Cold Sesame Peanut Noodles

This is the very first recipe I learned to make all by myself, and, for a while, it was the only recipe I made regularly and with confidence. I still make it all the time, even though it can be a challenge to track down peanut butter in Hungary.

1 box cappellini (or spaghetti) pasta
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup water
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Cayenne pepper
Salt
Sesame seeds

First heat the water, then whisk it with the peanut butter until they are completely combined. Add soy sauce, sugar, garlic, vinegar,and sesame oil, mix well. Add salt and cayenne to taste.

Set salted and oiled water to boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until done. Drain and rinse in cold water until all the noodles are cold. Pour sauce onto noodles. Mix well. Sprinkle white sesame seeds on top.

Chicken Parmigiana

My kitchen has been a demolition zone for the last few weeks, so I have spent as little time in there as possible. Finally things are back to a state of serenity (at least we have a floor again), so I hit up the market and made something else delicious that we miss from the states: the chicken parm sub! w00t w00t! We actually found a place here in Budapest that does a decent job at this, but I knew I could do it better.

2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced thin
1 cup flour, season with salt and pepper
3 eggs, beaten and combined with water, salt, and pepper
1 cup bread crumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper
3/4 cup Olive oil
Tomato sauce
100 grams Fresh Mozzarella cheese
100 grams Scamorza cheese
1/2 cup Parmesean cheese, grated
Good bread rolls
Parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

First, prepare the flour, egg, and bread crumb combinations in separate bowls. Take thinly sliced chicken breasts and coat them in flour, being sure to knock off any excess. Next, dip the chicken in the egg to cover it and finally roll it in the bread crumbs so the entire piece is coated in the batter. Do this for all chicken pieces. Next, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the chicken pieces and cook in oil for about 2 minutes of each side, or until the chicken in cooked through and the outside is golden.

Spread good tomato sauce inside the sandwich rolls and cover with thin slices of mozzarella cheese. Generously arranged chicken pieces on top of the cheese. Cover the chicken with more tomato sauce and thin slices of scamorza chesse. Sprinkle entire sandwich with grated parmesean cheese and chopped parsley. Pop the sandwiches in the oven for a few minutes until cheese is melted and bread is toasted.

Heck yea!

Cannellini, Mushroom, and Tuna Spaghetti

This dish was born from a combination of vegetables that, at first, did not seem to complement each other in an obvious way. But with the magic uniting power of olive oil and lemon, they came together in perfect harmony.

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
10 large white mushrooms (sliced)
3 stalks celery (sliced into crescents)
Olive oil
1 lemon
Parsley
Salt
Pepper
1 can cannellini beans
1 small cucumber (cut into wedges)
1 can tuna in olive oil
Spaghetti

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Cook garlic until it begins to brown. Add mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms begin to reduce in size. Add celery, salt, parsley, and more olive oil. Cook for a few minutes. Squeeze the juice from half the lemon into the pan and stir. Let everything cook together until both the mushrooms and the celery are soft.

Next, drain the cannellini beans and add them to the vegetable mixture. Squeeze the juice from the other half of the lemon over the mixture. Add salt, pepper, and more parsley as desired at this time. Take off the heat and toss the fresh cucumber wedges into the veggie mix.

Meanwhile, set a large pot of salted water with some oil added on high heat to boil. Once boiling, add spaghetti and cook until al dente.

Mix the tuna fish in olive oil into the pasta, being sure the break up chunks. Pour the vegetable mixture over the spaghetti and enjoy!