Poland – Cook and Drink

Baba Au Mandarine Napoléon

27 April 2024

On April 27th, we celebrate the birthday of the King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The Dutch royal family is also known as ‘de Oranjes’, which is reflected in the use of the colour orange when referring to Dutch royalty. Actually, there is no link between the royal family and the colour. The ‘orange’ in their name refers to the French city of Orange, a Principality one of his ancestors inherited in 1544.

Over the years we prepared Orange Sabayon, Queen’s Soup, Orange and Almond Cake, Bouchée à la Reine, Orange Flan and Canard à l’Orange on this day. What better way to celebrate a birthday than baking a Baba, a flavourful and moist cake? Traditionally a Baba au Rhum (preferably with raisins or currents) is served with a syrup based on brown rum. Today we use a delicious Belgian liqueur: Mandarine Napoléon. It’s a unique mandarin liqueur, made from macerated Sicilian mandarins and cognac. It was originally created in 1892 by Napoleon’s physician. Rich, long, intense en delicious!

What You Need

10 large Baba’s
- 4 grams of dried Yeast
- 100 ml Milk
- 15 grams of Sugar
- 200 grams All Purpose Flour
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 2 Eggs
- 100 grams of Butter
- 80 grams of chopped Candied Orange Peel
- 2 grams of Salt
- Butter to coat the moulds
- Finely chopped Candied Orange Peel
Syrup
- 500 ml of Water
- 200 grams of Sugar
- 200 ml Mandarine Napoléon

What You Do

The milk should be lukewarm and the butter melted but not hot. Start by combining milk, yeast and sugar. Mix well. Add the sieved flour and mix. Now it’s time to add the eggs and the egg yolks. Use kneading hooks to mix very, very well. This may take 10 minutes. The result should be an elastic, sticky dough. Add the butter, mix and then add the salt. The dough is now even stickier. Coat the moulds with butter. Add the dough to the moulds and let rise for approximately 2 hours. They should double in size. Preheat your oven to 200 °C or 400 °F and bake for 15 minutes depending on the size. Keep an eye on the baba’s, you may want to reduce the heat after 10 minutes.
In the meantime add water and sugar to a pan. Warm the mixture until nearly boiling. Stir and make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Now add Mandarine Napoléon to taste. Leave to cool. Add an extra splash of Mandarine Napoléon to give the syrup an extra push. Allow the baba’s to cool somewhat, remove from the mould and let them soak in the syrup for a few hours, or longer. A day or two will be perfect, Sprinkle with finely chopped candied orange peel and serve at room temperature.

Saffron Milk Cap with Red Bell Pepper and Chorizo

24 October 2022

This mushroom is absolutely delicious, which is reflected in its Latin name Lactarius deliciosus. When you cut a thin slice of the stem, you will see the intense, orange colored milk of the mushroom.
The mushroom may be a bit green, which is the result of bruising, so nothing to worry about. Cleaning it may require rinsing with cold water because leaves and mud may be stuck to the cap.

It is a popular mushroom in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Scotland, Poland, Russia and many other countries. In Spain they are combined with garlic and parsley, in Turkey with spinach to make börek or used in a rich tomato stew and in Poland and Russia they are salted with herbs such as dill and caraway.

Many recipes suggest blanching the mushrooms for 2, 3 or even 10 minutes, but that’s not necessary. Much better idea is to use them in stew like recipes, allowing for the flavours to integrate. Talking about flavours, Saffron Milk Cap is a touch nutty, sweet and mild.

The season is relatively short, from August until October, November. Which in a way makes the joy of buying and preparing these delicious mushrooms even greater!

Wine Pairing

We very much enjoyed a glass of Portuguese Segredos de São Miguel, a full bodied, warm red wine, made from grapes such as Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez, Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira. You will taste lots of fruit and a touch of toast.

In general you’re looking for a full bodied wine, with some acidity and smooth tannins. A glass of Malbec will also be a good choice.

What You Need

150 grams of Saffron Milk Caps
Roasted Red Bell Pepper
50 grams of Sliced Chorizo
Parsley
One Garlic Glove
Black Pepper
Olive Oil

What You Do

Clean the mushroom and slice (not too thin). Chop the garlic. Peel the skin of the roasted bell pepper and slice. Warm a skillet, add olive oil and gently add the sliced Spanish chorizo (yes, we know, it seems a bit odd. You would expect us to use fresh chorizo, which is great when you want to create something like a sauce or ragu, but we like the idea of being able to taste all three main elements, on their own and in combination). Add the garlic. After a minute or so add the mushrooms and the bell pepper. Fry gently. After 5 or 10 minutes add some chopped parsley. Leave on low heat. Add some more parsley. Just before serving add the remaining parsley and some black pepper.

PS

Roasting a red bell pepper before using it, is such a good idea. Simply slice the bell pepper in 4, put on the highest rack in the oven and grill for 10 minutes or until truly burned. Remove from the oven, put in a container, close it and wait for an hour or so. Remove the skin of the bell pepper and it’s ready to use. Roasted bell peppers are sweet and intense, with only a touch of smokiness.