This is just one of the dishes which can use these highly flavored sausages. They also come in many varieties: pork with basil, pork with sheep, sheep with beef, more or less smoked, etc.

Bean stew with sausages

(recipe updated 23-Dec-2009)

Ingredients

• 1/2 kg of dried beans
• 250g of smoked sausages
• some tomato sauce (3-4 tbs)
• spices: garlic, coriander, pepper, red peppers, parsley
• optional: potatoes, carrots

Method

• clean the beans and add water to cover, let them rest for 1 night
• replace the water and boil the beans with salt, pepper and coriander
• when the beans are 1/2 done you can add cut potatoes and carrots to allow them to be ready at the same time
• cut the sausages in small pieces, fry them in a pan
• when the beans are almost ready add the sausages, tomato sauce, chopped garlic and red peppers
• let it simmer for 10 more minutes then add the finely chop parsley and let it rest to allow the blending of flavors.
• enjoy/pofta buna

Alternatives

• you can only use half of the the beans for this dish and boil the rest until they are very soft and prepare a bean paste also.

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Friptura de porc la cuptor

Ingrediente

• 1 kg de muschi/file de porc complet dezghetat
• putina slanina
• putina carne afumata
• condimente: usturoi, cimbru, piper, coriandru
• garnitura: cartofi sau ciuperci

Metoda

• carnea se curata foarte bine si se impaneaza cu slanina, carne afumata si usturoi
• se presara cu condimente (sarea eu o pun la sfarsit)
• cartofii se amesteca cu cimbru, sare, piper coriandru si putin ulei
• se pun la cuptor pentru 20 – 30 minute sau pana carnea devine foarte moale si alba (se testeaza cu o furculita care trebuie sa intre usor).
• pofta buna si craciun fericit!

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Mancare de gutui

(photo updated 06-Dec-2009)

English: quince, french: coing. See english version of this recipe.

Ingrediente

• 2 gutui (cam 1kg de gutui)
• 1/3 cana de zahar
• o mega lingura de faina
• putina scortisoara
• ulei

Metoda

• am pus zaharul la topit pe foc mic fara nici un fel de apa impreuna cu putina scortisoara (coaja nu praf)
• cand s-a topit am adaugat cam jumatate de cana de apa si am amestecat in continuare. Atentie, zaharul topit cu apa fac BUM.
• am pus deoparte zaharul si am taiat gutuile, initial in 4 si pe urma in 8. Am scos miezul si am incalzit intre timp ulei intr-o tigaie. Am prajit gutuile in mai multe ture pana s-au inmuiat. Eu am prajit pe foc mic ca sa inteleg ce se intampla.
• in timp ce se facea ultima tura de gutui am pus din nou zaharul pe foc mic si pe masura ce se incalzea l-am amestecat cu faina amestecata in prealabil cu apa ca sa nu se faca gogoloase.
• cand au fost gata gutuile (moi) si crema de zahar cu faina am pus gutuile in zahar, am amestecat, completat cu apa ca sa acopere gutuile si lasat pe foc mic sa dea 2-3 clocote (5-10 minute)
• la sfarsit am mancat cu friptura de porc (ceafa)
• toamna si pofta buna

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Everything started with my friday trip to the market. There where lots and lots of tomatoes and I also found some mint for which I was searching some time now. So beside the cherries I filled my bag with tomatoes and mint. Arrived at home my grandmother stuffed tomatoes came to mind so everything was set: I will make stuffed tomatoes / rosii umplute cu carne

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg large tomatoes
• 300 – 500 g minced meat
• 1 onion
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup boiled rice. In my case I did not used any rice because I had too much meat already and I was not very sure of the proportions
• green stuff like dill or lovage. I used mint which I have to agree it’s not very romanian as a habit.

Preparation

• clean the tomatoes
• cut the top with a knife and remove the inside with a sharp spoon, to form a cup, leave under 5 mm of tomato meat but be careful to keep the integrity of the tomato
• put in a baking tin enough tomatoes to fill the tin
• sprinkle the tomatoes interior with salt and pepper
• separately cut and brown the onion
• add the minced meat and rice and cook until the meat is 95% cooked
• remove from heat
• add the chopped mint, the egg, salt and pepper and mix
• I’ve seen this recipe done with 2-3 eggs and lot of flour added but this is not a pudding
• with a spoon fill the tomatoes with the mix
• don’t force press the meat inside
• add just a bit of the tomatoes interior on the top to avoid drying up the meat on top
• cook in the oven for 30 minutes
• enjoy
• if you wonder what to do with the tomatoes interior then you should know I mixed it in a blender with some more mint, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup water, refrigerated and used as a refreshing drink

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Ingredients

• 10 – 12 elder flowers
• 1 lemon
• 1kg of sugar
• 8-9l of water
• 1 tbs of dried leaven

Preparation

• mix 8-9l of water with the flowers, the lemon cut in 16 pieces, lemon juice, sugar and leaven, cover and wait …

• for 3 – 6 days
  • using a wooden spoon mix the ingredients twice a day, taste
  • remove the lemon the next day in order to avoid a bitter taste
• in function of how much time you let it rest more or less alcohol will get formed

• it can either become a refreshing, sparkling drink (after 2-3 days) or a refreshing, mild alcoholic drink (after 5-6 days)

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Ingredients

• lamb ribs or pulp
• 1/2 kg mushrooms
• a bundle of green onion and one of green garlic

Preparation

• chop the onion and the mushrooms
• cut the garlic in quarters
• make small incisions in the meat and insert the garlic
• make a bed out of the cut onion and mushrooms
• add a bit of water or some liquid from boiling the “drob” ingredients. There is no need for much liquid, the mushrooms will leave a lot of juice.
• put the meat on top of the green bed, add some oil or butter on top, salt and pepper
• cook in the oven for 45 – 60 min. Each 15 or 20 minutes turn the mean and sprinkle with the liquid in the pan
• enjoy

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The lamb “drob” is a traditional recipe for easter using the lamb organs. There are many variations and this one aspires to be for me the ideal one and I will try to show why.

Ingredients

I bought a half of a lamb from the butcher shop with everything inside and I needed almost everything:

• heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, diaphragm
• a bundle of green onion, one of green garlic and one of green dill
• 3 2 eggs
• the lamb caul fat (“prapure”). This is the membrane holding the intestines together.

Preparation

• boil water with salt and pepper and add in order the heart, kidneys (which I cleaned with vinegar before), liver and lungs. Note: the lungs tend to float so make sure they are boiled
• let if boil for 5-10 minutes. Remove the foam from time to time.
• remove from the water and let it cool down for 30 minutes. Don’t throw away the water.
• chop using a knife. Note: some variations use a mincing machine to chop the ingredients which result in a paste like composition which I don’t like. This is not foie gras nor minced meat balls.

• cut the vegetables (there should be a 2/1 meat/vegetables ratio)

• mix the chopped meat and vegetables. Beat the eggs and add to the mixture. The eggs should hold everything together. Don’t add them all from start as they might not be all needed. This is not an omelet. Note: some variations add a lot of flour to the mix. This is not a pie.
• lubricate the pan with sunflower oil or butter then put the “prapure”. Use warm water to clean it before and be careful not to break it.

• add the mix and then fold the “prapure” over
• cook in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes. I preheated the oven for 10 minutes before on lowest flame setting.
• server cold or warm

• Paste Fericit!

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There are 2 types of “mucenici” both of them with a very specific shape like the number 8:

• the moldavian ones are made out of a mixture similar to the one used for “cozonac” (pound cake). They are around 10 cm long, baked in the oven and served with honey and nuts. In theory 40 of them have to be done.
• the muntenian ones are much smaller (1 cm), dried and served in a liquid with nuts and cinnamon powder. I am describing these ones here.

Ingredients

• already dried “mucenici” can be bought around these day. I have used 500g
• 500g of nuts
• cinnamon powder 10g
• 8 tbs of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Preparation

• boil 4l of water with the salt and sugar
• when the water is boiling add the dried “mucenici”
• boil for 15 minutes
• let it cool down for 10 minutes
• add the mashed nuts and cinnamon powder
• let it cool down
• serve and enjoy your childhood memories or create new ones

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The bean paste (fasole batuta) is a traditional Romanian food through the winter. This is a small variation in which you do not add the onion in the mix but make an onion sauce which you use on top, with delicious the results.

Ingredients

• 1/2 kg of dry bean beans
• 2, 3 large onions
• salt, pepper and oil

Preparation

• let the beans in water for half a day. I usually leave them in water during the night
• boil the beans until they are very soft in water with a bit of salt and pepper. Usually the beans get peeled in the process. Some collect and throw away the crusts but I don’t. Boiling the beans can take a lot of time. If you did not had the beans in water before it will take even more time.
• when the beans are soft wash them and let out the water
• while the beans are soft mix them in the food blender by adding salt, pepper and oil to the taste until it’s a paste. The oil makes the paste more soft but I don’t like adding too much oil (maybe 2-3 tbs to 1/2 kg of beans).
• now the paste can be served with bread

Extra preparation

• cut the onions in small pieces and brown the onions in hot oil. Don’t add too much oil
• add 2-3 tbs of tomato sauce (or concentrated sauce and water equivalent) and stir for 5 minutes
• (optional) 2-3 minutes before the end add 2, 3 finely chopped garlic gloves
• (optional) add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice to tamper the oil in the sauce if you feel it’s too much
• now poor the sauce over the bean paste as much as you like it when you serve it (I like too much the onion sauce as you can see in the picture but usually add the equivalent of 2 tbs for a portion of bean paste). Usually I store the bean paste for a few days in the fridge and prepare the hot sauce when serving it to mix the temperatures and textures

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Ingredients

• pork meat
• a lot of garlic, 10-12 garlic gloves or even more

Preparation

• cut the pork meat in small pieces
• fine cut the garlic
• heat the oil
• add the meat and wait until 99% done
• add the garlic and stir until the garlic is brown. Depending of how much you brown the garlic it might loose completely the specific smell so it’s a question of trial and error. I always end up wondering where all the garlic has gone.
• serve hot with polenta

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