Alissa Timoshkina. Photo: Kim Lightbody
The food writer and historian Alissa Timoshkina was born in Siberia and now lives in London, where she completed a PhD in Soviet culture and Holocaust history before giving up an academic career for one centred on food. She is also the co-founder, with her friend the chef Olia Hercules, of #CookForUkraine, set up in the wake of the Russian invasion in 2022, which has raised millions of pounds for humanitarian relief.
Last year she published the deeply researched and exquisite Kapusta – rightly recognised with a special commendation in the prestigious André Simon awards. Now she is back with Lozhka, a book devoted to meals that can be eaten with a spoon and again focused on dishes from eastern Europe (lozhka is the Slavic word for spoon).
“Perhaps no object captures the spirit of eastern European eating quite like the humble spoon”, she writes. “Among the oldest tools that humans possess, it is the first utensil with which we are fed, and often the one used to taste our last meal.”
Lozhka has chapters on soups, stews, porridges, custards… Often Alissa will put a modern interpretation on a traditional dish such as Ukrainian borsch or Hungarian nokedli. Here she shares a Polish dumpling recipe and admits to being “a bit of a dumpling obsessive – I like to think of myself as a ‘dumpling anthropologist’.” She promises that these kopytka are homely and perfect for chilly evenings.
Words by Jane Ferguson
Alissa’s Polish kopytka with mushroom and spinach sauce
Soft and delicate, kopytka are pillowy potato dumplings, similar to Italian gnocchi, beloved across Poland as a comforting staple. In this version, they’re paired with mushrooms, garlic and spinach in a creamy sauce.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the sauce
Knob of butter
tbsp vegetable oil
2 shallots or 1 small onion, finely chopped
500g mixed mushrooms, chopped into bite-sized chunks
2-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced
Splash of soy sauce
1 tsp dried parsley
150-200ml mushroom broth (made with a stock cube)
2 handfuls of spinach leaves, roughly chopped
100-150ml single cream
Salt and black pepper, to taste
For the kopytka
800g floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper or King Edward), diced
½ tsp salt, plus extra for the cooking water
130g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 egg, beaten
Method
To make the sauce, heat the butter with the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots or onion with a pinch of salt and cook gently until soft and translucent.
Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Cover with a lid and cook for about 5-6 mins, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms release their juices. Remove the lid and stir in the garlic, soy sauce and dried parsley. Cover again and cook for another 5 mins to let the flavours deepen.
Uncover the pan and pour in the mushroom broth. Let it simmer gently for a minute to reduce slightly, then stir in the spinach and let it wilt for 1-2 mins. Reduce the heat and stir in the cream until the sauce becomes smooth and silky. Taste and season with salt, if needed. Keep warm while you prepare the dumplings.
To make the kopytka, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 20-25 mins until tender. Drain and allow to cool completely.
Mash the potatoes until smooth, season with the salt, then sprinkle over the flour. Add the egg and bring everything together with your hands, kneading lightly until a soft, smooth dough forms. Add a little more flour if the dough feels sticky, but try not to overwork it; it should remain light and tender.
Bring a fresh pan of salted water to the boil while you shape the dumplings.
Divide the dough into four portions. On a floured work surface, roll each portion into a rope about 2cm thick, then cut into 10-12 small “pillows”. You can leave them as is, or roll them gently into ovals.
Drop the dumplings in batches into the boiling water, let them float to the surface, then cook for one more minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the frying pan. Let everything cook together for another minute, before ladling into bowls and topping generously with freshly cracked black pepper.
Lozhka by Alissa Timoshkina is published by Quadrille (RRP £28; buy it at a discount at the Nerve Bookshop)
Photography © Kim Lightbody