>> If you love to shop for the freshest food with the widest selection, when in Budapest, head straight for the Central Market built in 1897.

It's easy to spot because it's the largest indoor market in the city, and I'm here today to look for inspiration for creating a Hungarian-inspired menu.

♪ I've never shopped or cooked in Hungary, so I'm meeting my friend Joseph, who's a local Hungarian chef.

Where should we start?

I love to travel the globe in search of new food and wine discoveries.

For me, it's about more than returning home with a handful of new recipes.

It's about taking the spirit of Austria... of Italy... of Greece... and of the Danube River and injecting some of their magic into our everyday lives.

Food has a unique ability to transport us.

Join me as we discover on our culinary journey together.

>> "Joanne Weir's Plates & Places" is brought to you by... >> With AmaWaterways, guests can climb... pedal... and journey beyond the beaten path while cruising on storied rivers across Europe.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

>> Our winemaking is the result of teamwork and patience.

Working together, we dedicate our best efforts with every vine, grape, and bottle -- Washington Vintners.

>> Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes, only Mutti.

>> For baking, cooking, and snacks, California Figs from Valley Fig Growers.

♪ >> I love cities, and Budapest is no exception.

Its kaleidoscope of architecture gives Budapest a feeling of grandeur.

And as I walk through this city, no matter where I look, I'm overwhelmed by the extraordinary history and beauty of this iconic destination known as the Pearl of the Danube.

♪ It has lured travelers and shoppers for generations.

That makes this city the perfect place for me, because I'm ready to shop.

And just a short walk from the Danube River, which bisects the city, is the Great Market Hall.

♪ ♪ Since 1887, locals and visitors alike have come here to shop in this enormous and historic market.

There are three floors of everything imaginable.

It's so fun to join the crowds and shop for today's menu with my friend Joseph.

♪ Take a look at all these beautiful peppers.

What I'm looking for is a pepper that's not too spicy that will give the right flavor profile for my paprikash.

♪ Wow, this white asparagus is a real find.

I love asparagus both green and white, but white asparagus is grown under a thick layer of mulch and the lack of sunlight gives it its pearly hue.

You don't see it very often in the US, but if you find some, buy it, because I'm about to show you one of the best ways to serve it.

♪ Thank you for helping me.

>> Thank you so much.

>> I couldn't have done it without you.

[ Laughter ] I'm going to head to the kitchen to make a white asparagus salad gribiche and chicken paprikash.

And in honor of the gorgeous Danube River, I've created a special cocktail that I'm really excited about called the Danube 75.

♪ I'm going to make chicken paprikash, which is a dish that comes from Budapest.

Really wonderful.

But I've got this great group of students where with me.

"Students," but they're here to watch.

>> Yeah!

>> Chicken paprikash is a stew that's made with paprika and chicken, so it's simple, which is what I love about it.

It's really easy to make.

It takes about 30 minutes, and who doesn't love a stew that takes 30 minutes to make?

I'm starting with a little bit of olive oil.

You want to use a neutral oil, and when I say that I mean an oil like a canola oil, a sunflower oil, a safflower oil, vegetable oil.

Something like that in just a small amount in the pan.

I'm gonna heat that up... until the oil gets nice and hot and rippling.

So, you want the oil to be pretty hot.

I'm actually gonna add just a little bit more.

I want it to coat the bottom of the pan.

Now that the pan's rippling, I'm adding some onions.

I like to hear that sizzle.

[ Sizzling ] I'm also adding a few bay leaves, so I would say three is a good amount.

Bay has such wonderful flavor, so I added four.

We're cooking the onions until they're golden.

So you want nice high heat, but really watch them, stay with them, and you want to stir.

[ Sizzling continues ] You can see that the onions are just starting to turn golden, so I'm ready to add the garlic.

I'm adding lots of garlic, so chicken paprikash -- lots of garlic.

Remember that.

If you like garlic, you're gonna love the dish.

That's just minced garlic.

Ooh!

Smells so good.

As soon as you smell the garlic, you know that it's kind of softened and then the aroma really comes out of the garlic.

But you don't want to cook that too long.

And now I'm ready to add the paprika.

Remember -- paprika, paprikash.

So you want to add lots.

Check this out.

This is sweet paprika.

Hungarian paprika.

I'm adding two big spoonfuls, and then I'm also adding a little bit of hot paprika.

Don't add two big spoonfuls of that, but this amount will be good.

When you're storing your paprika, always leave that in your refrigerator.

There's more oil in paprika, and it keeps it much fresher.

The great thing is we bought the paprika in the market and it's really fresh and Hungarian, so it's gonna be really good.

Alright, next what I'm going to do is I'm adding the tomatoes.

Remember I told you it's a quick dish?

These are just fresh tomatoes.

You could also used canned if you wanted to, but these are fresh tomatoes.

It's not a tomato sauce.

It's really a dish that's flavored with a little bit of tomato.

So I'm not adding tons, but these are just fresh tomatoes that have been diced.

[ Sizzling ] And I'm adding some peppers.

These are Hungarian peppers, which they call paprika, which is very interesting.

Sometimes I get mixed up when I hear that.

And we'll stir this together.

So, what you're really doing is toasting that paprika.

The smell is really, really wonderful.

And now we're ready to add the chicken stock.

So, I'm making this with chicken thighs.

I removed the bones and I made a broth out of the bones from the chicken thighs.

So a little bit of chicken stock.

[ Sizzling ] And you have to have a big ladle like this.

[ Chuckles ] So, I just add enough broth to cover the vegetables and also that paprika, the garlic, the onions.

And now bring that back up to a boil.

Smells so good between the garlic and the paprika.

Now, when you're buying paprika, I know that some of you -- I'm even guilty of this -- you've got your spices, they're sitting in the cabinet for a year.

They're not gonna have the flavor that this will.

This is such fresh paprika.

You want to change your spices every six months.

At least.

Let me turn this down.

[ Bubbling ] Wow, it smells good.

Now, of course I need a little bit of salt... and some pepper.

And this is just chicken thighs.

These are boned and skinned, so skin removed, bone removed, and these are just cut into small pieces.

And then stir that together, and we'll just simmer it until the chicken is cooked.

Now, that's easy, right?

Oh!

This looks so good.

Add just a little bit more stock to cover your chicken, and then you're gonna cook it for about 10 to 15 minutes until the chicken is done.

I'm going to heat up these egg noodles with a little bit of butter and some salt.

They'll be so good together with the paprikash.

And for the garnish, usually it's sour cream, but I think it what would be really nice is to mix sour cream and yogurt together just to lighten it up a a little bit.

So, a little sour cream... ...and a little bit of yogurt.

That gives a nice tang.

Stir that together, and I like to season that with a little bit of salt, too.

So, you can take your egg noodles, and I like to place those around the edge like this.

I'm gonna put that wonderful stew right in the middle.

You could use any kind of egg noodle, or of course you could make your own pasta or egg noodles.

That would be great too.

And now you take that wonderful stew and you can just ladle that right into the middle.

I would remove that bay leaf.

This smells so good.

It's that paprika.

Yum.

A nice big dollop of that sour cream and yogurt.

You can also take a little bit of parsley, maybe some nice big leaves of parsley.

I'm just using Italian parsley, and you can place a few of those over the top.

And finally, the last thing... remember those nice Hungarian peppers?

I thought a little garnish of the pepper might be nice.

Maybe three.

♪ There you go.

Chicken paprikash in honor of Budapest.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I was so excited to see white asparagus in the market.

You know, I saw the paprika, the white asparagus.

It just made me excited to cook here in Budapest.

So, white asparagus.

You want to peel it -- a little different than the green, but of course you can use green if you don't want to or you can't get white asparagus.

So, first of all, you're going to cut off the bottom.

So, I cut the bottom like this, and then I take a peeler and I peel it, but one thing that's really important is don't pick it up and do it because it will snap and you can break the asparagus.

So it's really good to just keep it on your work surface... and you're going to peel it.

But I peel it pretty deep, so I can continue to go around about twice.

And you don't have to do the top.

And that's exactly what you want it to look like.

So, I think one will be enough.

Just kidding.

Okay, so I've already done some.

Alright, we have some boiling water, and what I'm adding to this -- and this is very important with white asparagus -- I'm adding four teas-- these are small spoons, but I'm adding four of salt flavor... and I'm also adding some sugar.

And the sugar is because sometimes the asparagus can be a little bit bitter, so I'm adding two spoonfuls of the sugar.

And for flavor, I'm adding a little bit of lemon and also some lime.

But lemon first, and I just squeeze it through my hands to catch any seeds.

So, it's a good amount of lemon juice.

And then your lime juice.

So, place your asparagus in the boiling water.

We're gonna cook that for about eight minutes until it's tender.

The asparagus, it's nice and tender.

I'm just checking it with a small knife.

It's been about eight minutes.

It depends upon the size of your asparagus.

If it's, you know, bigger, wider pieces, it's gonna take a little longer.

I have a pan with a little bit of butter in it.

This is just melted butter.

Now, remember, we already have the salt in it, so we don't need to salt again.

Alright, I'm gonna put this on the plate.

I'm not really cooking the asparagus anymore.

What I'm doing is just to coat it with that nice butter for the flavor.

And set the asparagus aside so it cools while you make the sauce.

I thought that making a sauce gribiche would be delicious with this asparagus.

It's a French sauce, and it's got all of these really aromatic ingredients that go in it, and it's really delicious.

So, I'm starting with some capers, and just a few capers.

And you can chop those if you want, but if you have small ones like this, you don't even need to do that.

I'm also adding some shallot.

Shallots are so delicious.

They're a little bit more mild than a white onion or a yellow onion, so I'm adding those along with some mustard.

Some grainy mustard would be delicious.

You could also use Dijon if you want.

And some cornichons.

So, that's just some pickles that have been chopped so, you know, they have that nice acidity.

You can see all of these ingredients -- well, at least the capers, the cornichon, and the mustard.

They all have a lot of flavor, but they have some good saltiness too so you don't have to add much.

And I have to tell you, I love all of these ingredients, so I'm salivating right now.

And I love this dish.

I think this -- I love this sauce.

It's a delicious one to have for vegetables, but it's also nice on a piece of grilled fish or chicken.

It's really great.

You can stir this together with a little bit of white wine vinegar.

Just a few tablespoons.

And we're really going by flavor, how does it taste.

So I never really worry about exact amounts.

I can always correct it.

And, of course, you need a little bit of oil.

I'm adding a little bit of extra virgin olive oil.

Traditionally, this sauce is made with a neutral oil, but I love extra virgin olive oil and this is my version of a gribiche.

Sometimes people emulsify the egg with the mustard.

I just think I'm making it a little bit more simply by just stirring all these ingredients together.

But I will be adding the eggs.

I'm adding a bit more cornichon.

And also a little bit more mustard.

You can just see I was looking for a little bit more texture from the cornichons and also the flavor.

And since I love mustard...

This will be so good with the white asparagus.

But as I said, green will also work.

Okay, next I'm going to chop some eggs.

So, this is a hard-cooked egg.

I'm using two different kinds of eggs.

I'm using one that's hard-cooked and one that's partially cooked, you'll see as the garnish.

For the hard-cooked eggs, what I did was I put the eggs in cold water, brought them up to a boil, turned the heat off as soon as they came to a boil, and then I covered them for 12 minutes, take them out, immediately put them in ice-cold water.

And one of the little tricks.

I know some of you have a hard time peeling eggs.

Make sure they're not too fresh.

That's one thing, but what I like to do is I take them out, I crack them, and I put them back in a bowl of water because what happens is the water goes in between the shell and also the flesh of the egg and they're much easier to peel.

This gives a lot of texture to this sauce, a really delicious flavor.

And a little bit of parsley too.

So, that's just chopped parsley, just some nice flat-leaf parsley.

I always add the eggs and the parsley towards the end.

And of course, you have to taste it, but this is my favorite part.

I love to taste.

Mmm.

That will be so good with the asparagus.

Mmm!

You get the nice acidity.

You also taste the cornichons, the shallots.

It's just a really wonderful sauce.

You really have to try making this one.

I love it.

Doesn't need salt.

If you want to add a little bit of pepper, of course you can add that too.

I'll just add a little bit... and stir that together, too.

Alright.

Oh, now that the asparagus is cooled a little bit, we can take that nice gribiche sauce.

You can just spoon that over the top.

And finally, I have some eggs that are cooked so they're soft in the center, and I love them cooked like this when they're nice and yellow on the inside.

What I do is I bring a pot of water to a boil, I add the eggs, and add them very carefully so you don't crack the eggs, and you cook them for exactly eight minutes.

And then you remove those, put them in some ice water, and then when they're cool, once again, you can crack them the same way so that they're easy to peel.

What I do is just to cut those in half.

And I love the centers.

I think they taste really good too like this.

I'm trying to decide where to put this one.

[ Chuckles ] And those need a little bit of salt and also some pepper.

Very important.

And...I also like to add some chives.

And then a few leaves of Italian parsley.

Just a few leaves will be nice on this.

♪ Finished.

So, there's your asparagus with gribiche.

♪ I hope these dishes will transport you to a city that I love and love sharing with you.

As we say goodnight to Budapest, you can see why it's called the Pearl of the Danube.

♪ >> You can visit my website to find and print selected recipes, get information about each episode, learn more about the show, see behind-the-scenes photos, provide e-mail feedback, and more.

It's all at joanneweir.com/plates-places.

>> "Joanne Weir's Plates & Places" is brought to you by... >> With AmaWaterways, guests can climb... pedal... and journey beyond the beaten path while cruising on storied rivers across Europe.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

>> Our winemaking is the result of teamwork and patience.

Working together, we dedicate our best efforts with every vine, grape, and bottle -- Washington Vintners.

>> Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes, only Mutti.

>> For baking, cooking, and snacks, California Figs from Valley Fig Growers.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪