HUNGARIAN PUMPKIN or BUTTERNUT SQUASH and POPPYSEED STRUDEL

HUNGARIAN PUMPKIN AND POPPYSEED STRUDEL

Tökös-Mákos Rétes

1 small pie pumpkin (or butternut squash) - about 2 pounds

3/4 cup ground poppyseed

2/3 cup sugar, or to taste
2/3 cup sour cream (more or less. This is included to bind the poppy seeds and quite possibly plain yogurt drained of liquid can be used - spoon into the mixture gently and don't use too much.)
1 lemon. First use a grater to get the zest, then squeeze to get the juice.
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup of stick butter, also melted.

For the pastry and finish:8–10 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsp breadcrumbs (optional, to absorb excess moisture)
Powdered sugar for dusting

 
PUMPKIN FILLING:

Peel and coarsely grate the fresh pumpkin. Toss it lightly with a pinch of salt and let it sit in a sieve a while so any excess moisture can drain. Squeeze the pumpkin to remove as much liquid as possible. If using canned pumpkin, make sure it's not too watery. Generally canned pumpkin is usually good as is.

POPPYSEED MIXTURE:

In a bowl, mix the ground poppy seeds, sugar, sour cream, lemon zest and juice. The mixture should not be runny, so add that sour cream gently and by the spoonful.

Then stir in the 2 tbsp of melted butter and cinnamon.

COMBINE THE TWO MIXTURES

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Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). (Note the higher temperature than the last recipe.)

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

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PHYLLO DOUGH TECHNIQUE

Phyllo can be purchased at the market. It needs to be defrosted when bought frozen.

On flat surface, lay out a clean cloth and carefully place one sheet of the phyllo dough on it. Brush it lightly with melted butter.

Place a second sheet of phyllo on top of the first sheet, and also brush with butter.
Continue until you have eight players of phyllo. (Note that this is two sheets more than the last recipe, probably to accommodate the poppyseed mixture.)

Spoon the pumpkin mixture on the phyllo dough and evenly spread it, leaving a two inch border on all sides so that dough will stick together.

Roll the strudel. First fold the sides of the phyllo dough inward to enclose the filling. Then roll the strudel tightly into a log shape, starting from the filled end - which will be in the center.

Carefully place the rolled phyllo dough strudel seam down on the baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let the strudel cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Dust generously with powdered sugar just before serving.

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C 2025 Magyar-American

THANKSGIVING IS A GOOD TIME TO INTERVIEW RELATIVES - BRING ALONG A HUNGARIAN DESSERT

The turkey or ham out of the oven. The sit down dinner accomplished.  Stomachs full.  A wait for dessert.  Coffee and tea. 

When everyone is settled, this might be the time to engage in conversation and to record interviews with relatives.  Ask them about their lives and also what they remember of their parents, grandparents, and and ancestors.

Ask people to bring along photos that can be scanned or photographed and uploaded and shared.

Be sensitive to people's sense of privacy. Not everything is for putting up on social networking, in databases, or on the Internet.  So ask individuals what they feel comfortable with and be sure they understand the possible implications of that sort of exposure. Consider the entire family including those who are not at the gathering.

I personally never put anything like that up for sharing.  It stays within the family.

Perhaps a few days before is the perfect time to get the children involved in making some Hungarian recipes for the dessert.  Here is a link to a site that has 26 Traditional Hungarian Desserts - poppyseeds, walnuts, almonds, sugar, apples... stacks, crepes, cakes.... bread pudding, dumplings, pancakes.

INSANELY GOOD RECIPES - HUNGARIAN DESSERTS include

Rakott Teszta - Baked Noodle Dessert.

Kakaos Csiga - Hungarian Chocolate Rolls.

Piskotatekercs - Basic Sponge Cake

And my favorite, which I grew up with, Kolachy Cookies, although mom called them Vienna Tarts...  cream cheese filling... we used apricot jam and strawberry jam. In a tin in the cold closet they took on an even better flavor three days old, if we could stand to hold off that long on eating them.

POPPIES! HUNGARIAN BLUE and CALIFORNIA ORANGE SUPER BLOOM

The poppies for poppy seed to put in bread and rolls are from the Hungarian BLUE poppies, not to be confused with the California Poppy which is all brilliant orange or the California Coastal Poppy which is orange in the center to middle and yellow from the middle to tips.  Although there is always talk about people getting high by eating poppy seeds, really it's the blue or breadseed that can be turned into opium.  To make things a little more confusing, the Hungarian "Blue" looks to be purple.  Because California has gotten so much rain this season that we are officially out of drought, we have a SUPER BLOOM OF POPPIES...

LA MAGAZINE - LAKE ELSINORE SUPER BLOOM of POPPIES

Excellent photos on this link.

LONELY PLANET -CALIFORNIA DESERT SUPER BLOOM

POPPY SEED ROLLS ; A MEMORY OF AN AMERICAN-HUNGARIAN CHRISTMAS

My mother - a stay at home mom - outdid herself around the Christmas holidays with traditional cookie recipes from Central and Eastern Europe.  I don't think we thought in terms of Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, Russian, Ruthenian, German... but it seems that traditional recipes were being carried on by the next generation.

I remember going to relatives homes where they had cookies and cakes that were different than the ones we made... it was ALL GOOD!

We never had chocolate chip cookies or shortbread, but we had lots of POPPYSEED rolls, cookies with walnuts, tarts with jams...