Merci, France. Gracias, Spain. Dziękuję, Poland.

Three recipes here, a Fourth of July tribute in honor of three countries’ indispensable aid to the American colonies fighting for their liberty from Britain during our War of Independence: France, Spain and Poland.

France was our most important and powerful foreign ally. It apportioned substantial loans and direct monies to the Continental Congress and lent French officers and troops to fight alongside the Americans.

Too, France signed the Treaty of Alliance in 1781 which brought its full force into war with Britain. That same year, French troops fought under American command at the decisive Battle of Yorktown which led to a final British surrender and our wholesale independence.

The recipe here from France comes at the hands of a private chef from Provence, Gérald Konings. It is essentially a Salade Niçoise in spring roll form, all the elements of that exemplar salad wrapped tightly in moistened rice paper. It not only is delicious, but is also comely to the eye.

While not allied with the American colonists as the French were, Spain did ally itself with France and then declared war on Britain in 1779, diverting British resources away from its war effort on this side of the Atlantic. Spain also captured British territories in both the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, thus preventing British fortifications there. Finally, and importantly, it encouraged American merchant ships to use Spanish ports while conducting their overseas European business.

The Spanish recipe here is a simple one, pan con tomate (“bread with tomato”), found on many a table at home and in restaurants throughout Spain as a teaser or appetizer course. It is a plain, straightforward rub on crusty bread of raw garlic and ripe heirloom tomato with, of course, Spanish extra virgin olive oil as a further dressing.

When we were growing up, we all learned of the valiant heroics of two Polish military officers who came to the aid of the Revolutionary colonists and, indeed, fought alongside them: Tadeusz Kósciuszko and Kazimierz Pulaski.

Kósciuszko, a Polish military engineer and a brigadier general in the Continental Army, oversaw the crucial fortifications at Saratoga, and supervised the military construction of West Point, to the point of such consequence that the British never attempted to take it.

Pulaski, like Kósciuszko, was made a brigadier general. He fought bravely alongside the colonists at several battles, including the Battle of Brandywine during which he saved the life of General George Washington. In 1779, he died at the Siege of Savannah while leading a calvary charge.

The Polish recipe here is bigos (pronounced “bee-goash”), a Polish “hunter’s stew.” Certainly a wintertime dish, it nonetheless profitably makes for summer dining if served outdoors al fresco on a cool summer’s night. It is best constructed at last day ahead and refrigerated so that the flavors develop.

Gérald Konings’ Salade Niçoise Spring Rolls

Makes 4; easily multiplied.

Ingredients

4 rice paper rounds

16-20 haricots verts (or 12 regular green beans), cooked crisp-tender, each cut 4 inches long

8 thin strips roasted, jarred sweet red pepper, 1/4-inch wide x 4 inches long

1 can tuna fish (small if possible), in olive oil

3-4 radishes, trimmed, grated on the large holes of a box grater

8 black olives (such as Kalamata or Gaeta), cut longwise from the pit into 4 equal pieces, or other pitted black olives in thin rings

4 large “grape” or Campari (or 8 largish cherry) tomatoes, sliced thinly longwise, seeded

3 medium or 2 large silver anchovies, in olive oil, chopped

Handful of leaves of arugula, tender stems OK

2 medium or 1 large hard-cooked egg, both yolk and white chopped very fine

For the anchoïade:

1-2 anchovies, mashed, quantity to taste

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 clove garlic, mashed to a paste

3 tablespoons good-quality mayonnaise

Directions

Prepare the anchoïade by mixing its ingredients well. Set it aside for service and to blend the flavors. (It should be more of a thickish dip than a runny sauce.)

Prepare all the vegetables and other ingredients as indicated, placing each ingredient in a small bowl or ramekin of its own. In addition, the tomato and olive slices, whatever length they are, should be no more than 1/3-inch wide.

Make each spring roll: Fill a bowl or pan wider than the rice paper rounds with the tap’s hottest water. Using tongs (or fingertips), slip a round into the water, turning it once or twice, for 6-7 seconds only, ensuring it is wetted well on both sides. Pull it out of the water and lay it flat onto a cutting board. (It helps to use a surface that is not white or very light-colored so that you may see the edges of the round as you work with it.) The water it pulls out with itself will soften it further. You will be rolling tight rolls so you do not want the rice paper to be too wet and, consequently, flimsy.

Beginning 2 inches from the bottom of the round, lay 4-5 haricots verts (or 3 green beans); they will be the “spine” of the spring roll. Then, in order of listing, lay out the remaining ingredients, one above the other, beginning with the roasted sweet red peppers and ending with the chopped hard-cooked egg. Scatter the arugula leaves to taste, 4 or more or less.

Fold up the bottom of the rice paper (it may help to use the blade of a chef’s knife to lift it initially), then fold in the right and left sides. Pulling ever so slightly, roll up the spring roll from the bottom up, keeping the filling taut against the rice paper round.

On a kitchen towel in the refrigerator, lay each spring roll seam side down, each not touching the other. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let the spring rolls cool and rest for 30 minutes. To serve, cut each roll halfway through, on the bias diagonally. Serve with the anchoïade for dipping.

Pan Con Tomate

Adapted from Penelope Casas, “Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain” (Knopf, 1996) and Claudia Roden, “The Food of Spain” (Harper Collins, 2011). Serves 2-4 as a first course.

Ingredients

2-4 1/2-inch thick slices of coarse-textured, country-style bread

1 large clove garlic, peeled and cut in half crosswise

1 large (or 2 small or medium) ripe, flavorful tomatoes, cut in half along the “equator” and squeezed gently extract some seeds

Spanish extra virgin olive oil

Kosher or sea salt

Directions

Toast the bread slices in a 350-degree oven for 3 minutes on each side until crisp but not browned. Rub the slices on any cut side with the open edges of the garlic clove.

While gently squeezing the tomato, rub on one cut side of the bread slices until they are well-imbibed with the pulp and juice.

Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt. Serve.

Bigos (Polish ‘Hunter’s Stew’)

Serves 8-10. Easily halved; can be made in a slow cooker; freezes well.

Ingredients

2 pounds sauerkraut (about 4 cups)

1 head Napa or Savoy cabbage, medium- to large-sized

Handful dried mushrooms, rehydrated in a small amount of boiling water

Vegetable oil

1 pound beef short ribs, meat removed from bones, or 3/4 pound beef chuck, cut into 1-inch (or slightly larger) chunks

3/4 pound pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch (or slightly larger) chunks

1/2 pound pork belly, unsmoked, cut into 1-inch (or slightly larger) chunks

3/4 pound smoked kielbasa sausage, thickly sliced

5 slices Canadian bacon, cut up into 1-inch pieces

1/2 pound lamb or venison loin, cut into 1-inch chunks (optional)

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

6 garlic cloves, minced

4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 32-ounce canned diced tomatoes and their juice

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup dried prunes (optional)

Dark rye or pumpernickel bread

Directions

Rinse the sauerkraut well in several changes of cool water and let drain, squeezing out excess water. Remove outer or wilting leaves from cabbage, core, and slice into shreds as if for coleslaw. Drain the rehydrated mushrooms, rinse and chop up. Strain the mushroom water of any grit and reserve.

In a commodious pot or Dutch oven, brown all the meats in batches in the vegetable oil, setting each batch aside, assuring not to crowd the pieces of meat as you brown them (you do not want them to steam themselves, but to develop nice brown, crisp crusts). Sweat the onions in the same pot (adding a smidge more oil, if necessary) just until they begin to brown, then add the garlic and carrots and sauté for a few minutes more. Add the tomatoes, scraping up anything brown along the bottom of the pot. Stir in the chopped up mushrooms, the reserved mushroom water, bay leaves, the thyme and several healthy grinds of black pepper.

The cooking of the bigos now takes up to 6 hours, at a slow and steady heat. So, decide whether to slowly cook the bigos as a stew on top of the stove, or in the oven in a large pot or casserole. In any case, you’ll need a cooking vessel large enough to accommodate all the meats, the sauerkraut, cabbage, onions and tomatoes, leaving an inch or more at the top for bubbling juices.

Assemble the bigos in layers: begin with all of the raw cabbage, then the drained sauerkraut, the meats (mixed together or not, it does not matter at this point, because you’ll stir up the bigos a few times as you cook along) and the onions and tomatoes. Cover the cooking pot and bring the bigos up to a slow simmer, either atop the stove and then placed in the oven, or merely atop the stove. Adjust the stove burner as necessary. If in the oven, the bigos cooks best for this long at 300-325 degrees. Stir up the bigos 3-4 times over a cooking period of 5-6 hours. Halfway through the cooking, taste the bigos for salt, adding salt if necessary (the sauerkraut, cured meats and tomatoes already may have done the job).

An hour before the bigos is done, stir in the dried prunes, is using, and continue cooking. Some cooks assert that bigos is best cooked three or four days before serving, even being reheated and stirred up a bit each day. It’s certainly something that’s difficult to overcook. But its only truly bigos if it is cooked for a very long time, however it will be first enjoyed. And it is best served with slices of dark rye-based bread.

Reach Bill St. John at [email protected]