• beet soup
• stuffed carp in gelatin
• fried Christmas carp
• dumplings with mushroom
• dumplings with dried prunes
• bigos (Hunter’s Stew)
• poppy seed roll
• makowki ( Polish poppy seed bread pudding)

BEET SOUP

The soup is made with a beet sour (kwas) that must ferment for at least three days before using.

Beet Sour (kwas):

• 3 1/2 pounds beets, peeled, rinsed and sliced
• Boiled water cooled to lukewarm
• 1 slice rye bread with crust

Beet Soup:

• 1 pound beets, peeled, rinsed and sliced
• 1/2 pound peeled, rinsed and sliced soup vegetables (carrot, parsnip, celery root, leek)
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1 garlic clove mashed with a little salt
• 2 cups beet sour
• 1/4 cup strained liquid from soaking a dried mushroom
• Salt and pepper
• Sugar to taste
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Preparation 

1. To make the beet sour (kwas): Place 3 1/2 pounds prepared beets in a large crock or ceramic bowl. Cover with pre-boiled, lukewarm water. Add the rye bread slice, pushing it under the water. Cover the crock or bowl with cheesecloth and let stand at room temperature for three days. Then strain through cheesecloth, pour into a glass jar and seal it. Store in the fridge. You may eat the strained beets or discard them.
2. To make the beet soup: Place prepared vegetables in a large stockpot. Add 6 cups cold water and 1 teaspoon butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender. Strain, pressing on vegetables to extract every last ounce of goodness.
3. Return the strained liquid to the pot and add garlic, beet sour, mushroom soaking liquid, salt and pepper, and sugar to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Before serving, stir in remaining 1 teaspoon butter and chopped parsley. Ladle into hot bowls and serve with “uszka” (a kind of dumplings filled with mushroom) – see picture above.

Uszka

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large beaten egg
• 3 tablespoons water, or more as necessary

Preparation

CARP

Carp is a popular Christmas Eve dish in Poland and can be prepared in countless ways.

Stuffed Carp in Gelatin

Ingredients: 

• 1 Carp (about 1 kg)
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 celery root
• salt, pepper, allspice
• 1 stale bread bun
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon of almond flakes
• lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of raisins
• 2 teaspoons of gelatin
• 1 cup of milk to soak the fish

Preparation:

Dress the carp by scaling it, cutting off the head, fins, and tail, gutting it (without cutting through its stomach), and washing it. Cut the fish steak-wise (that is,perpendicular to the spine). Soak the chopped fish in milk for at least one hour, then rinse. Wash, peel, and combine half an onion, the carrot, and celery in a pan of water. Add salt, pepper, and allspice, and bring to a boil. Add the head and the tail of the fish, and cook for an hour over a small flame. Soak the bun in milk, then drain it. Chop the the rest of the onion. Beat the egg whites to a foam. Pick the meat off the head and tail and grate it with the bun and onion; add the egg yolk, almonds, raisins, parsley, salt, pepper, and egg foam. Stir thoroughly. Fill the fish pieces with the filling, carefully place them on vegetables, and cook for 30 minutes over a small fire (the broth should cover the fish). Soak the gelatin in 1/4 cup of cold water. Take out the fish pieces and arrange them in a shallow bowl. Melt the gelatin by heating it. Strain the broth, add lemon juice and gelatin, and stir. Cover the fish with the solidifying gelatin, and set aside for two hours to cool it.

Fried Christmas Carp

• 300g carp
• 10g salt
• 1g white pepper
• 20g butter
• 5g garlic
• 100g vegetable oil

Debone, remove skin and clean the carp thoroughly. Salt and pepper the fillets, then brush with melted butter and mashed garlic.  Fry slowly in hot olive oil until done.

DUMPLINGS

Dumplings with mushroom

Dough – ingredients

•  flour, sifted 350 grams
•  1 egg
• water 150ml
• a pinch of salt

Preparations

Sieve flour add an egg. Form stiff dough gradually adding water. A ready made dough divide into parts and cover with a wet cloth. Roll one part of dough after another on a floured board. Cut into circles with a glass or doughnut cutter. Place filling in each circle .Fold  the cicle in half. Seal with your fingers.Drop into simmering water until each dumpling floats .Boiled pierogi .Drain off pierogi  with a slotted spoon .Serve with butter, crumble bacon with different sauce.Flavour with salt and pepper. You can add some bullion.

Stuffing – ingredients

• dried boletus mushrooms 80-100 gr
• onions 80gr
• fat
• folk
• crumbs
• salt and pepper to flavour

Preparations

Soak mushrooms into water and boil then mince with fried onion. Add crumbs, yolk. Mix together. Place filling in each circle .Fold  the cicle in half. Seal with your fingers. Drop into simmering water until each dumpling floats. Boiled pierogi. Drain off pierogi with a slotted spoon. Serve with borscht or clear soup.

Dumplings with dried prunes

Dough – ingredients

• 500 grams of sifted flour
•  1 egg (optionally, it makes the dough harder)
• 250 ml of water or milk
• 1 spoon of butter
• a pinch of salt

Filling:

dried prunes and sugar – 1 prune for 1 dumpling

All products should be at room temperature. Sift the flour on a pastry board, make the hole in the middle (optionally add the egg) and pour the melted butter. Slowly pour a glass of warm milk or water (as much as flour will absorb). Horseplay cake first with knife, then knead with hands  for about 15-20 min, until a homogeneous mass. Well-kneaded dough should be elastic and smooth, and after the cut holes filled with air should be seen. Leave it for 30 min, covering the bowl. Then divide the dough into two or three portions and roll out to a thickness of 2 mm. Cut discs with a glass, put a prune with a hint of sugar at it, cover it with a half of the “disc” and carefully clump edges, preferably in a “frill” (you can also use a fork). Cook in boiling salted water – after sailing on the top cook for 3 more minutes. Serve with melted butter.

BIGOS (Hunter’s Stew) 

Ingredients

•  1 3/4 lb (800 g) sauerkraut
• 4 strips bacon or, even better, 4 thin slices Canadian bacon, diced
• 1 small head green cabbage, thinly sliced
• Small handful of dried wild mushrooms (any kind)
• 1/2 lb (225 g) boneless venison, leg, or a stewing cut (not the loin), cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces
• 1/2 lb (225 g) boneless stew beef, such as chuck, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces
• 1/2 lb (225 g) pork or veal shoulder, cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces
• 1/4 cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil or lard
• 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup (240 ml) dry red wine
• 1/2 lb (225 g) smoked kielbasa or another spicy hard sausage, thickly sliced
• 1 cup (225 g) pitted prunes, quartered
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Bread for serving, preferably rustic and dark, such as a Russian loaf

 Procedures

1. Drain the sauerkraut, place it in a medium saucepan, and add 2 cups (480 ml) water and bacon pieces. Cover and boil over medium heat for 20 minutes or longer, until the sauerkraut is very tender and the bacon is cooked.

2. Meanwhile, put the fresh cabbage and dried mushrooms in a separate large saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until the cabbage is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

3. Rinse

4. Heat 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil over medium heat in a stew pot large enough to hold all the meat and vegetables. Cook the onion until softened, remove with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Add the remaining 2 tbsp oil to the pot and lightly brown the meat, in batches, over medium heat, 2 to 3 minutes per side, transferring the meat to a plate when it’s done.

5. When all the meat has been browned, raise the heat to high, pour in the wine, and boil briefly, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. Return the meat and all its resting juices back to the pot, and add the onion, kielbasa, prunes, cabbage, and the sauerkraut and bacon mixture, along with its cooking water. Salt generously, add several grinds of pepper, and bring to a boil.

6. Turn down the heat, cover the pot with the lid slightly askew, and simmer on very low heat for a good 2 to 3 hours, until the meat falls apart and the broth is rich and brown. Stir the stew occasionally, and ensure that the liquid isn’t evaporating too quickly (add a small amount of water when necessary). Some like a watery bigos, but we find the tastiest outcome is for the sauerkraut, cabbage, and meat all to be practically melted together, with enough sauce to keep everything moist, but not so much that any of the ingredients float, as in a more traditional stew.

7. Serve in a large casserole with a big spoon and thick slices of dark peasant bread. You’ll of course need utensils, but the fun of it is to shovel the bigos and its juices on to the bread. Bigos lasts forever, and gets better with time. One of Anne’s friends routinely makes this on Wednesday to serve on Saturday night, and swears that it improves every day.

www.seriouseats.com

POPPY SEED CAKES

Makowiec is a wonderful example of a festive enriched bread that is central to the Christmas celebrations in Poland.

Poppy seed roll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPsOMGLwJbI

• Put the raisins, mixed peel, nuts and lemon zest into a food processor along with the poppy seeds an process until you have a rough paste and there are no longer any large pieces of nut or raisin. You can leave this chunky if you like but I prefer a smoother texture.
• In a large pan, melt the butter then add the poppy seed mixture along with the honey and leave to cook over a low heat for around 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then remove from the heat.
• In a bowl beat together the egg whites until stiff. Beat the whole egg into the poppy seed mixture followed by the egg whites.
• Set the mixture to one side to cool while you make the dough.

Step 3: STAGE 2 -–the dough

In a large bowl place the dry ingredients (flour, icing sugar, salt and yeast). In a separate bowl or large jug combine the wet ingredients (eggs, egg yolks, sour cream, melted butter, alcohol and vanilla).

• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mixture and combine together adding additional warm water a tablespoon at a time until all the flour is incorporated and you have a rough dough.
• Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes or so until you have a smooth dough. Place in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rest for about an hour so that it doubles in size.

Step 4: STAGE 3 – Putting it all together

Makowki ( Polish Poppy Seed Bread Pudding)

It is typical Upper Silesian dessert.