Easter in Hungary

Easter is celebrated in a similar way as Christmas. Family members and relatives get together, eat lots of meat and sweets and small children get presents, this time from the Easter Bunny.

Easter Dinner

horseradish

The traditional Easter Dinner in Hungary consists of smoked ham (most people, who can afford it, prefer the home-made ham), milk loaf, hard-boiled egg and pickled horseradish.

This year we also made French salad which contains different kind of vegetables like chopped potato, pea, carrot, corn and onion, ham, mayonnaise, sour cream and gelatin.  

Church

Religious people go to the church for midnight resurrection ceremonies on Holy Saturday or on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. In several places chocolate bunnies will be hidden in the garden of the church which small children have to find and can eat.

Easter Monday

On Easter Monday boys and men go from door to door, say a short poem and sprinkle girls and women with perfume or with a bucket of cold water so they will not ’wither’ (like flowers). In return girls and women give them presents like painted eggs, chocolate and/or money or invite them to drink a shot of schnapps and eat a slice of ham with milk loaf and eggs.

.

How I turned into my mum and found sweet happiness in a jar

Lately, I've been feeling like my life is becoming more awesome and marvelous every single day - which is very unusual for me since I normally am the kind of person who starts every second sentence with the wonderful phrase "I am so pissed off right now because..." (Alternatively "I hate everything including myself, because..."). I still am afraid that this may just be a cruel prank God is trying to play to me and something awful is going to happen in a few seconds (like my boyfriend turning out to have cancer or BiFi Rolls not being produced anymore). But I think it's just for the fact that

1) It's Easter and I effing LOVE Easter (a week ago, I talked to a good friend of mine and since he's a Muslim, I couldn't stop hugging that poor guy because he has never experienced the magic of Easter on the countryside)

2) It's spring and I'm totally high on sunlight and all those hormones. Everything's just so great, dude.

3) Holidays!!

4) My mum gave her old kitchen machine to me, which has made my life a lot easier.

How could I celebrate this gorgeous life better than with food? Exactly, there IS no better way. So today I've decided to turn  myself into my own mum and make some strawberry jam and brioches - the traditional Easter breakfast in my family (no, we're not French, we're just totally addicted to food. Seriously, take a look at the female members of my family and this is a pretty obvious fact. And when you think about it, eating strawberries in March is a remarkably stupid tradition. I mean, that's like three months before you actually can harvest them in Austria. This jam sure tastes bitter with guilt because it makes you responsible for climate change). Okay, get the party started!

The recipe:

(I used this one from Chefkoch.de and translated it)

What you'll need for 12 brioches:

• 600g (or about 21.16 oz.) flour
• 200g (or about 7 oz.) butter
• 1 cube of yeast
• 4 eggs
• 3 (or a bit more if you like it sweeter) tbsp. sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 9 tbsp. of tepid milk
• liquid butter
• 1 egg yolk

First, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk.

Mix the flour, the sugar and the milk.

Let the butter melt on low heat, so it doesn't get very hot. Then add the eggs, the salt and the butter to the dough and knead it together so it's nice and fluffy. When it's nice and fluffy enough, put it into a warm place (you can just take your oven and put in on really low heat) until its volume has doubled.

Then part the dough into 12 balls and every ball into a big one and a much smaller one. Grease your muffin tray with butter, put your balls (haha) into the molds and put on the little balls, so it looks like your brioches are wearing cute little hats (of course it's better if you have traditional brioche molds, but I don't have one, so I tried it with a muffin tray. If you have proper molds, be proud of yourself and check your privilege.).

Your brioches will look even more adorable if you brush yolk on them. Just do it.

Now bake them for 15-20 minutes in your 180°C (or 356 F) hot oven. The original recipe says you should use top and upper heat. As if my oven even had something like this. HA!

They taste best when they're still warm (which is a bit creepy because then they feel a bit like actual living creatures in your mouth), but you can easily store them for a few days. Just put them in the microwave for like ten seconds and they get hot and fluffy again.

What you’ll need for the jam:

·        1.5 kilos (or like 3.3 pounds) strawberries

·        500g (or 1.1 oz. canning sugar) 3:1

·        Four or five jars

Seriously, this couldn’t be easier. Put the glasses into the 130°C (or 266F) hot oven for about fifteen minutes to make sure they are perfectly sterile. Cut the leaves of the strawberries and blend them, together with the sugar. Then put the mixture into a pot and let it simmer for 7-9 minutes - you now the jam is ready when you put a little bit on a cold plate and it already has this special consistence. Then fill it into your glasses, close them and turn them around so they stand on their lids. Let the jam cool off and it’s ready. Honestly, that’s all! Delicious, fruity and simply wonderful. (check out this pretty cool jelly-related Little Britain video:)

This is what I love so much about food: I just take a bite of these wonderful little brioches and taste the beautifully red jam – and I know that this is the language of food: fat, sweet childhood memories and incredible happiness.

I’m sorry; it’s just those hormones again. Dude.

God, this is so great.

PS: Here's your ultimative jam-and-brioches-soundtrack:

1. Strawberry Fields forever by The Beatles
2. Jamming by Bob Marley
3. and, for the French touch, Foux du Fafa by Flight of the Conchords

What do we, the Spaniards, eat during Easter?

Easter is also very important in Spain. Although fewer Spaniards celebrate this holiday nowadays, there are two desserts that cannot be missed during this holidays: arroz con leche and torrijas.

Then I will explain you how to prepare these recipes:

ARROZ CON LECHE

Arroz con leche is a very traditional dessert from Spain. Furthermore, just a few ingredients are needed to produce it. This dish is very common in Asturias, although it seems to have its origins in a medieval dessert of Valencia and Catalonia called Menjar Blanc.

Ingredients:

• 1 liter milk
• 200 g short grain rice
• 125 g sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• A lemon’s peel
• Powdered cinnamon

Directions:

1. Put the milk with the cinnamon sticks and the lemon’s peel (only the yellow part, since the white can be bitter) in a saucepan and bring it to heat. When it’s beginning to boil, add the rice and reduce heat. Stir constantly to prevent sticking for about 35-45 minutes.

2. After this time, add the sugar and stir for another 3-5 minutes. After this time, turn off the heat and remove the cinnamon sticks and the lemon peel.

3. Once done, put the rice in dishes or individual bowls, sprinkle with cinnamon and… ready to enjoy!

TORRIJAS

This is the quintessential dessert during Easter in Spain. Although there are many variations of this same recipe, the most common are the sweet torrijas, that I will explain you how to prepare them. However, in Catalonia there are also salty torrijas prepared with different ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 stale baguette of bread
• 1 liter milk
• 1 cinammon stick
• A lemon’s peel
• 100 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• Sunflower oil
• Powdered cinammon

Directions:

1. Put the milk with the cinnamon sticks and the lemon's peel in a saucepan and wait until boiling. Once it has started boiling, turn off the heat and let stand the milk in a pan or fountain to cool.

2. Beat two eggs, pour the mixture into a bowl and pour the sugar in another bowl. In a pan, put abundant oil to heat.

3. Cut the bread into slices of 2-3 cm and soak them in the milk. It is important that the milk is cold because otherwise the bread could be undone. After soaked in milk, soak each slice in the beaten eggs and put them to fry in the pan with the oil already hot.

4. Once fried, put them on absorbent paper to drain them. Once drained, dip them in sugar. You can also sprinkle some cinnamon over each torrija.

Well guys, I hope you have enjoyed reading these recipes and if you want to taste a bite of Spain here you have two of the most typical of Spain desserts. Furthermore I invite you to travel to Spain to taste them, since there are people who cook these desserts really well. I'm just an amateur.

You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs

Hello my dear fellow students!

As you know, Easter and the eating-sessions at home are coming soon and so I was searching for some recipes I can share with you. Unfortunately I didn’t find a recipe but a friend of mine did. She sent it to me and I changed it a bit. So, here you go…

Cheesecake Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs

Ingredients:

You will need 7-8 kinder surprise chocolate eggs (I bought them at my local grocery store)

Cream

150 g         cream cheese, softened
30 g           icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp       lemon juice (I put some in, but it doesn’t go with rum)
1/2 tsp       rum
125 ml        thickened/heavy whipping cream

Yolk

2                peach halves

1/2 tbsp     apricot jam

15 g           unsalted butter

Preparation:

Chocolate Eggs and Cream Cheese Filling

 

1. First you need to cut the top of every chocolate egg off – be careful. 
2. You can either heat the knife under warm water to cut it off easier or let it be and having jagged edges, it's up to you
3. Place the eggs in the fridge while you prepare the filling – I used a refrigerator egg tray
4. Take a big bowl and place the cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and rum into it
5. Beat on high until the mixture is smooth and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes
6. Set the bowl aside
7. Take another bowl and carefully whip the thickened cream to stiff peaks
8. Use a whisk to combine the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until it’s smooth
9. Spoon or pipe the mixture into the chocolate eggs – set them aside for at least 30 minutes

Fruit sauce

1. Mash the peaches
2. Place the mashed peaches, apricot jam and butter in a small saucepan
3. Gently heat on low, whisking until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth
4. Remove from heat and let it cool
5. Place in the fridge until it thickens slightly
6. Filling in the sauce
7. Use a small spoon to scoop out a hole in the centre of each cheesecake –  1 cm deep and wide
8. Fill the hole with some of the peach sauce and return the eggs to the fridge for about 30 mins
9. Remove eggs from the fridge about 10 minutes before serving

This is a really light and easy-making dessert you can serve after a big meal. Give it a try and enjoy the pictures below! :)

 

I speak food- Easter edition!

Hi guys!  The Easter holidays turned out to be my inspiration for this blog post: I had to explain what we eat on Easter Sunday to a friend of mine, who is from the UK. Without knowing I killed two birds with one stone: I spoke food and had an idea for my blogpost.

My family loves self-introduced traditions, so our Easter rite starts a couple of days before Easter Sunday. We all get in our car and drive about an hour to visit my relatives in lower Carinthia. They produce and sell the very best pork at their little farm (covered advertising alarm!) and are our most valuable source when it comes to buying meat. Here’s what we bought this year for our delicious meal:

What we call “Osterschinken” is boiled ham or hammon. As you can see we buy it as a whole and store it in the basement. On Easter Sunday my grandmother slices it, which is not the easiest work to do. 

We also have Ox tongue, which we buy at a farmer near us. (My parents, my grandmother and my brother think it's tasty, me and my sister are perfectly happy without it)

Moreish, self-made bread is the greatest way to enjoy all this meat.

Horseradish with eggs, “’Eierkren” in German, is a mixture of freshly grated horseradish, vinegar, oil and boiled eggs that are cut in pieces.

This dish is very Carinthian. I guess most of you don’t really know it so I decided to give you some introductions on how “Reindling” is made. Try out this recipe - you won’t need much time, but be able to serve a tasty side dish at your Easter meal.

Ingredients:

500g flour

80g butter

¼ l milk

2 eggs

20g yeast

20g sugar

Filling:

100g raisins

100g sugar

50g nuts

80g butter

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

Make yeast dough out of the ingredients. Roll it out. Melt the butter. Butter the yeast dough. Put all ingredients that are listed under filling on it, coil it up. Put it in a greased baking pan.  Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

After this we enjoy a delightful sweet: “Osterlamm”, easterlamb.  I don’t know if you know what this is, so I will share my recipe with you. You can use for simple cakes too, because it is easy, timesaving and very tasty.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

200g sugar

a packet Vanilla sugar

A pinch of salt

lacing of lemon flour

100 ml oil

100 ml water

350 g flour

a packet Baking powder

Instructions:

Beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Add all the other ingredients and put in a greased baking pan, formed like a lamb. (If you use this recipe to make a cake base, put the batter in another baking pan.) Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

You see, it is really simple. Because the Holy Week has just begun and Easter Sunday is still some days away at the moment, I couldn’t take photos of our Easter meal and had to take some pictures from the internet. We never took a picture of our meal- we think you eat with your eyes, but not with your camera, so there is no need to take some.

Writing about what I am going to eat on Sunday makes me both, peckish and curious: What do you eat on Easter Sunday? Do you have a decent meal? Leave a comment and tell me J

Enjoy the break!