Hungarian Raviolis with Paprika Broth (Pillows)

Hungarian Raviolis with Paprika Broth, or "Pillows," is a dish from my mother's homeland, Austria-Hungary. This was our family's favorite cold-day dish, basically huge raviolis filled with potatoes, onions, and seasoned parsley in a hot paprika broth.

Pillows are hard to describe unless you think of them as raviolis with Hungarian seasoning.  Our family thinks of it as Mom's trademark dish.  

I have not yet found a gluten-free substitute for pillows dough, but I will keep trying, because these are too good to pass up!

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MOTHER'S HUNGARIAN PILLOWS RECIPE

Potato filling:

• 1/2 onion, diced
• 6-8 potatoes, diced
• Parsley, 1 bunch, minced
• 1 teaspoon butter
• Salt and black pepper

Sauté onions until soft but  do not brown them ,  in a Dutch oven,  pressure cooker or large pot. Add potatoes, parsley, butter, salt and pepper to the pot. Cover with water (or a little more for extra stock) and boil until soft. Remove potatoes from stock with a slotted spoon. Conserve the soup stock. Mash the potato mix well with a potato masher and allow mix to cool.

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Noodle dough:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt

Water (only enough to hold the dough together—dough should be rather dry until rolled)
Make a dough of the ingredients, adding as little water as possible. Divide the bunch of dough in half and roll out half of it until large enough to cut into 4x8 inch strips. Put some of the cooled potato mix in each one and fold over, using your fingertips to brush a little water on the edges and then pinch together to seal the edges tightly. 

Put on a pot of water to boil. Gently put pillows in water until they float to top, then remove them to serving bowl with a little butter so they don't stick.

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Paprika soup stock:

• Stock left over  from boiling potatoes
• About 1 teaspoon butter (the original recipe calls for margarine, but I substitute butter instead)
• 2 tablespoons paprika (or more if desired), preferably Hungarian paprika
• Salt and pepper (or seasoned chicken bouillon cube, if desired)

Sour cream, added in stock last (do not allow to boil after sour cream is added) or add the sour cream in individual soup plates as a garnish.

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Directions:

Melt butter in a heavy pot, then add paprika when cooled. Pour in the stock left from boiling the potatoes, and add seasoning. 

Makes 8-10 small pillows or 4-5 large ones. Serve in individual soup plates with paprika stock poured over pillows, then garnish with a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!

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