Celebrate Peppers with this Hungarian Ragout

Story and photo by Robert Olaj

In late August, I start to take stock. Every weekend I cruise up and down Commercial Drive on Vancouver’s east side, eagerly scanning the display bins of local produce for the first sign of them. Red. Yellow. Green. Hot. Mild. Sweet. Banana. Cherry. Apple. Mirasol. Hungarian wax. Pimento.

My quarry is the delectable bounty of peppers from the Fraser Valley and Okanagan that make their way to our local shops at the end of summer. It’s typically not until late August, or early September, that we see the most dazzling rainbow of peppers make their appearance. It’s around this time that I start to plan a day devoted to making a classic Hungarian dish that celebrates this luscious summer fruit: lecsó.

A staple of Hungarian cuisine, lecsó (let-cho) is originally a Serbian dish, but has been well assimilated into the Hungarian kitchen. This thick pepper, tomato and onion ragout, seasoned with sweet Hungarian paprika, salt and sugar, in its most basic form contains no other ingredients, save for a little lard in which to sauté the onions (more on the essentiality of the lard later). It’s traditionally made only with Hungarian wax peppers, but I prefer to mix it up a bit, using the full palette of peppers that grace our produce stores for such a short time. The only variety of peppers that I’m reluctant to use in this dish are those generic bell peppers (red or green). They’re rather bland, watery, and turn to mush when cooked.

Growing up as a child of Hungarian immigrants, lecsó was an omnipresent dish in our household. In the summer when peppers were at their peak, my mother would often make it fresh. But we also enjoyed its robust flavours and vibrant colours in the cold grey of winter, through the miracle of canning. Depending on what you combine it with, it can be eaten hot or cold, as an appetizer, a main, or a side dish. Add a bit of sautéed smoked sausage, fish, or grilled chicken to make a one-dish wonder, or serve it “as is” as a cold salad or hot side dish.

Canning just the tomatoes and peppers lets you save space in your canning jars and allows you to make this dish any time of the year. The other recipe ingredients—onions, lard, paprika, salt and sugar—can be added to your canned peppers and tomatoes when you actually make the recipe. I recommend adding a ½ teaspoon (2mL) of vinegar to each canning jar, as many of today’s tomato varieties are low in acid, and the extra acidity helps to ward off botulism. Be sure to follow contemporary canning guidelines; you’ll find excellent canning tips at www.homecanning.ca and at the US National Centre for Food Preservation website www.uga.edu/nchfp

About that lard. It adds a particular yummy flavour to the lecsó for which there are no substitutes. I’m not talking about the scary, highly filtered and flavourless stuff you find in the grocery store. The best lard is rendered pork fat. Ask your local butcher —many render their own quality lard. Even better? If you eat bacon, strain and save the drippings. It keeps for weeks in the fridge or the freezer and it lends this dish a divine flavour. If you don’t eat meat, you can substitute olive or other oils, but you’ll be omitting a key ingredient. It’ll still turn out yummy, just different. And we can still be friends.

Let’s talk about the paprika. Hungarian paprika is really quite distinct from Spanish paprika, as it is typically much sweeter, less bitter and less hot. The intense colour, delicacy and aroma of real Hungarian paprika are unmistakable and it, along with the peppers, forms the soul of this dish. So I recommend using only Hungarian paprika, unless you’re really in a pinch. Good imported Hungarian paprika can be found at most European specialty food stores. In Hungary one can find a variety of grades, flavours and pungencies of paprika, but here in Vancouver our choices are rather limited. Kalocsa and Szeged in the southern part of Hungary are the heart of paprika production in Hungary, so if you can find a brand that says “Szegedi” or “Kalocsai” paprika, you’re in business.

So next time you’re strolling The Drive on a late August afternoon, look for the kaleidoscopic displays of peppers available from our local produce vendors and celebrate summer with this simple, yet oh-so rewarding dish. It’s Hungarian, it’s healthy, and it’s good with everything.

Recipe and variations here:

Robert Olaj lives, writes and cooks in East Van. He extends his gratitude to all farmers who bring peppers to the city and let him indulge his love of lecsó.