Polish dishes

Instructions

• To make your filling place raw poppyseeds in a medium pot and cover with water. Soak for about 10 minutes, then boil for 20 minutes. Keep en eye on it to make sure there is enough water to cover. After 20 minutes drain.

• In the mean time, place raisins in a glass and cover with water and let soak.

• Next you will need a meat grinder with the fine grinding plate (smallest holes). Put your poppyseeds through the grinder, TWICE.

• Heat a large and deep pan, add butter, sugar, drained raisins, walnuts and ground up poppyseeds and stir until all ingredients combine. Set aside to cool.

• Whisk the saved egg white plus the additional 1 egg white (2 egg whites in total) until stiff peeks form. Fold into poppyseed filling.

• To make dough place flour in a large mixing bowl, add egg and egg yolk, sugar, baking powder and diced butter (you can do this step in a food processor with a knife attachment). Work with your hands to form a dough.

• Line a 9 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper. Cut away about 1/3 of the dough and line the bottom and sides of the pan. Wrap the rest of the dough and the pan with dough in it in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

• Preheat oven to 350 ℉ / 180 ℃. Take out pan and the remaining dough out of the fridge and fill the crust with cooled off poppyseed filling. Roll out the remaining dough and place on top of the filling - you may choose to only cut out designs and place on top or cover the whole top. Pinch edges of top and bottom dough layers.

• Whisk the remaining 1 egg white and brush onto the top of the cake.

• Bake for 45-50 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Instructions

BROTH

1. Wash, peel and slice your beets into thin slices. Place in a sterilized glass or ceramic pickling container. Add sugar, salt, garlic, bread, and water. Set on the counter for 5 days to sour.

2. One night before you're ready to cook broth, place dried mushrooms in a pot and add 2 ½ cups of water to soak (make sure the pot's large enough to fit about 8 cups / 2 liters of liquid). The next day, to soaking mushrooms add cleaned and peeled celery root, carrots, parsnip, onion, peppercorns, allspice berries, and salt and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Strain the liquid and return it to the pot. Reserve the vegetables.

3. Strain beets that have been souring, reserving the water. Add ¼ cup of vinegar to them to prevent losing rich red color.

4. Clean and peel fresh beets, slice thinly and add to mushroom / vegetable broth. Also add the beets from souring. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove beets. Add sour beet water and heat up throughout, but DO NOT BOIL.

5. To finish off, add butter, marjoram, and crushed garlic. Taste. If it's too sour / vinegary, add a bit more sugar. Also add a bit more salt, if needed. Soup is ready!

DUMPLINGS

1. To make dumpling: if using wild mushrooms from preparing beet broth, just place cooked mushrooms in a food processor along with vegetables (carrots, parsnips, celery root) and blend until they're chopped, but not blended into paste.

2. If you're preparing dumplings without making beet broth, soak mushrooms overnight (or for at least 4 hours) in 2½ cups of water, then boil in the same water for about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Once cooled off, place in a food processor and blend until finely chopped but not blended into paste. Wash baby portobellos and finely chop (or place in a food processor).

3. In a medium skillet, heat butter, add minced onion and portobellos, sprinkle with salt. Sauté until cooked and most of liquid has cooked off. Add chopped wild mushrooms and heat through until all liquid has cooked off. Taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.

4. Prepare dough by combining flour, egg, water, and salt, and kneading on a floured surface until smooth dough forms.

5. Fill a large pot with water, add about 1 teaspoon of salt and a splash of oil and start heating.

6. In batches, roll out dough to about ⅛ of an inch / 3 millimeters thickness.

7. With a small glass (about 2 inches / 5 centimeters in diameter), cut out circles. Fill each circle with about a ½ teaspoon of mushroom filling. Close each dumpling and press edges with a fork to seal.

8. Once sealed, gently stretch dumpling longways, wrap around one finger and pinch the two pointy ends together to form a round dumpling - see photos above.

9. After dropping into boiling water (in batches of about 20-30), stir gently off the bottom to prevent sticking. Turn heat down to low; water should only be slightly simmering (not rolling boil). When all dumplings float to the top, they are done. Remove from pot and place on a large surface to cool (without touching), or serve right away.

Instructions

1. Rinse the cabbage in a strainer, put it in a pot, pour water to cover it and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook covered until the cabbage is soft for about 40 minutes. Drain and squeeze out in a strainer.

2. In the meantime, fry the diced onion in a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil (approx. 7 minutes). Remove it from the pan and replace it with washed, dried and sliced ​​mushrooms. Pour an additional tablespoon of oil and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add peeled and grated carrot and parsley, fry together for another 5 minutes. In the meantime, season with salt and ground pepper (approx. 1/2 teaspoon) and add an additional tablespoon of oil.

4. Add the reserved onion, mix and heat for about 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and fry, stirring occasionally, for about 2 minutes.

5. To make the dough, use oil, flour and warm water. Mix until ingredients combine and form a dough ball. Transfer onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (3-4 minutes).

6. Cut away a portion and roll out with a rolling pin to about 2 millimeters in thickness. With a glass cut out circles, place filling on each circle and close to form pierogi. When ready to boil, bring a large pot of salted water to boil, then turn to low heat.

7. Place dumplings into the water in batches (7-10 at a time). Stir gently right away. When they float up to the top, let sit for about 2-3 minutes. Don't let the water roll: it may break your dumplings.

8. Remove from pot and spread on a large surface to cool (not touching), or serve right away. You can also brown them in a bit of butter until golden brown.

Instructions

1. In the same pot, bIn the same pot, boil whole unpeeled potatoes and carrots for about 30 minutes, or until knife pierces them smoothly. Don’t let them get too soft.

2. In a separate pot put eggs in salted cold water. Bring to a boil, turn it off and leave it on the same burner with the lid on for 15 minutes. Cool them down in cold water.

3. Remove the vegetables and eggs from boiling water and allow them to cool to room temperature prior to chopping. Peel the boiled potatoes and carrots with a small knife.

4. Chop ham, potatoes, carrots, pickles and eggs into equal size dice (pea size). 

5. Mix together potatoes, carrots, pickles, eggs, green onion and mayo. Add more mayo, Salt and pepper to taste.

6. Fold in the peas last so they aren’t crushed.

If you prefer more onion, pickles, or anything else; add more. Its easy to modify this recipe!