Polish-Hungarian Goulash With Sauerkraut

Witamy!     Brrrrr!  It’s still cold in many parts of the world so preparing delicious, stick-to-your-ribs comfort food is a top dinner choice for many cooks.  One-pot meals are especially appreciated because they don’t have to take a lot of prep time and can be left alone while cooking.  This is especially true of dishes that can be prepared in a slow cooker or crock pot.  We love one-pot meals because the left-over’s can be reheated a couple of times and often taste better over time.  That’s because the ingredients have more time to infuse into the whole dish.

Students of classic Polish cuisine will know that many Polish dishes evolved from recipes first popularized in near-by  countries.  That occurred for two main reasons --  first was the inter-marriages of nobility from neighboring countries, dating as far back as the 14th century.  The second reason has to do with Poland’s long history of changing borders.  During the last 100 years or so, Poland’s land mass was claimed and occupied by several countries such as Germany and Russia.  The result was an integration of cultures, customs and food that took hold over time.

Here is an economical and tasty one-pot dish that borrows heavily from its Hungarian roots yet still retains a Polish spin through the inclusion of caraway.  It's actually better if made a day early and reheated,  but that takes patience.  (The dish actually tastes much better than the photo looks.)   Smacznego!


Goulash With Sauerkraut

½ pound of bacon, diced
4 medium onions, sliced
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 cup water
4 pounds stewing beef, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 green peppers, cored and sliced
Salt, to taste
2 pounds sauerkraut, drained and rinsed very well
2 cups cooked rice
1 pint sour cream

Sauté the bacon until transparent.  Add onions and sauté until golden.  Add the paprika, caraway seeds and garlic.  Mix well.  Transfer to a pot, add the water, meat, peppers.  Cover tightly and simmer for one hour.  Taste the liquid and add more paprika and caraway if desired.  (We happen to like bolder flavors and usually add more flavorings than most recipes call for.)  Add the sauerkraut and simmer for one more hour.  Taste again.  Let cool, refrigerate overnight.  Before serving, add the cooked rice, bring to a low boil while stirring.  Remove from the heat.  Stir in the sour cream.  Serve in large bowls with crusty bread, sweet butter, and your favorite adult beverage.    
Serves 12

Filet of Sole, Polish Style (plus Pączki )

Witamy!  In spite of many misconceptions, Polish cuisine can be healthy and heart-smart!  It’s not all about pierogi, kielbasa, or boiled potatoes.  Most of us probably talk more about the heartier comfort food because those dishes are so delicious.  They remind us of the way our Babcia’s cooked.  But a quick look through the index of The Art of Polish Cooking, my Mom’s iconic and definitive cook book on Polish cuisine, shows that there are many dishes that are quite healthy and quite light.  And I would bet a beautiful plate of our Marinated Beet Salad (which was featured recently by Healthy Aging Magazine) that contemporary cooking in Poland is just as healthy as in the Western world. 

This is a serious issue in our kitchen right now, because Laura is starting the process of perfecting heritage dessert recipes for our next book, and there’s going to be a lot of tasting going on.  Last week she worked on the recipe for Pączki – the traditional filled donut-like confection.  The first few were not perfect. But after the third batch we ended up with a freezer-full of goodness.  Thankfully, the neighborhood ladies are coming for coffee this week!  We can only give so much away to friends, family and the neighbors.  So going light is a good thing and eating more fish and vegetables is a good thing. 

Here is a filet of sole recipe that is healthy and tasty.  Sole is pretty easy to find in most good grocery stores, but can also be substituted with any lighter and thinner white fish filets such as flounder.  We like Basa quite a bit, which is actually a Vietnamese cousin to the catfish but often sold in thinner filets. 

Filet of Sole - Polish Style, with Vegetables
1 ½ tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
¼ small head of savoy cabbage, chopped
1 leek, finely sliced  (the white part)
1 large carrot, finely sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 parsley root, finely sliced
3 tablespoons water
2 pounds sole, or any white fish filets
Salt to taste

Sauce1 ½ tablespoons butter
1 ½ tablespoons flour
2 bouillon cubes, vegetable or chicken
1 cup hot water
Salt & pepper to taste
3 tablespoons sour cream

In a large skillet, heat the butter, add the vegetables and the water;  sauté over medium heat until soft - about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the fish lightly with salt.  Place on top of the vegetables and simmer until the fish is just cooked through – about 5 to 10 minutes depending on thickness.  To test for doneness, pierce the filet lightly with a fork, turn it a bit to see if the fish is no longer opaque in color.  When done the fish should be somewhat flaky under your fork.

To prepare the sauce,  heat the butter, add the flour, sauté while mixing until well blended.  Dissolve the bouillon cubes in hot water and add the broth to the pan.  Bring to a boil.  Stir until slightly thickened.

To serve, transfer the fish filets gently to a warm serving platter.  Add the sauce  to the vegetables. Remove from heat.  Season lightly with salt and pepper to taste.  Finish by stirring in the sour cream.  Pour over the fish. 
Serve with Polish dumplings, rice or egg noodles.    Smacznego! 
Serves 6

Barszcz Symphony in B Major, Variation 34

Witamy!  The humble beet root is a key player in Polish cuisine.  And Barszcz is an uncontested favorite soup and comfort food of Poles everywhere.  It is also popular in all Slavic nations - whether it is known as Borsch in Russian, Bors in Romanian, Borstch in Lithuania or some other spelling variation in some other nation.  There’s even a Chinese version that uses tomatoes as the primary ingredient.  And each region’s cuisine puts its own spin on the ingredients, including items such as: tomato, cabbage, potatoes, barley, garlic, sour cream, beet leaves, chopped beef or pork, meats, etc.  So that’s how I came up with the title of this blog -- Beets being the B Major ingredient in this symphony of flavors, that can be experienced throughout Eastern Europe in a great many varieties. 

Beet Soup began its existence on the farms of Eastern Europe, from trimmings and scraps of root vegetables, stored in barns or cellars, to be consumed through the winter when there was nothing fresh in the pantry.  A bucket or cooking pot was kept outside to store those trimmings.  Beets were always one of the most plentiful vegetables of the region, because it kept well through the winter.  When the pot got full enough, water was added, along with left over beef bones for flavoring.  Then the pot was placed on the fire and cooked into the original version of a one-pot meal.  Regional variations were created because of regional variations in crops being farmed, regionalized dried herbs and other flavorings, and the types of food being stored over the winter.  Over time and generations of cooks, their recipes evolved but the delicious and healthy beet was always a mainstay in what is traditionally known in Poland as Barszcz. 

Here is an easy recipe for Variation # 34.  This one is a bit more rustic than other varieties and has more “stick-to-your-ribs” ingredients, and so it’s great for lunch on a cold or damp day.  We serve it with chunks of fresh, crusty multi-grain bread. 

Only 15 minutes to prepare!




Barszcz Variation #34     Serves 6

4 cups beef broth
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup new potatoes, skin on, quartered
2 14.5 ounce cans red beets (not pickled)  (reserve liquid)
1 14-ounce can of brown baked beans
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped

Bring broth to a low boil in a large pot.  Add the reserved beet juice drained from the two cans of beets, to total about 6 total cups of liquid.  Rough-chop 1 cup of beets and add to the pot; save the rest of the beets for another day.   Rinse the beans well, add to the pot and bring back to a low boil. Add the lemon juice and seasonings to taste.  The salt and lemon juice will enhance the beet flavors. Also, you should definitely taste the pepper.   Remove from heat.  Serve hot, garnished on top with dollops of sour cream and sprinkled dill.  Smacznego!