Gluten Free Crêpes

I have been perfecting my gluten-free crêpe recipe for a few months now and I have finally landed on a very good one! These don’t have the coarse texture that gluten-free crêpes usually have, they are slightly chewy too which I really like and they have an innate sweetness even without the addition of sugar. Although I usually try to avoid the addition of unnecessary fats, I think it is the Olive Oil in this batter that helps emulsify the grainy ‘flours’. In my humble opinion, these crêpes can easily pass as their gluten-containing cousins, although, JT did comment that they weren’t quite as sturdy as a regular crêpe.

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 2 crêpes

Ingredients:

• 40 mL egg white (about 2 large egg whites)
• 80 mL (about 2.5 oz) soda water
• 35 g (about 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour mixture (see below)
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) EVOO

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in the container of your immersion blender and blend for about 1-2 minutes. Set aside for about 3-5 minutes.
2. Heat a large non-stick pan to medium hot (do not spray with oil or add oil to the pan, the batter sticks better this way). Pour half of the mixture into the pan and quickly roll around to cover the entire bottom of the pan, without going up the sides. Cook until golden and most of the batter has set on the top side.
3. Carefully lift the crêpe and turn it to cook the other side until golden. Repeat for second crêpe.
4. Keep warm by covering.

Gluten Free Flour Mix

Ingredients:

• 6 parts brown rice flour
• 3 parts yellow corn flour (not meal)
• 1 part white corn flour (not meal)

Directions:

• Mix well and use as required.

These crêpes have a very similar texture and mouthfeel as glutenated crèpes.

Notes:

• These crêpes have a tendency to dry out and turn crisp very easily, so keep an eye on them whilst cooking.
• The crêpe will start out the size of the pan but will shrink due to the high water content.
• My Mom always used soda water in her crêpe, saying that it made them lighter and thinner but you could substitute milk like a traditional crêpe batter, note that they will be thicker.
• I changed the gluten free flour mixture because I was out of tapioca flour and to be honest, I liked the way this version worked in this recipe.
• I used the T-Fal Induction Non-Stick 30cm frying pan and although I am normally not a non-stick lover, this material is not surface coated, it is all the way through which makes me feel it is safer to use than traditional top coated non-stick pans. I have tried my cast iron pans but find them a bit heavy to twirl around to spread the batter evenly.
• Crêpes are great for desserts or mains, we used these to wrap pulled pork with a mustard béchamel. Because we are still trying to eat healthily, I omitted the sugar and ketchup from the BBQ sauce and used apple preserves and about 15 mL (one tablespoon) of maple syrup to sweeten. The béchamel was a rice-flour based sauce with a splash of milk and loosened with chicken stock.

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Hungarian Mákos and Diós Beigli (Poppy Seed and Walnut)

Happy Holidays, my dear blog readers. I cannot begin to thank you for all of your lovely comments and your beautiful support throughout this year. In 2016, Kitcheninspirations is in her 8th year and it’s been quite a joyous ride. Originally this little blog was simply a repository of recipes, an on-line cookbook of some of my favourites over the years. But then someone commented and the rest is history. I cherish each and every one of you and hope to meet you in person soon. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family and cherished friends and JT and I wish you the very best for 2016.

One of the things I’ve noticed as a child of immigrant parents is that my generation doesn’t hold as much to tradition as the previous generation did. Case in point, every Christmas my dear Mom would make Beigli, a traditional Hungarian Christmas treat; she would not make it any other time of the year, even though she loved it. I, on the other hand, will make anything as long as I can find the ingredients. Except Beigli. Beigli is an acquired taste; it’s not horrible or weird, it’s just not something Canadians are used to eating so, I generally only make it if we have other Hungarians around. This past Christmas was the second year we were invited to my cousin Lucy’s place for Angyal so I decided to make her Beigli. Beigli is a yeasted buttery dough rolled with a ground poppy seed mixture or a ground walnut mixture. My Mom put raisins in the poppy seed version but I don’t recall them in the walnut ones. This is only the second or third time I have made these treats, the two other times were well before this blog so it was more than eight years ago. Hungarian pastries are not sickly sweet and have only a little sugar in them, so if you are a sweet tooth, these are not for you. You may also wish to avoid the poppy seed Beigli if your work does any type of drug testing.

Beigli

Makes 1 30 cm (12 inch) each Poppy Seed (Mákos) and Walnut (Diós) Beigli

Original recipe from my dear Mom

Ingredients for the Dough:

• 133 mL milk, warm
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 8 g instant yeast
• 33 g icing sugar
• 350-400 g AP flour
• 167 g butter, room temperature
• 3 eggs, divided
• 1 egg white
• pinch of salt

Directions for the Dough:

1. Mix the warm milk, granulated sugar and yeast in a bowl and set aside.
2. Using the scraper paddle of your stand mixer, rub the butter into 350 g of flour. Switch to the dough hook.
3. Add 2 lightly beaten eggs, icing sugar and the salt to the yeast and mix well. Pour into the flour butter bowl and knead for a few minutes until the ingredients are combined and the dough becomes shiny and smooth (you may need to add a bit more flour so it’s not shaggy). Cover with a clean cloth and set aside for 2 hours in a warm, draft free spot.

Ingredients for the Poppy Seed Filling:

• 200 mL milk
• 200 g poppy seeds, ground
• 33 g semolina
• 133 g icing sugar
• 1 lemon, zested
• 67 g raisins

Directions for the Poppy Seed Filling:

1. Combine the ground poppy seeds, semolina, icing sugar and lemon zest and mix well.
2. Bring the milk to a boil, remove from heat and stir into the poppy seed mixture. Add the raisins and mix well. Set aside to cool completely (don’t worry, it will thicken as it cools).

Ingredients for the Walnut Filling:

• 100 g granulated sugar
• 200 mL water
• 200 g walnuts
• 67 g panko
• 30 mL water
• 1 lemon, zested

Directions for the Walnut Filling:

1. In the bowl of your food processor, process the walnuts, breadcrumbs and zest until finely ground. Set aside.
2. Combine the water and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and bring to a boil without stirring. Continue to boil until it reaches 110 °C (230 °F). Remove from heat and immediately stir into the walnut mixture, adding the water and stir well.

Beigli Assembly and Baking

1. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Roll each portion into 1/2 cm thick rectangles (about 11 1/4″ x 12″). Spread the entire amount of the filling evenly onto each rectangle, leaving about 1 cm wide border all around.
2. Roll the dough from the long side and pinch the side to seal. Turn the ends into the roll.
3. Place on a cookie sheet. Repeat for the other filling, brush both rolls with the remaining beaten egg. Allow to rest for one hour.
4. Whisk the egg white and brush the rested rolls. Set aside for 30 more minutes. Pre heat the oven to 375° F (190° C).
5. Once rested, lightly poke the sides of the rolls with a fork to avoid the dough breaking. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and baked through.
6. Serve the rolls sliced into 1-1.5 cm slices.

A delicious, not too sweet, Christmas treat.

As a kid, I always preferred the walnut beigli, but I think I like the poppy seed better now!

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Hungarian Korozot Revisited

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
We were invited to my cousin Lucy’s for a Hungarian Easter dinner way back and she had asked me to make Korozot so I thought I’d revisit this old favourite recipe from my October 2011 post. Here are some of the photos from that lovely evening.

Photographing the table just runs in the family. Photography credit: Cousin Lucy

The Easter Decor. Photography credit: Cousin Lucy

The Ladies. From left to right: Miss I, me, Cousin Lucy and Cousin Lucy’s MIL. Photography credit: Cousin Larry.

The Gentlemen. From left to right, Mr. V, JT, Cousin Larry and Cousin Lucy’s FIL. Photography credit: Cousin Lucy.

I’ve been making Korozot, a Hungarian soft cheese dip for more years than I can recall. It’s always been my ‘goto’ quick dip because I always have all the ingredients at home (I keep goats cheese in the freezer all the time). Although my version is smooth, many recipes on-line use Quark or cottage cheese as the base, but I prefer the smooth texture and sharp tang of goats cheese. My recipe has slowly changed over the years becoming a wee bit healthier each time; I believe my dear Mom used cream cheese in place of goats cheese and she may have even added some room temperature unsalted butter for flavour and richness. I usually serve this tasty dip with my very own home-made whole wheat crackers (recipe coming soon).

A silky, tangy dip

Hungarian Korozot

Makes about 1/2 cup dip

Ingredients:

• 113 g (4 oz) Goats Cheese (at room temperature).
• 2-4 tbsp non fat yogurt (for desired consistency)
• 2 tbsp Piros Arany Csemege Paprika (or csipos, your choice) OR 1 tbsp paprika powder – try with smoked paprika for a totally different flavour
• 1 tsp tomato paste (I usually use tomato paste in a tube for this)
• 1 Green onion, very finely chopped
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Blend the goats cheese, the paprika paste (or powder) and tomato paste with a little yogurt in a food processor until well mixed, adding the yogurt a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Taste and add salt now, but be careful because the paprika and tomato paste are both extremely salty.
2. Remove from processor and fold in the finely chopped green onion.
3. Serve at room temperature with crackers.

Note:

• This dip is much better the next day when the flavours have had time to blend and mature.

Why don’t you grab a cocktail and eat some dip.

It’s delicious, particularly on my home-made crackers.

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Heart Shaped Cheese Puffs (pâte à choux hearts)

Happy St. Paddy’s Day all!

I’m sure you’ve heard that the North East has been experiencing one of the worst winters ever and the yoyo temperatures Toronto has been experiencing for example, last Thursday it was -15°C (5°F) with a wind chill that made it feel more like -27°C (-16.6°F)  and to make matters worse, last Wednesday we received about 20 cm (8 inches) of snow; you know the really heavy, wet kind? Made it really fun to shovel…NOT!

One of our elite political comedy hosts Rick Mercer had this skit on his show last Monday, I found it very funny so I thought I’d share it with you.

You could say I’m really late for Valentine’s day, or really early. I prefer the later. And as I said before, don’t limit yourself to one day to serve heart-shaped foods!

I’ve posted about these delightful cheese puffs previously (please click here and here) but when I saw Lorraine’s  (Not Quite Nigella)  heart shaped Pâte à Choux post here I knew I had to try to make them as small bite-sized hors d’œuvres! They were rather easy to make and even though they were a very tiny bit fussy to shape, it wasn’t as bad as I had thought it might be. Of course, you get fewer from one batch of pastry but it’s absolutely worth the extra effort with the ooooh’s and ahhhh’s! I took these to a lovely girls night in but you can make them in advance and freeze them in an air tight container and then pull them out one at a time as needed! I stuffed mine with a slightly modified version of this Hungarian Korozot recipe, but you needn’t stuff them at all because they are rather tasty on their own too!

It’s never too late to say I love you with heart shaped cheese puffs

Heart Shaped Cheese Choux Pastry

Makes about 18 heart shaped puffs about 4 cm or 1.5 inches in diameter.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200° C 400° F. Take a piece of parchment the size of your baking pan and saturate it with water, wring out so it’s still wet but not dripping wet. Flatten on the baking sheet. Set aside until you are ready to pipe the pastry.
2. Place water, butter and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Remove from heat and add flour, and stir until combined.
4. Return to heat and stir cooking the flour mixture until it comes away from the sides of the pan and is a shiny ball. I find the heat of the pan is enough, I generally don’t put the flame back on.
5. Place in a food processor with plastic blades and process for 15 seconds (give or take).
6. Add eggs and process for 40 seconds (err on the longer side of give or take).
7. Add cheese and process for another 5-10 seconds until smooth.
8. Take a piece of parchment the size of the baking pan and wet it thoroughly under the running tap. Scrunch it up and wring out the excess water. Flatten it out onto your ready baking sheet.
9. Transfer the pastry to a pastry bag fitted with a thick nozzle about 1 cm or 0.5 inches in diameter. Begin on the left bump of the heart and pipe one side, then without lifting the tip, pipe the right side of the heart. You may wish to smooth out the top with a slightly wet knife. To get the heart shapes defined enough, exaggerate the top bumps of the heart, other wise it will fill in as it bakes. Or you could use a heart shaped mould sprayed a bit with non-stick spray like Brooks did in this post on his lovely blog Cakewalkr. I just came across Brooks’ blog quite by accident but I am so glad I did, can’t wait to try this method!
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
11. Serve warm or room temperature. Fill with your choice of delicious fillings!

Surprisingly easy to make.

These tasty Pâte à Choux are tasty even without any fillings

Based on 2 Korozot stuffed hearts per serving

Based on two heart-shaped cheese puffs, not stuffed per serving.

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Vadas Marhahus; Hungarian Wild Meat revisited

Last fall we had my lovely niece and her beaux for the weekend; Laura recently graduated from Western University with her degree in Law and she is articling in Toronto. I wanted to make a traditional Hungarian dinner because they had never had Hungarian food. I had intended to follow the recipe verbatim, but I just couldn’t help myself and did end up changing it a slight bit. The result was wonderful and JT thought I finally got it right, the way he remembered my dear Mom to make this tasty dish. The original recipe is from Ilona Horváth’s “The Traditional Hungarian Kitchen” cookbook, published originally in 1996.

Although this recipe takes 2-3 days to prepare, there is little kitchen time as most of it is in the marinade. The finishing is relatively easy. The original recipe was made entirely in a dutch oven but I’ve modified it to a slow cooker because I was not able to be at home the day we wanted to have it. The gravy is a tangy, creamy gravy balanced with the addition of caramelized sugar, but it is NOT SWEET. The julienned carrots and parsnips add texture and natural sweetness. The meat comes out fork tender and you really don’t even need a knife to eat it.

The tangy gravy goes perfectly with the sweet carrots and parsnips. Sorry the photo is so hot, it was night when I shot this.

Vadas Hus; Hungarian Wild Meat revisited

Serves 4-6. This recipe takes 2-3 days to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 800 g (1 3/4lb) eye of round or good stewing beef, whole
• 50 g  bacon (pancetta works)
• 2 tbsp canola oil (the Hungarians would use lard here)
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 10 g (scant tablespoon) sugar
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 3/4 Non-fat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• 100 g (about 1 cup) julienned carrots
• 100 g (about 1 cup) julienned parsnips
• 1-2 tbsp cold water

Ingredients for the marinade:

• 50 g (about 1/2 cup) grated carrots
• 50 g (about 1/2 cup) grated parsnips
• 1 small onion chopped roughly
• 1 L  (about 4 cups) water
• 5-6 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp white vinegar

Directions:

1. Tidy up the meat by removing any excess fat and membranes. Allow to come to room temperature.
2. To prepare the marinade, cook the carrots, parsnips and onion in 1 L water with black pepper, bay leaves and salt until half cooked. Add the vinegar and cool to room temperature. Pour over the meat and refrigerate 2-3 days turning every so often. Remove the black peppercorns.
3. Remove the meat from the marinade and dry completely, bring to room temperature. In a large dutch oven, heat the canola oil and cook the bacon and reserve, add the meat  to the bacon oil and sear each side well.
4. In the meantime, pre heat the slow cooker on high and add the original marinade, reserved bacon and bay leaves. Once it is warm add the seared beef and cook until beef is tender (3-4 hours) turning often.
5. Remove the meat from the slow cooker and allow to rest. Discard the bay leaves. Strain the vegetables from the slow cooker (reserve the liquid) and add to the dutch oven, sprinkle with flour and fry to brown lightly. Slowly add the reserved marinade liquid and stir to thicken.
6. In a small sauce pan, melt the sugar until it is golden in colour (not dark) and then mix with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, pour into the thickened vegetables in the dutch oven. Simmer for 5 minutes and add the remaining 2 tsp vinegar and Dijon mustard. Purée the entire gravy adding the yogurt or sour cream with an immersion blender until very smooth. You can run this through a fine sieve for a very smooth gravy. Keep warm.
7. Boil the remaining julienned carrots and parsnips until cooked but there is still a slight bite to them. Strain and keep warm.
8. Slice the meat into 1 cm or 1/2″ slices and plate over the puréed gravy, top with the julienne parsnips and carrots. Garnish with flat leaf parsley.
9. Serve with Hungarian Bread Dumplings.

JT loves it when I pan sear the gombocz in butter and it becomes crispy and delicious!

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Chocolate Brioche

My parent’s home was always filled with the wonderful and delicious aromas of baked goods. My Mom always made bread and these were the days before bread machines! She would start the process shortly after dinner, making the bread for the following days. Mostly she would bake it when we kids had already gone to bed teasing our senses as we drifted off to sleep, but on occasion it would be in the oven while we were still up, the gorgeous aroma of home made-bread wafting throughout the house. Sometimes we could have a warm slice slathered with butter, but most often not. During the holidays my Mom made the most special bread, chocolate brioche! I can’t even begin to describe the incredible aroma that it made throughout the house. Now that bread was always cut into the night it was baked! I’ve not had this type of bread outside our home before but years ago at a Club Med in Mexico — I think the chef must have been French. It was such a delicious surprise when they served the chocolate brioche for breakfast most days.

I baked these brioche braids for New Year’s Day breakfast, it was to be a feast of delicacies, but plans changed and we had it toasted with butter. And now I have a loaf in the freezer taunting me. Against better judgement, it will likely be defrosted and eaten toasted or lightly warmed with sweet butter dripping from its crispy edges…slice after slice until there is no more. But the memory will remain.

Please excuse the winter evening photos, no matter what I do in Photoshop, they just cannot be helped.

Baked and now cooling.

it’s irresistible, like me ;-)!

Makes 3 relatively good sized braids. Original recipe was modified from Baking with Julia.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 1 1/2 tbsp dry yeast
• 1/2 cup tepid water (80°F to 90°F)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar + a pinch, divided
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into smallish cubes
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 6 – 6 1/2 cups all purpose, unbleached flour
• 2 tbsp skim milk powder
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• non-stick cooking spray or 2 tbsp melted butter

Ingredients for the glaze:

• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp cold water or heavy cream

Directions:

1. Spray two large mixing bowls with non-stick cooking spray, or rub with butter and set aside.
2. Whisk the yeast into the water with a pinch of sugar in a measuring cup and allow to bubble up, about 5 minutes.
3. Heat the milk with 1/3 cup granulated sugar and the cubed butter until warm to touch and the butter has entirely melted. Stir in the salt until melted. Allow this mixture to cool to 110°F.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the large stand mixer bowl attached with a whisk and add the eggs one at a time, add the milk powder, mixing well to combine. You should have about 4 cups of liquid. Divide into two portions of about 2 cups each and set one portion aside.
5. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour to the portion at hand and beat on low with your cookie dough paddle for about 3 minutes or until it comes together. Now switch to the bread dough paddle and add as much flour as needed (I was able to add another cup), kneading on medium low speed to make a soft dough that is clean off the sides of the bowl. Now knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Transfer to one of the bowls that has been spray with non-stick cooking spray or rubbed with melted butter. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm dark place to double in size (1 or 1 1/2 hours).
6. Sift 2 cups of flour with the unsweetened cocoa and icing sugar. Retrieve the second portion of the liquid and add the sifted flour, cocoa and icing sugar and beat on low for about 3 minutes or until it comes together. Add as much flour as needed (I was able to add another cup), kneading on medium low speed to make a soft dough that is clean off the sides of the bowl. Now knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Transfer to the other bowl that has been spray with non-stick cooking spray or rubbed with melted butter. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm dark place to double in size (1 or 1 1/2 hours).
7. When dough has doubled in size (both the chocolate and the plain versions) punch down and deflate them. Cover again and allow to rise until doubled in size (about 45 minutes to 1 hour).
8. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Divide the plain, white dough in 4 equal portions (I find a scale very helpful) and roll into approximately 16″ lengths. Divide the chocolate dough into 5 equal portions. For 2 of the 3 loaves, take two chocolate portions and one plain portion, for one of the braids take 2 plain portions and one chocolate portion. Braid from the centre to each end, fixing each end well beneath the braid to make a nice neat end. Place on lined baking sheet and allow to rest for 40 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Combine the egg and cold water or heavy cream and mix well. Brush each braid with the glaze and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the expansion joints of the braid and return to bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. If they brown too quickly, cover browning parts with a little piece of foil.
10. Cool before slicing. This can be frozen in an air tight plastic bag for about 1 month. Stale slices of this bread makes excellent French toast or Bread Pudding!

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My Easter Menu

I just noticed that WordPress is adding advertising into my content in links which are not mine. How to tell the difference is that my links have a dotted underline and the ad links are solid and dotted together. Not cool at all.

Last week I was blown-away flattered by my Hungarian friend Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the kitchen) when she invited me to participate in a blogging event to post your Easter Menu! You can read about Zsuzsa’s Easter here; she grew up very close to where my Mom grew up in Budapest. It’s really just a round up of past post recipes and a little bit about your Easter memories. How could I say no?  Thank you Zsuzsa, I would be honoured. Zsuzsa is taking part with the following Hungarian ladies: The author of this event, Éva from Takarekos Konyha (this blog is in Hungarian) and Elizabeth from Food and Thrift.

Growing up, Easter was always about bunnies for me. Yes, we went to church and all that but let’s be honest, it was about the bunnies! At eight years old, my very first pet bunny was an albino Dutch whom we called Boom Boom (he was called Boom Boom because he stomped his hind feet loudly). Sadly good old Boom Boom only lasted 3 years, but he made such an impression on me that I’ve only ever had bunnies as pets! I cried so much when he died that my Dad swore he would never let me have another pet because losing them made me too sad and he just couldn’t bear it. I was sixteen before I was permitted to have Boon, another albino Dutch but smaller than Boom Boom (no, we weren’t very imaginative with the names!). But I digress, back to Easter.

Mom and Dad in Edmonton with the Chrysler Tour in 1960

You already know that my Dad was a Puppeteer (and if you don’t, you can read about it here) and we had a family business with the puppet shows. Easter was a big time for us, these holidays meant that the malls, schools (note that this link is NOT mine) and some companies needed entertainment for their events and what’s not to like about a puppet show? So many of our Easters were on the road with the show. In fact, Boom Boom was first adopted because my Dad needed a live bunny for the show (he was the star, don’t worry, it was all very humane).

Believe it or not, the Show was about Bunnies.

And there were singing Eggs too

But Easter also had a serious side: FOOD! Chocolates, coloured eggs and of course, ham. I don’t have many of the recipes that we had at Easter but I’ve gathered a bunch I am going to have this weekend when we have JTs family for Easter Sunday lunch. I hope you enjoy them.

My Mom only used Canada Grade A Large size eggs

Hors D’œuvres were usually Deviled Eggs (here and here) and French Salad (Francia Saláta). I don’t have a post about Francia Saláta, but you can see Zsuzsa’s recipe here (my Mom never put potatoes in her version). I may do a new hors d’œuvres recipe I saw on my friend Lorraine’s blog of her recent trip to Amman, Jordan. It involves cheese and phyllo pastry, that’s all I can give you!

A wonderful addition to any Easter table

We usually had an Easter kalács (Zsuzsa made a gorgeous one here) but I’m making John’s Easter Cheese Bread instead.

The most succulent tenderloin ever

We’ve decided to go nontraditional and have a beef tenderloin for lunch. This recipe is my favourite way to serve this special cut of meat.

The only place you’ll miss the potatoes is on your waist-line!

I’m going to serve it with my traditional Celeriac Cauliflower Mash. And a wonderful lemony Asparagus from my friend Greg’s Rufus’ Guide.

It’s a symphony of colours

And a little tangy German Purple Cabbage Slaw.

Now if you had any room for dessert, I’m going to make Charle’s Sweedish Apple Cake (from Five Euro Food), which totally looks like the perfect ending to a rich and heavy meal. It’s really just all apples and then there’s more apples. The only flour in this is the use of the breadcrumbs as the base, thickener and likely adds a little texture. I love that I can make it sugar free too, since I have a diabetic and a hypo-glycemic in the house — I like to make only one dessert that everyone can enjoy and not make the person feel odd that they have something else.

I may not be able to comment on your blogs for the next few days but I’ll definitely read up when I get back into civilization with internet. Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments, you really, really make my day. Thank you to every one of the blogs I read, you provide me with the inspiration for my blog and it really wouldn’t be the same without you!

Happy Easter to All!

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My first guest post and Hungarian Cherry Squares — Cseresznyés pite

Hungarian Cherry Squares (Cseresznyés pite)

I am rather thrilled and honoured that my good friend Charles of Five Euro Food has kindly asked me to guest post. Charles has been a valued commenter on my blog for over a year now, and as most of you know, he takes his time to formulate interesting and thoughtful remarks; his comments are a joy to read and sometimes even have a bit of a chuckle over. Thank you Charles, your friendship is cherished, I hope to do your guest post right.

In keeping Charles’ tradition of a little peek into living in Paris, I will give you a little peek into living in Toronto and a lovely Hungarian family recipe. I ask that you head on over to Charles’ blog to check out our little adventure, but I will share my recipe here as well. I belabored over which recipe I would share as Charles’ guest post, because he takes so much time to photograph and document his recipes so well; I didn’t want to get ahead of myself and bite off more than I can chew (pardon the pun) so I hope you enjoy it. This recipe is a cherished favourite for my family (my brother always asks for it when I visit and now that my dear Mom is gone, it is up to me to carry on the tradition).

Cherry Squares

By Éva Hársfai-Robinson (1936-2005)

Makes 1 pan 9” x 13” about 20 squares

Cost: ~€0.31 ($0.40) each piece

Preparation time: ~40 minutes

Calories: ~120 calories per piece

Ingredients:

• 1 jar pitted cherries 500 mL to 700 mL, drained but reserve liquid
• 3 eggs separated
• 120 g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 125 g caster sugar
• 250 g flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• About ½ cup milk – or use reserved cherry liquid (if you use the reserved liquid your squares will be a bit pink)

Directions:

1. Grease and flour 9” x 13” x 2” baking pan (22cm x 33cm x 5cm).
2. Preheat oven to 350° F (175°C)
3. Drain cherries, liquid reserved (you can use this as your liquid or make a delicious sauce or use it in soda as flavouring!)
4. Whip egg whites until a stiff but not dry (should be able to stand in a peak) – no need to wash the beater if you do it in this order, if you cream the yolks first, then you must wash the beater and dry thoroughly).
5. Cream egg yolks with butter and sugar until light and fluffy (should be a lighter shade of yellow).
6. Sift flour, baking powder and salt – dry ingredients.
7. Alternating dry ingredients with the milk (or reserved cherry liquid), fold into egg yolk mixture.
8. Fold beaten egg whites into the mixture.
9. Pour into greased pan. Note the dough should be quite thick, should have to spread it into the cake pan, it should not pour by it self.
10. Dot with cherries throughout (you may want to give each cherry a squeeze as you dot so ensure there are no pits!).
11. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 to 30 minutes (test with toothpick to make sure it’s done).
12. Cool in pan (don’t cut until it is entirely cool otherwise it will become ‘bacony’ or szalonás, as the Hungarians put it).

• Creaming the butter, sugar and eggs together takes patience
• I start out lining up all the cherries, but then I have to fill in the spaces so I can use up the whole jar!
• The cherries behave as they wish, so there is no point in lining them up anyway

They are moist and not overly sweet.

A short note: This was my very first guest post ever, and I am delighted that it was for Charles’ Blog. I have a new found respect for Charles’ blogging, over and above my original respect, which was plenty! The extra effort Charles puts into this blog is unparalleled, the ingredient shot, the video, the working shots etc., make this blog ever so wonderful to follow but impossible to follow in its footsteps!

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Hungarian Donkey Ear Cookies (Szamárfül)

Szamárfül was a popular cookie during the second world war in Hungary; my  mom always said it was because it had no eggs, although it does have butter (I don’t really understand the rationale, were eggs harder to come by than butter?). And I am not entirely sure of where the recipe originally came from, it was handed down to me by my mother, she had entered it into her first computer using DOS in the early 80’s and had several printouts which I inherited (I can find no other reference to it on line).

I posted this recipe quite a few years ago (December 2007), and I really don’t care for the photo anymore, so I decided to re-post with new photos! Tonight I am making the cookies for my nephew (Jack, 11) who adores them — we’re spending Canadian Thanksgiving with his family at their cottage this weekend. His Dad (my brother) is an amazing cook, but hasn’t mastered the art of baking, so every Thanksgiving, I bring about one hundred of these cookies (and believe it or not, they polish them off, lock, stock and barrel!).

The recipe is really no fail, you just need a little patience. The cookie is a simple yeast dough, with a little butter. It is rolled to about 2mm thick, cut into circles, and a small dollop of jam is placed in the centre. You then take this round cookie and fold it in half, then you pinch the edges tight. The challenge in making these delicious cookies is to pinch them down so the jam doesn’t escape and ‘burn’ while baking. Of course, as children, we always LOVED this melted jam because it caramelized to a wonderful candy coating. The cookie’s sweetness comes from the European Jam (which is generally thicker and with less pectin than the North American jam) and the confectioners sugar coating once they are baked. They are not an overly sweet treat.

My Kitchenaid set up with the pasta rolling attachment

A few years ago, I discovered that the thickest roller on my Kitchenaid Mixer Pasta Roller attachment is really the best and only way to go — it gives you the most consistent thickness of dough, and it avoids over working it. The dough renders a beautiful, flaky cookie pastry.

This year, JT offered to help, so I set up two stations on the island, and while I ‘rolled out’ the dough, he cut, filled and pinched. I did my share of cutting, filling and pinching too…but this dough is like the fishes and loaves, it is never ending…you keep taking the leftovers and re-rolling them…never ending! I am so lucky he helped tonight, otherwise it would have taken me a couple of hours to finish (we were done in 45 minutes). He even said he had fun doing this with me :-). His cookies stayed closed better than mine!

Two workstations set up made the job go much faster

You see how the jam has caramelized on the edges? That is the best part!

Donkey Ear Cookies:

(Szamárfül) makes about 100-130 cookies (we used a 5cm round cookie cutter this time and yielded 102)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp quick rising yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water + 1 tsp sugar
• 600 g flour (3-4 cups)
• 240 g unsalted butter (1/2 lb)
• 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt
• Thick European jam (we used cherry for this batch)
• 1-2 cups confectioners sugar (for dusting)

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar, proof for about 3-5 minutes.
2. In an electric mixer with the scraper hook, mix butter and flour until crumbly. Change to dough hook.
3. Add yeast and enough sour cream and knead with the mixer until a shiny dough forms.
4. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1/2 to 1 hr (you may also do this step in the fridge overnight if you won’t be making the cookies the same day. Allow the dough to get up to room temperature before you begin to work it).
5. Preheat oven to 350°F.
6. Roll out the dough into 1 mm thickness (or #1 of the Kitchenaid Pasta Machine) and cut with a 5-6 cm round cookie cutter.
7. Fill each round in the centre with about 1/4 tsp of jam.
8. Fold each circle in half and pinch edges really, really, really well (this dough has a tendency to pop open like a clam!).
9. Bake at 350° F for 10-12 minutes (dough will be slightly golden), jam may have oozed out, it’s OK, really!
10. Immediately put cookies into a large bowl with icing sugar and dust generously. Or dip each side into a small bowl filled with icing sugar.
11. Remove to a wire rack and cool.
12. Enjoy!

Notes:

• You may half the dough recipe, I’ve done it several times and you yield about 50 cookies!
• Dipping your finger in lightly beaten egg whites and running along the outer edge of the rounds before pinching them closed will help keep them closed tight while baking.

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Vadas Hus (Hungarian Hunters’ Stew)

This is a piquant sauce, made from carrots, parsnips and celery root. Original recipe from this link. All of the recipes on-line indicate that if you are cooking with beef, to begin this recipe a couple of days in advance so that the beef has time to tenderize in the marinade. I did this batch with turkey scallopini, so I marinated for a few hours.  Also, for poultry, I would strongly suggest that you allow the marinade to cool to at least room temperature before you immerse the poultry in it. Also, the original recipe called for a roux to thicken the sauce, I omitted this as I felt the sauce was thick enough with the cooked vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 1 trimmed whole beef tenderloin, 5-6 lbs (my mom used to make this with eye of round — tenderloin is way too expensive, plus, it has 2-3 days to marinate, and soften up).
• 1/4 cup pancetta, cut in to little strips
• 1 cup grated celery root
• 1 cup grated parsnips
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• grated rind of 1/2 lemon
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup minced sweet onion
• 1 tablespoon sugar (I did add this but strongly recommend not to, it was too sweet; the carrots make this sauce sweet enough)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 cup sour cream or yogurt

Directions:

1. Start this recipe 2 or 3 days before you plan to serve it.
2. Combine 1  1/2 cups water and the vinegars in a dutch oven (not aluminum), add the vegetables and bring to a boil. This step is simply to blend the flavours, not cook the vegetables. If making this dish with poultry, allow this mix to cool completely before the next step. I also transferred this mix into a glass container with a lid, large enough to hold the liquid and the meat.
3. Add the beef, grated lemon rind and bay leaves so that the mixture covers the meat. Marinate for 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator.
4. When you are ready to cook, pre-heat the oven at 350°F.
5. In a large dutch oven (large enough to hold the vegetables and the meat) over  heat wilt the onion in 1 teaspoon EVOO; do not allow the onions brown.
6. Remove beef from marinade and place it on top of onions. Cook meat for 2 or 3 minutes on each side.
7. Pour marinade over meat and place into pre-heated oven, covered until meat is almost cooked, for 2 hours.
8. Remove the meat and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices, set aside.
9. Remove bay leaves and discard. Using an immersion blender, blend vegetables until very smooth (you may wish to press this through a fine sieve to get the creamiest texture, as I did).
10. I omitted this step: Brown the sugar in a small frying pan until caramelized. Add 3 tablespoons cold water and cook for a few minutes till sugar melts. Whip in the mustard. Pour the caramel and mustard into the puréed sauce.
11. Instead, I whipped the mustard into the smooth sauce. Return the sauce to the dutch oven.
12. Add sliced meat; keeping the slices whole. Cook at a slow simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes to allow sauce to permeate the meat (this can be done on the stove).
13. Just before serving, combine the lemon juice and sour cream and whisk into the sauce. Serve with bread dumplings.

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Quick Chicken Paprikas and Nokedli

February 10, 2013: I have updated this post with clearer instructions for the Nokedli as well as a photo of the loose dough.

Adapted from my mother’s recipe

Check out my recipe on Foodista

• 1 kg chicken breasts, no skin, no bones
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 large Vidalia onion about 1 cup (Mayan onion will work too), finely chopped
• 2 tbsp paprika paste (or home made roasted red peppers, skins removed) or 1 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika powder
• 1 green cubano pepper, thinly sliced (not hot peppers)
• 1 medium chopped tomato (or 1/4 cup tomato paste)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream (no fat) or no fat yogurt + couple of tbsp for garnish
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (low sodium)

Instructions

1. Cook onions in 1 tsp olive oil until soft, add chicken stock (the onions will help thicken the sauce). Add chopped tomato and cook 2 minutes longer.
2. Remove from heat and add paprika.
3. Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the onion mixture until smooth.
4. Strain through a fine sieve (this will help discard the tomato skins and seeds which would ruin the creamy texture of the sauce). Reserve.
5. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and brown in 1 tsp olive oil.
6. When the chicken is almost done, add the sauce back to the pan, and simmer until the chicken is entirely cooked.
7. Just before serving, add the thinly sliced green peppers (I like them a bit crunchy as garnish)
8. Add 1 tsp flour to the sour cream or plain yogurt and stir well. Stir the sour cream into the sauce and heat through (do not boil).
9. Dollop fresh sour cream or plain yogurt just before serving.

Serve with noodles or nokedli (dumplings).

Nokedli (dumplings)
I usually eyeball this. General rule is 1 egg, 1/2 cup flour + bit of water
per person.

I use 1 whole egg per lot, then the remainder I use the egg whites only (this makes it a bit healthier and the 1 egg yolk adds a bit of colour).

To make 4 servings:

• 1 egg
• 9 tbsp egg whites
• 2 cups flour
• water to soften dough as needed
• 3-4 L water for boiling
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter + 1 tsp olive oil

The dough should be loose enough to press through the Nokedli maker without much effort, but it should not be wet.

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring 3-4 L water and olive oil to a boil (you need a large pot because the dumplings will sink and then rise to the top when done). Don’t salt the water because it will make the dumplings too soft – don’t know if that is true, but I have never done it to try!
2. In a food processor, blend eggs, flour and add water to make a dough resembling loose bread or pasta dough, and it should be able to be pressed through a dumpling maker easily.
3. Using the dumpling maker, press batter through, stir dumplings occasionally so they don?t stick together. I generally make the entire batter, stirring occasionally – no need to remove the done ones!
4. Strain well. You can lightly coat in olive oil and let stand until required.
5. In an enamel Dutch oven, melt butter with olive oil. Heat to high.
6. Add dumplings and stir well. You will want the dumplings to become crispy and brown…they are really tasty that way.
7. Salt and Pepper to taste.
8. Serve with Chicken Paprikas on top.

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