I love cooking with seasonal ingredients, especially when they are locally sourced and therefore at their freshest. This recipe is a good example of sustainable cooking: it features the iconic Slovak cheese, the asparagus grown in local farms, and bear garlic - a herb that is widely available in our woods and forests right now. … Continue reading Asparagus with Roast Potatoes and Garlicky Bryndza Cheese Sauce
Springtime brings fresh herbs to our forests and meadows. Many of them are edible and we not only use them to flavour food, but also cleanse our bodies and boost our immune systems after winter. Wild garlic, or bear garlic (medvedí cesnak), as we call it in Slovak, appears in our latitudes towards the end … Continue reading Millet Stir-Fry with Walnuts and Bear Garlic
The last weekend in October is all about remembering the dead. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, All Saints' Day or All Souls Day (Dušičky in Slovak) was the busiest time for travel in Slovakia, with people crossing the country to visit cemeteries, bring flowers and light candles on the graves of their deceased relatives. Back from … Continue reading Comforting Carrot and Yellow Pea Soup
Patizón - the Slovak word for summer pattypan squash - is probably derived from the French pâtisson. The vegetable has become quite popular among Slovaks, who like to coat and fry it like these Fried Zucchini Rings. However, there are a few recipes on Slovak cooking websites that use the unpeeled and hollowed out patizón as a … Continue reading Stuffed Pattypan Squash
When I bought my first vegetarian cookbook years ago, I quickly found out that cooking meatless can be fun and yummy. At the beginning, I followed the recipe instructions in the book step by step, but it didn't take long until I unbridled my imagination and started experimenting. The recipe below is a result of … Continue reading Baked Lentil Loaf on Caramelized Sauerkraut
The smallest town in Slovakia has 1526 inhabitants, a medieval castle and a splendid chestnut festival that takes place on the first weekend in October. But how did Modrý Kameň become the Slovak capital of the chestnut? To find the answer, we have to go back to the 16th century, when Modrý Kameň (Blue Stone) Castle was … Continue reading Chestnut desserts from Modrý Kameň
Buckwheat is another ancient food staple returning to our cuisine. It used to be a common ingredient of our ancestors, as Ján Babilon - the author of the first cookbook in the Slovak language says. He was a chef and the owner of a restaurant in Pest (today's Budapest), where he published Prvá kuchárka v slovenskej … Continue reading Buckwheat Groats with Braised Cauliflower and Carrots
Have you ever heard of buckwheat? Did you know this long-forgotten food plant is more than 6000 years old? It was first cultivated in Southeast Asia, from where it slowly spread all over the world. As an inexpensive source of valuable proteins, buckwheat had played an important role in Eastern European cuisines before it was … Continue reading Buckwheat Groats with Sautéed Vegetables
I'm not a big fan of raw cakes. Not only are they more laborious and much more expensive than the regular ones, but I doubt their healthy side as well. I love fresh fruit (or vegetables), and I often indulge in all kinds of seeds and whole nuts, but why mash, squeeze and grind these … Continue reading Raw Poppyseed Avocado Cake
cookslovak 