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Eastern European

Helen Goh’s Carpathian vanilla slice.

Carpathian custard cake with choux pastry (aka eclair meets vanilla slice)

This Eastern European custard cake is made with choux pastry instead of puff.

  • 2 hrs +
  • Helen Goh
Croatian potato salad.
EASY

Adam Liaw’s Croatian potato salad

Potatoes, rice and other starches aren’t neutral ingredients in a dish. They have their own delicious and wonderful flavours.

  • 30 mins - 1 hr
  • Adam Liaw
Babka baked in a bundt tin.

Babka with chocolate and halva

It's common to see babka split and plaited prettily to reveal the swirls of chocolate within. I used to do this, but was dismayed when the heat of the oven dried out the exposed chocolate. When I was testing this recipe and found all my loaf pans were in use, I decided to bake the unsliced coil in a bundt tin: the exterior turned out crisp and buttery, and the chocolate filling within remained smooth and luscious. The babka also kept well for a few days.

  • 2 hrs +
  • Helen Goh
Red-cooked cabbage.
EASY

Red-cooked cabbage

Braised cabbage brings out the sweetness of the vegetable, but in Scandinavia they like to help it along with a little sugar or jam too. It's a perfect accompaniment for roasted pork.

  • 30 mins - 1 hr
  • Adam Liaw
Jill Dupleix's sour cherry and almond cake.
EASY

Sour cherry and almond cake

There is something beautifully simple about the traditional cakes of old Europe – and especially this one, popping with morello cherries and drizzled with a sweet cherry syrup. Feel free to add a healthy dash of kirsch or rum to the syrup as well.

  • 1-2 hrs
  • Jill Dupleix
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Dan Lepard's stonefruit simnel cake.

Apricot simnel cake recipe

Slim, elegant and intense with flavour, more like a tart than a true cake and perfect for an easy Easter dessert or an afternoon tea snackeroo. For me, you can't do better than a scoop of creme fraiche on the side but if vanilla ice-cream is your thing, then go for it. This keeps well for a few days in an airtight tin. Use apricots, plums or peaches.

  • Dan Lepard
Barbecued asparagus with nutty tarator.
EASY

Barbecued asparagus with tarator recipe

Asparagus is good. Asparagus with nutty sauce is addictive.

  • < 30 mins
  • Neil Perry
Pork and cabbage casserole.

Pork braised in red cabbage

A recipe from the Good Food collection.

  • 2 hrs +
Peasant food that's fit for a king: Potted cabbage with pork, mustard and lemon.

Potted cabbage with pork, mustard and lemon

Cabbage forms the basis of so many simple, rustic dishes from German sauerkraut to hearty European stews: those who look down on the vegetable do so at their peril.

  • 1-2 hrs
  • Adam Liaw
Chocolate Goulash.

Chocolate goulash recipe: beef goulash with a hint of chocolate

Chocolate is universally loved, but the way it's used as an ingredient varies greatly from country to country. Just a hint of chocolate in this goulash gives it a rich, deep flavour with equal hints of bitterness and sweetness. Sure you could get your chocolate fix with a homemade bikkie or just a block of the good stuff, but if you're looking for a way to say thanks this Mother's Day, here's an out-of-the-ordinary way to do it.

  • 2 hrs +
  • Adam Liaw

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/topic/eastern-european-laf