SAUERKRAUT with dried mushrooms and golden CHICKEN BROTH are traditional Polish dishes, so it is beneficial to have a Polish friend.
Recently, I stayed with my Polish friend in Adelaide. During my return to Melbourne, I have already prepared two Polish-inspired dishes.
Additionally, I returned home with a large quantity of sorrel from her garden, which I used to make an omelette. When I have access to sorrel, I typically braise it with potatoes, prepare a green borscht or incorporate it into a meat braise.
My friend celebrates Christmas eve with some of the traditional Polish foods that her parents used to enjoy. She and her two sisters get together and make Pierogi stuffed with sauerkraut and dried porcini mushrooms.
She knows how much I like sauerkraut and if I am visiting her after Christmas I know that she would have saved some Pierogi for me in her freezer.
For this October meal, she prepared sauerkraut and dried porcini mushrooms as a side dish for duck breasts, a green salad and steamed herbed potatoes. The dried mushrooms impart a darker colour to the sauerkraut and, of course, potatoes and beetroot are staples in Polish cuisine.
Having lived in Trieste, I am well-acquainted with preparing and consuming sauerkraut, which is one of my favourite ingredients. However, I generally do not add dried mushrooms nor cook sauerkraut as long as she does.
As with many long-time cooks, she does not measure quantities.
RECIPE: SAUERKRAUT COOKED WITH PORCINI MUSHROOMS
Vary the amounts of mushrooms, sauerkraut and cooking times as you wish.
INGREDIENTS
1/4- 1/2 cups dried Porcini mushrooms soaked in water to cover
splash of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1k-900g sauerkraut, jars are usually 900g – drained, rinsed and squeezed
salt and ground black pepper to taste.
PROCESS
Leave mushrooms too soak at least for a couple of hours or combine water and dried mushrooms in a saucepan over low heat, simmer,and cook until tender – about 10 minutes. Drain mushrooms, reserving cooking water. Slice the mushrooms into smaller pieces if necessary.
Heat olive oil in a saucepan and over medium heat sauté onion until soft. Add mushrooms and drained sauerkraut and mix well. Add salt and pepper.
Add mushroom water, cover, and simmer until sauerkraut is soft. Add more water as it cooks if necessary. My friend cooks it for over an hour.
RECIPE: CHICKEN BROTH Cooked with Beetroot to provide a golden colour
The second Polish culinary addition I made in the last two days was to incorporate beetroot into the chicken broth I prepared. This technique, which I have used previously, imparts a rich golden colour to the broth, as illustrated in the photograph above.
I make chicken broth the Italian way, adding a whole onion, celery sticks, carrots, whole peppercorns and salt.
My mother also added a little tomato, and perhaps this was done to colour, but I only do this when tomatoes are in season.
I use a whole, free-range chicken and always enjoy eating the meat, especially with some Salsa Verde.
BRODO DI GALLINA (Chicken Broth)
Follow the above recipe, just add a whole beetroot (unpeeled).
You could also add dried porcini to this recipe:
CHICKEN WITH SAUERKRAUT, from the Carso, in north eastern Italy, near Trieste