Day Four - Hungary

Sziasztok! Today's food adventure takes us to Hungary.  The featured recipe comes from Brian McDonald, a colleague of mine that shares an office in our suite. His wife passed along a Slovakian recipe (also prominent in Hungarian cuisine) called haluski, that sounded perfect for this blog.  When I brought it up to Elizabeth, she said that she remembered having something very similar when she was growing up (her mom's side of the family has Hungarian roots).  Hence the shift from Slovakia (I am not sure if that's a country anymore...) to Hungary.

I have actually tried making Hungarian cuisine before.  Chicken paprikash is a dish I discovered during my recruitment trips in Ohio.  There is a large Hungarian and Eastern European contingent in Northeast Ohio, and an even bigger portion in and around (holy) Toledo.  Tony Packo's (made famous by Klinger from M*A*S*H) serves up a delicious version of this traditional dish (along with killer hot dogs), and I sampled quite a bit of it.  My attempts at paprikash have been...lacking, to say the least.

So I decided to go a different route for tonight's dinner.  Along with the haluski, I tried my hand at another Hungarian staple, pierogis.  Brian was also kind enough to give me a from-scratch recipe for them, but I wimped out and went with a "short-cut pierogi" recipe in the interest of time (and taste).


Haluski

Half bag of egg noodles
1 bag of sauerkraut
1 stick of butter (Brian's recipe called for two but I wanted to go a little healthier)
1 small onion, diced
Paprika
salt

For this recipe, I first cooked the noodles until they were tender but not overdone.

While I did this, I ran the sauerkraut under water in a strainer to remove some of the excess salt and pickling ingredients. I then sauteed the onions in half a stick of butter, along with the paprika, until they were clear.

Next, I took the watered-down sauerkraut and cooked it on low heat for about 30 minutes with the other half stick of butter in the same pot with the onions.

Finally, I slowly added the cooked noodles to the sauerkraut/onion mixture and stirred to cover the noodles.

Pierogis

1 package won ton wrappers
2 eggs, beaten
Filling (I used some of leftover potatoes from the France dinner and some of the grated cheese as well))

Here's where I cut a corner, and I still think that they came out pretty darn good.  First, I beat the eggs and created an egg wash.  I laid out the won ton's and gently brushed one edge with the egg wash. It was a bit of trial and error here, but I figured out that the best way to do it was to take four wrappers and make an extra large square. This gave me room to fold the wrapper without breaking it.

I put a table spoon or of the filling on each of the won ton wrappers, and folder it over.  I pinched it to seal the wrapper closed.

I brought a pot of water to boil, added a little salt, and then added the won tons (now pierogis).  I waited until they floated, about 2 minutes or so, and then removed them from the pot.

On a skillet at medium heat, I browned the pierogis in some butter (about 2 minutes each side).

I didn't have high hopes for them as I was making them. They just didn't look right, which was probably unfair as it was my first time making them. But still, compared to the ones I had in Ohio, they didn't come close. I was worried that I would ruin them, and that tonight would be a bust.

Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. Served with some apple sauce and topped with sour cream, the pierogis and haluski really came out great.  Elizabeth even said they were some of the best pierogis she's ever had. Score one for the short cut!

It was not the most heart healthy evening we'll have this month, but it still came out very tasty. There's a great pierogi restaurant I once went to in Fall River, Massachusetts called Patti's Pierogis. They make pierogis stuffed with a wide variety of fillings (check out their website, www.pattispierogis.com, to see what I'm talking about). This quick method for making pierogis makes me want to try some of their recipes now!

This was perfect winter weather food, good and hearty and it stuck to our ribs.  We won't be running any marathons after eating tonight, but we also won't be going to bed on empty, unsatisfied stomachs. In other words, we won't be...hungry after Hungary...sorry, couldn't help that one!