I don’t think I’d offend anyone if I said it’s a Polish peasant food. Cheap, all ingredients widely accessible, quite unhealthy- fried- and the whole house smells of them for hours after the washing up was done.

The Placki Master is my dad. He’s not much of a cook, but he makes mean soups and placuszki- no one makes them better. He’s generous with onion and pepper and his are always beautifully crisp on edges. Much as I tried, mine this evening were not amazing.We ate them all, regardless. I’m into The Polish Mood these days, I even looked at Rip Off Air this morning to see what a long weekend at Mum’s in September would cost.

Now, placuszki. Placuszki require a lot of grating, so not a dish a lady with pretty nails would happily produce. Raw, peeled spuds must be grated on the finest end, the amount depending on how many diners and if it’s the only course. I used about 6 large potatoes, one large onion, cracked an egg into it, 3 good tbsps of plain flour and seasoned it all with salt and lots of pepper. Placki are not a good dish for a romantic dinner for 2, as one has to fry them and serve right away, they need to be eaten fresh as well, so all a man needs, while his wench fries placki, is a paper and a beer. Which was the case with Florek, only the paper was replaced with laptop. :-).

To serve, a slightly soured cream is essential, plus some caster sugar. People normally eat them with one OR the other, I like both. I bought some Polish cream from Tesco for the occasion. Overall good, but the best Polish food is served in Stronie, end of!