Lebbencsleves – Hungarian Pasta Soup
A classic pasta soup originating from Hungary's Great Plains made with small ‘flaps’ (or ‘lebbencs’) of pasta and smoked bacon and potatoes and makes for a tasty and filling meal.
Equipment
- Chef Knife
- Large pot
- Wooden Spoon
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp pork dripping or extra virgin olive oil
- 100 grams smoked kolbasz (cut into slices – use chorizo if you can’t get kolbasz)
- 100 grams Hungarian kolbasz or smoked bacon lardons (finely chopped)
- 1 large onion (finely chopped)
- 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)
- 1/2 tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika
- 200 grams of lebbencs pasta or broken up lasagne sheets
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 250 grams potato (peeled and diced)
- Flat leaf parsley (roughly chopped)
Instructions
- Heat the pork dripping in a heavy based pan, and add the kolbasz. Sauté until it releases its red oils into the pork dropping and starts to darken in colour, then remove the kolbasz from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving as much of the fat in the pan as possible.
- Add the bacon lardons and onion into the pan and sauté in the remaining fat until the bacon lardons start to take on some colour and the onions softens.
- Add the garlic and sauté for a further minute. Then take off the heat and add the paprika powder, and stir well to combine.
- Return the pan to the heat and add the lebbencs pasta (or broken lasagne sheets) and fry for a few minutes in the onion mixture, making sure to coat the pasta with the hot oil.
- Add the potato, salt and ground black pepper and the bay leaf, and 1 litre of water, and bring to the boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for about 15 minutes or until the pasta is al dente and the potatoes are cooked through but still firm.
- Stir in the chopped parsley, and adjust seasoning.
- Serve into bowls and garnish with some parsley before serving.