I’m sitting in front of a crackling fireplace at my parents’ house in Poland, as I write this. It’s been extremely cold around these parts lately and even though I obviously grew up here, after years of living in milder climates (London and now a Greek island of Paros) I am really not used to the cold anymore… And I moan about it a lot 😉 .
When it’s -15° C (5° F), you want to minimise the time you spend outside and, if you do venture out, you want to be moving fast. We’ve taken to running in a nearby forest to counteract my mum’s attempts at overfeeding us on a daily basis 😉 . A proper Northern-European forest bathed in winter sunshine has been a much needed change of scenery. We even managed to get a glimpse of two does who ran for the hills as soon as our fluorescent running gear appeared on the horizon. Once you get your blood flowing outside, stepping back into a warm house and sitting down to a warm meal is all your need to feel happy. My lovely mum treats us to our favourite Polish cold weather foods, such as barszcz with uszka (beetroot broth with wild mushroom ravioli), pierogi (dumplings) and a meat-free bigos (cabbage and wild mushroom stew) plus a layered gingerbread cake for dessert, but this Moroccan-inspired chickpea and tomato stew is also the kind of dish I would be happy to come back home to. It’s easy to make, filling and comforting and if you are a fan of my Spanish Chickpea and Spinach Stew I made last year, be sure to try this one out too. As for the Polish dishes I mentioned, don’t despair. I’m picking my mum’s brain for recipes (although she tends to ‘eye-ball’ ingredients so it’s more of a challenge than it sounds 😉 ) and they will appear on the blog at some point, promise!
