Zapiekanka z Serem i Pieczarkami
Zapiekanka: Toasted Baguette (Polish Street Food)
How to pronounce it?
zapeah-khan-kah
‘Play’ to hear:
Zapiekanka – a slightly forgotten fast food, reminiscent of the last breaths of Communism and the early days of the transformation.
Today its legend gets reinvented, thanks to a new wave of passionate food lovers.
I was only a child when zapiekanka’s popularity was at its peak.
Yet I fondly remember a 7 or 8-year-old-me, sitting on the stairs at the Youth Centre in PKiN, waiting for my art class to start.
You would find me munching on a crispy baguette, cut lengthwise, topped with sautéed mushrooms and melted cheese. It was drained heavily in a low-quality, overly sweet ketchup and guess what…I loved every bite of it.
Even if that Youth Centre’s buffet still exists, it probably offers something more suitable for modern taste buds.
With the end of the Communist era came the insatiable hunger for anything foreign ( ideally Western) and Polish delicacies were often frowned upon.
Most of the Warsaw downtown – once packed with independent zapiekanka kiosks – is now filled with global players, such as Starbucks and McD’s. It’s getting hard to tell the city apart from any other European capital.
Rebirth of the artisan zapiekanka
It’s no wonder that zapiekanka hasn’t survived in its old form. Made in dubious sanitary conditions, with cheap ingredients and microwaved to death…. With that nasty “beep” sound every minute, kudos to those who made them and didn’t go bananas.
Anne Applebaum called zapiekanka “a pizzalike substance, a poor relative of its distant Italian cousin”. While that was true 30 years ago – luckily, it’s no longer a fair comparison.
Fun fact: In Polish, we use the word “zapiekanka” for any casserole-style dish. It comes from the verb “zapiekać”, which means “to bake”.
Baked open-faced sandwiches are slowly crawling back onto the Polish food scene. This comeback is driven by the wave of Communist nostalgia – more so in terms of the design and lifestyle of that era, rather than the ideology itself.
Good old zapiekanka got revamped and improved. With a trend towards local (almost artisan) foods, bar owners are opting for high-quality ingredients and varied flavour combinations.
Crusty, freshly-baked bread, covered with an array of toppings, under a divine coat of melted cheese… Oven baked, without any microwave in sight… who would be able to resist?
Polish Zapiekanka: Toasted Baguette with Sautéed Mushrooms & Cheese
Also known as: "zapieksa". Why go out, when you can try some old-school Polish fast-food at home? This zapiekanka will be ready in no time!
Ingredients
For zapiekanka
- 1 baguette
- 10 oz (300g) button mushrooms
- 1 small onion
- 5 oz (150g) mild cheese (e.g. gouda)
- 1 tbsp canola oil (for frying)
Topping
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- Cut the baguette lengthwise. Scoop it out a bit (you can reuse this for pulpety).
- Wash the mushrooms, dry them and chop into small pieces.
- Peel the onion and chop into small pieces.
- Add oil to the frying pan. Sautée the chopped onion and mushrooms for 7-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Grate the cheese.
- Fill the baguettes with fried onion and mushrooms. Cover with grated cheese.
- Bake until golden (approx.8-10 minutes).
- Serve with ketchup.
Notes
You can add as many toppings as you like. I enjoy it with ham and some black olives.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 859Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 1596mgCarbohydrates: 101gFiber: 7gSugar: 16gProtein: 37g
Recipe Information
Filed under:
Alternative traditional/regional names:
Also known / Misspelt internationally as:
Polish Pizza, Zapiek, Zapieks, Zapieksa, Zapiex
Tested by:
First published on:
Recipe by / Adapted from:
Story by:
Bibliography / References:
