Green pea pottage

 

A family favorite, but I never thought about adding it to the blog because I did not have a recipe, as usual. I cook what I ate a child, stick my nose in the pot, and adjust the taste. It's such a simple dish, too... Why would anybody not Hungarian cook it?

The reason it's here now is my BFF, Janine, who asked for the recipe for her kids at our last get together.  While it's been at least two months, I finally have it to share.. 

Traditionally Hungarian, but adjusted to our own taste, as we don't like the white thickening added to it originally, and I definitely add lots of ingredients that are stolen from some international kitchens.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

cooking oil, I use avocado or sunflower oil

1 medium or 1/2 large yellow onion

3 pounds frown green peas

1 cup bone stock

2 tbsp all purpose flour

paprika powder, salt, pepper

2-3 tbsp of mild or spicy red pepper/tomato/garlic sauce, a kinda salsa. I use pinjur, adjika, ajvar, or just spicy red pepper paste, whatever I have in the fridge. I also prefer the spicy version of each, but whichever works for you.

1-2 tbsp fresh salsa, but again, just chop a tomato and some fresh onion, or leave it out completely. I like the taste of the fresh tomatoes from the salsa in addition to the pepper paste from above.

Sometimes I throw in a tsp of chopped lovage leaves, but it is not necessary.

Additions

Serve with sunny side u eggs, fried bacon, fried sausage, or just plain

The best part? Ready in 30 minutes.

Chop the onions. Heat some oil at the bottom of a 3 quart casserole dish and sauté the onions until golden, with some (or none) browned spots.

Remove from the heat, add a tbsp paprika powder and mix well with the oil and onions. Reduce to medium heat, place the dish back to the heat, add a good dash (2-3 tbsp) of water, and cook stirring continuously until the water evaporates.

Add the frozen peas, let them thaw a bit, then add 1 cup of bone broth (could be water), and  1/4 cup of water. A total of 2 1/4 cups, or 600 ml (250 ml bone broth, 350 water).

Add a tsp of salt, black pepper to taste (I confess, if I cook that's 1 tsp black pepper 😋),  add the adjika, the fresh salsa, and bring to simmer. Cover the dish, and let it simmer for 8-ish minutes.

Meanwhile in a small sauce pan add  2-3 tbsp oil, heat it up, add 2 tbsp flour, and make a light roux. We will use it to thicken the pottage. You can still ad a tsp of paprika 😜 if  you feel the Hungarian gods whispering in your ear "more paprika". Oh, well, or just stick to the roux.

Add the roux to the pea pottage while still simmering, mix it well, and let the roux thicken the pottage while stirring continuously. If you feel like there isn't enough sauce around the peas, just add another 1/2 cup of water (125 ml). If you added some extra water mix it thoroughly until the sauce is evenly covering your peas like a shiny velvety blanket.

Let it sit for a few minutes while the eggs, sausage and bacon is ready.

Voilá!

Serve with fresh bread, it is just heavenly to dip the bread in the sauce and clean the plate with it, instead of licking it.😉

Bon appétit!

OBS.

If you don't have adjuka, ajvar, or salsa, no worries. Just chop 2 medium mild or spicy red peppers, 2-3 medium to large tomatoes, and 2-3 garlic cloves. Add them at the beginning after sautéing the onions, and let them cook thorough before adding the peas. 

Squash pottage

Uhh, one of the strengths of the Hungarian kitchen are the various kinds of vegetable pottages, called főzelék, which can be compared to a VERY thick American style vegetable soup.
It is usually served as a side dish with some meat stew, ribs, schnitzel, but it makes a very tasty vegetarian or diet dish as well with small twists.

Today I made some spaghetti squash pottage, but it can be made from zucchini as well, is equally tasty and probably faster, I just didn't have any home. If you use zucchini cooking time might be shorter than for the spaghetti squash.

Ingredients (serves 3)
1 larger spaghetti squash or equal amount of zucchini
1 small onion
1 branch of fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh dill
salt
black pepper
1 flat tsp Hungarian powder paprika
4 tsp all purpose flour
3-4 tbsp oil
vinegar to taste
125 ml (1-2 cup) half-half

Cut the spaghetti squash in two and microwave for 10 minutes with cut side down, or bake for 30 minutes if you prefer baking. Scoop out the content into a bowl.
If you use zucchini, grate the zucchinis.

In a medium pot heat the 4 tbsp of oil, and add the chopped onions, and sauté until lightly transparent.
Add the powder paprika, mix with the oil and immediately add a dash of water to prevent the burning of the paprika powder as it becomes bitter.
Add the squash/zucchini and let sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add water until it covers the squash.
Add salt, pepper, thyme and dill, and under a lid simmer for 10 minutes, or until you like the crunchiness.
Mix the half-half with 3 tbsp of flour, and after the 10 minutes add it to the squash. Let it simmer for 5 more minutes. If you feel it too runny, sift in the additional tbsp of flour.
Remove from heat, let it cool slightly, and add 2-3 tbsp of vinegar, or more if you are a vinegar addict as we are.
Serve as a side dish, or just eat it as is.
Goes very well with smoked and barbecued or oven fried ribs or steak.
This time we served with the pork ribs we prepared earlier. The minor change on the rib prep was that I exchanged part of the ajvar with minced chili peppers, known in Hungary as Erős Pista.

Bon appétit!