Savory curd noodles

The original Hungarian pasta for this recipe is torn by hand into uneven halfpenny size pieces. One can either use noodles for this recipe or large egg macaroni bows.

8 oz. pasta
6 oz. fresh curd sour cream
2 oz. streaky bacon
1 tablespoon bacon fat
salt, to taste

Boil the pasta in salted water until tender and drain. Toss in the hot bacon fat.

Mix with it half of the slightly salted and crumbled curd. Heap the pasta and curd on a heated serving dish and put the rest of the curd on top.

Fry the chopped bacon crisp, pour it on the pasta, sprinkle with sour cream all over.

Place into warm oven for a few minutes before serving.

4 cups hot chocolate
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
1 cup brandy or rum
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped with 1 teaspoon sugar

Heat the chocolate, coffee and brandy or rum together. Fold in whipped cream (or place a spoonful on top of each serving).

... from Brazil.

5 large bananas, firm, just turning yellow
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 stick cinnamon
10 cloves, whole

In a heavy saucepan, dissolve sugar well in water. Peel and cut bananas in rounds, about 1 inch, and add to the pan. Add cinnamon and cloves. Cook for two hours in low heat, stirring occasionally. If necessary, add more water; don't let it dry out, you want to end up with a nice syrup. Bananas will turn a reddish color. Let cool and serve.

Serves 8

DOUGH:
1 teaspoons of salt
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground tumeric
10 tablespoons of unsalted chilled butter
6 tablespoons of chilled lard
3 cups of flour
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup of lite beer

FILLING:
1 large chopped onion
3 finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamon
1/4 teaspoons of white pepper
1 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 cup of chopped hearts of palm
3 tablespoons of parsley
1 pound of shrimp, peel, DEVEIN
2 tablespoons of butter
2 cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

GLAZE AND SEALER:
2 tablespoons of cold milk, water, or cream
1 egg white

Directions:

1. Sift flour and lard into a large bowl. Then, mix until the mixture thickens. Add one large egg, 1/4 cup of cold water (milk or cream are suffice as well), and the egg white. Mix all of these ingredients until dough is formed. Knead dough until it is completely smoothed out. Chill this dough wrapped for 25 minutes.

2. Add butter to small pan and saute onions. Then, add cloves, pepper, tomatoes, cardamon, and salt. Cook for 7 minutes. Add chopped hearts of palm to the sauce pan and cook for a few additional minutes. Make sure all liquid has evaporated. Set this filling to the side and refrigerate overnight in a covered container. 3. To make the sealer, mix the cold water and egg yolk. Also, set the sealer to the side.

4. Roll out the dough on a floured board and create square pieces of dough. Place one tablespoon of filling into each square, put shrimp on top of the filling of each square, dampen each edge of the square with the sealer and then form a triangle. Enclose all edges with a fork.

5. Put these empanadas on a lined baking sheet. Glaze the top of each empanada with the sealer. Then, bake for 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven, or until golden brown.