Food writer and broadcaster Marlena Spieler
- 8.11.08 polish countryside foodie holiday video!
- Follow this link to a video of our foodie trip to the polish countryside. here is what we did: eat drink, be merry, eat some more, cook cook cook, make music, dance, cook, eat some more....it was so much fun! poland culinary tours offers a handful of new tours next summer, and really, between the castles and stuffed cabbage, the rendered bacon fat on bread and the pickles, the goats milk cheeses and the sour rye, and the ladies of the countryside, with their pierogi and the men with their accordions.....its a wonderful glimpse of a world that might not be with us forever. as it is, you need the polish language to be a part of it, and sarna, the woman who runs Poland Culinary Vacations was born and grew up in Poland, and has great love for the culinary traditions, plus she can get you from a to z in the blink of an eye. go on the culinary holiday, i can hardly wait to go back and go to a different corner of poland! i just know there is more deliciousness waiting for me! in the meantime, the video is delightful!
- 5.11.08 Roving Feast: Difficult Days Demand a Happy Sandwich
- I was a slave to da man! seriously, my bosses were horrible sadistic people who enjoyed humiliating us poor workers--the no-nonsense Marcella from Marseilles who could lift twice her weight in salami and cheese, the timid South African Cecilia who sometimes made her cappucchino with a smiley-face of foam, and myself, a pocket-poor single mom who knew when someone needed a smile with their sandwich, and needed it badly. When I left--I believe I was fired for something like not wiping down the counter fast enough, or making too delicious a sandwich-- I took away not bitterness, I left with a great sandwich recipe, and fabulous sandwich-making skills.
- 2.11.08 pickle soup: the recipe! (adapted from Roving Feast, San Francisco Chronicle, as adapted from S.F.
- Here's the recipe, fresh from Poland! INGREDIENTS: About 8 ounces waxy white potatoes, peeled and cut into small chunks or large dice, more if you like and the winter night is cold...... 1 - 1 1/2 carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks or large dice 1 celery stalk, (or chunk celery root) including a small handful of the inner leaves, chopped 3 cups low-sodium beef, chicken or vegetable broth 2-3 big fat juicy kosher dills, shredded or finely chopped 1/2-2/3 cup of pickle brine 1/2 onion, very finely chopped 2-3 cups heavy cream Freshly ground black pepper 1/2-2/3 cup coarsely chopped dill leaves INSTRUCTIONS: Combine the potatoes, carrots, celery and broth or water in a large pot with half of the shredded pickles. Cover and bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining pickles with the brine. Place over medium-low heat and warm through to keep it from curdling the cream when you add it to the soup. . Serves 6 Note: This soup is just as good made a day ahead. Stir in half the dill when the soup finishes cooking, then sprinkle the rest in when you reheat the soup to serve.
- 2.11.08 grating pickles for yummy pickle soup!
-
- 2.11.08 i chose the direction of the pickles! YUM!
-
- 2.11.08 this way to pierogi, this way to zurek, that way to pickles....every direction deliciousness!
-
- 2.11.08 my buddies the countryside housewives are getting ready to cook me up some pierogi! I love these women!
-
- 2.11.08 sandwiches in a field in poland with my buddies
-
- 2.11.08 my beautiful big bread!
-
- 2.11.08 a big beautiful bread in a field in Poland!
- Harvest festival near Wroclaw, Poland, and the "Association of Countryside Housewives" gave me a loaf of this beautiful bread! As you can see, I loved it. We ate the most delicious zurek, a soup of fermented rye, with root veggies and all sorts of sausagey cured meats! and it was a festival of pickles, too, my kind of festival!
