Polish zapiekanka: open-faced baguette with mushrooms and cheese, street-food style
The zapiekanka of Kraków's Kazimierz and every railway station: half a long white roll, fried mushrooms with onion, a thick layer of cheese melted in the oven and a zigzag of ketchup. At home there is one difference: mushrooms fried in butter until browned instead of stewed in their own water. Half an hour, four zapiekanki, supper or a late breakfast.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Mushrooms 14 min
- Assembling 6 min
- Baking 12 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneFry the mushrooms with onion
Slice the mushrooms, dice the onion finely. Heat 30 g butter in a large (28 cm) pan over high heat, add the mushrooms and fry a minute without stirring, then stirring, until browned and their water has evaporated, 8–10 minutes. Add the onion and fry 3 minutes more. Season with salt, pepper and oregano.
Ingredients: 2 pcs long white roll or baguette · 500 g button mushrooms · 1 pcs onion · 40 g butter · 200 g hard yellow cheese · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper · ½ tsp dried oregano
TipSalt only at the end. Salted from the start, mushrooms release water and stew grey instead of frying. A big pan and high heat do the rest.
High heat, no salt, until brownedPrepare the rolls
Heat the oven to 200 °C. Cut the rolls in half lengthways and spread the cut sides thinly with the rest of the butter. Lay on a paper-lined tray, cut side up. If the roll is very fresh and soft, put it in the oven for 3 minutes to firm up slightly.
Halved lengthways, thinly butteredAdd the mushrooms
Spoon an even layer of mushrooms and onion over each half, right to the edges. Don't hold back: a thin layer makes a dry zapiekanka.
Mushrooms to the very edgesCover with cheese
Grate the cheese coarsely and spread it thickly over the mushrooms, to the very edges of the roll. Cheese on the edges bakes crisp and stops the roll drying out.
A thick layer, to the edgesBake
Bake on the middle shelf 10–12 minutes, until the cheese has melted and browned in spots and the edges of the roll are crisp. For the last 2 minutes you can switch on the grill.
Cheese bubbling, edges crispKetchup and chives
Take out, zigzag the ketchup over at once and sprinkle with chopped chives. Eat hot, by hand or with a knife and fork. A zapiekanka doesn't wait: after a quarter of an hour the cheese sets.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp ketchup · ½ bunch chives
A zigzag of ketchup, chives, at once
Before you start
With ham or sausage
Slices of ham or fried sliced sausage under the cheese: the filling supper version.
With garlic sauce
Instead of ketchup, 3 spoons of yogurt with mayonnaise, a garlic clove and dill. Garlic sauce is a popular choice at the stalls on Plac Nowy in Kraków.
The roll went soggy
The mushrooms were wet or the roll too fresh. Fry the mushrooms longer until dry, and crisp a fresh roll for 3 minutes before topping.
