Welcome to 2012

Here it is! It came in last night of December and it will stay with us until the last night of December 2012... Usually, I don’t like to look back and break down the situation and moments to the ‘first particles’... certainly not out loud... instead, I prefer to thank for what had happened or not happened, thank God... for the fact that I still have those I love around, and for the fact that those unfavourable have already gone... whew... for the fact that what was to be achieved, became such... 

And here, I must return to a cake that supposed to appear on the blog a few months ago and somehow it never happened. Either the computer crashed while I was writing the post and then the vein has disappeared and then my memory failed miserably... etc etc. Today, it’s a perfect time to close 2011 with this Polish Style Brownie with Apples from my dear friend, Danusia. I have written once here about distance baking. This time, however I’m the only one who’s baking, and my friends is a chef. On Skype. She  indicates the ingredients, how to mix, what to beat and stir... in the meantime, we’re gossiping, sharing another cup of tea... I look into the oven and and I still can’t believe – it’s baked! Compared to my previous Brownie, which was rather of liquid texture, this came out perfectly, thanks to Danusia! It's a pity, we can't share a piece of this delicious cake in real with a lovely cup of hot tea...

Thank you Dear! For being here, not only during baking, and for your support... not just in cooking! 

Polish Style Brownie with Apples 

1.5 cups of plain flour 

1 cup oil 

1 cup sugar 

3 - 4 medium apples (I used a Bramley apples) 

½ teaspoon cinnamon 

3 eggs 

1 teaspoon of baking soda 

2 tablespoons of cocoa 

Corn Flour + Butter 

Separate the yolk from white. Mix the egg yolks with sugar until light in the mixer. In the meantime, mix the flour with soda. Add the egg yolks and continue to stir. Then gradually add the oil, alternating with flour. 

Then, beat the egg whites until stiff and add to the yolks and sugar, stirring constantly. Now, add cocoa mixed with cinnamon. When the mass is smooth, add peeled and cut into small cubes apples. Then smear the baking tray with butter and sprinkle with flour and pour the mixture into the tray. Put the tray into the oven preheated to 60 degrees oven. Then after a few minutes, raise the temperature to 120 degrees so that the dough rise with the temperature, and after another 15 minutes at 170 degrees. At this temperature, bake for about 60 minutes. 

As for the New Year's Wish? Hmm... this year without the special one... maybe the only one - a tiny one... Happiness! Whatever it means... 

We wish you all Happy 2012! 

Daria and Yarek

Culinary Christmas Wishes

Ingredients: 

Measure of appetite 

Few cubes of nice atmosphere 

Pinch of surprises and gifts 

Few drops of romantic aroma 

A glass of kindness 

Few tablespoons of sweet moments 

Bunch of closest friends and family 

Method: 

Combine all ingredients and mix with hot beautiful moments. Pour into a clean bowl of love, decorate with lots of hugs and kindness, sprinkle with little gifts and memories. Bake in the aroma of friendship and understanding. Serve on a plate of acceptance and trust with your family and friends! Enjoy your Christmas dinner! 

To all our readers, friends and family, we wish you a Merry Christmas! 

Daria and Jarek

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go...

There are millions of things to love about Christmas... Carols that are sang on the streets, the radiant beams of lights and garlands in a windows, the scent of spruce, orange and cinnamon that fill the air at home... a snow balls that when shaken are releasing familiar sounds of Christmas songs ... It's also a season of magical kindness and caring which spread around like an epidemics... 

It is also a tradition that is passed through generations, which I’m drawing on a piece of kitchen notepad... perhaps one day I will pass it onto my children... One of these traditions is waiting for the one and only special dinner and a careful preparation of various delicacies, which is an integral part of the festive season in Poland. Our mothers and grandmothers spent long days on preparing the best home recipes, which they handed down to us carefully. I remember when, as a child a few days before Christmas Eve, I watched my mother bustling around the kitchen stirring, kneading and mixing something... I remember myself peeking into the oven through a little glass window and waiting for the cake to raise... I also remember how I helped to chop the onion for the pickled herrings... brrrr... I probably cried for Poland at the time... :)

Every year in our family home, a typical Christmas Eve dinner included a traditional herrings in sour cream. A few days before Christmas Eve, me and my mother marinated tones of herrings in vinegar and then at dinner they were served in aromatic sour cream sauce and accompanied by jacket potatoes. And this year, me and Yarek won’t miss them in our house too... However, we love to experiment a little, so apart from our traditional herrings we will have a little herring roulades with red pesto. 

Traditional herring in sour cream 

6 salted herring fillets ala Matias 

2 medium onions 

400g sour cream (18%) 

Freshly ground pepper 

1 bay leaf 

3 grains allspice 

A few days earlier, rinse the herring fillets thoroughly with water and prepare a vinegar marinade. 

For this you need: 2 medium onions, 100ml of vinegar (10%), 400ml of water, 8 grains of allspice, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper and a teaspoon of sugar. 

Pour vinegar into a saucepan with water, season with allspice and bay leaves. Add the sugar, salt and pepper (at your discretion). Bring to a boil and cook about 5 minutes. Let it cool for 30 minutes. In the second pot, put sliced onion and blanch them with boiling water and allow to cool. Fill previously preserved jars with a layer of herring fillets cut in chunks and a layer of onion slices. When the jar is full, pour the cooled marinade together with allspice and bay leaves. Seal the jars and set aside in a cool place. Thus prepared herring may be stored for months. 

When the Christmas Eve comes, so marinated herring pull out into a bowl, add freshly sliced ​​onions (the amount at your discretion). Mix sour cream with sugar, salt and freshly ground black pepper. You can add a few drops of lemon juice. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. In our family home, we always added a little bay leaf and a few grains of allspice to this creamy mixture to give an extra flavour. Pour the prepared sour cream to the bowl with herrings. And you're done! Serve with jacket potatoes or bread. 

Experimental herring roulades in red pesto. 

6 slices of salted herring 

2 cups olive oil 'Extra Virgin' 

Red pesto 

A small handful of basil leaves 

40g parmesan cheese 

30g walnuts 

1 or 2 cloves of garlic 

150g of sun dried tomatoes 

A few tablespoons of olive oil 'Extra Virgin' 

A touch of balsamic vinegar 

Toss all ingredients into a food processor or blender and mix until a paste. 

If you have more time, you can also use a mortar. Add a little more olive oil if the pesto is too dry. Transfer to a jar and let stand for some time until flavours are combined beautifully. 

Rinse the herring fillets thoroughly under water and dry with paper towels. Cut each fillet lengthwise into halfs in order to obtain two long thin slices. Cover each piece of herring with red pesto generously and roll into a little roulades securing with wooden toothpick. Thus prepared roulades can be now composed tightly in jars previously preserved. Pour olive oil. It is important to thoroughly cover all the herring with oil to prevent rotting. Then gently shake jar to get rid of the air bubbles and twist tightly. Thus prepared herring roulades may be stored in a cool place for months and months. It taste best after a few days when all the flavourings mix together.

Oh happy days!!! Enjoy!

Daria & Yarek

November Reminiscences

Well, and again we disappeared for a few moments... that's only because last month was full of events, beautiful meeting, culinary news, and a small kitchen tragedy... 

Starting from the fact that this year, autumn arrived to the island like never before... beautiful and long. You can see that only on postcards, full of gold and red colours, surprisingly not so rainy and  the temperature outside was just perfect, distracting and inviting for a long walks... so staying indoors was definitely not an option!

We also experienced a small kitchen tragedy... :( Our beloved food processor of a very reputable brand (we will not say which one) could not bear our culinary impressions, it mumbled, wheezed and broke down completely... it wouldn’t be so surprising if it didn’t happen the day after the warranty expired and I must mention that the warranty lasts for a year.  So, considering the brand and the price of the machine, it should last for years... I remember those old-fashion food processors at my mum's home, which were not so technically advanced, and served us for many years... I have to definitely mention the juicer (I won’t mention the brand either) that we had to hold tight in our hands, otherwise it would have flown all over the kitchen... and the carrot juice from it was so delicious...

In the middle: Frederick Rossakovsky-Lloyd

November this year was also marked by various artistic/friendly/cultural events. Definitely, I wanted to mention the exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Frederick Rossakovsky-Lloyd. Frederick asked us to prepare a catering for his private view, which accompanied greatly the contemplation of his art... so, it happened... Our menu included various tiny appetizers, such as packets of feta and grapes carefully rolled in parma ham by Yarek and tied with chives; mini potato pancakes with feta cheese, spinach and garlic mini tarts, little Thai ‘mar hor’ bites made of pineapple with onion chutney and peanut butter, muffins with goat cheese and thyme. I have to admit that the evening was successful and our little bites disappeared in the blink of which made us even happier...

Little Parma Ham Parcels with Feta Cheese

5 slices of Parma ham or prosciutto

8  grapes

 150g Feta cheese

A few sprigs of chives

Rinse and dry the grapes, cut lengthwise into halves. Each slice of ham slice lengthwise into three strips of equal length. Similarly, cut feta cheese into 1.5 cm cubes. Next, lay a slice of ham on a board, put a feta cubes on it and half of the grapes, wrap each side together with the chives so that look like a small 'package'.

Potato Cakes with Feta and Herbs

3 large potatoes

70g feta cheese

a few sprigs of chives

handful of dill

1 egg

salt and pepper (to taste)

1 clove of garlic

handful of bread crumbs

olive oil

Boil the potatoes and mash it in a processor or with a fork. Crumble feta cheese with a fork, add to the potatoes and mix thoroughly. Add rest of ingredients and mix together with a wooden spoon. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees on the 'grill' option. Then, form small cakes and cover with a breadcrumbs. Put the potato cakes on a baking tray and sprinkle with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes, turning until golden brown. Serve hot or cold as a snack.

Enjoy your meal and have a warm evening!

Our daily bread...

For centuries, bread had a very important role in human life - not only was the basic food, but also had a symbolic dimension. Its symbolism is extremely rich. Bread was often considered as an unusual food, noble, and in many cultures, especially in Christian was a symbol of holiness. It meant fertility, wisdom and wealth. Therefore, always consumed during vows and masses. Bread also symbolized dignity and worth of human labour... and the habit of sharing bread survived to this day symbolising friendship and hospitality. According to this beautiful custom, we meet today (online) with all home bakers of the world to share our delicious slice of bread with oat flakes ... 

All bakers, we wish you delicious and beautiful loaves! 

Oatmeal Bread 

By Jeffrey Hamelman ‘Bread’/found at Polka

375g white, strong bread flour 

125g wholemeal flour (100%) 

83g rolled oats 

313g water (at a temperature of 24C) 

50g milk 

33g runny honey 

33g vegetable oil 

11g salt 

1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast 

Place the oats in a mixing bowl and add the warm water and let stand for 20 minutes. When softened, can be easily crushed between the fingers. Add the remaining ingredients and knead everything thoroughly. The dough should be moderately loose with slight tackiness from the honey. 

Cover the bowl with the linen cloth and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours. Fold the dough once, after 1 hour. When the dough doubles, gently shape the round loaf and moisten the surface with water (I did it with my own hands) and then sprinkle with oats. Thus prepared loaf, cover with a cloth and leave to rise again for about 1.5 hours. 

Bread can be baked in a baking tray. However, we used the baking stone (pizza stone). This needs to be put into a cold oven so that it’s warming up with it. Preheat oven to 240 degrees C and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 220 degrees C to finish the bake in a receding oven for 10-15 minutes. 

Happy World Bread Day 2011!!!!

Something cheap, something easy, something delicious... Asian broth with meatballs and winter greens.

I often flip through magazines in search of culinary inspiration or just a food that can be done in the blink of an eye. I noticed one interesting regularity - most recently in the British culinary magazines you can read more and more articles dedicated to 'Budget Meals'. In times of overwhelming economic crisis, culinary journalists are full of ideas for the cheapest and quickest dishes. The idea seems to be great, of course if we do not lose the quality of the ingredients. And in huge majority of cases the quality of recommended ingredients is very surprising. I must admit that many of these 'budget' ideas captivated us so much that we really want to share them with you... :)  not even because of the price, which seems to be peanuts, but also in terms of diversity of ingredients and simplicity of preparation.

So, tonight we share with you an 

Asian broth with meatballs and winter greens.

Serves 2/ Easy/ 30 minutes

250g lean pork mince

6 green onions  (3 finely chopped, 3 sliced)

4cm piece fresh ginger (peeled, 1/2grated, 1/2 sliced​​)

2 red chillies (1 finely chopped, 1 cut into strips)

2 handfuls of bread crumbs

sesame oil

1l chicken/vegetable broth 

2 star anise

soy sauce

 100g Kale or other greens/cabbage 

Mix the pork mince, finely chopped spring onion, grated ginger, finely chopped chillies and breadcrumps and 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil in a large bowl. Season really well then form into small balls. Brown all over in a non-stick frying pan. 

Put a chicken stock, star anise, sliced ginger and a good splash of soya sauce in a large saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes and add the kale and meatballs, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add a teaspoon of sesame oil and the sliced spring onions and chilli. Serve in a large bowls.

Isn't it easy peasy? 

Have a lovely evening!

The recipe comes from the 'BBC Olive' by Janine Ratcliffe. 

Great-grandmother's Buchty with plum marmalade.

Living on a foreign land and being a stranger can be a bit difficult at the times... well, at least nowadays no one force us to choose where we live... however, we’re still far away from our families and friends... Me and Karolka are a living proof of the long, beautiful friendship at a distance... separated by thousands of miles and so we meet together to bake... Today, we return to our native Eastern European traditions... we see each other in a small window of Skype, on a laptop laid on the kitchen table... carefully studying Karolka’s great-grandmother recipe for Buchty. Buchty are one of the most famous baked buns filled with marmalade, ideally plum marmalade. They are one of those recipes that you pass from generation to generation and this is how Karolka got hers from her grandmother, who apparently had received it from her mother... 

I love our long lasting conversations on the Skype... we're gossiping, sharing the news of recent days, disputing about cooking, gardening and medicine, our men, politics (sometimes as it always makes us very angry)... hehehe in a meantime, we’re mixing all the ingredients: flour, milk, yeast, melted butter. We’re drinking tea with lemon (don’t confuse it with lemon tea), we’re talking about flowers and herbs. When buns are prepared and they doubled their size, we shove them into the oven and wait. We've got a moment to gossip about everything and nothing... the weather today is beautiful, better than in a summer. There is something strange going on with the weather in our part of globe, we can’t believe that a few days ago we wore an autumn, heavy cardigans... Ok, our buns are ready, they smell lovely, let’s take them out – we say. We’re taking pictures, showing our buns to each other... we’re so excited and feel as if we were right next to each other... like those little buns in a baking tray... 

‘Buchty’ Buns with homemade plum marmalade. 

1 / 8 l milk 

20 g fresh yeast 

75 g sugar (at your discretion) 

80 g butter 

250 g plain flour 

2 eggs 

Pinch of salt 

120 g plum marmalade (I used my own home made marmalade) 

Extra: ½ cup butter melted in a pan 

For crust: 2 tablespoons butter, dissolved in a little pot, 4 teaspoons sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar. Mix all ingredients to a lumpy consistency. 

Heat the milk. Combine crushed fresh yeast in a bowl and mix with half of the preheated milk and 1 tablespoon sugar. In a large bowl, sprinkle the bottom of the same pinch of salt (in our case about ½ teaspoon) Add flour. Make a small hole in the flour and pour yeast mixture into it and sprinkle them with flour. Allow to rise for 15 minutes in a warm place. 

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. 

To the bowl with the flour and yeast, add 1 egg yolk and 1 egg. Combine with remaining sugar and milk. Using wooden spoon, mix all the ingredients together by moving the spoon from the bottom to the top of the dough to form a smooth dough. You never knead your yeast dough in a machine, the whole secret is in the mixing with the wooden spoon so you can see a bubbles on outer side of the dough. Then pour warm (not hot) butter on the walls of the bowl and doing the same movements with a spoon from the bottom quickly form a smooth dough. The dough should be thick so you can easily form a small balls. Optionally, you can add raisins previously soaked in milk and dried. Cover and place the bowl in a warm place for at least an hour. The dough should double its size. 

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Then smear the baking tray with butter and sprinkle with flour. 

Melt an extra 100g of butter in a pan and use it to cover your hands so the dough is not sticking to the skin. Gently press the dough and divide into 8 large servings. Take each ball and push a teaspoon of plum jam inside it. Each of the balls, dipped in butter and put in the tray. Allow to double the volume for 15 - 30 minutes. Then, using a kitchen brush to smear each ball with egg white and sprinkle with the crumble. 

Bake for 30 minutes. Great warm or cold with a Glass of milk. 

Enjoy!