Polish Herring in Sour Cream {Śledź w Śmietanie}
I know you’re already thinking this can’t work… I admit, it seems this one is for more adventurous eaters, but if you like fish, you will like this rendition of a very under-appreciated (in America) piece of fish.
Poles eat A LOT of herring. I would be willing to bet, that there is some kind of herring dish in every Pole’s fridge at any given time. It’s like the Bubba thing with shrimp in Forest Gump, only with herring. Herring in oil, pickled herring, salted herring, herring in sour cream, herring roll-ups, herring in onions, herring salad… you get the point.
This particular recipe is always served for Christmas in my home, and a few times throughout the year. The combination of hot potatoes and cold, sweet and crunchy mixture of onion, apple and salty, fishy taste of herring. I’m a huge fan.
The proper way of making this dish is with salted filets, but I was not able to find it here, so I used pickled herring in wine sauce. The salted herring is made by curing in salt only. Salt “cooks” it and it’s then stored in oil. The process also softens the fish bones, so no need to worry about deboning. Pickled herring on the other hand is preserved with vinegar and spices, therefore the two have slightly different taste. If you can find the salted kind, or you have time to have it delivered, I’d suggest to go with it. All you have to do after opening the container, is patting them dry with a paper towel.
Polish Herring in Sour Cream {Śledź w Śmietanie}
Ingredients
- About 7 oz / 200 g of salted herring filets (herring a la Matias)
- 1 large onion
- 1 apple
- 1 c / 235 ml of sour cream
- 3–5 medium potatoes
- Pinch of pepper
Instructions
Place herring in a large bowl with a quart / liter of cold water and let soak for 2 hours. Change water out every 30 minutes.
In the meantime, cut the onion in half and thinly slice each half (or use mandoline for even slices). Place slic- es in a strainer and run about a quart / liter of freshly boiled water through the onions to slightly soften them and take the sharpness away.
Drain the herring and pat dry. Cut into bite size pieces. Place in a mixing bowl.
Once the onions have cooled, shred the apple and add both to the fish.
Add sour cream immediately, to prevent the apple from turning brown. Add pepper and mix well.
Cover and cool in the fridge for at least an hour.
When ready to serve, boil peeled potatoes in salted water. Place hot potatoes on a plate and top with the cold fish mixture.
Notes
* Salted (not pickled) herring called "herring a la Matias" will work best.
Let me know what you think about this unusual dish in comments below.
Smacznego!!
Anna
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