Dessert, Side Dish, Quince: Poached Quince

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium sized quinces
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 whole pepper corns
• Rind of 1 lemon, julienned
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 cups water

Preparation:

• Put everything except the quinces in a pot and bring to a boil.
• In the mean time, peel, core and quarter the quince.
• After the mixture is boiling, add the quince and turn down the heat.
• Let simmer until the quince are fairly soft when you poke a fork into it. Depending on the ripeness of the fruit, this can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes.
• Pull out the quince quarters with a slotted spoon.
• Strain the leftover liquid to get rid of the peppercorns and lemon rind.
• Add the quince back to the juice.

Serving:

• You can serve this as a side to meat, or as a dessert as is. However the quince can then be used in various pastries or dishes (like quince tartletts, or quince apple pie).

Storing:

• Quince can be stored after poaching for up to two weeks when left in their juices in an air tight container.

Dinner, Zucchini, Dill, Creamy: Tök Fözelék (Squash Chowder like)

Ingredients:

• 1 large homegrown sized zucchini, the tougher the better, peeled, seeded, and grated (NOTE: you can also use spaghetti squash)
• 1 large onion diced
• 3 tablespoons fresh dill chopped
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 1 container sour cream
• 3-4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon oil

Preparation:

• Salt the grated zucchini with about 3 teaspoons of salt and let sit while preparing everything else.
• Saute the onion in a the oil until soft. This is important because you don't want cruncy onions in your dish.
• Next, Add the paprika to the onions and stir to coat the onions.
• Squeeze all the liquid out of the salted zucchini and add to the onions and paprika mixture. Stir as you do it so that you don't burn stuff to the bottom of the pan.
• Add enough water to the mixture so that the zucchini doesn't just burn, approximately 1/2 cup of water.
• Next add in the chopped dill, and let simmer for approximately 20 to 25 minutes.
• In a small bowl, temper the sour cream by mixing in a small amount of the zucchini mixture. Continue adding small amounts of the zucchini mixture to the sour cream until the temperature of it is brought up close to that of the zucchini.
• Add it back into the remaining zucchini mixure, salt and let simmer for another 10 minutes or so.

Serving:

• Serve with meat of your choice. It's nice to dip meat into the mixture and eat.
• Also, adding a teaspoon of vinegar to your bowl at serving time is preffered by some people. It makes the dish a little less sweet.

Dinner, Zucchini, Pork, Cheese, Rice: Zucchini Casserole

Ingredients:

• 6 cups peeled and diced zucchini (1 inch cubes)
• 1 pound pork sausage seasoned and cooked
• 1 cup of chedder cheese grated
• 6 medium tomatoes diced
• 1 large onion diced
• 3 peppers diced (add spicy ones if you like)
• 1/2 cup of rice uncooked
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 8 slices of bacon raw, cut in half

Preparation:

• Mix together all ingredients except for rice and bacon.
• Pour half of the mixture into an 9 x 13 casserole dish
• Next, sprinkle the rice over the top of the mixture.
• Pour the other half of the zucchini mixture on top
• layer the bacon on the top of the casserole.

Baking:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cover the casserole with foil.
• Bake for 60 minutes.
• Uncover and let bake for another 15 - 20 minutes or until bacon is crisp and zucchini is tender

Serving:

• Serve hot with french bread.

Dessert, Chocolate, Nuts: Brownies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup margarine
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
Frosting Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 6 tablespoons buttermilk
• 1 box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Preparation:

• Mix together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and baking soda.
• In a seperate bowl, mix together 2 cups sugar and 2 cups flour.
• In a saucepan, mix together and boil margarine, cocoa and water.
• Add the boiling mixture to the buttermilk mixture.
• Next, add the Sugar and Flour mixture.

Baking:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread the brownie mixture in an 11 x 16 greased and floured cookie sheet.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Prepare the frosting 5 minutes before the brownies come out of the oven.

Frosting Prepartion:

• Boil margarine, cocoa and buttermilk in a saucepan.
• Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and chopped nuts.
• Spread onto hot brownies.

Side, Noodles: Nokodli (Little Noodle Dumplings)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs scrambled
• 1 tablespoon water

Preparation:

• Mix all ingredients together.
• Note, this dish is all about recognizing the proper consistency. You may need to add another egg, or a little more flour. It's hard to write down measurements but you really want a soft, somewhat sticky consistency. You don't want it to be hard, nor do you want it to be runny.

Cooking:

• Boil a large pot of water with a sprinkle of salt and oil in the water.
• You can add the dumplings to the boiling water either by using a spoon and cutting small bits into the hot water or if you have a dumpling maker device (Nokodli Szagoto) you can use it.
• Once you've added them all to the boiling water, let them boil for 5 minutes or so. You will know they are all done cooking when they rise to the top of the water.
• Drain the dumplings and serve.

Serving:

• Serve as a base for any saucy dishes.

Dinner, Chicken, Sour Cream: Csirke Paprikas (Paprika Chicken)

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion diced
• Chicken (any kinds of pieces will work, bone pieces give more flavor, but boneless works too)
• 2-3 Tablespoons Paprika
• 2-3 tomatoes diced
• 2-3 different peppers diced (include spicy varieties if you want some spice to the dish)
• Salt to taste
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Sour Cream

Preparation:

• Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan and add the diced onion to it.
• Saute the onion until it is soft and nearly carmelized
• Add the paprika to the onions and cook for about a minute. This is to let the paprika release it's flavors.
• Add the chicken to the onions and paprika and stir to coat with the mixture.
• Next, add enough water to cover the chicken. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 35 minutes.
• Next, add the chopped peppers and tomatoes and let simmer covered for another 15 or 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add enough salt to taste.
• The next step is to add the sour cream. Typically I add about 1 cup of sour cream for about a serving for 5-6 people. To make sure the sour cream does not curdle, you should put it in a bowl and slowly add a few tablespoons of the sauce from the chicken. Continue doing this until you've added enough sauce to raise the temperature of the sour cream mixture.
• Once the sour cream has been tempered, you can add it to the chicken. Stir and let simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Serving:

• Serve over rice, pasta, or dumplings (Nokodli)