Cooking in Budapest, who's Hungary?! Chefparade Culinary Course in Budapest

Eastern Europe can be quite a refreshing vacation destination.  It may not be as chic as Paris or as beautiful as Ireland but the price is right and it is certainly a lot of fun.

Among the Szechenyi Bath, cheap, great meals and the coolest bars I've seen, I was able to participate in a half day cooking course!! I can honestly say it was the best culinary course I've been to and one of my favorite memories from Europe thus far.  I found the Chefparade Culinary School  online and was intrigued by the seemingly great value; I decided that the insanely low prices for the apartment we rented and the train ticket made up for the price of the course.  It was 100% worth it.  

We were able to choose our own menu and the course was just a friend and I and the chef.  You're probably wondering what's so special about Hungarian cuisine, it's certainly delicious but it's not my favorite.  What made the class so great was the enthusiasm and passion of the instructor, Ibolya.  She clearly loved what she was doing and kept stressing that we should follow our hearts and strive to live a life that you love every bit of.  She was truly inspiring to both Yvonne and I.  For me, seeing someone with a culinary career so incredibly happy assures me that I'm on the right track, that I'm meant to become a chef.  

Our menu consisted of Meggyleves (Sour Cherry Soup) as the appetizer, Hortobágyi Palacsinta (Chicken Paprika in Crepes) for the main, and Almáspite (Hungarian Apple Cake) as the dessert.  I enjoyed them all very much!! 

Not gonna lie, I was a little apprehensive about trying a fruit soup, but, it's a classic Hungarian dish so I gave it a try.  It was actually pretty good! A little sweet for my taste, definitely sweet for my idea of an appetizer but it was good.  The base is spiced similarly to chai tea and along with sour cherries, sugar, and a touch of sour cream create a truly unique soup.  Ibolya told us Hungarians typically enjoy added sweetness in this soup.  Although it may be more of a dessert, this soup was pretty tasty! 

The main dish is a version of the well known Chicken Paprika served wrapped in a pancake (crêpe) and smothered with a delicious paprika sauce.  This is the so-called "leftover" version of the dish, but I enjoyed it a bit more than the original.  (If you decide to make this, you can certainly make the classic version simply by omitting the pancake.)  Also thickened with sour cream, it's quite a hearty dish.  It's not something you can make last minute, everything will need to be cooked for quite a while to bring out the best flavors.  Our favorite part of the process was making the pancakes.  They are very much like French crêpes but use soda water to add air.  Making crêpes is always fun, both Yvonne and I became pros!  When we took the chicken out of the pan, there was a little bit of grease remaining, Ibolya told us "Watch, we'll add the thickener (sour cream) and the grease will disappear!!," I had to call her out on this saying, "oh it's still there!!" She just laughed and said most people just ohhh and ahhhh when the cream is incorporated and you can no longer see the grease! The chicken is cooked so thoroughly that it just about fall off the bone with no resistance.  Mince it very finally, watching for little pieces of bone!, and fill the pancakes like a burrito.  Pour all that leftover sauce over the pockets in a casserole and bake it until it's bubbly.  These guys are SO rich, one was definitely enough for us, granted we had been sampling the whole morning.  Enjoyed on their own or with a bit of sour cream and/or Eros Pista or any hot sauce. 

Here's the recipe for this one: 

Hortobágyi Palacsinta

Source- Chefparade cooking school

Ingredients

4 pieces of chicken- leg and/or breast 

2 small onions, very finely chopped 

1 1/2 Tbsp sweet red paprika powder

1 tomato, minced 

1 white, sweet pepper, minced

200 mL sour cream 

300 g (1 1/2 c) flour

2 eggs

300 mL (1 1/2 c) milk

pinch of salt 

500 mL (2 c) soda water

Heat a bit of oil in a large pan, and sautée the onions until glassy.  Remove from heat and wait for the sizzling to stop, add the paprika (important!! don't add while the onions are searing hot!).  Mix well and add about a half cup of water.  Return to a medium-low heat and add the chicken pieces, cover with sauce and flip the pieces after about 2 or 3 minutes.  Add the tomato and pepper and simmer for at least 30 minutes -   ensuring that the chicken remains covered with the liquid (adding water if necessary).  

In the meantime, prepare the pancakes.  Combine the flour, eggs, milk and salt then gently incorporate the soda water, taking care to preserve the gas.  Heat a small nonstick frying pan over a high heat. Very lightly grease the pan and pour the batter using this method- aim for a very thin cake.  Cook until the edges pull away then gently flip the pancake.  Don't worry about messing up a few, this is a pretty tough skill to master! Lots of practice!   

Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to cool briefly.  

In a separate medium-large mixing bowl, mix the sour cream with about a tablespoon of flour.  Add a bit of the gravy to the sour cream to gradually increase the heat of the cream to avoid curdling, mix after each spoonful, in total add about 1 1/2 cups to the cream.  Combine the mixture with the gravy remaining in the pan.  

Mince the chicken very finely, removing or retaining the skin as you wish!  Watch out for those little bones!! 

Assemble the pockets by placing about 1/4 cup of the minced chicken in the pancake and closing it like a wrap/burrito. Smother it with gravy and bake at about 400 F until bubbly.  

Last, but certainly not least, we made a lovely Hungarian Apple Pie/Cake.  It's shredded apple sandwiched between layers of buttery laminate-almost-pie-dough and served with a bit of powdered sugar.  Like a pie dough, the dough will need to chill before assembling and baking.  The apples are peeled and shredded instead of cooked, Ibolya taught us to sprinkle a good handful of sugar over the fresh apple pieces to extract the liquid and sweetness from the apple, new information to me! We came back to the bowl of apples a bit later to find that just about all the juice had been removed from the apples.  What this translates to in the pie/cake - no soggy pastry and no overly sweet taste.  Adding a small amount of bread crumbs or nut flour to absorb any extra liquid from the fruit.  We had a lot of fun making designs with the powdered sugar.  

We also had the opportunity to try some Hungarian wine and although it's not particularly world renowned I really enjoyed it.  Apparently it's the up-and-coming new thing in the wine world!  

Palinka is a pretty big deal in Hungary, it's a fruit flavored fire water liquor - I think it can be anywhere between 35 and 80% alcohol.  Plum and apricot are the most famous, we tried the plum.  It smells sweet and fruity but it's SO strong.  Definitely be careful with that one!! 

This was by far my favorite activity in Budapest and one of my favorites of my times in Europe.  I left this class with new skills, a full belly and even more passion for cooking.  If you ever make it to Budapest, I would highly recommend a course at Chefparade!  

Let's get some recipes between these Travelogues! Apple & Goat Cheese Tart. and Marinara Sauce

I'm sure a few of you will recognize the name of the recipe from the fad-tastic series The Hunger Games. Yes, I caved and read it.  Verdict: ehh.  Like Twilight, it definitely holds your attention but don't go into it expecting a literary masterwork of any sort.  Okay, regardless, I might be reading the rest of the series... Being the food obsessed person that I am, the mention of this Apple & Goat cheese tart near the end of the first book gave me some foodie inspiration!
I definitely had a little bit of Heimweh (homesickness) for Munich over this past month of pretty much nonstop travelling.  Don't get me wrong, it was an amazing experience and I am very, very grateful that I was able to see so many places!  However, living out of a suitcase and in European hostels amongst several other people will definitely take it's toll.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to see my little apartment on Saturday.  I was in serious need of some sleep and down time!
Now, I've just been getting re-settled in at StuSta, restocking my kitchen, and, of course, enjoying this lovely early-Spring weather - bring it on, Allergy Season.
Yesterday was my first opportunity to get cooking again (grocery stores are closed all day Sunday!!) and I sure did a lot of it!  I had lunch with a friend from the JYM program, Yvonne and then dinner with another friend from the program, Andrew.  I happily volunteered to do the bulk of the cooking for both events.

For lunch I made the Apple & Goat Cheese Tart.  It's incredibly easy to make and straddles the line between sweet and savory, add a touch either way to define it if you want.  I added a little honey, but I would think with maybe a little thyme and caramelized onions, it would make a lovely light, savory dish.  This recipe can be prepared at the last minute and looks nice and tastes great!  (Ours was mini because we cooked it in the toaster oven the quantities listed are correct for a normal jelly-roll-pan-sized tart.)

Apple & Goat Cheese Tart

Source: original recipe

1 sheet puff-pastry

1 egg, lightly beaten 

about 4 oz Chèvre Goat Cheese, more or less the amount is up to you

2 apples (Grannysmith or Braeburn) - cored, peeled and sliced into thin wedges

squeeze of lemon juice 

pinch of salt

2 TBSP butter, melted  

Now it up to you: 

sweet- melt the butter with about 2 tsp honey

savory- melt the butter with thyme and add caramelized onions 

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Line a jelly roll pan with foil or spray generously with non-stick spray

Roll the puff pastry out in the pan and pierce with a fork all over to prevent excessive rising and brush with the beaten eggfd

Peel and slice the apples and mix with the butter and honey (or thyme)

Add a squeeze of lemon juice - watch out for those seeds! and a sprinkle of salt

Crumble the Chèvre and you're probably going to have to get down and dirty with it using your hands - spread it evenly over the pastry, taking care not to break the dough

Line the tart with the apple wedges 

(add the onions over the apples if you decide on savory) 

Bake it for about 25-30 minutes, rotating halfway through to ensure even baking.  

Serve it warm as an appetizer, snack or light meal 

Guten Appetit!  

Dinner was Chicken Parm, we needed some comfort food after travelling!!  Sadly, I didn't take any photos of this one but I'll share the recipe for a classic Marinara.  

Most important here is to simmer the sauce for at least an hour, it makes all the difference.  

I don't normally measure any of the ingredients, instead I usually taste it several time through the process adjusting the seasoning as it cooks.  These quantities are more or less the amounts I used, but by no means consider them a boundary, use herbs/spices/whatever to personalize your sauce. 

Classic Marinara Sauce

source: original recipe

a nice glug of olive oil (or half oil, half butter - your call!)

1 onion, diced 

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp Italian seasoning 

Salt, Pepper 

1 large can whole, peeled plum tomatoes 

1 TBSP tomato paste 

1 Bay leaf

crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

1 TBSP butter

Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat

Add the onion, garlic and seasonings and sweat for about 10 minutes, until soft and the onions are clear.

Add the tomatoes and their juices (no need to chop them) along with the tomato paste, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes to your taste (1 probably used 1/2 tsp).  

Simmer that for a few hours, stirring and tasting regularly.

If it needs it, give it a little whiz with a hand blender or mash up those tomatoes with a potato masher if that's easier.

Stir in butter to add a little richness.  

Ideally you would want to have the sauce ready before the pasta.   

When making pasta, a few tips : 

• Add at least a tablespoon (yes, tablespoon!) of salt to the boiling water to bring out the flavor of dried pasta.  I've seen posts encouraging 3-4 TBSP, declaring pasta is best cooked in water as salty as the sea!!  So add it liberally! 
• Cook it al dente, remove from heat while it still has a little bit of a bite to it, it will finish cooking in the sauce 
• Reserve at least 1/2 c of the pasta water to add to the sauce, it will improve the flavor and adhere better to the pasta
• DON'T RINSE IT!! (unless you want to make a cold pasta salad) You want those starches on the outside of the pasta so the sauce sticks to it.  
• Add the pasta to the sauce with the reserved water and cook it back to it's original consistency.  If you're pasta wasn't completely cooked, you'll be cooking some of the sauce into the noodles as you do this

     Guten Appetit!

A blog (or two) about PARIS to come very soon!!