Kluski z Truskawkami

Environment, politics and economy shape not only what we choose to eat, but also what we can.

I left Poland as a young child. It was still under communist rule at that time and shortages marked every day of everyone’s life. When people heard that meat would arrive at the butcher shop the retired grandparents would line up, and often camp out, in line in front of the store until it did. As soon as one family heard through the grapevine that there was a shipment coming to the store, grandma or grandpa would secure the family’s spot in line. Once people noticed one grandma in front of the store, news would spread and the other grandparents would rush out to join. You had to be quick. There was rarely anything good left for the last one in line.

It was the same deal with toilet paper. I still remember having to use old newspapers between new stock arriving. My brother and I would argue endlessly whose butt was more chafed and thus who deserved to get a seat on the couch to watch cartoons during the government designated cartoon hour on TV.

These shortages were perpetuated by the fact that very little was imported into the country from outside. I remember seeing an orange for the first time at Christmas when I was 6. That was the Christmas before we immigrated. My mom had found the oranges on the black market that year and bought us one each.

Most of what we ate was local and seasonal, not because we were trying to promote local, like in today's world, but because local was all we had. And, whatever there was had to be prepared in such a way as to maximize it’s nutritional as well as ‘filling’ potential.

I don’t know who in Poland came up with strawberry pasta but I guarantee it was a mom, because the one thing that united moms in Poland during those times was that they did everything so that their children never realized they were lacking anything. When my grandma was camping out in line in front of the grocery store my mom made it sound like an adventure. If we did our chores she would reward us by allowing us go join grandma and have a picnic with her in line at night, making us feel like we were waiting to get into a Taylor Swift concert, instead of waiting to get food to survive. When we had to use newspapers as toilet paper, we had contests about who remembered what news story their butt got. And, when we ate strawberry spaghetti it felt like a birthday celebration because of how pretty my mom made it look and how she always managed to have sugar to add to it.

The ingredients for this dish are so basic that they could be gotten from any farm during strawberry season: sour cream and strawberries for the sauce. Flour, eggs and salt for the noodles. And sometimes, those couple, delicious, spoonfulls of sugar.

We never knew that this was what we were eating for lunch because it was what our moms had. Srawberry pasta was, and still is, the most delicious, healthy, and desert-like pasta you’ll ever taste, and it’s almost humorous to see it these days in restaurants around Poland. There are now substitutions and additions to the sauce such as basil, mint and Greek yoghurt or Skyr. It’s become something of a delicacy and borderline fancy. But, for me, as well as all those who were there as children, in those other times in Poland's history, we'll always remember it as our moms' way of preserving our innocence as to how hard life was, and instead, filling our childhoods with sweetness.

Strawberry Pasta

(Kluski z Truskawkami)

This recipe is ridiculously easy and the sauce requires zero cooking.

If you would like to make your own homemade noodles as people used to, there are numerous recipes online that you can use. I will not go into those here as cooking your own pasta is simply not necessary for the flavor of this dish. This dish can be made with absolutely any type of pasta you enjoy best. Additionally, you can make it gluten-free by using your favorite gluten-free pasta.

While some recipes say you can substitute fresh strawberries for frozen ones, I don’t agree with this. The entire flavor of this dish relies on the rich sweetness of strawberries in-season. Using frozen strawberries takes 90% of what this dish is about, away from it.

Ingredients (makes 2 portions)

• 400 grams (~14 ounces) fresh, ripe strawberries

• 150 grams (~1 cup) pasta (any shape that you like)

• 3-4 tablespoons of sugar (to taste)

• 80 ml (1/3 cup) of sour cream (you can replace sour cream with unflafored skyr, or Greek yoghurt)

Optional Ingredients

• A couple of fresh mint leaves or basil leaves for garnish

• 1 tablespoon of almond flakes

Instructions

Cooking the Pasta

1. Cook pasta with a pinch of salt as per the instructions on the pasta package.

2. When the pasta is done, it should be soft but still firm. Do not overcook to mushiness.

3. Drain pasta and separate equally onto two plates.

Preparing the Strawberry Sauce

The strawberry sauce requires no cooking and is very quick to prepare. As this dish is best served right away, prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking.

1. Rinse strawberries in cold water, cut and dispose of green ends.

2. Cut the strawberries into halves or quarters, depending on size (for smaller strawberries halves are sufficient. If strawberries are very large, quarter them.)

3. Put strawberries in a medium sized bowl and add the sour cream (or unflavored Skyr or Greek yoghurt) and sugar.

4. Mash it all together with a large fork. You can mash it to whatever texture you prefer. Most of our moms would mash it to a semi-smooth texture with some strawberry chunks here and there. However, if you like fully smooth textures you can mash longer or even use a blender or food processor. (At this point, once your sauce is whatever texture you like, you can add in the almond flakes and lightly mix them into the sauce).

5. Pour sauce equally over the servings of pasta.

6. If you like, you can garnish with a couple of mint or basil leaves along with one or two halved strawberries, as in the photo.

This meal makes a great, light and healthy lunch. However, you can adjust it to being purely a dessert. To do this, half the amount of pasta you are using, and sprinkle some icing sugar on top.

Enjoy!