My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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Who doesn't love tradition?We all cherish traditional customs, handed down from generation to generation, by word of mouth or by practice. Like recipes, for example. I was chatting with a nice Polish lady, Agnieszka, who runs a Polish delicatessen here in Lancaster, UK. We were talking about things our two culinary traditions have in common. We both agreed, for instance, that in both our cultures food is a way of conveying emotion. "Hospitality is second nature to a pole, with food always the central feature of any gathering" (Ren Behan, My Inheritance Recipe, delicious.magazine). It was Agnieszka's love of traditional food that led her to open a Polish deli here in Lancaster. A world away from cold, clinical brand shops where the laws of marketing rule, stepping into Agnieszka's shop one is struck by a sense of coziness. In this warm, homely environment, shopping becomes a relaxing experience. Pierogi, the must-have Polish foodLike many eastern European countries, Poland's traditional food is rooted in Slavic cuisine. But Polish food also has Italian and French influences dating back to the royal Polish court of medieval times. Talking about traditional food, Agnieszka couldn't fail to mention the time-honoured Polish dumpling, pierogi. Similar to Italian ravioli or Asian dumplings, they are made from a simple flour-and-water dough, sometimes with an egg or a little oil added, shaped into a semi-circle and filled with almost any ingredient you can think of, savoury or sweet. They can either be boiled or fried. When I asked her for a pierogi recipe, Agnieszka looked at me intently and asked how much time I had – she didn't ask about my level of skill – because these recipes require skill and a lot of preparation time. We both agreed that pierogi, like ravioli or dumplings, are recipes for grandmothers, who seem to have endless supplies of both time and skill! Love without boundariesAgnieszka's quest to share her cultural cuisine has been a great success, because as it turns out the English love Polish food, especially the sausages, kiełbasa. Agneszka's shop counter stands in the highest part of the premesis, and this is where the many different kinds of sausage are on display. There's a sausage for every taste. There's Parówki, Polish frankfurters made of finely pureed meat, seasoned and lightly smoked. These can be boiled, grilled, pan fried or served as cold cuts. Kiełbasa czosnkowa, which literally means “garlic sausage”, is made from cured pork, seasoned with salt, black pepper, marjoram, sometimes coriander and paprika, and liberal amounts of fresh garlic. Kiełbasa zwyczajna is made with cured pork, salt, pepper, marjoram and fresh garlic. After being simmered in water it is lightly smoked. It's a good grilling sausage, cold cut and ideal with scrambled eggs or sauerkraut. Wafers are a Polish obsessionAn English customer, recently returned from a trip to Poland, pointed out a very Polish obsession, wafers. Agneszka pointed to the countless boxes of wafers lining the shelves. There were so many different types it was quite impossible to choose one. Although the best seller amongst the British public is śliwki w czekoladzie, chocolate covered prune, a chocolate praline with an entire dried plum as a filling. As I perused the shelves upon shelves of Polish foodstuffs, I was surprised to come across a Polish packet of ready-to-make tiramisu. Here was proof that food can break through any boundaries – an Italian cake recipe, in Polish packaging, sold in a shop in England. But I couldn't help noticing how similar Agnieszka's shop is to a typical Italian grocery store. The counter has sausages of all kinds on display, the shelves are packed with jars upon jars of different varieties of pickles, soups and the absolutely-guaranteed packets of pasta. My attention was drawn to a certain shape of pasta that I haven't seen since I came here to the UK. In Italy, quadretti shaped pasta are a must for soups, though these were slightly bigger than the ones I used to buy back in Rome. To my surprise, Agnieszka explained that in Poland they use quadretti in the same way we Italians use sheets of lasagne, to create a barrier between layers of different ingredients. I took some home with me. I have always said that recipes are not written in stone and there is always room to create something new, but I just couldn't stop myself preparing Polish quadretti in the traditional Italian way. Smacznego!
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AuthorI love cooking, and when it comes to quality I'm quite fussy. Archives
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