Ep. 96 – winter sauce with tomatoes, cheese (urdă) and spinach

Today we have a very good recipe for the weather outside. From my mother, because I’m in a fight with spinach ever since I was a kid. :))) Well, ok, I admit, I eat it raw in salad, but that’s about it. For the time being. 🙂

And where do you dream of spinach and cheese (urdă is a special kind of fresh white cheese) Claudia in the middle of winter? From your home freezer or in-store refrigerators. 🙂 Instead of urdă you can use ricotta, same thing, and choose frozen spinach.

Put some olive oil in a frying pan (not too much, because we are on a diet) and a few cloves of garlic, toss a can of tomatoes in sauce (of the whole ones, which you chop with a knife) and wait for it to boil. Easy; toss a few pieces of frozen spinach in the sauce; when it has thawed, add a box of urdă/ ricotta. Season with salt and pepper.

Mom used the sauce for pasta. The disaster of me disliked it, but appreciated the vegetarian recipe and the idea of the colorful and vitamin-filled combination. 🙂

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Special [HungarianfromArdeal] ep. – karalábéleves or kohlrabi soup

I was visiting friends and I left, like the Romanian from Transylvania, with about three recipes for Hungarian soups. 😛 Today we have karalábéleves kohlrabi soup, extremely vegan, because the base was vegetable soup. :))

For my kohlrabi soup I chopped some red onions and grated a cleaned kohlrabi (you can also chop the leaves if they are tender); I put them in a pot with a little sunflower oil and some salt to lightly harden, then I poured over the vegetable base (carrots, onions and parsnips boiled with water and vegeta, then strained the juice and use it in other dishes). At the end, ground pepper and some chopped celery leaves.

My girl friend also puts chopped peppers – only I forgot, like a disaster that I am 😀 – and in the end she thickens it with the traditional “rântaș” (flour hardened in a little oil).

If you want to be even closer to the traditional recipe, then throw in the pot onions, some smoked bacon or kaizer cut into small pieces and kohlrabi, fry in oil and quench with water. At the end, rântaş and dumplings made of flour like for goulash (csipetke, egg mixed with flour).

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Ep. 95 – grilled polenta with cheese (bulz)

In honor of a new day off, today we have a traditional recipe, which comes from the Thracians who traveled to the new world and returned with the corn cobs back. 😛

To get it out, you need quality bellows cheese (brânză de burduf, in Romanian). At least that’s what my mother says, who is the number one fan of grilled polenta with chees (or bulz, as we call it) and to whom this recipe is due. If you have relatives from Bran, than is super easy. If you don’t have one, look for it, look for more… everyone has a relative in Bran. Or a shepherd. LOL.

If not, buy from the store. Don’t forget to take a bag of polenta. And salt. And aluminum foil. And charcoal for the grill.

Well, first of all you will prepare a polenta. A hard polenta. That is, water + salt + boil + polenta + mix well over low heat, until your hand hurts and (possibly) you burn yourself with the jumpy polenta. 🙂

On the table you will prepare the ball or “bulz”: spread a layer of polenta, put bellows cheese and butter on top, cover with polenta and give it a round shape so that the cheese is inside. Wrap the bulge in aluminum foil.

When all the balls are ready, light the grill. Somewhere outside, preferably not in the house. :))) Let the balls be done directly on the coals, for about 20 minutes.

If done, the cheese and butter should melt inside. If not, this is it, next time. :))

What if it’s cold and it’s snowing outside? All right, a hot yummy yummy yummy bulz.

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Ep. 94 – granola bars

In recent years I have tried different options to make granola bar (or cereal bars/ flapjack/ muesli bar) and I am still working to find the perfect recipe. 🙂

For a while I bought similar bars from the store, the problem with them is the very large amount of sugar, to which are added the wonderful ingredients, such as palm oil and many e-s. So at one point I started experimenting with different ingredients, with roughly similar results.

For the version in the pictures, we combined oatmeal and wheat flakes (I recommend only oatmeal, wheat is harder), different seeds (there are packages with a mixture of seeds in the store, if you do not want to buy them separately) and peanuts, plus cranberries. You can use a mixture of cereals, nuts and dried fruits/ muesli – from those that are ready for breakfast (again, the problem with most is sugar). Or mixtures used as snacks – but your recipe may be more expensive.

Flakes, seeds and fruits are mixed with fat and carbohydrates, respectively butter/ oil/ coconut oil and honey/ brown sugar syrup/ variants – I put some coconut oil, homemade peanut butter and some honey. The composition is spread on a baking sheet and baked for a few minutes in the oven, until it changes color slightly. Normally it should be cut into pieces… which to me, being a small disaster, did not come out. :))) Another option is to portion before putting in the oven.

If I came up with something super sweet – and I’m trying to keep my sugar under control, imagine most of the similar recipes you find on the internet (I suggest you cut down on as much sugar as you can).

To be used as a snack (but in small quantities), especially before medium and high physical effort. (Computer typing does not count :P)

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Cookingbookclub 7

Welcome to 2020! I hope the pots, spoons and your hob are ready for a new season #disasterinthekitchen. 🙂 Don’t panic if you burn something, we all know that lightly burnt food is the best… plus you get the badges of honor of our extremely select club. 😛

This year we deviate a little from the original idea – to cook from books – and we become slightly more inclusive, which, I must admit, is extremely difficult in Romania. Details, in private, at an omelette with lemonade. 😀

So in 2020 we have #321sourcesofinspiration for our disastrous cooking. More precisely, as with the isler dough, we will cook from 3 Romanian sites, 2 surprise books and 1 piece of Youtube channel.

I tried to find resources in the native language – yessss, so my mother will also cook 😛 – although I didn’t succeed 100%. Whims and talents, that’s why. :))))

With this extremely long introduction and in your excited cheers, let me present you the first proposal of this year. The first Romanian site is Lidl Kitchen and it offers us over 1200 recipes, through which you can search directly or by categories. The nice part is that for each recipe you have a serving counter, on the right side of the menu, which can help you estimate your ingredients correctly. (If it doesn’t go to approximate from the eyes… 😉 )

If you have already cooked recipes from this site, well, look for new recipes. If you haven’t cooked, here’s a chance! 🙂 And if you turn up your nose that it’s a site and it’s not a cookbook, hello, so what? 🙂

Of course we also have a theme: I suggest you try something other than the usual cooking. 🙂

The deadline for reading, choosing a recipe, trying, photographing and sending feedback is February 10. (All we need is a picture and a link to the original recipe.)

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Ep. 93 – couscous with carrots and almonds

Well, today we have the kind of food that can be, as the case may be, the main course or side dish. 🙂

In fact, the recipe was with bulgur, only it is fine, thank you, on the store shelf. 🙂 So I found the couscous in the pantry. I put a cup with about two cups of warm water, some vegeta and a little olive oil to hydrate. If you hit the right proportions, the water evaporates and voila, you have four servings of carbohydrates in a maximum of 10 minutes. 😛

Couscous mixed with grated carrot, finely chopped green onions and almond flakes. Cumin, salt, pepper. Lemon juice and olive oil. If it doesn’t taste good, you didn’t hit the quantities. :))))

If you don’t want a vegan dish, you can use it as a fish garnish. Or something else. 🙂

Good food to detox after the holidays. 🙂

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Ep. 92 – turkey drowning soup: D

Well, if we all ended up healthy in the new year twenty-twenty, I stole a recipe from my friends with Hungarian grandparents. 😛

Pulyka nyuvaszto or turkey drowning soup translated takes you out of the drunkenness of the holidays with the speed of Transylvanian light. 🙂

How do you make a turkey drowning soup?

In a pot, fry some Transylvanian bacon, cut into pieces. In the hot lard, toss some finely chopped onions and paprika, then quench with water.

You make flour dumplings: egg, flour, salt, you have to make a harder dough. You put them with the teaspoon in the soup.

In the end, you drown everything in sauerkraut juice.

If you haven’t soured it enough, add some more lemon…

De-li-ca-cy!!!

For those of you who are vegan and make a wry face, the recipe has caught the war, as a result it is an interesting combination of fats and carbohydrates, plus bacteria, which will keep your hunger away and protect your body. And no, it can’t be made with soy dumplings and coconut butter. 🙂

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Ep. 91 – 321 dough (linzer, isler)

Well, you will see the best pictures today, the ones for guests, but to get to this level I can tell you that I burned a few trays of cookies in the last two or three Christmases. 🙂

Dough 321 as I name it, to make it easier to remember, is a very fine dough that is not very easy to work with. Or at least I swear every time, after which I enjoy the end result, after which I forget. And then I start over. :)))

For a portion of dough you need 300g flour, 200g butter 82% fat, 100g powdered sugar – 321 🙂 – 1 egg, salt, 1 vanilla sugar or vanilla essence, grated peel of a lemon. In a bowl, the soft butter, at room temperature, rub it with powdered sugar, then add the egg and salt. At the end, incorporate the flour with a spoon. Make a ball of slightly sticky dough, put it in the fridge for at least half an hour – an hour (or until the next day). It needs to get harder, otherwise you won’t be able to stretch it. On the table or plate, sprinkle with flour, spread the dough with a rolling pin, in a sheet of approx. 3-4 millimeters, then cut the cookies.

For the linzer use the dough above, cut round circles, half full, half with the middle empty (depending on what shapes you have). If the dough softens, keep in the fridge until you can work with it. Because I don’t make them very thick or very big, I got a total of about 30-40 final pieces. Bake at 180 degrees for about 10 minutes on baking paper. They must remain white. After burning a tray or two you will catch the temperature and time. 🙂 Be careful when transferring them, as they are very fragile and break. 🙂

When they have cooled, grease the circles full with 150g jam (raspberries, apricots or whatever you have, I put peaches this year) and glue them two by two, with the half cut on top, then powder with 80g powdered sugar, for the impression artistic.

If you make linzer, then in the dough replace 100g of flour with 100g of ground walnuts. You will cut the dough into full round circles, which will stick after cooling two with a chocolate ganache: 100g of 50% cocoa chocolate, broken into pieces in a bowl, over it you will put 100g of heated liquid cream (without boil) in the microwave or in a bain-marie (steamed, in a pot of water), rum essence if you want. After the chocolate melts, stir with a whisk while it cools. Above, the resistance piece, the chocolate icing: another 100g of chocolate, some hot water, a tablespoon of powdered sugar and some butter – that’s how it was written on the internet. Well, I hit a round, but it came out a bit thick, the second round of chocolate I burned in the microwave – yes, I managed that too !!! 😀 – and round three came out again a weird stuff. Next time I’m looking for another recipe, from the simple ones category, with cocoa and butter, that maybe-maybe… 😛

They are kept in a box and eaten on holidays. 🙂 Until next time… 😉

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Special ep. – panettone

When you don’t know how to make brioche, what do you do? You make panettone. 🙂

On one of the few times I tried to make a brioche, it grew, looked impeccable, but had no taste. Because I forgot to put salt in it. :))) It’s just that this year I discovered some candied fruits in the fridge and as it would have been indicated to be used before they expired, I started looking for recipes.

Panettone is an Italian brioche, originally from Milan, with a cylindrical shape and containing raisins, candied orange peel and/ or chocolate.

I used a recipe that promised fabulous results, with minimal effort, overnight. 😀 That’s because, of course, I read diagonally and I missed the part where the dough was leavened about 3 times. :))) In addition, I started it in the middle of the day and finished baking after midnight. Never again!!!

Well, the recipe: 85g 000 flour with a pinch of yeast and 74g of cold water mix in a bowl and leave to rise overnight (8-12 hours).

In the morning the leaven is mixed with the other ingredients: 269g 000 flour, 57g lukewarm water, 2 large eggs, 57g soft butter, some vanilla and orange essence or 1 sachet of vanilla sugar, 1 tablespoon yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 67g sugar . With the mixer or hand, until it is homogeneous and a soft and smooth dough comes out. Mine came out slightly sticky, but I didn’t stress too much about kneading…

Leave to ferment, covered, another 1-1.5 hours (it should increase, but not necessarily double its amount).

Then mix it with candied fruit: 85g raisins, 64g chopped dried apricots, 85g cranberries, 71g candied pineapple, 2 tablespoons grated orange peel or lemon. I put about half the amount, because I thought it was too much and I combined some leftover apricots, candied orange peel (found in Lidl), candied pineapple and papaya.

Put the dough in a higher tray and let it rise – again! – for about an hour.

Well, and as if it wasn’t enough, the baking requires also several phases: 10 minutes in a preheated oven, at 200 degrees C, then 10 minutes at 190 degrees and then 20-35 minutes at 175 degrees. 🙂 Basically from medium to high heat, at the beginning, then turn the oven to low. If the peel burns too quickly, cover it with aluminum foil.

You can cut it after it cools, otherwise it becomes brittle. 🙂 It can be frozen sliced and heated in the microwave or on the toaster.

PS: If you start cooking panettone, round off the quantities, mine are from the Americans. 16 servings x 65g x 200 calories should come out…

PS2: Jamie Oliver has 2 pudding recipes with panettone leftovers. 🙂

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Ep. 90 – pork and rice salad

Pork and rice salad. With Granny Smith apples, nuts, honey and thyme. If I translated correctly from Jamie Oliver’s book. If not, that’s what I put in it anyway. :))))

Well, I have to admit that a lot of the salads caught my eye and it was a little hard to choose, but the ingredients in the fridge mattered. On the other hand, I am used to combining rice or pasta with various things and to call it a salad. But pork with rice as a salad, it hadn’t crossed my mind. 😀

Jamie uses pork belly in the recipe, which he cuts into small pieces and frys with rosemary and bay leaves until crispy and golden. I used some grilled meat, discovered through the freezer. The disaster in me cut it into small pieces and put it with spices and water in the oven, so that it would be a more degreased version of the recipe. Don’t be like me! Fry the pork. :))))

Then in a saucepan throw about 2-3 Granny Smith apples, cut into large cubes, a few walnut kernels, a tablespoon of honey, salt, pepper and juice from an orange or orange juice. Plus thyme. On the fire until it boils, then bake for about 20 minutes. At the end I added the meat and, says Jamie, some cider vinegar – I put a drop of apple cider vinegar, that’s what I had.

Separately boil basmati and wild rice, then mix with the rest of the ingredients in a salad. Which is eaten hot.

Now if you think the salad looks too monochromatic – lol – then you can enhance it with some red peppers and green parsley, finely chopped and you will have something colorful, like below. 🙂

Little disaster, did you destroyed the salad? Nope, I just improved it a little. 😛

The recipe is part of the latest book this year from #cookingbookclub, Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook.

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