Arugula and artichokes hearts salad

Ingredients:

1 large bag of arugula (known as rucola)

1 can of artichokes hearts cut into large stripes (around 1.5 cm tick)

1 small red pepper finely chopped ( less than 0.5 cm in diameter of each peace)

2/3 cup of unsalted roasted almonds

Dressing:

2 tbsp. of Dijon mustard

3 tbsp. of honey or maple syrup

1 tsp. of minced garlic

3 tbsp. of olive oil

2 tbsp. of lemon juice

1 tsp. of cayenne pepper

Salt ( optional)

Combine arugula, artichokes, red pepper and almonds in large bowl. To make dressing I usually place all ingredients in glass jar close it and shake well for around 1 minute. Pour dressing over a salad and mix well. Voila!

Sweet potatoes gnocchi

Potatoes dumplings are very popular in southern regions of Poland (especially in both Silesias) and when friend of mine M. made sweet potatoes version I’ve decided to give them a try.

Ingredients

2 cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (still warm)

1 egg yolk

Corn flour ( well, it hard to say how much dough will take. Depends on size of potatoes and how much water they contain, so have emergency 1 kg package. That’s the worst nightmare when your realize during kneading that you don’t have enough flour )

½ cup of cooking oil

Water

Salt (optional)

Combine in large bowl potatoes, egg yolk and 1 tbsp. of cooking oil. Add 1 cup of corn flour and start kneading. Keep pouring flour while kneading until dough reaches pizza crust consistence. Divide dough in to 4 pieces. 

Sprinkle with flour counter top or large cutting board. Roll out each piece on floured surface into lengths about 3 cm in diameter. Cut off 2 cm thick pieces. Press top of each peace with floured fork to make stripes. 

Sprinkle gnocchi with flour. Pour water to large saucepan until it reaches 2/3 height. Add one tbsp. of cooking oil and bring to boil. Place some gnocchi to boiling water without crowding the saucepan. Remove them with slotted spoon as soon as they rise to the top. Place them in a bowl or plate and sprinkle generously with cooking oil to prevent from sticking. You can use butter, olive oil or a sauce you're planning to serve.

Polish Cuisine for Dummies p. 3 My Mother-In-Law’s Hunter’s sauce

When your husband says ‘I miss my mother’s hunter’s sauce’, something going on… I’ve never tried to compete with my mother-in-law cooking. I love her food even though I should have at least 3 stomachs to fit it in. Somehow she possessed ability of cooking of large amount of food in surprisingly short period of time. 7 courses dinner- voila! Done in one hour! What amazes me the most she does it spontaneously while for me is still a long preparation process. I’m glad she is willing to share her cooking tips.

Ingredients

1 cup of smoked bacon cubed (chose leanest bacon you can find or replace it with smoked ham)

1 cup of cubed, pickled cucumbers (surprisingly often being sold  abroad as ‘Polskie Ogorki’)

1 cup of minced tomatoes

3 tbsp. of ketchup

1 small onion finely chopped

2 cups of champignons

1tbsp. of corn starch

½ cup of cold water

Few grains of allspice

2-3 bay leaves

Salt, pepper

 meatballs

250 g of lean pork minced meat

250 g of lean beef minced meat

1 tsp. of minced garlic

1 tbsp. of marjoram

1tbsp. of thyme

1 beaten egg
salt, pepper

Place bacon on the pan and cook on medium heat until starts getting crispy on edges but is still tender inside. Remove excess fat with spoon. Add chopped onion, allspice and bay leaves. Cook together for around 15 minutes stirring frequently to keep onion from browning. Add mushrooms and when they’re cooked combine with minced tomatoes and ketchup. Reduce heat and simmer for another 15 minutes. 

Mix corn starch with cold water and pour into pot to thicken sauce. Throw pickles and black pepper. Salt is optional cause pickles and bacon are salty. Keep mixture on low heat while you preparing meatballs. 

Combine both kinds of meat, egg, marjoram, thyme, garlic and shape into meatballs about 2,5 cm diameter and place on baking pan. Bake at 180 C in oven until start getting brown. Combine with sauce and cook together for another 10 minutes on low heat. Sauce is ready.

 I served it with sweet potatoes gnocchi and arugula and artichokes hearts salad  (next posts). Not very Polish indeed, but I love fusion cuisines!

Red beans brownie with yoghurt cheesecake and strawberry compote

One of the things I like the most about cooking is trying out recipes with surprising ingredients. I’ve added couple of times something unusual to food I was preparing and so far the worst result ever occurred in case of beetroot red velvet muffins. Beets dominated taste even though I’ve added double portion of vanilla extract. In case of this cake I was positively surprised. There are two reasons. First one – I never used beans for baking before. Even for brownie. And it’s fantastic ingredient which gives moist and soft texture. Beans have a neutral taste so you don’t need to worry batter will end up with strange flavor. It’s also much healthier alternative for wheat flour.

Second one- I couldn’t help myself. I just had to put my two cents in. In case of this recipe it was adding cheesecake batter to red beans brownie and serving it with strawberry compote. Result turn out better than expected. Definitely I would recommend serving this cake next day. It’s old wisdom - cakes with chocolate taste better at least 12 hours after baking. 

I.   Red beans brownie layer 

1 can of red beans rinsed well strained

4 eggs

3 tbsp. of cooking oil

1 cup of almond flour or ground almonds (I used food processor which gave a little bit chunky texture)

1 cup of processed baking chocolate

3 tbsp. of cocoa powder

1 tbsp. of baking powder

1 cup of brown sugar

2 tsp. of vanilla extract

You will also need blender

Place beans, eggs, cooking oil, vanilla extract (wet ingredients) in blender and pulse it for 1 minute then add remaining ingredients and pulse it together for another minute.

II.                  Cheesecake layer

1 container of vanilla Greek yoghurt (500 g)

3 beaten eggs (first beat whites to stiff peaks then mix them with yolks)

1 tsp. of baking powder

3 spoons of tapioca or corn starch

Combine all ingredients to smooth consistence.

Preheat oven to 180C. Place alternately layers of brownie and cheesecake into 1 large tin (basic large size: 25x36 cm) or two smaller (I’ve used 2 round with diameter of 20cm) until both batters has been used. Bake for 1 hour on the middle rack.

 

Strawberry compote

2 cups of strawberries cut into small pieces

2 tbsp. of lemon juice

1 spoon of brown sugar

1 tbsp. of tapioca or corn starch

3 tbsp. of cold water

Place strawberries with sugar and lemon juice into saucepan and bring to boil on medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Add starch combined with water and stir well until gets thicker honey-like consistence. You can store it for few days in fridge and warm up before serving as a cake topping.