Food with an international flavour
Food for team building
Some years ago a colleague remarked that whenever she was with a group of project managers the subject was not football or sport, what exercised us most was food. This might have been because we were all having dinner at the time, but I think not.
I've also delivered courses on project management for which my colleagues and I included baking a cake as an example of a project, with the objective of ensuring that the time from having the ingredients available to having a finished cake was minimised. You could create your own plans for these recipes, but, as with baking a cake, actual timings are best judged by the chef, and the quality of the product by the diners.
JÓ ÉTVÁGYAT! Bon Appetit! Guten Appetit!
Starters
Wine Soup - Bor Leves
Ingredients for 6 servings
- 6 egg yolks
- 8 spoonful sugar
- 1 litre whitewine (in Hungary the cheapest, low quality wine is used, here we use supermarket’s own brand chardonnay, etc.)
- Juice of a half lemon
- Cloves, cinnamon to taste
- Pinch of salt
Method
- Beat the egg yolks with the sugar.
- Boil the wine, lemon juice, cloves, cinnamon together.
- Sieve it and pour it on to the egg yolks with sugar.
- Put the soup back on the hob, beat it again until mousse-like.
- Serve immediately.
Cherry Soup or Fruit Soup - Meggyleves or Gyümölcsleves
This is especially good as a starter in the summar or in warm weather.
Ingredients for 6 servings
Traditionally this only uses Hungarian sour cherries, but it can be adpated as below to use morello cherries alone or other fruit.
- 1 big jar spitted morello cherry, approx. 600-700gms.
- various fruits according to season and taste: banana, pineapple, peach, plum, apple, pear, nectarine, apricot, grapes, etc.
- Some raisins
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 100 ml double cream
- 2-3 teaspoon flour
- Lemon juice
- Cloves, cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- Water
- A few drops of rum, brandy or Malibu (optional)
Method
- Pour the cherries with their own juice into a saucepan, add the other fruits, raisins, sugar, lemon juice, cloves, salt and cinnemon.
- Top up the saucepan with cold water, simmer the soup until the fruits are tender.
- If the soup contains apple/pear, it takes a bit longer for the fruit to soften.
- In the meantime blend the flour, cream and some water in a mug until lumpfree/smooth.
- Add it to the soup.
- Boil them together for a few minutes.
- At the end add rum or brandy or Malibu if you wish.
- Chill it in the fridge for a few hours.
- The soup is best served chilled.
Leftovers?
And if you have any left, try it on muesli for breakfast.
Main Courses
One of our favourite Hungarian dishes is a layered sausage and potato pie (“Rakott Krumpli”). I served this to colleagues on an assignment, and the lady who ran the guesthouse where I was staying asked for the recipe.
Spicy Sausage and Potato Pie - "Rakott Krumpli"
Ingredients for 5 servings
· 200g Chorizo type sausages, medium-sliced
· 6 slices of bacon
· 5 eggs
· 240ml cream or double cream
· 5 medium-sized potatoes
· Ground black pepper for seasoning
· Oil for greasing the Pyrex dish
Method
· Preheat oven to 180C
· Peel and slice the potatoes into medium slices
· Slice the sausage
· Beat the eggs with the cream
· Grease the Pyrex dish
· Put at the bottom of the dish 3 slices of bacon
· On top of the bacon put 1/3 of the potatoes and season
· Put ½ of the sausages on top of the potatoes
· Put another 1/3 of the potatoes on top of the sausages and season
· On top of the potatoes put the remaining ½ of the sausages
· Place the last 1/3 of the potatoes on top of the sausages and season
· Cover the “pie” with the last 3 slices of bacon
· Pour the egg and cream mixture over the top of the “pie”
· Bake in the oven for at least 1 hour, making sure that the potatoes are tender
To serve
Hungarian Goulash
Ingredients - 6 servings
You will need a big pot or saucepan with a lid for this.
- 500g beef or pork cut in cubes
- 50g lard/fat or 50 cl oil
- 200g finely chopped onions
- 10g pulped garlic
- 10g paprika powder
- 200g diced carrots and parsnips
- 300g potatoes cut in small cubes
- 2 Hungarian yellow pepper if available, cut into slices
- 2 diced tomatoes or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- Salt, pepper, caraway seeds, bay leaf
Method
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and sauté the finely chopped onions until golden
- Take saucepan off the heat and sprinkle an quickly stir in the paprika powder
- Add a little water, put saucepan back on the heat
- Boil the mixture to reduce it
- Add meat and salt, mix well and braise covered at a moderate heat
- Add rest of the spices, mix well and braise adding only a little water at a time
- Add carrots and parsnips
- Add yellow peppers and tomatoes/tomato paste
- When the meat is almost tender add potatoes and mix well
- Braise mixture for a few minutes and dilute with 1 litre water
- Simmer gently at a moderate heat until the meat and potatoes are tender
- If you want to make it hot and spicy, add Hungarian cherry peppesrs or chillies.
To serve
- Serve it – the dish is enhanced with its fiery red colour and should be rich and thick as it is a typical one-course meal.
- In Hungary it is served with white bread.
- It is usually followed by sweet puddings such as pancakes, strudel, dumplings or rice soufflé.
Turkey Breasts in Tokaji
Tokaji is a wine produced in Hungary descried by Louis XIV of France as "The king of wine, and wine of kings". It is sold in various grades; we use Szamorodni, a relatively dry version of Tokaji, which we bring back from Hungary.
Higher and more expensive grades go up to 7 Putanyos. We suggest that you reserve the best Tokaji for dessert rather than use it for cooking.
Note that the bottles are only 500 ml. As the recipe only needs 300ml, there is something left for the cook to drinlk during preparation.
Ingredients for 4 servings
For the main dish:
- 600g turkey breasts or escalope in thinly cut slices
- 3 table spoon oil
- 50g butter/margarine
- 200 ml Tokaji
- 400g grapes
- Salt, pepper, nutme
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoon raisins
- 100 ml Tokaji
- 1 egg
- 200 ml cream
- 2 teaspoon honey
- 30g butter/margarine
- Chilli powder, salt, pepper, grated lemon zest
Method
- Season the turkey slices with salt and pepper
- Put the raisins in a small pan and pour over the Tokaji
- Boil it and remove it from the heat
- Heat 2 table spoons oil and quickly fry the meat on both sides
- Heat the oven to 200 C°
- Smear a roasting tin with margarine
- Place the turkey slices in the tin and pour over the Tokaji
- Scatter the grapes on the meat and season with pepper and nutmeg
- Cover it with foil and put it in the oven for 15 minutes
- When it is ready remove the meat and the grapes from the roasting tin into a heat-resistant dish with cover.
- Pour the sauce from the tin into a frying pan
- Add the raisins soaked in Tokaji and the chilli powder
- Boil them together
For the sauce
- Beat the egg with the cream and the honey
- Take out a few tablespoons liquid from the frying pan and add it to the sauce
- Simmer the remaining liquid in the frying pan and add the sauce
- Stir it and ad the margarine/butter
- Add the salt and pepper
To serve
- Place the turkey slices on plates
- Put the grapes on the top and cover with sauce
- Decorate with grated lemon zest
- Serve with boiled potatoes
Paprika Chicken - Paprikas Csirke
Ingredients - serves 6
- 8 pcs of chicken (breast, thighs)
- 2 finely chopped onions
- 50g lard/fat or 50 cl oil
- 2 sliced Hungarian yellow pepper
- 2 sliced tomatoes or 2 table spoon tomato pure
- 200 ml cream or sour cream
- 20g plain flour
- 10g paprika powder
- 4 cloves finely chopped garlic
- Salt, pepper, caraway seeds
Method
- Heat the lard/fat or oil
- Suté the finely chopped onions
- Sprinkle with the paprika powder and the chicken pieces and the garlic
- Add a little water and simmer
- Add the peppers, tomatoes and the spices and cook until the chicken is tender
- In the meantime mix the sour cream/cream with the flour in a cup, add some water until is lump free.
- Remove the chicken from the heat and add the mixture
- Stir it and return the dish to the heat and boil it.
To Serve
- Serve with traditional “galuska” (midget dumplings) or boiled potatoes and
- Salads, mainly cucumber or cabbage or pickles go well with it.
If you would like to make a contribution - and all accepted recipes will of course be credited appropriately - please contact us |
home
bookmark
contact
