Spicy Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of chopped onion
1/2 cup of diced celery
1 clove of garlic - minced
1/2 cup of ketchup (I used Heinz Original)
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup of salsa
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups of shredded cooked chicken breast
6 toasted hamburger buns

1. First in a large saucepan saute onion, celery, and garlic in butter until soft. In a separate bowl mix salsa, brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the chicken, and then stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil.
2. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 15 mins. Serve approx. 1/3 chicken mixture on each toasted bun.

Stuffed Pork Rolls (Zrazy nadziewane)

Ingredients:

- 4 thick slices of pork
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tb of grated parmesan cheese
- Italian style breadcrumbs (approx. 1 cup)
- salt, black pepper, sweet powdered paprika, spicy powdered paprika to taste
- 2 small bell peppers (red and yellow)
- 4 slices of smoked Gouda
- 1-2 Polish-style dill pickles
- 2 Tb of olive oil for frying

1. Preheat oven to 390 F.
2. Slice the pickles and peppers lengthwise into four fingers. (Remember to remove the seeds from peppers prior to cutting).
3. Place each pork slice between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound evenly until it is very thin. Sprinkle a very little salt, black pepper and spicy powdered paprika. Then put a slice of cheese, one piece of pickle and peppers over center of the meat. Wrap the pork slice around the stuffing and tie or fasten with toothpicks. Repeat with remaining pork slices.
4. In a separate bowl beat up the eggs with a fork and then add some sweet powdered paprika. In the second bowl put one cup of Italian breadcrumbs and mix it with one tb of parmesan grated cheese.
5. Once you have the bowls ready begin to roll your stuffed pork slices first in the beaten eggs mix and then in the breadcrumbs mix.
6. Heat 2 tb of olive oil in a skillet/frying pan over medium-high heat. Brown the pork rolls evenly on all sides. When rolls are finally thoroughly browned and crisp on all sides, transfer them to a skillet. Add 3-4 tb of water at the bottom of the skillet.
7. Place the rolls in oven, cover the top with the aluminum foil, and bake about 40 mins, or until the pork rolls are fork tender.
8. When the rolls are ready remember to remove the toothpicks. Serve with your favorite gravy, mashed potatoes, and salad of your choice (or mizeria).

Home-made Kisiel Recipe

Kisiel is a well-known Polish dessert. Usually one can buy ready-made powdered kisiels, but their taste can't even be compared to a home-made version.

Ingredients

- 1 lb of fresh strawberries

- 2 cups of cold water

- sugar to taste

- 2 tablespoons of potato flour and some cold water

1. First wash strawberries thoroughly, and get rid of the green tops. Then mash with a fork or cut into small pieces.
2. Transfer strawberries to a pan, cover with water, season with sugar to taste, and bring to a boil.
3. In the meantime dissolve potato flour in cold water and pour into the boiling strawberry mixture. Continue cooking, stirring frequently until kisiel mixture thickens up.

4. Best when served warm.

Spicy Jack Portobello Mushrooms

- 4-5 portobello mushrooms

- 1 whole egg yolk

- 1.5 - 2 tb of Italian breadcrumbs

- a few strips of bacon

- one small onion finely chopped

- spicy pepper jack cheese (a few slices)

- some olive oil for frying (but not much)

- salt and pepper

Wash mushrooms first, then pop put stems, chop them finely and put aside. Brown chopped onions and bacon pieces along with mushrooms stems. Transfer all these ingredients to a bowl. Add egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Combine and stir all these ingredients. Smear mixture into the cavity of each mushroom. Put some pepper jack cheese pieces on top of each mushroom. Bake at 356 F (180 C) degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Polish Twarozek - Tvarog

Tvarog known also as 'bialy ser' is one of the most loved by the Polish people. Well, unfortunately is quite difficult to find the same flavor anywhere else in the world.It's not a ricotta type of cheese or cottage cheese. The closes version of white cheese good for tvarog that I found in the US is 'Farmers Cheese' available in Wholefoods Market stores.

White cheese 'aka' tvarog is used widely in the Polish cuisine (for cheese cakes, pancakes, dumplings, etc). It's also one of the most favorite stuff for breakfast sandwiches.

How to make a traditional Polish tvarozek?

Ingredients:

(Makes one serving)

Half of the Farmers' cheese package

1 tb of sour cream (can be light version)


(If the cream is too thick, add a few drops of milk and mix to make it less thick).

Salt and pepper to taste

Chopped chive

Other favorite toppings: chopped onion or radish - or both)

Put cheese, sour cream, chive onion in a bowl, then stir well to combine. Season with pepper and salt. Remember to adjust seasoning when necessary.

Serve with bread slices topped with jam and butter.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Zupa ogorkowa – Pickle soup

Ingredients

2 liters of cold water

5-6 chicken legs

½ of celery root along with green top leaves (halved)

4-5 medium sized fresh carrots

1 parsley root

4-5 large potatoes

* (small leek – optional)

1 small jar of puree of pickles (approx. 11.99 oz – 340 g)

1 tb of butter or margarine

1 tb of all-purpose flour

1 tb of sour cream

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Chopped dill leaves

1. Prepare soup base first. Don’t use ready-made packaged broths available in stores. A good aromatic soup base is half of the success for a tasty pickle soup.

2. Put the meat in a large soup pot, and cover with 2 liters of cold water. Bring water to the boil. In the meantime remove the skim that will appear on the broth surface while it is being cooked. After 20 mins. add all the veggies, chopped parsley leaves, and chicken legs, salt & pepper, bay leaf. Let it boil for additional 20 minutes.

3. Now it’s time to prepare our puree of pickles. Fry the puree on a one tb of butter, and transfer to the soup pot. Give soup a stir. Let it cook for a few minutes. When all the veggies are soft, take out half of all the veggies, (including celery and parsley root, parsley & celery leaves), and transfer them to a kitchen blender along with a cup of broth, one tb of all purpose flour, one tb of sour cream. Mix all those ingredients, and transfer them back to a soup pot. This will help thicken up the soup a bit. Cook for a few minutes.

4. When the soup is done, add dill for decorating.

TIPS:

I’d be careful with adding salt. The puree of pickles is already salty. It’s always better to add salt at the very end once you add the puree to your soup.
Instead of buying puree of pickles you can use Polish dill pickles, about 12 ounces (340g), and purée them in a food processor.
Some people like adding additional dill pickle juice to taste to enrich the soup, but I think it’s optional.
Where to buy puree of pickles?

Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Cracovia-Cucumber-Puree/dp/B00DP05EVC/ref=sr_1_26?m=A3UB49WN9NEVVQ&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1396306549&sr=1-26

Fish a la Greek (Ryba po grecku)

Ingredients:

600 grams of white fish (I used tilapia fillets)\
3-4 large carrots
1 small celery root
1 large parsley root
1 large onion
A can of tomato paste (6 oz)
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 tb of sweet paprika spice
2 tb of Heinz tomato original ketchup
1/2 of lemon
1-2 tb of olive oil for frying

(Optional: a slice of lemon for decoration and fresh parsley leaves - finely chopped)

Cut fish fillets into smaller pieces, sprinkle them with onion juice, and leave for half an hour. Peel off all your vegetables. Grate them and set aside. Chop onion into bigger chunks, and fry it until golden brown.(Do not burn it as it will be bitter in taste). Transfer the onion and veggies to a bigger pot, add the bay leaves, pepper, salt and paprika spice. Pour 1 cup of hot water,cover the pot with a lid. Then add tomato paste, bring to boil, and give the mixture a stir. Simmer for about 40 minutes until the veggies are tender and most of the liquid has evaporated.

In the meantime, put fish pieces on a baking tray (I've used a ceramic one, smeared it with a few drops of olive oil). Cover the tray with aluminum foil and put into the oven preheated to 180 C degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, (remember to get rid of the aluminum foil that you put on top of the tray after 10 minutes, leave the tray uncovered, and continue baking).

TIP: Put a piece of parchment paper on your baking tray to prevent the fish pieces from sticking to the tray.

In a glass bowl or a casserole pot place a layer of hot veggies, then put pieces of baked fish on top of it and cover with the remaining vegetable mixture. Decorate with lemon slices and chopped parsley leaves.

Serve with rice and your favorite salad