Zuppa Toscano the Hungarian/Czech Way

ZUPPA TOSCANO

64 ounces chicken broth
16 ounces whipping cream
1 tsp. salt
1/2  tsp. pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 pound bacon (I use 1 package of 100% Real Bacon Bits (2.5 oz. bag)
10 ounce frozen, chopped spinach
1 lb Jimmy Dean's Original or Italian Pork Sausage Roll
2 large russet potatoes scrubbed and cut in half lengthwise, and then into 1/4 inch slices
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on when served.

 
      Cook and crumble the bacon, set aside. (or have Real Bacon Bits on hand).

      In a Dutch Oven, heat the chicken broth to boiling. Turn off the heat and add the spinach. Place a lid on the pot and let the spinach thaw in the chicken broth.

      Meanwhile, crumble and brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium high heat.

*(Prep potatoes and onion while sausage is browning.)
 After the sausage is browned, place it into the hot chicken broth. Also add the bacon bits to this mixture. Cook over medium low, with out the lid, while you prepare the potatoes.

      In the same skillet you browned the sausage, add the Tablespoon of olive oil . Heat oil over medium heat, add the potatoes and diced onion. Cook potatoes and onions until slightly browned and softened, turning periodically. Halfway through browning, sprinkle potatoes and onions with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Continue cooking until potatoes are cooked almost through.

Add cooked potato/onion mixture to the chicken broth, sausage/bacon and

spinach. Stir thoroughly, replace lid and turn off heat. Let it set until almost ready to serve.

When ready to serve, add whipping cream in very slowly, with no heat on.

When thoroughly incorporated turn heat to medium/low and heat to serving temperature. (without a lid on.)

Have the fresh grated Parmesan cheese available to be sprinkled by each person to their liking.
I also serve this with homemade bread or pepperoni rolls...oh so yummy!

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!  

"Chick"en Paprikas

3 Tbsp shortening
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 chicken bouillon cube
1/2 tsp garlic powder (just don't tell my sister Barb)
8 chicken thighs, skins removed (if you like legs, you can use 4 legs and 4 thighs)
1/2 cup milk
1/2-3/4 cup sour cream 
2 Tbsp flour
A double batch of spaetzle

Day before: (your choice)
Prepare spaetzle a day ahead, drain well, and store in a covered casserole in the refrigerator. This saves you from making everything on the same day and helps the noodles to be firmer.

Day of dinner:
Melt shortening in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-low heat.
Add onions and celery and brown slowly.
After browning, add skinless chicken pieces, bone side down, cover with lid, and cook for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn chicken, sprinkle the chicken pieces with the paprika, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 
Cover and cook for 10 minutes more. After this 10 minutes, add 1 cup water and the two chicken bouillon and continue to cook over medium-low heat with lid on for another 10 minutes.

* **After 10 minutes, when it comes to a boil, reduce temperature to low.***Continue cooking with lid on for an additional 35  minutes.
Remove chicken pieces to a casserole, cover and keep warm.

In a gravy shaker, add 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 or 3/4 cup sour cream, and 2 Tbsp flour.
Shake well and add to liquid in pan.
Cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken slightly.
Add the prepared spaetzle and toss gently and heat through.
When hot, layer the chicken pieces right on top of spaetzle, if serving from skillet.
If serving on a very large platter, pour the very hot spaetzle in the center of the platter and arrange the chicken pieces around the edges.

Makes 4 generous servings or 8 smaller servings.

My Grandma Chick taught her daughter-in-law, my mother Anna, how to make this for my dad. It's the best "chick"en dish I've ever eaten or made.

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!

Czechoslovakian/Hungarian RAW POTATO Dumplings

Halušky

2 large Russet Potatoes
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. onion powder (or 1/4 of a real onion processed with the potatoes)
1 c. flour (This is an approximation---you should start with 1 cup and add more until you get the right consistency). I cup is usually all I need.

Place a large pot of water with 1 Tablespoon of salt added, on the stove to boil. Meanwhile start the dumpling mixture. Wash and peel potatoes well. Cube potatoes and add to a food processor. Process for about 30 seconds until lumps are gone. Place in a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and let drain for 5 minutes or longer. Slowly and carefully pour off the drained liquid but keep the white starch that’s settled on the bottom. To the starch, add the drained potato, egg, flour, salt, pepper and onion powder.
I wet a flat plate with cold water and place dough on the plate. With a wet teaspoon, cut off kidney bean size pieces of dough and drop into the boiling salted water. Cook dumplings until  they float to top. (not too long). Immediately drain in colander, running cold water over to stop cooking process. Drain well and store in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before using for Halushki  or Bryndzové Halušky (Slovakian Potato Dumplings with Bryndza Cheese). I use cottage cheese to cover the potato spaetzle.

Halušky s Tvarohom

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!

Tarhonya Hungarian Noodles (Gumboli , to our Family)

  3/4 cup flour
  1 large egg plus 1 teaspoon of water
  1/4 tsp salt

I mix this recipe up by hand:

I crack the egg into a small mixing bowl, add the water and salt, beat together with a fork. I then add the flour and use the fork to incorporate the flour until I can't stir any longer. I then start using my hands to mix in the remaining crumb like mixture using a squeeze and turn motion until a nice firm ball of dough forms. Go to*** 

However, you can use a food processor as follows:

 

Place the above ingredients into a food processor and process until mixture stops moving in bowl, about 1 minute. Dump mixture onto cutting board and squeeze into a firm ball of dough, until all flour it incorporated. 

***Cover with a bowl and let rest for 1/2 hour. Use the grater to grate into “Gumboli” noodles. (using the large holes of a 4 sided grater) Dip the ball of dough into a little bit of flour often to make grating easier. Spread all the noodles out evenly on cutting board or floured cookie sheet and not in clumps. Make sure you spread them out in a single layer and let them dry out about two hours. Boil a medium pot of salted water and place all the noodles in. Bring back to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Boil for 4 minutes more. Drain and rinse in cold water. Ready to be added to soup.

If you want to use the noodles at a later date, they can be frozen. Spread noodles onto floured cookie sheet and freeze for 1/2 hour. Place frozen noodles in a freezer bag and store in freezer until ready to use.

This is the noodles my Mother would make almost every Sunday for homemade Chicken Soup.

I use this noodle for my Wedded Soup. Triple this single batch recipe for the perfect amount for the Wedded Soup Recipe.

To me there is no other noodle for soup. These are easy to make and oh so delicious. They are great for the little toddler, no messy noodles to cut up in the soup. When you take a spoonful of soup, you get noodles with each and every bite. No noodles slip, sliding off the spoon. I believe these noodles may be a form of the Italian, pastina noodle, but I guess I'm partial to these since I was raised on them. For those of you that don’t want to attempt to make these, look at the grocery store for and egg noodle called Egg Noodle Farvel.

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!

Grandma Chick's Palachinki

1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 baking soda
1 cup flour
oil or butter flavored spray

Beat egg and milk together. Add flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar and beat to a thin, smooth batter. Add 1/2 tsp. of oil to a skillet (I use butter flavored spray) over medium heat. Ladle 1/4 cup of the batter into the hot oil. Start tilting the pan around immediately to form the crepe. When the palachinki appears dry, (I cook for one minute) flip over and cook one minute longer.
Remove to plate, spread with apple butter and roll up like a log. Serve immediately.

This was always a Sunday morning special breakfast. Thanks for being a good cook, Mom, and learning all these special Hungarian dishes for us to pass along. Yum-Yum.

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!