Quick pasta

I order vegetables and fruits from farms. I do not buy any in supermarkets. How this works? I get a box of mixed vegs and fruits every Monday. It is set what  the mix of the week is but I can either skip or dislike any which I still have from last week or we did not like. In this case it is a surprise for me what is going to be placed in my box instead. Every Monday morning I wake up excited as if it was Xmas! :) My son and me pack out the box and see if there is any vegetable we don't know or we know but never cooked etc. Immediately, my mind starts to work what I could make out of that mix. So, this is how it can happen that I find myself introduced to new vegetables and fruits. Today I met my first unknown leafs.

I did not feel like cooking today. I had to realize, though, that I must. The veggies are here and actually the family is hungry. I decided that I will not stay in the kitchen more than 30 minutes. 

When I started to pack out what kind of vegetables I can work with, I started to like them. So, I took several photos and cooked three different meal in the end. In fact, I did not spend more time in the kitchen than the promised 30 minutes. 

First, I would like you to meet my new best friend, the rainbow chard. Isn't the name already lovely?

I like it so much that I looked it up. See what Wiki says:

 " Chard is considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables available.....Chard is also known by its many common names such as Swiss chard, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, spinach beet, crab beet, bright lights, seakale beet, and mangold. In South Africa, it is simply called spinach."

Maybe it is only new to me. But you know, for a newborn... :))

Let's see how I make my Rainbow Chard Penne which is actually one the favorite dishes now in the family. I cooked it for my son only, I wanted to eat something else. My husband ate what the boy left and he loved it so much that I had to cook more. 

I promise! No more than 300 min. 

What we need:

- penne

- chard

- salt

- cheese on the top

Yes. That's all. :)

Boil water for the pasta, once it is boiling add the pasta. Meanwhile clean, wash and tear the chard to small pieces. 

We also need grated cheese. Either buy it ready or do it yourself. After about 8 minutes of cooking the pasta add the chard. 2 more minutes and done. Either you fish out every piece or you drain the penne and chard to a bowl. Add the cheese when serving.

It is lovely! Easy, fast and healthy.

You can use - as I did - wholegrain pasta with no eggs. Or any shape, form, type pasta that you like the most. It is possible that you will not find chard to cook. Replace it with any green you have. Slight adjustments in the recipes then. Like if you use spinach, add garlic. Use your fantasy and create this meal with all your heart and you will love it so much!

I know I told you that I cooked three dishes. You will find them posted in the next coming weeks. Until have a look what I left behind in the kitchen after 30 minutes of creativity:

Paprikas csirke aka chicken paprika

My dear friend made this dish the other day showing his interest in our Hungarian cusine. If you are Hungarian you must know this food. And must also know that we don't add mushroom. He did. My friend added it. That is his version.

I show you how I make it. Since it is a traditional dish you can find many different ways to preapre it.

I will be really quick in explaining because it is really quick to prepare it. This was one of my firsts.

What do we need?

- chicken - quite obvious
- paprika - red paprika powder. Not available in every country.
- red onion
- garlic
- tomato
- salt, pepper
- cooking oil
and the herbs: lovage, parsley

Serve with pasta or mash and pickles or soured cream. You can spice it up a little bit with mustard if the basic recipe is too boring :)

How to do it in some simple steps?


Clean the chicken parts - remove the feathers.
Cut the onion to small. Slice the tomato.

Add oil to a quite sizeable pot and heat it up with the onion. Once the onion is getting to be soft, add the tomato and cover the pot.

They must become a juicy, soft ... er... thing. Like on the second photo.

Add the chicken and cover it. Add water so that it is almost covered.


Add salt, pepper, red paprika powder.

20 minutes later add the herbs and taste it. If you miss some more salt or pepper, do not hesitate.

Be cautious so it does not stick to the pot. Stir every now and then.You will see when it is done.


Easy, fast, kid-friendly and terribly delicious. 

Chicken drumsticks

Drumsticks with veggies

I promised to a special friend that I help her in losing weight. Unfortunately, I cannot stand next to her shouting to keep doing push ups and do not stop site running. It would be fun, though! That's why I dedicate this recipe to her to encourage her in her plan. And to show that you can eat good food, you do not need suffer and you do not have to pay fortunes to eat healthy food.

I am not on a diet. Please disregard the bacon...

You will need a pan with lid. Veggies (anything you like) and chicken. I used drumsticks.

The spices: pepper, garlic powder and herb - I used rosemary. Salt only if you skip the bacon.

I fried the bacon but without it you will need tiny portion of cooking oil and salt. Why is that? When you cook the bacon it releases salt. That's why is that.

(Do not use extra virgin oils as we need to heat the oil. It is not healthy at all if this type of oils are heated. You can read why from professionals by clicking here)

Wash the chicken and remove the small feathers from the skin and wash them through again. Cut the vegetables and wash them. If you use fresh new potato and carrot, no need to peel, only wash thoroughly. You can add apple, beetroot, tomato. Or make it sweet with plum or peach.

Put the pan on the hob. Heat it up. Either with the bacon or with the oil. Once one side of the bacon is done, turn them and add the chicken. Make sure that the chicken is fried, keep turning them. It should not take longer than 5 minutes. If you do not use bacon add salt now. If the chicken is nice brown, add the cut vegetables, pepper, garlic powder and the selected herb. It is not a problem at all if some water is left on the veggies. 

What if you noticed that the chicken or the bacon is stuck to the pan? Pour a little wine or any other alcoholic drink under the chicken. Maybe you would be happy to add the red wine but you have guests who do not drink alcohol? Use lemon then. 

Reduce the heat to the minimum now. 

Cover it and in 20 minutes it is done.

And then a recipe for pasta lovers

We cooked two types of soups by now. I hope you liked the tomato soup as we go ahead and based on that recipe we can create our very first pasta meal.

Spaghetti in tomato sauce

Do you  remember how we made the tomato soup? Let's get through again.

Have a saucepan or any pot, put tomato juice. Add salt, sugar, pepper and boil it. This is it.

Now we have a trick: we add garlic and basil. The garlic should be peeled and cleaned and pressed. Or you can use dry one (powder) from the supermarket. It is not thick at all, right? Well, put some flour. Slowly, carefully. Reduce the heat, so the flour does not burn. We are done with the sauce. Add some more fresh basil.

How to save some time? 

Before doing anything at all, get your pot ready for the pasta. Put water to boil and add salt and oil. The water should really be much more than the pasta amount, so when the pasta grows it still have space to develop and will not stick together. The oil will help that too. When the water boils, add the pasta. It is hard to measure how much you will eat, so how much you would need to cook. Try with some and let's see. If it is not enough, you still have the pot to cook some more. Normally, there are guidelines on the pack. Read them. When you think that the pasta is ready pour the water to the sink. 

Safety instructions:

• Be careful with the heat and steam. You can open the tap to add cold water to the sink
• Remove everything from the sink, specially the glass
• Wear heat-resistant gloves
• If the pot full of water and pasta is too heavy, do not lift it alone. Ask for help or hold it up to the sink and just slightly, slowly make it tilt aside.
• Always use the colander and never the lid, no matter how experienced you are. It can slip and the water burns you. Of course the pasta is gone then. 

You can be naughty a bit and add cheese. What do you think? Isn't it just easy?!

Notes:

If you cook for babies

• choose different, smaller pasta which fits to their small fork or finger better. 
• use birch sugar.
• add less salt.
• use extra virgin oil instead of any regular one.
• they can eat cheese, but not too much a week. If your little one had cheese in the past couple of weeks, skip it now. If he is 10+ months old, go ahead and enjoy the cheesy pasta. :)

Töki pompos - Hungarian Bread

or we can call it pizza ... as you like.

NOTE: Not advised for babies! And it is a bit more advanced level...do not feel disappointed if it is not exactly the same how you pictured it. It will be much better and better every time you try again.

As I am just sharing this recipe but haven't made this bread recently I cannot share photos. I will update the site soon.

This will then be difficult to project it for you without pictures if you have never seen Töki pompos. Don't try to translate the name. This is just how we call this beauty. They say that this bread is from the village of Tök which is closed to Budapest, capital of Hungary and pompos means 'small piece of bread'. I read that this pompos is known there for hundreds of years now, most probably taken over from the Turkish.

This is your food if you like garlic and smoked bacon meeting with cream on fresh, soft bread in harmony with some cheese on the top. And this can be truly yours if you are veg, just leave the meat. It is going to be fab!! Do not think of this food as if you have tried anything like that before, because you have not. Unless you went to one of the Hungarian Xmas markets where you can enjoy a piece of it flushed with mulled wine.  OR  unless you visited me at Halloween. :)

You know, I must admit something. I took a very dangerous step publishing this article for you. Hungarians take it very seriously how to make Töki pompos. And everyone has a version. I tell you something. Do not care about them telling you this is not the way. Just add anything you like and enjoy it!

Precautious notes - Safety instructions:

We will use the oven. You will need to make friend with it first. For now, please, carefully read the user manual and be very careful when you open the door while it is hot or you touch anything inside while it is hot. Why? Because it is hot. :) If this is your first time with your oven, try really to do everything to learn how it works before you start with anything else. Do not waste the food if you - in the end - cannot even switch it on. 

After words followed by words let us enjoy some flavour. I stop talking and will only go on with showing you how to make this nice bread and how to make it yours.

There you go.

Follow me to my kitchen, take a seat, have your drink and relax. 

I will show you how to create this masterpiece of the Hungarian Culinary Art. 

Let's start with the ingredients:

• 0,7 kg flour (coded - at least in Hungary - Bl-55, otherwise plain flour)
• 0,4 l water
• 2 dkg yeast (it can be the powder version)
• 1 coffee spoon of sugar - can be xilit
• 2 dkg salt
• 0,7 dl cooking oil (any would make it)

---------------------------------------------

• 10 dkg bacon
• 10 dkg smoked bacon
• 1 mid-sized red onion
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 20 dkg cheese
• 2 dl cream - tejföl (as fat as possible - 20% or so)
• fresh ground black pepper

Just because I love bacon, you don't have to. Remember that. I love garlic, no need for you to add as much I do, or add more as you like. And the soured cream. In Hungary you find it under the secret code: TEJFÖL. You can skip if you fancy some tomato. :)

The amounts are not exactly what you need unless you use the very same type of flour, yeast, etc. Once you start to make the dough, you will feel whether you need more flour or more water. We will get there, do not worry. So, the above are only guidelines.

Do you have every needed material ready to build up the harmony of flavours? Reading the shopping list I can already taste the pompos. :)

Make the bread first. 

Get a mug. Add the yeast and the sugar. Add very warm but not hot water to the 3/4 of the mug. Stir it. The yeast should be even in the mug. If you are lucky and the yeast is good quality you will see how the yeast, water and sugar combo starts "foaming". It looks like a lovely cup of cacao but you would not want to try this one... 

Some say that there is no need to prepare the yeast, just add to the flour in the bowl with the sugar and the water... I say that you have better chances if you make the yeast foam before you add it to the flour. You can try both ways - not at the same time, of course.

You will need a bowl now. Wash your hand very thoroughly, remember, this is a handmade-homemade staff. You can use kneading machine. But honestly, I would not! This bread is supposed to be baked in an outdoor furnace, not in an electric oven. At least, show some respect by preparing it by hand once you put it in an oven in your kitchen. 

Prepare some more water and flour just in case you will need it to shape the dough.

Add the flour and make a small valley in the middle. Pour the mug of yeast here. Add the salt and the oil. Once these are in, start to stir it. In the beginning you can use a spoon but don't be shy. Push your hand in there... Gentlemen! Please be careful if your hand is hairy that no hair goes in the food! - Ladies, too, if I may...

Make the dough. Just knead, hit, turn, bash it. Until it shapes and forms a small ball. If it is too dry add water, if it is sticky add flour. Try to use only one hand, so you add anything needed with your clean hand without messing up your whole kitchen and begging to the paper bag to open once you stuck it with dough.

The dough must be soft and "clean" ready to be formed to pizza shape. Before shaping, though, please cover it with a kitchen towel and leave it in a warm (constantly warm) place for 30-40 minutes. Do not check on it before the time is up! You will see once you discover it that the size is almost doubled! That is the symptom of leavening. That is what we need. The yeast and the sugar works fine. Your dough is full of gas and it is really nicely full of air.

But what to do until the dough is having a nap? 

Prepare the toppings! 

Mix the cream and garlic in a plate, spice it up with some salt and pepper. Cut the onion and the bacon. Mix the onion and the bacon on another plate. Or cut the tomato. Or any toppings you decided to use. Cheese must be grated into not too small size. Make them ready for the big decoration movement!

When the dough is done with the nap it is time to heat up the oven. The settings are individual and every device is different, I can say that there should be 230 Celsius in there. You see? This is VERY HOT! 

This time do not use the ventilation only the up and down baking mode. I hope that I am of any help. 

The oven is on, heating up. This starts to be exciting, right?

Have two baking trays and get them ready. Put some oil on the trays so the dough would not burn in there, make the oil even.

Place your 'yeast cake' to an even board or cover the table with baking paper and start to stretch it. 

Ok, I am stretching but how? If you have no rolling pin in the household, you should be fine with a bottle. Make it clean and remove any paper. 

You can use some more flour if needed. Make the size of the trays or smaller. But the dough should not be higher than 2 cm.  Spray or sprinkle water on the top and immediately put it in the oven.

After couple of minutes you will see that the bottom is nicely yellow and the top is dry. It can be 5 minutes or 10 depending on your oven's capacity. You can open the oven - VERY CAREFULLY - and touch the top to see if it is dry or not.

Take it off from there if it is dry on the top and the bottom is crispy. 

Here comes the decoration!! This is the part when you can really be creative! Even the cream with the garlic, add the bacon and the grated cheese. Or the tomato and the cheese and the cream and the garlic. Or no garlic. Once you are done with the decor, add some salt (only if bacon was not displayed as participant in this ceremony) and ground pepper. Cheese on top! 

Back to the oven and bake it until the cheese turns to Autumn colours and becomes light brown.

Switch off the oven. Let the cheese melt some more and once you cannot hold yourself back take the bread out and slice it to oblong shape and enjoy!

Eat it warm or cold. With beer or wine, with tea or coke. 

Enjoy your meal!

Enjoy! 

Jó étvágyat! 

Bon appetit! 

Guten Appetit!
Tuck in! Get stuck in! Eat already! Happy eating! Get your laughing gear round this!