That's Gobble not Google

So I bought turkey cutlets for the first time a few days ago, wanting to incorporate other meat choices into our diet (as I’ve learned recently – I need meat in my diet lest I go through life in a haze). Now that they’re in the fridge, I have to figure out what the heck I am going to do with them, and have resolved today IS going to be the day. Having never actually (I admit) cooked turkey in my life, I’ve decided that google is probably my best bet, considering all my cookbooks are still somewhere on the Atlantic. So big surprise, when I type “turkey cutlets recipes” in google and I get a variety of options such as turkey escalope, turkey Milanese, turkey parmigiana, and turkey schnitzel. Thanks google, food network, and various others. I couldn't have thought to bread cutlets myself. I’m Polish. Breaded cutlets are one of our 4 basic food groups. The others are potatoes, pickled vegetables and vodka. I don’t need an excuse to douse something in eggs, milk and breadcrumbs, or instructions for that matter. I was hoping for something a little more original.

Oooookaaay. Let’s try this again: I google “flavors that go well with turkey” and pray that I won’t get a dozen recipes for cranberry sauce. Then it occurs to me, that I’ve never ever had turkey in my house, since I moved out of my parents'. Why is that…which brings up a deeper question: do we really ever eat turkey except for thanksgiving, in sandwiches or as a healthy substitute for other meat? I’ve never had to make thanksgiving dinner, so I have never made a turkey. I’ve never made a turkey sandwich, because I have never had thanksgiving leftovers in the house, nor do I buy turkey deli meat. And lastly, I’ve never used ground turkey or turkey as a substitute, instead of ground beef or pork, because prior to getting married, I maybe bought ground meat twice in space of 5 years. Turkey is like BEYOND new territory, a potentially ground breaking new ingredient in my kitchen, this is a monumental moment in the history of Citygirl Cuisine. Maybe it’s the same for you.

Considering all the facts in evidence, I figure that I could easily make a substitute recipe that is NOT based on making a breaded cutlet. Substituting turkey for chicken is probably the safest bet. So I decide to make a version of Greek Souvlaki, because well I’ve always wanted to try making it and now’s a good as any. So I take out my spice rack, and look through all the spices I’ve smuggled across the border, and am shocked to find out that I have neither dried thyme nor oregano. How is that possible- I seem to have clear memories of them in my pantry before I moved. I am in such disbelief that I go through all of the spices individually, three times, before I am satisfactorily convinced that I am not just hallucinating. Then I remember, I’m not the one who packed the kitchen.

So I guess we’re not having Turkey Souvlaki tonight. Great. Back to square one. What do I have in the kitchen? I drum my nails on the countertop. Well, I do have this Herbes de Provence mix, which 007 threw into our shopping cart on Friday night at Real. What else do I have around? There is that ¼ bottle of semi-dry white in fridge from 007’s birthday, that’s begging to be used. It calls to me every time I open up the fridge. “Use me. Uuuuse meee.” (At least it’s not calling “Drink me” – that would be a real problem.) I root further. There’s that large tomato that’s getting overripe, and I’ve been worrying about. Hmmm. What else? root. root. root. There are these pistachios my mother-in-law sent us in a care package, which I’ve dying to use in something really worthwhile. I think I can do something with this. What am i saying?! I CAN do something with this. I’ve had a breakthrough: Turkey Sauté with Herbes de Provence and Pistachios. And let me tell you, it tastes damn good over a wild rice pilaf and with Quick Cucumber Salad. I’ll get back to blogging about the birthday tomorrow. For now, I’m relishing the sight of 007 licking his plate after dinner.

Turkey Sauté with Herbes de Provence and Pistachios

Yield:2

Ingredients:

2-3 medium sized turkey cutlets cubed (I’m sure this would be equally good with chicken or pork)

2-3 generous tbsp Herbes de Provence mix ( if you can’t get your hands on this, you can make your own, using 3 tbsp dried marjoram, 3 tbsp dried thyme, 3 tbsp dried savory, 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp dried sage and ½ tsp fennel seeds)

½ cup olive oil

1 cup dry or semi-dry white wine

½ cup of water

½ a chicken bouillon cube

½ a mushroom bouillon cube (if you can’t get your hands on this use a beef bouillon)

1 large ripe tomato seeded and diced

¼ cup chopped chives

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 handful pistachios pitted and coarsely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

How to:

Combine oil, ½ a cup of wine and Herbes de Provence mix in a bowl and mix together. Place cubes of turkey in the marinade and marinate for at least ½ an hour.

In the meantime get the rest of your ingredients ready. Place a small-medium heavy bottom saucepan on the range and turn on to medium heat. Once saucepan is hot, stir turkey in the marinade one last time, making sure the meat is well coated with the herbs. Using tongs, place in saucepan and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic and tomato and stir cook for 1-2 minutes and add chives.

In a kettle boil ½ cup of water (or more and make some tea) and split evenly among two glasses. Add ½ chicken and mushroom bouillon cubes to each glass, respectively, and stir to dissolve. Add the remaining ½ cup of wine and bouillons to the saucepan and stir. Bring mixture to a simmer, and cook until reduced by ¾ (about 10 minutes). Add pistachios, stir and cook for 1 minute. Serve on top of wild rice pilaf.

Quick Cucumber Salad for two

Ingredients:

2 regular cucumbers or 1 English cucumber, peeled and cubed (1cm)

2 -3 tbsps Balkan style natural yogurt or 18% sweet cream-not liquid (you can use sour cream if you have to, but it will change the taste)

A healthy bunch of fresh dill chopped

How to:

Place cucumbers in a bowl with yogurt and dill. Stir well, serve. I keep fresh dill in an air tight container in the freezer, like my mom does. Dill doesn’t wilt in cold like many other herbs. It keeps for a long time and defrosts almost instantly. <3

IT.IS.SNOWING.

It’s October 14th and it’s snowing. And not like a few little flakes here and there. No - full on snow storm grade snowing, since before I woke up this morning. This is depressing. Almost as depressing as the fact that my winter clothes are somewhere on the Atlantic between North America and Europe. So, I’m stuck in the house until the snow decides to magically go away, just as magically as it decided to appear. Good time to catch up on blogging.

I apologize; I have not been blogging in the past two weeks. I was away visiting my husband’s family in the Kujawy-Pomerania Province for the first week (news on how the second week went to follow), which is in the central northern part of Poland, home of the richest farm land in Poland. Recently, in the news, there was a story that someone in this region was paid something like 8 times the average price of the most expensive land in Europe (Luxemburg). I only know this because my husband kept telling me this story over and over while we were taking the train and then the bus to Inowrocław. (It turned out later, that my husband’s uncle knows the guy who owned the land, and that a bidding war led to the huge price tag)

Inowrocław is known mostly for its sanatoriums. People come there from all over for

rehabilitation or to just breathe in some clean air and relax. The gardens around the sanatorium, which is located in the middle of town, are breath takingly gorgeous and conjure up thoughts of perfect wedding photo locations. There are actually tons of places like that in Poland. For example, there’s a park like that down the street from our place. It’s ridiculous. And on the other side of the street if you keep walking you get to private garden lots, where people plant vegetables and fruit trees, in the middle of the city. One minute you're in the centre of Krakow, a 10 minute walk from Wawel castle, the next minute you’re in old country farmland with little children running around and Babcias tending their gardens: amazing.

After a day with the family that lives in town, we went to visit the family in Łowiczek, where my

father-in- law grew up. It was like the cold weather had known we were coming when we got there. I spent the whole time freezing, in several sweaters at a time. Łowiczek is small and quaint, just a bunch a farms, 2 tiny convenience stores side-by-side and a gorgeous 17th century wooden church (the parish was established in the 1300s). Facts like this make me acutely aware of how young Canada is as a country. It’s crazy to think that the church in this town is older than an entire country!

Among the highlights of my visit was that one of my husband’s cousins is baker and has his own bakery Not only did we get to see the bakery, and the production of what I would say was wellover a thousand bagels (obwarzanki), we ate out faces off with the cookies, pączki (polish donuts), drożdżowki (pastries), and bread. I have to say that the best cookie I’ve ever had in my life was from this bakery, two simple classic Polish crumb sugar cookies with jam in the centre. They were so fluffy and moist, I can’t even describe it. They were so good that I was horrified when we got sent home with an entire box, so I made sure that my husband ate the majority of it. Better his pants stop fitting than mine, mine are way more expensive to replace. (not to mention that the perfect fat pants clearly do not exist)

Part of the beauty of being in the country is, I think, appreciating the simplicity of food. Really good food doesn’t need to be complicated to taste incredible. In the city, for example, I am weary of every tomato that I buy. I really don’t like raw tomatoes. But in the country, when the tomatoes are naturally grown in real soil, they are amazing. I could almost eat them like apples, if the concept of that didn’t make me nauseous. But they are so good, that I would consider it. Simple country food is the best. It just is. Partially because the ingredients are so fresh, and partially due to the necessity of making quick uncomplicated things, because of the multitude of responsibilities to take care of.

This characteristic gets thrown on to other things as well. Any new person is not just there to visit; they’re there to help make this whole process easier. So, on day 1, I got thrown into the brunt of things, as is surely only right in these kinds of situations. It was declared that I make lunch. There’s no beating around the bush either, just plain and simple “Citygirl, you will make lunch.” Lunch wasn’t my choice either, so really it went more like this: “Citygirl will make ‘kluski z serem’ for lunch.” I’m not going to lie, I started to panic slightly.

Kluski z serem is what I would roughly call polish mac ’n cheese. The thing is that in the moment of the declaration, I didn’t actually know what it exactly entailed. You see, growing up in Newfoundland I often heard about this mystery dish from my mother. The only thing I knew about it really was that the recipe called for pressed cottage cheese, which was impossible to get in Newfoundland, back then. So, suffice it to say I had never eaten kluski z serem, let alone seen it. To add to my confusion, there is also another dish called kluski z mlekem (the names are deceivingly similar), which translates roughly to noodles with milk. For some reason, we also only ever talked about this dish in my house, and I’ve never eaten it. As a result, over the years, I’ve gotten the two mixed together in my head. And so whenever I think about either of them, it conjures up the image of some sort of disgusting soup like substance, with cottage cheese floating around with noodles and milk (eww.).

So here I am the supposed Polish wife, come from Canada, on her first visit to the new family, and I have to make a dish I had never made in my life. A dish so basic that every Polish woman knows how to make it, and even some Polish men. A dish so straightforward, most Polish 10 year-olds have mastered it. A dish that might make me gag on the simple sight of it, and I will have to cook it, eat it and pretend to like it. OMG, I’m freaking out a little bit. And by a little, I mean a LOT. At this point my husband’s uncle seemed to have noticed the visible fear in my eyes, and said “You do know HOW to make kluski z serem, don’t you?” Of course, not wanting to look like a complete idiot, I started babbling (which really helped with the not looking like an idiot part, let me tell you.) “well… I mean I know what it is… but I’ve never made it, because in Newfoundland there was no pressed cottage cheese…(trailing off in explanations)” Luckily, my husband’s family is sweet and non judgmental.

So basically, I learned this: Kluski z serem is simple food at its best. I made it with no cook book, just a list of the four ingredients involved and a little guidance from my husband and my husband’s uncle. All in all, it definitely turned out ok, and in fact was delish. I’ve been craving it every day since. (I can’t say as much for the kluski z mlekem thing - that still freaks me out). So I’m going to share the recipe with you, because this is a very simple amazing dish that is guaranteed to pick you up on a cold day like today. If I had the ingredients in my fridge, I’d be making it right now.

Kluski z Serem

Ingredients: (these are all eyeballed amounts, if you think it needs more or less, add more or less)

• 1kg package thin short egg noodles ( you can really use any pasta you want, but this type of egg noodle is fantastic b/c it cooks really quickly.)
• 6 slices of bacon, chopped into bits .5cm by .5cm
• 2 large rings of kiełbasa (polish sausage) sliced into 1cm slices and then quartered (I prefer dark polish sausage)
• 1 package pressed cottage cheese crumbled
• Salt to taste

How to:

In a frying pan fry bacon until half way to crispy, then add sausage and fry until well done.* At the same time boil water for noodles, cook noodles Strain, noodles, add in cheese , bacon and sausage, mix until well combined. (Make sure that you add the noodles when they are hot.)

Return the mixture to the pot or frying pan for a minute or so, stirring constantly to melt the cheese a little. Alternatively you can add the cheese into the bacon and sausage and fry it up a little before adding the noodles. (This isn’t necessary, but my husband maintains that it tastes the best this way) Serve immediately. Keep it rustic, just put the frying pan, or pot directly on the table and have everyone serve themselves

* I also think adding caramelized onions would be delish

Good Luck! <3

Calling all technologically inept

Anyone who knows me knows I love to cook, almost as much as I love to feed people. So, as with any proper blog written by yours truly, I will dedicate part of this blog to my culinary adventures. Yes Julie, the butterscotch pancake recipe will appear. But for now, some trouble shooting…

Finally, a month into my move, I have managed to figure out my stove top. I love my new kitchen. It is far superior to kitchens that belonged to me in the past. The one problem with my lovely new Krakow kitchen, a problem that makes me see past the abundant counter space (for apt standards) and ample cupboards, is how finicky my new gas stovetop is. Don’t get me wrong, I am extremely excited to be switching from electric to gas, as it lets me control the temperature more accurately. Unfortunately, my stovetop has one thing that isn’t going for it, the elements turn on fine, but getting them to stay on is one-half skillful, steady hand, and one-half answered prayer: “Please God, don’t make me make dinner on one small burner, again!” Luckily, one month in, I seem to be perfecting my skill, which requires a weird hand movement that very carefully regulates the pressure when releasing the knob.

I can’t say so much about my oven. The oven in a European gas stove boggles the mind. I’m not sure what it is, but suddenly I’m feeling like I don’t do so well with appliances. I remember our first day in our apartment in Krakow. I walked into the bathroom, took one look at the laundry machine with its dozens of settings, buttons, knobs and lights, and said to my husband “So, you’re doing the laundry.” I have managed to do the laundry since, but I have to read the manual every time. So far nothing has gone horribly awry, except for one ill-fated cream towel, which I turned light blue. That’s the first time something like that has happened to me in 15 years of doing laundry. At this point, I didn’t even think it COULD happen to me.

So yes, my oven. First of all of the temperature settings are in Celsius. As sad as its sounds, despite being Canadian and apparently “using” the metric system, I’m accustomed to using Fahrenheit in all my baking. So I’m stuck converting all my recipes. Annoyance aside, I’m sure that I’ll be able to get used to it. The bigger complication is that gas ovens in Poland come in two types: z thermobiegem and bez thermobiegem. This basically means they either have a heating plate on the top and bottom, or they only have a heating plate on the bottom. All polish recipes are written for the latter type, as dual plate ovens are recent inventions. Here’s the thing, I’ve read the manual in Polish and in English and it still does not work how it’s supposed to, regardless of the thermobieg. Ovens are notoriously finicky pieces of machinery. Did you know that baking temperature varies according to climate and position of the oven in reference to sea level? How am I supposed to account for these variations if I can’t even turn the thing on properly?! And needless to say with certain events coming up soon, like my husband’s birthday, I’d better figure out how to work the thing.

In the meantime, I leave you all with a oven-free, stove top safe (provided it turns and stays on) recipe.

Super Simple Quick Polish Tomato Soup

I love this soup. I could eat it every day. I make it whenever I need a taste of home. Actually, this soup was the frist thing I cooked for my husband when we arrived in Kraków. This recipe adapted from my mom’s recipe, which seems to be a classic Polish recipe.

Ingredients:

• Włoszczyzna (if you don’t live in Poland this roughly amounts to 2 carrots, 1 small leek (a small to medium cooking onion will also do), 1 celery stalk (or a piece of celery root, if you can find it), 1 piece of Italian cabbage and 1 parsnip (this is optional, but my mom adds it, and therefore, so do I)
• 1-2 chicken or beef bouillon cubes
• 1-2 litres of water
• 200-300 grams of 30% tomato paste
• Small soup noodles
• Smietana do zupy ( if outside of Poland you can either use sour cream or whipping cream)
• A handful of parsley or dill

How to:

Place the vegetables in a large pot and cover with water. Don’t worry if some of the vegetables start to float, just make sure there is enough water that all the vegetables are covered when forced to the bottom of the pot.

Place the pot on the stove on medium-low heat and bring to a boil. Boil covered until vegetables are soft (a fork slides through the centre without resistance). At this point you can remove the vegetables from the stock. I like to keep them in until I’m done cooking. I remove them, chop them into bite size pieces and put them back in the soup. Some people, however, prefer this soup without the vegetables.

In another pot, cook pasta until al dente, strain, rinse with cold water, strain again and save for later.

Add 1 bouillon cube and half of the tomato paste to the vegetable stock. The amount of tomato paste will vary depending on the amount of vegetable stock in the pot. You will want to add the rest slowly, tasting the soup as you go, to make sure that it has a distinct tomato flavor. If you find that after adding all the paste, that the tomato flavor isn’t strong enough, add another bouillon cube, this usually does the trick. Keep adding boullion until you get the desired taste, but be careful, bouillon cubes have a lot of sodium, so the more you add the saltier the soup will get. This is why I don’t add salt to this soup.

Put a desirable amount of pasta in a soup bowl (in my house we like some soup with our pasta). Cover with soup. Add the cream directly to the individual soup bowl, (this will allow any leftover soup to keep in the refrigerator for longer – it keeps up to 3 days.) I find 1/2 - 1 tablespoon is enough for 1 large soup bowl. Note that depending on which cream you use the texture will be slightly different, North American sour cream has a tendency to thicken. If you want a thicker texture add some flour or cornstarch mixed with water to the soup, while stirring constantly. (Otherwise noodles/lumps will form).

Chop a healthy amount of parsley or dill and place on top.

Serve, stir, enjoy <3