Time-Life Quintet of Cusines: Bulgaria and Romania

Romanian stew after adding the last vegetables

On January first, restrictions were lifted for Bulgarians and Romanians who want to work in the Netherlands, Great Britain, and other European countries. Of course, they've been here for years already, working in all kinds of industry, including IT which is where I've met them, but now they don't need special work permits. The Poles are also here and if it weren't for them, you wouldn't be seeing fresh produce from Holland, because Dutch agriculture relies on the pickers that come from Eastern Europe.

Fortunately, these cuisines are touched on in the Quintet of Cuisines, the cookbook I cam currently concentrating on. So in their honor and giving pride of place to the vegetables they help to bring to our tables, here are a couple of recipes from Bulgaria and Romania.

As usual, I've been cutting recipes in half or in thirds so that I don't get stuck with having to eat only one food all week.

Bulgarian Kiopoolu (Aubergine and Pepper Spread)

This is a great spread with bread or crackers. In this case, I regretted that I didn't make more ;>

1 medium aubergine (about 300 grams)
1 green pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon re wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste

1. Roast the aubergine and the pepper over a flame or under a grill until the skin is blackened and charred, about 10 minutes. I stick a knife into the aubergine and just place it on a burner and turn it from time to time to get it evenly charred, and use tongs for the green pepper.
2. Let the vegetables cool for 5 or 10 minutes and then peel off the charred skin. I rinse them under cold running water to get rid of the last charred bits that don't want to let go.
3. Chop and mash the aubergine and green pepper finely and mix together to form a purée. Beat in the oil and vinegar until the mixture is smooth, then mix in the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Chill until ready serve, then serve with crusty bread or crackers.

Romanian Ghivenciu (Vegetable and Veal Stew)

This is a dish in which every element is separately browned and then added in a layer to the stew. It's a bit heavy on the butter and oil to get all that browning done, and takes a bit of prep work, but it's not difficult and is very tasty, the veal tender and the vegetables distinct. It reminded me of a Turkish stew and this makes sense, given the history of Romania which was dominated by the Turks for 500 years.

I would use whatever vegetables you have on hand as long as they include some starchy, some green, and some orange or red. For example, I used sweet potato instead of carrot and pumpkin, green beans instead of French beans, frozen peas instead of fresh peas, and savoy cabbage instead of white cabbage. And if I make it again (and it's worth making again), I probably won't include cabbage. I didn't enjoy it that much in this stew.

I cut the original recipe by two thirds and the resulting stew yielded 4-6 portions, depending how hungry you are and what you serve it with.The recipe also called for very modest amounts of herbs, and I think it would have benefited from more.

500 grams veal, chopped into 3 cm pieces
2 tablespoons flour
50 grams butter
15 ml oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato or pepper paste
1 cup beef broth
2 medium potatoes, cut into 3 cm cubes
1/4 small celeriac, cut into 1x5 cm sticks
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3 cm cubes
1/2 medium aubergine, cut into 3 cm cubes
1/2 green pepper, cut into 1x5 cm lengths
100 grams green beans,  cut into 5 cm lengths
1/3 cabbage, cored and cut into 2 cm pieces
1/3 cauliflower, cut into florets
1/4 cup red wine
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup peas
1 tomato, cut into quarters and halved
60 grams green seedless grapes

1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Have ready a large frying pan or sauté pan (or maybe a wok) and a large heavy casserole.
2. Season the veal chunks with salt and pepper, then dust the with flour. 
3. In the frying pan, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil over medium high heat, then brown the veal in batches, transferring the browned meat to the casserole.
4. Add the onion slices and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until soft and translucent. Transfer to the casserole.
5. Deglaze with half a cup of stock and mix in the tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then add to the casserole.
6. Now add some more oil and sauté each vegetable just until it is browned a bit, then add as a layer to the casserole: potatoes,  green beans, sweet potato, celeriac, aubergine, cabbage, green pepper, cauliflower. Add more oil as needed.
7. Deglaze the pan with red wine and rest of the beef stock. Add the parsley, oregano, and thyme and bring to a boil. Add this liquid to the casserole. Bring to a boil again, then cover and put in the oven for 45 minutes.
8. Now add the peas, tomatoes, and grapes and return to the oven for about 15 minutes.

Layering the vegetables on top the meat in the casserole

Completed stew

Vegetable Curries

I went on a curry bender last week, cooking four different vegetable curries in four days. Accompanied by some raita and mango chutney, the last evening was a feast. The freezer is now well stocked too!

As the following list shows, I'm very fond of aubergine (or eggplant; I'm indiscriminate in the term I use). The first two recipes, I've made and blogged about before, but two were new, adapted from the Madhur Jaffrey Cookbook.

• Aubergine bharta —roasted and peeled eggplants cooked down into a pillowy, spiced mass
• Saag paneer —spinach curry, but made with haloumi cheese instead of paneer. The firm, salty haloumi worked really well here. Firm feta or tofu would also be an option.
• Aubergine curry—such a fast simple curry with great flavour coming from the combination of fennel seed and fenugreek seed.
• Cauliflower curry—another easy curry that does great things for somewhat bland cauliflower

Cubed Aubergine with Onions
Adapted from The Madhur Jaffrey Cookbook

1200 g aubergine (about 3-4 medium)
1 teaspoons salt
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne 
1 teaspoon lemon juice
225 ml water

1. Cut the aubergines into 2 cm cubes and put into  bowl with the salt. I like the skin, so I leave it on, but the original recipe calls for peeling it first.
2. Optionally, let the aubergines sit for an hour, then squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can. (I often skip this step when I'm in a hurry.)
3. Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over a medium heat, then add the fennel and fenugreek seeds. As soon as they darken (after a few seconds), add the onions and aubergine cubes.
4. Stir and fry for about 20 minutes, adjusting the heat to prevent burning. The aubergines will at first absorb the oil but will release it again after a few minutes.
5. Add the coriander, cumin, cayenne and lemon juice and fry for a few minutes, then add the water, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes until the aubergine is thoroughly soft and cooked.
6. Adjust to taste with salt and/or lemon juice.

Cauliflower with Onion and Tomato

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2-3 cm pieces of ginger, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons water
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets and stem coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons oil
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 medium tomato, (peeled and) chopped
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1 fresh green chili, finely sliced
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Put the onion, garlic, ginger, and water in a blender and pulse into a paste.
2. Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium flame. Add the onion-garlic-ginger paste and the turmeric. Stir and fry for 5 minutes.
3. Add the chopped tomato, cilantro, and chili and fry for 5 minutes.
4. Add the cauliflower florets and the coriander, cumin, garam masala, water, and lemon juice. Stir, cover, lower the heat and let cook for about 35 minutes until the cauliflower is tender but not mushy.

Charred Eggplant Soup

I have acquired new cookbooks! Both are by the London-based Israeli chef Yottam Ottolenghi, who is famous for his restaurants and catering shops in London. I've never been to one, but he's also well-known for his eclectic and original recipes, often featuring vegetables in the starring role.

So my first recipe to try was using one of my favourite vegies—eggplant. He has a number of recipes that call for burnt aubergine, which means cooking them over a gas flame until they are charred  on the outside and soft and smoky-tasting on the inside. One of them is this soup.

This recipe is a bit labour-intensive but it a delivers a rib-sticking soup with a smoky, earthy, sweet and sour flavour that is really unusual. I liked it a lot, but the immediate hit of charred eggplant flavour might not be to everyone's taste.

The recipe also calls for a type of giant couscous that is difficult to obtain. None of the stores in my neighbourhood carried it under the names provided, but I did find some nameless pasta that was shaped  a bit like little balls, so I used that, since couscous is really a form of pasta. The soup would work very well without it, but it adds that extra heft needed for a main course soup.

Charred Eggplant Soup

Adapted from Jerusalem

(I reduced the amount of oil and increased the chicken stock.
I also didn't bother skinning and seeding the tomatoes.)

5 small eggplants (about 1.3 kilos in total)

3-4 tablespoons oil

1 onion

1 tsp freshly-ground cumin

1 tablespoon tomato paste

4-5 medium tomatoes (350 grams), or used canned tomatoes

4 smashed garlic cloves

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons sugar

1.5 teaspoon salt

400 ml chicken stock

400 ml water

1 tsp freshly-ground pepper

100 grams pearl pasta (as I call it)

fresh dill for garnish

1. Line 3 gas burners with tin foil to catch the juices and keep the stove-top clean. Place one eggplant on each burner and set the flame to medium or high (depending on the size of the burner). Cook for about 15 minutes, turning regularly until the outside is charred and the inside is limp and soft. The skin will burst and some juices leak out. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then scoop the flesh out or peel the charred skin off. Place the flesh into a colander, rinse to get the last charred flakes off, and allow to drain.
2. Cut the remaining 2 eggplants into about 1.5 cm cubes.
3. In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat. Add the diced eggplant, stirring thoroughly to distribute the oil over the eggplant. Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the eggplant browns and turns soft. At first the eggplant will absorb the oil, but as it cooks, it will release it again. If it is not browning at this point, turn up the heat so that at least some of the cubes get some nice colour on them. If necessary, add a bit more oil.
4. When the diced eggplant is brown and cooked, remove it from the pot and set it aside in a colander to drain, and sprinkle with some salt. Keep any remaining oil in the pot or top up to about 1 tablespoon.
5. Now add the onion and ground cumin and sauté for 5-7 minutes.
6. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for another minute.
7. Add the tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt, stock, and water. Simmer for 15 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, cook the "pearl" pasta until al dente. Mine took about 10 minutes.
9. Add the charred eggplant into the soup and purée using a hand-held blender. If the soup is too thick, add some more water or stock. Then add most of the cubed eggplant and most of the pearl pasta, reserving some of both for the garnish. Heat through for about 2 minutes and adjust the seasoning (sweet, sour, salt, pepper).
10. Serve the hot soup in bowls garnished with the remaining diced eggplant, pearl pasta and fresh dill.

If you plan to freeze the soup, it might be worth omitting the pasta and only adding it just before serving, since pasta tends to expand and go mushy when left to sit in soup.

I think this soup would also be great with a bit of heat and might consider adding some chilli flakes the next time I make it.

If you don't have gas burners, put the eggplants under the broiler for about an hour, turning regularly. I haven't tried this; it's the author's advice.

Tracking Recipes

I don't write up all the recipes I try, but that's not to say I don't have opinions about them or want to keep them accessible. If a recipe comes from a cookbook that I own or from a cooking blog I frequent, I will sometimes review it on Cookbooker, rather than blog about.

Not only is it a way to keep my own comments about a recipe, it gives me insight into what other people may have done with it, which can be quite helpful.

For a list of my recipe reviews, check out Barbara's Reviews.

Here's a list of some of the recipes I've tried and might make again with modifications:

Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Minestrone all Romagna
Cubed aubergine cooked with onions
Cauliflower with a cashew and sesame seed sauce
Curried cauliflower
Easiest Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Cooking Sundays

Sundays tend to be the day I cook for the rest of the week. Saturdays are spent in errands, or lazing around recovering from the work week, or browsing through recipes planning things I'd like to try. But Sundays I get up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to cook. Today the agenda called for polpettini, eggplant curry, a lamb stew or curry, and deviled eggs (for the apartment potluck reception  this afternoon).

Polpettini

This is a recipe slightly adapted from a contribution my sister and brother-in-law made to our family cookbook. The amount made here will make about 18 meatballs (3-4 servings), but you can easily double the recipe.

• 1 tablespoon porcini mushrooms
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 260 grams ground beef
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 3 tablespoons bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoons Parmesan cheese freshly grated
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion very finely chopped (divided)
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 1 tomato, chopped
• fresh parsley, to garnish

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in the warm water for 15 minutes. Lift them out of the water and chop finely. Reserve the soaking water.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the meat with the chopped mushrooms, half the chopped onion, garlic, and herbs. Stir in the egg. Add the breadcrumbs and Parmesan, and season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into small balls containing about 1 tablespoon each.
3. In a large heavy frying pan or skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook over low heat until soft. Raise the heat and add the meatballs, rolling them often to brown evenly on all sides. After about 5 minutes add the reserved mushroom water. Cook for another 5-8 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through.
4. Remove the meatballs to a heated plate with a slotted spoon. Add the wine to the pan and cook for a minute or two,  stirring to scrape up any residue on the bottom of the pan. then add the chopped tomato and reduce the sauce by about half.
5. Pour the sauce over the meatballs , garnish with parsley, and serve with pasta or potatoes.

Bharta (Curried Eggplant)

One of my staple vegetables is eggplant. I love it in almost every imaginable guise—in baba ganough, in lamb stew, roasted, grilled, you name it, I love it. Yesterday I bought a package of three smallish ones, so I was on the hunt for some new recipes to use it up. The recipe I ended up using comes from an old cookbook that I was considering getting rid of. But this looks like it might be a bit premature, given how good this curried eggplant was!

Adapted from The Cooking of India

• 500 grams eggplant
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes or small dried chili
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• salt
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• fresh coriander for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 210 C/450 F.
2. Score the eggplants with evenly-spaced, 3 cm gashes, about 1 cm deep, on opposite sides of the eggplant. Place in a baking dish and bake in the oven for about 1 hour, turning them after 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, grind the coriander seed, cumin seed, turmeric, and chili flakes into a powder. (I use a coffee grinder).
4. When the eggplants are very tender, take them out of the oven, cut them in half and scoop out the flesh. Chop coarsely and put in a bowl with the tomatoes, half the onion, half the garlic, and the spice mixture.

5. In a large frying pan, heat the oil and butter over moderate heat until the butter foam subsides. Add the garlic and stir for 15 seconds. Add the ginger and stir for another 15 seconds.
6. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until they are soft but not brown.
7. Add the eggplant mixture and continue to cook and stir until most of the moisture is evaporated (about 10-12 minutes).
8. When the mixture masses together, drawing away from the sides and bottom of the pan, transfer it to a serving dish, sprinkle the garam masala over it, and garnish with chopped fresh coriander.
9. Serve with rice, chapati, or naan and some dal.

Turkish Lamb Eggplant Stew

I live in a neighbourhood with a lot of Turkish and Moroccan people and that means that there are also lots of grocery store, butchers, bakeries and restaurants catering to them (and the rest of us!). They provide a much better range of produce and meat than the general supermarkets, and you can buy spices in packets instead of little jars. (I still miss the Bulk Store though!)

Occasionally when I don't feel like cooking supper for myself, I pick up an eggplant-lamb stew for take-out from one of Turkish restaurants. However, I do find it too heavy on the oil, so I've been looking for a recipe that I can adjust  to my tastes. This recipe is an amalgam of several that I have found. As is my wont, I've reduced the salt.

Since I'm incapable of making a stew for one, or even two, I make a big pot and freeze it in individual portions.

Turkish Lamb Eggplant Stew

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds lamb shoulder, cubed (1-2 inch pieces)
2 large onions, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2 eggplants, diced
2 green bell peppers, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 can tomatoes (12 ounces)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 red pepper, minced
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method

1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat, and brown the lamb on all sides. You may need to brown in batches.
2. Take the lamb out, and add the onions and garlic, sauteing for a few minutes until translucent.
3. Add the the diced eggplants and green peppers, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, as well as the spices, salt and pepper.
5. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat shreds easily with a fork.
6. If the stew is too thin, turn the heat to high and cook uncovered for 5 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid.

Serve with rice or crusty bread to sop up the juices.