Some people are too busy to bother with home baking. Others would love to bake but never learned how and have problems with recipes. Aunty Eva is here to help in both cases. If you are expecting visitors she will bake your cakes for you, if you'd like to learn how to bake them she will show you how it's done. It doesn't matter if you don't speak Hungarian because Aunty Eva speaks English just as well as Hungarian as she spent her whole childhood in England. Half of her recipes are English and half are Hungarian and they are all very tasty and easy to make.
Aunty Eva's fees are £8/h + 25% VAT whether she bakes for you or teaches you. If she does all this in your own kitchen this adds an extra hour's fee for transportation. You can buy all the necessary ingredients yourself if you wish but Aunty Eva is ready to do this for you and take the ingredients with her.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss details ring Eva on +36-20-311-6928 or write her an email to: evanagyi@evanagyi.hu
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SPOTTY DICK
This dessert needs only 5 minutes for preparation and 5 minutes for cooking in a microwave.
This classical English sponge-like cake which we boost a little with raisins used to need hours of steaming above boiling water but now only takes 5 minutes to cook in a microwave.
We serve it with English custard, or vanilla pudding if you can't get custard.
Delicious, exotic and you can only go wrong if you leave something out. Serve hot.
(The name Spotty Dick comes from the raisins in the sponge making it look spotty.)
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FRUIT CRUMBLE
This dessert is not only delicious but surpising too. Looking at the ingredients it's hard to imagine that something tasty will appear out of it. Simple and very easy to make, delicious and variable to your own taste. Simply mix together and in ? of an hour you will be proclaimed the master of desserts by your family.
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APPLE SLICES
Apple slices can be made in so many ways and there are so many different recipes for it. Aunty Eva's method is easy because it doesn't need much kneading, the filling doesn't have to be pre-cooked, so it can be prepared in about 20-30 minutes and takes about 30-40 minutes to bake. It can be eaten hot and cold.
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MÁTRAHÁZA POGÁCSA (SAVOURY SCONES)
There are so many different kinds of pogácsa but this is by far the favourite among family and friends. The recipe comes from the town of Mátraháza and has a secret feature. If you cut small rounds it will never taste like the original. And what's the original like? Light and fragrant and although it keeps well for days and tastes just as good, it is always eaten up very quickly. Aunty Eva's special cutting system speeds up the preparation.
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TIRAMISU
This famous Italian sweet is easily prepared and hard to ruin. Everyone loves it and you can make it a day before your guests arrive and keep it in the fridge which makes it even tastier. It needs several hours cooling but the preparation itself takes only about 20-30 minutes. If you compare it with what you can buy in the shops you will immediately realise why it's worth making it at home!
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CHEESE STICKS
Very easy to make savoury snack if you're expecting visitors. Looking at the quantity you can imagine how much work is needed to put all these thin sticks onto the tray for baking. But you'll be surprised when you learn Aunty Eva's method of doing all this very quickly.
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SWEET TWISTS
Only grandmothers make it because - who knows why - it's the sort of sweet that grannys usually prepare. You'll be surprised at how quick they are to make and everyone loves them. Best served dipped in apricot jam.
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SAUSAGE ROLLS
Ideal snack for visitors and can be made in large quantities quite easily. Best served with some English Colemans mustard, or even French mustard, but just put the mustard on the side of the dish for everyone to dip into. Originally made with English sausages, but very tasty made with Frankfurters.
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BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING
This too, is a recipe where if you look at the ingredients it's hard to imagine a dessert emerging from them. It's become a favourite to all who have tasted it. It can be made in large quantities if you are expecting guests.
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CHEESE BISCUITS
Large amounts can be made quickly and easily of this tasty savoury biscuit especially if you have unexpected visitors arriving. Although it's very rare for any to be left a day or two later, it keeps very well for many days. Particularly tasty if made with Cheddar cheese.
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CHEESE AND BACON PASTIES
If you're expecting guests then try this savoury which is a meal in itself. Vegetarians can swop the meat filling for fried cabbage or mushrooms. They can be prepared a couple of hours earlier and just popped into the oven when the guests arrive.
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SHORTBREAD
This sweet bears Scottish tradition and has nothing to do with bread as we know it. Sweet and short, this biscuit-like dessert befits a cup of tea and a chat. You really don't have to be skilled to be able to make this delicious delicacy.
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SALTY PRETZELS
This needs a little dexterity, but is still quite simple to prepare and everyone loves them, but hardly anybody makes them. It's a great snack food and it's they are so hard to stop eating. It's not often you get home-made pretzels when you go visiting, so it's very rewarding to learn how to make them and show off in front of your own guests.
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MUFFINS
This recipe holds the essence of Aunty Eva's culinary expertise. Variable to your own taste and fantasy. It's eaten so quickly we always have to make several servings when expecting visitors. The basic recipe serves three-four but we've seen one person eat up more than half a serving before.
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FLOATING ISLANDS
Some say this is the most original Hungarian dessert, but it isn't true as the English cuisine knows it just as well as the German or French does. The name is of Latin origin, when they named this unbelievably delicious sweet " hens' milk". The advantage is that everyone loves it. The disadvantage is that it's easy to spoil it. But not with Aunty Eva's recipe.
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QUICHE LORRAINE
This food is the Frenchmans' pizza. Others say it's scrambled egg on pastry but it really is hard to define what it is as everyone has their own way of making it. Aunty Eva's secret is that you don't have to knead the pastry at all. The fillings can be varied according to your own preference - just stick to the given amounts - and you will be able to prepare this tasty dinner in no time. (If served cold it can be dished up as a savoury snack meal.)
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GRANNYS' CHOCOLATE CAKE
We call this cake "death by chocolate" which says it all, and it's surprisingly easy to make. It's too easy to over-indulge in this delicious cake. Can you believe it has no flour in it at all?
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RIGÓ JANCSI (CHOCOLATE MOUSSE)
Rigó Jancsi the gypsy primate ordered this sweet, creamy, chocolate cake for his beloved in a Budapest confectionary. After this, the confectioner who made it named the cake after him.
This all happened about 130-140 years ago and now this cake comes to new life - without the sponge. This creamy delicacy is a family favourite and everyone agrees that not only is it much nicer without the sponge but it's also "less fattening"!
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HALF-MOON CAKES
This light and elegant sweet is very easy to make . Although sour cherries do not appear in the original recipe, the family prefers it with them. Cut into moon shapes and sprinkled with ground walnuts and sugar this sweet can be served for any occasion.
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CHOCOLATE DOUGHNUTS
Everyone likes them and some tv's chefs have even shown how you can pump the chocolate into the doughnuts. Aunty Eva's doughnuts don't have a hole in them, yet the melted chocolate oozes out of them making them the highlight of the carneval season. Of course we make them all year round, served after a soup and topped with a little apricot jam making a fulfilling dinner. (So how does the chocolate get into the doughnut?)
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COTTAGE CHEESE TURNOVERS
These turnovers don't bear the elegancy of the French cuisine, they are rather more of a rustic type of cake. You can eat yourself silly with them because they are so tasty and hard to resist. Raisins in the filling are a must in our family, but if you don't like raisins, just omit them. If you can find fresh home-made cottage cheese on the market, even better.
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COTTAGE CHEESE CAKE
Of course this cake is nothing like what you can buy in a bakery under the same name. The simplicity of the mousse-like cottage cheese in the light, creamy sponge is truly amazing. It's really hard to ruin, but easy to consume. You can use your own imagination when decorating the cake, though your guests won't leave it in it's untouched glory for long.
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CHEESE AND POTATO PIE
Exactly the dish you need when unexpected visitors turn up and you have nothing else in the pantry but potatoes and a little cheese. Aunty Eva's simple recipe gives surprising results. You will see that even necessity can provide gastronomic experience! Well worth trying.
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CUSTARD
The pearl of British tradition known as custard to the English and also known world-wide as the Creme-Anglaise accompanies many a British sweet. It can be substituted with the Hungarian vanilla pudding which is quite similar. The easiest way to make it is using instant custard powder, though it doesn't taste as creamy as the cooked custard.
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BREAKFAST FOR TWO
A romantic breakfast is befitting after a romantic evening. You can conjure up these simple breakfast menus in minutes so the start of the day will as happy as the end of the previous day was.
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CONTACT
+36-20-311-6928
evanagyi@evanagyi.hu
www.english.evanagyi.hu
WHO AM I?
You may envisage Aunty Eva like this, but she's nothing like it. Aunty Eva never sits down for more than five minutes and doesn't like to rest and keep quiet.
Quite the contrary! She is so cool - although she denies it - because she thinks being cool doesn't befit a matron. So - although she loves travelling - she was a bit wary of approaching Chobi the lion and stroking Jessica the hippopotamus in South Africa.
However, it only took her two minutes to catch a pike from a small lake in a forest in Somogy county, because she loves fishing too.
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To Aunty Eva the traditional English breakfast conjures up memories of her childhood as she lived in Northampton, England from when she was a baby till the age of 17. Her friends say it's hard to decide whether she speaks English or Hungarian better, just as much as it's hard to decide if she bakes English or Hungarian better.
Aunty Eva doesn't think she is special in any way, and what's more, she protests against any praise. She says she is simply an average person, and that there is nothing extraordinary in the fact that someone might do something better than others.
So, if she sometimes appears at a fancy occasion dressed up in a way that even the Queen of England would envy she will hide the photo away exclaiming "What an awful photo!"
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"I'm so terribly fat here" - she says to any photo's taken of her. Now it's not often you see a photo of a granny paddling in a kayak or a photo of a granny scuba diving in the Red Sea.
Of course Aunty Eva never objects to photo's taken of her with her granddaughter, nor does she object to photos made of her "Mole Hill" cake. ("Just don't take a picture of me!")
Because Aunty Eva's true hobby is baking. She calls herself a Chocoholic, but she loves any and all kinds of cake and sweets.
She isn't much interested in fancy decorations, creamy garlands, marzipan figures - "Oh, if only I had enough imagination for these" - it's the tastes, the flavours she aims for and that the end result be seen as soon as possible.
This is why Aunty Eva bakes cakes and sweets that are quick and easy to make so she can be a great help to you. "The secret for good baking is to always stick to the good old recipes step by step and you can't go wrong" - this is her opinion. So she has written all her recipes down step by step, all you need to do is follow the steps.
By the way, Aunty Eva is internet dependent, so even her friends write asking her to bake something delicious and simple if they are expecting visitors. And she does.
You can find her on evanagyi@evanagyi.hu.
And you can also call her on: +36-20-311-6928
