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!

Rice Pudding

As a child, rice pudding was a special treat that I'd get on trips to the diner with whipped cream, cinnamon, and sometimes even vanilla ice cream. I never got over this creamy, luscious confection, but it remained a memory of youth rather than a present pleasure. And then, a few nights ago I had a craving for something sweet but had no money to go out and buy anything. Upon inspection of my meager kitchen supplies, I discovered that there was one thing I could make with only ingredients I already had. And it turned out to be the perfect dessert.

2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup rice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon

Start by combining rice, milk, water, and salt in a saucepan. Set over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. When liquid starts to boil, move saucepan to low heat, cover, and let cook for 20 minutes. Be sure to stir periodically so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom and burn. Add extra water as needed for consistency and rice tenderness.

In a separate bowl, beat an egg and mix in the brown and white sugar. When the rice mixture has reached the desired consistency, remove from heat. Add spoonfuls of the hot rice mixture to the egg mixture, stirring constantly until the egg mixture is hot. (This is an important step, if you add the cold egg directly to the hot rice, it may curdle on contact, so heat the egg mixture gradually and with constant beating.) Now add the hot egg/sugar/rice mixture back into the larger rice pan. Place back on low heat and stir for a few minutes. Add vanilla and butter and stir until melted.

Serve either hot or cold with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Sausage and Peppers

This is another Hungarian-inspired dish. Here it is called Lecsó (pronounced Letch-oh), which is basically a vegetable stew composed of peppers, onions, and tomatoes. There seem to be a million variations on Lecsó, but here is my rendition.

1 large onion (cut into pieces)
2 cloves garlic (cut into small pieces)
5 banana peppers - or bell peppers (cored, seeded, cut into strips)
2 tomatoes (cut into small wedges)
1 tablespoon sweet paprika powder
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt
1/2 pound Hungarian sausage (cut into rounds)
Bread
Spicy mustard

Heat oil and sauté onions and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the peppers and continue sautéing for 5 to 10 minutes, until peppers are soft. Next, add tomatoes, paprika powder, and tomato paste. Stir well. Salt to taste. Cover the saucepan and let it cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Add the sausages and cook for another 10 minutes or until sausages are hot. Serve on toasted bread or rolls with some spicy mustard.

Sour Lentil Soup

Lentils are a fantastic ingredient because they are cheap, delicious, and can be stored for over a year in dried form. These qualities make them the perfect food for low-income, somewhat disorganized food lovers like myself. This soup is savory and filling, ideal for a cold winter night in Budapest.

1 cup dried lentils
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
3 stalks celery (sliced into small crescents)
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 pound Hungarian sausage (cut into rounds)
Sour cream (for dolloping on top of individual servings)

Start by soaking the lentils in cold water for several hours. Drain the lentils and replace them in a large pot. Add 4 cups of fresh cold water. Add the onion and the celery. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot and put on low heat for about 1 hour.

Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan. Stir in about 2 tablespoons of flour and cook until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add more flour for a thicker consistency soup. Add half a cup of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar to the flour mixture and stir constantly to develop a paste. Add this paste to the lentils. Chunks of paste may stick together, so be sure to whisk thoroughly. Soup can be thickened with more flour paste or thinned with more water. Add salt, pepper, and vinegar to adjust flavor at this point.

Fry the sausages briefly with olive oil, then add them to the soup. Let the whole thing simmer together for a few minutes, making sure the sausages are heated all the way through. Add a spoonful of sour cream on top of your serving for authentic Hungarian flavor. Delish!

Stovetop Mac and Cheese

Macaroni & cheese is not something I eat very often when I am in the states, but living overseas always makes me crave this comfort food. Of course Kraft and Annie's have not yet tried to conquer the European market with their product (probably for the better), and this leaves me with a hankering that is hard to sate. Until today! I am pleased to announce the success of my super-easy stovetop mac & cheese:

Macaroni or Shell pasta
Cheddar cheese (finely grated)
Sour cream
Salt
Pepper
Bacon

Fry the bacon in small pieces while the pasta cooks in boiling, salted water. Drain the pasta, and put it back into cooking pot. Take off the heat and immediately add the shredded cheese. Add about 1 tablespoon of sour cream and stir to mix the sour cream and cheese into a sauce. The cheese should melt from the residual heat of the pasta. If it's not melting well put on low heat briefly. Cooking the cheese too much will cause it to become stringy so be careful. Adjust amounts of cheese and sour cream to taste. Add bacon pieces. Salt to taste. In one portion I even added a little Erős pista, a Hungarian hot paprika paste which contributed a nice kick. At the end I ground a little black pepper on top and voilà, macaroni & cheese. Easy and gratifying every time.