Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Culinary Adventures in Prague

The last portion of our European trip this August took us to Prague, in the heart of the Czech Republic, one of Europe's most beautiful cities which has undergone a post-Cold War renaissance.  Like Belgium, Prague is famous for its beer - specifically, its Czech style pilsner, which is brewed at numerous microbreweries all over the city of Prague, and elsewhere in the Czech republic. My favorite thing that we ate during our time in Prague was the Czech style goulash (pictured above), made with local pilsner. It was delicious. I plan on preparing my own adaptation of this classic Czech beef goulash this week and sharing the recipe here on a Kitchen In Brooklyn! So stay tuned. My favorite Czech goulash was the one that we had our first night in Prague at Pivovorsky Dum, a Czech gastropub where they brew their own pilsner. This was also the best beer hall in Prague in my opinion - they make their own pilsner which is incredible and also a banana flavored pilsner which was just amazing.  My husband had the chicken schnitzel, which was also delicious.

Prague also has some amazing Czech-Western fusion restaurants. One of those is V Zatisi, where we dined on one of our nights in Prague. They had some great truffle appetizers - a truffle risotto that Brad enjoyed as well as my truffle ravioli (pictured below).  These dishes inspired me to do some more cooking with truffle oil and we plan to make truffle risotto tonight to go with my classic asian-marinated chilean sea bass with papaya salsa.  The lamb was also amazing.  For dessert, I enjoyed another Czech classic - apple strudel.

Going back to beer, the dark pilsner at U Mediviku was also quite good as well, again brewed on site.  We had a great lunch at the Strahov Monastery brewery as well.  The beers here were wonderful and so was the authentic Czech food. I had goose with apples (delicious and quite traditional Czech game), and Brad enjoyed the Czech sausages. My favorite here was the St Norbert wheat beer.

Sasha's Kitchen On The Road: Culinary Adventures in Prague

Christina's Kitchen in Budapest: Jokai Bableves

One of my favorite places to visit in Hungary is the town of Eger, which has a lovely basilica, a big ruined castle and terrific wines, which you can sample by the glass by going cellar-to-cellar in the part of town known as the Valley of the Beautiful Women (Szépasszonyvöl in Hungarian). Eger also has some terrific restaurants, including a pancake (palacsinta) restaurant called simply Palacsintavar and the charming, friendly HBH Bavarian Beer House. On my most recent visit, HBH had taken goulash off the menu and replaced it with a soup just as addictive: jokai bableves. (I should note that true Hungarian goulash is not the beef-stew type dish we're used to in the States; it's more of a beef and vegetable soup.)
Jokai bablevesh (pronounced "YO-ky BOB-le-vesh), or Bean Soup a la Jokai, was named after the 19th century novelist and politician Mor Jokai. I'm still not sure why, exactly, but I'm sure if he ate the version at HBH, he'd love it. It has beans, root veggies, ham and sausage in a spicy, onion-flour-vinegar broth, and I've recently tried to make it at home.
I've been using a cookbook called Culinaria Hungary that was a going-away gift from my co-workers when I left for Budapest. It's a wonderful primer on Hungarian cooking, and while some of its recipes, like for chicken paprikas, are spot-on, the one for this soup was confusing, so I found an adaptation of it online that I, in turn, fiddled with to get that HBH flavor.
The soup gets its thickening by adding a roux of butter, flour and onion towards the end, which reminds me of Cajun cooking. If you're concerned about adding even more fat to the ham-and-sausage-and-stock dish, you can use margarine instead.
I used ham that I bought at the market, which wound up being super-salty (and with lots of fat, and on the bone, to boot!). I should have soaked the ham for at least a few hours to reduce the salinity; as it was, I didn't need to add any salt to the recipe.
Another salty ingredient was the sausage I used. It's a smoky, spicy, dried link sausage from the wine town of Szekszárd. Next time I will try using Csabai kolbász, which is from the town of Békéscsaba. Whatever the sausage, this recipe's an easy way to get my Jokai bableves fix between visits to Eger.

Jokai Bableves
(serves 4)
1 15-ounce can of kidney beans
8 to 10 ounced of cooked ham, cubed
2 bay leaves
1 large carrot, chopped
1 medium parsley root, chopped
1 medium celeriac, chopped
6 to 8 ounces sausage, chopped
4 teaspoons butter
4 tablespoons Flour
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 to 3 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 cup sour cream
1 bunch of parsley, chopped
3 cups chicken stock
3 cups water

1. Put beans, ham, bay leaves, carrots, parsley root, sausage and celeriac in a pot with the stock and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In a separate pan, melt the butter, then add the flour and onion and stir to mix the roux. Saute until the flour turns golden brown. Add garlic and paprika, and saute for 1 minute.
3. Add this to the stock pot along with vinegar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
4. Stir in sour cream and parsley. Serve with crusty bread, and maybe some hot paprika on the side.

Christina's Kitchen in Budapest: Jokai Bableves

Matt's Kitchen In D.C.: Cajun Jambalaya

In honor of the Saints' aggressive victory over the Colts, I am posting a recipe for jambalaya, which happens to be what I was eating during the game. This a cajun jambalaya, in contrast with a creole jambalaya (or "red jambalaya"), which includes tomatoes and seafood. This version contains smoked sausage, chicken and, ideally, tasso - a smoked and spiced ham. Creole jambalaya originated as an attempt by Spaniards to make paella in the New World (absent saffron). Gradually, this dish was introduced to the Cajuns in Lousiana's low country who adapted it the ingredients that they had available. Cajun jambalaya (or "brown jambalaya") is traditionally smokier and spicier than creole jambalaya. The beauty of jambalaya is, of course, that it can be made with a wide variety of ingredients- essentially, whatever is lying around and needs to be eaten. For cajun jambalaya, the smokiness is key so it is important to find some good smoked sausages, like andouille.

1 lb. andouille or other smoked pork sausage
1 – 1 ½ lbs. chicken thighs
½ lb. tasso, cut in 1 inch cubes (if not available, can substitute any smoked pork)
1 medium onion, chopped.
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp. chopped basil leaves
1 tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
3 cups chicken stock
1 ½ cups rice

*This recipe should serve 6-8 people. If you are feeding a large crowd, you can double it, but be sure you have a pot that is big enough.

Three important notes concerning ingredients:

First, Tasso is a heavily smoked ham with a spicy, peppery rind. It is hard to find outside of Louisiana but it will take the dish to whole new level if you can find it. In the past I have ordered over the internet at comeaux.com or had someone visiting New Orleans bring me back some. However, if you can’t get some, don’t panic! Any smoked pork will do, and failing that you could add some other type of ham, which while admittedly not the same thing, will do in a pinch.

Second note: Use good quality sausage for this, fresh if possible. The sausages at the Whole Foods deli counter are a good bet. Keep in mind that the sausage ingredients are flavoring the whole dish, so you want them to be strong and good quality.

Third note: Use good quality, homemade chicken stock for this dish – it makes a world of difference. If you do not have stock stashed away in the freezer, just be sure you have a chicken carcass (or a bunch of chicken bones) saved, and a simple but strong stock can be made in a few hours with the addition of some carrots, celery, peppercorns and bay leaves.

Also, don’t use chicken breasts in place of thighs. There is a good chance they will dry out during cooking and toughen up, whereas thighs are much better suited for this type of cooking

1) put the sausages in pan with water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let simmer for ten minutes.

2) In the meantime, chop the chicken things into large-ish bite size pieces. If they are boneless, great – if not, you will have to bone them. The easiest way is find the chopped end of the bone, strip the meat down the bone to the joint, then cut out the joint and remove the bone altogether. You will be left with a nice strip of meat. Set aside the chopped chicken.

3) Remove the sausages from the pan and cut into ¼ inch rounds with a serrated knife. They should be cooked enough to hold together, don’t sweat it if they are a little raw in the middle.

4) In a large pot or dutch oven, add a little olive oil and then the sausages. Saute them over medium heat until browned, maybe 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

5) Without cleaning, add the chicken to the pot and sauté over medium heat until starting to brown. Remove and set aside with the sausage.

6) In the same pot, add the chopped onion and garlic and cook until the onion softens, maybe 7 minutes. Then add the tasso or smoked ham, basil, thyme, some salt and pepper and cook for a few more minutes. Don't be shy about stirring up the brown bits stuck to the pot, this is where the "brown" in "brown jambalaya" comes from, like the "fond" in french cooking. If you like it spicy, you could shake some cayenne pepper in it at this point. Remove all ingredients and store them with the sausage and chicken.

What you have at this point is the jambalaya “base,” which basically means everything except the stock and the rice. You can make it ahead of time and store it the fridge, even a day in advance if necessary.

7) When you are ready to finish the dish, put the "base" in a large pot and add the stock and the rice. Stir thoroughly to combine, then bring to a boil. As soon as it begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.

8) After 25 minutes, take the cover off and stir again to evenly distribute the rice and the meat. Season with salt and pepper if necessary, and serve with hot sauce on the side.

Matt's Kitchen In D.C.: Cajun Jambalaya