Trying Polish food for the first time with Polish Village Bread

I must admit, but despite being a foodie, I haven't tried a whole lot of different cuisines. I'm as fond of an Italian, Chinese or Indian as the next person, but embarrassingly I haven't tried much else. I had my first taste of Columbian food last year but other than that, I haven't had much exposure to other types of food.

When Polish Village Bread got in touch inviting me to try Polish food for the first time, I was really excited to try something new. Because I genuinely had no idea what a typical Polish dish was or the sorts of things eaten.

A lovely member of the team came to my door and hand delivered a bulging tote bag of goodies. I am still over-whelmed with the team's generosity and the amount of food they provided. All of the savoury items they provided were already cooked and didn't take long to heat through by means of shallow frying, microwaving or booshing in the oven. Read on for my first experience of Polish cuisine!

Breaded chicken topped with mushrooms and cheese

Piers k Kurczaka w Pierzynce

This was very much like a pizza except with breaded chicken instead of a traditional dough. The crunch of the chicken contrasted really well with the texture of the vegetables and the melted cheese. It was super tasty and so easy to prepare after a long day at work - something I could easily eat every day!

PANCAKES

But not pancakes as you know them! These were more like croquettes with their crunchy exterior and a fluffy filled interior. I tried three different flavours which included:

Croquettes with spinach and cheese

Krokiety z Serem Typu Greckiego i Szpinakiem

These were my favourite of the three! The cheese in these ones tasted slightly different like they contained a garlic and herb soft cheese rather than a plain soft cheese. The middles were deliciously creamy and smooth to contrast against the crunch of the shell of the croquette.

Croquettes with mushrooms and cheese

Krokiety z Grzybami i Serem

Again, good flavours, generously filled and a good amount of crunch. To contrast, this was more of a saltier dish. I like things seasoned well so this didn't bother me one bit. The mushrooms tasted like they had been cooked in soy sauce - but don't quote me on this!

Spicy chicken and mixed veg pancake

Krokiety Mek Sykanskie

These were spiced, but not spicy (perfect for my palette as I can't tolerate spice!) These were the most generously filled krokiety and contained veg and pulses like kidney beans and sweetcorn. That combined with the spices, meant that it had a slight Mexican feel to it and were very colourful inside.

DUMPLINGS

My new favourite Polish word: pierogi. Before now I never knew what pierogi actually meant, I just liked saying it! Pierogi turns out to be plump pillowy little dumplings, beautifully crimped into little sun / flower shapes. I tried three flavours:

Dumplings with pork and onions

Pierogi z Miesem

I preferred this pork filling to the pork in the stuffed cabbage parcels (below). These were very well seasoned and tasty as.

Potato and cheese dumplings

Pierogi Ruskie

Not the easiest of things to photograph due to its samey colouring, but otherwise very smooth, soft and creamy which made for a very nice combination. One of my favourite pierogi. 

Sauerkraut and mushroom dumplings

Pierogi z Kapusta i Grzybami

As with the other dumplings, a good and very tasty dough, which was generously filled. This was my least favourite flavour of dumplings (but that's because I'm not a massive fan of sauerkraut!).

Cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and pork

Golabki

These had a very crumbly texture in the middle with the rice and pork mince mixture. The cabbage was my favourite part of this dish as it hadn't lost its crunch completely. My only critique of this one was that I cooked as per the instructions on the pack but it didn't get very hot. So my advice is that you would need to heat this one longer to get to perfect eating temperature.  

Fruit cake

I also received a cake which I was very excited about as I do love a good dessert! I only know "fruit cake" in the British sense of fruit cake and that's a cake I really do not like. The Polish take on fruit cake was much more up my street with none of the dried fruit nonsense. Instead it was more of a fluffy sponge with fruit on top. It felt massively guilt free because as well as having lots of lovely berries on top, it was also very light and low in sugar. I took the cake with me to work and everyone in the office said it was one of the loveliest cakes they have ever had!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

So now you can see what I mean when I said it was a very generous food parcel!
I was also sent a capacious tote bag, wooden spoon and jigsaw puzzle.

I would just like to say a massive Polish dziękuję (thank you is pronounced jen-KOO-yeh!) to the team for their generosity and for giving a chance to sample food that I haven't tried before. You can find a full list of the Polish Village Meals range here.