Presenting a Hungarian classic -- what I think of as comfort food for the Hungarians. I read somewhere that you can rarely order this in a restaurant...that it's an at-home classic. Well, I didn't hit too many restaurants when I lived in Hungary, so I wouldn't know. BUT, I do think it's yummy and filing, and relatively inexpensive to make. My recipe is what I learned from a Hungarian, so there's no real written down recipe. You know those kind of recipes. So, no exact science to it, but it's pretty easy anyway.
Hungarian Rakott Krumpli7-8 Potatoes
10 Eggs
16 - 20 oz. sour cream
Vegeta or other seasonings
Some milk
Cheese
Oil
Kolbasz (sausage. whatever you like. This time I used turkey sausage and pepperoni to add a bit of spice)
Ok...here goes it. Boil the potatoes in their skin. In the meantime, boil your eggs to make them good and hard-boiled. When the potatoes are done, let them cool so you can handle them. Now, you're going to peel the potatoes, but if they are still a bit warm, the skin just peels off by rubbing your fingers along it. Slice the potatoes long way.
When eggs are done, let them cool, and peel them as well. Slice them long ways.
Cut up your sausage to however thickness you'd like.
In a separate bowl, mix your sour cream with some milk to thin it out a bit. I add my seasoning with my sour cream concoction. I use Vegeta because I have it, but any kind of seasonings here will compliment the dish...seasoning salt, parsley, oregano...play around with it.
Now, time to layer. Put a layer of potatoes on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Next, layer some of the hard-boiled egg. (I like a lot of eggs). Then a layer of sausage. Once I have those basic layers down, I put little dollops of the seasoned sour cream mixture over the top. And who doesn't love cheese? So sprinkle a bit of that on top too...but just a bit because it'll be really rich if you do. You don't even need to add cheese. It's still good and less expensive. Then do the layers again. I usually end up with about 3 layers, but it's a pretty full casserole dish. When I'm all done, I sprinkle a bit of paprika (optional) and some more seasoning and put a tiny bit of oil over top. The oil could probably be omitted, but living in Hungary where many of them eat pure oil (practically!), I guess it's just habit.
I usually put tin foil over top and bake at 350-400 for about 40 minutes. Yummy yummy. Serve with some kind of veggie side dish and some fresh baked bread. mmmm Enjoy your Hungarian experience.
The cost of this meal is relatively inexpensive. The bulk of it is potatoes and eggs...cheaper items. The sausage, depending on what you buy, will definitely add more to the cost ~ but it's a pretty dense and filling meal. We had it for dinner last night and have 1/2 the casserole dish left. Definitely a 2 meal dinner.
Jo etvagyat! (or if you prefer...Bon Appetit!)
