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Polish food: the comforts of home

Memories of preserved orange peel as a child in Poland were an inspiration for Beata Zatorska's second cookbook, writes <b>Ewa Kretowicz</b>.

Ewa Kretowicz
Ewa Kretowicz

Simon Target and his wife Beata Zatorska.
Simon Target and his wife Beata Zatorska.Supplied

My No.1 comfort food is a traditional Polish snack called platski. Home-made hash browns is how I describe it to friends. There is something about the golden, fried, crispy, oily potato and onion pancakes that make even the worst day better. Served sweet or savoury (sour cream and salt is my preferred accompaniment) my grandmother would make four platski for me every day as an afterschool snack and throw in an extra egg to fatten me up.

Recently, I've been eating them fortnightly - they have fed my growing baby bump and, via amniotic fluid, will ensure our first daughter will also grow up with a fondness for these delicious, though frighteningly unhealthy, treats.

For Sydney doctor Beata Zatorska, sugared orange peel is the comfort food which brings back instant memories of love and her grandmother. She loves it so much Sugared Orange is the title of her latest cookbook. It's the long-awaited sequel to Rose Petal Jam, a Polish book written by Zatorska and her husband Simon Target.

<i>Sugared Orange</i> by Beata Zatorska.
Sugared Orange by Beata Zatorska.Supplied
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Like me, she has fond memories of her favourite food. ''My grandmother hid the preserved orange peel, glittering with sugar, in large glass jars on the highest, unreachable pantry shelves. No chances were taken in our house with a candy-loving child about. Even in Australia where oranges seem to grow in front of every house I need to hide these tempting treats. My children love them, leaving behind empty jars bespeckled with orange crystals. As they grow taller it becomes harder to find shelves high enough,'' she says.

Communist Poland was a hard place to get oranges. Every piece of the fruit was savoured and the young Beata kept every piece of colourful tissue paper that covered each individual orange, carefully placing them inside her school books to make them smell sweetly of summer and citrus all year long. When it came time to write Sugared Orange, Zatorska found her school books and the old pressed tissue paper still smelled sweet.

The book is part travel guide for foodies and part traditional cookbook, illustrated by Target's photographs with Beata's images and memories of her homeland.

Sugared orange.
Sugared orange.Supplied

Its colourful pages dispel the well-worn image of Poland as a grey and uniform Communist bloc country where root vegetables are the main source of sustenance.

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It's a stereotype even Target admits to having before meeting his wife. A photographer and filmmaker by trade, Target and Zatorska met at the Sydney Opera House. He fell in love immediately after seeing the impeccably groomed woman sob through a performance of Dvorak's music.

''I found that irresistible and said, 'I find the music very affecting too'. At first she said, 'Hell will freeze over before we go out on a date', but after a time she changed her mind,'' he recalls.

Draniki - Eastern European potato pancakes.
Draniki - Eastern European potato pancakes.Lesyy

The couple have been married 12 years and when questioned separately about the experience of collaborating with a loved one on writing a book they both respond with wry smiles. ''It can be intense,'' Target says.

But overwhelmingly he's grateful. ''It's through her that I discovered Poland. You go there and you expect it to be grey and boring and full of old men with snarling dogs and it's the opposite and I suppose she introduced me to a whole new world.''

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Though Polish spelling kept Target awake at night after another friend had a cookbook published which misspelled ''pepper'' and included a recipe for ''meat with Africa people''. All 20,000 copies of that doomed cookbook had to be pulped by publisher Penguin.

Barscht - Beetroot soup.
Barscht - Beetroot soup.Supplied

About 20 million people of Polish ancestry live outside Poland and the couple's first book, Rose Petal Jam, was popular with these expats. It sold 20,000 copies in its first year and won awards.

''It's the best selling Polish book on Amazon in the travel and food sections which we are very proud of - because it's a tiny publisher.''

They plan to do a series of four books, one for each season. Sugared Orange is themed on winter. While the 47 traditional, seasonal and Christmas recipes seem incongruous in the 35 degree Canberra weather, some dishes, like the beetroot soup barscht which can be served cold, translate beautifully.

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At Christmas it's made with small mushroom dumplings, as meat other than fish isn't typically eaten on Christmas Eve. A deep maroon, it's a fresh dish that can be made hearty with the addition of finely chopped boiled eggs and cucumber. It has been the entree for every Christmas dinner I have ever eaten and my Anglo-Saxon husband loves it.

But in a household where both adults are co-authors of a cookbook, who is master of the kitchen? ''She is a very busy doctor so I do most of the cooking.'' Target says. He uses the book when the couple feel like eating something Polish, though - in keeping with another Polish stereotype - they often end up at his mother-in-law's.

''Honestly, we eat with her mum because she is a fantastic cook and does all the work and she lives nearby in Sydney.''

Beetroot soup with wild mushroom dumplings

2kg beetroot

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3 carrots

1 onion

1 small celeriac

1 stalk celery

1 small bunch parsley

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1 bay leaf

1 tsp castor sugar

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

2.5 litres water

1 tbsp lemon juice

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1 clove garlic

Peel half the beetroot and slice. If you want to avoid staining your hands, use thin rubber gloves or put the peeled beetroot through a food processor.

Place the beetroot in the bottom of a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Peel and slice the carrots and onion and place on top of the beetroot with the bay leaf and parsley (washed and chopped). Wash the celeriac and celery thoroughly, then slice and add to the pot. Add the sugar and vinegar and leave to marinate overnight.

The next day, peel and grate the rest of the beetroot, using the largest hole on your grater. Add to the pot with 2.5 litres of water. If you have any leftover liquid from soaking dried wild or porcini mushrooms, use this and top up with water. Stir everything well, cover, and bring to the boil.

After 15 minutes, add the lemon juice to make the mixture sour. Cook on a low heat for another 15 minutes or until the beetroot is soft, then add the garlic clove (crushed), salt and pepper (and sugar if you like).

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Mushroom dumplings

Serves 6

Filling

150g dried porcini mushrooms

1 large onion

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vegetable oil

Dough

500g plain flour

50g butter, or 3 tbsp vegetable oil

Wash the mushrooms, cover them in water, and soak overnight so they regain their fluffy summer texture. The next day, bring the mushrooms to the boil, simmer for 10 minutes, then drain.

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Dice the onion and fry in a little oil over a low heat until translucent.

Chop the mushrooms in a food processor and fry with the onion on a low heat for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix the flour and butter or oil on a large wooden board with your hands. Add a little warm water to make an elastic dough.

Take a tennis ball-sized lump of dough and roll it out on your floured board to 3mm thick.

Use a small inverted tumbler - about 6cm in diameter - to cut out pastry circles. Repeat this until all the pastry has been used.

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Place a teaspoonful of the mushroom filling on half of each circle and fold the circle in half to form the dumpling. Use your thumb and second finger to seal the folded semi-circle, pinching all along the rounded edges in a shell-like pattern. Then fold the two outer tips of your dumpling and join them together them by pinching. This creates the classic uszka shape (''small ears''), like Italian tortellini.

Cook the dumplings in a large saucepan of salted boiling water. This will only take a couple of minutes - they are ready when they float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain.

Serve four or five dumplings in each of the six bowls of soup.

Sugared orange peel

Makes about 50 pieces

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4 sweet oranges

1.2 litres water

675g castor sugar

extra castor sugar, for dusting

Wash the oranges carefully to remove any wax, rinsing thoroughly with cold water. Using a sharp knife, score each orange from stem to tip into four equal segments, cutting the skin but not the fruit inside.

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Carefully remove the peel from the orange in four pieces, leaving behind as much of the bitter white pith as you can. Square off the end of each piece of peel and cut it into three or four vertical strips about 1cm wide.

In a large saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water by heating gently and stirring continuously. Bring the sugar syrup to the boil, then add the orange peel. Simmer uncovered on a low heat for about two hours, checking from time to time that the peel is still covered with the sugar syrup. During this time the liquid will reduce until it barely covers the peel.

Once cooked, lift out the peel with a slotted spoon, drain, and allow to cool.

Dust the orange peel pieces by rolling them while still sticky in a bowl of sugar, then spread them out individually on baking paper to set.

Once dried, the peel can be stored in jars in a dry place for at least three months. It is delicious as a candy substitute, or can be used for Christmas recipes, such as decorating a chocolate mousse, making orange ice-cream or apple mousse, or flavouring a Polish cheesecake.

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Potato pancakes with sour cream

Serves 4

1kg potatoes

1 large onion

2 eggs

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180ml sour cream, to serve

Wash, peel and chop the uncooked potatoes. Chop the onion roughly, then put everything in a food processor with the eggs, and season with pepper and salt. Blend until creamy, like a pancake batter.

Fry dollops of the potato mix in a little olive oil in a frying pan for a couple of minutes on each side.

Serve with sour cream, or for a really filling meal serve with goulash.

>> Recipes and images from Sugared Orange: Recipes and Stories from a Winter in Poland, by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target (Tabula Books, 2013, $49).

>> Ewa Kretowicz is a staff reporter.

Ewa KretowiczEwa Kretowicz is a columnist.

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