Recipes

Spanish Rolls (Španielske Vtáčky)

Ingredients: 8 beef steaks or chicken breast slices, 2 hot dog, 2 hard boiled eggs, 2 dill pickles, paprika, onion, black pepper, salt, mashed potatoes or rice Prep Time: about an hour Alena from Žiar nad Hronom sent me recipe and pictures of her mom preparing španielske vtáčky, a delicious dish consisting of meat steaks filled with egg, hot dog and pickle. I have to admit that for the longest time I thought the name of this dish was španielske vtáčiky (notice that extra i), which would mean “little spanish birds”. But it’s not. I have no clue what vtáčky Read the Rest…

Bryndza Spread (Bryndzová Nátierka)

Ingredients: bryndza, butter, paprika, onion, bread or rožky Prep Time: 10 minutes Another popular thing to do with bryndza, the Slovak national cheese, is to make a spread (nátierka) commonly known as šmirkáš. I made it using the fake bryndza – the Israeli style Feta cheese from Trader Joe’s. Finely slice onions (I like using spring onions and I used three of them) and combine them with about equal amounts of bryndza and butter. Also add a spoonful of paprika. You should use less than what I have here.

Cabbage Halusky (Strapačky)

Ingredients: halusky (Slovak potato dumplings), sauerkraut, caraway seeds Prep Time: At least an hour for the kraut to get soft Last weekend the EU embassies here in Washington, D.C. held an open house. Each embassy had some free goodies symbolizing that respective country. Germans had bratwurst, Belgians beer and chocolate, Poles kielbasa. The Slovak embassy cooked up strapačky and served them with cold Slovak Golden Pheasant (zlatý bažant) beer. If you attended this even, and want to try making this simple, yet very traditional dish at home, well you are in luck. Here is (my) recipe for strapačky. About the Read the Rest…

Mid-afternoon Snack (Olovrant)

Ingredients: bread rolls, butter, honey, jam, hot chocolate Prep Time: 2 minutes You can use the freshly baked rolls (čerstvé rožky) anywhere you would use regular bread. They go great with soups, spreads, and you can even turn them into a butter and cheese sandwich. Another of my favorites is to top them with butter and honey or jam, and make a quick mid-afternoon snack. Such a mid-afternoon meal is called olovrant in Slovak. I feel almost silly posting this simple dish, but then, it shows some differences between Slovak and American cuisines. In Slovakia, we don’t have peanut butter. Read the Rest…

Parisian Salad (Parížský Šalát)

Ingredients: 2/3 lb soft salami (Bologna, 300g), 1 onion, 1 larger can of sweet peas, 2-3 dill pickles, 8oz sour cream (200g), 3 tbsp mayo Prep Time: 15 minutes Something I always look for on my travels to Slovakia is stopping in a deli for freshly baked bread rolls (called rožky) and some Parisian salad, parížský šalát. Whether this salad has anything to do with Paris is to me a mystery. At least my roommate who grew up in France has never seen something similar to this. Anyway, here is a recipe for this tasty and very simple side dish. Read the Rest…