Pierogi are addicting.
The most common fillings are potato and cheese, ground meat, and sauerkraut and mushroom. Sweet cheese, berries, and sour cherries are also popular.
They can be served boiled or fried, almost always have a side of sour cream, and the savory versions are usually topped with diced caramelized onions.
This is a recipe for potato and cheese, aka ruskie pierogi. Continue reading
Kotlety mielone, or ground meat patties, are a home cooking classic. These are easy to make and are great as left overs so you can make a few days worth of dinner at once woooo! You can also use any kind of ground meat you like, just make sure you get the best quality meat you can find.
Gołąbki, golubtsi, Polish burritos…stuffed cabbage. From Poland to Ukraine to Turkey all the way to Azerbaijan, stuffed cabbage occupies a spot in top 10 comfort food lists of countless cuisines. Continue reading
The humble potato shines in this basic recipe and makes approximately 65 heavenly potato pillows. Kluski are delicious when fried with some butter and breadcrumbs on a pan, with a mushroom sauce, or in soups. Continue reading
I’ve already raved about buckwheat in a savory recipe post, so I don’t need to do it again here! Roasted buckwheat for breakfast might sound strange to some, but it’s a great way to start the day. You can add whatever you might add to oatmeal to this, but I had strawberries, raisins, and almonds on hand for this recipe. Continue reading
Naleśniki are a basically the Polish version of French crepes. I guess these are also like blintzes (?) but I won’t try to wrap my head around the differences, if there are any (I actually think they are the same). I simply know them as naleśniki and they are fantastic! Continue reading
Oh man, I remember running home after school as a little girl to get my hands on some hot zapiekanki…ahhh memories. Zapiekanki are toasted open-face baguettes that are typically topped with mushrooms, onions, cheese, and ketchup. But really, they are communist food shortage pizzas from Poland. This poor man’s pizza is the product of hard times in 1970s Poland that saw an astronomical rise in basic Continue reading
Alright, so I wanted some blinis and smoked salmon the other day (how Russian — привет!). I went to the store to get some smoked salmon, which is already a bit indulgent, and saw there were some blinis as well. I was feeling lazy and I thought, what the heck, I’ll get store bought. Welllll, that’s before I looked at the price. Let’s just say they were a bit expensive for glorified mini pancakes, and, they weren’t even made of buckwheat flour! Homemade it is then.
Ahhh, bigos. Is there anything more hearty or traditional? I think not. Bigos, or hunter’s stew is considered by many to be the national dish of Poland. However, you’d be hard pressed to find two identical family recipes for bigos, and quite frankly there is no wrong way to make this. As long as you have sauerkraut and some meat, you’re set. This is because bigos is a quintessential peasant dish—whatever ingredients people had available to them to feed their families went in! Food is fuel!!! Obviously, the availability of ingredients varied by region, city, and family, and that is why we ended up with 10 x 10^235 recipes of bigos.
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Buckwheat is the bomb. It tastes delicious and is incredibly healthy for you! It is prepared like many common grains, but it actually is a seed that isn’t from the grass family. Buckwheat is a good source of protein, fiber, iron, zinc, and manganese, but, it contains no gluten! Now you’re sold. Hooray!
Now, while buckwheat is not particularly popular in the U.S., it is a staple Poland and much of Eastern Europe. Continue reading
Zofia's Kitchen 