IDEA ONE
Székelygulyás (pork and sauerkraut stew)
This is a traditional Hungarian dish and amazingly delicious. You'll need:
Fatty pork (traditionally a combination of shoulder and belly), onions, garlic, lard, sweet Hungarian paprika, sauerkraut, crushed caraway, soured cream, flour.
Saute about a pound of meat cut into cubes in lard, remove and reserve. Saute chopped onions (1/2 lbs). Saute a few chopped cloves of garlic. Add a tablespoon of paprika and saute for a few seconds, taking care not to burn it. Return the meat to the pan, add a pound of drained and rinsed sauerkraut with some water, a large pinch of crushed caraway, salt and pepper, cover and braise until the meat is tender. Mix a cup of soured cream with a teaspoon of flour and add to the braise. Let it braise for about five minutes more.
You can serve it with steamed dumplings as we do here in Slovakia. Mix 500 g white flour, 200 ml milk, 20 g fresh yeast, an egg, 1 tsp salt (or less), 1 tsp sugar and knead to form a dough. Let it rise for an hour in a warm place. Form into loaves about the size of a small bread and steam them in a steamer. Brush them immediately with butter or lard and serve four or five slices per portion with the stew.
IDEA TWO
Moravský vrabec (braised pork, braised sauerkraut, potato dumpling)
This is a traditional Czech dish which you can often see on the menus of many Czech pubs. The name literally means Moravian sparrow and I have no idea why sparrow.
First the meat. Marinade any fatty pork cut cut into smaller pieces in salt, pepper, crushed caraway and crushed garlic. And then braise it. You can use some dark beer instead of just water for moistening.
Now the cabbage. Chop one large onion and fry it in a liberal amount of lard. Add roughly chopped up sauerkraut, crushed caraway, salt and pepper to taste and braise it for at least an hour, but two is better.
The dumplings. Boil 500 g potatoes. Peel them and grate them (I actually use a hand mixer to great results). Add 50 g melted butter, three whole eggs, salt and 250g coarsely ground flour. Mix the dough. Fry some cubed kaiser bun (or any cheap small bread) in butter in add to the dough, mixing the whole thing well. Have a bowl filled with cold water ready. Wet your hands in the water and shape dumplings about the size of a tennis ball but oblong. Boil them for 15-20 minutes in salted water. Slice immediately. You're going to love these.
Serve serve the three together - some meat, some cabbage and a few slices of the dumpling.
IDEA THREE
Csirkepaprikás (chicken in a rich paprika sauce)
Another Hungarian classic. Chicken thighs and drumsticks are sauteed in lard, reserved, onion is added and sauteed, then paprika, the chicken goes back, moistened with water, let to braise, near the end soured cream with a bit of flour is added.
Traditionally, we would serve it with nokedli, which are essentially the same thing as spaetzle - small flour dumplings.
IDEA FOUR
Pierogi z kapustą (dough filled with cabbage)
An amazing Polish classic. Very cheap, very filling, full of flavour.
Basically you braise a white cabbage and chop it finely. Then you add some chopped onion sauteed in butter, salt, pepper and either chopped dill or chopped and cooked dried porcini. Season well.
The dough can be very simple, even just flour and water will do. Roll it out, cut out circles with a glass and stuff it with the cabbage. Seal them well and boil in salted water. When ready pour some melted butter over it.
Serve with fried onion slices or fried bacon nuggets and soured cream.
IDEA FIVE
Derelye
Yet another Hungarian classic. It's pretty much sweet ravioli. So the dough is a simple flour-and-egg dough tenderized with some water. The filling is just thick plum jam. What really transforms it is the garnish - breadcrumbs are mixed with ground walnuts and toasted and this mixture is then mixed with melted butter and confectioner's sugar and the pasta. It's sweet but very satisfying.
IDEA SIX
Boiled beef with a sauce and dumplings
Another Czech classic. You need the beef that was used to make beef soup with noodles.
The sauce is always made with brown roux and the beef soup, with flavourings added. To make onion sauce, just saute some onion in the butter. To make dill sauce, add chopped dill, some cream and a splash of wine vinegar at the end. These are my favourites.
The dumplings. You'll need something like kaiser buns. Cut them up and soak in milk to soften, crushing well with your hands. Add an egg for each 150 grams of bread, some chopped parsley, salt and coarsely ground flour (I never measure it, just sprinkle a thin layer of flour over it). Mix well. Spread like a huge cigar over cling film, roll the cling film and tie at the end with a string. Boil in salted water for 20 minutes (depending on the thickness). Remove the cling film and brush with melted butter.