FOOD IS A STORY, A MOMENT OF FAMILY GATHERING OR WITH YOURSELF
Here you will not find recipes, but stories that will remind you of tastes and happenings. I will make you craving to relive those moments and why not, to sit together at glass of wine tasting and talking about food
Oltenian brine...
Winter is hard in the country, but beautiful. Especially now that we have no shortage compared to 20 years ago, when in winter you could die of hunger or cold. Hard to imagine today when we have everything.
Salted fish was one of the few ways to preserve fish caught in the fall. And in our area, the big fish was for special occasions or for going to the doctor, so only the small fish remained. Salted wafers lying on a string were the best brine we could eat in the winter and spring until fish could be caught again in abundance. With freshly made pita on the country stove, soaked in water, it was delicious.
I also satisfied my appetite this year with a brine of wafers caught in the winter and preserved using the traditional method. It's tasty, but I think the best is Aquaculture Sea Bream. I don't know which one is healthier, but it doesn't seem to matter anymore, because anyway this food is on the way to extinction... like many others....
Cruel fish... and Romanian...
The Chinese have traditions and simple, but healthy and tasty food. They also had specific ingredients that can only be found at them.
We also eat fish with rice, but you don't really find Romanian fish sushi in Romania. Although we have a good and perfect fish to be eaten raw.
Perch prepared for sushi has a very good taste. not better than salmon, but it has its own characteristics and it is certainly better than sardines or even other fish from which sushi is made.
It turned out well in the end, even if after putting it in the freezer the fish didn't taste the same anymore. I also confirmed the key to good sushi, that the fish is fresh and not freshly thawed :).
And if you have a little help to make it quickly, then you can enjoy a tasty sushi like in Asia and here in Europe :)
The dessert of all 90's kids...
I don't know how often you make desserts at home, but in my family they were only made on special occasions. Maybe they needed eggs and they weren't really available, or sugar, which was a bit expensive, anyway, only on holidays did you get a good cake.
For the rest, hard donuts (probably because they didn't have egg :)) ) and pancakes less often because it's nicer. The jam was also a rare element, as the fruits were put in the bowl, the goodness of sugars was not wasted on a few jars of jam as you would get diabetes :).
I make it now too, but I know how hard it was for some families in the post-December period, so I enjoy pancakes with plum or quince jam with a glass of cold milk...yummy, how tasty I am May.
While I was writing I realized why they weren't done that often. Well, if they don't go to be eaten with wine :))
Oltenian crayfish soup
When you hear Olten crayfish soup, you think of Olt crayfish, those red ones, very tasty by the way. But when you look at the picture, it seems that something doesn't connect :)
It's a soup for connoisseurs or for those who want to experience a different taste, which at first you don't really know where to get it.
It was the soup from the cold season, when cabbage juice was made, and the leeks were still green in the cellar and people were still fasting thinking about Christmas pork. Mama Vica did it very well and the crayfish came out well. That is, they remained stuffed, not as I have heard from relatives (I won't name them because they get angry :)), that the stuffing came out of the cold peppers and floated through the soup ;)
It worked for me on the second try, luck with the "guinea pigs" with whom I tasted the food because they were patient and with the chef because he knows how to adjust the sourness or saltiness not only from the level of degrees of the next door. Both the first time and the second time, the company was one that appreciates the story, the patience and the taste experience, which gives me the energy to try a third time and with some experimental contribution from my side as well :). I promise that mamaliga and tuica do not intervene with any experiment.
Returning to the soup, I also recently found out that Olten crayfish are not found on all roads. And in order to line them up and dry them, I have to take them from their area, not from the Bucharest markets. This year's crabs were put by my mother 2 years ago, but this year I also started to stock up in Vicai's pantry, continuing and keeping my mother's memory alive.
Woven fabric...
I have been looking for a long time to buy marrows and I have just found after months of searching the Obor Square and the surrounding butchers. I finally found a booth in the hall, where it looked like they had fresh beef and many types of entrails or organs. I passed other times, but it wasn't much of a commodity because I was late.
And that's how I bought about 3 kg of marrow, because I couldn't find smaller packages. So I'm going to keep testing some of the recipes I've eaten in the few restaurants where they are.
I liked the most how they did it at the Pink Snake, with a lot of spritz and old fiddle music, with good friends and few memories, because they caught us there in the mornings. It was as if they had a white sauce and either we were too hungry or the spritz made them slip very well, being the only tasty dish I remember from there.
I also ate steaks at one point elsewhere, but I had never eaten braids and pulled through corn. So I set to work and braided a few tails from the marrow, with pickles and a red wine that came out very good. Not very different in taste from the breaded brain, but finer and more penetrating.
I recommend you try it at least once, for the sake of taste and culinary experience. With a glass of red wine of course, or with several splashes of white wine in the company of a dear friend.
Cage ice cream
When you hear about the cage, you think of alms and cemeteries, by no means a dessert. I first made the cage at an unhappy time, but - knowing that my mother was joking and smiling - I turned it into a dessert.
And the cage ice cream, very creamy and refreshing, came out.
I actually "stole" the recipe of a cake eaten at a Romanian restaurant, the only one where I saw the cage for dessert on the menu.
I like the cage, with the candies on top and a lot of walnuts. It was the only candy we ate in the country when I was little, taken directly from the basket brought from the church, where it had been consecrated.
Now, you get the glass cage, with chocolate and other candies, but it seems that nothing has changed in its taste no matter what other flavors are added.
Costica the Wise was also in the cosnita who led his mother on the last road ... well how could it be otherwise?
Is tart not pizza...
Every year on my birthday I cook various dishes for the guests who step on my doorstep. The turkey on the site is made at such a time as well as many other dishes that are not found here.
Also on my birthday, I always celebrate at the office with my colleagues and I am one of those who never took a day off on his birthday. With a country girl or something prepared by me, I liked to have them almost like a second family on this day ... I still have fond memories of all the teams I worked for ...
This year was a special year, that's why I dedicate a line to it in food stories, because the second family has changed and my day caught me with a new employer, a totally new team and here it is not always as at the beginning of relationships and you can have a feeling of unfamiliarity ...
So I did what I know how to do best and I fit into the landscape better than my pessimistic mouths told me. It was a birthday according to those in a family in which you were born and raised and I can only appreciate and thank you for the smooth and beautiful acclimatization.
Of course, the following days they also enjoyed my tarts made in the set of trays I received as a gift, asking for the recipe at the end, which I rarely do on this site :).
But look, I felt so well accommodated that I also write the recipes for the tarts, that there were three in number: with Peppers, with Salmon and with Mushrooms.
Peppers stuffed responsibly
In the summer, we don't eat sarmale in our area, but we don't sit and wait in the winter to make our appetites, but we replace the sauerkraut sheet with the bell pepper :). A delicious food with a special smell that brings summer and fresh spices from the area. Well, in sarmale, the meat is fresh, but the vegetables are preserved. With stuffed peppers, everything is fresh and felt. And the fresh tomato that is "covered" with peppers is the icing on the cake.
It didn't work out for me like my grandma from Islaz does, but I'll try a few more times and I'll pay for the cost. The pepper came out tasty, probably from the pork raised by the godmother with corn and bran :), but that tied and tasty sauce still didn't come out properly.
I also tried to make some peppers stuffed with mushrooms, to eat Thea as she still doesn't have a green wave of pork. For the pork peppers, with added cream, the spritz with Costica cel Bland and soda, they were really tasty. But to those in the mushrooms it was as if that tasty sauce gave them a special taste, so I put them in the blender and made a pepper cream soup filled with mushrooms :). A super recipe, tasty and unique. Of course, it was not eaten at home, you need a lot of confidence to eat this recipe. I finally "tricked" someone I trust to tell me if it would work or not added to the menu: P. See the crowd at my restaurant when I put this recipe on the menu :)
Palageni salad...
It was raining in my mouth when I remember those fist-sized tomatoes, torn straight from the stem, juicy, from which a large and tasty salad was made. With onions, cucumbers and thyme, to give an unforgettable taste on the summer heat of yesteryear. And let's not forget the cheese placed on top, which is like the icing on the cake ...
With this thought and memories of how it was on vacation with my grandparents in the country, when we watered the garden in the evening, I went to the market, on Sunday at noon in search of the old-fashioned palagens. Until recently and good luck with others who see other perspectives of words, I did not realize that Palagean comes from the plantain, meaning red :). This is how words "peel" and all kinds of expressions come out, so unique and which awaken in us beautiful memories.
I found palageni, red Ox Heart tomatoes, in one place in the market, but they looked so good that I could see them biting them there on the stall ... You know them from a post office and I don't really understand why people avoid them to buy. Prefers those small, sticky, hard and almost tasteless tomatoes. Please, you can find good tomatoes in the market if you know how and you have the patience to look carefully.
The salad was made in a few minutes and was eaten just as quickly. Luckily I bought more palageni because tonight I'm sure I'll make another portion ... Costica the Young will also be part of the event, recently bottled, ready for tastings and such moments...
Filled fish not stuffed ...
Fishing relaxes me the most, especially raptor fishing. And if it is in the Danube delta, then it is the peak of relaxation and fishing. And it's not necessarily about what you catch, but more about boating on canals, in peace, with landscapes and wild nature.
I have so many stories from Delta, from the first time I was quite late, in 2012 when I went fishing, but I didn't untie the rods but I stayed relaxed, until the last 6 years when I went with my colleagues twice a year / friends / loved ones to an extended weekend of fishing, relaxation and recovery.
I'm not saying that before fishing for raptor, I fished for carp on ponds near Bucharest, and I went more spritz than fishing. Well, just stay in one place and wait for the "monster" to come. And he never came.
Delta food is similar to landscapes, which amazes and relaxes you. Light food with a lot of hard drinks ... well, we are close to Ukraine and Russia.
This is definitely the family trait, Dad Costica being a fisherman on the Danube, and my father, if he had time, would go fishing in the morning. My brother and I never went fishing, but I can't wait to get his germ in :). I listened to many stories both from my father and from my father, from fishing with toppa, to raft, to taparina, to buga ... not to mention food, fish soup in a cauldron, salted and dried fish then made on the stove ... hmmm it was raining in my mouth.
But today it's about the fish I've been trying to catch lately, the pike and I tried to do it as it is done in the delta, as I did some time ago with a beautiful plateau like the Olt river in the Danube. I found it a little dry, but next time I will contribute to the classic recipe and with something personal to give it an interesting taste. But with a glass of Costica cel Bland, which was the main element around which the idea of stuffed pike, and a sour cream mujdei, came out excellent.
The beef from the magazine...
For me, the pandemic had an important benefit, namely the fact that I cooked more at home and I allowed myself to test various recipes. The most successful test was beef, which was not as common in my repertoire.
I had my favorite meats that when I wanted to enjoy something special I seasoned with an interesting garnish, such as mutton (delicious mutton that can be made in various ways) and fish (where I had quite a lot of variety to prepare something tasty and you did not fail).
And look, at the end of 2020, finding in the walks in the neighborhood with the little one 4 different butchers as specific, I started to test. And I started methodically with Entrecote, both matured and fresh, which as I evolved took on flavor and taste became more and more special until it started to come out perfectly :)., Continuing and culminating with the beef filet, which towards my humble ignorance I discovered it very recently, carefully prepared and made like in specialized books. I didn't know that beef is not like pork, but I was also learning after a few culinary failures that came out as the language of country shoes, I began to understand more, including why we Romanians do not have the tradition of beef, as in other countries. Well, under the Ottoman Empire it was normal to eat pork, the meat they did not touch, and in communism the slaughter of cows was forbidden, with the meat covering our external debt :).
So, I recommend you to read a little about beef, to watch some videos with great chefs who prepare fine stakes and you will see how you'll prepare your tasty steak in 15 minutes maximum ... Butchers have started to bring good meat quality beef ... you just have to search and go periodically to see what they bring ... and some failures to make it perfect at a certain moment :)... Do not forget about the wine, without it, there is no perfect stake.
When the kid want sweets
You start and make them, of course, if you don't have a cookie at hand ... and let it be something as fast as otherwise you lost it on the shelf ... :)
Normally I wouldn't have written this story, because when I was a child I didn't eat muffins, but now it's already the childhood dessert of the little ones and the most handy recipe that parents can prepare for their children with what they have at hand: ).
So, keeping the spirit of my dream of creating a bridge between generations, this recipe is the bridge that builds the bridge between what their children want (something dlce) and what their parents do, who are more or less open or less open to adding sweet in they ... well they can be made with chocolate, sugar, meringue, candies on top to look colorful (it's not bad and it's so fun for children) or with carrots, bananas, apples, currants, wholemeal flour and maple syrup how were the ones made by me now not to get my artisan cook's license for the children around me: P. Let's see what we vary in the near future and discover new tastes ...
And see what Thea will remember when she grows up with the muffins made by herself, from which the mythical eagerly eats because we also add an "unhealthy" ingredient for the taste ... like butter (biiio, normal :)) in this composition that gave it an interesting taste ... I say, to eat the mythical two breathless muffins ...
So, we will continue to build the bridge between the younger generations, through interesting flavors and good cheer ...
Childhood small croissants...
For two years I have been struggling to keep the Christmas pig to make the croissants of my childhood in the country, but I have not succeeded so far. Either my nose became sensitive and the bone was not what I thought it was, or it was something that was not related to the pig's trance. Maybe this year (pfoaaa, we are already in February 2021), when I will cut the pig, identify the mystery and either I quit my job or I will succeed.
Osanza to buy I said I do not want to try, given what happens to me osanza from my own pig, so I will give it another chance this year to see if we will get those croissants with multiple layers and unmatched taste of good. My godmother made the best croissants and I remember that when we went with sorcova with Tataie Costica and my cousin, they were the tastiest sweets we ate in the whole village. With shit and powdered sugar on top (not so much but enough to be tasty) they were super tasty.
Here's who I'm going to ask for help this year in the pig slaughter to guide me to get the bone out properly and I'll ask the recipe to be as close as possible to what I remember.
Until then, look, I used butter instead of osanza and to eat it, I also replaced normal flour with wholemeal flour ... I don't know what has normal flour taken from the country, ground at the mill, but it also works with wholemeal flour, however, it is not so elastic and malleable.
Some croissants came out :) crispy enough for Miss Thea to ask for and eat them all. If you're wondering what I replaced the shit with (I just don't give shit to children when they're little :), I put prunes and cranberries ...
and the good ones I also ate a few seasoned with a glass of Costica cel Intelept 2018, to feel the flavor properly ...
