RECIPE BOOK YE: CULTURE SPICES FOR A TASTY STORY
This book is product of the Youth Exchange “Culture Spices for a Tasty Story� which took place in Krosnice, Poland. The project was implemented by Fundacja Mobilni Polacy. The following partners made a genuine contribution to the youth exchange and this booklet:
Terra di Mezzo 2000 Malta
Volonterski Centar Skopje
Curiositas Curiositas
Associazione ONLUS Levitazione
Fundacja Mobilni Polacy
Tegyunk Egyutt az Ifjusagert Alapitvany
Polish, Italians, Macedonians, Lithuanians, Maltese and Hungarians were young people who took part in the youth exchange in a small town in Poland named Krosnice. It was spring, year 2015, a 7 days of fresh air was disturbed by the smell of the tasty food prepared. The moments of cooking were spiced with sharing of their lives, culture and experiences. The stories about food they made are all collected in this book. Get yourself lost in the stories while preparing all these recipes.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein
ITALIA Pasta with pesto Ingredients: Trenette (pasta) 10g of pine nuts 10 leaves of basil Oil (garlic) Parmigiano Preparation: Mince pine nuts and put them in a bowl. Put some parmesan, mince 10 leaves of basil with a frozen knife (because otherwise it would ruin the basil). Add pinch of salt and some oil in order to cover the mixture and blend it so that it becomes a cream. If you want, you can add some minced garlic. Put a pot with water on the cooker till it boils. Then add a pinch of salt and some trenette. Cook for 4 minutes. Pour out the water and add the sauce with a spoon of overcooked water. Serve with some leaves of basil.
The power of pesto "At the end of 50’s, Margherita, a beautiful girl from a small village close to Genoa was travelling to Turin with a jar of homemade pesto, a special type of sauce made of basil, garlic, pine nuts and oil. She had been invited to a party organized by a friend of her and she was supposed to prepare some pasta. There was a lot of nice people but she was particularly attracted by a tall and handsome boy, Romano, who was tasting the third plate of her pasta. At the end of the party he knew only her name and the village she came from named Sori. Two weeks later, he decided to go and look for her. At the arrival, he went in a cafè asking if someone knew where he could find Margherita, the pesto-girl. He was a lucky man in fact the owner of the cafè was her mum and she told him to go to the beach. When he saw her wearing just a swimming suit, he told her that if she had been made of chocolate, the whole beach could have had something to eat. Despite of the unkindness of this sentence, she just said <You’re right> with a smile on her face. They got married three months later."
Parmigiana light Ingredients for 5 people: 4 aubergines 1 bottle of tomato sauce 2 onions 4 pieces of mozzarella Parmesan cheese Oil Salt
Preparation: Peel aubergines and onions and chop them both in thin slices; put onions and oil in a pan and then start to cook them (low fire) till the onions are golden, then add the tomato sauce and cook it for half an hour keeping turning it. Pour some oil in another pan and when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hot add the aubergines till theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re grilled. Cut mozzarella in slices; put them into a baking dish to make a layer and then spread some tomato sauce covering the aubergines. Add some slices of mozzarella and some parmesan. Repeat this process 3 times. When you finish put the baking dish in a hot oven for 20 minutes at 180°C.
Parmitrip "On the Vesuvio, the God of food was getting bored, so he decided to make a gift to humans. After a long brainstorming, he made up his mind to prepare a Parmigiana. Then he started travelling through Italy to find the perfect ingredients included in the recipe. The journey began in Napoli, where he was searching for the perfect mozzarella. After one week tasting different kind of cheese made by some villains, he was close to give up. Suddenly he met a kid sitting down in the corner of an unknown street, who was eating a mozzarella: it was the perfect one! He was a very lucky god because he found the most tasty tomato in San Marzano, a village near to Napoli as well. His luggage was getting more and more heavy everyday. He needed just one more ingredient, so he went to Sicily looking for the best aubergine in the world, he asked to many farmers and he found it in a grocery in Palermo. At that point he was ready to start cooking the delicious Parmigiana."
Torta caprese Ingredients for 8 people: 300g of almonds 250g of butter 250g of chocolate 200g of sugar 5 eggs Powdered sugar
Preparation: Boil some water and leave there the almonds for 1 minute in order to peel them. Then toast the almonds in the oven for some minutes at 200째C and mince them. At the same time melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and let it get colder mixing it. Mix the butter with 100g of sugar and the reds of the eggs, add the melted chocolate and pour the mixter in a bowl with minced almonds. Whisk the whites of the eggs until they form stiff peaks with 100 g of sugar and add it to the mixture. Continue mixing delicately. Pour the mixture on the baking tray and bake it for 1 hour at 180째C.
Love at first bite "Once upon a time in Capri there was a king who decided to organize a challenge to find his future wife. They were supposed to prepare a cake to satisfy him because he was really greedy and the greatest baker would have been his queen. Every girl in the island took part to the challenge, so there were so many cakes that it was too hard to choose. The king was getting bored because the majority of the cakes were quite similar and he was close to stop the challenge without any winner. Would have Capri remained without a queen? Unexpectedly a young countrygirl knocked on royal castleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s door with a flavoured gift in her hands: it was a very special cake with chocolate and almonds . The recipe was a tradition of her family that was passing through generations. It was love at first bite and they lived happily and greedly forever."
LEGEND of PINK SOUP
LITHUANIAN PINK SOUP
food
Šaltibarščiai is a meal of GKL (Great kingdom of Lithuania) and it is cold soup dish. Milan’s duchess Bona Sforza married Žygimantas Senasis and brought the habit of eating more vegetables. Local residents began to make soups with beetroot and beet leaves.
Mmmm... Mmm..
This has become a prestigious meal for visitors to welcome. Eg. quote, professor of medicine at the German Johann Peter Frank (1745-1821), 1805. went to Nesvyžius Vilnius province of Michael Jerome Radziwill (1744-1831), he became cold on the journey and dreamt about a pan of hot soup, but unfortunately was met with soup that was made out of ice pieces and beetroot.
Ingridients
Pota tos!
2.5 kg of beets marinated in apple juice Eggs 15 pcs. Cucumbers 1 kg Dill 100g Spring onions 150g Kefir 5 l Pinch of salt 5 Sour cream 500g Potatoes 3kg
Working...
RECIPE of PINK SOUP
Preparation
1. Hard boil eggs must be cooled and peeled. Cut it into pieces. 2. The cucumbers are cut into small pieces symmetrical. Chop the dill and green onions. 3. Drain the liquid from the beets and pour them in a large bowl. Add the chopped cucumbers, greens, pour kefir on top. Cold soup can be diluted with a little milk or boiled water until the desired consistency. Add salt to taste. 4. Its served with hot potatos.
BAKED CHEESE
food
Long time ago when Napoleon was going to Russian empire to conquer it, he was crossing Lithuania. He felt hungry and he stopped in the small village called Babtai in the middle of Lithuania. It was very small and very poor village, but peple were very friendly and welcoming. All they had were only few cows that were producing all the dairy products. Also they were growing vegetables and herbs. The people of Babtai really wanted to impress the guest. So they wanted to prepare something very special from what they had. So they made a very big traditional cheese from the freshest milk they had. But the little boy called Petriukas accidently put the cheese next to the fireplace. Also there were some herbs drying for winter near the fireplace and they felt on top of the cheese.
People saw that the cheese got burned, but they did not hare anything else to eat. Fortunatelly the cheese was delicious and the guest was very happy. After this day peaple are always making this baked cheese for their guests.
Yaaam...
RECIPE of BAKED CHEESE
Fried cheese Ingredients: 3 Cheeses (22% fat cottage cheese or even richer) oil (for coating) head of garlic saline oregano or others. favorite herbs pepper 50g
Cheeeeese...
Ingridients
Bak ed!
Preparation * Cheese surface is cut (little bit) on both sides. * Mix all the remaining ingredients and rub this mixture of cheese from all sides. Let the mixture sink in for 30 minutes. * Baked on baking paper (even better - on foil) up to 190 C in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes You can eat it warm or cold. Enjoy your meal.
CURD DONUTS
food
It was a legend about a Lithuanian small village called Kuršėnai. One day out of nowhere the sky turned black and the clouds became black, they looked like dough and suddenly something started to fall. It was definitely not rain, neither that was snow, it was some kind of weird round things people got really scared an run away, leaving all their belongings. Accidently one person fell down and got it into his mouth. This was the best thing he had ever had He told people not to run away and collect them. In honour of this event Kuršėnai changed its name to Spurgiškės, and that is the only place in the world where there is no snow or rain but only spugos is falling from the sky.
OMG!!!
Ingridients 1.5 kg curd 500g sugar 10 eggs 500g flour 15g baking powder Pinch of vanilla sugar Around 2 liters of refined sunflower oil for cooking Powdered sugar to sprinkle donuts. (Up to 100g)
Preparation...
RECIPE of CURD DONUTS
Preparation
Tea m w ork!
1. Smash curd, sugar and vanilla sugar with a wooden spoon, put eggs and mix everything. 2. Mix the baking powder into flour and put them into curd (not all at once). Then mix until the batter becomes quite difficult to mix. The consistense should get sticky. 3. Heat the oil in a deep pot. Set medium heat intense, as if the oil is too hot, donuts will bake quickly, while the interior will remain unbaked. 4. Dip the spoon in cold water and take a small piece of dough with wet hands to form our balls and put them into the pot. 5. Fry both sides in the oil then take out the donuts with ladle and place on paper towels to take out the oil.
The story of
Tavche Gravche
The amazing story for this meal originates from one beautiful village in Macedonia. There once lived a man and woman in a small crumble house. They did not have much... but their love and commitment were truly enough to break each boundary. Every day she was preparing beautiful lunch for her husband early in the morning before they go to work on the fields. Beans were her husband's favorite meal, so one day she decided to put the bean in the earthware in order to become soft. But she accidently forgot the earthware on the fire and she noticed
that after they both came back home from field's work.She was disappointed that her loving husband wouldn't be able to have lunch after hard work. She went in front of the fire place where the earthware was put in and noticed that bean did not look burned. When they tried the bean, both realized that what they have tasted is actually very delicious. Since then beans are traditionally served in earthware, it got the name Tavce Gravce and is count as one of the most traditional meals in Macedonia.
The recipe...
Ingredients: 500 gr. white beans 250 gr. white onion meat (optional): bacon, sausages, smoked ribs etc. 1 clove of garlic 80 gr. sunflower oil 2 tablespoons of flour 1 tablespoon of red paprika (powder) fresh mint, and parsley. 1 tablespoon vegeta (optional)This is a mix of dried vegetables spice salt and pepper
Preparation: First, wash well the beans, then place them in a pot and add water to cover well the beans (let the water be 5 cm over the beans), then put them to boil. When it comes to a boil, boil them about 1-2 minutes, then pour the water and add new water to it. Chop the onion in big pieces and add it to the beans. Also, add the meat chopped in a bite-size pieces. Boil the beans until they are ready, but be careful not to over-boil it. The beans must be whole and soft inside, not a mush. Then to a hot pan add the oil and the flour and mix it well until it is golden. Add the paprika, mix fast and add this to the pot. Add the minced garlic and the chopped mint. Add salt, pepper and vegeta. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and preheat the oven to 250 C. Add the beans to a terracotta baking pan and put them into oven. Bake them until the beans have little liquid and over the beans have formed a thin crust. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
The story of
Shopska
You will hear people saying that this salad is not traditionally Macedonian. Given the fact that it has been present in our homes and our culture for so long it has become an integral part of the Macedonian cuisine. The Shopska salad is the salad to have in Macedonia, but also in every other place in the world. If you ask a Macedonian what kind of a salad to have it will be this one and probably the best combination it will be with rakija before the meal. It will work on your appetite and refresh you and prepare your stomach for the meal.
One of the ways that will really let you enjoy the salad is to try and put on your fork every ingredient and eat it. It will give you the chance to cool of after the sip of rakija and create a base for the more heavy part of the meal. You should never confine yourself about things like ,,Shopska is a salad for lunchâ&#x20AC;? it is for every time of the day and you should just enjoy it. Believe me when I say it, I know it looks good, but it tastes even better.
The recipe...
Ingredienses: *4 tomatos *2 cucambers *2 green peppers *1 onion *300 grams white sheep cheese *Oil *Salt
Preparation: You are choping the tomatos, cucambers, pepers and onion on medium pieces and pour them into a bowl. You add oil and salt by favor and then you mix. After the mixing you grind the cheese over the rest of the ingredients.
The story of
Parena Torta
Once upon a time, in a land far away, across seven mountains and seven lakes, in a small village lived one old lady with her loved husband. And…that’s exactly where the story of the “parena torta” started… One beautiful spring morning, while everyone was asleep and the grandma was preparing the morning coffee and making the menu for the day an idea came to her mind… The idea was to make the tastiest dessert to surprise the nephews who were coming to visit her that day.
At first, she had no idea what to prepare, but than she decided to follow her imagination and put all the sweet ingredients that she can find and mix them together in order to get the sweetest dessert. After mixing it and before putting it in the oven, she tasted it and something was missing. Then she remembered the special magic powder that she had for years and after putting it to the cake it became the best dessert everyone has ever tried. Many years after people are trying to make the same recipe, but no one ever did…
The recipe...
Ingredients: 250 ml of oil 500 ml of milk 20 big spoons of sugar 3 eggs 13 big spoons of flour 1 pastry powder 1 vanilla sugar 300 gr hazelnuts or almonds 100 gr strawberries
Preparation: In one dish we put the eggs and while mixing them we put 10 spoons of sugar, 250 ml of milk, 250 ml of oil, 13 spoons of flour and the pastry powder and we mix it till becomes equal. We grin the hazelnuts. Then we put the vanilla sugar and the hazelnuts and we put it to a baking tray covered with a little bit of oil and flour. We bake it 15-20 minutes. In one pot we put 250 ml of milk and 10 spoons of sugar and we boil it. Once the cake is ready we pour it over with the boiled milk and sugar and we leave it for 20 minutes. In the end on every piece of the cake we put slices of strawberry. Bon Appetit !
FIGOLLA Almond filled Easter pastry
Matthew was on his way home from Dutrina, Christian Sunday school. Munching away on some freshly toasted almonds, he thought about Easter. It was still lent and he was getting tired of waiting until he was allowed to eat something sweet. It was a Christian tradition to refrain from eating anything you like for 40 days as a sacrifice, especially sweets. He only had one problem. He did not quite like the chocolate Easter eggs that the other town children were so fond of. Every time Easter was approaching, he would feel sad that the only thing he could look forward to were the sugar biscuits that his mother made for Easter.
Not eating sweets was not a sacrifice to him. He preferred to eat almonds and biscuits. Suddenly he had a brilliant idea! What if he combined the two? Matthew helped his mother many times making the biscuits, surely he could do it? He quickly ran home to his kitchen. It was a good thing his parents were out. He searched for the rest of the almonds. The dough for the biscuits was setting in the fridge, ready to be cut into circles. Quickly, Matthew took out the dough and decided to cut them out into shapes of animals instead. He cut biscuits into fish and lambs, as he heard parables from the Bible and he thought it to be a nice idea for an Easter treat. He decided that he should crush the almonds so that he would have enough to cover the biscuits. Two layers are better than one right? Into the oven they went! His parents would surely be in for a surprise!
Ingredients For the pastry 350 grams caster sugar 800 grams plain flour, sifted 400 grams butter Grated rind of 1 lemon Egg yolks, beaten For the almond paste 600g caster or icing sugar 2-3 egg whites Grated rind of I lemon Orange flower water drops 600 grams almonds, ground For the icing Icing Royal icing Small Easter eggs
Method 1. Mix sugar with flour, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles to fine crumbs. Add the grated lemon rind and the yolks, mixed with a little water to make dough. Leave to chill. 2. Add the sugar, orange flower water and lemon rind to the ground almonds, and bind with the egg whites. 3. Roll out the pastry and cut out your shapes. Make two of each figure. 4. Lay the first shape on a greased and floured baking tray, spread with almond paste, leaving a small margin. 5. Lay the second shape over the top and press the edges together. Wet the edges with eggs using a pastry brush to stick. 6. Bake at 200'C/400'F/gas 6 for 5 minutes, then at 180'C/350'F/gas 4, for about 20 minutes, until pale golden. Leave to cool. 7. When cold, coat with icing, then decorate with royal icing in a different colour. While the icing is soft, press a small, foil-wrapped Easter egg in the middle of each shape.
BRAGOLI Stuffed Meat (Beef Olives)
Once there was this boy called Gahan (which is a nickname for an idiot). His mother has always regretted dropping him on his head when he was just a baby. One day his mother needed to go out therefore she left all the ingredients Gahan needed to prepare meat with a side of vegetables and potatoes. Gahan got hungry and therefore he made his way to the kitchen table to start preparing dinner for the family. He grabbed the meat, flattened it out on the table and starting throwing all the ingredients he found onto the meat and rolled it into a ball.
His mother was furious that he did not stick to the recipe since that was the only food the family had to eat it. Once she bit into the meat her taste buds exploded and she could not believe that her idiot of a son came up with this delicious combination of food. The bragoli became famous after Gahan and his mother opened a cozy little restaurant in the heart of the old Capital city known as Valletta.
Ingredients 800 gr Sliced Beef 2 tbsp Parsley 100 gr Bacon 2 Eggs 3 Garlic cloves 1 Cup Breadcrumbs 1 Cup Red Wine 2 Onions 1 Bay leaf Saltâ&#x20AC;&#x2039; Pepper Toothpicks (For Packing)
Method 1. Fry the bacon with the garlic. Mix in the breadcrumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix in the eggs. 2. Layout the sliced beef and put in the mixture in the middle of the beef. 3. Wrap the meat and tie with toothpicks. 4. Fry until beef is brown. In a separate pan, fry the onions. 5. Put the meat into the onions and add the red wine and the bay leaf. 6. Cook on low heat for an hour.
ROSS IL-FORN Baked Rice The first baked rice originated in a sunny coastal village in the north island of Malta. One day, while the mother was boiling the rice for the family to have a late dinner, the father and the son, Pastizz were hunting to catch wild rabbits and deer to cook later with the rice. The daughter, Qassata, picked fresh tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs from the gardens, to add to the rice. When the father returned with the rabbits, they minced the meat and cooked it separately, for the dish, boiled rice with minced rabbit. While the mother was doing some washing, Qassata by mistake dropped the boiled rice into the minced rabbit beef. She knew that her mother would be very angry with this mistake, and she wanted to hide this mix of food so the mother will not find it and punish her. Qassata was scared to tell her parents that she spoiled the meal, she only told Pastizz about it.
Pastizz told her that they can hide the mixed food in the wood cabin outside, and this is what they did. Since it was a very hot afternoon, inside the wooden cabin the temperature was very hot! Two hours later the mother returned, looking for the food but did not find anything. She asked the kids where the food was but they refused to answer. The mother was very angry and as a punishment, she wanted to lock them in the wooden cabin! The kids were terrified. When the mum opened the cabin to lock the kids inside, she smelt something nice, a delicious smell filled the room and she found the food mix. The rice and meat mix had baked in the heat of the wooden cabin and was cooked to perfection.
Ingredients 300 gr Long grain rice 200 gr Ricotta 4 Eggs 200 gr Tomatoes or Pulp 100 gr Kunserva 1 tsp Sugar 2 Medium sized Onions Olive oil Salt and pepper 75 gr cheese Any Vegetables
Method 1. In a pot, fry the onions with some olive oil till translucent, add bacon, and mince. Mix well so that meat cooks evenly. 2. Add tomato pulp, Kunserva, salt and pepper to taste and sugar. Cook sauce for about 20 minutes on low heat. 3. In separate pot boil rice, drain and put back in empty pot, mix with cooked sauce. Add 他 of the beaten eggs with rice and sauce and mix well. 4. Pour the rice into a greased baking dish, and pour evenly the remaining eggs on top. 5. Bake in a hot oven until top becomes golden brown for around 30 minutes.
g n i c u d o r t In
SZARLOTKA STORY
(READ IT AS : SHARLODCKA)
Apple has become a healthy fruit symbol of Poland. Polish cuisine fell under its influence. The smell of cinnamon apple pie reminds everyone of home and delicious grandmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pastry. It is also a case of Magdalena who has been living in the USA for many years. Childhood memories always take her back to beautiful apple garden of her grandparents. Her most touching thoughts are connected with grandmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s garden during the apple season. She remembers filling up the baskets with golden apples together with all family around. After the whole day working grandma would bake her special apple pie Szarlotka as the sign of gratitude and appreciation. For Magdalena the cooking time with grandma was very special. She was the only one from the family who was allowed to help the elderly lady to keep the family recipe alive. Until today, even though Magdalena lives in California, she keeps the tradition of baking Szarlotka for her close ones. The smell of apples and cinnamon has become the sign of love and brings family together to share the stories over the cup of tea.
INGREDIENTS & PREPARATION Peel and cut apples in small pieces an leave them on a drainer with vanilla sugar, raisins and cinnamon so they get a bit drier. Mix flour with baking powder, sugar, eggs and butter. Divide the pastry in two parts, wrap it in plastic bag and put for an hour into the fridge. Roll one of the parts of pastry and put in into a square oven tray (with baking paper or butter underneath). Put it inside of the oven for about 15 minutes (at 175 degrees) in order to make it a bit crunchy. You can make little holes with a fork in it so it does not grow. Take cake out of the oven, put the apples on it (if there is a lot of liquid in them you can add some wallnuts, bread crumps or semolina that will soak the water and leave the cake crunchy). Roll the remaining part of the pastry, cover the apples with it and bake for around 40 minutes. Pay attention, not to burn the upper part of the cake â&#x20AC;&#x201C; you can protect it with aluminium foil. After taking it out of the oven you can cover it with powder sugar and cinnamon. Enjoy it warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and a bunch of friends!
3 glasses of flour 1 teaspoon of baking powder 1 glass of sugar 1 packet of vanilla sugar 250g of cold butter 4 eggs 2kg of apples 12 teaspoon of sugar 1 packet of vanilla sugar 5 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10 dag of raisins 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Mateusz's Salad
It was some hundred years ago in the time of Prince Emir- the legendary founder of the city of Krosnice. Green peaces, corns, potatoes, onions and eggs permanently disappeared from Krosnice and really nobody knew exactly what had happened with them- and because of that people could not have been able to make any salad. One day the Krosnice inhabitants found out that fire-breathing dragon lived under the Krosnice Hill in a dark den. And as You can imagine Prince Emir said: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whoever kills this dragon will marry my beautiful daughter Paulina!â&#x20AC;?. Then many courageous knights had lost their lives. Up to time a young shoemaker Mateusz came along and he had a marvelous idea. He took a sheep fur, filled it with pitch and sulfur, sewed it and laid this false sheep in front of the dragonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cave. The dragon was hungry, rushed immediately at it and devoured it greedily. Very soon the dragon became incredibly thirsty because of the pitch and sulfur burning in his belly. For this reason ran fast to the Coca-Cola river and began to drink it. Drank so much water that he finally burst with a loud bang. As You can imagine the shoemaker got his promised reward- he married the daughter of Prince Emir and became the first and most famous salad maker in history of Poland.
INGREDIENTS & PREPARATION -green peas (without water) 2 cans -corn (without water) 2 cans -potatoes (pilled and chopped into small pieces)4 - carrot 4 - apple 1-2 -onion (chopped into tiny pieces) 1 -eggs (boiled) 3 -mayonnaise 350g -salt and ground pepper to taste
Polish salads are a mixture of Slavic and foreign culinary traditions. Born as a mixture of various culinary stories, both of various regions of Poland and surrounding cultures, It uses a large variety of ingredients. Combine all of them together in a large bowl. Salad can be refrigerated overnight and eaten the next day- the salad keeps well for 2-3 days in fridge, covered by glad-wrap. Also You can decorate the top of the salad with thinly sliced radishes, carrots (boiled).
PIEROGI (dumplings) It is Friday morning when grandma wakes up very, very early. It is maybe even 6 am. She tries to be very quite not to disturb sweet dreams her two granddaughters enjoy at the moment. Grandma starts doing magic in her tiny kitchen, while kids implement all the noise to their dreamland, taking it as hooves of unicorns or princessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; high heels in the ballroom. Beloved babushka does all the work by herself: she puts a lot of effort to make the dough perfectly smooth, flat and plastic. By weary, chubby fingers, she efficiently fills the small circles of the dough with cottage cheese and potato stuffing and her love. Even though 100 pierogi is enough to feed the army, she keeps making them for her two, 6 years old sweethearts. Soon they will wake up and run directly to the kitchen to assist the grannie and by their small, clumsy hands try to repeat ideal shaped dumplings. She should be annoyed by the mess they will make while trying to help. She is not and she will never be. Elderly, wise woman knows that within some years they will introduce pierogi making art to their families. She is moved. Sparkling drops appear in her eyes...
INGREDIENTS & PREPARATION Dough: 450 g wheat flour big pinch of salt 375 ml of hot water 50 g butter Stuffing: 500 g white cottage cheese 500 g potatoes 1 small onion 2 spoons of butter 2 spoons of salt 1/2 spoon of pepper
When creating pierogi, you start with making a lot of mess, you pour boiling water into the flour. Even though it extremaly hurts, , it is very important that you start mixing it with your hands, while the water is very hot. After these little tortures, you beat it until the dough is one unified ball. The perfect dough should come back to its shape after pressing it with a finger. Now it is the time, when the lazy people will get happy, because you have to leave the dough for it to breath for half an hour. Please, use this time wisely, as the next part will be even more exhausting. Take a roller to your hand and roll the dough until it's about 1 mm thick. Later, when you can feel your hands again, take a glass and cut circular pieces of the dough. Put it on your hand and depending on your preferences put the stuffing inside. Close it in half, so it gets a shape of a shell. You can use the fork to create nice texture on it. Put it in a boiling water and cook for few minutes. You will know that it is ready, when it resurfaces. Enjoy it with some chive and friends.