365 MEALS, NO MEAT

#176 Strawberry chutney

2011-05-30T22:18:00.004+02:00

Strawberry chutney - how I got to enjoy the strawberry taste in cold winter months.
Truskawkowy czatnej.
Recipe found here/polski przepis stąd: http://klapsaczykonferencja.pl/2010/06/truskawki-troche-inaczej/
You'll need:
2/3 small pasteurized jars,
1 kilo of strawberries,
1/3 cup of sugar (preferably brown),

4 tbsp of Balsamic vinegar,
2 tbsp of aromatic olive oil, (ie. white truffle)
a pinch of salt and 3 tea spoons of pepper (for the next batch I used cayenne pepper),
Steam the strawberries in a large pan on high heat so the fluids reduce quickly.
Add sugar and pepper. When the juice evaporates add salt and Balsamic vinegar.
Steam until it thickens enough. Take off heat and add olive oil. Fill the jars. Store in a dark place.
Use it as a sauce with cheese, fruits, nuts, greens, cold and hot and enjoy the wonderful aroma of fresh strawberries anytime you want.

#175 Blog resurrection

2011-05-30T21:31:00.003+02:00

Potatoes, fried egg and gzik.
Hello again, after a long, long break. It's been a while so I need to explain myself. I haven't started eating meat, stopped cooking, taking pictures or anything like that. My posts just had been so late, breaks got longer and longer, days got shorter and this blog lost the essence of my everyday meals - seasonality. I mean what's the point of writing about strawberries when it's Christmas time? Not to mention having two jobs makes one realize why there's so many stay at home moms and retired folks in the blogosphere. So I decided to give myself a break in posting but continue to document, cook and collect recipes and pick up right where I stopped, when it's in season again. So here we go again (hopefully) with my remaining meals of 2010.
Another change - the blog's going bilingual (though not word for word). It turned out I have more readers here and they'd rather read it in Polish.
po polsku:
Witam po dłuuuugiej przerwie. Nie zaprzestałam pichcić i dokumentować ale na opisywanie nie starczało mi już czasu (a raczej sił) ale wszystkie pozostałe posiłki 2010 zostały udokumentowane, notatki zrobione więc jedziemy dalej z blogiem, dokładnie tam gdzie przerwałam, ale za to w sezonie (bo któż chciałby czytać o truskawkach grudniu). Dodatkowo, specjalnie dla Was, wracam w wersji dwujęzycznej, zawsze część będzie po polsku, a przynajmniej link do polskiego przepisu więc zaglądajcie i przewijajcie do wersji pl.
Do zobaczenia!

#174 Zucchini quiche

2010-11-02T17:39:00.010+01:00

Zucchini Quiche
Quiche is vegetarian's best friend. Whenever you have a single veggie and no ideas for a meal you can easily turn it into a fine dish.
First chop and fry onion and cut the zucchini in thick slices, then in quarters.

Add the zucchini bits to the frying pan an spread a pinch of salt over it. Fry until golden.
Beat an egg or two. (I used one and got a very thin quiche)

Add two large tbsp of creamy goat cheese and combine the mixture.

If you're using frozen puff pastry allow it to defrost slightly before you form it in a tin tray. Place the fried veggies inside and pour the egg mixture over it. Spread some cheese on top and curve the sides inside in.

Bake in a preheated up to 200 degrees oven.

The cheese top is not a usual quiche ingredient but why not. It may resemble more a puff pastry pizza but it still tastes divine.

#173 Strawberries cherries

2010-11-02T17:32:00.004+01:00

Fresh new strawberries and cherries.
Some summer days I go vegan, raw even. I'm a seasonal eater and you can only get that real, straight from the field taste of local fruits in June/July. To cherish those moments some days that's all I have cause that perfectly looking stuff you can get in the supermarket all year round is just not it.

#172 Veggie loaf

2010-10-29T16:47:00.015+02:00

Vegetarian 'meat'loaf with marinate peppers stuffed with Feta and a side of sliced cucumber.
I felt inspired to experiment with a veggie loaf and it turned out quite nicely so I'm sharing the recipe. (As usual not too precise;)
You'll need:
bread crumbs, shallots, powder ginger, garlic, nutmeg, turmeric, caraway, pepper and diced carrots & peas, vegetable broth, butter, egg (optional).

Boil a packet of carrots and peas with vegetable broth. I had a bit of leftover mixed veggies frozen packet so I added that too.

When they're soft place them in a bowl and press with a potato masher.

Chop the shallots and fry them until golden brown.

Combine the mashed veggies with your desired amount of the forementioned spices, shallots and bread crumbs (as much as the mixture needs for structure but not so much that it will stop sticking). You may add an egg if it doesn't stick.

Place the mixture in a loaf tin and spread some butter on top to keep it moist and bake in a preheated up to 190 degrees oven.

Et voila!
You may cut it in thick slices and eat it while it's hot or leave some to serve as a bread spread.

#171 Election pizza

2010-10-28T11:57:00.001+02:00

Tivoli's pizza with asparagus, olives and broccoli.

I was working at the District Board of Elections when Poland chose it's next president. And leading the committee meant only a couple of hours to eat, bath, sleep (how about that for a movie title), walk the dog. And that meant: dial a pizza.

#170 Veggie shih kebab

2010-10-27T23:05:00.003+02:00

Zucchini, onion, bell pepper shih kebab, potato wedges and home-made garlic sauce.
The veggie shih kebab I got from my family so I fried some frozen potato veggies and not to be too lazy fixed some garlic sauce myself.

#169 Vegetarian hot-dog de lux

2010-10-27T22:38:00.002+02:00

Vegetarian hot-dog
With soy sausages there's no reason why a vegetarian can't enjoy a hot-dog. I served myself a delux version with fried soy ham and onion bean salad.

#168 Thick Bean Pita

2010-10-27T21:13:00.007+02:00

Pita bread with bean sprouts and tomatoes in thick sauce.
After my recent experiments with pita fillings I've discovered that it's a perfect solution for quick, munch on meal that is more suitable for reducing instant shortcuts.
So I've just chopped some bean sprouts and tomatoes.

Melted blue + goat cheese in a pot, added a hint of turmeric powder, thickened it with powder linseed [len mielony](that's my moms tip for a healthier and less carby thickener alterenative to flour).

Toast a pita bread and fill it with chopped veggies and sauce.
Et voilà!

#167 Roasted Garlic Potato salad

2010-10-26T17:17:00.014+02:00

Roasted Garlic Potato Salad with Cheese Balls and Tomatoes.
The fried cheese balls are a instant dish but that salad is something I really want to share with you. It's on top of my culinary bookmarks list and can be a side dish or eaten on it's own.
Prepare:
2 garlic bulbs,
1/4 of cup of olive oil,
3 tbsp of dry white wine,
a large pinch of salt,
pinch of pepper,
1,2 kilograms of potatoes,
1/4 of a cup of chopped chives.
1) Wrap the garlic in tin foil and oven-bake it till it gets soft.

2) Unwrap the garlic, peel off and press the cloves into a small bowl.
It goes a lot more easier and efficient then with fresh garlic and I'm often 'borrowing' this method for other recipes.

3) Add olive oil, wine, salt and pepper and combine it evenly.

4) Boil potatoes and cut them in circa 2,5 cm pieces.

5) Wait for the potatoes to cool down and add the garlic mixture and chives.
6) Leave in the fridge for 24 hours.
That's the real secret here. For the ingredients to combine you have to plan ahead as this is a over-night salad.
Recipe found here.

#166 Eggplant bento

2010-10-26T16:53:00.004+02:00

Lunch-boxed stuffed eggplant, bean sprout salad, garlic sauce.
OK, so it's not quite a bento and it's the day before meal but it's no sweat to prepare home-cooked, healthy & tasty vegetarian meals when you've got plenty of time on your hands. It's those busy working days away from home that are the real challenge. So if there's a point to prove I decided to add a new category: bento, for any take-out or boxed lunch I had, especially for the ones that kept my tummy happy enough not to make dinner at home.
So the best you can do for a busy day is prepare a dish the night before. I just reheated the eggplant in a microwave and it all tasted as fine as freshly made.

#165 Eggplant A'La Provencal

2010-10-20T17:27:00.014+02:00

Stuffed Eggplant with bean sprout salad and garlic dressing.
Another recipe I got from one of the best Polish food blogs, so good it even got mentioned in the NY Times culinary section.
You'll need:
one big eggplant,
2 teaspoons of bread crumbs,
chopped parsley and dill (one teaspoon each),
one small onion,
one egg,
olive oil, salt & pepper.

Cut the eggplant in half (as in the picture below) and carefully spoon out the flesh leaving a circa 1 cm thick layer.

Blanch the empty halves.
Fry the insides until soft and then add chopped onion and keep it on heat until it sweats.

Take off heat and allow it to cool down. In a bowl combine it with bread crumbs, egg, parsley, dill, salt and pepper.

Stuff the eggplants with the mixture and bake in a preheated up to 180 degrees oven for circa 30 minutes.

Decorate with parsley. This dish she found in a pre-war Polish Cookbook by Maria Ochorowicz-Monatowa. It's fairly easy to make but has some fancy factor at the same time. (though it's not presentation qualities;)

#164 Couscous and veggies

2010-10-20T15:18:00.006+02:00

Couscous mixed with fresh veggies and parsley.
Surprisingly good! But what I really wanted to tell you is....
there's a new blog in town, no not mine and no that's not the reason I've been away for so long. So to all the Polish- visit a friend of mine on My Kitchen is my Castle for some truly professional recipes. I'm glad to see another veggie inspiring carnivore's blog.

#163 Šaltibarščiai - the recipe.

2010-09-30T17:26:00.019+02:00

Lithuanian Chilled Soup/ Chłodnik Litewski.
Last time I introduced this soup here, I was eating out. Now I can give You the full home-made recipe. Just bear in mind it's one of those dishes that everybody here knows but if you asked them about the recipe you'll get a million variations.
The base is chopped fresh new veggies like:
radish, tomato..

dill,

cucumber, But one of the two most important ingredients is kefir or sour milk or natural yogurt.

Combine all the veggies.
Pour in the sour milk.

In the meantime boil a couple of eggs. Then cut it in big pieces. You add the chopped hard-boiled egg at the end. Some of it should spread evenly in the soup, while the rest is used to decorate.

But the most important ingredient is the juice from the leafy tops of young beetroots. In Poland you can just buy it at any shop but you can have it home-made too.

Spread the beetroot juice evenly so your soup gets the color and that awesome taste.

For the final touch you may season it with a bit of garlic.
Serve chilled on a hot day!

It's nutritious enough to fill you up when the temperatures are high but it's considered a entrée.
So we also had asparagus...

...and potatoes as second course.

#162 Pyry z gzikiem z warzywami

2010-09-30T17:12:00.003+02:00

Potatoes with cottage cheese and vegetables.
This regional dish was previously introduced here. Today I offer a variation of gzik with radish, cucumber and onion.

Just chop everything in little pieces and mix it with cottage cheese. The simplest, the most traditional, best enjoyed on hot, lazy making day dish.

#161 Strawberry shortcake

2010-09-29T22:41:00.007+02:00

Strawberry Shortcake
You might off noticed I usually don't include deserts but on occasions such as this - when it can be accompanied by a recipe, I make an exception.
You'll need:
4 eggs,
1 cup of sugar,
1,5 cups of flour,
1 tea spoon of baking soda,
half a packet of margarine,
1 pack of vanilla sugar.
Separate the yolks and whites.

Whisk the whites together with sugar.

Sift the flour into a bowl.

Add baking powder, vanilla sugar and yolks.
Melt the margarine and add it till it's hot. Mix.

Rub the baking tray with butter/margarine and spread bread crumbs.

Pour in the batter.

Add fruits on top (they may drown in batter).

Bake in a preheated to 180 degrees oven. Decorate with powder sugar.

#160 Gazpacho

2010-09-29T20:59:00.003+02:00

Spanish Chilled Tomato soup

I followed this adorable recipe.

My only modification was using red pepper instead of green.

It's surprising how nutritious this refreshing soup is.

#159 More Asparagus in a Pita

2010-09-28T15:11:00.006+02:00

Asparagus in Pita with Spicy Sauce.
For one it was good! And second of all I had a packet of pita bread opened so I did a variation on the previous meal.

I added some more spices to enhance the color and flavor (more nutmeg and turmeric). Also this time asparagus is the sauce ingredient instead of leek. For the rest of the steps: see previous post.

#158 Asparagus & leek pita

2010-09-28T14:50:00.011+02:00

Asparagus in Leek Sauce in Pita Bread
Experimenting to find new servings based on what I had at home I discovered a simple and possible to eat on the go dish.
First I melted two chunks of blue cheese in light cream.

Then I added chopped leek, pepper and a hint of nutmeg.

When the leek starts to get soft add a large teaspoon of creamy spread cheese.

Allow the cheese to melt and immediately spread the sauce over placed in a pita bread, pre-boiled asparagus cut in chunks.
Hope the last steps description isn't too rapid but you get the idea from the first photo right?

#157 Yet another leek based casserole

2010-09-28T14:34:00.009+02:00

New Potatoes and Leek oven baked with Parmesan
Usually leek is my "eaten while waiting for asparagus" vegetable but this year, as you all noticed, my taste buds went crazy for it. Especially for that simple but oh-so-good casserole.
For a summertime version you'll need pre-boiled new potatoes, chopped leek..

topped off with Parmesan cheese (not grated, but sliced) and some blue cheese mixed with the veggies.

And after baking in a pre-heated up to 180 degrees oven it's ready to serve.

It was one of those occasions when I struggled with myself - on one hand there's the need for keeping the blog interesting but on the other are my culinary desires. But I told myself that documentation is the main idea behind this blog so here we go again...

#156 The Strawberry Family Dinner menu

2010-09-22T09:19:00.029+02:00

For appetizers:
Strawberry Rocket salad.
Main course:
Asparagus Risotto

Desert:
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

All that cooking, even with a blog, is less fun when there's no one to taste it. So I invited my family to enjoy my latest discoveries of serving June's seasonal delights. That means more recipes for you.
First the only dish that I've been making for a while.
The Strawberry Rocket salad.
You'll need:
30 grams of rocket
75 grams of strawberries
50 grams of smoke mountain cheese [oscypek]
20 grams of pistachio (without shells)
50 ml of olive
Wash the plants, cut the strawberries in quarters, grate the cheese. Place on plates, rinse with a hint of olive and decorate with pistachio.
The taste is divine. Too bad the plate in the photo looks the same as the salad because it presents itself heavenly too.

The Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

This recipe I found on this newly discovered blog, and she's found it here, so for once I can link a source in English. But the two are slightly different (and frankly hers is better) so I'll give you the Strawberries from Poland version:
For the crumble prepare -
85 grams of flour,
85 grams of roasted walnuts (you can see how to prepare them in the photo above, don't add any fat)
45 grams of oatmeal cereal,
50 grams of sugar,
a pinch of salt,
60 grams of melted butter.
You'll also need:
250 of strawberries
350 of rhubarb,
1 tea spoon of potato starch,
50 grams of sugar.

1. Crush the nuts a bit.
2. In a bowl combine flour an nuts.

3. Add sugar, salt and oatmeal cereal.

4. Add the melted butter and mix it with your hands. It's not supposed to turn into an even mass, just crumbles sticking to each other. Put it away to the fridge.

5. Cut the rhubarb into 2-3 centimeters pieces.

6. Put the fruits in the bowl and spread some sugar over it.

6. Cut the strawberries in halves and spread sugar over.

7. While waiting for the fruits to let the moist out, butter a gratin dish.

8. Pour out the juice, mix the fruits together with potato starch and 50 grams of sugar. Place them in a dish and pour over the cold crumble.

9. Bake in a preheated up to 180 degrees oven for circa 35 minutes.

As for the lovely asparagus risotto, the recipe was posted previously.

I also served a rhubarb steamed drink that reminds me of childhood but for that recipe you'll have to wait.

#155 June seasonal vegetables

2010-09-16T17:40:00.007+02:00

Beans sprouts, new potatoes, fennel and a cup of kefir.

Seeing this only three things come to my mind: summer, summer, summer! I love seasonal veggies and though the tastes of June are gone now, I love it that Polish cuisine is so seasonal. You get a sense of being one with nature, the full taste that only fresh veggies can have, the comfort of food safety...

#154 Pyry z gzikiem

2010-09-16T17:38:00.006+02:00

New potatoes with gzik.
It's the traditional dish from my city - Poznań and region - Wielkopolska. Tastes best in the summer when the potatoes are new and everything's fresh.

Gzik is cottage cheese mixed with chopped fresh onion, dill or fennel and salt & pepper. There are some variations to gzik but the most important thing is to get the local kind of cottage cheese (and that's nearly impossible outside of Wielkopolska:/

#153 Oven-baked potatoes

2010-09-16T17:34:00.008+02:00

Baked potatoes with cheese and mizeria.
Cooking experiments lead me to weird places;) For some reason I thought of trying oven-baking the potatoes in a vegetable broth.
After fishing them out I got rid of the broth, put the potatoes back in the casserole and spread some cheese on them.

Back in the oven until the cheese melts. The dish didn't have the quality of a traditionally baked potato. It was eatable but not worth repeating.

#152 Warung Bali

2010-09-13T23:53:00.025+02:00

Lumpia Malang
- vegetarian spring rolls.
Gado Gado
- blanched vegetables, tofu, tempeh, longtong rice, hard-boiled egg, peanut sauce and Indonesian chips.

This place was tempting me whenever I walked past their windows. Unlike most Asian eateries in Poland the decorations were not plastic, plus an exotic cuisine, hopes of finding some new vegetarian dishes and for a decent place with Asian food (finally), the smell of incense... all that was inviting me to come in. Now let's take a look at the dishes.
The starter-
absolutely amazed me! What a change from all the greasy, soaked in fat spring rolls served in all the Vietnamese joints (and the fact that vegetarian stuffing is actually available here). The pastry was excellently crispy and you could feel that in the Indonesian version it's a bit thicker. One of the best I ever had.
Gado Gado-
What a disappointment. Maybe it is a traditional dish but otherwise I see no point in such a serving. And maybe I've should of known from the description that the vegetables will be boring but I expected something... exotic. Some spicy magic that would turn the same old bunch of regular veggies into an Asian delight. And that egg! What the hell was it doing there? The tofu was good, especially with that peanut sauce but frankly my mother has introduced it in our family cuisine years ago - so much for my desire for a new exotic discovery.
The best thing on their menu are freshly squeezed juices. Really amazing and in nice big portions (all of the dishes were big actually). And so I decided to give this place another try some time in the future. The interior is nice (apart from the fake flowers - yuck), can't say anything bad about the service, more then one vegetarian option on the menu. Just don't order Gado Gado.

#151 Battered Champignons

2010-09-13T23:49:00.011+02:00

Champignons fried in batter with minced beetroot salad and mushroom risotto.
Dinner at Grandma's followed by the usual 'I don't know what to cook for you anymore'. But every time she does;)

#150 Asparagus in puff pastry

2010-09-07T23:42:00.012+02:00

Asparagus in puff pastry pockets.
I having trouble naming all the various dishes out of puff pastry. Here we just call it French pastry. Anyway this is a variation off the savory turnovers and part of my challenge to have my asparagus in a different way this season.
All you need is a packet of frozen puff pastry, boiled asparagus, some blue cheese and Parmesan an a pear and zucchini to enrich the dish.
1.) Cut the ingredients in bite-size pieces.

2.) When the puff pastry starts to defrost cut out squares out of it.
3.) Place asparagus, pear and zucchini (two pieces of each) in the middle. Top it off with cheese.

4.) Pull the corners together an stick them with your fingers.

5.) Place the portions on baking paper and bake in a preheated up to 180 degrees oven until golden.

7.) For dessert I did the same but just with strawberries.

#149 Soy burger with risotto and kefir.

2010-09-07T23:27:00.009+02:00

Instant soy burger, asparagus risotto and a cup of sour milk.

The only thing wrong with the delicious asparagus risotto is: there was too much of it. But you can reheat it the next day so I just fried an instant soy burger and the dinner was ready in a few minutes. But what I really wanted to talk about is kefir. It's a popular in Poland, thick, sour milk drink that goes particularly well with potatoes and boiled vegetables. I like it as a traditional, non-alcoholic beverage accompanying dinner (especially on hotter days) but it's also popular just on it's own (and is said to be a hangover cure).

#148 Seasonal veggies

2010-09-07T23:13:00.006+02:00

Asparagus, potatoes, carrots, fried egg decorated with dill.
One of the reasons why I love May is that's when the seasonal veggies start. All is new, all is fresh and all that makes me adventurous in the kitchen. In spring and in the summer even as simple dishes as this can be a feast for the eyes and for your taste buds.

#147 Asparagus risotto

2010-09-07T23:00:00.026+02:00

Asparagus risotto.
My objective of this asparagus season was to find a different serving every time. So every time I took a bunch home I opened my handy cookbook (=browsed the internet) looking for a new interesting way to eat them. That's how I found this recipe.
To make a whole lot of this risotto You'll need:
a bunch of asparagus,
1.5 liter of vegetable broth,
risotto rice,
eggs (same amount as the number of people you're going to feed),
one packet of butter,
2 big shallots (chopped),
50 grams of grated Parmesan,
Parmesan 'slices',
salt & pepper,
fresh parsley and tarragon.
Got it? Here we go:
1. Cook the asparagus shots in vegetable broth. Don't pour out the broth when they're done!
2. Melt 50-60 grams of butter in a pot and add shallots.

3. Cut the cooked asparagus shots in inch long pieces. Put the buds aside.

4. Add risotto rice. Allow it to fry for a few seconds.
5. Add asparagus pieces but NOT THE BUDS.

6. Add a large spoon of vegetable broth, allow the rice to soak it up while continuously stirring. Repeat the process until the rice gets soft and you run out of broth. (Circa 20 minutes)
7. Take the pot of the cooker.
8. Add salt, pepper, a tbsp of butter and grated Parmesan.

8. Add asparagus buds and gently mix the risotto with a spoon.
9. Cover the pot over and fry the eggs.
10. Serve the risotto in bowls with a fried egg on top and decorate it with 'sliced' Parmesan and fresh herbs.

#146 Summertime on a plate

2010-09-06T23:01:00.006+02:00

New veggies.
New potatoes, new carrots, new cabbage, fried egg decorated with some dill. Simple yet delightful but only in summer when it's all fresh and sun-kissed.

#145 Frozen pizza pie.

2010-09-06T23:00:00.007+02:00

Pizza plus some slices of zucchini and tomatoes. My favorite Regina Spektor quote "I'm a pizzatarian so it's a frozen pizza pie". And it was, just slightly enriched by what I could find in the fridge. And sure that's not the real thing but pretty close, plus frozen pizza needs no involvement in the kitchen and is ready in no time so if you're just home for a minute to change and on to whatever you've got planned next so..." it's a frozen pizza pie. "
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM5Zp7nv4gM

#144 Mac'n'spinach

2010-09-06T22:59:00.003+02:00

Mac'n'spinach
Ordinary meal on a ordinary day.

#143 Šaltibarščiai

2010-09-06T22:58:00.010+02:00

Cold beetroot soup.

This is a genuine Lithuanian dish that got so accustomed in Poland we treat it like it's our own. But we respect it's origin by naming it "Lithuanian cold soup". (=Chłodnik Litewski). It's a seasonal (summer time only) dish, perfect for the hotter days when you hardly feel like eating, let alone cooking. The absolute basic components are young beetroots and sour milk. Together with fresh veggies and a hard-boiled egg it makes a combination you wouldn't have thought of. The cuisine in this region can be surprising like that. But with it's seasonality you get just what you need. In this case, the goodness of fresh new veggies, the coolness of milk products and the nutrition of a soup.

#142 Pyra bar

2010-09-06T22:57:00.010+02:00

Veggie delite casserole.
I come from the land of potatoes and I love all their serving variations so as soon as I discovered this place it became one of my favorites in the city center. I feel comfy in the semi retro, semi commie-nostalgia interior. So when we were sightseeing Poznan with a couple of friends from Chile, I immediately thought of Pyra Bar for lunch [pyra means potato in the local dialect].
The food was great as always. They keep the prices really low (we like that in Poznan). All the 'made just for them' decorations make it a great place to show off regional pride (the bar got noticed in the Poznan, I love You more movie) and I only have a few little remarks for their future. One: a place partly designed for tourists MUST HAVE an English menu. It really makes the visit harder when You have to translate and describe all the fancy names.
Two: as for vegetarians, at first glimpse it might seem like there's plenty of options... but if You're a solid-meal-like-casserole fan like me your choice suddenly gets limited. Now I would be perfectly happy just having "PORcięta na camemberta" [potato, leek, Camembert, cream, Mozzarella] but they're always out of that one (because it's so good) and the other ones are just boring. Plus by now there really should be some new things on the menu.

#141 Curry paste and veggies.

2010-09-06T22:55:00.007+02:00

Oriental veggie dish
Improvising with the stuff one finds in the parental fridge when making an unexpected dinner time visit. I took some soy milk and mixed it with red curry paste.

That way it's softer, a bit milder but more moistly.

It was a good companion to the pack of oriental veggies mix I found in the freezer.

#140 Asparagus in basil sauce

2010-08-27T18:17:00.015+02:00

Asparagus in basil sauce.
Ever since I started a blog I find myself following more and more culinary blogs. Some of my favorites are written by carnivores. But these ladies eat so fine there's hardly any meat recipes and if there are it's easily replaceable. Like I did with Pistachio's asparagus serving.

Ingredients:
a bunch of asparagus,
150 ml of thick cream,
a veggie sausage,
one small onion,
2 cloves of garlic,
2 tbsp of olive oil,
2 tbsp of pine nuts,
pepper,
3-4 tbsp of chopped basil, 1. Chop the basil, onion, garlic and veggie sausage.
2. In the meantime start boiling asparagus.

3. Heat up the cream in a little pot and add basil. Keep it on low heat until it thickens just a bit. 4. Fry the veggie sausage slices, garlic and onion on olive oil.

5. When they start to get brownish add the pine nuts and pepper.

6. Prepare asparagus portions on plates, pour them over with basil sauce and spread the contents of the frying pan.
Enjoy!

#139 Aussie dinner party

2010-08-25T23:38:00.020+02:00

Watercress and spinach roulade with sun-dried tomatoes instead of bacon

Beetroot salad.

Roasted potatoes and onions.

Green salad.

The Pavlova.

We've been invited to a dinner party by people who's lives spread across all of the world. Large part of it was spent in Australia and this land was the culinary theme of the evening. The host's grandson (amateur chef would be an understatement) prepared all the wonderful dishes and shared the recipes with me. I was so impressed I forgot to photograph the entries. The first course was absolutely fantastic! The recipe can be found here on his site. Just remember to take sun-dried tomatoes instead of bacon.
The second course was more of a company to meat but still delightful. The simple green salad was seasoned so nicely making it more then just a side dish. The roasted veggies were not dry and I don't know how I found room for an extra serving.
The desert is traditionally Australian and New Zealand. The legend has it that a hotel chef invented it in honor of the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova, visit to the Antipodes in the 1920's. The fruit decoration is supposed to relate to Aboriginal art. You can see rainbows and a group of warriors heading in their direction that lost their way. Another story I heard about Pavlova's fruit decoration is that it reflects the colors of the ballerina's skirt. All the legends make this wonderful, fresh and tasty dessert even more interesting. Click here for the Pavlova recipe.

#138 Vegetable Turnovers

2010-08-18T20:32:00.017+02:00

Various stuffing savory turnovers.

For this delicious dinner that you can eat with your hands You'll need:

a pack of frozen puff pastry,

basil,

blue cheese,

goat cheese,

zucchini,

a pear,

tomato,

Feta cheese.

Allow the pastry to defrost a little. Just enough for it to bend but not too much because it gets sticky. Cut it in squares and place the stuffing in the middle. Proposed stuffings:

"tomato burger" - Feta and basil between two slices of tomato.

Zucchini and goat cheese.

Pear, rocket, Balsamic vinegar and blue cheese.

All of the above together.

Bend the pastry as much as the stuffing allows you. The packet info said it needs to bake in 220 centigrades for at least 20 minutes but with my funky oven I went with 180 centigrades for 15 minutes and it still managed to slightly burn at the bottom.

After cutting of the burnt layer I had four deligthful pies and that was enough for a tasty, tummy-filling dinner.

#137 Dinner party

2010-08-03T00:38:00.009+02:00

Entrées:
Caprese salad; melon, blue cheese and Sun Dried tomatoes salad, marinated mushrooms, olives and a fresh veggies salad.

For second course:
Soy in curry with brown rice.

A dinner hosted by my mom for rarely seen family members visiting from abroad. There's been plenty of delicious veggie appetizers, fine wine... and a nutritious second course, partly prepared by me (just the curry soy) from things found in her kitchen, to save mom the trouble (it was a weekday after all). But what really made this dinner party a success was good company!

#136 Alberto's spinachio cannelloni with salad

2010-08-03T00:36:00.004+02:00

Instant cannelloni with spinach
My go to instant meal, first time made in a microwave rather then an oven and it looked bad. Fortunately I had plenty of fresh veggies salad to save the meal.

#135 Asparagus casserole

2010-08-03T00:18:00.006+02:00

Asparagus roasted in cheese sauce.
For this delightful dish I preboiled asparagus shots (with a pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of sugar). Most recipes for asparagus meals say it's unnecessary or just for a couple of minutes but I like them soft.

I also prepared some cream, grated cheese,an egg, spread cheese, garlic clove and preboiled 4 potatoes.

Preparing the dish: apply butter to the surface and spread crushed garlic clove on the bottom.

Preparing the sauce: whisk the egg, slowly add cream and continue whisking.

Slowly heat the sauce adding the spread cheese and less then half of the grated cheese. Stir till the cheese melts and take off the stove.

Place the cut asparagus and potatoes in the casserole with a bit of cheese between them.

Pour the sauce, top it off with the rest of the grated cheese and place in a preheated up to 180 centigrades oven until the crust gets golden brown.

One word: delightful!

#134 Spinach casserole

2010-08-03T00:06:00.003+02:00

Oven roasted mac'n'spinach with salads.
My nephew's First Communion party. Quite a big event in Polish family life. Most of the dishes were catered, apart from the spinach mac'n'cheese made especially for me.

#133 Caprese and Spinach soup

2010-08-02T23:56:00.004+02:00

Caprese and Spinach soup.

Omg, this was amazing! It was a bit creamy with a cheese base. I can't believe I haven't eaten it for so long! I'm a spinach fan and enjoy a good soup so this combination is perfect.

#132 Fried pickled Pattypans

2010-08-02T23:30:00.008+02:00

Steamed cauliflower in mayo and herbs sauce, fried Pattypan squash and Greek salad.
Sometimes one's in the mood for experiments in the kitchen. I spotted this new cauliflower in my veggie shop and it was so cute and tiny I had to have it. I'm not a big fan of overcooked cauliflowers and raw just wasn't 'diner material' so I decided to give it a steam bath.

So what to have with that giant side veggie? A salad? Well I had everything for the Greek salad so I made that but what about the third dinner element? Something crunchy to munch on. I was playing Farmville for some time and it got me interested in some crops. Like Pattypan squash. Here we serve it pickled but it's not very popular. Browsing the web I discovered the American serving - fried Pattypan. I only had the pickled one but decided to try it anyway.

I cut them in halves, dipped in an egg, pressed in bread crumbs and fried.

The meal was interesting, refreshingly different from what I eat regulary but not something I'll revisit any time soon.

#131 Asparagus cream soup

2010-08-02T22:41:00.010+02:00

Extra creamy asparagus soup
One of the yummiest asparagus servings is a soup.
Preparation takes some time but is fairly easy if you follow these steps:
1. Cut the peeled white asparagus in three parts (one bunch makes enough soup for two servings, two bunches for 4...etc.)

2. Put aside the tips, boil the other parts in water with 2 teaspoons of sugar, a pinch of salt and a bit of white wine.

3. While they're cooking whisk the yolk of an egg together with 100 ml of cream.

4. When asparagus shoots are soft add them to a pot of vegetable broth and mix it with a blender and allow it to boil again.

5. Add 2 tbsp of flour to thicken the soup.

6. Now add the tips of asparagus and leave the pot on heat for a short while till they start to go soft.

7. Add the whisked yolk and cream to warm (but not boiling!) soup.

8. Decorate (I used cracked nachos) and serve.

#130 Asparagus au Béchamel

2010-07-30T11:35:00.008+02:00

Roasted asparagus under Béchamel sauce.
You'll need:
asparagus,
flour,
butter,
milk,
nutmeg,
Parmesan.

1. Optional: preboil a bunch of asparagus (if you like them soft like I do). No need for the fancy method of cooking as they'll be processed anyway. Take of the stove and allow to cool down.

2. Preparing the sauce:
Melt two tbsp of butter. Add two tbsp of flour and stir till they become one.

Add a teaspoon of nutmeg. Stir.

Slowly and gradually add milk. You don't need to use the whole cup, just enough for your desired thickness. Then add pepper.

3. When your sauce is ready place asparagus in a low casserole.

4. And pour Béchamel over them.

5. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan on top.

6. Place in preheated up to 180 degrees oven until you get a golden brown crust.

It can be a dish on it's own or a side. I just decorated it with a couple of fresh veggies.

#129 Francuski Łącznik

2010-07-28T17:09:00.006+02:00

"Warm goat" salad
Melted goat cheese on puff pastry, lettuce, walnuts & vinegar.
"Goat" tart - goat cheese, tomatoes and Herbes de Provence.
Francuski Łącznik (~French Connection) are responsible for making quiche and tart so popular in Poznań since they opened their first premises. Today this dish can be found in many local eateries, but they still make the best. So one weekday I decided to have my dinner in their latest expansion, near the Old Market on Dominikańska street.
The interior represents Polish image of what it means stylish in France. Just reading the menu activates your taste buds. All vegetarian dishes sound delightful. I chose a goat cheese theme. One piece of tart just doesn't make up a meal for me. Maybe it's just me or my Polish habits but I want side veggies with my tart, so I ordered a salad too. The tart was simply amazing. The salad was delightful too, at least the first bites. By the end of the meal I got to a point where everything was soaking in vinegar so much it made me nauseous. A disappointment, considering the fact I was already creating an enthusiastic review in my head. To sum up, tarts and quiches are great, ideas are great, less vinegar on the salad and it would be perfect.

#128 Cheese sauce pasta

2010-07-28T16:56:00.002+02:00

Fusilli with cheese sauce and bean sprouts salad.
That side salad is a Polish companion to my pasta. All it needs, apart from bean sprouts, is onion and vinegar and you'll get very refreshing side veggies.

#127 Pasta con Spinaci

2010-07-27T21:16:00.011+02:00

Spinach Pasta
Weekend at my mom's continued. This time I was there to take pictures of my meal's preparation.
First we gave fresh Spinach leaves a warm bath.

Boil whole leaves in water. Don't sink them, just add enough to fill half of the pot full of leaves.

They'll shrink immediately. Then add chopped garlic.

Next add some blue cheese.

When water evaporates add cream/milk (we replaced cream with milk to make it a lighter version but they don't 'behave' the same in cooking.)

Boil it under cover till the sauce thickens. (Somehow it failed to happen in our dish and it turned out much too watery. Any hints on how to combat that? I would appreciate a good tip).

#126 Wielkopolskie szparagi

2010-07-26T00:52:00.006+02:00

Asparagus, buckwheat cereal with mushroom sauce and pickles.

Weekend at my mom's place. We started the dinner with localy grown asparagus. (My region - Wielkopolska has great soil to grow them hence the post title.) See how fat & big they are? Just looking at the photo makes me miss the season already, wish it was as long as in California.
As for the second course, it's always been one of my favorites. It's the kind of food that's been eaten here for ages, before introducing potatoes to Europe etc. and it makes me feel connected to the land. I may not follow the idea of eating only the kind of food that can be grown locally but I feel it's the healthiest choice of a diet. I'm talking about the theory that eating stuff that can be produced in the area you lived all your life and according to season changes is the best for your health. As the basic of your day to day meals I agree with it, but then there's so many tasty things in the world to try.

#125 Bellpepper tomato pasta

2010-07-25T15:17:00.002+02:00

Fusilli with red bell pepper and tomato sauce.
I saved up some of that Mediterranean sauce to take to work and served it in a Italian style this time. Only the cheese is no Parmesan, just plain yellow cheese.

#124 Oven roasted toasts

2010-07-24T10:23:00.007+02:00

Wholewheat toasts with 1. cheese and Ajvar, 2. Caprese, 3. Ajvar, Feta and basil, 4. cheese and basil.
Rather a light supper then dinner but very tasteful. I'm starting to question my national cuisine labels. Maybe I just should add a joint Mediterranean label for my Italian - Greek - Balkan fusions. After all they're not that far apart. And then again all cuisines influence one another and some dishes make themselves at home far from their orgin place. What do You think?

#123 Dinner at Grandma's

2010-07-24T10:08:00.005+02:00

Fried potatoes, tortellini, mizeria, Greek salad.
Grandma always wants to compensate the lack of meat in my dinner with the number of sides. As for mizeria, I explained it when posting about my last visit. The Greek salad was ready made in a lunch type box and so there was hardly any olives and Feta. But all in all, this surprising multinational combo was pretty good and definitely tummy filling.

#122 Mediterranean dinner

2010-07-21T17:26:00.013+02:00

Caprese
Again a dish that this blog would be incomplete without. The classic Italian starter of tomatoes, basil, mozzarella and olive oil. Followed by
Tomato Pepper pasta with Feta cheese.

For the sauce You'll need:
one red bell pepper,
a can of pulp tomatoes,
one big or two small onions,
Feta cheese,
olive oil.
1. Cut everything in pieces.

2. Fry the onion on olive oil.
3. Add the tomato pulp and bell pepper.
4. Boil till pepper chunks get soft (the taste of pepper enriches the sauce so much, other spices are unnecessary).

5. Pour the sauce over pasta and throw in Feta chunks.

#121 Oriental dish

2010-07-21T16:34:00.012+02:00

Curry veggies with bulgur.
Bulgulr is a Middle Eastern cereal, one of the oldest processed foods, the basic ingredient of Tabouleh. It can also be used as an alternative to rice and other cereals, like I did in this dish. All you need is a bell pepper, onions, carrots and peas, olive oil and red curry paste.

The preperation of veggies is really simple. Just start with heating olive and frying onions. Then add the rest of the veggies and curry paste. Boil stirring from time to time until they get soft.

The veggies turn out quite spice and so the subtle taste of burgul is a perfect companion.

#120 BBQ

2010-07-21T16:04:00.006+02:00

BBQued Oyster mushrooms.
Kickin' off the BBQ season with Oyster mushrooms. I marinated them in spices and garlic overnight but the minimum they need is pressing in spices on both sides before going on the grill. Depending on how long you keep them on heat, they'll be either fleshy or crispy as chips. I always use a tin tray as it stops the ingredients from following and separates my food from grease of carnivouers food.
For my first BBQ's as a vegetarian I used to eat salad and toasts but what's the point of BBQ if you eat that? So I started experimenting and found plenty of options, this is just one of them.

#119 Cheese balls

2010-07-21T16:00:00.003+02:00

Tesco's cheese balls on rocket with tomatoes and tomatoe salsa.
It's simple, it's easy, it's instant, it's good, it's supposed to be hot & spicy but it's not.

#118 Zapiekanka

2010-07-21T15:42:00.002+02:00

Oven roasted baguette with Champignons and cheese.
This blog wouldn't be complete without zapiekanka - Polish classic original fast food. That happens to be vegetarian, at least in it's typical serving - along the years many variations became popular, like with salad, onions, kebeb meat etc. You'll find it everywhere, although the one served in Cracow is a whole different story. Mostly eaten at night by pub crawlers and clubbers, at carnivals and festivals, on holiday, at remote or mobile fast food bars, on the street, at the lake, at seaside... Traditionally comes with ketchup but you usually have a selection of other dressings. Ketchup + garlic sauce are the most popular combination.

#117 Tivoli's Spinach casserole

2010-07-19T14:40:00.008+02:00

Oven roasted potatoes with Spinach and fried egg.
Tivoli is a local Italian restaurants joint that I visit from time to time. Usually ordering this because it comes with a cup sour milk. They offer a pretty decent Italian menu at affordable prices. I say pretty decent because you just can't compare it with the real deal Italian cuisine. And frankly I don't think it makes sense because the two are just incomparable (meaning the real deal always wins). But on the scale of, let's call it, 'Polish grown Italian cuisine' Tivoli stands out as being the closest to the orginal, especially their pasta's. Another nice thing about the place is that I have quite a few options for meatless dishes. I hate having extremly limited choice and that's not the case here. As for finding something to complain;) They've been around for so long I would of expected a couple of menu changes and new dishes by now.

#116 Asparagus and rocket salad

2010-07-19T14:37:00.006+02:00

Asparagus on rocket salad.
The previous night I used a couple of rocket leaves to decorate my traditional asparagus and eventually ate the decoration discovering the two make a great combination so I made a salad.

The PREPERATION is really easy.
It's great for making use of leftover asparagus when you cooked too much. Otherwise you have to boil them and wait till they cool down.
1. Just cut the cold asparagus in circa 2 or 3 inches long pieces.
2. Mix two tbsp of mayo with powder garlic and a pinch of Herbes de Provence for dressing.
3. Mix the asparagus, rocket and the prepared mayo dressing in a bowl.
The salad presents itself great on a plate, like a high-end restaurant side.

#115 First asparagus of the season.

2010-07-19T14:22:00.004+02:00

Asparagus traditional Polish serving.
The season is all over and I'm writing about it's start... but I'm getting there. I decided to kick of the season with the traditional serving - just decorating with bread crumbs fried on melted butter.

With my first bunch of the season I cooked them the proper way. That is standing in a high pot with boiling water. Tied together to keep still. That way the heads heat just in steam which leaves them less soft then the rest of the vegetable.

#114 Fried soy dog

2010-07-19T14:16:00.004+02:00

Soy wurst
On this day there was a distinctive smell of fried sausages in the city. I may not remember how meat tasted like but I'm still susceptible to smell. I came home longing for something fried and so I thrown a soy sausage and onion on oil. Ah, the delightfulness of simplicity of unhealthy things.

#113 Bobik

2010-07-19T14:12:00.003+02:00

Fava Beans
Traditional serving - boiled, salted and rinsed with butter. A meal to munch on with your hands.

#112 Sunbeet pasta

2010-07-19T13:17:00.009+02:00

Fusilli with Sunbeet salad and Halloumi sauce.
Inventing the Sunbeet salad lead me to further experiment. If You follow my steps You'll get an explosion of tastes in this unbelievably good dish!
1. Cut the Halloumi cheese in cubes and slowly boil it in a bit of water with Herbes de Provence and a hint of olive oil.

2. Prepare some Fusilli [świderki] pasta al dente.

3. Add some Sunbeet salad. Recipe in the previous post. Place a bit of cheese underneath it.

4. The rest of the cheese should melt into a thick sauce (remove water if necessary).
5. Pour the sauce over salad and prepare to have your taste buds reborn.

#111 Sunbeet salad

2010-07-19T00:24:00.005+02:00

Sunbeet salad.
I invented that from scratch which later led to creating a new second course so I reserve the right to name it and from the two main ingredients: sunflower and beetroot comes Sunbeet.
1. I used white horse radish cut in cubes.

2. Sunflowers roasted on a frying pan. Don't use ANY fat, the seeds have plenty on their own. Just places on heat and watch over to remove them the second you hear the first crack as this seeds burn quickly.

3. Take a jar of beetroots and soak them off on a seive.
4. Mix it all together adding a tbsp of olive oil and plenty of sunflower sprouts.
The taste mixture is amazing!

#110 Birthday menu

2010-07-19T00:03:00.002+02:00

For my birthday family dinner I asked to make it just dessert (expecting getting up late with plenty of food and clean up to do after the party I had the previous night). The reality turned out different. I woke up quite early and almost all the snacks I prepared got eaten. Fortunately my mom somehow predicted that and prepared my favorite (ex equo with Spinach lasagna;) hangover food - Mam's tomato soup.
Then I got Chopin chocolate cake.
It's the year of Chopin in Poland hence the baker fantasy.

And my absolute favorite cake:
Apple pie.

#109 Birthday 'beer' muffins

2010-07-18T02:14:00.014+02:00

Seeds, olives and Sun-dried tomatoes 'beer' muffins.
There's no actual beer in the recipe but they go great with one hence the name I've given them.
You'll need:

Sunflower seeds,
pumpkin seeds,
Sun-dried tomatoes, (preferably the dry ones, not the ones marinated in olive),
1 tea spoon of salt,
1/2 cup of olive oil,
1 cup of yogurt,
2 tbsp of sugar,
2 cups of flour,
basil,
1 tbsp of baking powder,
1 egg,
dark olives.
I've made two different batches (seeds and olives plus basil and tomatoes) so everything twice but one after the other.

1. Pour the flour through a sieve into a bowl together with baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. In another bowl whisk the egg with olive and yogurt.
3. Add your choice of filling to the second bowl. (Seeds in my first batch, olives, basil and tomatoes in the second batch.)
3. Mix the contents of the two bowls together. Be quick and don't over do it - you don't want the dry ingredients to get too moist.

4. Fill the bun cases with the mixture.
5. Place them in a preheated up to 180 degrees oven for about 15 minutes until they get golden brown.
6. Allow the muffins to cool down before taking them out of cases.
It's a surprising savory twist on a sweet dish and is great for a get together snack as it goes great with beer and requires no plates or cutlery.

#108 Carrot & peas falafel lunch boxed

2010-07-18T01:27:00.005+02:00

Pita with a carrots & peas falafel.
All that frying and crushing from the post before last saved me some time on a busy day out. Being away from home all day I prepacked my carrots & peas falafel balls, a couple of veggies and a pita bread and had it at hand to reheat in a microwave. One idea for dealing with the need for instant meals while trying to stay away from unhealthy food - prepare them yourself.

#107 Greek style pita

2010-07-09T14:12:00.007+02:00

Halloumi, Greek like salad in a pita.
Having opened the pack with pita bread I experimented further with serving. The theme is Greek so for the sauce I prepared something in between tzatziki and Greek salad.
You'll need Greek yogurt (I mixed it with chives), salad leaves, cucumber slices, garlic, olive oil, tomato and olives. First squeeze out your desired amount of garlic. Add it to yogurt, together with one tablespoon of olive oil and optionally salt and pepper. Mix all the above together to go in your pita.

Cut Halloumi in stripes and melt it on a frying pan.

Carefully place it in the pita bread and Your tasty and healthy meal is ready. Enjoy!

#106 Carrots and peas falafel

2010-07-07T14:50:00.010+02:00

Carrots and peas falafel with a salad in pita.
The original falafel is 100% vegetarian but why not mix things up for a change with some local veggies.
1) First boil the carrots and peas till they get soft. You can add some other veggies like I did (cauliflowers and bean sprouts) but carrots and peas should dominate.

2) When they're ready place them in a large bowl and crush them to get an even paste. (You can use a mixer for simplicity but it gets too crumbled for my taste)

3) Add bread crumbs and a lot of spices. The mixture should get thick at this point.

4) Add an egg and mix it in so it all sticks together.

5) Form little balls and roll them in bread crumbs.

4) Fry in deep oil till the crust gets golden brown.
5) Heat the pita bread and fill it with some fresh veggies, sauce and falafel.
Bon appétit!

#105 Sweet pancakes

2010-07-06T21:30:00.002+02:00

Pancakes with sweet creamy cheese and apricot.
Like I said before, in Poland pancakes are not a breakfast dish but a legitimate second course. In both sweet and savory servings. It's also a kids favorite so having a dinner with kids we all had classic Polish pancakes.

#104 Leek!!!

2010-07-01T00:11:00.003+02:00

Leek with brown rice in curry sauce.
When my mom was looking for hints for Sunday dinner I had just one suggestion: leek. And she took the challenge surprising me with this awesome serving. It was splendid! I had my favorite veggie of the year 2010 in a new and completely different taste variation. Defiantly top 10 of the January till April dishes.

#103 Alberto's Cannelloni

2010-07-01T00:10:00.003+02:00

Cannelloni with Spinach
Finding something instant that doesn't taste like crap is a blessing. This is my favorite hangover food. When ever I party too much I crave melted cheese and tomatoes the next day. If I'm not eating out this saves me from the morning after disorientation in my kitchen.

#102 Do You want fries with that?

2010-07-01T00:03:00.003+02:00

Fries
...with what? Nothing just a load of fries and a selection of dips (I of course chose the garlic one). A mid-week after work family dinner, family with kids, has it perks. I'm not a big fan of fries but from time to time I quite enjoy them but eating out you never know what fat they use so I prefer them home fried.

#101 Spring Camembert

2010-07-01T00:02:00.004+02:00

Roasted breaded Camembert on fresh salad with radish slices.
I introduced this dish on my blog as spécialité de la mansion for a reason. It's my go to instant meal with 'restaurant' quality. Maybe not as tummy filling but so much more exquisite then frozen pizza.

#100 Spinach Crêpe

2010-06-30T23:15:00.011+02:00

Crêpe with spinach filling.
Have I known this is going to be the 100th post I would of prepared something special. But I'm not counting while shooting. Remember the Blue beetroot post? It's what I ate for second course and forgot to take the photo. This is also the dish that you're most likely to find in a restaurant as a vegetarian option in Poland. So not only it's one of the simplest dishes, it's also one I'm shamefully not good at. lol. But I did the photos for the recipe.
1) Whisk eggs, add flour. The key is the proportion and I'm still working on it.
2) Simultaneously braise spinach in thick sour cream with some garlic and melt butter on the frying pan.
3) While your spinach thickens pour your egg and flour mix on the frying pan.
4) Turn over when the mix gets still.
5) Put the braised spinach filling on the pancake and roll it!

You can also preper homemade garlic sauce to decorate it and add taste values.

#99 Oriental veggies

2010-06-30T23:08:00.003+02:00

Asian veggies mix on rice
Your average frozen vegetable mix, some bamboo, jelly ear fungus [Mun], carrots and peppers etc. The quick and easy everyday dish.

#98 Salad Story revisited

2010-06-30T22:46:00.004+02:00

Garden salad with broccoli and almond quiche.
The salad consisted of cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, sunflower seeds and button mushrooms on bed of mixed green, topped with ranch dressing. I lunch there from time to time because it's located in my nearest shopping center and other food court restaurants aren't that appealing there. And I always have the same problem. The salad is, well, just a salad so I feel more like having a quiche. There's no side veggies for the quiche so I take a salad anyway and the two combined is a bit to much. I wish they offered some micro salads to go with their quiches or baked potatoes.

#97 Homemade Pizza

2010-06-29T22:31:00.002+02:00

Homemade mushroom & onion pizza.
Sunday family dinner at my mom's. I arrived too late to take the 'how it was made' photos, I hardly managed to snap this photo - every one was so eager to grab a piece. It looked, smelled and eventually tasted great. Can't beat homemade!

#96 Leek soup

2010-06-29T18:40:00.008+02:00

Creamy leek soup with cheese toast
What I did was frying the veggies for just a bit, carrot first, then add chopped leek. Boil them in vegetable broth until they get soft and you can taste the aroma. Add a couple a creamy spread cheese and allow it to melt. Then I used a mixer to get the creamy consistency and added a little cream.

That's just one of variations of prepering a leek soup but it always should be creamy. Enjoy!

#95 Fried zucchini

2010-06-27T14:17:00.003+02:00

Fried breaded zucchini with potatoes and carrots.
My dad invited me over for lunch (and for fixing the radio). My family thinks I'm some sort of technopath like that kid from Heroes and can fix or set any electronic device;) Anyway that zucchini was really good and I'm going to incorporate that into my own cooking.

#94 Mac'n'cheese

2010-06-27T14:06:00.002+02:00

Macaroni with a home made cheese sauce.

Seems that every time I manage to catch up a bit with posting I take another break and fall back behind schedual again. Maybe a couple of quick short posts will help me pick up the speed so we can get to the good stuff.

#93 Oven roasted leek

2010-06-27T13:52:00.003+02:00

Roasted leek with cheese and potato wedges.
Fresh new leek cut in halves and roasted under a cheese layer.

#92 Spaghetti with home made tomato sauce

2010-06-23T19:12:00.007+02:00

Spaghetti with home made tomato sauce
The name says it all. What I do is fry some thin sliced onion & garlic on olive oil and when they start to get brownish I add in tomatoes. I used cherry tomatoes so I didn't even bother to chop them. The skin cracks from the heat and the inside comes out - then I add some Provençal Herbs mix. Stir a bit and the sauce is ready.

It's a simple but fine dish perfect when your on limited time but still want something NOT out of the jar.

#91 Zielona Jadłodajnia

2010-06-22T22:43:00.009+02:00

Soy cutlet with pineapple [kotleciarz ananas], pearl barley [kasza jęczmienna] and celery, raisin salad.
On our way back to Poznań we stopped in Zielona Góra for some sightseeing and dinner. The city has a unique for Poland micro climate that allows growing grapes for wine. Every year they host a wine fest but you can fell the Bacchanalia atmosphere all year round. There's so many restaurants, café's and wineries. There seems to be many options for vegetarians but we decided to go directly to the source;) the Zielona Jadłodajnia vegetarian bar & café. Apart from the delicious all vegetarian & healthy menu there's a selection of Czech beers and they host events. Excellent food, very nice place that I sincerely recommend for anyone (I was eating with carnivores and they really enjoyed their dishes too).

#90 The Blue beetroot II

2010-06-22T11:19:00.005+02:00

Mini tarts with leek and goat cheese and a crepes with spinach.

As you can see I was quite hungry and finished the second course before taking the photo. After a long day of sightseeing we came back to our hotel restaurant as there still were some things on the menu we wanted to try. That's rarely the case for me. Most places have just one good vegetarian thing on the menu so unless I want to eat the same thing I don't come back. The starter was divine and it sure is a good reason to visit the Blue Beetroot again.

#89 The Blue Beetroot

2010-06-10T22:44:00.000+02:00

Fried zucchini with goat cheese
Puff pastry stuffed with leek???
and mizeria.

Our hotel in a village near Bolesławiec had a very nice restaurant. The Blue Beetroot is a delightful place to stay in and has an interesting menu. The interior is a story of it's own. It's an old barn restored by the owners, who by the way are a lovely English couple with some Polish roots. It was a pleasure to chat with them. The staff was also pleasing with the exception of one snobby recepionists who thinks he's too good to serve Polish guests. Just when we thought such attitude of distinguishing between international and local guests was a thing of the past, we found one rusty specimen. But they must have a great chef because the food was heavenly. My only regret is not taking notes as there's no menu on their site and I'm having trouble remembering what veggies were in that puff pastry.

#88 Opałkowa Chata

2010-06-10T11:56:00.008+02:00

Ruskie Pierogies
First meal on my Easter trip. As soon as we arrived in Bolesławiec (the famous pottery town) I saw something interesting, took out my camera and the lens had literally fallen into pieces in my hands. I didn't have the spare one with me and so the whole trip went pictureless:( All I have are mobile phone food shots.
At dinner time we headed to a restaurant recommended at our hotel. Opałkowa Chata is located at the main road heading West near the crossing of all the important routes. It's a two storied wooden cottage consequently decorated in a rustic-cow theme. From cow-print cushions, cow milking accessories to a (very grim for me) cow's skull. The menu is traditionally Polish so I ordered Ruskie. It's the most popular stuffing, the same one Polish pierogies are known for in the world. We actually call it 'Russian' and it's just one of many stuffing variations. Another thing I'd like to add and I will say it over and over again: pierogi is already a plural word, there's no sense in making them replural in English by saying 'pierogies' like Americans do. Be the first to enlighten your friends with the right terminology and say PIEROGI.
Back to the food, their serving was a bit too greasy for me but eatible. I was going to link their site here but won't torture You with such bad English. I may make mistakes I'm unaware of but their web page looks like it's been written by a school girl.
If you want to try this at home here's my recipe.

#87 Easter plater

2010-06-07T23:13:00.007+02:00

Hard-boiled eggs, cheese, Camembert, soy ham, avocado with egg stuffing, mayo, sprouts, dark bread, chives and smoked curd with marinated sun-dried tomatoes.
Ok, you can laugh all you want about Easter in June. Done? So, back to business. I was actually traveling this Easter but I wouldn't want to miss out on the opportunity of showing a vegetarian Easter and had this the night before the trip. The first thing you need to know about Polish Easter traditions is that the main celebrations take place on Easter Sunday and the main event is Easter breakfast. It's a meal lasting till late in the afternoon and consists of various cold dishes with a lot of eggs, ham, sausage, żurek and deserts. Like a half day long brunch. It's traditionally very meaty so I hope to inspire you with my tasty alternatives.
PS. I'm really catching up with my posting so say hello to April;)

#86 Fried plater

2010-06-07T23:06:00.003+02:00

Fried kopytka, soy meat, eggs and chives.
Had a lot of left-overs from previous night, not because it was bad but very filling. So I just fried them, added the eggs and chives and I got quite a different meal then the day before.

#85 Kopytka z pulpetami sojowymi

2010-06-07T22:46:00.005+02:00

Potato dumplings with soy meatballs in tomato sauce.
I was at my brothers place at dinner time and they had kopytka, which I hadn't eaten for ages. Seeing them I instantly wanted some too so I tried out the new deli near my place which offers a range of traditional Polish diner sides, from krokiety to pierogi. At home I had a jar of instant soy meatballs that were a perfect match.

#84 Spaghetti with Hungarian sauce

2010-06-07T13:50:00.003+02:00

Spaghetti with hot Hungarian sauce and a egg salad.
Doesn't look amazing, right? But it actually is. In my city there's a couple of fast food pasta joints and Avanti was one of the first. The idea is to have plenty pasta ready and serve it in a fast food manner with a basic choice of sauces (a couple of them being vegetarian). With no cheese, no dish ware, no waiting stuff this makes a tasty and really cheap alternative for all those meat-based fast food joints.

#83 Curry fried tofu

2010-06-07T13:36:00.003+02:00

A salad with green curry fried tofu.
Experimenting with something exotic I've prepared some basic salad base, diced tofu and dip it in a green curry and olive mix.

Fried the tofu in the mixture.

And served it on a salad.

#82 Bób

2010-06-07T13:12:00.004+02:00

Fava beans
I was surprised reading about it's many culinary uses in the South. In Poland we just eat them shelled and steamed with a little bit of butter, salt and dill. Makes a great tv dinner and eating a whole bowl will leave you full.

#81 Fanaberia

2010-06-07T00:15:00.009+02:00

Ravioli with riccota, spinach and a hint of sage.
And for starter the Lombardia salad - salad with Gorgonzola and caramelized onion on the bed of pears (it looked and tasted so amazing I forgot to take the photo). My mom invited the whole family to a restaurant for her name day. She chose Fanaberia in the Old Town. A classy place trying to keep it home-like (or as we might imagine living in a Mediterranean villa would be like;) The menu was pre-picked to 3 choices earlier by my parents so they made sure there's something vegetarian. And the food was delightful! Subtle but intriguing just as I like. The staff was very helpful and pleasing. All in all, I would recommend the place for a Sunday dinner. The interior might scare you with it's über cuteness at first but I say the taste of food should be the main factor when judging a restaurant or a chef and in Fanaberia it's great.

#80 Tortillas

2010-06-04T16:48:00.004+02:00

Light tortillas
I use to do some soy Mexican thing with tortillas but it wasn't that great and, well, quite boring. So this time I worked on some various & light stuffings. Different for every tortilla to keep it interesting.
First: rocket [rukola], blue cheese and marinated Sun-dried tomatoes.

Melted blue cheese makes a great base for your tortilla.

To that you can add rocket, cucumbers and some soy ham.

Or a veggie sausage with ketchup and rocket.

Plenty more options besides beans and soy in tomato sauce. If you approach it more like a sandwich the meal will be more interesting and tasty thanks to the different filling in ever roll.

#79 Mozzarella sticks

2010-06-04T15:50:00.002+02:00

Oven roasted Mozzarella sticks on a salad.
You might have already notice that I eat variations of this from time to time. Serving any roasted cheese on a bed of fresh veggies is a neat way to have a simple meal keeping it interesting and rich in flavor at the same time.

#78 Champignons omelet

2010-06-04T15:44:00.005+02:00

Champignons omelet with sour cabbage, beetroots, fried potatoes and mizeria.
When my grandmother cooks for me she always makes various side veggies. For her it's a way to compensate for not serving meat as if vegetarianisms was some sort of dietary handicapping. So I always get 3 or 4 side dishes. There's usually classic Polish mizeria - sliced cucumbers in cream with either sugar or salt and pepper. If some of you might find it weird, think of tzatziki - not that different.

#77 Tortellini

2010-06-04T15:32:00.004+02:00

Tortellini with Ricotta filing.
Those instant bags of tortellini are great when you're traveling or have very, very limited time. All you need is to boil them in water.