Marc Sutton, leaning on Polish cooking.

Polish cooking had remained a mystery to me until I recently took my first tentative steps with this dish. It all began in such a charming way by an unexpected strike of luck. On my way home from a walk in the town centre of St Germain-en-Laye, just as I turned into Hennmont street, I stumbled across a recently opened Polish deli called Polish Baltyk. I could hardly believe my eyes and was instantly reminded of a beautifully convivial evening my polish friend Jean-Jacques Hubert had organised. What had started as a simple brunch had turned into a wonderful afternoon discovering an array of polish delicacies: Borch, Zrazy Wołów, Sledzie w smietanie amongst others. The poles had conquered my heart and my stomach.

On this particular weekend, the dish I really wanted to cook was Plack Ziemniaczane. These are essentially polish rösti. However, this is not a dish in itself. It needed a companion and preferably a meat-based one. One with a sauce to cover my creamy, crisp pancakes. A magical combination to warm this gloomy month of February.  I naturally opted for a beef goulash, a dish that finds its roots in Hungary but quickly spread to the rest of Eastern Europe. OK, history lesson over. Get your apron and let’s get to work.

My advice is to start with the beef goulash. Grab your Le Creuset casserole dish if you have one.

Ingredients:

- 1.2 kg of stewing beef (shin for example)

- 400g onions

- 1 red pepper

- 2 glasses of dry white wine

- 3 cloves garlic

- 5 cl of neutral oil

- 80g flour

- 2 l beef stock

- 3 tablespoons sweet paprika

- 1 teaspoon paprika

- Salt

- Freshly ground pepper

1. Cut the meat into cubes of about 5cm.

Thinly slice the onion and peel the peppers. Cut the peppers into strips. Peel and coarsely crush 3 cloves of garlic.

2. In a cast iron casserole, heat the oil. Rub the meat with salt, pepper and paprika.

Sauté the onions until golden, add the meat to brown it.

3. Add the peppers and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour, cook slightly. Add the paprika, mix and deglaze with the  white wine. Reduce.

4. Add the stock. Stir well. Adjust the seasoning.

5. Simmer for 2 hours.

6. Remove the meat and reserve on a hot plate, turn up the heat the reduce the sauce to a thick gravy consistency. Add the meat to the casserole and cover over a low heat.

Some serious potatoe cooking action here.

Meanwhile, let’s make the wonderful Polish potato pancakes:

- 4 large potatoes

- 1 large onion

- 2 fresh eggs

- 4 tablespoons of flour

- 4 tablespoons sunflower oil

- Salt and pepper

1. Peel and grate the potatoes and onion. Press firmly in your hand to extract as much liquid as possible.

2. Place the mixture in a large bowl with the eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix everything energetically.

3. Place your largest frying pan on a high heat until the oil crackles.

4. With a spatula, spread a cake in the pan, flatten and cook 2/3min then flip and repeat on the other side until the pancakes are brown.

5. Place on a kitchen towel to absorb any excess oil then keep warm in the oven.

And now brace yourself: combine these two heavy weight champions on your serving plate. Place the pancakes in the centre and cover generously with goulash. Once this dish hits your taste buds you will understand that I am not lying when I say that this is one of the most exquisite dishes I have eaten and cooked. The creamy smooth sauce combined with the crunchy pancake is simply out of this world. It’s now time for me to close this Polish chapter but I can assure you that this story is far from over.

Translation by Céline Sutton.

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