Polish

5 Polish Flavored Liqueurs (Nalewki)

October 17, 2018 by polishhousewife Leave a Comment

Friends have noticed my passion for Polish flavored liqueurs (nalewki). Commercial versions are available, but my favorite are the homemade variety. I enjoy them so much that I’m willing to painstakingly type Polish recipes into Google Translate to try them out.

Nalweki translates to tinctures (medicines made by dissolving a drug in alcohol), and many varieties are thought to have medicinal qualities, but I’m after the heartfelt social benefits of sharing something that you began to prepare months ago with friends.

Most often, I’m using some seasonal fruit, sugar and vodka. Allowing osmosis to work until the fruit is very boozy and the vodka is very fruity. Usually this slow addition of fruit juice to the spirits yields a product that is lower in alcohol than vodka.

This makes it easier to sip, more pleasurable fruity flavors to savor, and less burn going down.

What better way to honor your dinner guests than to pull out a bottle of your homemade liqueur at the end of a meal? To help you in that end, I’ve prepared this round-up of my five favorite nakweki.

My current favorite and popular classic is a cherry liqueur, but who knows what will come next. I’m interesting in trying something with ginger. Making these traditional recipes made me bold enough to my hand at creating blueberry and apple flavored liqueurs inspired by a local chef’s house made moonshine.

I’m eager to hear about your nalewki making adventures. What’s your favorite? Did you go all out, make gallons to present all your friends with gift bottles? Na zdrowie! — Lois

Cherry liqueur – Wisniak or Wisniowka, depending on whether it’s made with sweet or sour cherries according to some, but I find Wisniowka the more commonly used term, and to be honest, it’s just fun to say.
Lemon liqueur – Cytrynowka, similar to the more widely know Italian limoncello, and easy to make if you live in the southwest or Florida where friends are always looking to give you a few bags of lemons in the winter. It’s our equivalent of leave zucchini on your neighbor’s porch day.
Tangerine liqueur – Mandarynkowa, I’ve made this two different ways, more recently just using the zest and not the juice, both are delicious.
Plum liqueur – Sliwkowa, plums are such a classic flavor is Polish cuisine. I like this for sipping or it makes a tasty cocktail with tonic water.
Honey spice liqueur – Krupnik, the same name is also given to a barley soup, but we’re talking about the liqueur (no barley), it’s reported to be very good for a cold or cough.

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.

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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 Mad Dog Shot (Wściekły Pies)

August 24, 2018 by polishhousewife 4 Comments

I hadn’t been in Poznań long before I was introduced to the Polish Mad Dog Shot (Wściekły Pies), and it quickly became a favorite. We often like to have a Mad Dog with friends as they arrive at our place for dinnner. It’s different and a little crazy. It breaks the ice, but we become more sensible as the evening goes on, so everyone is ready to drive home when the time comes.

With only three ingredients, it’s a shot of surprising complexity. There is, of course, the burn of the vodka, that is quickly offset by the raspberry syrup, and as a final note the Tobasco heat keeps the syrup from being too sweet.

It’s over in a flash and leaves you wondering how to describe what you just experienced. If your not a fan of Tabasco, just leave it out. The drink now in front of you with the red stripe on bottom and the clear vodka on top is called a Polish Flag.

Keeping the distinct layers that make this drink so visually striking is much easier if both the vodka and syrup are chilled. You can also add to your success by using an upside down teaspoon to difuse the vodka pour and have it gentlely settle on top of the red syrup. If you have trouble finding the raspberry syrup, check Cost Plus World Market if you have one nearby, or of course, everything can be found on Amazon.

I feel a little silly putting something so simple into the recipe app, but that’s how you let Google and other search engines know that you’re writing a recipe.

Na zdrowie!

Lois

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