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26 Nov Spiced pumpkin pierogi

Posted at 12:56h in Blog

The time has come to reflect and review...

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  • SUPPER CLUB 13th DECEMBER: Buckwheat blini, fermented beet #barszcz and #pierogi are just a few of the Polish veggie delights you can expect at my supper club next week. I even have a little handmade gift for you from @frankandlusia so come and kick of your Christmas off in Slavic style! Link to tickets in bio #supperclub
  • NEW PODCAST: Want to improve your Instagram? I did, so I did a mentoring session with the wonderful Kimberly @thelittleplantation which you can access through her bio. We talk about so much stuff, including my personal Insta journey, how to improve iPhone food photography and how to use Insta when you have no time! It was really fun to do and lots of ideas in there, so I think you might enjoy it #instapodcast
  • CHRISTMAS EVENT: I’m so looking forward to celebrating Christmas with you on Friday 13th December (a female power day according to ancient wisdom, turned “unlucky” during the witch hunts). There will be five veggie courses, a welcome drink and a surprise gift from @frankandlusia - #linkinbio👆
  • DELICIOUS DALSTON DINNER: squidgy ricotta stuffed dumplings (gnudi) @littleduckthepicklery - and plenty of ferments of course! I used to live just round the corner from here, sorry that this place wasn’t around then #hackneyfood
  • SUPPER CLUB MENU Welcome cocktail 🎄 Buckwheat blini with red vegetable “caviar” 🎄 Warsaw-style Borscht with fried beans and “uszka” dumplings 🎄 Wild mushroom “pierogi” with fermented purple cabbage stew 🎄 “Makowiec” poppyseed cake 🎄 Dried fruit “salad” Tickets are selling fast! #linkinbio👆
  • CHRISTMAS SUPPER CLUB: I am over the moon to announce that there is another supper club on the horizon! We will be celebrating Christmas the Polish way on Friday 13th December (female power day not bad luck day) from 7.30 @ydbmf - link to tickets in bio #supperclub
  • UKRAINIAN VARENYKY: I have been craving these for weeks! Ever since I found the recipe for these Ukrainian #dumplings in @oliahercules #mamushka they have become a staple #comfortfood in my house. I must admit I only ever do the salty Polish #twarog filling because it’s just so simple and tasty. To me, they are an easier, more rustic pierogi. I have also learnt that in some parts of eastern Poland a similar dough is used for pierogi and uszka. #easteuropeanfood #varenyky
  • SUNDAY BRUNCH: Plum butter swirls with cinnamon sugar, stewed rhubarb and baked bananas with yoghurt and Egyptian scrambled eggs with dates and tahini #sundaybrunch
  • CHOCOLATE PIEROGI: I just found some marbled chocolate #pierogi dough in the freezer - result! A couple of days ago I pulled a muscle in my leg running for a train and its made the simplest tasks - like walking to the shop - impossible, so I made this filling from what I had in the fridge: cream cheese and plum butter, and guess what? They were #delicious😋 - ate them with squirty cream #maplesyrup and toasted #walnuts from our garden in Poland #lunchtoday
  • LUNCH IDEA: Fry half a finely chopped red onion in some rapeseed oil until soft then add half a chopped, dried Polish sausage (this one is wild boar). Add some chopped kale and fry until soft. Season well. Finally, add some fermented purple cabbage but only to heat through. If you don’t have this, you could quick-pickle some purple cabbage in cider vinegar instead or even a grated carrot. Serve with a fried egg on top and crusty bread on the side #lunchinspo
  • KASZA GRYCZANA has a distinctive nutty, smokey flavour that goes incredibly well with mushrooms. You can buy toasted buckwheat groats from any Polish shop. You cook it like rice except when it looks like this, you wrap it in a towel and stick it under a blanket or duvet to steam for about an hour. You could just leave it to steam on your hob but this ancient method works best #buckwheat
  • I almost missed pierogi day! In fact, it was yesterday, but as it’s still yesterday in America I’ll take that as a win. I’ve been quite under it recently, in fact I’m posting this on a busy commuter train on my way to a lecture. I’ve started my PhD and busy working on my next book too, so I haven’t made pierogi for a while, but I will soon because I do love them so #nationalpierogiday
  • WEEKDAY MEALS SORTED: Make your own noodles! (4 portions) 🍝 200g flour 2 eggs 4 tablespoons water Pinch of salt 🍝 Kneed for about 7-8 minutes, then roll out as thin as possible. Allow to dry for 2 hours on top of a tea towel. After that time place on a floured surface, sprinkle with flour and cut into two. Loosely roll the two halves and cut into noodles of a thickness you like. These will keep in the fridge for about 5 days, in a plastic bag. Sprinkle more flour in there so they don’t stick together. Cook them for about 5min in salted water. 🍝 Lazy meal ideas: 1. Fry a tin of anchovies in the oil they are in until nearly falling apart. Add a bit more oil and a chopped courgette. Finally, noodles and a squeeze of lemon juice. 2. Fry thin slices of aubergine until brown, add some crushed garlic, tomato passata and basil leaves. Season. Add cooked noodles. 3. Fry a chopped leek until soft. Add some smoked salmon bits, creme fraiche and dill. Add cooked noodles and a squeeze of lemon. 4. Good quality stock: cook some vegetable bits in it: carrots, courgettes, mushrooms, green beans etc. Squeeze in some lemon/lime and add cooked noodles. Top with chopped chillies and coriander.
  • Recipe for Autumn on a plate 🍂 You’ll need dried about 50g of dried mushrooms (these were picked by my uncle but you can buy them from any Polish shop), 100g pearl barley, 20g butter, half an onion, 200ml chicken stock, garlic clove, salt and pepper and parsley and soured cream to serve. This serves 3. 🍂 Wash the dried mushrooms, then soak them in boiling water overnight. Chop them them roughly before use. Wash the pearl barley and chop the onion finely. Fry the onion in a knob of butter and after 2min add the pearl barley and the mushrooms. Stir and add the water from the mushrooms (about 100ml) and about 100ml of chicken stock. Add a crushed garlic clove. Bring to a boil, then cover, turn the heat down and allow to simmer all together for about 45min, but check every 15min and add more stock if it’s looking dry. Uncover for the last 10min or so. Finally, season with salt and white and black pepper. Serve sprinkled with parsley and with a dollop of soured cream. We are eating a fermented slaw on the side of course! #lunchtoday
  • Don’t you just love #Autumn🍂 ? One of my favourite #breakfasts at this time of year is #kaszamanna - semolina porridge - today, with cacao, toasted almonds and my mum’s plum butter or #konfitury (you can buy this in any polish shop) but I am always coming up with new topping ideas (and they are all on my feed) #porridgelover
  • Need some quick lunch or weekday dinner inspo? I’ve got just the ticket - parboil some delicious new 🥔 then slice them roughly. Meanwhile chop an onion, fry it in rapeseed oil (at this point I also added some dried seaweed too but that’s optional) add the ‘tatoes and mix until covered in oil. Chop some #cavolonero (thanks for the veg @farmdrop ) and add that to the pan, along with some oregano. Fry for a few minutes, then add a splash of white wine, season well and add a mug of good quality stock. Add a handful of frozen peas. Cover and cook for 5-10min. Finally, you can cook some eggs in there (covered for about 1min), or a slice of fish... today, I crumbled some Latvian #hempbutter in - thank you @vinotava - for a nutty finish. You can scroll to see what that wonder looks like. #meatfreemonday
  • In need of #healthylunch inspiration? A large bowl of #kasza salad could last you until the end of week and you can have all sorts of sides so it tastes different each day. I used #millet , green beans, broccoli, cherry tomatoes with #seabuckthorn and #oregano in the dressing. On the side today: #labneh with oregano and toasted #pumpkinseeds - full recipe will be in my stories shortly (as soon as I’ve eaten this) #recipeshare
  • Ever been to the Baltic States? It’s still a remarkably undiscovered part of Eastern Europe, yet its having a culinary renaissance! This is me sipping homemade cherry brandy at @pamario_takas in Lithuania, the best open sandwich in the world at #kohvikfellin in #vilijandi and brunch at Kohn Tili in #tartu - check out my blog to learn more and see my top ten places to eat #linkinbio #baltictrend
  • Is it #lunchtime yet? These fermented cranberries can jazz up any lunch! Today it’s an early lunch in my office - sourdough toast with bix @nettlebedcheese (thank you @farmdrop ) jazzed up with the said #fermented cranberries. I had some cranberries in my freezer and wanted to use them up (it will be cranberry season again in a couple of months, can you believe it?!) so I just popped them in a jar, covered them with some tepid water with a tablespoon of sea salt in it and a bay leaf. Then I placed a flat (clean) stone in a small snack bag on top (to keep them immersed). Left this out at room temperature for about 5 days, and now keeping it in my fridge and eating with everything (I have yet to find something they don’t go with) #mylunch
  • I popped by @klos_deli yesterday (great #polishshop in #lewisham ) and bought some toasted #buckwheat and #chanterlles - I fried the latter in a mixture of rapeseed oil and butter with chopped onion - classic - then, I added some fresh thyme and fermented cranberries, which just lifted it up a level #simplerecipe
  • I hadn’t eaten #semolinaporridge or #kaszamanna for a while, so today I had it Baltic style with ground cranberries from Latvia and birch syrup from Estonia (scroll to see those) - the main flavour was cardamom and rose #porridgelover
  • Since my travels, I’ve lost my insta posting rhythm, so I’m going back to basics - #lunchtoday was an #omlette with @quickescheese cheddar @farmdrop colourful #cherrytomatoes @eatenaliveldn golden #kimchi (Nusi loves this as not too spicy), my own #fermented purple cabbage and Latvian fermented cheese and blue fenugreek, which was gifted to me by @vinotava (scroll to see it). On the side, shaved cucumber and dill quick-pickled in cider vinegar #eattherainbow🌈
  • Just spent a lovely few days with my dad on the south coast. This is us on the Baltic coast in #Poland some 30 years ago choosing sticks onto which we would spear our sausages - there’s always a bonfire on a proper Polish holiday (you may have seen the one in Mazury a few weeks ago in my stories) #throwbackthursdays
  • Finally managed to get the recipe for these #strawberry #racuchy up on the blog - brilliant for #brunch and a different version to the one in Polska cookbook, because I used fresh yeast rather than baking powder, giving them a different flavour and texture (and strawberries rather than traditional apples) #recipeontheblog and link in bio
  • I’m still stuffing my face, now in #vilnius #lithuania - I have always wanted to visit Vilnius, as this is where my Babcia Halinka was from and she talked about it a great deal. Check out my stories for more of this stunning city and scroll to see some of what I’ve been eating - #breakfasttoday @12istoriju #cakencoffee @pinavija_bakery and #jackfruitburger @rosehip_vegan (I’m not vegan but I like #veganfood ) #foodjourney
  • We started on the Lithuanian coast, the stunning Curonian Spit to be precise, with a lagoon on one side and the Baltic Sea on the other. We are staying in a small fishing village and eating things like this - grilled #crayfish and #zander - #breakfasttoday was curd cheese pie with stewed apples and soured cream (last pic) #lithuanianfood
  • The goodbye with Latvia was sweet with delicious #pastries and coffee @boulangerie_liepaja - scroll to see a wonderful Latvian #feast prepared by @vinotava and @madaraestella @unceeko in Riga and a typical seaside Latvian stew with salted cod and potatoes. The visit was too short and I hope to be back very soon! #ilovelatvia
  • Our timing feels perfect this trip, we are showing up on the ideal dates for foodie events and meeting the right people at the right times. Here’s some #tastyfood I’ve been eating in Riga - smoked herring, rye bread dessert (a bit like tiramisu but with rye and berries), a taste of the forest platter @restaurant_3 with lovely pickles, local cheeses and cured meats and finally, the best #plov I’ve ever tasted at the Kalnciema street food fest. Also a big thank you to @vinotava for sharing your knowledge and passion of #latvianfood #foodjourney
© Copyright 2019 Zuza Zak // Polska Photographs by Laura Edwards