At the end of this week it’s
Shrovetide when people are allowed to eat cheese, fish and dairy products
before the beginning of Lent. In southern Romania there is a custom according
to which daughters-in-law are offering sweet cheese pies with raisins to their
mothers-in-law so that they may have a smooth relationship all throughout the
year.
In order to bake a sweet-cheese pie
we need half a kilo flour, half a kilo cow milk
cheese, a cup of milk, butter or cream, sugar and vanilla sugar, 100
grams raisins, rum essence, a little bit of oil and two egg yolks. Mix the flour
with the yeast, with two-three spoonfuls of sugar a little bit of butter and
two-three spoonful of cream. Stir until full combined and the mixture looks
like dough.
Roll the pastry into two sheets and
place one of these two sheets into a tray, which was previously greased with
butter. In order to obtain the filling, mix the cheese with the two egg yolks,
two spoonfuls of cream, 3-4 spoonfuls of sugar and a sachet of vanilla sugar.
Spread the filling onto the first sheet, cover it with the second and place the
pie into the oven. Puncture the upper sheet in several places then bake it into
the oven at low heat for half an hour. Take the pie out of the oven and
sprinkle powdered sugar on it.
The Dobrudjean Pie is a staple dish
in Romania’s south-eastern regions; it can be made with salty or sweet cheese
filling, multi-layered or crumpled sheets. For it we need at least half a kilo
of sweet or salty cheese; as this pie is a traditional dish among
sheep-breeders, the recipe is chiefly based on sheep-milk cheese.
Mix half a kilo of sweet or salty
cheese with three eggs. Spread the mixture over pastry sheets previously greased
with a little bit of oil, roll them like strudels then put them into a tray to
make a spiral form. Bake them into the oven until they turn brownish, after
which pour half a kilo thick yogurt mixed with three eggs. Leave the tray in
the oven for another 20 minutes then the pie is ready to be served.
(translated by bill)