Plum Dumplings

It's autumn and about this time every year the plums ripen. In our little garden orchard we have two plum trees and nobody did any jam or jelly or anything with the extra sweet and flavorful plum harvest of 2011. So, I decided to make some plum dumplings or "silvas gombot". That is the Hungarian name, as they are a recipe brought in by the Hungarian side of my family, my mother! They could be, originally, a German recipe, but, who cares!?

INGREDIENTS (for 10 dumplings):

• one ripe plum (or half) per dumpling;
• 1 kg potatoes, yellow, crumbly;
• 300 gr. white all purpose flour;
• 2 eggs;
• 250 grams fine bread crumbs;
• 2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil; 
• 5-7 tablespoons regular sugar;
• 2-3 teaspoons ground cinnamon.

HOW TO MAKE:

First prepare your plums and your breadcrumbs, both you are going to use later. The plums you deseed and put in a bowl with 2 tablespoons sugar and some cinnamon to taste. Mix a little and let sit for half an hour.

In that time heat a pan with the oil and the breadcrumbs. Mix the oil and breadcrumbs well with a wooden spoon and keep string on medium heat until the content of the pan gets darker and smells a little roasted. Not too dark, just darker. You'll know not to burn it. Set aside to cool and later mix in about 5 tablespoons sugar.

The dough you make from about 1 kilogram of boiled potatoes and 300 grams of flour (it's enough for about 10 dumplings). Boil the potatoes well, about half an hour or however much necessary until soft (test by sticking with a fork). Peal them (if boiled with skin on, I do it like that) and than mash them well. Let them cool for 15 minutes and then you can stir in the 300 grams flour. Always add flour 1/3 the weight of the potatoes. Add 2  eggs and knead the dough a bit, 1 or 2 minutes. Make a sheet of dough about a finger thick and cut it into 5 to 7 cm squares.

In each square you put a plum or half a plum and make a round dumpling as best as you can manage. There are no rules. Just get the plums inside the dough patches.

You bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and get the pan with breadcrumbs close. Put some dumplings into the boiling water. Make sure they aren't to crowded so they don't stick together. Let them boil until they come to the surface all by themselves. That's the sign they are done. Let each dumpling boil 2 more minutes on the surface of the water and then scoop them out one by one and roll them on all sides into the breadcrumbs and sugar pan, as they are still wet and hot. They will get a delicious breadcrumby and sugary coating.

Serve hot or cold with more sugar on top! 

Quick Meal: Potato Garlic Chicken Fry

Sometimes you just do not have the time and the necessary stamina to cook yourself something great, but don't want to settle for something mediocre either. What a dilemma! What to do?

When in doubt, drink another glass, a friend of mine would say. But no, really, for this situation there are some ways out. One is always a dish of pasta. Pasta done well takes literally minutes and tastes excellent and gourmet. Another way is to just go with your instincts in the kitchen and improvise something that takes you to the older and simpler times of "antand", when you were younger, food was just food, and someone else payed for everything. Even if that means the dish you are about to make is not at all what you would call a recipe.

For me one of these improvised dishes is a pan fry of potatoes, chicken bits in vegetable oil with lots of garlic.

So, here goes:

INGREDS for 3 servings:

• 6 chicken bits, wings and dark meat, with skin on;
• 3-5 medium potatoes, depending on the size of the pan;
• vegetable oil;
• 2-3 cloves garlic, pealed;
• salt, pepper, a little time (optional).

HOW TO MAKE:

Start by cutting the chicken to bits or just use wings or legs or thighs. Season well with salt and pepper. Leave skin on. Peal the potatoes and cut them in finger thick chunks (I prefer larger). Heat the (3-5 tbs.) oil in a frying pan and fry the meat just for 2-3 minutes on all sides (or just one, if you're lazy), add the potatoes, add water (or stock, you snobs)  just to cover. Let simmer for as long as it takes for the water to boil away almost completely, while you knock o beer or watch a favorite show. It usually takes about a half an hour or so. After 15 minutes you can turn the chicken bits on the other side and stir the potatoes a bit. Season again, if needed.

Just as you turn off the heat, chop the garlic cloves finely and add to the pan. You are done! Do not worry if it sticks to the pan and it breaks a little as you put it in a bowl. The messier, the better. Remember, you are starving. Enjoy!

New Potatoes & Bacon Warm Salad

It's the time that you find new potatoes in the market. They are so small and cute. I've seen some people teach us how to peel them, but in this recipe I've decided to eat them with skin on, because it was so thin and tender. Someone fried them in duck fat. Yummy! I just decided to make a salad. And it is a warm one, since it has fried bacon in it.

INGREDIENTS:

• a handful of new potatoes, round and small;
• 3 to 5 strips of bacon;
• 1 or 2 spring onions, both white and green part;
• 1/2 red bell pepper;
• fresh parsley (can't use dry for this one);
• extra virgin olive oil, a dash of balsamic vinegar;
• salt & pepper.

HOW TO MAKE:

First you boil the potatoes, skin on, in 2/3 more water then potatoes, lots of salt in. Boil them until they are soft to the penetrating fork, but not as soft to fall apart. Drain the water away and cut the potatoes in half or quarters depending on how small they are.
While the potatoes are boiling, in a nearby pan, fry some bacon, cut into thin little inch size bits. You can fry long strips and brake or cut them after they are crispy. Do not burn the bacon. It's just not nice.
Chop up the red bell pepper into small little bits like in the picture and the spring onion into small rings. Use both white and green parts of the onion. Chop the fresh parsley roughly, not too fine. The parsley leaves look nice in this one.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and (important) do it while the potatoes are still warm. They will soak up the aromas of the bacon and the onion. You can add a few drops of balsamic vinegar into the mixing bowl. Assemble on plate. Enjoy!

Potato & White Fish Salad

This is a favorite of mine ever since I don't remember when, from my mother's home entertaining at special occasions or holidays. The other day I just got a craving for the garlicky stuff and I bought 2 fillets of pangasius fish (it works with any white fish). Then, all you have to do is boil some potatoes (skin on), and whisk a good bowl of mayonnaise from two eggs and some vegetable oil. Do not use extra virgin olive oil that has too strong a flavor, unless you absolutely love it. I used sunflower. Into the mayo throw a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. I didn't use any lemon. I like it better without lemon in this particular salad.

After the (2-3 big) potatoes are boiled well to the core, extract them from the pot, let them rest for 10 mins and then peel off the skin. Chop the yellow things into smallish cubes (dimension to taste). 

The fish fillets are also boiled by now; you get rid of the skin and all the leftover bones as much as possible, then mash up the boiled fish meat into smallish chunks (about the size that you've cut the potato cubes).

That's it: now just mix well together the potato, fish bits and mayonnaise. Season to taste (I lke mine a bit peppery) and add the last and most important ingredient/condiment: garlic. About 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed, for the whole salad.

If it is still a bit warm, it is best served later, chilled, so the garlic has time to infuse the bulk of it. Enjoy!

Chicken & Yellow String Beans

I've noticed lately that fresh yellow beans are a fashionable side dish for (grilled) meats. I stumbled upon the yellow things in the local vegetable market. It seems that they are in season and they sold them from whole sacks full, by the kilo.

So, I got a half kilo and got into the kitchen. I portioned up a chicken and shoved it into the oven with some potatoes and zucchini slices, one sliced onion, salt and pepper.

Separately, I washed the yellow beans and snapped off the little ends (with the stem). Then I heated up some extra virgin olive oil in a medium skillet and chopped up two cloves of garlic. Oh, how adding a little bit of garlic makes any food much nicer, at least the smell. Stir and take care not to burn the garlic. It literally takes seconds. Then throw in the beans and stir some more. Salt and pepper to taste. Keep steering for another few minutes as the veggies release some moisture. Then, if needed, add some water. It also helps to cover the skillet and steem for a few minutes. Try not to overcook, as they turn limp quickly. They still taste good, but it's better if they stay a little crunchy (like the asparagus, for example).
Note that there are more types of yellow beans (mainly the flat ones and the round ones). Some types take a bit longer to get tender (the round ones). I somehow managed to get them just wright: tender enough to eat but just a little firm "al dente" (to the tooth). It took three tablespoons of water and about ten minutes of cooking in the skillet.

After I threw a serving of chicken, potatoes, zucchini and yellow beans into the plate, I couldn't help but add some more garlic, crushed in some olive oil and salted. Delish!

 In the oven:

• 1 chicken (portioned into 8 pieces);
• 4 medium potatoes (peeled and cut to cubes);
• 1 meium zucchini (sliced into 2 cm thick slices);
• 1 sliced onion; 
• 2-3 tbspoons e.v. olive oil;
• salt & pepper to taste, herbs.

On the cooker:

• 1/2 kilo fresh market yellow beans;
• 2 tbspoons e.v. olive oil;
• 3-4 cloves of garlic;
• salt and pepper to taste.

Simple Roast Chicken

The simplest roast chicken recipe: you take a pare of chicken legs and any other chicken parts you like, cut into pieces not too big (for example, breast cut into 3 or 4 chunks) and season them with salt, pepper (fresh ground, black, because I like the little pepper dots on the product), italian herbs like rosemary and oregano (just a pinch) and a pew sprinkles of cayenne and/or paprika. Let it sit for a while in the fridge. Like minimum a half an hour.

Then chop up a few potatoes into not too small pieces, a yellow onion cut in length but not too small either, and 3 or four cloves of garlic (you guessed it) chopped not too small.

throw the vegetables into the cooking pot or tray and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons full of extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix until they are all shiny from the oil. Get the chicken parts and just put them on top of the potatoes, making sure that a few onion bits are left on top (for a wonderful charred finish).
For the maximum effect and taste I added a few strips of bacon on top of the chicken.

Cover the pot and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes at medium, then uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

Get everything outta the oven and let sit for 10 minutes until serving. It's hot! Enjoy!