Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Túrós Pogácsa – Cottage Cheese Scones

by

Pogácsa is a type of savory scone in Hungarian cuisine. Pogácsa is made from either short dough or yeast dough. As with scones and biscuits, eggs and butter are common ingredients, as is milk, cream or sour cream. Many traditional versions exists, with size, shape – the most common is round – and flavor variations in each region.

A dozen different ingredients can be found either in the dough, sprinkled on top before baking, or both: medium-firm fresh cheeses, aged dry hard cheeses, potato, pork crackling (tepertő), cabbage, black pepper, hot or sweet paprika, garlic, red onion, caraway seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or poppy seeds. Pogácsa is a very popular savoury snack, it also can be eaten for breakfast. It is best to eat warm, fresh from the oven.

I learnt this recipe from my mom. When we baked it together we used Hungarian túró (cottage cheese/quark) but as an alternative you can use dry curd cottage cheese. By the way, they are dangerous! Why? My friend, Giulia put it the right way: “Is it impossibile to stop eating them when you start, right?” Yes, Giulia, you are right! :)To get my recipe visit The Hungarian Girl’s website here.

Brioche Bread

by

I rarely bake yeast dough pastries, although I love them. I only try to eat as less white flour (all-purpose flour) pastry cakes as I can. My all time favourites: the ribboned carnival doughnuts, my grandma’s sweet braided bread and the cinnamon rolls. All these pastries are light because of the all-purpose flour. If we bake them from whole wheat flour… well, the experience is not the same. So every once in awhile I let myself to be tempted…

And I encourage you to do it too! This coming weekend indulge yourself and your loved ones with this beautiful sesame seeds brioche bread. Is there anything better than having a slice of lukewarm brioche spreaded with creamy butter and homemade jam for breakfast? What do you think?

The first time I saw Peter’s video about making this brioche, I fell in love with this bread. Let’s just say I didn’t hesitate too long to bake it.

Brioche Bread

Ingredients

– 250 ml lukewarm water
– 3 and 1/2 tablespoons lukewarm milk
– 8 g dried yeast
– 4 tablespoons cane sugar
– 490 g plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
– 40 g butter, cubed
– 2 organic eggs
– 2 teaspoons salt
– sesame seeds

Method

In a small bowl combine water, milk, dried yeast and sugar. Allow yeast to proof (until it gets foamy).

In a big bowl combine flour, butter and salt. With your fingers rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add foamy yeast, one egg and mix everything with your hands until you get a sticky dough. Lay the dough on a floured board and knead for 5 minutes. If it’s necessary add a little more flour to it but not too much or the bread will be tougher. Shape the dough into a ball, place back into the bowl, cover with a clean cloth and let it rise for 30-40 minutes or until it has doubled in bulk.

Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto the floured board. Knead again for a few minutes and shape it to fit in a loaf pan (25 cm / 9,75 inch long). Cover with the kitchen towl and let it rise again until 30-40 minutes (doubles in size).

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180C (360F).

In a small bowl beat the egg and brush a generous amount over the brioche. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 180C (360F) for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool before slicing.

Milk Pie Baking With My Grandmother

by

Grandmothers are precious gems, aren’t they? They always have a few secret recipes. If we ask them patiently, they tend to share their recipes with us… then we, food bloggers share the recipes with the whole world. 🙂

My only grandmother (who is still alive) celebrated her 89th birthday last week. Unfortunatelly it wasn’t a very happy birthday because she had to spend it in a hospital. She is out now, very slowly getting better but she is still weak, it is difficult for her to walk and she has very strong pain in her waist. Fingers crossed she is getting stronger and better day by day.

Last weekend I went to visit my family and baked my ginger carrot cake (with orange mascarpone frosting) for my grandma. She loved it. I was happy to see a smile on her face.

I baked this milk pie with my grandma during the summer. It was really fun to take photos of her every step. This milk pie is actually a thick pancake baked in the oven. It is not too sweet but moist and soft. You can eat it on its own but we usually spread any kind of homemade jam on top (this time plum jam).

I love this milk pie so much! I bet you will love it too!

Milk Pie

Ingredients

– 1 liter milk
– 2 organic eggs
– 410 g all-purpose flour, sifted
– 3 teaspoon sugar
– 1 teaspoon salt
– sunflower oil
– jam

Method

In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and salt. Slowly add the 1/3 part of the milk and 1/3 part of the flour. With a wooden spoon combine the batter until smooth then add the remaining milk and flour. Mix the batter until you get smooth thickish pancake batter. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170C (338F). Spread sunflower oil on a baking sheet (36*36 cm or 14,17*14,17 inch).

Pour batter into the prepared sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes at 170C (338F) until the top is golden brown. Let it cool for 5-8 minutes then cut slices and spread any kind of homemade jam on top. It is best to eat lukewarm!

Spreading plum jam on top…

Jamie’s Two Nuts Chocolate Cake

by

I used to live in England for two years and this is how I “met” Jamie Oliver for the first time. That time he was not known in Hungary at all. Since then I have admired Jamie’s hard work, his food and enthusiasm to change the way for people to eat healthier and encourage them to cook more at home. I even had lunch in his Fifteen restaurant in London. This is a huge experience to always remember.

His Food Revolution campaign is also big I stood for with a few food blogger friends around the world. This food revolution movement is for everyone. If we care about about our children and their future, we should educate ourselves about food and cooking. He also launched a back-to-school campaign to support better food education through the work of the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation.

Love at first sight: yellow creamy sugar butter with dark brown chocolate and nuts mixture…

The other day I started re-watching Jamie’s “Naked Chef” series. He made this cake from walnut and hazelnut. I had almond at home so I used that instead of walnut. You don’t need too many ingredients to bake this cake but the ones you use, should be good quality – that is the secret.

It doesn’t contain any flour so it’s very rich from the almond & hazelnut and chocolate-y. You need only a thin slice from the cake… first. Then half an hour later another thin slice… until it lasts.

Jamie’s Almond Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Ingredients (serves 4-6, for a 18,5 cm – 7,28 inches – spring form pan)

– 75 g almond
– 75 g hazelnut
– 150 g chocolate (70% cocoa content)
– 125 g soft butter
– 50 g cane sugar
– 3 organic eggs, separating the white parts from the yolks
– pinch of salt
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded (this wasn’t in the recipe I added as an extra)

Method

Line the spring form pan with parchment paper then spread butter the bottom and side. Preheat the oven to 190C (374F).

Place the almond and hazelnut into the food processor and whizz up until finely grounded. Add 100 g chocolate and whizz for a minute to break up the chocolate. Put this mixture in a bowl and set aside. Place soft butter and cane sugar into the food processor and blend. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and blend until pale and fluffy.

Mix sugar butter mixture with the nuts chocolate one. In another bowl beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt, until they form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the butter nuts chocolate mix.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Press the remaining 50 g chocolate into the batter in small pieces. Bake the cake at 190C (374F) for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the cake cleanly. Cool somewhat before removing from the pan.

Serve…

One slice for you… Do you like it?

Quinoa Patties And Picnic In Szentendre

by

On a sunny Sunday in February we decided to have a picnic in a little gorgeous town called Szentendre (very close to Budapest). I made these yum quinoa patties for the picnic. We also packed whole wheat bread, goat cheese, sour cabbage, sprouts and freshly pressed carrot juice. I also baked millet, oat and apple muffins to take with us.

This riverside town lays in Pest county, Hungary, near the capital, Budapest. It is known for its museums, galleries and artists. Due to its picturesque appearance and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists staying in Budapest.

Even this was in February the sun warmed us up and walking outside in the fresh air made our appetite ready to eat everything. You can see a photo essay about our trip to Szentendre on the Travel Belles website.

I adapted the recipe from Heidi’s book, Super Natural Every Day.

Quinoa Patties

Ingredients (makes about 24 but it depends on the patties’ size)

– 170 g quinoa
– 1 organic egg
– 1 onion, chopped
– 2 cloves garlic, chopped
– 15 g parsley, chopped
– 10 g Parmesan, grated
– 50 g plus more whole wheat bread crumbs
– salt, black pepper
– olive oil

Method

Bring the quinoa, water (about 2-3 cups) and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil in a pot. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the quinoa opens up revealing a little spiral and is soft and pleasant to chew. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl combine together the cooked quinoa and egg. Add chopped parsley, onion, garlic and Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Add breadcrumbs and let it sit for 5-10 minutes (if you find it too moist add more breadcrumbs or if it’s too dry you can add one more egg or water to moisten the mixture).

Form pingpong ball sized balls from the mixture, flatten them with your palm or a spoon. Place the formed patties on a tray. Heat 1-2 teaspoons olive oil in a pan, add patties and cook for about 7-10 minutes until golden brown. Flip the patties and cook them on their other side until golden. Cook the remaining patties too.