tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440Sun, 20 Dec 2015 18:20:48 +0000Hungarianpastaside dishpotatopotatoeschickenchocolateeggslow fatsaladsavory pastasidebreakfastcalorie reduced recipecalorie wisecookiesdessertfriedfrieshomemade mayonnaisemainmayonnaisenoodlesside dish vegetablesnack1 servingHunagrianbananabreadcabbagecakecasserolecheesechiffon cakechocolate chipscondimentcouliscream cheesecupcakesdessert toppingfilofrech friesfrench saladglazelow caloriemuffinmushroomsnoodle pastryoven bakedoven barbecuedpaprikapastryperogyricottasaucespinachstrawberrysweet mainsweet pastasweet saucetartar saucetatare saucevegetable saladwhite chocolateFrom the best of both worlds: When Traditional Hungarian Cuisine merges with Multicultural Canadian Home Cooking. Recipes from the best of Hungarian and Canadian home cooking - with recipes adapted to North American food sources - we have gone metric in Canada, but we won’t let go of our measuring cuphttp://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)Blogger943125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-8360926315735827199Sat, 19 Dec 2015 17:54:00 +00002015-12-19T11:16:04.088-08:00  Olivia's Christmas cookies at age of 5 Here is Olivia at age four Children love baking cookies for Santa. Start with something simple. Give them help with the oven, but don't interfere. What you will both discover is they enjoy decorating cookies the most. Live for the moment, don't mind the mess, the years go by fast. In the end you will forget how the cookies fared. You http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-cookies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-7116288937806161888Fri, 18 Dec 2015 16:04:00 +00002015-12-18T10:24:35.140-08:00 In Hungary, Christmas Day used to be beigli sampling day, a day set aside to visit one's relatives. It was special when there was a plate of linzer cookies with a walnut pressed in the middle or a slice of zsebó. One year we went out to Zugló and I watched my mother’s sister assemble a small pan of zserbó. I don’t recall the feverish cookie production before Christmas, nobody I knew had a http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-dinner.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-6454475068347317428Thu, 17 Dec 2015 18:58:00 +00002015-12-19T10:34:06.152-08:00 In Hungary, Santa's big day is December 6th. Christmas gift giving have always been the job of the blond, curly haired baby Jesus and his angels. I couldn’t understand how the communists handled Santa coming twice in one month. By dusk on December 24th the streets of Budapest would fill up with grandparents and grandchildren. It was a touching scene. Meanwhile the parents were feverishly http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-eve.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-2293951697211643056Mon, 14 Dec 2015 18:31:00 +00002015-12-14T10:42:02.650-08:00 This is a celebration cake. Adapted from Sugary and Buttery, the recipe called for two 6-inch cake pans. I wanted a larger cake and made 1.5 of the recipe.  It may seem frivolous to use 2-1/4 cups of full fat coconut milk, which requires roughly one and one-half cans, but when you want to celebrate, you might as well do it right. The buttercream didn’t need to be increased as it was http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/12/rafaello-cake_14.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-2198346468786643047Fri, 11 Dec 2015 17:43:00 +00002015-12-11T09:46:45.716-08:00 “Once upon the time the young man left home to try his luck in the world. He took nothing along except a bundle of “hamuban  sült pogácsa” (savory biscuits baked in ash) tied to the end of his walking stick.” Thus starts many Hungarian fairytales. To this day when young people graduate, they carry a small haversack with pogácsa. The day I left Hungary my grandmother handed me a bag of http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/12/potato-biscuits-krumplis-pogacsa.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-308202603933754521Sun, 22 Nov 2015 19:03:00 +00002015-11-23T08:48:20.477-08:00 No, this isn’t pizza bread. Once you flatten the dough, pizza bread is not fluffy. Besides pizza bread cannot absorb olive oil. Ah the focaccia! Drizzle it with extra virgin and dunk the last few bites into the remaining oil on your plate. With cheese and olive flavours mingling, wash it down with a glass of red wine. Livi asked me once if I could never have anything Hungarian again, what http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/focaccia-bread.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-7702872776225909520Sun, 15 Nov 2015 17:19:00 +00002015-11-15T09:19:26.120-08:00 From the “Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking” [the big red book] comes this gourmet delight. Called for white grapes, I thought red grapes would compliment the carrots better and rather than the Cointreau brand, I used the homemade orange flavored liquor my darling makes from vodka. This dish is up there with the most decadent side dishes on the festive table. Never made it to a serving dish,http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/carrots-grapes-supreme.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-9054476819294165134Sat, 14 Nov 2015 18:49:00 +00002015-11-14T10:55:06.133-08:00 Anytime I bought a package of pita pockets, never mind the lack of flavor, I could not use them up without some of it drying on me. These pita pockets are soft and they remain soft. They are simple to make and they taste so much better than store bought pita pockets! I froze some and kept some in the fridge.  The ones from the fridge were just as soft and enjoyable a week later. This http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/whole-wheat-pita-pockets.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-144310480036113978Thu, 12 Nov 2015 18:18:00 +00002015-11-12T10:28:33.297-08:00 This French Toast Casserole turned out unbelievably tasty and satisfying. Took a bite and decided we didn’t even need maple syrup. Made it for supper last night, since our main meals were moved to noon or as close to noon as we can manage. By suppertime, we are ready to bite into a little something. I found the recipe in a Cook’s Country magazine. It was supposed to be the perfect http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/french-toast-casserole.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-6526139071122092409Mon, 09 Nov 2015 14:42:00 +00002015-11-09T06:42:02.737-08:00 Trust to make a culinary invention good; one has to wait for the Easter European bakers to interpret it. First I made a “one egg wonder”. The recipe of course called for special baking pans, but see I was smart, I didn’t buy the pans. The doughnuts looked fantastic, but first I wanted to see how they tasted. Disappointing to say the least. I almost gave up on baked donuts when the thought http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/baked-jam-donuts-lekvaros-fank-sutoben.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-5843589767323464027Sun, 08 Nov 2015 15:17:00 +00002015-11-08T07:17:45.889-08:00 I love the buttery, mild-onion flavour of leeks. Leeks are great substitutes for onions in all kinds of dishes. If you grow leeks or buy it from a producer, leeks are either abundance or famine. We often had leeks during the summer, but a couple of weeks ago, Jim asked me if I wanted to do something with the remaining young plants before the frost hit the garden. “Or ashes to ashes I throw http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/freezing-leeks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-3995290439791485813Fri, 06 Nov 2015 14:37:00 +00002015-11-06T10:37:54.139-08:00 This was among the first recipes I tried from Margit néni’s cookbook. Aside from guessing the amount of dry yeast to replace cake yeast, what attracted me to the recipe was the fact that the few ingredients it required weighed the same.  I had a new imperial scale and I weighed a tub of cottage cheese and adjusted the other ingredients to it. No calculations were required! What I didn’t http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/cottage-cheese-sticks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-6779983359901675251Thu, 05 Nov 2015 15:25:00 +00002015-11-05T07:25:49.393-08:00 Roasted or simmered, traditional sausage ragu is made with raw Italian sausage and ground beef. My version is a cross between Italian ragu and Hungarian lecsó. I find raw Italian sausage a bit coarse and beef of course is heavy. I substituted the Italian sausage with two smokies and omitted the beef. Simplified, the ragu only took an hour to prepare. It turned out to be a refined version of http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/sausage-ragu.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-1574837581982979133Wed, 04 Nov 2015 16:59:00 +00002015-11-04T09:09:11.433-08:00 This delicious take on rice and the chance to reinvent a constant leftover around the house opened up a brand new possibility. I cook rice often, Olivia has it with her crispies and sautéed carrots, so we always have leftover rice in the fridge and frankly, Jimre and I got tired of fried rice and rizskóh. In the case of rizskóh I just add whipping cream] But for any other rice dish, I wouldhttp://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/italian-rice-balls.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-6867973347474780767Tue, 03 Nov 2015 18:32:00 +00002015-11-22T11:31:48.883-08:00 Olivia asked me why I make hamburger buns when I never make hamburgers? Because I like them for sandwiches. Then you should call them sandwich buns. Well all right, here they are sandwich buns. But you can stick a hamburger in it if you want to. These buns are soft and delicious buttered or with something in between even if they are whole-wheat. It begins with stiff dough, you beat it uphttp://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/whole-wheat-sandwich-buns.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-1257774295708862435Mon, 02 Nov 2015 15:01:00 +00002015-11-02T07:01:04.347-08:00 Fancy cupcake places are on the rise. The cupcakes are gorgeously decorated, sold by the piece and are very expensive. But no matter how fantastic they look, they will never taste as good as mine. The crumb of these cupcakes is nothing short of amazing. The vanilla flavour is only the beginning. These cupcakes can be easily transformed with fruits, nuts and different flavourings. Which is http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/buttermilk-cupcakes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-7927030341857966805Sun, 01 Nov 2015 14:30:00 +00002015-11-01T16:19:10.928-08:00 Csalamádé is as varied as people are. My grandmother made fermented csalamádé, but then she treated it with borkénpor, stuff I don’t have access to. Other cooks pack csalamádé in jars and refrigerate them. They are probably good for many months, but I don’t have that kind of space in my fridge. In this method, the hot water bath kills off the yeast that would ferment the vegetables and http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/11/mixed-vegetable-pickles-csalamade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-4316889104463222048Sat, 31 Oct 2015 19:59:00 +00002015-10-31T13:01:45.880-07:00 Just mention chocolaty cake and people think of the much celebrated Sachertorte. The claim is the Sacher is a refined, elegant combination of chocolate flavours. In reality it is a dense, overly rich chocolate cake, heavily coated with chocolate glaze and served with whipped cream. Just thinking about it gives heartburn. This cake is not some Sacher. The rich ganache layer perfectly http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/10/not-some-sacher.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-7799510988475380595Fri, 16 Oct 2015 23:25:00 +00002015-10-16T17:23:17.885-07:00 I never had oatmeal as a child and as far as I knew, oats were for horses.  My first experience with oatmeal was in Canada. As a new immigrant, I tended to rely on visual markers. I ran out of flour one day so I went down to the corner store to replace the large bag of "Robin Hood". I carried it home but the Robin Hood turned out to be oatmeal. I didn’t know what to do with it so I dumped 25http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/10/oatmeal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-4781277341688153845Sun, 11 Oct 2015 19:11:00 +00002015-10-12T23:14:44.007-07:00 Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. Our Thanksgiving celebrates the harvest and the blessings of the past year. Canadian Thanksgiving has nothing to do with the pilgrims or with Columbus Day. Canada does NOT celebrate the colonization of her indigenous people. Weather you celebrate today or tomorrow I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving Day!   Gravy gives the life back to mashed potatoes and http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/10/turkey-gravy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-5047967254515534556Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:07:00 +00002015-10-07T20:14:00.241-07:00 This dish is quick to make and makes a wonderful alternative to the annual bird offering. Traditions are funny things, often there isn’t one, it just gets fabricated to promote tribal belonging. Of course as someone once said “Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it.”  When my fifth grade teacher branded me an “anarchist bandleader”, it was a warning sign for my http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/10/caramel-apple-pork-chops.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-3853249400960485393Mon, 05 Oct 2015 17:22:00 +00002015-10-05T10:22:10.543-07:00 These eggs were one of my fondest memories of supper. Supper or as Hungarians call it vacsora is a light meal. We never had eggs for breakfast we only had it in the evening. These eggs were rare; we only had it when the large yellow peppers were in high season. If you are wondering, where is the paprika? In Hungarian “paprika” can mean one of two things. Paprika can mean the vegetable, http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/10/bell-pepper-eggs-zoldpaprikas-rantotta.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-7956899432081601397Sun, 04 Oct 2015 16:38:00 +00002015-10-04T09:46:51.206-07:00 The butter flavour is always intense. If this recipe looks familiar, it is because it is. It only took me 10 years to figure out why these potatoes sometimes work and why they don’t. It is because of the type of potato I use. Large russets [baking potatoes] are the best. Forget the red ones. The Story: Horseshoe Bay is a gateway community to British Columbia's Westcoast. This very http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/10/butter-fried-potatoes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-3592718391673931877Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:11:00 +00002015-09-30T17:11:35.444-07:00 Lee Valley is a store for the serious woodworker hobbyist in Canada. One of the perks of living with a fine woodworker are the occasional cardboard boxes from Lee Valley.  I make a point not to advertise, but over the years Lee Valley provided my kitchen with lots of well made kitchen gadgets. I suppose they recognized that anyone who is into fine woodworking could be a fine gardener or http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/09/hot-milk-cake.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1321464750593109440.post-7570476964369544293Tue, 29 Sep 2015 15:37:00 +00002015-10-01T10:15:42.394-07:00 Yummy! A casserole such as this and I am almost tempted to become a vegetarian. I had the very last leftover yesterday with steamed green beans and broccoli for dinner. I didn’t miss the meat. Who would have thought sweet potato with spinach could taste so good? The original recipe called for more than a cup of whipping cream or double cream! I thought good grief another one of those http://zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2015/09/sweet-potato-spinach-bake.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Zsuzsa)7