Polska: New Polish Cooking

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Herrings are very popular in Poland but are rarely eaten with something sweet. The prune sauce is a twist on a regional sauce with raisins I came across in the northern province of Kaszuby, and it’s become one of my favourites, if a curious one. The millet groats salad is an adaptation of the mayonnaise-laden salads of my childhood. It has some mayonnaise in it - for flavour - but isn’t drowned in it. While we love kasza (grains) in Poland, they are not traditionally used in cold salads, which in my eyes is a waste – they are perfect for this salad, which works with any seasonal vegetable. The creamy dressing with dill makes everything taste undeniably eastern European. Food is a way that we structure our lives – we all eat certain meals at certain times. With fervent recipe testing in the mix, it can get a bit confusing though, so I want to be more structured in my cooking, especially since I’m pregnant. . In my first trimester, I ate too much sugar and carbs and my health has been suffered as a result. I realised that I am now craving salads. While Nusia eats most things, including plenty of fruit and veg, somehow having everything mixed up in a salad doesn’t appeal to her, but that shouldn’t mean that I don’t eat them! I can make salad every day for lunch when she’s at pre-school. This will also leave room in my tummy for recipes that I need to test. Breakfast, on the other, needs to be warm at this time of year, so porridges and kasza will set us up nicely. That brings me to semolina porridge or kasha manna. semolina: Semolina porridge with gooseberries and raspberries I appreciate that Zak offers a couple different methods to shape and fill pierogies, and since these varied slightly from how I learned to make varenyky, I was keen to learn other ways. Her first method (and now my preferred way) is to roll the dough out then place heaping teaspoons spaced out along the dough. She then folds the dough over and creases where the filling ends and to press out the air bubbles (this step is crucial as trapped air will cause the pierogi to burst while it cooks in boiling water). Using a cutter or the rim of a waterglass, she cuts out half-moon shapes. Once the shapes are cut out, she crimps the edges to seal them. Zak also provides different pinching and sealing techniques for every level of pierogi maker. Beginners can start with using the tines of a fork to seal the edge and, since I have prior experience, I used the fold over technique. There are photos of each of the steps throughout the beginning sections of the book which are helpful to home cooks. Rhubarb and rose: Always an amazing combo – add rosewater to the semolina while it’s cooking, and put honey sweetened stewed rhubarb on top once it has set. The book is filled with things to create in your kitchen, such as natural remedies, foods for wellness, and even beauty products. However, it also includes seasonal crafts, rituals, and folktales and mythology. While the author’s focus is on folk-healing rather than magic, she does include rituals that might be seen as a type of magic. She’s also very clear that folk medicines are meant to complement and not replace modern medicine.

To make the summer berry salad, combine the berries with the mint leaves. If you’re using marigold flowers, pull off some of the petals and mix them into the salad, saving a few whole flowers for decoration. Set aside. My favorite parts of the book were the crafts and the stories. The inclusion of the Slavic gods and goddesses was also intriguing to me because I haven’t read much about them elsewhere. The two crafts I would very much like to experiment with myself are the egg dyes and the natural fabric dyes. The pictures make them seem irresistible. If using dried mushrooms, wash them under cold water and soak them for 2 hours or, preferably, overnight.Because it is broken down by seasons, it is easy to locate activities and foods appropriate to the time of year.

Cut the stalks and leaves off the beetroots, keeping them separate. Roughly chop the stalks and tear any larger leaves. Cook the beetroots in a saucepan of boiling salted water for around 30 mins. Drain and leave until cool enough to handle, then peel and dice the beetroots. Set aside. Zuza Zak has written an incredibly special book here, and she has taken the pierogi passed being thought of as “just dumplings.” Pierogi is full of accessible and delicious recipes which highlight both traditional and modern doughs and fillings. I’ve already started to make them with my daughter – we’re both excited to give more of the recipes a try.

Try this recipe from the book

Now add the (drained) sauerkraut, bay leaf and allspice and simmer for a further hour. Add a splash of beer or wine if the mixture gets too dry at any time, but don’t over do it – there should not be any surplus liquid near the end. First, sterilise your jar and lid. Either put them through a hot dishwasher cycle or hand-wash in hot, soapy water. Half-fill the jar with boiling water, put the lid loosely on top and leave for 5 mins, then pour out the water and allow to air-dry.

To make the syrniki mixture, add the twaróg, eggs and salt to a large bowl and mash together with a fork. Add half of the flour and all the sugar and vanilla extract and continue mashing until the ingredients are well combined (if you’re using twaróg, the mixture will retain some texture). Cover and leave to chill in the fridge. This is the ideal way to finish a zakąski meal. We always eat this at the end of our meal on Christmas Eve. There would be two other soups at various points in the evening before this one, which is served with the desserts.The author of Polska and Amber and Rye, she writes in her introduction to Pierogi that “the big irony of my writing this book is that I set off on my food-writing career to prove that Polish food was more than ‘just dumplings’.” But having ably demonstrated that fact, I am so happy that she is turning her attention now to these particular pillows of joy. And she is a reassuring teacher, explaining history and describing technique concisely, and evoking flavours and textures with warm intensity. The book is divided, roughly, into two: Traditional (which has a regional framework) and Modern. But even in the Traditional half, she allows for variations to suit the contemporary non-Polish cook as well, and its subsection on Festive pierogi earns the cover price of the book alone. It may be August, but I’ve already earmarked her Sauerkraut and Mushroom Christmas Eve Pierogi (which I’ve been meaning to attempt for the past few Christmases, and now feel properly primed) and Boxing Day Pierogi, which are circles of dough stuffed with leftover turkey, roast potato and vegetables, folded over into the classic half-moon shape, to be boiled gently before being fried in goose fat and eaten with sharp cranberry sauce.

I learnt the art of cooking from an early age, from my beloved Babcias (grandmas) – Ziuta and Halinka. All of my early childhood memories are intertwined with food, so now I am now passing on the culinary love to my two daughters. Pierogi perfection. I became a fan of Zuza Zak from her Baltic cookbook. With “Pierogi”, she instructs, informs, and elevates the most internationally familiar of Polish foods. Something that I noticed, as with the other Zuza Zak book that I read, is that some of her ingredients are going to be a little more expensive or difficult to find depending on where the reader is from. She’s using a lot of local ingredients from places in the Slavic world, particularly Poland, which is great. However, some of them may be more difficult to find in say the U.S. or China. In Amber & Rye, there was a list of places that you could source these materials from. I may have just overlooked it in this book, but I think there was one. Most of the recipes are pretty friendly to a reader from the Western world though. There were, however, extra resources on the mythology aspects to this book. Quince and orange blossom: Stew the quince with honey, a large pinch of cinnamon and a bit of water.Add good honey and orange blossom water to the kasza manna whilst it’s cooking for a Middle Eastern flavour. Add the beetroot, beetroot leaves (or spinach) and dill. Continue cooking and stirring until the beetroot is heated through and the leaves have wilted.My new cookbook, Amber&Rye, is a culinary journey across the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In my first cookbook, Polska, I delved into Polish culture through the language of food and I am also doing the same in Amber&Rye, which is why you will find snippets of poetry, literature and folk songs nestled among the recipes. While in Polska I was exploring my childhood home, in Amber&Rye I am exploring my ancestral home. Poland shares much culinary heritage with Ukraine and pierogi are a big part of this overlap (in Ukraine, they are called vareniki). Pierogi ruskie are the most loved pierogi filling, both in Poland and beyond I think this is because the filling is so adaptable – traditionally it would be curd cheese, potato and caramelised onion. The curd cheese we use in Poland is called twaróg, similar to ricotta but more sour – you’ll find it in every supermarket. This filling is said to have originated in Ukraine and therefore they are called 'ruskie', which means Ruthenian rather than Russian. However, to make things complicated, some say they used to be called 'pierogi polskie' when Poland and Ukraine were a part of the same country. This is something we will never get to the bottom of, yet the filling of caramelised onion, 'twaróg' curd cheese and potato remains the one people cook and put their own spin on the world over, where they adapt the ingredients to what is locally available. In practise, this means varying the cheese, the dough and the pinching technique. I like to make these circular in shape to fit in more of this delicious filling." What are the different shapes? Put all the ingredients in a large pan and cover with 2.5 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for about 1½ hours. It’s seems very simple but it does not come naturally for me. Introducing structure into every area of my life requires a change in the way I perceive myself. I have always thought of myself as a flighty, creative, bohemian type, so I’m going to have to change my story and allow myself to be “an organised person”. I’ve realised that when I am organized, for example when I run my supper clubs, I can relax and enjoy the process more. In a way, the structure allows for more creativity, because I don’t need to stress about the details. So how do I go about it? I’ve started the year by just thinking about structure – about what it means to me. I will never be one of those super organized people who will structure every hour of every day, every meal, every post… for some, this is normal, but I need some spontaneity and flexibility, otherwise my soul feels stilted. From experience, I know that if I take it too far with structure, I will rebel and go the other way. I need to do this carefully. I have written three cookbooks on Eastern European cuisine – Polska, Amber & Rye and Pierogi. I am currently working on a food focused PhD and my fourth book, which will be something a little different…