Polish Mains & Sides

Cookbook Giveaway – Wild Honey & Rye

November 5, 2018 by polishhousewife 2 Comments

My latest Polish cookbook purchase is Wild Honey & Rye by Ren Behan, and I’m happy to say that I have a complimentary copy from the publisher, so that means a cookbook giveaway!

The author, a former attorney, grew up in England, the daughter of Polish parents. She writes beautifully about her love of good food and pride in her Polish heritage. Ren has taken Polish classics and put her own modern twist on them.

pierogi in a skillet with some on a plate

Photo from Wild Honey & Rye, used with permission

I don’t mean modern as in foams and molecular gastronomy. I mean the recipes, which are definitely Polish, reflect a modern, cosmopolitan nation with an interest in light, healthy eating with the freshest, seasonal produce and best proteins and grains. The color photos, which are my favorite part of any cookbook, are breathtaking!

If you want to be sure you have a copy, you can purchase via one of my affiliate links on this page (which means that Amazon sends me a small commission). If you’re the winner and end up with two copies, think of it as a head start on your Christmas shopping! 🙂

How to enter the giveaway

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Deadline: Wednesday, November 21st at 11:59 PM MST.
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Just to tempt you, we have a pierogi recipe from the book below!

Smacznego!

Lois

dough rolled out on marble slab, bowl of strawberries, and pierogi in the making

Photo from Wild Honey & Rye, used with permission

Recipe from Wild Honey & Rye: Modern Polish Recipes © 2018 Ren Behan

PIEROGI WITH STRAWBERRIES, HONEY, AND PISTACHIOS

Makes about 20 pierogi

2¾ cups/12 oz/350 g all-purpose flour or “00” pasta flour, plus extra for dusting

1 whole egg, plus 1 egg yolk

1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar

½ cup/125 ml lukewarm water

1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the filling and topping

2½ cups/12 oz/350 g fresh strawberries, hulled, quartered if large, or halved, if small, or blueberries

2 tbsp unsalted butter

Scant ½ cup/100 ml clear honey

¾ cup/1 ¾ oz/50 g pistachios, finely chopped

In a large bowl, mix the flour, whole egg and yolk, confectioners’ sugar, warm water, and oil together.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and feels smooth. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover with a damp dish towel or plastic wrap, and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

To fill: Divide the dough in half and keep one half covered with a damp dish towel to prevent it from drying out. Sprinkle your work surface with flour, then roll out the dough until it is about¼ in/3 mm thick.

Have a floured tray or board on hand. Using a pastry cutter or an inverted glass, cut out 3 in/8 cm circles of dough. Depending on the size of the strawberries, place a couple or a few pieces in the center of each circle. (If using blueberries, 2-3 blueberries will fit.) Fold the dough over to enclose the fruit. Using your thumb and finger, pinch the dough along the edge so that the pierogi is well sealed. Place each dumpling on the floured tray and cover with a damp dish towel while you make the rest.

To cook the pierogi: Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Carefully drop the dumplings in, a few at a time. They will sink at first, but will float up to the top when cooked-this will only take a minute or so.

Lift them out using a slotted spoon and place on a plate to cool. If you have sealed them well, none of the filling should have escaped!

Heat the butter in a large frying pan and gently fry the pierogi on both sides until slightly golden. To serve, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts.

CINNAMON WHIPPED CREAM

Serve this with blueberry-filled pierogi.

1 cup/250 ml heavy cream

1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

sugar or vanilla sugar, to sprinkle

Whisk the cream with the confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon until thickened.

Serve the warm pierogi with a sprinkling of sugar or vanilla sugar and a spoonful (or two) of the cinnamon whipped cream.

Polish Potato Salad (Sałatka Jazynowa)

October 2, 2018 by polishhousewife 2 Comments

Potato salad is potato salad you might say. I’m here to tell you, my friends, that the little things make quite a difference. Enroute to Poland, we’ve stopped off in Sacile, Italy to visit friends, one of whom is Polish. As it turns out, they both have family visiting while we are in town. So our gracious hosts scrambled to make room for 8 in their apartment. What I’m sharing with you today is the large batch of Polish Potato Salad (Sałatka Jazynowa) Mama Maria made for this housefull. You could certainly scale it down, but it’s so delicious, why would you?

Making the potato salad in this family is a team effort. Maria is boiling the veggies, which Tata Zbigniew peels and dices ever so finely once they’fe cool. Our friend, Greg who was kind enough to share his mom’s recipe, tells me that this is something his family always has for Christmas Eve and Slywester (New Year’s Eve). The veg are cooked the day before, possible left on the balcony to cool over night, depending on the weather, and he will wake up to find his parents busy in the kitchen, chopping and assembling the next morning.

I’ve noticed that so many Polish recipes, have you boiling the potatoes in their skins which seemed unusual to me. In the past, when I’ve made potato salad, I peeled and diced before boiling? Am I the only one? So I had to ask, why cook the potatoes in the skin? Actually all of the boiled veggies are unpeeled.

The answer was that the peel adds flavor (and most likely vitamins), and I have to agree. The flavor is very good. My own observation is that the texture is different, more consistent, and pristine.

The links below are Amazon affiliate links which means if you make a purchase, they sent me a few cents to help support this site.

As eight hungry people have been noshing on Polish Potato Salad (Sałatka Jażynowa), I’ve picked up some serving suggestions. Greg loves to eat it on toast, and Maria’s creative suggestion, which was fabulous, a small slice of a good bread, spread with butter, top with a thin slice of deli ham, put potato salad on half of the ham, fold the other half over the top, essentially making a ham and potato salad taco (on top of buttered bread). Yum-o! Pyszne!

Let me also share one other fun aspect of our evenings. Uno, a decidedly international version, has been the evening card game. The fact that there was no common language for all 8 of us added to the fun. Even the Americans who began with no experience in Polish were picking up these phrases:

what color – jaki kolor
red – czerwony
blue – niebieski
green – zielony
yellow – żółty

And my personal favorite “koniec!” for (the end or done! It goes both ways, Maria would play a wild card and confidently tell us the color was “blue.”

So whether your game nights are all English or involve more than one language, there’s no need to limit yourselves; this sałatka is so much for that a cookout side dish. Let’s hear your creative ideas for Polish Potato Salad (Sałatka Jazynowa).

Smacznego!

Lois

Polish Potato Salad (Sałatka Jazynowa)

Author: polishhousewife
Prep Time: 100 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: 3 quarts
Category: Side Dish
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Polish

Description

A Polish potato salad that is full of flavor!

Ingredients

1 large or 2 leeks, white part only, carefully rinsed
1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 medium potatoes
6 carrots
1 sm-med celery root (or 1/2 large)
1 dozen eggs, hard boiled
4 cups shredded dill pickles (large side of grater), press out the juice
1 1/2 cup mayonaisse
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Finely dice the leek and combine with parsely, 1 teaspoon salt and olive oil, set aside (this softens the leek)
Add whole potatoes, carrots, and celery root to a large Dutch oven cover with salted water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook until tender (a fork can be inserted easily) 20-30 minutes, dreain, cool
Peel cooked vegetables, dice into 1/3 inch (1 cm) cubes, dice egg whites, and crumble the yolks, add all of this to a large bowl, add pickles, mayo, remaining 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper
Cover and keep refrigerated, you can “frost” with additional mayo if desired

Notes

The leek/parsely mixture and the cooking of the veg can be done a day in advance, just keep everything refrigeratied

The entire dish can be prepared the day before you plan to serve

1 cup of cooked peas can be added as you assemble, but we didn’t use them

Polish Eggs in Shells (Jajka w Skorupkach)

August 3, 2018 by polishhousewife 8 Comments

Polish Eggs in Shells (Jajka w Skorupkach) is a simple recipe made with inexpensive, humble ingredients, eggs, herbs, butter, maybe mayo, breadcrumbs. The presentation gives it a bit of panache. There is something about stuffing the mixture back into the shell. The diner scoops the mixture out of the shell, much like you might with a kiwi or avocado that has been sliced in half, or maybe Oysters Rockefeller. Digging out the riches.

Ideally, you’d serve this with a really good bread alternating bites, or maybe spreading a bit of your egg mixture on said bread.

As for herbs, I’ve used garlic chives, in the mixture and for garnish, because that’s what I have going absolutely crazy in my herb garden this time of year. Mix up the herbs based on what you have on hand. Dill, thyme, chives, parsley, etc. Remember that if you’re using dried herbs rather than fresh, you should use only 1/3 the amount.

I was glad that I used brown eggs for this dish. The darker color helped me catch the little bits of shell that tried to sneak into the egg mixture. I wish I had great advice for you on how to get a clean cut on the eggs without little cracked pieces along the edge, but I’m still looking for that tip. Maybe you have a tip to share? I used a small very sharp knife (not serrated), but a straight clean cut was still an issue.

Before you move on to preparing Polish Eggs in Shells (Jajka w Skorupkach), let me share with you that I’ve just sent out my first monthly newsletter, and if you’d like to receive the August edition, you can sign up at the top of this page.

Smacznego!

Lois