Polska: New Polish cooking, Zuka Zak

Poland sits on the crossroads of Europe's east and west. It has long suffered from a misconception of serving up grey and stodgy cuisine. But the Polish say they define themselves through their cuisine. Native Zuka Zak has left behind traditional and often misjudged Polish cooking and reinvented the rich cuisine she so fondly remembers of her childhood. She has focused her book on the Slavic culture, which has survived through Communism, where home-cooked food is shared.

Zuka combines the colourful folklore peasantry food with the more refined tastes of the aristocratic to include brunch with cameralised onion, scrambled eggs and cinnamon apple bake, to vegetarian dishes and game steaks to seafood salads. And of course, there are some boozy cocktail recipes that vodka lends itself to so well.

Polska is published 14 July; here are some of our favourite recipes, from breakfast to pudding.

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This fruity, ‘sponge cake’ omelette – omlet biszkoptowy – is not the kind of savoury omelette you would usually find in the West and it’s far tastier than your average sponge cake. For the berries, use whichever ones are in season or locally available. If you have any spare egg whites from baking, then add an extra one (or even two) to the recipe for even more fluffiness. For every extra egg-white add an additional half tablespoon of flour.

Serves 2
Time: 20 minutes

150g (5oz) mixed berries
50g (1 3⁄4oz/ 3 1⁄2 tablespoons) caster (superfine) sugar 
4 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter 
crème fraîche and honey, to serve

First stew the berries: put them in a pan with the sugar and a tablespoon of water. Cover and cook over a low heat until they have burst and released their juices – this should take about 10 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then start adding the yolks, one by one, followed by the flour. Heat half of the butter in a small frying pan (skillet) and once it’s hot pour in half of the mixture to make one omelette. (If you have two frying pans, you can make both omelettes at the same time.)

Fry over a medium heat for about 2-3 minutes on each side. Some people grill (broil) the other side but if the omelettes are quite small then you shouldn’t have a problem flipping them over; just shake the pan and make sure that the omelette is moving before quickly flipping to soft-side down. Top with the stewed berries, a dollop of crème fraîche and a drizzle of honey.

My first ever memory of nettles was watching my grandma Halinka beating her legs with them in the Łazienki Gardens in Warsaw, to ‘improve her circulation’. Ever since, I have remained fascinated by this seemingly dangerous plant that hides so many beneficial qualities behind its prickly façade.

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Tough times throughout Poland’s history have instilled a self-reliance in the heart of every Pole, and now, even though there is no need for it, we still love to forage. It’s the familiar feeling of being close to the earth and knowing exactly where the food you eat comes from.

Serves five
Time: 15 minutes

100g (3 1⁄2 oz/generous 3⁄4 cup) chickpea (gram) flour, sifted
50ml (2 fl oz/scant 1⁄4 cup) sparkling water
100ml (3 1⁄2 fl oz/scant 1⁄2 cup) beer 
1⁄4 teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Sarepska or Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice 
15 nettle leaves
rapeseed oil, for frying

For the batter, sift the chickpea flour into a large bowl and whisk in the sparkling water. Once you have a smooth batter start adding the beer and keep whisking until the batter is the consistency of double (heavy) cream. Whisk in the celery salt and set aside. Whisk together the honey, mustard, olive oil and lemon juice to make the dip. Set aside. Soak the nettles in the batter for about five minutes. Meanwhile, pour about 2.5cm (1in) of rapeseed oil into a frying pan (skillet) and place over a medium heat. When the oil is hot (a drop of batter should sizzle as soon as it hits the oil) transfer the nettles to the hot oil and fry in batches for 30-45 seconds on each side. As the oil gets hotter they will need less time to brown. Drain on kitchen paper and serve with the honey mustard dip.

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‘Little hooves’ and ‘lazy dumplings’ look very similar, yet as soon as you taste them their difference becomes obvious. ‘Little hooves’ are savoury and similar in texture to Italian gnocchi. I have vivid memories of making these in my grandma Ziuta’s kitchen, which didn’t have any windows, it was dark and small and we would sit there, as if in a bird’s nest and make these ‘little hooves’. It was our own little world, one with just me and my grandma in it.

Serves 4
Time: 35 minutes

3 large potatoes, peeled
3-4 tablespoons rapeseed oil 
3-4 medium shallots, thinly sliced
4 rashers bacon, finely chopped 
1 egg
200 g (7 oz/ 1 1⁄2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water until they fall apart when you poke them. Drain and mash with a bit of salt until they are perfectly smooth. Tip the mixture onto a flour-dusted work surface to cool down. Heat the oil in a frying pan (skillet) and fry the shallots and bacon bits over a medium heat for about five minutes, or until crispy. Season with salt and pepper.

Make a dent in the middle of your potato mixture and break the egg into it. Add the flour and quickly knead it all together before the egg has a chance to leak and get messy. Roll the mixture into three snake-like cylinders. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cut the dough diagonally into ‘little hooves’ then throw (not too violently as you might burn yourself) into the pan. Cook them in batches as you don’t want to overcrowd the pan and end up with a sticky mess. Once they float to the top, give them about 3-4 minutes more, then remove them with a slotted spoon and drain. Repeat until all of them have been cooked. Add the cooked hooves to the pan of crispy shallots and bacon and fry for a minute or two before serving.

Salted caramel mazurek with pecans

Although making mazurek does take time it is a very simple recipe. If you would like to simplify the pastry then you can use ready-made caramel or dulce de leche, though the consistency will be a little bit more runny. In my recipe, I have replaced the traditional hazelnuts and walnuts with salted pecans and I have also added some sea salt to the caramel to balance out its all-consuming sweetness.

Makes 10 portions
Time: 3 hours, plus chilling time

For the dough:

300g (10 1⁄2oz/scant 2 1⁄2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
125g (4 1⁄2oz/ 2/3 cups) soft light brown sugar
200g (7oz/scant 1 cup) salted butter, softened
2 egg yolks
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon soured cream

For the filling:

1 x 400g (400floz) can condensed milk
25g (scant 1oz/2 tablespoons) salted butter
25g (scant 1oz/2 tablespoons) soft light brown sugar
100g (3 1⁄2 oz/ 2/3 cups) pecans, broken up into smaller pieces
1⁄2 teaspoon good-quality sea salt

For the filling place a can of condensed milk in a pan of water, making sure it is completely covered. Bring the water to the boil then reduce the heat right down to the lowest setting and simmer for three hours. Top up with extra water if it evaporates. Meanwhile, combine the flour, sugar and butter in a bowl and work between your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks, vanilla extract and soured cream and knead together into a smooth dough. Chill in the fridge for 30–45 minutes.

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Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/gas 4). Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 1 cm (1⁄2 in). Use this to line a greased brownie tin, approximately 24 cm (91⁄2 in). Bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes, or until golden. Remove and allow to cool. Meanwhile, in a frying pan (skillet) melt the butter and sugar together over a low heat, then add the pecans and most of the sea salt.

Toast for a few minutes, stirring all of the time. Set aside. Once the condensed milk has turned to caramel and cooled to nearly room temperature, open the can and stir a little bit more salt into it, reserving a little bit for the topping. Spread the caramel over the cooled base generously and top with the caramelised pecans. Sprinkle over a little more sea salt before serving.

Polska by Zuza Zak (Quadrille £25)