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
Sarmale nest
I think that the emblematic food of Romania is Sarmaua. Well, everywhere you go you find a certain recipe, certain habits and various tastes and they all serve you with a portion whether you want it or not;).
From turkey, chicken, mushrooms, rice, pork, beef ... in cabbage or vine, whatever, they have a demented taste ...
In my area, Sarmalele is made in juice, like a soup and a main dish together ... so tasty that you eat every last drop of juice from the plate, and sarmalele, as big as half a fist, you eat three at a time. four at a time;).
I said to make my own recipe from the country, only in the oven and without juice. Freshly minced meat, plenty of thyme and pickled cabbage brought from home, made it come out very tasty ... And with Costica the young 2020, it turned out tasty as I never imagined ...
Even if it's not like in Paris, as my former colleagues said on a whatsapp group, but at least we can enjoy a portion of authentic sarmale and an artisanal wine to match ...
In the shade of the grill
Autumn is the season for barbecues, but not for those small barbecues, pastrami and other sausages that fill the whole neighborhood with smoke, but the barbecues on which the vegetables are cooked to be preserved for the winter ...
A real culinary delight, which also comes with patience and meticulousness, which can take you a few days if you want to make preserves for the whole winter as our parents did ... and as only some do now. Well, the stonemasons complained that they no longer have anyone to sell canned vegetables, because it is easier to buy from a supermarket made in Bulgaria than to manage yourself and make them as you know knowing for sure what they contain.
Ever since I was a child, eggplant salad with fresh tomatoes was my favorite, with hot bread and coarse salt sprinkled on top ... too bad that fewer and fewer canning and prefer to buy from the supermarket losing that authentic taste that does not you can never forget it ...
I will continue to make them every year, as my childhood tastes are very dear to me, which I would also like to pass on ...
Stories with hamsie
I have so many stories with and about Hamsii that it will be very difficult for me to summarize them all here ... in the mountains, at the sea, at home, wherever I feel like it, and the culmination is that I do it quite often, I find to eat some anchovies :).
At sea, you can find them everywhere, but very hard in Mamaia ... well there is no Hamsie with fitze and the rarer they are to be found the more select they are;) ... I walked an hour on the beach a year ago to I'm looking for a portion of anchovies;).
In Customs or smaller locations, anchovies are at home ... well, what better way to eat anchovies and enjoy a cold beer with gashka dancers after a dancing evening ... even on the sunbed (hmmm, on the sunbed at sea, evening looking at the starry sky ...) seasoned with breaded mussels and special topping are so tasty ...
I'm already craving both sea and anchovies;)
In the mountains, surprisingly, I found them there too ... one evening I was really sick of how much I ate ... well, how much mutton pastrami with polenta to eat in the mountains? :) An anchovy works if you find it in the menu, right? :)
At home I get stained late in the evening, as in this picture, and you wander around the city to find anchovies :). At the fish market in Obor they looked very bad, so frozen they were safer and tastier:) ...
With a very cold beer, polenta and garlic perfect for your soul ....
Roses sweets...
I'm not a big fan of jams because they have a lot of sugar, but I have a few that I would eat anytime, anyway ... One of them is that of roses ...
It wasn't done in my area, but I had a colleague in high school whose parents made rose syrup ... it was so good, with cold soda, that I couldn't leave to visit :). That taste (and of course the thought of Balchik :)) I always remember when I taste the rose jam ...
So fine, velvety, it is an elegant dessert that can get you out of trouble when you run out of ideas to impress someone :))
Especially with a picture to match, you can't even see what's on the plate :). For example, have you seen my jam caramelize? :)
The picture is taken long after I made the jam (about a month) and I did not find the rose from which I made the jam (it was more purple).
for me, the idea started from the roses in the yard that smelled so beautiful and passed away quite quickly, and in a month it will make other roses again. And I said that I can use them for another purpose than to let them wither:) ... Hmmm, you really thought I wanted to impress someone and I went crazy picking roses in the neighborhood :)
It goes very well with a cup of warm milk, another taste that reminds me of childhood mornings when we eat a cup of milk with a slice of bread with margarine, butter and jam
Pizza stories...
Well, the best pizza is in Naples and as we get there hard, you start and try to remember the tastes there testing in the house ... and it didn't turn out as bad as I thought :).
I think everyone has made pizza at home once. as it turns out, but being quite simple at the base, why not try? :) Just because the perfect pizza is made in the special pizza oven? :)
When I was a child, once a month my father would make pizza in an oven-sized pan with sausages, cheese salami and lots of olives. It was a delight. We are waiting for this moment of the month to come to eat delicious pizza ... I think that's why I like peasant pizza :)
True, the best pizza is in Naples ... I ate a delicious pizza in a shop next to the train station, on that menu you ordered separately ... it was with pumpkin flowers stuffed with mozzarella ... a delight
But my pizza didn't turn out bad either ... A delicious Margherita like her mother ...
This is the jam...
I kept eating jams and marmalades, but the tastiest and most special of all remains the green walnut jam. It is that taste that surprises you with a lot of courage to make your taste buds take on the plains ...
I thought it was autumn, from bigger walnuts, but going through the market in search of cherries, I found an uncle who told me that now is the jam season and they looked too good not to take ...
It's hard and requires a lot of care, but it's worth the effort and any price you see and it seems a bit expensive ... now let's not exaggerate but it's worth something more than one of the classic foreheads.
The walnut you see in the picture was the only walnut that I looked for in the whole Circus Park, which seemed to be there to be discovered and made a blog star. It hurt my heart that I broke it, but if it stayed there it would surely fall on the ground at some point and it seems to fit better in the picture ...;)
Home made breakfast
I think everyone ate bread as breakfast as a child. I ate one box at a time and if I sat through the figider and had lunch, I would fake it with another box :). In some cases I delicately put fish to have a better taste, and whip Cristi!
Now I don't think you're giving children commercial stains because it's not healthy, right? :) How to eat pork or chicken pate? God forbid he can grow wings or a drugstore :))
But know that it is very easy to do at home. And if you want to make sure that the baby's wings don't grow, you can take bio-trio-mio livers from the market and you've definitely solved the problem.
I add a little rum to make sure that no one comes close to the goodness of the pate ... and this time I put cherry liqueur to have a sweet-salty taste ... refrigerated with melted butter on top not to oxidize, a delicious breakfast ...
Special Salad
I would eat fish caviar at any meal and at any time of the day. Even now, when I write, I feel like just looking at the picture, so I went to put another slice of bread and Carp Caviar. But the best caviar is pike, especially if they are fresh and you know how to make them properly. Unfortunately, only Carp eggs are found throughout the year, Pike eggs being the best in February-March, when they are the largest, before the Prohibition period when they lay them.
They are made very simple, especially if you have a mixer or a vertical blender at hand, and the taste of home-made ones compared to the commercial ones is unmistakable. I put lemon salt to be closer to the taste of childhood, when lemon was a delicacy;).
Occasionally, I put trout eggs on top of it both for the design (well, look what a nice picture came out :)) but also for the taste. They are very tasty and go great with a Costica cel Bland ....
Father's Duty
Every dad is responsible for cleaning the children both literally and figuratively :). When it comes to food, I'm the best at cleaning, so I laugh at everything left uneaten after eating Thea. Including "cheese bears" on the verge of expiration or falling on the floor while eating :). I think it's fun :), now I don't know how you do it, but I don't think it's too different: P
So, as Thea likes very much currants, we have always a big stock due to COVID and we always have the fridge stuffed with currants when we find something fresh and beautiful.
These days, it seems that the young lady didn't like the currants very much, so Dad had the duty to clean. But still, how to eat 300g of currants in such a short time? Especially considering my last experience with the excess currants and berries when my cheek swelled from so much salivation, that the excess vitamin C is not good for the body, I decided that I have to cook them in some way.
So, I started looking for a good currant dessert. I also had freshly made Mint Liqueur, so it was a refreshing dessert.
And so I made the wonderful currant tart, with wholemeal flour (hence the answer to the question why the cookie didn't grow so much and it's not yellow? As you can see from those beautiful pictures from the recipes on various recipe sites) and as I'm quite stingy with sugar, I sprinkled some maple syrup on the plate, not to be reproached for not making the dessert sweet :) :)
Skinless sausages secret
If we keep talking about tradition, a return to the origins and how we bridge the gap between generations, today, May 1, is one of these moments. And you can do it traditionally, but still slightly adapted to the context;). I know that many of you turn up your noses when you hear when you were little, but our parents' generations, when they went out on the terrace, ate a baby and drank a beer :). I don't really see what's wrong with that ...
The taste of the little ones is one that you rarely find when you prepare them at home, to be exactly as they were once at the fairs or in the markets, with that elongated mustard, served on a cardboard "platter" and with half a loaf of bread. And who doesn't know about the legend of the little ones on the Black Hill? :) They are said to be the tastiest little ones in Romania. Or who ate small at Obor Square? the obor market has become a tourist attraction, and the terrace there as well. Every time I go to the market I hear strangers standing in line at small :).
It's the only food that wine doesn't go to, so they slam a beer beer, cold and maybe a little long with water :):) ... and the beer used to be thirsty. Now, the more you drink, the more thirsty you become ... I'm talking about draft beer, not quality beer ... And I would have stories with little ones, even romantic ones, if I remember correctly smiling :)).
So, today I ordered at a real Romanian restaurant small, beer and mustard of theirs, which I enjoyed outdoors to celebrate a little today ... I would have made a barbecue, but I leave it to another this time, because today I let the planet breathe a little and I support the restaurants that are still as they are ...
Good luck and let's live, celebrating May 1st working with a little one and a beer :)
The story of the larch
At Easter, it is eaten traditionally, with specific dishes and of course a soup made "as in childhood". Well, who doesn't remember Easter as a child? I remember how Vica's mother would face us at sunrise, I would put one foot on the iron fence, one on the grass freshly brought by my father Costica, she would say a few bows, she would bow to us and we would eat Easter ... it was such a deep feeling, a pity that he forgot ... The Easter soup was the attraction of the event, with many fresh greens, plenty of larch and why not with meat and lamb entrails .... Well, just what the green larch appeared and gives the best taste to a soup ...
Mamaia Vica is a specialist in this field, but this year I made it myself, according to the recipe already established ... With a tuiculita next to a red egg, it works excellently ...
But next year I think I'll enjoy it in the country garden ...
The food from isolation
I remember the first days when the state of emergency was declared, when I also went shopping to make some supplies. The most empty shelves with food ingredients were rice, flour, beans, pasta and of course toilet paper :). It was known what times were approaching.
And of course I bought from each one, because maybe it will be their turn at some point when there will be no fresh ingredients to buy.
But the fresh ingredients did not disappear from the shelves so my beans had not reached their goal and I felt sorry for it to be forgotten somewhere for hard times :).
So, remembering the beans we ate with our grandparents, I got to work :). With green garlic, olive oil and red onion on top is a delight ...
Not to mention the red wine that goes great and the atmosphere of tranquility and spring that surrounds us ...
It's not that bad in isolation, and the food seems to have a different taste ... is it from the wine or from the topping that has been added in abundance?
#WeStayHomeAndCook
Spring came but we didn't get to enjoy it too much. In fact, if the atmosphere remained as quiet as it is now, I think we would enjoy nature and its beauty more.
Only after two weeks of staying in the house and doing more complex shopping plans than a spying mission with gloves, masks, a plan of how and what to achieve :), I managed to "go crazy" with a spring cake, Among the "office" activities at home, Thea who managed to fall asleep at lunch and other administrative tasks through the house.
I was reading a post by a colleague about work-life balance, which is more unbalanced as you need to deal with everything at home :). Fortunate that I am dressing in my shirt in the morning when I go to "viviciu" and in the evening I dress in "house clothes" and do not stay in pajamas because it disturbs the balance :).
Coming back to the tart, this time I tried something a little different, inspired by several types of tarte and combining with a pizza counter, seasoned with basil, also Theei liked itwho ate with appetite between playing in the sand and climbing on the slide. Well, otherwise, how to eat? At the table? Noooo !! :) :)
And the new shape, carefully made with the help of woodworking used the first time since I bought it a few years ago AKA the successor or the facet :), in which the composition is baked inside, with the ingredients not prepared before in the pan, makes the cake even juicy and tasty and healthier.
And to know that it is done quickly, as you taste two glasses of Costica the Wise:) ...
#StayHomeAndTryCooking as it is fun ... a pie, a pancake, it balances life :)
First T "drawn" at home
As I said in the previous story, I like grilled beef. So I will write to you about it twice in a row :). I have not eaten many times done "by the book" in specialized restaurants, because I find it too expensive and I'm a bit scratchy anyway :).
But that's until I discovered two very fine shops where you can buy a very good Romanian beef, matured or fresh, well cut (as I said before, beef meat need to be cut carefully) and at a decent price. Of course, if you do not look good at the price and throw yourself like a "connoisseur", you will be like me once when i almost passed away when i saw the bill :) :).
The first Romanian T-bone (in Romanian I do not know what this piece of meat is called :) as I would have said in Romanian), I made it "by the book" at home to taste Costica cel Intelept 2018, with the new label and pulled out of the barrel the number two that was matured "by the book", one year.
And they matched so well, with a volcanic salt received from a friend from an exotic country that I didn't know how to use it until now, as if it were a special topping that you can find it only while enjoying a good coffee ...
Romanian Osso Buco
I really like grilled beef, with a glass of red wine next to it, but I recently discovered that there may be less sophisticated beef dishes that can be very tasty.
It all started from the pickled cabbage that I was struggling to consume during this time when is almost spring. I was still thinking about what to cook with it as it is a pity to ruin, it is so good :). And while reading that it is a very good garnish if you prepare it drawn to the pan, I went to buy a good beef to make a tasty stake, to which the garnish goes. I had some Christmas sausages made by my parents, put in the freezer, in case I didn't find what I needed at the store. After some searches in which the beef stake was undetectable, and between the "snitel" and the "gulas" I had little choice, the attention was drawn to a reef that looks very tasty :). It can be prepared also on grill but luckily I did not stay at the idea with the barbecue as probably today I would have hung out with it :)
What could be better than a steak cooked for several hours at a small fire next to some vegetables would have been better matched with pickled cabbage pulled in a pan with butter and could have been a better option than grilled house-made sausages?
So I opened a bottle of red wine, I put a glass, I started using it for steak, and the rest is already poetry .... :)
Breakfast Teleormaneano-Ardelenesc
I do not know what you ate in the winter in the country side when you were childrens, but in Teleorman area we ate heavy food. And you start with a healthy meal in the morning, to go well all day.
Well, how do you work hard all day long if you don't start with a consistent meal and of course with a rachia ? :)
The best food our grandmother prepared for us in the morning when we were children was scrambled eggs with "jumeri". And if there was a garlic bacon next to it, and the bread just came out of the oven, then clearly you didn't need anything else :). "Jumerile" were kept in butter , and are just good to put on anything, but especially on eggs. Heavy eating, for a cold winter day.
So, with the snow that visited us nowadays, I was craved for a breakfast like i used to eat when i was child. And I heard around that not only in my area we eat breakfast with " jumeri". So I combined the breakfast from Teleorman iwith the one from Transylvania, because at that time there was not much smoked bacon and the butter was not eaten on bread :). Well, you know that the greasy lard is good on the bread, with a little onion , and the smoked bacon goes perfectly with the red onion broken in the palms and sprinkled with coarse salt.
A delight to last all day. I don't think I'll eat soon anything tastier ...
