Polish Cultural Dishes
Little Hoofs (Kopytka)
A good accompaniment to any meat dish.
5 potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 egg
flour
Mix the potatoes with the egg and add flour until you have a loose dough that does not stick to your fingers. Roll out the dough on a floured board and cut into thin noodle strips. Bring some salted water to boil and drop the noodles into it. They are ready when they float to the surface. Serves 6.
Cauliflower a la Polonaise (Kalafior po Polsku)
1 large cauliflower
salt
1/4 cup butter
4 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
Wash the cauliflower and divide into florets. Cook in a little salted boiling water until just tender. Drain. Meanwhile, melt butter and fry the breadcrumbs until golden; pour over cauliflower just before serving. Serves 6.
Potato Pancakes (Placki Kartoflane)
This is a typical Polish dish. This should be served hot, preferably directly from the frying pan or you can keep them warm in the oven.
3 large potatoes
1 small onion
salt and pepper
oil for frying
10 oz sour cream
Peel potatoes and onion and grate coarsely. Mix well and squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible. Season. Pour enough oil in frying pan. When pan is hot, put in large spoonfuls of the potato mixture and immediately flatten. They should be quite thin. When the underside is brown, turn it slowly to cook the other side. Serve with sour cream. Serves 4.
Potato Cutlets (Kotlety Ziemniaczane)
This should be served with dill sauce.
1 kg potatoes
2 eggs
1.7 oz plain flour
1.7 oz onion
1/8 cup butter
salt and pepper
1.7 oz dried breadcrumbs
butter/oil for frying
Peel and slice the potatoes and boil until soft. Mash thoroughly and leave to cool. Mix in eggs and flour. Dice the onion, fry in the butter until lightly browned and mix with the potatoes. Mash all again very thoroughly and season. Form the dough into a roll about 5cm thick and cut diagonally into 3 cm pieces. Form into cutlets, coat with breadcrumbs and fry on both sides in hot butter/oil until golden brown.
For the Dill Sauce:
1/8 cup butter
1 tbs flour
10 oz chicken stock or milk
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp chopped fresh dill
Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add flour and mix well. Gradually stir in stock or milk until it is a consistency of single cream. Stir in lemon juice and bring to boil, then add the dill. Simmer for 3 minutes before serving. Makes approx. 10 oz.
