If you’re looking for a soft, yummy, eggy bread recipe, this is the one. I have to admit failure here, though: I just can’t seem to get the stacked braids to stay upright when I cook them. I finally resorted to my old standby six-strand braid, and the results are much more attractive.

This vianočka is pretty close to the version you can buy in the shops in Slovakia, and it’s easy enough to make the dough in the evening then bake in the morning. It’s sweet, lightly flavored with lemon, and makes great french toast if you don’t manage to eat the whole thing before it gets a little stale.

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Vianocka – modern version

This is a largeish recipe – I’ve taken to dividing it in two and leaving half the dough to sit in the fridge to bake a second loaf a day or two later. If you bake a half-sized loaf, it should be done in about 25 minutes. I often substitute about half a cup of oil for the butter when I’m in a hurry or low on butter.

Ingredients

Makes one loaf

• 4 cups/480 grams flour
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 3 oz/85 g butter
• 3 eggs, plus one yolk for the egg wash
• 1/3 cup/80 g sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• zest of one lemon (about 1½ tsp)
• 1/3 cup/40 g raisins (optional)
• ¼ cup/20 g sliced almonds for topping (optional)

Method

• Warm the milk and butter in a small saucepan until butter has melted; set aside to cool. Stir together 1 cup of the flour and the yeast in a large bowl. When milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, stir it into the flour mixture until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until it is bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• Add the three eggs, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Mix in the flour gradually until you have a soft dough that is still a bit sticky. Stir in the raisins.
• Turn out the dough and knead until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a large clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubled, about two hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
• When dough has doubled, divide it into 6 portions, each weighing about 6oz/180 grams. Roll each portion into a rope, and braid the six ropes together, pinching each end to seal.
• Cover the braid with a cloth and leave to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f/190 C.
• Brush the braid with the egg yolk mixed with about a teaspoon of water; sprinkle almonds over the top if desired (the loaf expands quite a lot when baked, so you can be generous with the topping!).
• Bake for 50-55 minutes or until top is a dark golden brown.

All I want to say is that körözött is a staple food of Hungary. They are lucky, because they can go to the local Tesco Hypermarket, pick up a tub of the classic spread, or even try “impure” körözött and buy it together with a hearty dose of additives and preservatives. You, the unlucky ones have to make it yourself. The good news is, that it can be kept in the fridge for quite a time even without the pesky additives and preservatives.  Well, enjoy your Hungarian experience!

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Hungarian Spicy Cheese Spread – Körözött

This is the basic, the elemental soul of körözött. People tend to over-complicate this simple spread. Silly, when it is best enjoyed simply with bread or vegetables; tomatoes and peppers make a perfect companion. You might want to reduce the amount of onions, but remember that after chilling the spread will be milder. If you want to go fat free, go for it and use reduced fat or fat free cottage cheese and cream cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 small tub (8 oz) large curd cottage cheese
• 1 smaller or ½ a large onion
• small package (3 oz) cottage cheese
• 1 onion
• 3 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ½ tsp caraway powder
• 1 cup red wine

Method

• Put all the ingredients except the onion into a big bowl.
• Grate the onions into the mixture. You can go either chunky or fine.
• Stir the mixture well and then process it with a stick/immersion blender or in a food processor.
• Put it back into the cottage cheese tub and chill it for few hours, best overnight. There will be a little bit leftover which will not fit into the tub. You go ahead and eat it.
• Enjoy with a great rustic bread.

One of the first questions I get when I introduce my wife is “Where did you two meet?”. I don’t know why, is an American-Slovak-Hungarian combo that weird? So make it even more weird — I say “in Kosovo”.  That always takes the conversation away from us and transforms it to a discussion about Kosovo. Yes it is true, we met in the Balkans and we worked together and we fell in love with each other, then got married, had kids and started this blog.  Maybe when someone asks me how I met my wife, I should say “while we were eating Shopska salad”. Is this true? Most likely yes, because being in the Balkans was all about eating a lot of Shopska salad.

The Shopska mountains are a range in Bulgaria, and so maybe the dish originates there, but every restaurant south of Hungary seems to have its version of this summer staple. For Katy especially, Shopska was often the only thing on the menu she would eat, being vegetarian. So much that after we came home, we decided never again! But it seems we have developed some weird addiction to it and when the tomato season comes, we always find ourselves making a nice cold Shopska salad.  You should make it too!

You might thing that this sounds like Greek salad. No, it is not Greek salad and tastes different. It is similar, but if you will insist that it is Greek salad, I will have to poke you with a FORK! The lack of olives and olive oil makes the salad lighter and is fresher. Also the cheese should coat the tomatoes and the onions making the salad creamy.

A disclaimer: I love Greek salad and I love its depth and lack of creaminess. With this paragraph I just wanted to point out the differences between Greek Salad and Shopska salad. Sometimes you have the mood for different tastes. I love Greece. Please do not impale me! Thank you.

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Shopska Salad

This is a very simple recipe with limited ingredients. It is important that you use the best ripe tomatoes you can get. Depending how salty your feta is, you might add a little bit of salt. The ratio of tomatoes to cucumbers should be something like 2:1. Feel free to alternate if you like cucumbers more. “White cheese” in the Balkans varies a lot.  Some is hard and crumbly, some is softer and more creamy. If you see “Bulgarian Feta” which is harder but not too soft, try it.
Ingredients

• 1 medium cucumber
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 12 oz/340 g Bulgarian feta cheese
• ½ small onion

Method

• Dice the cucumber and chop the tomatoes into ½ – 1 inch bits. Dice the onion.
• Add the ingredients into a bowl.
• Take 1/3 of the feta and grate it over the vegetables. Chop the rest into ½-inch cubes and sprinkle over the vegetables.
• Toss all the ingredients together, and chill.
• Usually Shopska is enjoyed as a side dish.

Many of our recipes end with the sentence: “Enjoy with a good rustic bread”. Bread is the staple food of Central Europe. We eat bread with everything. One of the challenges of moving was to find an everyday bread -  frankly, supermarket “sandwich” bread here is pretty bad. Sorry my friends, it is the truth. It is full of preservatives, different crazy sounding items and of course, sugar (that is true about everything. Everything tastes sweet here. It is like non-stop candy time). On other hand there are artisan breads. Well, those are amazing! The only problem is they are not priced for everyday eating. A good bread, which our family polishes off in 30 seconds, is $4. If you eat it once in a while, yes, it is the right price for something “special/artisan”. But if you eat it as Europeans do, yikes!
So we make our own. Katy is a great baker and she has been making all kinds of amazing breads. The only thing I missed was the rustic Hungarian potato bread. So in order to surprise her one night I made the “no knead bread“, added a potato and adjusted it accordingly. I was amazed with the results – exactly what I was hoping for! Now I’ll share this Hungarian recipe with you.

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Hungarian Potato Bread

Use bread flour. I used King Arthur bread flour. Russet potatoes are ideal for this recipe, because they are nice and floury. The potato has a few roles in the bread making: it will keep the bread moist, adds a gentle potato flavor to the crumb and a light bitterness to the crust.

Ingredients

Makes 2 small loaves or 1 big one.

• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 large russet potato
• 1½ cups water

Method

• Peel and dice the potato, then rinse off the starch in a colander. Cook it until soft enough to pierce with a fork. Once soft strain the water and let it cool.
• In a large bowl mix flour yeast and salt. Mash the potato (or put it through a ricer) and add it to the flour mixture.
• Add 1 cup of water and then more if necessary. The dough should be on the sticky side. Put it in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
• Let it rise at room temperature for 12 hours. After 12 hours you should have a sticky goo, basically.
• Prepare a baking dish ( I used a small square stoneware baking dish) put it into the oven and preheat the oven to 500 F.
• Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and divide it in half; each blob will be a small loaf. Try to fold the dough over onto itself few times. Shape them and sprinkle with flour. Let the first one rest for 30 minutes.
• Dust the baking dish with flour and carefully put in the first loaf. Cover it with tinfoil and bake it for 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes, uncover and bake another 35 minutes or until the bread gets dark and crusty. That is what we want!
• When the first loaf is ready you can bake the second one as above.
• Let it cool before you eat it.

I had a great day in Sonoma tasting some wine. I specifically went to try out the Cline cellars, since I was very excited about trying their wine; I had it for the first time on the way to California on the BA flight. I love the idea of grapes grown on 100 year-old vines. The yield is low but very mature and sophisticated. I am a big fan of Cline and their Ancient Wines line. With a little luck you can get these wines from under $10, which is my comfortable price limit for a bottle of wine. After the tasting at their cellars, I could not come home empty handed, and I decided to share this gem with my family. Since good wine must be accompanied by good food, I decided to make a Czech classic: roasted duck with red cabbage and Czech dumplings.

This Czech meal consist of three separate segments. You have to roast the duck, make the cabbage and the dumplings. It is a bit more labor intensive, but again remember that a good wine must be accompanied by a good meal.  I’ll post them as separate segments because the cabbage and the dumplings are often used with other meals and later I might refer to these recipes.

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Roasted Duck

For this recipe I used duck legs. For bigger parties or hungry individuals, you can count on 2 legs per person, for a lighter meal go with 1 duck leg per person. You can use other parts of the duck if you wish. The amount of apples and pears depends on the amount of duck you are going to roast. I use fruit in order to achieve light fruity tones and preventing the meat from drying out.

Ingredients

• firm apples, such as Braeburns
• pears, any variety
• red wine
• salt
• water
• duck legs
• caraway seeds

Method

• Slice the apple and pear and lay them directly on the roasting pan. Add few cups of red wine or water. The liquid should barely cover the fruit.
• Salt the duck legs on both side, place the legs on the fruit bed and sprinkle them generously with caraway seeds.
• Preheat the oven to 340F, cover the roasting pan with foil and bake until the meat is soft (2 -2.5 hours).
• When the meat can be easily pierced with a fork, remove the foil and broil until the skin is nice and crispy.

Red Cabbage

While the duck roasts you can do the red cabbage. This is a special cabbage used with few Czech recipes and you can use the leftovers in many good ways, as a side dish, in sandwiches.

Ingredients

• 1 medium red cabbage (1.5-2pounds)
• 1 big onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 3tbs vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 orange
• 3 cups of red wine
• 1tsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method

• Slice the cabbage into thin ribbons, removing the hard bits and nibbling on them while you salt the cabbage and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Chop the onions.
• Heat the oil in large pot and add the onions together with the bay leaf. When onions become translucent, add the sugar and caramelize it.
• Add the caraway seeds and 10 seconds later add the red wine and the juice of one orange.
• Bring the mixture to boil and add the cabbage. Cook the cabbage on medium temperature until soft.
• When cabbage is soft add the vinegar and season with extra salt (1/2tsp maybe).

Steamed dumplings – knedliky

The Czech knedliky or “steamed bread” is a real Czech classic. It is served with variety of foods, especially with sauce. This is a simple knedliky recipe; unfortunatelly they are great only on the first day. After that they lose their freshness rapidly, so try to use them right away. You will need a steamer to make these (obviously), one with a flat bottom is the best.

Ingredients

• 1tsp sugar
• 1tsp yeast
• 3½ cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup of milk
• ½ cup lukewarm water

Method

• Make a sponge: mix the lukewarm water, sugar and yeast and leave until bubbly, about ten minutes.
• Mix the flour with salt, add the sponge, eggs, and 2/3 cup of milk (if necessary keep adding more milk).
• Let it raise for 30 min, then punch it down.
• Let it raise again until doubled.
• Prepare the steamer: put a few inches of water in a large pot, and lightly oil the steamer basket. Bring the water to a boil.
• Shape little oval loafs and put them in the steamer basket. Steam them for 10-12 minutes until they are resilient and have a firm outer skin.
• Let them cool and cut them into slices just before you serve them.

Scrambled eggs were for me the ultimate cooking experiment – I have tried them so many ways. One of the first meals I made for my wife were scrambled eggs “valcs style” (valcs is my old nickname). And from time to time, she requests it again. That, however,  is a recipe for another time. I thought that after our long break, we should start up with something simple. I found out that in the US it is still possible to find a good honest bacon, which is a basis for this Hungarian style recipe.

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Hungarian Style Scrambled Eggs

There is no exact recipe for this. It is more a rundown of ingredients and the ratio that I like best. In the summer I used to add one pepper and one tomato 3 minutes before I added the eggs. If you don’t like bacon (if there are such people) you can skip it and add just a plain vegetable oil. If you are scared of bacon for health reasons, try to add just a tiny bit. And if you don’t eat bacon for health or religious reasons, then instead of 1/2 tsp of red paprika use 1 tsp of Spanish smoked paprika. Serve it with really good fresh bread.

Ingredients

This is a 1 person recipe. Multiply it as you wish.

• 1 onion
• 1 strip of REAL bacon
• 3 eggs
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp red paprika

Method

• Roughly chop the bacon and start to fry it on a medium high temperature and render some fat.
• Add the onions, salt them and cook them until they are caramelized
• Add the red paprika, stir and add the eggs.
• As soon as I add the eggs I remove the skillet from the heat and let the eggs cook off the heat source. Usually this provides you with creamy but well-cooked eggs.

My mum used to make these amazing Slovak potato pancakes. She would come home during her lunch break and make lunch for us, so it would be waiting for us when we came home from school. She made sure there was some soup and a main course. By the time we would get home, Mum was back at work, but she always left a note about what she cooked and how much we can have — with three hungry boys she left nothing to chance. I still remember that we could have 5 pancakes each.

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Potato Pancakes – Zemiakove placky

This traditional Slovak recipe is delicious as a snack or as a main course after a substantial soup.

Ingredients

Makes enough for 3-4 people

• 2 pounds/1 kg whole potatoes
• 1 egg
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp majoram – optional
• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 6 tbs flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
  • Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until you can just pierce them with a fork. Drain and let them cool for a minute or two.
  • Peel the potatoes and grate them on a fine grater.
  • Add egg, smashed garlic, pepper, salt, majoran, milk and the flour. Batter should be a thick liquid.
  • Preheat a crepe pan or a nonstick pan to medium low heat. Grease it and add about a ladle’s worth of batter. Fry 4 minutes on each side.
  • Enjoy

Method

Valerian got a funny Slovak cookbook a few years ago, Z Kuchyne starého Prešporka (from the kitchen of old Pressburg) by Peter Ševčovič. Pressburg is the German name for Bratislava, and the book is full of quirky cooking advice from the Bratislava of yesterday, collected from average and not-so-average people, since there are some recipes for living on the street, including how to cook pigeons and alley cats. I’ve skipped right over those to a recipe for a Slovak favorite, even today: vianočka, a kind of sweet braided bread.

The name vianočka means “Christmassy” but in fact this bread is an everyday item, something you pick up at the grocery store. Our kids are especially fond of an Austrian brand that we refer to as “squishy bread” because it’s packed full of artificial preservatives to keep it soft for for all eternity. When baking at home of course, we stick to natural ingredients!

The vianočka available these days is usually sweet and has a hint of lemon flavor. This old recipe from the book makes a rich, spicy loaf, delicious sliced and toasted or with jam.

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Vianočka- braided sweet bread, adapted from Z Kuchyne starého Prešporka

The dough had a strange texture after the first rise; if you leave it to rise overnight in the fridge, give it plenty of time to warm up the next day before you start to work with it for best results.

Ingredients

Makes one large loaf

• 1 star anise
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 vanilla bean
• zest of one lemon
• 5½ cups/550 grams flour
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 6 Tbs/80 grams sugar
• scant 1¼ cup/250 ml milk
• 4 oz/100 grams butter
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup/40 grams raisins

For topping

• One egg yolk beaten with about a teaspoon of water
• ¼ cup/20 grams slivered almonds (optional)

Method

• Using a mortar and pestle, pound the star anise, cloves, and vanilla pod to a fine powdery paste.
• In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter together in a small pan, until just below boiling. Turn off the heat and add the spices. Set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and lemon zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Add the two egg yolks. Mix well until a soft dough forms; add the raisins and mix until incorporated.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead until it is soft and shiny, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover the bowl with plastic and allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight.
• Divide the dough in half. Divide one half into four equal-sized pieces. Divide the other half in half again, then divide one of those pieces into thirds, the other in two. You will have nine pieces of dough in three groups of descending size.
• Roll each piece of dough into a rope; all the ropes should be of equal length, but fatter or skinnier depending on the size of the piece.
• Make a four-strand braid with the four biggest pieces. Make a three-strand braid with the medium pieces, and place it on top of the first braid. Twist the two smallest ropes together, and stack them on top of the two other braids. You may want to stick a toothpick at each end to pin the braids all together (I didn’t and the top kind of slid over).
• Place the loaf on a greased baking sheet and cover with a cloth. Allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/190 C.
• Brush the loaf with the egg wash. Sprinkle the almonds over the top, if desired.
• Bake for 50-55 minutes. If the top starts to get too dark, cover the browned parts with a piece of foil.
• Allow to cool completely before slicing.

My mum used to make this pretty often when I was growing up, mostly because cauliflower is widely available here and it is cheap. The best way to eat cauliflower is to deep fry it and eat it with tartar sauce and fries.  But fake brains is second best thing. It is less caloric and in many ways it’s even good for you. It is also very easy to prepare. I would recommend this recipe to all beginner chefs.

I don’t know why is it called “fake brains”. My only guess would be that it resembles cooked pigs’ brain, which used to be considered a delicacy here.  I remember that during socialism in Czechoslovakia we used to have plenty of “fake” meals, which were supposed to imitate the real stuff that was not available. To calm down the vegetarians among us, this meal does not resemble the flavor or texture of cooked brains (at least as I remember them from my childhood).

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Fake brains

Try to avoid winter cauliflower, because it tends to be bitter. This recipe makes fake brains for 2 greedy or 4 normal people.

Ingredients

Makes 2 portions.

• 3 tbs oil
• 3 big onion
• 1 cauliflower head
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Method

• Cut off the cauliflower florets and cook them in salty water (big pinch of salt) until tender. It takes 10-15min.
• Chop the onions and steam over low heat with 3tbs of oil. Add the salt and the pepper. You want the onions translucent, not fried. If they are getting too brown, carefully add a little bit of water.
• Strain the cauliflower and let it “steam dry”. Once they’ve dried (in about 3 min), smash them with a fork into small chunks. Watch the onions!
• When the onions get translucent, add the cauliflower, stir and cook together for another 10 minutes.
• After 10 min, add the eggs and stir again to scramble them. Once the eggs are done to your liking, your meal is ready. Taste it and season it if necessary. Do not burn your tongue (as I do all the time ).
• Serve with good rustic bread.

It happens early every summer. The tiny potatoes appear and I start to look for them at the local markets.

The locals consider these tiny gems to be trash and they are also treated as such. If you go to the market you will find them in a crate off to the side with a big sale sign.  Once I found them in Győr at an upscale market where they were so cheap I bought 5 kilos. I still remember the woman asking me: “What are you going to do with those?” I shrugged and fearing more questions I  ran away with my price and and my secret.

I always wonder, when will people learn what I already know.  Every year I ask myself: “do they know it? are they going to still be affordable? what kind of strategy should I use to hide my secret?” I want to risk it and share my secret. The thing is, we’re moving so I am gone in a few weeks. I am ready to share my secret with the human race. Roasted tiny potatoes are the most amazing potatoes you will eat. I love them so much that I eat them without anything. Only potatoes and me. Katy is the same way. Now you know!

A few weeks ago I spotted them: they were imported from France and on mega sale in our local supermarket. I was so happy. I never had my favorite tiny potatoes in winter, so of course I bought a few bags.  The recipe is very simple.

1. Wash them, scrub them, do not remove the skin. If you have a bigger specimen, cut them in half.

2. Cook them in a boiling water for 8-10 minutes (depending on the size).

3. Once cooked, drain them in a colander and let them dry for about 5 minutes.

4. Put them into a roasting pan and roast them on 390 degrees F for approximately 45 min – 1 hour.  Give them a shake to turn them at the halfway point. You can use olive oil or any other oil, a combination of oil and butter, or, if you are decadent, use lard or goose fat – your results will be even better.

5. Salt them generously and enjoy them BIG TIME!

Maybe you have noticed that the pictures are slighter better quality. I would like to thank my in-laws for a great birthday present -  a new Canon 430 EX flash. The photography is more fun with it. Thank you and I am looking forward to cook some nice rich Central European meal garnished with roasted tiny potatoes for you soon.

Lecsó (or letcho) is an important part of Hungarian cuisine. Summer in the village smells of people making letcho, as the gardens overflow with ripe tomatoes and peppers. Letcho is the basis for plenty of Hungarian meals, including goulash, paprikash, or porkolt. This time of year, people are starting to open the jars of letcho they put up during the summer to have a little taste of sunshine when the days are short.

As with most of the basic dishes from this part of the world, there are many variations in how to prepare letcho. Letcho can be a main dish when made more substantial with rice, sausage, eggs, bacon, tarhonya (Israeli/large grain couscous) etc. Depending on the peppers you use, letcho can be hot or mild. The letcho I mention here is my very old recipe. I used to make it for Katy when we were living in Banja Luka (in Bosnia) and it is one of the first meals I learned to prepare for myself  when I was 10.

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Letcho

This is a recipe for 2. Simply, because I used to make this for 2. You can make it bigger by just multyplying the ingredients.

Ingredients

Makes 2 portions.

• 2 tbs oil
• 1 big onion
• 4 Hungarian or red bell peppers
• 4 medium tomatoes
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tbs marjoram – optional
• 1 Tbs paprika
• 2 eggs

Method

• Chop the onions and saute over low heat in a large pan with about a Tbs of oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Cut the peppers into rings and add them to the pot when onions are starting to get brown.
• Roughly chop the tomatoes.
• Once the peppers are soft, add the marjoram and paprika. Stir and add the chopped tomatoes. Lower the heat and cook until tomatoes begin to break down.
• Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add to the pan, stirring as you pour them in. Cook another 5 min.
• Serve with fresh bread. Best with a country loaf, ciabatta, or similar bread that can soak up the juices.

You will find this in hardly any cookbook, despite the fact that grenadir mars is a very common dish in Central Europe.  It is made very often and served with pickles or green salad. It is very easy and fast to make and it is very customizable to suit your palate – feel free to experiment with this recipe by adding more or less of any of the ingredients.

It is hard to know where this meal originated. The name (“March of the grenadiers”) can tell us that it might have been invented to feed soldiers during the monarchy. The other hint is that this food used to be made very often in military kitchens all over Eastern Europe.  Plenty of my older friend who had to serve the military reported that they got tired of Grenadir mars after serving the army for 2 years. Even so, it’s one of the most favorite meals in central Europe.

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Grenadir mars – Potato pasta

Best served with pickles any kind or with “head of lettuce Central European style” (recipe coming soon) . If you can’t get pasta squares, you can break a lasagna sheet into little squarish shaped thingies. Also you can try the version with smoked Spanish paprika for an interesting variation.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 3 medium onions
• 3  Tbs vegetable oil
• 1.5 pounds of potatoes
• 3 cups of pasta squares or other flat pasta
• 1tsp salt

Method

• Peel the potatoes, cut them into half-inch cubes and boil them until soft (cca 8-10min) and drain them.
• Dice the onions; heat about 2 Tbs vegetable oil,  and saute the onions with the salt over a medium low fire. You have to be careful not to burn the onions. The idea is to make them release their juices and get them translucent. Sometimes when the onions are frying too fast I add couple of table spoons of water.
• While you saute the onions cook the pasta to al dente, and drain. Toss with a Tsb of vegetable oil in order to prevent the pasta clumping.
• And now the big finale ! Once onions are translucent higher the heat and add the potatoes. Fold the onions over the potatoes and saute for another 5-7 minutes. Lower the heat, add the paprika and fold again. Add the pasta fold and you are done. Once you add the paprika do not saute too long, because paprika tends to get bitter.
• DO NOT FORGET TO SERVE WITH PICKLES !

This morning we decided to do something special, something very Slovak. With this post I would like to introduce you to a great meal and also to the Slovak “miracle”, bryndza. Bryndza is an EU-trademarked Slovak ricotta-type sheep cheese. Recently it went through thorough tests and the health benefits were surprising. Bryndza apparently helps to lower cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure; it contains 20 types of probiotics in huge quantities (yogurt only has 1-2), vitamins B complex, and almost three times as much calcium as cow’s milk. It is a boost for your immune system. The only problem is that you have to get the unpasteurized version, since the pasteurized version is almost useless. Try not to buy it in supermarkets, because those are pasteurized and mixed with cow cheese.

So this morning we went to the market and bought some bryndza, together with some sheep cheese and mangalica bacon. As you can see the products from our favorite stand were approved by our little Celtic princess (she is Celtic because sometimes she behaves like a barbarian, but she is my princess after all). My theory is that if you get rich food into you, it should be worth it. Bryndzove halusky is definitely worth it.

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Bryndzove halusky

I have to admit I found this recipe on the internet when I was researching the various ways to make bryndzové halušky. I liked this one because it is almost identical to my mum’s and I loved its name and how was the recipe written. This recipe is “Bryndzové halušky according to Juraj the shepherd”. The bryndza can be replaced with any crumbly sheep cheese. You can add more or less bryndza depending on how sharp you like it.

Making the halušky requires a special tool – a halušky maker (like a colander with extra-large holes). If you can’t find something like this, look for gnocchi (cut them in half) or spaetzle and cook them as directed.

Ingredients

Makes 3 portions or 4 as a side dish.

• 3 medium potatoes to make approximately 2 cups when finely grated
• same amount of flour as potatoes (about 2 cups)
• 1tsp salt
• 4 ounces or more bryndza
• 1 or more strip of bacon per person

Method

• Grate the potatoes, and add the flour, salt. You shoould get a goopy dough. That’s ok.
• Set a large pot of water to boil. When it has come to a boil, using a rubber spatula or board scraper (or the scraper that came with your halušky maker), quickly press the dough through the holes into the water, scraping back and forth until all the dough has gone through. When the halušky float to the surface, in 2-3 minutes, they are ready. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the cooking water.
• In a small bowl, add the cooking water to the bryndza and mix well. Add it to the halusky.
• Fry the bacon until the fat is rendered. Add some of the fat to the halušky and top them with the crumbled bacon.
• Enjoy

I have never seen this except in Central Europe. But here it is a classic, served as a side dish with deep fried items. My best combo: parsley potatoes, pork chops in flour (see the recipe) and peach or pear compote. Such a treat!

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Parsley potatoes

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 2 pound of floury potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 cup or more fresh parsley, chopped

Method

• Peel and cube the potatoes. Boil them until soft, then drain. (5-8 min)
• Warm up oil in a large pot, add the onions and salt and saute them over low heat. Once translucent, add the drained potatoes and mix. Saute for another 5 min.
• While still hot, add the parsley, toss and enjoy.

This is one way Hungarians use cabbage with sugar. The other famous dish is cabbage strudel. Despite the fact that you use sugar in the meal, it is a main course. The combination of cabbage, sweetening, pasta and black pepper might seem weird, but it works together pretty well. Thumbs up for the imagination of the inventor of this dish.

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Cabbage and Pasta Squares

We don’t have a grater or food processor, so I used a good old knife and chopped the cabbage as finely as I could. While the meal looks a bit “rustic” it did not lose anything in quality. If you can’t find pasta squares you could make them by breaking up a lasagna sheet or tagliatelle.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 2 lbs of grated cabbage
• 1 lb pasta squares
• 3 tbs sugar
• salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• ½ tsp black pepper

Method

• Grate the cabbage, salt it and let it sit for at least 30min
• Heat up the oil in a pan and add the sugar. Caramelize it.
• Squeeze the juices from the cabbage and start to fry it. Add the pepper.
• While frying the cabbage cook the pasta
• Once the cabbage is brown you can add the cooked pasta. Fry it for another 3-4 min.
• Enjoy