more than a little surprised that I had cheese as well as meat and veggies for him to cook.  I must say that he did a great job; you would have never known that it was his first time grilling cheese.

Not Mike and obviously not 4th of July, grilled cheese at the St. Martin’s Parade

As I did a little research, trying to find the name of this “smoked cheese from the mountains,” as our Polish friends always translate it for us, I found that the oscypek has been at the heart of a controversy with European Union regulations on one side and Polish tradition and the slow food movement on the other.  I don’t know if this has been resolved.  Perhaps the cheese I’m buying is a sterile, pasteurized, corporate knock-off.

This post was originally just going to be about the cheese, but I also came across the idea for a grilled cheese and jam sandwich on Grilled Cheese Social.  Strawberry jelly was the recommendation on the cheese blog, but I decided to slice up a sunflower seed roll and do a taste test with apricot jam, strawberry jam, and oscypek’s usual accompaniment lingonberry or cranberry preserves.

It may just be my sweet tooth, but in this little kitchen, the apricot and strawberry jams were the big winners.  The juxtaposition of the salty, smoked cheese with the thick, sweet fruit jam was surprising and fantastic!

PS – here’s a little more info and a better photo of the real thing from Lori, author of the blog Adventures Here and There:

It is always put in a mold and people who see if for the time– including me years ago — think it’s bread. Real Oscepek can be made only with sheep milk and milk from Polish Red Cows. This is part of a deal with the EU — when Poland was entering, Slovakia objected to this to having this traditional name becoming a registered, protected name, so it took a couple years to work out the deal of what names are used in Poland and Slovakia and what they mean. Cheese that doesn’t fit the definition regarding the milk used is sold as “mountain cheese.”

Chutney Brie Bruchetta

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Inspired by an appetizer enjoyed at Scratch in Oro Valley, AZ, this bruchetta involves your guests.  They’re doing the assembly,  participating as well as chatting and noshing.
The combination of flavors is surprising and delightful.  Most of the preparation can be done in advance with just warming the cheese at the last minute.
Forgot to take a photo while it was still pristine – as you can see, this has been dug into
Ingredients

1 head garlic
1/2 apple
3/4 cup apple juice
1/2 baguette
1/3 cup spicy mango chutney
4 ounces Brie

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Slice the top off of the head of garlic, taking off just enough to expose the individual cloves.
  • Wrap in foil and bake for 60 to 90 minutes, until the cloves are a golden brown.
  • Peel the apple, removing the core and stem.
  • Add apple and apple juice to a small saucepan and cook until the apple is tender, about 10 minutes, turning at least once.  When ready to serve, dice the apple.
  • Slice the baguette, and toast.
  • All of the above can be done in advance.
  • Warm the Brie until the inside is soft and runny.  This can be done in the oven, the microwave, on in a pan.  We used our electric griddle.
  • Serve the bruchetta (toasted bread slices) with the head of roasted garlic, diced apple, and a bit of chutney.
  • Now to the part where your guest do the work:
  • The garlic cloves can be squeezed out of the head or dug out with the tip of a knife.  Spread a bit of the garlic on a slice of toast; top with a slice of cheese (it’s OK to eat  the white rind); sprinkle on a few pieces of diced apple and finish it off with a dab of chutney.  Voilà!

Serves 4

Stilton Noodles

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Stilton is a blue veined cheese originating from the village of Stilton, England in the late 1700s.  There are only six dairies in the world licensed to produce cheese with the legally protected name, Stilton.

It is definitely a blue cheese with the associated strong smell.  Keep that in mind, if you’re not a fan of blue cheese, you might want to substitute another cheese for the Stilton.

I was tempted to buy a small crock of the cheese on a recent trip to England.  My daughter bought one too, so another Stilton recipe can’t be far behind.

Adapted from: Stilton Cheese Website

Ingredients

8 ounces (225g) egg noodles
4 ounces (113g) Stilton blue cheese with port, crumbled
1 cup (250ml) sour cream
1 egg, lightly beaten
pepper, to taste
parsley, for garnish

Directions

  • Cook noodles in salted water according to package directions; drain.
  • Return to pan and toss with cheese, sour cream, egg, and pepper.
  • Cook over low hear until the egg is cooked.
  • Garnish with parsley before serving.
  • Add additional sour cream if the noodles seem a little dry.

Lime Zest Ricotta Creme

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I haven’t used ricotta cheese much, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this dessert.  It’s light, refreshing, creamy, and not too much of a diet buster.


 

Adapted from: The South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston, MD

Ingredients

15 oz. part-skim ricotta cheese
3 packets artificial sweetened
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
zest of one lime


Directions

Combine all ingredients.  Divide into servings dishes.   If desired, reserve a small amount to pipe on top with a star tip.  Garnish with additional lime zest (optional). Chill until ready to serve. If I’m the only one eating this, I mix it all up; put it back in the ricotta cheese container, and just dish out a 1/3 (approx. 1/2 c.) at a time.

Makes 3 servings

Variations: substitute lemon zest for lime, omit zest all together for a vanilla version.

Nutrition Facts: 180 calories, 12 g. fat, 8 g. carb, protein 12 g, 4 WW points

Cheese Soufflé

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My first soufflé!  OMG!  It was amazing.  When it came out of the oven, the crusty top was tilted and a good 3 or 4 inches above the top of the dish.  After snapping a few photos during the process, the battery in my camera chose that minute, the grand finale, to die.  Silly me, rather than immediately grab my cell phone to get a photo, I took the battery out and put it in the charger before that Plan B occurred to me.  It lost a bit of volume during that 5 minutes, but the texture was still light and fluffy.

This is another “recipe for one,” but you could make multiple individual soufflés by increasing the ingredients.  Any straight-sided, oven-safe dish with 2 cup capacity will work for a single serving.  To make a large one to serve many, you will need to increase the baking time.

Variations: you may add 3 T. of finely chopped cooked green vegetables, sautéed mushrooms, or minced ham, in which case reduce the 1/3 c. of cheese to 1 T. 

Source: Judith Jones, O Magazine, October 2009

Ingredients

2 1/2 t. butter
1 T. grated Parmesan 
1 T. flour
1/3 c. milk
large pinch of salt
small pinch of paprika
1 egg yolk
2 egg whites
1/3 c. grated cheese such as Cheddar or Swiss, tightly packed


Directions

Smear 1/2 t. softened butter around inside of a soufflé dish, and sprinkle grated Parmesan over it.    (I only had shredded Parmesan, so I put it in the food processor for a couple of minutes).  Preheat oven to 425.

Melt 2 t. butter in a small saucepan, and stir in flour.  Let cook over low heat for a minute, then remove from heat.  Pour in milk (I used skim), whisking vigorously, and return to medium-low heat to simmer for a minute, stirring constantly as the sauce thickens.  (I didn’t notice a lot of thickening).  Season with salt and paprika (I used a generous sprinkle of paprika, after all, paprika is my new favorite potato chip flavor).  Remove from heat, and whisk in egg yolk.

Put egg whites in a very clean bowl and beat until they form soft peaks.  Add a dollop egg whites to saucepan, and mix in along with about half of grated cheese (I used Sargento Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar).  Fold in remaining egg whites and cheese; transfer everything to the prepared dish.  Place dish on a baking sheet, and set it in the middle of the oven.

Turn heat down to 375, and bake 18 minutes, until soufflé  has risen and top is lightly browned.  (I took mine out after 18 minutes, and I was afraid that it might not be done.  I don’t like undercooked eggs, but it wasn’t a problem.  The fluffy eggs were definitely set and no longer wet.  I think it might have been the appearance of the melted cheese that made me think it wasn’t quite done. Trust the timer.)

As prepared with skim milk and reduced fat cheddar cheese, 12 WW points per serving.