ROMANIAN FASTING DAY

Catalina, Diana, Ioana

A traditional Romanian Winter Season menu will feature lots of pork dishes, since people raise pigs just for the holidays. Very popular are sarmale, pork roasts, jellied pork, and as deserts Romanian panetone (sweet yeasted bread) filled with walnuts, raisins, poppy seeds, chocolate. We selected for you a few well known dishes which are also easy to prepare:

“Salata de boeuf” Cabbage rolls * Sarmale Romanian Style Polenta * Mămăligă Romanian Walnut Panetone * Cozonaci cu nu

ca Sweet bread snail shaped * Melci & more …

““Salata de boeuf”Salata de boeuf”

You need: 4-5 potatoes, 1 carrot, 1 parsley root, 1 parsnip (optional), 1 large celery root, a handful of green peas, 2 pickles, 1/2 lb/250 g poultry breast or beef sirloin, 300g mayo,1 tablespoon mustard, salt.

You get the best beef salad by boiling the vegetables with the meat (soup). Cube the potatoes and all other vegetables. The same goes for the meat and pickles. Place all in a bowl, add the peas and salt. In a separate bowl, mix mayo and mustard. Add 3/4 of the mayo mixture to the meat and vegetables and mix well. Arrange on a serving platter.

Smooth with a knife and then cover with the rest of the mayo mixture. Garnish with a few olives, hard boiled egg white, or egg slices, pickled red peppers, parsley, etc. Try to shape flowers, other designs.  

You need: 1 large soured cabbage or one large cabbage and sour kraut*, 1 3/4 lb/750 g ground meat (mixture of pork and beef is recommended), 4 large onions, 2 tablespoons rice, 3 tablespoons lard, 5-6 tomatoes or 1 tablespoon tomato sauce, salt, pepper, 1 qt/1 l sour cream

Grind the meat with a raw onion. Place in a bowl and mix with rice, pepper, salt and finely chopped onion slightly fried in two tablespoons of lard. Mix everything well. Core the cabbage with a sharp thin knife. Carefully remove the cabbage leaves, one by one, so that they do not tear. Cut larger leaves in 2 or 3 and then place a little meat in each cabbage piece and roll in. The smaller the rolls are, the tastier they are. Place a layer of rolls in the pan (take a deep one), then cover with a layer of chopped (julienned) cabbage, then a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes. Do this layering until all the rolls are made. The last layer must be tomato slices or add tomato sauce. Add a heaping tablespoon of lard, pour the borsh and let simmer on top of the range for 30 minutes. Then place in the oven so that the liquid is reduced. Serve with sour cream.

When soured cabbage is not available, use cabbage leaves scalded in water and sour kraut in stead of chopped (julienned) cabbage.

1 qt. Water, 1-2 cups corn meal, 2 tsp. salt Boil water and salt in a pot. When water is

boiling, gradually add corn meal while stirring the mixture with a whisk.

Stop adding corn meal when the mixture is considerably thick, though still liquid.

Continue to simmer for about 10-15 minutes, with caution since the mixture bubbles up and splatters hot polenta around.

Remove from the heat and serve with your favorite dish.

Romanian Walnut Panetone * Cozonaci cu nuca

Romanian Panetone dough: 2 lbs/1 kg flour, 10 oz/300 g sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk, 6 eggs, 2 oz/50 g yeast, 7 oz/200 g butter, 2 tablespoons oil, vanilla stick, salt, egg for washing the dough, grease for the pans.

Make a starter from yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix until the consistency of sour cream, add 2-3 tablespoons tepid milk, a little flour and mix well; sprinkle some flour on top, cover and let sit in a warm place to rise. Boil the milk with the vanilla stick (cut in very small pieces) and leave it on the side of the range, covered, to keep warm.

Mix the yolks with the sugar and salt, then slowly pour the tepid milk, stirring continuously. Place the risen starter in a large bowl and pour, stirring continuously, the yolk-milk mixture and some flour, a little at a time. Then add 3 whipped egg whites. When you finish this step, start kneading. Knead, adding melted butter combined with oil, a little at a time, until the dough starts to easily come off your palms. Cover with a cloth and then something thicker (like a blanket). Leave in a warm place to triple in bulk. If during kneading the dough seems too hard, you may add a little milk. If, on the contrary, the dough seems too soft, you may add a little flour.

Filling: 10 oz/300 g ground walnuts, 1 cup milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup rum, vanilla Melt the sugar in the warm milk with vanilla in a pot on the range. When the sugar is

melted, add the walnuts and keep stirring. After a few minutes of boiling, and after the filling has thickened, remove from heat and add rum. When the filling is cold, roll a sheet of dough about one finger thick, uniformly spread the walnut filling on top and roll like a jelly roll.

Grease a bread pan, place the roll inside, let rise for a while. Wash with egg and bake at medium heat. Take out of the pan as soon as it is done, place on a cloth and let cool.

Panetone dough, 2-3 tablespoons ground walnuts, mixed with a little sugar, syrup: 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup water, vanilla

Take pieces of dough the size of an egg and make finger thick ropes. Roll in the shape of a snail, set on a greased pan and let rise a little. Bake the snails, remove from the pan and quickly dunk into the hot syrup. Arrange on a plate and sprinkle with ground walnuts mixed with sugar.

How to Make Oven Beef JerkyMany people want to make oven beef jerky because they either do not have or do not want to buy a dehydrator.  Below you will find an easy to make and great tasting beef jerky recipe and all you need is your oven, some meat and a little bit of spices.  You will have great tasting jerky in no time!

Our recipe calls for flank steak and the first thing you will need to do is cut it.  However, before you try to cut the meat, make sure you put the meat in the freezer for half an hour because it will make it much easier to cut.  Cut the meat into a quarter inch strips and make sure to cut the meat across the grain.

Next you will need to get the following ingredients: 1 Clove

4 tb Lemon Juice 1/2 c Honey Pepper Salt 1/2 c Soy Sauce

Mix all ingredients together and them place the meat into the marinade.  Let this sit for at least 2 hours and a little longer if you are not in a hurry.  Better yet, place it in the refrigerator over night to let it really marinate nice and good.

After your meat has had time to marinate, it is time to cook it.  Take you meat slices and place them on a rack in a pan.  Place the pan in your over and cook at  150 degrees for about  8- 12 hours.  After eight hours you will want to start checking the jerky to make sure it is not overcooking. 

When the meat is done is should bend but not  break.  You want to make sure it is not still wet and has dried out to a good level.   If it breaks, you cooked it too long so make sure and adjust the cook time the following time you make your over beef jerky.  Now sit back and enjoy your beef jerky.

Boeuf Bourguignonne, A recipe which has been in our family for years and was always one of my mother's favourites. It is a lovely

comforting dish for cold winter evenings and can be left simmering slowly in the oven whilst you are out, ready for your return.

Serves 6 Ingredients: 1.25 kg round or chuck steak

Flour Olive oil Butter Black pepper 4 tablespoons cognac 2 carrots 1 leek 4 shallots Lemon juice 1 medium onion 1 clove garlic 1 bouquet garni Half a bottle of Red Burgundy Beef stock or water to cover 18 baby onions Sugar 12 button mushrooms Finely chopped parsley

Method: Remove excess fat from the beef, cut into large cubes and roll in flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2

tablespoons of butter in a large frying pan. Brown the meat, season and add the cognac. Ignite the cognac, then when burned off, put the meat into a casserole. Coarsely chop the carrots, leek, shallots, onion and garlic and cook in the oil remaining in the pan. Transfer to the casserole with the meat.

Add the bouquet garni. Pour over all but four tablespoons of the wine and enough water or stock to cover. Put the lid on the casserole and cook in a moderate oven (370F) for 1.5 to 2 hours. Remove from the oven, skim off any fat on the sauce, then gradually stir in 1 tablespoon of flour. Put the lid back on and return to the oven for a further 2 to 3 hours. When the meat is nearly ready brown the baby onions in butter in a saucepan with a little sugar. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of red wine, cover and cook over a low heat until the baby onions are almost tender. Meanwhile saute the mushrooms in the remaining oil and butter and a little lemon juice.

When the meat is tender, remove the bouquet garni, correct the seasoning, add the onions and mushrooms and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.

Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe Following is a free cabbage soup diet recipe. It's an original recipe developed in

our kitchen and tested to be tasty and effective for weight loss. First let's look at the recipe. Then let's see what to expect from the cabbage soup diet including why it works and how you can get more recipes and the whole plan for free.

A Free Cabbage Soup Diet Recipe Add to a stock pot: 2 quarts chicken broth

1 minced onion 2 minced cloves of garlic 2 diced peeled sweet potatoes 1 grated small head of cabbage 2 chopped stalks of celery

Bring to boil and then simmer 15 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Salt and pepper to taste. Have Tabasco sauce available. Top with sour cream if desired. Buy canned chicken broth or make chicken broth when you have chicken the

next time. Cover leftover chicken bones with water. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for four hours. Remove bones. Then refrigerate broth.