Poppy Seed Cookies and Cute Santas Playing in the Snow

Here comes winter. Washington has been covered and partially paralyzed with the first snow of this season. Kids could not be happier with the early school release and I just panic that it is so soon. I am not ready at all. I was dragging my feet over different recipes, when with the first flurries I realized that there was no way out and it was the time to start posting holiday recipes.

I can write a book about the Polish Christmas culinary tradition, which I think is one of the most festive, rich, and unforgettable. But no matter how wonderful it is, Polish Christmas food tastes best when it is prepared in Poland. It is really wintry and quite heavy. And, living in the Washington DC area, which has a true cold winter season, I consider myself in a a way lucky to be able to spark the appetite for Polish food and cook it without remorse. But I often wonder how my Christmas would look in Australia when people are in the middle of a summer. I suppose our traditional heavy dishes, such as fried cabbage with wild mushrooms, are probably indigestible in 90°F.

So, a week before Christmas, I have decided to make cookies with poppy seeds--the ingredient that is essential for Polish Christmas. We use poppy seeds in many dishes and cakes but, unless you live in Poland and can buy a can of a very good ready-to-use filling made of poppy seeds or are willing to invest time and effort in scalding poppy seeds in milk and grinding them three times, I would not dare to talk anyone into making anything fancy with poppy seeds. Instead, here is a recipe that uses unprocessed poppy seeds, which play a largely symbolic role to remind of us of a much richer tradition. They are very delicate and, as many Polish desserts, not overwhelmingly sweet, so if you crave for a more satisfying dessert, just put more icing on top.

Poppy Seed Cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter (about 225 g)
1/3 cup icing sugar,
1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk,
3 cups flour,
1/4 cup poppy seeds,
1/4 tsp baking flour.

Preparation:
1. Sift flour, poppy seeds, and baking powder into a large bowl.
2. Add butter to flour and working with fingers make a crumble-like dough.
3. Mix together the egg, the yolk, and sugar until smooth.
4. Pour this mixture over the flour and work it into the dough.
5. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and chill it in a refrigerator for at least 1 hour (it can be made even a week ahead).
6. Before making cookies preheat oven to 350 F.
7. On a surface dusted with flour roll out the dough down to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
8. Cut out cookies using the Christmas cookie cutters and place them on a cookie tin greased with butter.

9. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until dark gold.
10. Cool down and sprinkle with icing, depending on how sweet your tooth is.

Icing can be made from a 1/2 cup of powdered sugar, 1-2 tbsp of milk, and 1 tsp of lemon juice.

Crispy Artichoke Roulade--A Wine Party Snack

After months of sabotaging me, my laptop caught on fire last week. Apparently, two years too late I have learned that it is a common problem with that model to the point that the company even sells the wire that usually breaks down. (I do not know why they just don't fix the problem themselves). If you think about buying a laptop for yourself or as a Xmas gift for someone you like or love, I have to warn you that it was a Toshiba, and my disappointment can be reversed only if they offer me a new laptop, which I don't think is going to happen.

As a result of that accident I have been incapacitated for a few days and I feel completely uninspired and powerless, because I have never realized how my creativity, inspiration, and everything else was facilitated by that small gadget. I hate the other big fancy computer I have to use now, and can't wait to find out if my little laptop is fixable. Meanwhile, I am just struggling to write anything, in particular something revealing. But since I was at a big party last night, and there are a few more ahead, maybe another party idea would be useful, especially with the New Year festivities approaching.

This is one of those simple snacks that do not take much but make a huge difference, especially if peanuts or a bag of chips are the alternative. I made some shortcuts while preparing it, which is buying puff pastry instead of making it myself (uncharacteristically, the one I bought was as good as a home-made one) and using easily available and canned ingredients. This recipe can be an inspiration for trying different fillings that you have handy, such as sun-dried tomatoes or mushrooms.

Artichoke Roulade

Ingredients:
1 pack of puff pastry (two sheets), thawed,
1 can artichoke hearts,
1 bag baby spinach, about 6 oz,
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese,
2 tbsp butter,
1 egg,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Heat the butter in a medium skillet and fry the onion in it for about 3 minutes, or until soft.
3. Add spinach to the onion and let it cook until it softens and releases water; let the water evaporate and continue to cook until the leaves become dark green.
4. Take the skillet from the heat, cool, and add chopped artichokes.
5. Add Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.
6. Unfold sheets of pastry and top each with a half of the filling.

7. Roll up each piece and brush with beaten egg.

8.Cut the pastry diagonally and place it on a greased baking tin, one inch apart. Bake for 15-20 min, or until gold.

Serve as a snack while still warm,or cold.

Cabbage Sautéed with Prunes--And Let's Go Shopping

December is not the month when we cook the most. It is the month when we shop. Actually, I think that until last days before Christmas we cook less than ever. My local Giant food store is not yet busier than usual, but my huge local shopping mall is crowded at any hour. We shop, but we do not shop for food, at least until next week. We shop for gifts, we shop for ourselves, we shop for parties. So who has the time to cook? These days, not even me.

Tomorrow, I going to a big Christmas party, and others will be cooking. For me, this is going to be about a tufted black Marc Jacobs dress, red lipstick, and perfumes. So, before the compulsive Christmas cooking starts, I decided to take a break and just use whatever is left in my refrigerator. I found there a half of cabbage, which has been there probably since October, but cabbage preserves well. This is why it has been such a popular vegetable during harsh winters in Poland.

At the bottom drawer of my refrigerator I also found an onion--which always goes well with cabbage--and a bag of Californian prunes. All those ingredients brought back the memory of a dish that I cooked years ago in Poland--cabbage with prunes. Today, I would think that this recipe had its roots in the Asian cuisine, but being such avid cabbage lovers, maybe we invented it ourselves, to bring a new flair to the old vegetable. It is an easy, fast, and I would say quite interesting dish. It can be eaten alone or as an accompaniment to meats. Whatever you decide, unlike many other cabbage dishes, it does not take long to prepare it, which is particularly important during these busy days.

Cabbage Sautéed with Prunes

Ingredients:
1/2 medium cabbage,
1 medium onion,
1 tbsp grated ginger,
3 tbsp soy sauce,
1 tbsp white vinegar,
1/2 cup prunes,
3 tbsp vegetable oil,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut the cabbage into thin slices, salt it, and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and, when the oil is hot, add ginger. Fry together for 2-3 minutes.
3. Cut the onion in half-moon slices, add it to the saucepan, and fry until transparent.
4. Add cabbage and saute it for 8-10 minutes, until it is soft.
5. Season with vinegar--you may add a little bit more if you like it on the sour side, soy sauce, and salt and pepper.
6. Cut the prunes into thin slices, add to the cabbage, and cook together for another 5-8 minutes.

This dish, as almost all cabbage dishes, tastes even better on a next day.