Kaszanka with onion and apple: pan-fried, crisp, in 20 minutes
Kaszanka is a Polish sausage of groats (most often buckwheat), offal and blood, seasoned with marjoram: cheap, filling and on Polish tables for generations. Fried in thick slices until the skin splits and browns, with onion softened to gold and apple that brings sweetness and acid. With potatoes, with bread, with a brined pickle. Twenty minutes from fridge to plate.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Slicing 5 min
- Onion and apple 11 min
- Frying the kaszanka 9 min
Step by step
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Slice the kaszanka and put the potatoes on
Peel the potatoes and put them on in salted water; they take 20 minutes, as long as everything else. Cut the kaszanka into slices 3 cm thick, skin on: a thick slice holds its shape in the pan, a thin one crumbles into buckwheat. Slice the onion into feathers, cut the apple into eighths without the core.
Ingredients: 600 g kaszanka (Polish blood sausage with buckwheat) · 2 pcs onions · 1 pcs apple · 30 g butter · 1 tbsp oil · 1 tsp dried marjoram · ½ tsp black pepper · 1 pinch salt
TipThin kaszanka in natural casing can also be left whole with the skin scored in a few places; it fries in 12 minutes. Thick kaszanka in artificial casing should always be peeled and sliced.
Thick slices, onion feathers, apple eighths
Soften the onion
Heat the butter in a pan and fry the onion over medium heat 8 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden. Don't rush: the onion should be sweet, not scorched.
Eight minutes to golden
Add the apple and marjoram
Add the apple eighths, the marjoram crushed between your palms, a pinch of salt and the pepper to the onion. Fry another 3 minutes, until the apple softens but keeps its shape. Push to the side of the pan or move to a plate.
TipThe apple balances the richness of the kaszanka with acidity and sweetness. Firm, tart varieties (Reinette or Antonovka, for instance) hold their shape; soft dessert apples quickly collapse into purée.
Apple soft but in pieces
Fry the kaszanka
Heat the oil in a second pan over medium-high heat. Lay in the kaszanka slices and fry 4–5 minutes without moving them, until the underside is crisp and the skin starts to split. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and fry the other side 4 minutes. Hot inside, browned on top.
TipOne turn and no stirring: kaszanka is fragile and crumbles with every move. If it falls apart, no harm done; mix it with the onion and serve it like a hash.
Undisturbed until the skin splits
Serve
Drain the potatoes and sprinkle with dill. Put the kaszanka on plates, the onion and apple on top, potatoes and pickles beside. With bread: the same, without potatoes, but with mustard.
Ingredients: 800 g potatoes · ½ bunch dill · 4 pcs brined pickled cucumbers
Kaszanka, onion with apple, potatoes, pickle
Before you start
From the oven
Score the skin of a whole kaszanka, lay it in a dish on the onion and apple and bake 20 minutes at 200 °C. Less watching, an equally crisp skin, good for a crowd.
Skinless, like a hash
Peel the casing off, crumble the kaszanka into the pan with the onion and fry 8 minutes, stirring. Serve with mashed potatoes, or use as a filling for pierogi and crepes.
From the grill
In summer on the grate: whole, skin scored, 10 minutes, turned once. Soften the onion in a pan alongside. The best kaszanka there is.
Nutrition
per 100 gStep photos are computer-generated from the recipe.
