Bodi's Jokai style bean soup

This is a very hearty authentic Hungarian soup, and  Bodi is the master of soups, so here's his recipe.
The soup was named after one of my favorite authors Mor Jokai who apparently loved this soup so much that the his name stuck with the soup.

Bodi bought the ingredients on a Friday at the Fehervari Street market in Budapest. It's one of those not too interesting buildings from the end of the socialist era in Budapest, but has one of the best farmer's markets in town. With the vegetables bought there Bodi made this amazing dish.

Ingredients:

1 kg smoked pork shank (with bones)
1 pair of hot Hungarian paprika sausages (looks like chorizo and can be bought at Waitrose)
0,5 kg dry beans
1 yellow pepper (the ones you can buy at Turkish shops, the ones that look like a narrow v-shape)
2 tomatoes
2 medium onions
4 bigger carrots
2 white parsnips
1 smaller celeriac
4 cloves of garlic
2 fresh bunches of parsley
Sour cream
Spices: salt, pepper, ground cumin, bay leaf, Hungarian sweet paprika powder
2 tsp plain flour
sunflower oil

It's important to soak the beans at least 8 hours they'll be cooked in water otherwise it will take forever for them to turn soft while being cooked. The next step is to clean the smoked shank, and if it's way too big cutting it to smaller pieces. Boil some water and pour it on the tomatoes so that they could be peeled. Pour cold water into at least 5 l pot so that the water would cover the shank. Place the bones into the pot as well. Start boiling it as if making chicken soup. Put 3 bay leaves, the paprika, the whole onion into the water, and season it with salt, pepper and ground cumin according to taste. When the water starts to boil decrease the gas so that it would be slowly frothing, and leave it like this until the shank gets soft.

While the shank is boiling there is enough time to clean the roots and the remaining onions  including the garlic. Chop the roots and the onion. When the shank is ready take it out from the pot and place it on a plate, but leave the bones in. Remove the bay leaves. Rinse the beans ad place it into the pot with the roots, and boil the soup further on small gas.When the bean is almost soft, place the sausages into the soup for approximately 8 minutes, then tke them out and leave them to cool.

Slice the shank and the sausages, the shank into cubes the sausages into slice, and fry the latter on some oil. Place the shank and the fried sausage slices back into the soup and take out the bones. Use the same pan used for frying the sausages and use the oil that was used for frying and when it's hot enough add two tablespoons of plain flour to which we add the onions, and then the garlic after the minute. after having fried it for another minute, we take the pan of the heat and add the sweet paprika on top. Add a bit of water and stir until the mixture gets a creamy consistency, then add it to the soup while stirring continuously.   Leave the soup to boil for another ten minutes then serve with parsley and sour cream on top.

Hint: if the smoked shank is way to big, put it aside to prepare a lovely other dish. Recipe will follow soon!

Bodi

Bodi's ceasar salad with thyme and rye bread crouton

Ingredients: 

• 300 g iceberg lettuce and radicchio in a 3:1 ratio torn into small pieces (or ready-made salad mix)  
• 350 g chicken breast fillet
• 2-3 thin slices of bacon  
• 1 clove of garlic 
• 4 slices rye bread  
• Spices: salt, pepper, ground cumin, thyme
• sunflower oil for  frying 

for the dressing:

• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 egg yolks 
• 2 tspn Dijon mustard
• 100 ml single cream
• lemon juice
• sunflower oil and extra virgin olive oil
• spices: salt, pepper, thyme

Slice the chicken breast fillets, place them in a bowl and season them with pepper and ground cumin, making sure it's all rightly covered with the spices. Do not yet put any salt. Heat up the pan and add the sunflower oil places the half of the chicken breast slices into the pan so the slices would actually fry and not boil. When the meat starts to brown, season it with thyme and salt.Don't throw away the oil yet, it will be perfect for frying the bacon and the croutons.

The next step is to prepare the dressing. Separate the egg yolks and place them in a mixing bowl. Add 2 small teaspoons of Dijon mustard and the mix the whisk them together, then while continuing to whisk add the sunflower oil and a little bit of olive oil. Keep whisking until you get a thick dressing. Add the chopped garlic cloves, salt and thyme. Add the cream and give it yet another whisk.

Heat the pan again you've used to fry the chicken and fry the bacon. Remove the ready bacon slices. Cut the rye bread into cubes and fry them, and when the bread becomes brown, add a bit of garlic if you fancy, but only right in the end otherwise the garlic becomes bitter.

Mix the salad, the chicken and dressing  making sure that the whole mix is well covered with dressing. Add the croutons only in the end, to make sure they stay crunchy!

Hint: Bodi likes using up the remaining ingredients, like egg whites in this case. He made scrambled eggs in a pan, and then served in on the top of the salad, and ate it all.