Gerbaud cake

Dough :
500grams flour
200grams butter (or margarine or shortening)
1 cup milk
25grams fresh yeast
1-5tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs (original recipe says another egg yolk)

Filling:
fruit jam (I tend to use apricot, about two cups)
ground walnut (to taste, approx one cup)
+1 egg white to brush layers


Combine all the ingredients for the dough and let it rise at a warm place. Knead again, divide into 3 balls(or more), let them rise again. Roll out one, place on a big baking tray. Brush with egg white to prevent the dough getting soaked. Spread jam on the dough, then ground walnut. Repeat with the next two layers. Brush the top layer with beaten egg. Bake at medium heat for approx 30-40minutes.

Melt dark chocolate with a couple spoonfuls of milk or cream and cover the cake.

You can use any other jam you like, my faves are apricot or plum(best if a little sour). Alternatively you can experiment with different amounts of walnut or substitute other nuts.

This is how it turned out today:

Traditional Carnival Doughnuts

Just a tiny bit belated, let me show you two of our traditional doughnut recipes, typically made in Hungary in the "carnival" season.

The first is called Csöröge and is a very simple but delicious, crunchy type of thing. In fact, you wouldn't call it a doughnut as it's basically plain fried egg pasta.

To make the dough, simply knead a pound of flour with a cup of sour cream, a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of sugar, half a cup of melted butter/margarine and five egg yolks. Let the dough rest a little before rolling it out on a floured surface. Cut the dough into palm-sized diamond shaped pieces. Make a cut in the middle of each and pull one corner through the cut. You'll get a funny bow-like shape.

Heat oil in a big pan and fry the doughnuts on both sides. Drain the oil and sift castor sugar on the doughnuts while still warm. Serve with jam.

From Kaják

From Kaják

To restore world order, the second doughnut I'll present you does look like an actual doughnut :)

It was named after the ribbon-like white stripe that goes around the middle.

From Kaják

Ingredients include a pound of flour, 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter/margarine, a pinch of salt, 2-3 tablespoons of sugar, a cup of warm milk, 50grams yeast, one egg.

Make a well in the flour, add yeast, sugar and milk, combine with a little flour and let the yeast rise a bit. Then add the rest of the ingredients and knead well, until the dough comes off the sides of the bowl and your hand. Let it rise at a warm place for about 30minutes or until about doubles in size. Roll it out a bit and fold into half. Roll out to about 3-5millimeter thickness (quite flat) and using a cookie-cutter or simply a glass, cut small circles of the dough. Let them rise again and fry them in hot oil on both sides until golden.

From Kaják

A fantastic dessert

The name is Somlói galuska which means something like Dumplings Somló-style, but I doubt it has anything to with the Somló Hill area. And it's only called dumplings because of the form, but it's actually basic sponge-cake with a twist.

So, you'll need a big batch of basic sponge cake batter that you divide into three equal portions. Leave one as it is, add cocoa to the next, and ground walnut to the third. Bake them one by one on a greased baking tray and let them cool a bit.

Make a syrup from water, rum, vanilla extract, lemon peel and sugar.

You'll also need vanilla custard made from egg yolks, milk, vanilla extract, and a little flour.

Place one sponge-cake on a tray, sprinkle with syrup and spread third of the custard on it.

Place the next sponge cake on top and repeat the process with the remaining two layers. Some recipes call for raisins between the layers and apricot jam and cocoa powder on the top.

Set the cake aside and prepare the chocolate syrup/topping : melt dark chocolate, add rum, sugar and vanilla to taste and a little water or milk. Heat until smooth then cool.

How to serve?

Cut pieces from the layered cake with a spoon (thus the dumplings), drip some chocolate syrup on them and top with whipped cream. I swear, it's heavenly!

Cottage-cheese dumplings

Hungarian cottage-cheese(curd-cheese) is a bit different from the ones you can buy in the US, but I think any type will do. If you happen to find ricotta that's also fine. In Hungary, look for "túró"

So, mix approx a pound of cottage cheese, 2-3 whole eggs, sugar to taste, vanilla-sugar or vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of flour and approx a cup of semolina ( or farina, Cream of Wheat, grits....you know what I'm talking about). Add as much of the latter as needed to make the mixture hold together. If the cottage cheese is of the drier type, you might want to add a little sour cream, too.

Heat water in a big pot, add a little salt, and when it's boiling, form small balls of the cottage-cheese mixture with wet hands and put them in the water. Don't cook too many at once.
Cook them for about 5 minutes, but at least until they start floating in the water. If you want to make sure they're done, take one and cut in half. If the inside is solid and has holes in it, then it's just fine!

Heat breadcrumbs with a tablespoon of butter in a large pan until golden and roll the dumplings in. Serve hot, with sour cream and castor sugar/granulated sugar.


yeah, a bit old picture :)

Lecsó, Letscho or whatever you wanna call it

This dish is very popular in Hungary, I have seen it on many a menu in Poland, bought it in jars in Germany and canned in Ukraine and Russia.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil or goose lard
  
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 lbs green bell pepper, sliced
  
• 1 lbs of medium tomatoes, cored and sliced
• 1 hot Hungarian green pepper
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Hungarian paprika, as neede, if hot green peppers are not available, use hot paprika
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten or 1 cup of rice uncooked
• 1/2 lb of sausages or hot dogs, sliced
  

Preparation

1.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil or lard and add onions and bell pepper. Sauté until beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Cover and simmer very slowly for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2.

Add tomatoes and sausages and continue to simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and hot paprika to taste. Add eggs, mixing well. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Alternatively, you might want to add some Hungarian style sausages, or hot dogs, or even rice. In case you add rice, you do not need to add the eggs.