Polish Luncheon

Today we held our monthly luncheon at Cheryl's house for the first time. The theme this month was the Republic of Poland (or Polska).

Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north.

Polish cuisine is a mixture of Slavic culinary traditions. It is rich in meat, especially chicken and pork, winter vegetables, and spices, as well as different kinds of noodles the most notable of which are the pierogi.

Pierogi have long been a traditional Polish food staple. Dough filled with cheese, potatoes, onions, cabbage, mushrooms, meat (or almost any other ingredient, savory or sweet, that you can think of), pierogi are served steaming hot boiled or fried and are accompanied by sour cream.

Our original menu was much smaller than at past luncheons. Here was the menu:

Polish Cucumber and Sour Cream Salad

Cauliflower A La Polonaise (Kalafior po Polsku)

Golombki (Stuffed Cabbage) Sauerkraut and Mushroom Pierogi
Cheese and Potato Pierogi
Polish Eggs

Polish Quick Cake With Fruit (Placek Z Owocami)

Three of our regulars were unable to come due to sickness and other reasons, so we didn't get to try the Polish cucumber and sour cream salad or the Cauliflower A La Polonaise.

Sandy tackled the task of making the Polish eggs.

The eggs are served in the shells, so if you've never done it before, it can be quite tricky trying to cut the egg shells without damaging them.

The eggs were boiled in water with a TBSP of vinegar added to the water. I don't know what the vinegar accomplishes, but that was in the instructions. The the shell is cut lengthwise and the eggs carefully scooped out.

The eggs are then mashed and mixed with sour cream, horseradish, dill, salt & pepper. Then the filling is placed into the shells.

The eggs are gently pressed into seasoned breadcrumbs, then placed face down into a pan of melted butter and cooked a minute or two until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

The eggs were pretty good, but I think it was a lot of trouble for the end result. (Sorry Sandy). There was nothing about them that wowed me.

Cheryl made the Golombki (Stuffed Cabbage) with Polish sausage.

The filling had:

1 Tbs Salt
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1/2 Cup Uncooked Rice
1 lb. Chopped Beef
1/2 Lb. Chopped Pork
1/2 Lb. Chopped Veal
1 med. onion, chopped
6 oz. tomato paste

I liked the cabbage rolls, but they didn't have much seasoning to them. I don't know if this is normal for Polish cabbage rolls, or if that was just the recipe that was found, but they were plain and I would have liked to have had more flavor to the rolls.

I made the pierogi.

The dough was a standard egg noodle or dumpling dough. I should have used my pasta maker, but I rolled out the dough by hand.

The first filling I made was the mushroom and sauerkraut one. The sauerkraut was rinsed and drained, then sauteed in butter. I used baby portabellas and some wild mushrooms, minced them, and sauteed them in butter as well as some onions. Then I mixed the onions, mushrooms, and sauerkraut together and seasoned them with pepper.

The other filling I made was for the cheese and potato pierogi. Farmer's cheese is used for this dish traditionally, but I couldn't find any at my local stores, so I used cottage cheese which is also used a lot for a substitute. First I drained the cottage cheese for a few hours in cheese cloth. The result did not resemble cottage cheese, but rather it looked like a ball of soft cheese.

I boiled potatoes and mashed them with the cheese. Then I mixed in a raw egg, sauteed onions, salt and pepper.

The fillings were cooled before I put together the pierogi. Once I put them together, I placed them in a pot of boiling water and cooked them until they rose to the top of the pan. I made them the night before the luncheon and froze them afterwards.

After I arrived at Cheryl's house, I took my thawed perogi and browned them in a pan of butter. To serve, they were topped with onions that had been sauteed in butter, and sour cream.

It was a lot of work, but the end result was worth it because they were a big hit. I am a huge potato fan, but my favorites were the mushroom and sauerkraut stuffed pierogi.

Sandy made the Polish Quick Cake With Fruit (Placek Z Owocami). Here is the cake recipe:

3 eggs
1/3 lb unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups flour
fruit, any type (apples, peaches, plums, etc.)

Beat butter and sugar until smooth an creamy. Add 1 egg at a time, alternating with flour and beat well until blended. Pour batter into grease 9 x 13 pan. Arrange fruit such as sliced peaches, apples dusted with cinnamon or plums sliced in half on top of cake so it's well distributed. Bake at 350°F 30 - 40 minutes until cake is golden. Cool and dust with icing sugar.

Sandy used peaches for her cake. I liked the cake. It was a nice finish to our little meal.

We called Paula, looking for her. She mixed up the date and thought the luncheon was next week! We told her to come on over anyway. So, we waited for her to arrive before we ate.

Lori was at the luncheon as well.

Debi, Susanne, and Sharon were sorely missed. But, we had a nice lunch anyway. The next luncheon is at Debi's house. We will be discarding our usual theme of making food from one country, and will be bringing family favorites for a Christmas luncheon.