Polish Food

My fb friend Liz asked me to post more Polish recipes, so I decided to look up what I have already posted.    I wrote an essay about growing up Polish in Warren, which I still enjoy reading.    That piece was featured by the short lived Ann Arbor Chronicle, which was a great online news site after our Ann Arbor News folded.  I sure miss the Ann Arbor News.... it had a great cooking section every Wednesday.   I need to write more about that as well.

I tried my hand at a Mushroom Cutlet once.   It is a favorite of my sister's at a Hamtramck restaurant.   I need to try that one again.    I also make a great kraut salad that is a traditional Polish food.  I have some kraut fermenting at home right now; hope it hasn't gone too far while I have been gone.   Here is how to cook kapusta (the Polish equivalent of the French charcroute  garni but trust me when I tell you the Polish version is much better).   There is also stuffed cabbage aka golabki.  It's pronounced "ga-wump-kee".   And let us not forget pierogi.  Looking at this post, I realize it has been 4 years since I made them last.  They are a lot of work, do it with friends like I did.

Another great Detroit Polish delicacy is City Chicken.   Not sure why it is Polish, but we all make it.   Also, Polish people in Detroit always serve mostacciolli   (what the rest of the world calls penne in marinara) alongside their kapusta and their pierogis.   I think it might be because it's a cheap and easy way to feed a lot of people)  Look at this Polish wedding menu from the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy....you got kraut and kielbasa, pierogis, stuffed cabbage and mostaccioli.   We had it at our wedding as well!   Also every Warren funeral lunch.   I don't have a recipe for it, but it is pretty much jarred spaghetti sauce with lots of "green can" parmesan cheese added.  Sometimes, Polish folk will put some pasta in their kraut to stretch it a little - almost always, it is small shell shaped.    It's how Grandmother made sure she had enough food for everyone at her table!

Two things I haven't made yet but would like to try in 2019 are dill pickle soup and chruschiki aka angel wings.   We didn't have dill pickle soup at home growing up but always ate it at restaurants.  Speaking of dill pickles, here is a great Polish style pickle.  We made angel wings often at Grandmother's house.   Also, my mom made paczki fairly often; I made them once before I was a blogger but they are a lot of work.  The traditional ones aren't as sweet as the ones you get at bakeries before Easter (unless you are getting them from a Polish Bakery) and the best fillings are prune or rose.    I do love the Polish Italian version you can get at Tringali Bakery in Warren - it is pazcki filled with cannoli filling.    Not traditional but SO GOOD!  My mother often made something we called "nut roll", but we didn't use a Polish word for it.   It either had a walnut filling or my favorite, poppy seed.   I have her recipe written out in her handwriting, but have never made it yet.   So I will add these to my blogging list this year.   Maybe I will make paczki again too!