Snacks & Breakfasts

Bear Garlic Pesto

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I’m well-stocked with bear garlic right now. Two of my friends have brought handfuls of the herb straight from their gardens, the bright green leaves still glistening with raindrops when they came. Bear garlic, wild garlic, ramsons or whatever you like to call it is prolific after all the rain we’ve experienced in Slovakia this spring. The soil is moist, the temperatures have risen lately, and that’s exactly what this newly discovered ‘superherb’ needs for its growth. I use it almost every day now to add a colour and an extra kick to the family meals. Bear garlic is perfect in soups, scrambled eggs, to sprinkle over home-made pizza, or liven up salads. This year, while trying to put to good use the plentiful supply I have been given, I experimented with bear garlic pesto.

Pumpkin seeds have long been valued for the diversity of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals they contain.

Unlike in most pesto recipes you’ll find on the Internet, I used pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts, and replaced olive oil with a rapeseed one. Both in the attempt to utilize what I had on hand in my kitchen, but they also turned out to be ingredients native to Slovakia. Pumpkin seeds usually come shelled in packets of 250 g, and rapeseed oil is procured from the locally grown rapeseed plant, which is in full bloom now, flooding our countryside with golden yellow hues.

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Bear Garlic Pesto
Serves 8

  • about 100 g bear garlic leaves
  • 50 g pumpkin seeds, dried and shelled
  • 50 g Parmesan or other hard cheese
  • about 150 ml oil
  • salt and lemon juice to taste

Method:

Put the pumpkin seeds in a saucepan and dry-roast over a medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then to prevent burning. Take away from the heat and let cool.

Grate the cheese finely.

Remove the stems, wash the bear garlic leaves and chop them on a board. Place in a bowl with a little oil and use a blender to break the leaves further.

Grind the pumpkin seeds (I did it in my nut-grinder, as I don’t have a food processor) and transfer to the garlic mixture. Pour in some more oil and blend again. Add the grated cheese with the rest of the oil and blend further.

Finally, add the salt and the lemon juice to taste, and give your pesto one last whisk. Transfer to a clean bowl and serve on a toast, a slice of fresh bread or with your favourite pasta.

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If not used, cover with clingfilm and store in the fridge for up to 10 days.

I found out that the pesto tasted even better on the 3rd – 4th day when all the flavours had sunk in.

Wheat Kasha

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This is another recipe that will appear in the forthcoming book about Slovak cuisine, although with different photographs. Wheat kasha is deeply rooted in my childhood memories as a simple yet nourishing breakfast, or a light, satisfying evening dish. I know children are fed with all sorts of ready-made cereal mixtures these days, but perhaps we shouldn’t quite abandon traditional recipes that use fresh, good-quality ingredients and take very little time to prepare.

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Wheat Kasha
Serves 2

  • 500 ml milk
  • 4 tablespoons coarse wheat flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • ground cinnamon and vanilla sugar to taste
  • fresh or home-bottled fruit
  • 2 teaspoons butter

Method:

  1. Pour the milk in a saucepan and warm it over a low heat. Add the sugar and let dissolve.
  2. Spoon by spoon add the flour, stirring well all the time. Increase the heat slightly and continue stirring until the milky mixture comes to the boil and thickens. Turn down the heat and continue cooking for another 3 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Transfer into bowls and dust with ground cinnamon and vanilla sugar. Place a teaspoon of butter in the middle of each helping and decorate with the fruit.

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Wheat kasha can be served and eaten either hot or cold, so it’s a nice dish to have on a hot summer day, especially if served with fresh local fruit.

Easter Wreath

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Some may argue that Slovak dishes are heavy and not very healthy to eat. Well, I’d say there’s something to feel guilty about in each cuisine if you go by today’s health guidelines or some freak new diets. True, we don’t eat as much fresh fruit and vegetables now as, say Italians, Spanish or Greeks. But it’s the end of winter at our latitudes and the countryside is slowly waking up into another spring right now. That’s why we still have to rely on the vitamins and nutrients conserved last summer – until we have the first, hopefully plentiful crop of fresh ones in a few weeks.

Easter came quite early this year, and my family celebrated the arrival of spring with a little feast. Apart from the Breaded Pork Steaks with Potato Salad we baked an Easter Wreath, a yeast-based fruit cake from last-year’s garden produce. However, in the recipe I’m sharing below plums can be replaced with raisins, or any other fresh or canned fruit. Here, as everywhere else on the site, I use fresh yeast to make yeasted dough. For the dried or instant alternative, it’s good to read instructions on the packet.

Easter Wreath

  • 300 g flour (plain wheat can be combined with wholemeal in a desired ratio)
  • 200 ml milk
  • 21 g fresh yeast (or 7 g dried one)
  • 50 g butter (unsalted)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • 600 g bottled plums (or 1 kg fresh ones)
  • 1 sachet vanilla sugar (about 20 g)
  • ground cinnamon to taste
  • icing sugar to drizzle

Method:

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt. Make sure you stir it well into the flour, so the yeast doesn’t come in direct contact with the yeast at the next stage.

Heat the milk in a heatproof mug over a low heat until warm. Add a little sugar to the warm milk and stir well. Transfer half of the milk into a glass. Between the tips of your fingers, crumble the yeast into the glass. Stir well until the yeast dissolves. Add a pinch of flour to kick-start fermentation. Cover the glass and leave it in a warm place.

Slowly, heat the butter over a low heat in a heatproof mug or a small saucepan. Stir all the time, as the butter burns easily.

When the yeast rises up to the brim, pour all the contents of the glass onto the flour. Add the remaining warm/lukewarm milk and half of the melted butter. Knead by hand until smooth. Pour in a little warm water, if needed, to make a dough of medium thickness. Cover and leave to stand in a warm place for an hour.

Meanwhile, wash and stone the plums. If you’re using bottled or canned ones, strain them on as sieve and save the juice for drizzling at a later stage.

Grease and lightly dust a round baking dish, ideally a bundt-style one with a cylindrical hole in the centre.

When the dough has risen, transfer it on a floured rolling board and roll out into a long oval shape, as seen in the photos below. Pat the dough with more flour each time it starts sticking to either your fingers or the board. Spread half of the remaining melted butter over the dough and distribute the plums evenly all around it:

Sprinkle with the vanilla sugar and the cinnamon. Roll in and carefully transfer into the baking dish.

Bake in the oven at 180ºC for about 25 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown. Let cool after taking the cake out of the oven, and gently ease from the sides of the dish with a spatula. Transfer onto a large plate or a serving tray, drizzle with icing sugar and a generous amount of the plum juice.

Some of you may find our Easter Wreath too dry despite all the fruit juices it contains. I guess my English friends would dunk it in custard or vanilla sauce, or possibly scoop plenty of ice-cream over the top. Hmmh, am I right here or not? 😉

Low-sugar Non-dairy Plum Pie

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This recipe could also be subtitled ‘when the winter asks you what you were doing in the summer‘. My answer would be (as that of many other Slovak home cooks): making jam, bottling and preserving all the summer produce from our gardens.

Bottled plums

As I said in one of my previous posts, last year was very good for plums, and my pantry is still half-filled with bottles of the deep red, squashy fruit, as well as jars of sticky jam. They bring back a whiff of the summer with all its smells and flavours each time I open a new bottle.

It’s good to have an ample supply of these conserved vitamins and minerals on hand, especially when you’re feeling low and seeking comfort in a quick, simple dessert. Here is one that is low on calories, and will only take you about 40 minutes to make.

Low-sugar Non-dairy Plum Pie

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup oil
  • 2 eggs
  • canned plums or other fruit
  • 1 cup plum juice (I used the juice from my bottled plums)
  • 1 sachet baking powder (13 g content in Slovakia)
  • vanilla sugar to dust the finished pie
  • some juice to sprinkle over the top

Method:

  1. Grease a baking tray with oil or margarine and dust it with flour.
  2. Strain the plums on a large sieve and save the juice.
  3. Put all the ingredients (except the plums, but including the juice) in a mixing bowl and stir well until smooth.
  4. Pour the batter in the baking tray and spread evenly all around it.
  5. Stone the plums, if needed, and place them on the batter in rows.
  6. Put in the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until the crust turns golden brown.
  7. Take out of the oven, let cool on a cooling mat, and cut into squares or shapes of your choice.
  8. Dust with the vanilla sugar, sprinkle some of the remaining juice over the top, and serve warm with a cup of tea or coffee.
Low-sugar Non-dairy Plum Pie
Low-sugar Non-dairy Plum Pie

This is a light but satisfying dessert that makes enough portions for a little party. The fruit juice gives it extra zest and moisture, which brings a delightful, finger-licking experience.

Light Apple Cake

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Before we start gorging on more festive desserts, let’s have this simple yet satisfying apple cake that’s fit for a Sunday breakfast, an afternoon snack, or a light dessert anytime around.

It’s an old Slovak recipe that has been in my personal cookbook since I started learning to bake years ago. I got it from my Mum, tried and tested it dozens of times while experimenting with different ingredients.

The original recipe uses pork lard instead of butter or margarine, because (as my Mum says) the dough is more pliable, easier to work with and therefore less likely to tear. I have also replaced sour cream in my Mum’s recipe with yoghurt to make the cake lighter and healthier. For a fruitier, more succulent taste, increase the amount of apples – the quantity stated in the recipe below is the minimum required in proportion to other ingredients.

Light Apple Cake
Light Apple Cake

Light Apple Cake

For the dough:
500 g fine flour
150 g sugar
150 g butter/margarine/pork lard
1 egg
1 sachet baking powder (about 13 g)
200 g plain yoghurt

For the filling:
1½ kg apples, grated
cinnamon and vanilla sugar to taste

egg or butter for glazing

Method:

If you are using butter, take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to dough making and let it soften.

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add all other ingredients. Combine well into a smooth, supple dough. Cover with a dishcloth and let stand in a cool place for an hour.

Meanwhile, peel and wash the apples. Grate them in another bowl and cover to avoid browning. Some people grate apples with their skin on – just follow your personal tastes and preferences here.

Grease a baking tray with butter, margarine or pork lard, and dust with flour.

Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and place on a floured rolling board. Divide the dough into halves. DSC_0242Roll out one half into a rectangle the size of your baking tray. Remember to dust with more flour whenever the dough starts sticking to either the rolling pin or the board. Carefully roll the sheet of the dough onto the rolling pin and transfer into the baking tray. Gently press the dough with your floured fingers to fill in any blanks or fix tears.

Spread the grated apples onto the dough and sprinkle with the cinnamon and vanilla sugar. Roll out the other half of the dough in the same manner as the first one and transfer onto the apples. It does take some skill, granted, but you can always fix tears in the dough or empty spots by gently patching them with floured hands.

Lighly prick the upper layer of dough in several places with a fork, glaze with a beaten egg or melted butter and put in the oven. Bake at 180ºC for about 25 minutes or until the crust is coming off the sides of the baking tray.

Let cool down, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into shapes of your own choice. The cake is best eaten warm, but it can also be enjoyed cold with a cup of your favourite brew.

Fluffy Slovak Apple Cake
Fluffy Slovak Apple Cake

Apple cake is by all means the most popular dessert in Slovakia, as we are a country with a wide variety and good quality of home-grown apples. The best apples, however, come from people’s private gardens, where they are carefully looked after and nurtured to perfection.

I’m extremely lucky to have a friend whose parents are devoted gardeners in a remote village up in the mountains. They use no artificial fertilizers or chemicals, so some of their apples come with blemishes and imperfections, but the taste, smell and colour of their produce is second to none.

As this was a very good year for apples, the generous supplies from my friend kept coming until late autumn. No wonder I have made my family’s favourite fluffy apple cake on numerous occasions.

Savoury Pagatche Cakes

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Another recipe from Vierka’s rural kitchen is for traditional savoury cakes called Škvarkové pagáče, which would loosely translate as ‘Pork Cracklings Cakes’.

The vital ingredient for Škvarkové pagáče is škvarky or ‘shkvarki’. They are similar to pork cracklings except that shkvarki are made by melting and roasting fatty bacon WITHOUT its rind/skin on. It does change the taste and texture of the final product, so depending on the cut and quality of the bacon, our shkvarki might look like this:

Shkvarki – or Slovak version of pork cracklings

We have different kinds of pagáče or pagatche (possibly the closest transcription of the word into English), but what they all have in common is folded yeast-leavened dough. Sounds too complicated? I hope the photo guide below will prove the opposite, and help those who want to give it a try.

Savoury Pagatche Cakes

500 g flour
120 g butter
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon white vinegar
200 ml cooking cream (12% fat content in Slovakia) or milk
21 g fresh yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
250 g ground shkvarki (pork cracklings)
2 tablespoons pork lard
1 egg to glaze
caraway or sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method:

Take the butter out of the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to dough making and let it soften.

In a heatproof mug, warm the cooking cream or milk over a low heat until lukewarm. Break the yeast into it, add the sugar, a pinch of flour and stir well. Cover and let stand in a warm place. Depending on the room temperature, the yeast will take 2 – 7 minutes to rise.

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the soft butter, egg, vinegar and salt, but be careful to spread it well into the flour, as salt would kill the yeast if in direct contact.

Transfer the fermented yeast onto the flour and knead by hand to combine all the ingredients well. You may need to add some milk to achieve a smooth, medium-thick consistency, as seen in the photo on the right.

Cover with a dish-towel and let stand in a cool place for about 30 minutes to let the dough rise.

Do the 1st dough folding as shown below:

Cover the dough and let rest for 15 minutes.

After the dough has rested, do the 2nd folding in the same manner as the first one:

Now that the dough is more meaty and flavoursome, it needs to be put to rest again. Cover and let stand for another 15 minutes.

After the second resting time, repeat the same procedure again and do the 3rd folding with the remaining third of the shkvarki mixture. Then roll out the folded dough until it is 1½ cm thick, and cut out the cakes. Arrange in rows on a baking tray lined with a sheet of baking parchment.

Glaze with the beaten egg and sprinkle with caraway and/or sesame seeds. Put in the oven and bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.

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The recipe yielded two baking trays of scrumptuous Pagatche cakes that are best eaten warm, but they can also be served as a cold snack with a cup of tea or milk.

Traditional Slovak Pagatche
Traditional Slovak Pagatche

In between baking, my friend Vierka was also cooking a Saturday lunch of light Rabbit Soup with a Garlic Roux and Beef Stew with Garden Peas. Have a look if you’re seeking still more inspiration.

Quick-and-easy Plum Pie

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This is a reminder of the last fresh produce of plums I got from my friend a few weeks ago. Her parents have a huge orchard in a remote village up in the mountains, which had been brimming with plums of all sorts and sizes for over a month. Yes, it was a very good year for plums and I was busy bottling, drying and cooking them as the generous supplies kept coming from my friend.

When dealing with loads of fresh fruit of bio quality at a time, you have to be really quick and imaginative to preserve all the fruit’s flavours. And that’s exactly when these quick and simple recipes come in handy. Especially if they produce tasty, nourishing cakes that give as much pleasure to the senses as the most intricate creations. Or don’t they?

 Quick-and-easy Plum Pie

2 cups fine pastry flour
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup oil
1 cup milk
1 sachet baking powder (13 g content in Slovakia)
1 vanilla sugar (20 g content in Slovakia)
fresh plums or other fruit

Method:

Wash the plums and cut them in halves. Discard the stones. Grease a baking tray and dust it with flour.

In a large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients (except for the fruit) together until well-combined and smooth. As you can see from the pictures below, I added a few teaspoons of fruit pulp left in the freezer from preserving blackberries. Not only did it enhance the moist, fruity flavour of the final product, but also added more fibre and an exciting twist to the cake’s texture.

Pour the batter in the baking tray and distribute the plums in rows all around it. Bake in the oven at 180ºC for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Insert a skewer in the middle of the cake to check its readiness. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is done and well cooked through. Take it out of the oven and let cool down on a cooling mat or rack.

Cut into squares and lightly dust with sugar. Serve warm or cold, ideally with your favourite brew.

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Feeling tempted or inspired? Give it a try and make your very own creation by using any fruit you like, either fresh or canned. Bon appetit!

Wine Cookies

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Did you forget to finish your glass of wine yesterday and it has lost its sparkle overnight? Before washing it down the sink, consider using it in cooking, or even baking. You’ll be surprised how much goodness it can still create.

I remembered this old recipe a couple of days ago when I found an unfinished bottle of honey-wine in the fridge that my family seemed to have lost interest in. It’s good to dust off these long-forgotten recipes from time to time, especially if they’re so uncomplicated, and fun to do. This particular one has another plus side – it only uses 4 very basic ingredients including the leftover wine.

Wine Cookies

250 g unsalted butter or margarine
250 g fine pastry flour
5 tablespoons leftover wine
vanilla and/or confectionery sugar for coating

Method:

In a large mixing bowl cream the margarine, the flour and the wine together until smooth. Cover and let stand in a cold place for an hour.

Line a baking tray with a piece of baking parchment. In a small bowl or on a plate mix the confectionery and vanilla sugar.

Dust a rolling board and your hands with flour. Transfer the dough onto the board and divide into two parts. Form two balls and roll each one out until it is about ½ cm thick. Remember to dust the board and your hands with more flour whenever the dough starts sticking.

Cut out cookies of different shapes and lay them on the baking tray. Don’t discard the cut-offs, as they can be kneaded together and rolled out again to make more cookies. You can get creative and invent your own shapes or figures. I myself was happy to just use my cutters.

Bake in the oven at 190ºC for 7 – 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Take the baking tray out of the oven and transfer on a cooling mat. While still warm, take the cookies one by one and coat them in the sugar.

I forgot about the time when I was baking the second batch, and the cookies stayed in the oven for a little longer (15 minutes perhaps?) It proved to be no disaster though, as they came out crispier – and a bit darker in colour (as seen in the photo above, right).

Serve warm or cooled down, ideally with your favourite brew.

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I was amazed at how the cookies grew during the baking process, and what a complex, puff texture they got. No doubt, the wine acts as a powerful raising agent. Not to mention the taste and smell of the end product 😉

Wine Cookies

A wonderful Sunday breakfast or a yummy snack, don’t you think?

Bryndza Cheese Sticks

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Many of those who know a thing or two about Slovak cuisine have been asking for bryndza cheese recipes. Although I have collected and tested quite a few, they won’t be published online for the time being. The reason is quite simple – most of these recipes are featured in the book on Slovak cooking that I have finished recently and am now looking to publish. Until that happens, I want to introduce you to this versatile ingredient, which has been proven to have quite a few health benefits.

Bryndza (pronounced as brinsa) is a soft variety of sheep’s milk cheese that our Slovak ancestors developed at the end of the 18th century. Although the cheese had existed under different names and in slightly varying forms since the 14th century, the first bryndza-making factory in Slovakia, which was set up in 1787, is seen by many as the beginning of traditional Slovak bryndza production. I have put the family story of the first bryndza producers in the proposed book, as well as a few legends linked to this part of our history.

As far as I know, Slovak bryndza is very difficult to get outside Slovakia. When craving their national dish of Halušky s bryndzou  (Potato Dumplings with Bryndza Cheese), some Slovaks living abroad resort to other similar cheeses like Greek Feta, Italian Ricotta or French Roquefort. They do not taste the same though, which is quite understandable, as Slovak sheep and pastures are different, not to mention the unique formula and method we use to make Slovenská bryndza (Slovak Bryndza). Yes, it’s a trademark protected within the EU, so if you’re curious and looking for authenticity, why not come to taste the real thing in Slovakia?

Slovenská bryndza or Slovak Bryndza
Slovenská bryndza or Slovak Bryndza

To tempt you even more, I’m bringing a quick-and-easy recipe with bryndza cheese, just one of dozens developed by my people over the centuries. Bryndza Cheese Sticks have been adapted from a tiny little recipe book I got from Slovak shepherds at one of our salashes.

Salashes – wooden cottages in the mountains are well-worth a visit.

Bryndza Cheese Sticks

250 g fine wheat flour
150 g bryndza cheese (or soft cheese of your choice)
150 g butter or pork lard
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
2 sprigs dill
a pinch of salt
baking parchment

Method:

Put the butter in a large mixing bowl and let it soften at room temperature for about 30 minutes. I could omit this step, as the pork lard I used is easily workable straight from the fridge, plus it’s a very Slovak non-dairy fat that we prefer in this kind of bakery.

Rinse and chop the dill. Line a baking tray with a piece of parchment paper.

Rub the flour in the butter with your fingers. Throw in the egg and the chopped dill. Add the baking powder and the bryndza cheese or a soft cheese of your own choice. Knead all the ingredients well until you achieve a smooth, medium-thick dough. Cover and leave to rest in a cold place for 2 hours.

Dust a rolling board and your hands well, then transfer the dough onto the board. Divide into eight balls and roll each ball into a long strip. Cut into equal parts and lay on a baking tray as seen in the pictures below:

Remember to dust your hands and the board each time the dough starts sticking.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and bake for about 15 minutes or until the sticks turn golden brown.

Serve either warm or cold with a cup of tea or milk for snack. These crisp cheese sticks are also tasty appetizers for dinner parties, plus they nicely complement red wine.

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Egg Coated Bread

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As I wrote in the post on Slovak bread, we hold our bread in great esteem and would rarely throw it in the bin. Most Slovaks know what it takes to grow wheat or rye, make it into flour and then bake a loaf out of it. There’s a saying in my country that our children grow up with from early years. It would loosely translate like this:

Think twice before you throw away your bread slice.

It’s no surprise that we’ve thought up different ways to make leftover bread more appetizing. Here goes one of them:

Egg Coated Bread
Serves 2

4 slices leftover bread
2 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
salt to taste
oil for frying
fresh vegetables to garnish

Method:

Beat the eggs in a bowl and pour in the milk. Season with salt, if you like.
I normally skip this step, as the natural salinity of bread is sufficient for me and my family.

Put the sliced bread in the egg batter and let it soak for a couple of minutes from each side. Meanwhile, pour the oil in a frying pan and put over a medium heat.
I replaced the oil with the duck fat I had stored away in the fridge after a meal of roast duck the previous week. It added a delightful flavour to the egg coating.

Fry the bread slices from both sides until golden brown. Serve warm with a garnish of fresh vegetables.

Egg Coated Bread

There are more ways to use leftover bread or rolls in cooking, like making your own breadcrumbs, croutons or incorporating them into sauces, poultry or game stuffing, etc. I’ll write about these in more detail later this year.