Polish Christmas: Tofu á la Grec

One of the Traditional Christmas dishes in Poland is fish with vegetables in Greek style. I tried this receipt with other things besides fish and it works great.

The dish is very flexible in terms of vegetables; you can pretty much use any veggies you have on hand. Another advantage of this dish is that it can be made in advance even 2-3 days ahead. The flavours penetrate the tofu, beans, meat or fish and make it even more delicious.

Ingredients:
1 block of tofu (semi firm)
1 onion
1 large zucchini
1 red pepper
1 large carrot
1 parsnip
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
4 large tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
salt, pepper to taste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Optional: veggie stock, oil



Steps:
1. Sauté onion and garlic for a few minutes
2. Julien all other vegetables (except tomatoes), then add them to the onion. Reduce gas mark to 2.2-2.6.
3. Add 1-2 tbsp of water (or veggie stock or oil). Cook for 10 minutes before proceeding with the next step.
4. Chop tomatoes, and add them to the vegetable. Add tomato paste and all remaining spices and vinegar. Continue cooking on a low gas mark.
5. Slice tofu and place on the baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.
6. Place baked tofu in a baking pan, cover with cooked veggies and its sauce. I like to keep it in the fridge for a day or two before reheating and serving for dinner.
7. Enjoy!

Pierogi Fillings - mushrooms, cabbage and mushrooms, potato and cheese

For Christmas I usually make 3 different fillings, mushrooms and cabbage and mushrooms are traditional filling at Christmas time. My son only likes the potato and cheese filling so I make this most common in Poland pierogi filling as well.

Mushroom filling
Ingredients:
1 cup of dried wild mushrooms, soak (water from soaking can be added to the cabbage stew, cabbage and mushroom filling, or barszcz)
2 cups of mixed mushrooms. Usually I opt for mushrooms like oysters, shittake, chanterelles, or any mushroom available locally
1 large onion
sea salt, pepper to taste

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minutes
Add finely chopped mushrooms (both soaked dried and fresh) to the pot
season with salt and pepper
Usually there is no need to add any water as salt will pull water from mushrooms so you will have enough juice for cooking.
Cook on a very low heat for several hours (gas mark 1.6-2.2 for 4-6 hours), stirring occasionally (once every 30 min or so).


Cabbage and mushrooms filling
Ingredients:
0.5 cup of sauerkraut (drained)
0.75 cup of fresh cabbage
1 large onion
1 cup of mushrooms (dry and fresh)
0.25 tsp caraway seeds
salt and pepper to taste
2 prunes (might be needed if your sauerkraut is very sour)

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minutes
Add finely chopped sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, and mushrooms
Add the spices - caraway seeds, salt, and pepper
Cook on a very low heat for several hours (gas mark 1.6-2.2 for 4-6 hours), stirring occasionally (once every 30 minutes or so).


Potato and cheese filling
Ingredients:
500 g of cooked potatoes (soft like for mashed potatoes)
500 g of quark or pressed cottage cheese (you can make your own with milk and yoghurt)
1 onion
1 tbsp ground cumin
salt, pepper to taste

Steps:
Sauté finely chopped onion for a few minute
Mash potatoes with cheese
Mix all ingredients together

Polish Christmas: Millet with Poppy seeds

Over the last couple of years I made another twist on my favourite Christmas Dish - Pasta with Poppy seeds. I decided to replace pasta with millet; and it turned out to be my favourite version!

Wheat berries that are often used instead on pasta in the traditional kutia, the Christmas dish very popular in the Eastern Poland close to the Ukrainian border, are very hard to find in my region of Canada.



Ingredients:
1.5 cup of cooked millet (I like to rinse it a couple of times before cooking, at times I soak it)
1.5 cup of poppy seeds (soaked in hot water for 2 days and rinsed 4 times)
0.5 cup of dried fruits - I use figs and dates, raising work well too
0.5 cup of nuts - I like the best pistachios and almonds in this recipe
1 lemon - juice and zest
4 tbsp of raw honey






Steps:
1. Place soaked and drained poppy seeds in the blender with honey and lemon juice. Blend until it is fairly smooth and poppy seeds are crushed. This is very important step and may require few minutes. Whole poppy seeds are quite bitter and you may need more honey to compensate if you do not crush them enough.
2. Add all remaining ingredients, and mix well.
3. Traditionally it is a Christmas dessert. I also enjoy it for breakfast after Christmas. It can be stored in the fridge for a week.
4. Enjoy!

Condiments: Home Made Horseradish

Horseradish is one of my favourite condiments. In Canada I find it very challenging to find one that is actually tasty, as they are either too creamy and mild, or too vinegary. Making horseradish at home is very simple. Yet, usually it is a clean up session for your eyes if you try to grate it so many stay away from this function. But there is a solution - blend it!

Ingredients:
One medium size horseradish root
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tsp of sea salt
3 tsp of sugar
Around 1.5 cups of ice cubes
If desired you can add some cream (I don't as I like it very strong)

Preparation:
Peel and clean the horseradish. Then add all ingredients into a fast speed blender. Blend until it is a smooth consistency.

Enjoy with cooked eggs, meats, cheeses, or as an ingredient in sauces and soups. 

Spring Sorrel Soup

I grew up waiting for Spring to eat my favourite soup - the Sorrel Soup. Sorrel is one of my key indicators of Spring and upcoming warmer weather. I remember being excited seeing sorrel in the store when I was a kid and asking my mom to make sorrel soup. I love everything about sorrel - its color, its tanginess, how well I feel after eating it (It is a high oxylate - remember to rotate your greens!).

Since I left Poland it was one of the foods I was missing the most; food I could not get enough of during each of my visits to the country. Once I started my little garden patch it was obvious that sorrel is going to be one of the plants in it.

Today I am sharing my sorrel soup recipe.

Ingredients:
6 cups of vegetable stock
2 carrots
4 potatoes
1.5 medium size onions
3 garlic cloves
4 cups of fresh sorrel
2 egg yolks
1-2 tbsp of cream (optional)
2 bay leaves
4 whole allspice
3 tbsp of ghee
sea salt
pepper

Instructions:
1. Cook the vegetable stock with bay leaves, chopped carrots, and chopped potatoes.
2. Heat the ghee and gently fry chopped onions and crushed garlic cloves. Once done, add them to the stock. Cook for approx 20-25 minutes.
3. Boil a pot of water, add chopped sorrel. Cook on a high heat for 2 minutes. Remove sorrel into the blender.
4. Add few spoons of the soup with some chunks of vegetables. Quickly blend it, it does not have to be smooth. Add back to the soup. Cook for another 5 minutes.
5. Take 2 yolks and whisk them with a fork. You can add cream if you want. If you added cream you need to add some soup to warm it up before adding it to the pot. If you only have egg yolks you can whisk them into the soup.
6. You can serve it with cooked egg sliced, or cut into quarters.
7. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Soup

I had been struggling a bit with allergies over the last couple of weeks. This has been eating up my time as I had to focus on reducing my symptoms rather than enjoying life.

This soup is low in histamine and will help everyone suffering at this time of the year. The recipe is based on Yasmina, the Low Histamine Chef.

Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash

1 large onion

3 garlic cloves

0.5 can of coconut milk

2-3 tbsp of black sesame seeds

pinch of saffron

5 large basil leaves

3-4 cups of water

sea salt

pepper

ghee

Instructions:

1. Roast the whole butternut squash 

2. Use ghee to fry chopped inion with crushed garlic cloves.

3. Fill the pot  with 3-4 cups of water and coconut water, add the roasted squash chunks, fried onion with garlic. All all remaining ingredients. 

4. Cook on a gas mark 2.6 for about 25 minutes.

5. Blend all the ingredients.

6. You can serve the soup with with fresh herbs.

7. Enjoy!

Banana Oatbran muffins with Cacao Nibs

This week we let the bananas overripe, not on purpose of course. I hate throwing out food and usually I try to create the recipe to use the food before it goes bad.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of red fife flour (or eincorn flour)
1 cup of oatbran
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of coconut water
3 overripe bananas, mashed (I mashed them with a fork)
2 tbsp of cacao nibs
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Process:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. I did not take the blender out, just used a regular spoon.
Place the dough in the muffin forms.
Bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes. Let them cool off in the over for 5-10 minutes.
Enjoy!