lazanki — Poland

Lazanki are pasta squares or triangles found in Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Polish home cooking, made from a simple dough of wheat, rye or buckwheat rolled thin and cut by hand. The pieces are boiled until tender, then drained and tossed with fat rather than a sauce: melted pork fat or vegetable oil, sometimes finished with a spoon of sour cream. This keeps the dish plain and filling rather than richly sauced. In Poland, lazanki is most often served with fried cabbage or sauerkraut and small pieces of sausage, bacon or mushroom, cooked together in the same pan until the cabbage takes on a little colour, then combined with the boiled pasta so every piece is coated. Across the region the name and the exact grain used shift from one kitchen to another, and the dish is generally treated as an everyday, filling meal rather than a festive one; it is close in spirit to other cut-pasta-and-cabbage dishes cooked in neighbouring countries. It reheats well and is often made in a large batch to last a few days. Some cooks scatter in dill or caraway seeds for extra flavour, and a version made with buckwheat groats in place of the rolled dough is also found in Belarusian and Ukrainian kitchens.