Category Archives: Recipes

Hunter’s Stew (Bigos)

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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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Paszteciki (Savory Mushroom and Cabbage Pastries)

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Paszteciki are baked, savory pastries that can be filled with ground meat or a mix of mushroom and cabbage. In my family, we eat mushroom and cabbage paszteciki by the dozens on Christmas Eve, along with red barszcz.  This recipe is vegetarian friendly and makes between 30-40 paszteciki.

If you like mushrooms, I think you will enjoy this recipe! Continue reading →

Chicken Noodle Soup (Rosół)

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Mmmmmm, homemade chicken noodle soup. Good for the stomach, good for the soul. That’s all you really need to know about this one!

Ingredients:

  • 5-7 chicken thighs/wings/legs
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 stalks of celery
  • 1 onion
  • 1 leek
  • 1 parsley root
  • 1/2 celery root

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Buckwheat with Onions and Mushrooms (Kasza Gryczana)

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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 →

Mushroom Stuffed Eggs

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Remember what I said about mushrooms being important in Polish cuisine? Yeah, well, here comes another mushroom recipe!  These mushroom stuffed eggs are really easy to make! We make these every Easter or when we just buy too many mushrooms and need to use them. My sister and I were in charge of making these last Easter and may have overstuffed just a bit as you can see in the picture…nahhhhh.
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Vegetable Salad (Sałatka Jarzynowa)

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Ahhh, sałatka.  When I heard the word sałatka (salad) as a kid, I did not think of a plate of greens.  Instead, my mouth would start watering at the thought of my mom’s delicious cubed vegetable salad.  For someone who has never had this type of dish before, it might seem like some sort of a potato salad.  Potatoes are a big component, but it shares space with other vegetables so it isn’t truly a potato salad.

In many countries, this type of dish is called Russian or Olivier salad. Its popularity extends from Eastern Europe all the way to Iran and Central Asia. This isn’t surprising when you consider the size and influence of Russia, and it shows just how cuisines around the world are influenced by one another. Continue reading →

Mushroom Soup

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mushroom soup

After going mushroom picking with my family, my great aunt made the most incredible mushroom soup. It smelled so warm and earthy and completely transformed mushroom soup for me! This is my attempt to recreate that meal and bring back some memories while utilizing some of those wild forest mushrooms.  Dried porcini mushrooms (or any dried wild mushrooms) that you find in most grocery stores have a deep, earthy flavor and should be the star of this dish.  You don’t need much to enhance the flavor!

Ingredients:

  • 1 package crimini mushrooms
  • 1 package white mushrooms
  • Small handful of dried mushrooms

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Farmer’s Cheese and Raisin Pancakes (Syrniki)

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 Syrniki

Batter Ingredients (makes about 12 pancakes):

  • 15oz of farmer’s cheese or 2 packages (twarog)
  • 4 eggs
  • ¾ cup of unbleached flour (+ another ⅓ cup for dusting the pancakes)
  • 2 tbsp of sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 lemon or half and orange
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 4 tbsp of olive oil or sunflower oil or butter (coconut oil could be a good substitute)

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Pickle Soup (Zupa Ogórkowa)

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Pickle soup?!? WHAAAT? Yes. Pickle soup. It has been a thing in Poland for quite some time! It is delicious, savory, and surprisingly doesn’t taste like a jar of pickles, but does have a bit of tang to it. Just try it!

As with all soups, this will taste better the next day, or after it has a chance to sit for a while. The ingredients an amounts below are a base, but add and taste and add and taste until you love it! The ABSOLUTE MOST IMPORTANT THING FOR THIS RECIPE IS YOU MUST USE GOOD PICKLES IN BRINE WITH LOTS OF GARLIC AND GOOD SEASONINGS AND NOTTTTT PICKLES IN VINEGAR!!!
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