Polish Cuisine?

My teaching assistant is from Poland. I'll be at work on Thursday and can ask her for you. I love Polish food and so far don't recall a prevalence of nuts.

All of my grandparents were from Poland. We're Jewish, so there are some differences in traditional dishes (like we don't eat the traditional dishes made with pork) but there is a lot of overlap.

Peanuts are not common, and in fact I can't think of anything made with them. However, tree nuts are quite prevalent in baking.

Some of my faves are cheese blintzes (OK, so they are really heart attack on a plate, but they are soooo good) and cruschiki. Cheese blintzes are crepes filled with lightly sweetened cheese and served with powdered sugar or sour cream. I make a really good, lower-fat version of them, if I do say so myself. Cruschiki are deep fried bow tie pasties covered in powdered sugar. Just heavenly. Mushroom barley soup is another traditional favorite, and it is often made with cream. Hey, I never said it was the healthiest cuisine out there! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/biggrin.gif[/img]

I just edited to add pierogies - kind of like ravioli but with different fillings. My favorite is mushroom filling served with sour cream. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]

I hope you get to sample some of the local fare.

Amy

[This message has been edited by Going Nuts (edited August 19, 2004).]

My grandmother is 100% Polish and I don't ever recall there being peanuts around, certainly not in her cooking, rarely there would be tree nuts in a pastry of some sort. However they have always had a bowl of shelled tree nuts around, ALWAYS. But that's nothing to do with being Polish, that's just the way it always was and is.

Thank-you everyone for your responses. [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] I realized what a stupid question it was really because when I think of international cuisine, I can think of very few that have peanuts in them - Thai and Chinese would be ones that come to the top of my head and that's about it.

So, I appreciate that I got any response whatsoever.

Having said that, Going Nuts, I will be very pleased when this old WASP hippie woman goes into the local Polish bakery and orders what you've recommended! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/biggrin.gif[/img]

Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]