LET’S COOK TOGETHER!Cook book

Comenius Project 2013 - 2015

TURKISHMANTI

Ingredients

For the dough:2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for rolling1 teaspoon salt1 large egg1/2 cup water plus a little more if necessary

For the filling:2 tablespoons olive oil1 large onion, finely chopped1 pound ground lean lamb1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsleysalt and pepper to taste

For the yogurt sauce:2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt (preferably made from sheep's milk)4 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon saltfor the butter sauce1/2 stick butter3/4 teaspoon sweet paprikasalt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make the filling: Mix the olive oil in a bowl with the onion , the lamb and the parsley, generously season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Make the dough. Sift the flour and salt together into a bowl. Make a well in the center, and a place the egg and 1/2 cup water in the well. Work the dough with your hands or a wooden spoon into a smooth dough. Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Roll out the dough thick with a rolling pin or a pasta machine, and cut into 3-inch squares, discarding the uneven edges. Place 2 teaspoons filling into the center of each square. Moisten the entire outer edge with water, bring the 4 corners together in the center and pinch tightly to seal, then pinch together the 4 straight edges to seal completely (take care with this step). Repeat with remaining pasta and filling. Place the manti on a lightly Floured baking sheet in a single layer.

3. Make the yogurt sauce: Drain the yogurt at room temperature through a very Fine mesh strainer over a bowl for 30 minutes and discard the whey. Stir together the yogurt and garlic in a bowl and let stand at warm room temperature until ready to use.

4. Make the butter sauce: In a small skillet over moderate heat cook the butter until it is a very light brown, remove the skillet from heat, and stir in the paprika, coarse salt to taste, and the hot red pepper sauce.

5. In a large kettle of boiling salted water cook the manti, in batches, stirring to keep them from sticking together, about 7 minutes. Remove them when done with a long 1/4-handled sieve or a large slotted spoon and keep warm with a little of the warm cooking liquid. Serve the manti very hot in individual bowls, spoon some of the yogurt sauce over, drizzle with the butter sauce.

HOW TO PREPARE:ANKARA TAVASI

INGREDIENTS

5 servings1 tomato2 onions1 kilo lamb cut into 5 pieces1 soup spoon butter6 glasses water

700 grams of rice olive oil salt garlic pepper

1. Let soak the rice for about 30 minutes in hot water and lightly salted, then wash it under cold water to remove all impurities.

2. Place the lamb in a pan together with the whole onion, tomatoes, garlic and pepper. Cover with water and bring to a boil, simmer with the lid on, skimming occasionally, until the meat is tender.

3. Take the meat and keep the broth. Arrange now the rice in a buttered baking dish, season with olive oil, butter, salt and pepper before you wet it with about 1 liter of broth of meat.

4. Complete arranging the lamb over rice and bake at 160 degrees for about 50 minutes, until all the cooking liquid has been absorbed and the meat will have taken a beautiful golden color.

How to cook Polish dishesPierogi

Pierogi are simply made of dough and filling. Making pierogi obviously starts with preparing the dough. This is based on a well-tried Polish food tradition. The pierogi dough is made from wheat flour, water, salt and a bit of oil.

After mixing ingredients and kneading, the pierogi dough is being rolled up on a table or pastry board. Circles are cut out using a drinking glass. Then, in the middle of every circle, we place a portion of the filling with a teaspoon. This could be a meat filling, small heap of sauerkraut and mushrooms, potato and cheese or sweet cheese.

When the filling is placed on pierogi circles we fold / wrap the pierogi dough, forming a semicircle. In order to seal pierogi, their edges should be pressed with your fingers or a fork.

Raw pierogi are ready to be boiled. To cook pierogi, boil lightly salted water, and then throw pierogies one by one. After few minutes this Polish food will float to the surface and soon will be ready to be drained off.

You can use pork scratching, roux, bacon or fried onion to decorate pierogi with meat, mushrooms or sauerkraut. Sweet pierogi are usually dished up with fruit sauces, sweet cream, maple syrup, yogurt etc. Just pour what you like over pierogi.

Polish PieczonkiHow to make it...

Ingredients:- 1 kg potatoes, pealed and sliced- 0,5 kg carrots, pealed and sliced- 5 shallots, pealed and sliced- 5 bacon rashes, cut into stripes- 1 small sausage, sliced (the best one will be Polish one or German, firm and slightly smoky)- 2 chicken breast (or legs) cut into pieces, marinated in herbs, salt, pepper and paprika- salt and pepper

In a big ovenproof dish arrange layers of potatoes with carrots, onto that shallots, bacon cuts, sausage, chicken, salt and pepper. Make the layers until you run out of all ingredients. The last layer should be potatoes and carrots

Cover the dish with a cabbage leaf and put into preheated 200 C oven ( or in a big pot) and bake (or cook) for 1 hour. After an hour check if all veges are soft and you can serve your dinner.

Bulgarian Shopska saladHow to make it…

Shopska salad is a traditional Bulgarian salad originated by the Shopi people of the Sofia region, and hence the nameshopska.

INGREDIENTS4 tomatoes, chopped1 large cucumber, unpeeled and

chopped4 green or red peppers, roasted or

raw, chopped1 large yellow onion, chopped, or 6

green onions, sliced2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley1/2 cup sunflower oil1/4 cup red-wine vinegarSalt and black pepper1/2 cup Bulgarian sirene cheese or 

feta cheese, crumbled

PREPARATION

1.Place tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, onion and parsley in a large bowl and toss. 

2.Place oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste in a screw-top jar. Cover and shake until well blended. 

3.Toss dressing with vegetables, turn into a serving bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with crumbled cheese and portion on chilled plates.

Bulgarian Sirene po Shopski

What you need:• 400 grams white cheese• 150 grams yellow cheese• 2 eggs• 2 hot peppers• 2 sliced tomatoes• 2 chopped roasted peppers• oregano, parsley or any other dry green spice

How to make it:Take two small earth ware pots with lids ("gyuveche" pots) and put a layer of cheese, then a layer of peppers and tomatoes, then more cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Then break an egg on top of each dish and cook till the egg is the consistency you like. Serve with salad and beer. Enjoy!

Slovakian Halušky Ingredients: 750g potatoes

(about 2 large ones), 2 cups flour, salt, 1 egg.Prep time: 25 minutes

Halušky are what really defines Slovak cuisine. The name is typically translated to English as potato dumplings, but this is not quite right. Halušky are just that, halušky (pronouncedhalushky). Potato dumplings, in Slovak, are zemiakové knedľe. Halušky are somewhat similar to German spätzle. You can top them with just about anything.

Peel potatoes and finely shred them.Add egg and flour. Make a dough that is

not too tough but not to watery. You may use more or less flour or add a little bit of water if it is too tough.

Add 1 tsp of salt.Boil water w 2 tbsp of salt. use

teaspoon to drop a little bit of the dough into the boiling water. Be sure the water is always boiling.

When halusky are done they will float on top of the water, Pick them out with a strainer.

Because I didn't find bryndza here in the US, (it is cheese from sheep), I used 1 package of Feta Cheese and 3/4 of a pack of cream cheese, and 3-4 tbsp of milk.

Heat everything together. Mix all the time. When it starts to boil, remove from the heat.

Cut up little pieces of bacon and fry them. Serve halusky with the cheese sauce on top and sprinkle with the bacon pieces.

The most typical topping is bryndza, a special sheep cheese, and fried bacon bits. This combination gives you bryndzové halušky, the Slovak national dish. Another popular topping is cabbage. I also like them very much with a hard boiled egg. Often you will find these dumplings served with stews like goulash or paprikash

Slovakian Zemiakový šalát Ingredients: 4

potatoes, about half an onion, 15oz can of sweet peas, 3 carrots, 2 dill pickles, 2 eggs, 6 tablespoons of mayonnaise, salt, black pepper, paprikaPrep Time: 1 hour, plus few hours to sit in the fridge

Here is the recipe for the Slovak potato salad.

Start by boiling unpeeled potatoes and 3 carrots, peeled, in salted water. At some point also hard boil 2 eggs.

Chop up about 3/8 of an onion into small cubes. For the non-math people, that’s a quarter plus half of another quarter.  The carrots are done once they get soft (check them by occasionally poking them with a fork).  Slice the carrots into thin quarter circle wedges.

Also chop up the pickles.

Combine vegetables in a pot.

Now stir in mayo. We started off with 3 spoonfuls, but ended up putting in 6.

Finally, cut up the eggs and mix into the salad. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Let sit in the fridge for few hours before serving.

Italian Focaccia 2 teaspoons (8 grams) active dry yeast1 teaspoon (5 grams) sugar1 ½ cups  water2 tablespoons (25 grams) olive oil, plus an additional 2 tablespoons (25 grams) for drizzling250 grams (approximately 2 cups)whole-wheat flour200 to 220 grams (approximately 1 2/3 to 1 3/4 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour, plus additional as needed for kneading1 ¾ teaspoons (13 grams) salt¾ pound Roma tomatoes Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

PREPARATION In the bowl of a standing mixer,

or in a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water. Add the olive oil, whole-wheat flour, 200 grams of the all-purpose flour and salt and mix together briefly using the paddle attachment. Change to the dough hook and beat for 8 to 10 minutes at medium speed, adding flour as necessary. The dough should eventually form a ball around the dough hook and slap against the sides of the bowl as the mixer turns; it will be sticky. Remove from the bowl, flour your hands and knead for a minute on a lightly floured surface, and shape into a ball.

Stir in the olive oil, whole-wheat flour, salt and all-purpose flour by the half-cup, until the dough can be scraped out onto a floured work surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, for 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and smooth.

Clean and dry your bowl and oil lightly with olive oil. Place the dough in it, rounded side down first, then rounded side up. Cover tightly with plastic and let rise in a warm spot for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until doubled.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment and oil generously. Roll or press out the dough into a rectangle the size of the sheet pan or just slightly smaller. To do this efficiently, roll or press out the dough, stop and wait 5 minutes for the gluten to relax, then roll or press out again, and repeat until the dough reaches the right size. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Just before baking, use your fingertips to dimple the dough all over.

Cut the tomatoes into rounds and place on top of the focaccia. Sprinkle with coarse salt and the rosemary. Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil over all.

Bake, setting the pan on top of the baking stone (if using), for 20 to 25 minutes, until the bread is deep golden brown. Let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving, or allow to cool completely.

Italian handmade pasta

INGREDIENTS

•2 cups flour•1/2 teaspoon salt•1/2 teaspoon  of extravirgin oil

Mound the flour on a clean work surface. Hollow out the center making a well in the middle of the flour . 

With your hands or a bench scraper continue working the dough until it comes together. If the dough is too dry, add a little water; if too wet or sticky, add a little flour. 

Begin kneading the dough and keep kneading until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. At this point, set the dough aside, cover it with plastic, and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. You can store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but allow it to return to room temperature before rolling it out. Roll and cut the pasta into desired shape.

ENJOY THESE DELIGHTS!