I wanna (healthier?) eastah egg!

February 24, 2008 10:12 AM

What's on the dinner table at your Polish Easter celebration?

All of my Polish relatives have passed on, so I don't have anybody to ask what traditional stuff they served at Easter. In the past I've done pierogies with onion and bacon, ham, kielbasa, mashed potatoes, golabki, hard boiled eggs, babka, chrusciki, the Butter Lamb... You know, the good artery-clogging basics.

I'm thinking I need to, ummm, add something with a little more nutritional value. I've been Googling but it seems that the only other thing remotely involving veggies is the buraczki or chrzan.

The bottom line: are there Polish veggie recipes? And can you point me in that direction? Thanks!

posted by dancinglamb to food & drink (11 comments total)

I have had the golabki without meat. Sometimes with mushrooms substituted in the filling, sometimes not. It's not an inherently "fatty" recipe. Most recipes call for a minimal amount of butter in the sauce and not much more in the filling. Because the filling is usually not-quite-twice-as-much-pork, lamb or veal as it is rice, you have to add more rice, as well as additional onion. Using tomato in the filling does not throw off the balance of flavors, significantly, I have found.

At my American-Polish Easter, we almost always have brussels sprouts. I have no idea if they ate brussels sprouts at Easter in the old country, but the Polish part of the family has been serving them with the pierogi, kielbasa and golabki my whole life.

Pierogi are no more inherently "bad" than any dumpling. If you serve the sauerkraut or mushroom or fruit ones steamed, instead of panfried in butter, they're filling without much fat.
posted by crush-onastick at 10:29 AM on February 24, 2008

If you look at the time of year and the climate there just isn't much green available for Easter in Poland. I've never seen anything remotely healthy on the easter table that wasn't clearly an American addition.
posted by JPD at 10:50 AM on February 24, 2008

crush- I should've been clearer. I'm having all the regular stuff I've had in the past. I'm looking to *add* more veggies to the menu. I'm going through epicurious.com right now and have found some interesting prospects. I already have several good recipes that are tried and true, but thought that perhaps some MeFites would have knowledge of 'authentic' dishes. I love the idea of adding mushrooms to the golabki, though. YUM.
posted by dancinglamb at 10:51 AM on February 24, 2008

Cauliflower and green beans polonaise.
posted by wildeepdotorg at 12:41 PM on February 24, 2008

The healthiest thing we've ever had at Easter was the classic green bean casserole. Blessed of course, so not only is it officially healthy, but the calories don't count.

With the influx of non-Polish in-laws into the family (who have all these strange customs like eating vegetables on holidays) we've reluctantly started adding a 9x12 pan of roasted veggies like squash, zucchini, carrots, etc. to the menu. Very simple and delicious and doesn't really take the spotlight away from the classics.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 1:03 PM on February 24, 2008

Ten years ago in a small village outside of Warsaw I had the pleasure of experiencing a full Easter meal. It consisted of boiled and mashed potatoes (put through a potato ricer), turkey breasts (tenderized and pounded super flat, lightly breaded and fried in oil on the stove), barszcz (beet soup, hot) and uszuki (smallish pastries filled with mushroom and grain-type mixture). There were also items like a raw meat (beef) cold salad which I was pressured into trying (I will never forget the horror I felt), and vodka fresh from the freezer ('twas a welcome sight after eating raw meat!). Everybody ate a lot of food and drank a lot. Oh and there were also pierogi (the usual, meat and onion stuffed). I remember very, very fancy homemade cake being served. It was served with very black strong coffee and the vodka was served continuously throughout the rest of the day.
posted by mamaraks at 1:58 PM on February 24, 2008

I meant to mention that we dipped the uszuki in the barszcz, and that you must spoon in a little sour cream into each bowl of the barszcz because this is very tasty.
posted by mamaraks at 2:00 PM on February 24, 2008

I was a veggie living in Poland and I lived off pierogi - ruski, cabbage or mushroom. And sometimes barszcz or zupa grzybowa, placki, or salad and chips. I had a Polish veggie friend, and if we went out I ate what she ate, and it was usually pierogi. I never had a proper Polish easter, so can't help much there, but I don't think you've got a lot of options (but seriously, if I only had to eat pierogi ruski for the rest of my life, I'd be happy).
posted by Helga-woo at 4:32 PM on February 24, 2008

My mom and her (Polish) mom always used to serve (I'm not sure on on how complete the ingredients list is here, I'm going from long-ago memory) thin sliced onion and cucumber floating in vinegar (with a little sugar?) and, I think, paprika. That may or may not actually be a Polish thing, though.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:34 PM on February 24, 2008

Stavros - I went back through my old lists and found reference to cucumbers in sour cream with dill. I remember it being totally yummy, so I added that to the dishes I'll have on hand. Thanks!
posted by dancinglamb at 10:58 PM on February 24, 2008

My Polish-Jewish Nana makes a similar cucumber salad which she calls "Mizeria" (sp?). She peels the cucumber and then slices it very thinly. Then she salts the cucumber slices and puts them in a colander with something heavy on top, so all the juice drains out. She then washes the cucumber, puts it in a vinegar/water/sugar solution and sprinkles it with white pepper (which is mixed in on serving).

Another vege dish she makes (probably not easter-related, but quite likely Polish) is "Tsimes" which is grated carrot cooked with butter, allspice, cinnamon and either prunes or raisins. I imagine it would go very nicely with pierogi.
posted by prettypretty at 1:31 AM on February 25, 2008