Rakott Krumpli

A lovely dinner that I learned to cook while living in Hungary. From what I can gather, rakott means casserole, and krumpli means potato. So this is literally a potato casserole. But somehow, “Potato Casserole” just doesn’t sound as good as “Rakott Krumpli” which rolls off the tongue much more exotically. I learned this from the wife of the landlord we rented our flat from. I think she felt bad that the only food we ate for the first few weeks was pastries from the shop underneath us. In my defense, I did try to make eggs with ketchup, except the ketchup turned out to be hot red pepper sauce.

If I could, I would include precise ingredient measurements. But I didn’t learn it that way, and even if I did it would be metric (liters, grams, kilos, etc). So you’ll just have to jump in and experiment the way I did…but it’s pretty hard to mess this up. If you are in the middle of a cold snap, this is the dish to make…it’s pure, warm, creamy comfort food.

Rakott Krumpli

5-10 hardboiled eggs, cut up

Lots of cheese (swiss and/or havarti)

1 package of sliced salami, or 1 cut up cooked sausage

Lots of red new potatoes, cut in half

Lots of Sour Cream (2 cups or so??)

Paprika for seasoning
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First, send your kid to the fridge to get the ingredients. This was easy for us…our refridgerator was smaller than the Golfer who at that time was 1.

Second, boil the potatoes in water…get them cooked through, but not too soft. Make enough to fill a casserole (or brownie) pan. When done, place potatoes in the pan.

Third, sprinkle the cheese, sausage, and eggs over the potatoes. (In that order…the eggs get nice and crispy if they’re on top) Sprinkle some paprika on top. Mix the sour cream with a little milk and spread it over the top of the casserole. Don’t skimp on the sour cream! You cannot add too much.

Fourth, cook in a 350 oven until everything gets all melty and warm.

Fifth, devour!

Hungarian flair:
cook the cut up hungarian sausage (kolbasz), add it to the potatoes, then drizzle all the fat on top. Use Trappista cheese (Trapissta Sajt).

American flair:
instead of hungarian sausage, use pepperoni or bacon. Attempt to de-fatten recipe by using plain yogurt instead of sour cream (but really, don’t do this!!!).

Vegetarian flair:
Many Hungarian Jews omit the meat and just add that eggs, cheese, and potatoes. It’s still very good this way!

Here’s the recipe in Hungarian, in case you have any questions:

A burgonyát főzd meg héjában, s karikázd fel. A tojásokat főzd keményre és karikázd fel, ahogy a kolbászt is. A szalonnát szeleteld fel, s a bőrére merőlegesen vagdosd be. Vajazz ki egy tűzálló tálat és hintsd meg zsemlemorzsával. Az aljára fektess egy sor krumplit, rá egy sor tojást, majd egy sor kolbászt és locsold meg sózott tejföllel. Így rétegezz tovább, a tetejére egy sor tejföllel meglocsolt burgonya jussson, arra pedig a a szalonnaszeleteket fektesd. Előmelegített forró sütőben addig süsd, míg a szalonna meg nem pirul.