At Mum’s, in Stronie. In her dramatically tiny kitchen, stuffed with things she refuses to get rid of.  So many of them that some need to be moved in order to get access to a cupboard. With stunning orchids in the big, very clean window.

From this kitchen we’ve been eating some stunning food. On my request this afternoon there were łazanki, a simple, cheap pasta dish, that I’d have no problem stuffing down all by myself, the whole bowl, if I were not concerned about the size of my butt. I am concerned, so I only had seconds. Regretfully.

Mum made fresh pasta, cooked some sauerkraut for 30-40 mins just in water, also some porcini mushrooms, for half that time.  On a bit of słonina (back fat) she fried some onions, then added that sauerkraut, chopped and mushrooms, seasoned simply with salt and pepper and tossed with pasta. I love it.  And will be making it soon, after a visit to Polish deli when we get back home.

We came back from a winter break in Poland a couple of days ago. The trip lacked in snow, but was rich in lots of great food. My Mum is a very accomplished home cook, she always feeds us well, if maybe a tad too much. I had an enormous appetite there, back to normal now, otherwise my arse will double in size.

There is a patisserie in Klodzko, called Maslanka, from the name of its founder, a famous place in the city. When they’re open, you walk down Koscielna street and all you smell is pure cake heaven. We visited twice. Once, Mum got some baked cheesecake (in Poland a cheesecake must be baked, the cold version is a dessert, not a cake by any means), described by the shop assistant in every detail- I loved that! So much passion and pride about the product they sell. What blew me away was Napoleonka. A rich, creamy cake on puff pastry that was so good I’m considering treating myself for my birthday tomorrow. Having one piece is a laugh, it’s incredibly moreish.

Also, I tried a kapusniaczek, a small piece of puff pastry filled with a mixture of soured cabbage and mushrooms, the kind of stuffing you’d find in good, homemade pierogi in Poland in winter. We made them at home later, lovely and light.

Their doughnuts were light and made with great dough, a little shy on jam though, no photo, not good enough.

Will be returning to Maslanka’s and will be baking Napoleonka. Very soon. 🙂

This will be one of those recipes that I intend to add to the cookbook for Izzie one day. She will be able to make things the way her Gran did. It will all be there, available and ready to pass on and enjoy.

Bozenka, my Mum, the mentioned Gran, has brought along some  pork back fat, I purchased some minced pork and we got cracking.  Roughly 350 g of back fat was chopped and chucked into the pan, where it fried out for about 30 minutes, till it’s sort of golden. The minced pork goes in, 1 grated sweet apple, garlic, 2 large cloves, chopped, 3 shallots. Some marjoram and a pinch of salt.

No, it’s not one of those that’s good for you and that you should have it every day in large amount. But smalec, when made this way, left to set for a few hours and then enjoyed with crusty bread and raw, thinly sliced onion, to accompany cold beer- is delicious.  We’ll be having some later on. 🙂

There are dishes from my Mum’s repertoire that I sometimes crave so badly, I give her a call straight away and ask for a recipe.  While reading the 5th installment of “Jezycjada” I came across buchty and I knew the yeast in my fridge will be put to work today.  Mum gave me the method, I reduced everything by half, as only cooking for myself and Izzie this week- the head of our family is in America, dining on a rather different type of food.

So for 9 of the buns I used 200 g of plain flour, 12 g of fresh yeast, 125 ml of warm milk and a pinch of salt- all that quickly worked in KA and left to prove for 15-20 minutes. An egg yolk whipped with 25 g of sugar( half and half with vanilla sugar, smells great), this added to the risen dough alongside 25 g of melted butter. KA worked the dough for a further few minutes, then it went to the oven for about 50 minutes. When I say to the oven, I tend to use it as a proving drawer too, 30 degrees.

After the dough doubled in size I knocked it down and rolled out on a floured surface, then cut out small balls and left those to prove again in a warm oven. Procedure a bit like doughnuts. Then I prepared a large saucepan with a linen cloth on it, a shoestring helped to make sure it does the job. I steamed the risen buns for about 6 minutes. Served them like Mum does- with lightly whipped cream and berries. When in Poland and in season, wild blueberries are money for this dish, I had to do with fruit from Co Op.

Izzie said “cake !” when she was served the bun, but ate it all, her mum destroyed 7. A dupa rosnie! 🙂

A Polish classic.  Greasy, tasty, served with mash and some veg.  Every now and then I feel like having something from the times when I was growing up.  I saw a recipe recently in Interia. pl featuring those very kotlety, but slightly poshed up by addition of fresh mushrooms. Apparently that is the version from Kresy, the former Polish territories by our eastern border, snatched from us by Soviet scum in 1945.

Obviously I had no fresh, wild mushrooms, but I had chestnuts and some dried porcini, which  when soaked did an excellent job too. I fried them all up with a shallot and some crushed garlic and finished off with a splash of cream. When cooled, I added it to the regular mielone mix- fresh minced pork, an egg, some white bread soaked in milk, some fresh thyme, salt, pepper and the said mushrooms.  Very nice, I must say, even Pizia had half of a kotlecik for lunch, in spite of the mushrooms, but I’m sure a small amount will not cause her any stomach upset.  She is, after all, a foodie in the making. 🙂

A classic from my Mum. I’ve never made them before, but I’ve been looking at some ways of getting Izzie to like apples. So I asked Mum for a recipe, made the racuchy and served to Izzie for supper. She liked the soft, yeasty dough sprinkled with icing sugar, but spat out the apples.  Back to the drawing board. 🙂

Mum only uses fresh yeast in her cooking and baking, so I called in the bakery this morning. I used about 30 g of yeast, some sugar and less than a mug of warm milk, a couple of spoons of flour  and made “zaczyn”. Allowed it to rise a few minutes and froth gloriously, then added more milk, more flour, an egg yolk, a bit of melted butter. The texture was to be like very thick cream. Then another 15 minutes of resting. Thinly sliced apple pieces went in and I pan fried them in batches, using the lid and finishing in the oven, as they needed to be cooked inside all the way.

Sweet, filling, satisfying. 3 hours later craving a sausage, therefore chipolatas in the oven. 🙂

Jana mentioned the other day, she must now dash and run to have her barszczyk and krokiety. I’ve been drooling ever since. Best clear barszcz can be found at my mom’s, full of flavour, smelling with garlic, cumin and marjoram. And if it’s a special occasion and she serves it with uszka, one is in for a treat.

In the middle of the making of our Home at 23 Enfield I would certainly not be tempted to be making uszka, but last night I made barszcz and looked up the recipe for paszteciki in “Kuchnia Polska”. I hardly ever use that book and that very recipe failed to amaze me with flavours or texture, so I won’t be copying it, the barszcz however I made the way mom does, so here it is.

I had about 5-6 medium beetroots, which I peeled and chopped roughly, covered with about 700 ml of cold water, added a carrot,  a halved shallot, a bay leaf, some peppercorns, marjoram, 2-3 dried mushrooms and chicken boulionette and let it cook for about an hour on a small heat.  Then added a tbsp of white wine vinegar and let to stand till the next day.

Today I reheated it, not allowing it to boil, added 2 small cloves of garlic rubbed with salt, adjusted the taste with pepper, ground cumin- amazing!!- sugar and a touch more vinegar. I ended up with rich, yet clean flavoured soup, lovely for lunch on a cold day, after lots of messy work in the house.

One of my favourite things to eat at Mum’s. Girolles, not farmed, not from the supermarket, but from Polish woods. Eggs from the local lady, bright yellow. Polish bread. And tomatoes from Mum’s allotment. Best breakfast there is.