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Polish Housewife

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

Polish Mains & Sides

Polish Eggs in Bull’s Eyes (Wołowe Oczy)

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It’s tempting to describe Polish Eggs in Bull’s Eyes (Wołowe Oczy) as a breakfast dish, but eggs are appropriate for any meal of the day. This is a quick and easy dish from the classic cookbook Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans. (This is an affiliate link which means Amazon pays me a few cents if you make a purchase.)

Polish Eggs in Bull’s Eyes (Wołowe Oczy)

We’ve made a pared down version of this recipe for ages after sampling it late at night at one of Ed’s colleague’s homes when we were newlyweds. You may know it as Egg in the Hole.

The ingredients and process on this version are simple, but don’t underestimate the outcome. Ed loved this dish;  he declared it “a $20 breakfast!” The simple add ons to our Egg in the Hole were well worth the effort. The prescribed baking time of 15 minutes gives you yolks that are set (not runny) but not hard, so adjust the time accordingly.

Before adding the recipe, let me say that I’m starting a monthly newsletter. It will include a summary of the months’ blog posts, some inside info and a recipe that isn’t part of the blog feed. Your subscription includes my infographic, Poland Travel Guide, with inspiration for your next trip to PL.

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I hope you enjoy the newsletter and Polish Eggs in Bull’s Eyes (Wołowe Oczy).

Smacznego!

Lois

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Polish Eggs in Bull’s Eyes (Wołowe Oczy)

Polish Eggs in Bull’s Eyes (Wołowe Oczy)

  • Author: polishhousewife
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Description

Egg baked in a toasted bread cutout, dressed up with a little cream and anchovy

 

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • 6 slices bread
  • Butter
  • Cream
  • Salt & Pepper
  • 1/2 – 1 cup heavy cream
  • anchovies and lettuce, to garnish

 

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Remove the center of the bread with a cookie cutter (circle, heart, star?) and saute the crusts in butter until golden brown
  3. Cover the bottom of a baking pan with a thin layer of cream, top with with bread, crack an egg in the hole of each piece of bread, season with salt and pepper
  4. Pour a teaspoon of cream on top of each egg and bake for 15 minutes
  5. Garnish with lettuce and anchovies

Notes

You might like to add a little shredded cheese before baking rather than garnishing with anchovy

Babka Ziemniaczana (Polish Potato Cake)

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This delicious recipe for Babka Ziemniaczana (Polish Potato Cake) is inspired by a Polish cookbook I bought from a book seller at Poznan Glowny, the main train station, Regionalalna Kuchnia Polska (Regional Polish Cuisine). According to the book, Babka Ziemniaczana (Polish Potato Cake) is from the Podlaskie Voivodeship section. Podlaskie northeast of Warsaw. I’ve made this a couple of times testing it. I’ve made some changes in that I’ve added more bacon, and onion and included sausage.

After my first effort, I’ve also become a mad woman about processing the potatoes quickly to keep them becoming discolored from oxidation. I’ve found in making potato pancakes that they darkened potatoes lighten up as they cook, but that wasn’t the cake with my first potato babka, maybe because the mass was bigger or the heat was slower. If your potatoes might sit for a bit before you pop them in the oven, often the case if you’re grating or blending several, you can put them in ice water with a teaspoon of lemon juice (or vinegar) to keep them white. Just dry them well as you add them to the recipe.

Babka Ziemniaczana (Polish Potato Cake)

As I make my potato bakba confessions, let me also say that I’ve tried this with grated potatoes (the small holes) and shredded potatoes (the big side of the box grater), and grated is better. You can also closely approximate grated potatoes in a blender and that’s so much quicker and easier.

I made a smaller batch the second time around, so I’m writing up my small recipe and you can multiply depending on the number of servings you need.

  • 1 pound potatoes, 3 – 4 servings, 2 cup baking dish (ceramic bowl)
  • 2 pounds potatoes, 6 – 8 servings, loaf pan
  • 3 pounds potatoes, 9 – 12 servings, 8 inch square pan
  • 4 pounds potatoes, 12 – 15 servings, 9 x 13 pan

As you look at this, keep in mind that leftovers are a good thing. I love to have a meal ready to go on a workday evening that just needs heating, or fry up a slice with bacon and eggs the following morning.

Enjoy your Babka Ziemniaczana (Polish Potato Cake).

Smacznego!

Lois

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Babka Ziemniaczana (Polish Potato Cake)

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 20 min
  • Cook Time: 45 min
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 3 - 4 servings
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Description

Potatoes spiked with onions, garlic, bacon and sausage!

Ingredients

Amounts per pound of potatoes:

  • 2 slices bacon, diced
  • 1/8 pound kielbasa, quartered lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick (optional)
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tablespoon flour
  • 1 tablespooon fresh or 1 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon marjoram
  • 1/2 teaspooon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 pound potatoes

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Brown bacon, add kielbasa and onion, cooking until onion is translucent, add garlic and cook a few more minutes, cool
  3. Add egg, flour, and spices to meat mixture, stir to combine
  4. Peel potatoes (or potato, 1 large baking potato is about 1 pound), cut into 1 inch cubes, add to a blender with ice water, process just for a second two times, just enough to be sure you don’t have large chunks, pour the potato slurry through a fine colander, press with paper towels, and add to meat, stirring to combine, this just seems quicker and easier than grating on the small side of a box grater
  5. Quickly add to greased 2 cup baking dish, bake for about 60 minutes (when baking larger batches baking time may be as much as 80 – 90 minutes, babka should be firm and crust light brown

Kulebiak z Kapusta i Grzybami (Cabbage & Mushroom Pie)

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A request from a reader survey was “more cabbage recipes.” In response, I give you Kulebiak z Kapusta i Grzybami (Polish Cabbage & Mushroom Pie), affectionately dubbed, fancy cabbage. This is my take on a recipe from Polish Cookery by Marja Ochorowicz-Montowa, (if you buy via this affiliate link, Amazon sends me a few cents).

Kulebiak z Kapusta i Grzybami (Cabbage & Mushroom Pie)

I’ve sauteed everything, dressing up the cabbage with mushrooms, onion, hard boiled egg, and a bit of dill. Wrap it all up in the pastry of your choice. I’ve used frozen puff pastry, because I had some left over from a recent batch of sausage rolls.

I can picture using this filling in a number of ways. As is, the elegant puffed pastry could be the centerpiece of a meal, slicing it at the table. You might fill puff pastry shells with the filling or use your favorite pie crust recipe and bake it with a double crust in a pie pan. You could fill little turnovers made from pie crust or canned cresent rolls. Line mini-muffin pans with a crust and the filling for a bite sized cabbage appetizer. If you’re thinking this has too many carbs or is too complicted, just serve the filling — go straight from the frying pan to a serving bowl. It will be semi-fancy cabbage.

We love the flavor combination in Kulebiak z Kapusta i Grzybami (Cabbage & Mushroom Pie), and I think you will too.

Smacznego!

Lois

 

PS – Know someone who would enjoy Polish heritage memoralbilia? I’ happy to be affilated with My Polish Heritage; click on the photo on the left to save 5% and I earn a small commission.

 

 

 

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Kulebiak z Kapusta i Grzybami (Polish Cabbage & Mushroom Pie)

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 20 min
  • Cook Time: 1 hr
  • Total Time: -25528143.733333 minute
  • Yield: 6 servings
  • Category: Side dish
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A delicious vegetable filling in a puff pastry crust

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1 small head cabbage
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried dill (3-4 times more if using fresh)
  • 1 egg, hard boiled and diced
  • 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed, but still chilled
  • 1 egg, for egg wash

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 F
  2. Cook mushrooms and onion in 2 tablespoons butter until onion is translucent, set aside
  3. Remove outer layer of cabbage leaves, quarter and remove core, slice 1/2 inch thick and cook in 2 tablespoons butter until tender, season with salt and pepper
  4. Return the musrooms and onions to the pan, add dill and hard boiled egg, remove from heat and cool to room temperature
  5. Roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle, approximately 14 inches x 18 inches, slice into two pieces, 14 x 6 (bottom crust) and 14 x 12 (top crust), cut small decorate shapes into the top crust to release steam (or just make a slit with a knife after the pie is assembled)
  6. Leaving 3/4 inch clear around the edge of the bottom crust, place the cabbage filling on the crust, mounding it up as you do, shape the loaf by compacting with your hands, brush outside edge with water, and place top crust over filling and seal with bottom crust by pressing together with your fingertips or a fork
  7. Bake 15 – 20 minutes, until crust is golden brown, serve warm or at room temp

Notes

When rolled out, the puff pastry will be thin and stretches easily, it may work better to make cutouts after assembling but I haven’t tried it

A pizza cutter is great for cutting and trimming the puff pastry

Keywords: Cabbage

Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets)

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Looking for something different to do with ground beef, I found a recipe for Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets) in Polish Cookery by Marja Ochorowicz-Montowa. My one complaint with this cookbook is that the instructions often refer to another recipe, leaving the reader flipping back and forth, trying to meld the two recipes.

Other than being inconvenient, I didn’t realize it had led to a problem until I began this write-up. Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets) are recipe #41. It starts off, “Prepare meat as in #40, omitting the fish.” The recipes are on different pages, and apparently, as I flipped back and forth, I glommed onto #36, which also has similar ingredients. We loved the way they turned out, so it wasn’t really a problem!

I’m writing this up the way I actually did it, so given the above, it may be different from the way other people make these ground beef cutlets. What I actually did, differs a bit from the given, more typically Polish, instructions. I didn’t have fresh rolls, so I used dried bread crumbs. I always have dried breads crumbs since my time in PL. Stale bread? Dry it out and blitz it in the food processor, or use that favorite Polish kitchen tool, the box grater.

The recipe calls for running the meat, milk soaked rolls, and bacon through a meat grinder twice. I do have a meat grinder attachment for my mixer, something not common in American kitchens, but it just seemed like to much trouble, and I was getting a late start in preparing this.

So here, my friends, it the round about version of Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets). They were delicious, reminiscent of Salisbury Steak. As we were finishing our late dinner, Ed suggested that he take one for his lunch the next day. Very delicious, with a steak-like texture; I hope you’ll enjoy them and share this with all of your beef loving friends!

Smacznego!

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Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets)

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 10 min
  • Cook Time: 80 min
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Category: Main dish
  • Method: Stove top
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A delicous Polish steak-like cutlet made with ground beef

Ingredients

  • 1/2 large onion, finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 2 pounds ground beef (or mix of beef and pork)
  • 4 slices bacon, finely diced (easier if they’re lightly frozen)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • dash of ground marjoram
  • flour for dredging
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup beef stock

Instructions

  1. Cook onion in 1 tablespoon butter until just beginning to brown, cool
  2. Add bread crumbs and milk to a bowl, stir, add egg, ground meat, bacon, salt, pepper, marjoram, and cooked onions
  3. Mix until well combined, form into 6 oblong patties about an inch thick, lightly dredge in flour
  4. Brown meat patties (on both sides) in 2 tablespoons melted butter, add beef broth, cover and simmer for 1 hour

Notes

Add extra delicousness by serving topped with sauted mushrooms and a bit of the cooking broth, and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. In this case, garlic chives.

Keywords: Kotlety Wolowe Siekane (Polish Ground Beef Cutlets)

Ziemniaki po Mysliwsku (Polish Potatoes Hunter-Style)

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Occasionally, I like to thumb through my cookbooks, looking for new recipes to try. I did that recently and this recipe for Ziemniaki po Mysliwsku (Polish Potatoes Hunter-Style) caught my eye. It was appealing for two reasons.

  1. Fried potatoes 🙂
  2. It called for anchovies

Unlike some, I’m kind of neutral about anchovies. In small doses, they add a nice flavor. Let’s face it you can’t make a proper Caesar Salad without them. I don’t crave them; I don’t hate them, and for some strange reason, I discover when I tidied up the pantry last weekend, that we had two tins of anchovies. I’m sure we bought them for a reason, I just can’t remember what!

Ziemniaki po Mysliwsku (Polish Potatoes Hunter-Style)

So Polish Cookery by Marj Ochorowicz-Monatowa to the rescue, and we’re trying out Ziemniaki po Mysliwsku (Polish Potatoes Hunter-Style). The recipe calls for capers, so keep it in mind if you find yourself with capers in the fridge.  (The link to the cookbook is an affiliate link. This means if you use that link to buy a copy, Amazon will send me a few cents; your price remains the same.)

In Polish Cookery, the dish is called Kartofle po Mysliwsku. I’d never heard the word kartofle. A quick ask on Facebook, and I learned that many people grew up with the word kartofle, but that it was probably more German than Polish, so I’m using ziemniaki, a fun word to say that I learned in Poznan, in addition to pyra.

As we sampled the potatoes, I asked Ed how he liked them. Would he want to have them with game meat after a day out in the field hunting? He thought they were good, and with our luck hunting and fishing, the potatoes might be the only thing on the menu.

Whatever you decide to call them, Ziemniaki po Mysliwsku (Polish Potatoes Hunter-Style) add an intereting twist to everyone’s favorite fried potatoes.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Ziemniaki po Mysliwsku (Polish Potatoes Hunter-Style)

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 15 min
  • Cook Time: 50 min
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings
  • Category: Side dish
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

An interesting twist to fried potatoes

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds potatoes, cooked in their skins
  • butter, for frying
  • 4 – 6 anchovies chopped
  • 1 heaping tablespoon chopped capers
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill and parsley
  • salt & pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup broth and liquid from capers

Instructions

Peel and slice the potatoes, pan fry until golden brown on both sides

Mix other ingredients, add to potatoes, stir gently to avoid breaking potatoes

Heat and serve

 

Gulasz Wegetariański (Polish Vegetarian/Vegan Goulash)

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We recently hosted a friend who has become vegetarian for health reasons. She offered to make exceptions for the evening, but I wanted to add some meatless options to my repertoire. Ed suggested that I make potato pancakes, so I did a Gulasz Wegetariański (Polish Vegetarian/Vegan Goulash) — my favorite topping for placki ziemniaczane.

Gulasz Wegetariański (Polish Vegetarian/Vegan Goulash)

with fried potato dumplings

Adding a host of veggies to the familiar paprika and tomato sauce makes a satisfying entree. Try serving it over potato pancakes, buckwheat kasza, mashed potatoes, potato dumpligs, or pasta.

The very best gulasz comes from sauteing the veggie over a very high heat until they begin to brown. I usually saute the ingredients sepearatley. It will look like things are burnig on the bottom of your pan, but the black stuff will come off with a little scraping when you add liquid. It will dissolve and become part of your broth providing rich color and flavor. . . I say the burnt stuff comes off the bottom of the pan, most of it comes off might be more accurate. My dear husband, who is usually the one washing dishes, has complained about my propensisity for high heat in cooking. You could skip this and just toss the raw veggies into the liquid, just know your broth will suffer for it. It will be just a little less wonderful, but I don’t want to scare you off.

Gulasz Wegetariański (Polish Vegetarian/Vegan Goulash) is a tasty way to get more produce into your diet.

Smacznego!

Lois

 

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Gulasz Wegetariański (Polish Vegetarian/Vegan Goulash)

  • Author: polishhousewife
  • Prep Time: 15 min
  • Cook Time: 40 min
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 4 - 6 servings
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A colorful and tasty vegetable based goulash!

Ingredients

vegetable oil, as needed

6 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally, no more than 1/4 inch thick

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into wedges 3 inches x 1/4 inch

4 onions, sliced

2 bell peppers, any color, sliced

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup red wine

2 – 4 cups vegetable broth, enough to cover the veggies

2 tablespoons paprika

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

5 juniper berries and/or 5 allspice berries

2 tablespoons Wondra flour

Instructions

In a Duth oven, saute carrots, sweet potato, onions, and bell pepper in a little oil until they begin to brown

Add tomato paste, red wine, vegetable broth, paprika, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, juniper and/or allspice berries

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 – 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender

Sprinkle in Wondra flour to thicken the broth

Notes

In stead of Wondra flour, you might use a little corn starch mixed into a small amount of water

 

 

 

Wegetariański Smalec – Vegetarian/Vegan Smalec

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Smalec, referred to a poor man’s butter, is often presented at the beginning of a meal in Poland, something gratis, like chips and salsa or a basket of warm bread. Smalec also goes well with beer or vodka, making it perfect to share with friends late at night when the discussions are getting serious and philosophical. Now you can share Wegetariański Smalec – Vegetarian/Vegan Smalec to be sure all of your friends can join the fun.

Wegetariański Smalec - Vegetarian/Vegan Smalec

Traditional smalec is made with rendered pork fat and something we enjoy a lot, but when I made this meatless version recently even my carnivore husband thought it was fantastic. I’d planned to talk about how I saw a bigger need for meatless recipes in the US compared to Poland. I know all surveys have a margin of error and when the sample size is as small as the people I know, the results can be misleading. Of the dozen people who might gather around our table at Christmas, 4 out of 12 wouldn’t eat traditional smalec. I know Poles give a lot of thought to the health consequences of their food, but 25% of the people I know in Poland wouldn’t be considered vegan, vegetarian, pescitarian. Imagine my surprise to find a report that listed the percentage of the US population that is vegetarian or vegan as 13% and in Poland it was 15%! Wherever you fall on the chart, I think you’ll enjoy this recipe.

I have just a couple of tips for you:

  • Be sure to use refined coconut oil, otherwise the predominant flavor will be coconut
  • Be sure to saute the diced onion in just a little bit of oil. If you put all of the oil in while you’re cooking the onions, they’ll boil rather than brown, and you really want that caramelized onion color. I thought I would cut corners, so I’m speaking from experience here.
  • The melting point of refined coconut oil is 77 – 79 F, so you’ll want to serve this a room temperature. It’s very SOLID straight out of the fridge.

Serve your Wegetariański Smalec – Vegetarian/Vegan Smalec with a wonderful bread and small dill pickles.

Smacznego!

Lois

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1 cup refined coconut oil, divided 2 small onions, finely diced 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 1 large Granny Smith apple, shredded 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon marjoram

Wegetariański Smalec – Vegetarian/Vegan Smalec

  • Author: Polish Housewife
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Description

Refined coconut oil replaces pork fat in the popular Polish spread

Ingredients

1 cup refined coconut oil, divided

2 small onions, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced (optional)

1 large Granny Smith apple, shredded

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon marjoram

Instructions

Add 2 tablespoons coconut oil and onions to a frying pan and cook over medium high heat until onions are golden brown

Add garlic and cook for just another minute of so (optional)

Add the remaining coconut oil, apple, salt, pepper, and marjoram

Stir until oil and melted and ingredients are combined

Pour into a jar or ramekins

Keep refrigerated, but bring to room temp before serving

Kopytka – Polish Potato Dumplings

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According to PotatoPro.com, “The Polish King John III Sobieski is credited with having introduced potatoes – known initially as amerykany (from “America”) – to his countrymen in the mid-1600s, after a visit to Vienna. Thus began a love affair that was to make Poland one of the 20th century’s giants of potato production.” The area of Poland we lived in was known for potatoes. They even have their own word for potatoes, pyra, which is also a nickname for people from Poznan. So it’s no surprise that we have Kopytka – Polish Potato Dumplings in addition to Kluski Śląskie.

Kopytka - Polish Potato Dumplings

Kopytka literally means hooves; the little diamond shapes are supposed to resenble cloven hooves. The recipe is basically the same as Italian gnocchi. The difference is in the shape and the toppings.

As for the toppings, you can go with Polonaise (the French term meaning in the Polish style, which is topped with buttered breadcrumbs), gravy, pan drippings, or fry the dumplings and serve them with gulasz. You might even top them with sugar.

kopytka

The potatoes we’re mashing for Kopytka need to be on the dry side. So don’t use leftover mashed potatoes that you’ve prepared with milk and butter. Start off with plain potato that’s been cooked in the skin, or jacket as the Brits would say, or in its uniform as they say in Poland.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Kopytka – Polish Potato Dumplings

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 10 min
  • Cook Time: 40 min
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
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Description

Tender little potato dumplings

Ingredients

1 pound potatoes

1/ 2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 cups flour

Instructions

With the skins on, boil potatoes until tender, cool and then peel

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil

Mash the potatoes thoroughly or process with a potato ricer

Stir in the egg and salt

Add enough flour to create a smooth dough, stirring just enough to incorporate the flour, overworking will make for tough dumpings

Take a small amount of the dough and roll on a floured surface to form a rope about 3/4 inch in diamter

Slice the rope on the diagional about 1/2 inch apart

Boil in salted water about 4 minutes without over crowding the pan, you’ll do multiple batches

Remove from the water with a slotted spoon

Serve topped with buttered bread crumbs, pan drippings, gravy or sugar

Notes

You can place kopytka on a cookie sheet before cooking and freeze, then place the frozen kopytka in a plastic bag to cook later, the dumpling equilavent of a brown and serve roll.

 

 

Pieczone Marchewki – Roasted Carrots

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Have you ever cooked a meal that was just too beige? You know what I mean. There are so many wonderful things that are delicous, but not necessarily visually striking, the meal we had over the weekend for example: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy. It sounds a lot like a Thanksgiving dinner, but it’s the wrong time of year. We don’t cook a turkey at Thanksgiving becaue we go to my parents’ home, but I do buy a turkey or two when they’re on sale. We pop them in the freezer for roasting later/now. Fortuanatley, this monochromatic meal was saved by Pieczone Marchewki – Roasted Carrots.

I found bundles of beautiful, small, carrots at Sprouts (a supermarket in our part of the country, inspired by farmers markets) in a vareity of colors. They supplied much needed color and lovely flavor. They are simple to prepare, and the limited work involved can be done in advance. The only thing needed at the last minute is popping them on a plate for serving, making them ideal for a meal with guests.

As I mentioned, you can do all of the prep in advance and let them sit until it’s time to put them in the oven. If the children in your home can use a vegetable peeler, this a a dish they can fix themselves, and aren’t we all more likely to eat something we’ve prepared?

Smacznego!

Lois

PS- this is the second recipe I’ve made lately that has come from Polska Foods, a now defunct maker of organic pierogi.

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Pieczone Marchewki – Roasted Carrots

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 10 min
  • Cook Time: 25 min
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 6 serings
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

Healthy and delicous, roasted carrots

Ingredients

2 batches of small carrots

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Fresh dill for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F

If your carrots have the greens attached, trim off all but an inch or so for decoration

Peel the carrots (or just give them a good scrubbing), rinse

Place on a foil lined baking sheet pan

Drizzle olive oil and honey over carrots, sprinkle with salt and pepper

Gently toss the carrots to coat, leaving them in a single layer on the pan (this is your stopping point if you’re preparing in advance)

Bake for about 25 minutes

Sprinkle with chopped or snipped fresh dill, I usually use scissors rather than a knife

Salatka z Pora i Jablka – Polish Leek and Apple Salad

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Sweet vs. Savory

Americans tend to keep their sweet and savory separate. Fruit in a recipe? That must be a dessert. Savory vegetables? That must be for supper of maybe lunch, certainly not breakfast. For breakfast, we want something sweet. Even when we have a heartier breakfast that might include meats, think of what they are traditionally. Sugar-cured ham, sugar-cured bacon. Toast? Let’s put some jam on that. Admittedly, my knowledge of a Polish breakfast comes from Polish hotel breakfast buffets and a month of eating Polish hospital food. The hotel breakfast buffet, which is, I suspect, much more of a meal that a Polish family would typically eat in the morning (more than anyone typically eats in a morning), often includes salads. I often wondered if they were leftover from a salad bar the evening before or made especially for breakfast. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Salatka z Pora i Jablka – Polish Leek and Apple Salad on a breakfast buffet.

Salatka z Pora i Jablka - Polish Leek and Apple Salad

Sweet and Savory Together

This simple salad of leek and apple does something I see so often in Polish cooking, mixing sweet and savory together. Polish recipes for bigos (a hunters stew) or liver often include prunes and or apple. A cabbage salad will include grated apple. Here we have leek and apple in a simple dressing. The flavors and textures go together beautifully, surprisingly so for my American palate.

Ed loved this salad and suggested that I make when his golfing buddy and his wife come to dinner in a couple of weeks. Even though this is posting during Lent, I think the simple ingredients will still be part of everyone’s meal plan. Unless you’ve given up delicous during this time of fasting and reflection.

If you wanted to jazz this up a bit, you could add a spoon of mayo, sour cream, or plain yogurt, or any combination of the three, but I like it as is. I discovered this salad on the website of Polska Foods, the now defunct maker of organic pierogi.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Salatka z Pora i Jablka – Polish Leek and Apple Salad

★ 1 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
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Description

A light salad with the subtle warmth of leek and sweet crisp apple

Ingredients

2 leeks

2 tart apples

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

  • Trim the root end of the leeks, quarter lengthwise from the white end into the light green area, wash out any dirt between the layers, slice the white and light green parts as thin as possible
  • Peel, quarter, and core the apples, again slice as thin as possible
  • Combine the lemon juice, honey, and oil in a bowl, add the sliced leek and apple, toss
  • Season with salt and pepper
  • Chill for a few hours to let the flavors meld