Radio România Internațional

Tag: celeriac

  • Celeriac recipes

    Celeriac recipes

    The guest star today is celeriac,
    which is used a lot in Romania in a variety of dishes, especially soups, in
    combination with other root vegetables. Celeriac is rich in vitamins and is
    recommended for people with a high cholesterol level. Raw, celeriac can be used
    in a salad, grated, and in combination with carrots, also grated, and apples,
    cubed. The salad also needs a bit of olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, and
    pepper and salt to taste. Cooked and cubed chicken meat can also be added to
    this salad, which can be served as a starter.




    Another easy recipe involving
    celeriac is celeriac and cheese. First slice the celeriac thinly and put it in
    a pot with water and leave it to boil. When the celeriac is done, pass it
    through a sieve to get rid of the water, and then fry it in oil or butter in a
    pan on the hob. When the celeriac becomes golden, turn off the heat. Put the
    celeriac in an oven pot to form a layer, then add a layer of grated cheese.
    Repeat until the pot is full, making sure you finish with a layer of cheese,
    which you can brush with a beaten egg. Put the pan in the oven and leave it to
    cook for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, until a crust forms on the surface.




    Although it’s easy to make, celeriac
    soup is actually not very common in Romanian cuisine, but we do find the recipe
    in many cook books, both old and of a more recent date. What we need to make
    this soup is about 1 kg of celeriac, half a kilo of potatoes, an onion and some
    garlic cloves. Slice the celeriac and cube the potatoes and put them in a pot
    to boil for 30 minutes, either in salted water or chicken stock. Separately,
    slice an onion and some garlic and fry them gently in oil, then add to the pot.
    When the vegetables are cooked, mash or blend them, then add some milk or
    cream. To decorate the celeriac soup, you can use celeriac leaves which you
    first fry gently in a little oil. You can also serve this soup with croutons.
    You can use the same recipe to make celeriac mash to serve instead of mashed
    potatoes as a side dish to a main course. Enjoy, or poftă bună as we say in Romanian!

  • Pickled vegetables

    Pickled vegetables

    Many Romanians
    prefer to make their own pickled vegetables, according to recipes handed down
    from generation to generation. It is young people, who have less time at their
    disposal, who are the main clients at the pickle stalls.






    But, here is one
    of the many recipes for pickled vegetables. You’ll need the following
    ingredients: one cauliflower, one celeriac, one beetroot, 3-4 carrots, 200
    grams of green beans, a red cabbage, a horseradish root, a few cloves of
    garlic, red bell peppers or paprika, vinegar, salt, pepper and a few bay
    leaves. First, cut the cauliflower into florets, thinly slice the celeriac and
    red beet, cut the cabbage into eight parts and the red bell peppers into
    slices. Choose a glass jar and arrange the vegetables inside. Then add the
    garlic, the pepper and the bay leaves.






    Cook the brine
    as follows: each litre of liquid should be one third vinegar and two thirds
    water, plus a heaped tablespoon of salt. Put these into a pan and heat until
    boiling. Then remove from the heat and pour the brine into the jar with
    vegetables. The vegetables should be completely covered by the brine and sealed
    with a lid. Make sure to keep the pickles in a cool, dark place. The pickled
    vegetables will be ready within four weeks, and can be best enjoyed with meat
    and fish.