Eating up the Hill: Hungarian Goulash and Palacsinta

Ventured outside the downtown to the wilds of Nepean with friends a few weekends ago for a bake sale at the Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre and a traditional Hungarian lunch.

Hosted in a typical ageing community hall, emblazoned with memories of the old country and images of stern-looking Hungarian leaders past looking down on all who enter, our first stop was to the bake sale table. From the flyer advertising the event, I entered the room with interest in Sour Cherry Pie and Lemon Cake. Sadly, neither were actually on offer at this point in the day. In fact, a rather meager selection of sweets were displayed, none of which appealed to me. Apparently everything good had been reserved and spoken for earlier, although the flyer indicated only that cabbage rolls should be pre-ordered.

My sweet tooth denied, we retired to the table for lunch. The goulash game quickly and was warm. I believe I've written about my soup preferences before, and you may recall I tend to more favour the cream variety over the vegetable stock variety. So, fair to say goulash isn't my prime thing when it comes to soups. There was a plentiful helping of beef, potatoes, carrots and cabbage, but I would have liked a more flavourful broth. Peppers were available for insertion by those interested.

The next and final course was two apricot palsacinta, or Hungarian Crepes. Sprinkled with icing sugar, the crepes were thin and sweet and layered with a suitable amount of apricot jam. I ate one, and saved one for later.

My friend was kind enough to send me home with two cabbage rolls, which I later enjoyed for dinner and found a much more meaty and satisfying representation of Hungarian cuisine. Will need to order some of my own next time. 

Also, some sour cherry pie.

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