Sunday, July 18, 2010

Auntie Krysia's potato cake

This is a very special recipe that Auntie Krysia has been perfecting for years and years (she's nearly 80). We planned a surprise party for gran, so Krysia (her sister) came down from Olsztyn for the day, bringing her revered potato cake. We warmed it up on the barbeque and ate it with Krysia's homemade cranberry sauce and black pudding. However, it would go well with most meats and sauces, and it was even great cold, eaten as a beer snack


Ingredients

2 kg potatoes
2 tbsp flour
2 eggs
1 tbsp cream
3-4 onions
2-3 garlic cloves
Lots of lardons
Dried marjoram
Salt and pepper




Now, Auntie Krysia is one of those instinctive cooks, who doesn't really measure things out - so all I got from her was that she uses one packet of marjoram and one of pepper. What kind of packet, I don't know, so I'd say add a tablespoon of each to start of with. With the lardons, I also didn't get a quantity, but what I did get is that she gets the butcher to mince them for her, so if you get a packet of lardons, you need to chop them up a bit more. You grate the potatoes as finely as you can, and beat the egg whites, adding the yolks once they are fluffy. If the potatoes are watery, then you need to pour the water out. Add the eggs to the potatoes, with the flour and the cream. Fry the lardons and finely chopped onion until they become crispy, then add them in, and mix everything together really well. Butter a baking tray, and pour the mixture in. Bake for 45-60 min. Then enjoy with family and friends, preferably sitting outside under some trees