Radio România Internațional

Tag: pie

  • Cheese pie

    Cheese pie

    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)

  • Nettles

    Nettles

    Stinging nettles deserve their name – they have tiny little hair-like stingers on the leaves and stems that make touching them very unpleasant. But never fear, cooking removes the stingy stuff and leaves only the woodsy-tasting nettle-leaves behind. Just handle fresh nettles with gloves and all will be well. It is easy to cook and it beats both spinach and broccoli for vitamins and minerals.



    Nettles thrust themselves up from the barely warm ground as early as February then grow right through the spring and summer. If you’re going to eat nettles then the fresh, young growth of March and April is the crop to go for. Pick only the tips – the first four or six leaves on each spear – and you will get the very best of the plant.



    The flavour is somewhere between spinach, cabbage and broccoli, with a sort of slight, earthy tingle in the mouth. High in minerals including calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese, nettles are also an excellent source of vitamin C, B complex vitamins and beta-carotene. The plant also eases asthma and chest colds, and its high iron levels can alleviate anaemia and poor circulation.



    Surprisingly enough, nettles even contain 10 percent protein, more than any other vegetable, and thus contain high levels of easily absorbable amino acids. No wonder these greens were used in several types of recipes to cure weakness, illness and allergies in several cultures around the world!



    There is a wide variety of dishes that have nettles at their centre.



    You can just make tea out of them, which is recommended for a variety of ailments, or simply for their nutritional value. You can also blanch them and use them in many dishes. A popular one is rice pilaf, to which you can also add mushrooms, as they go quite well with nettles. You can also prepare a fancy, but very simple cream of nettles, French style, after the model of mushroom or leek cream.



    If you happen to enjoy a spinach pie, as the Greeks are so fond of making, you can substitute nettles for the spinach, or mix the two for the filling. The same pie can be made by mixing into the filling some sweet cheese, such as ricotta, or other soft unripe cheese, which complements well the slight sharpness of the nettles. If you like pickled wild mushrooms, honey fungus with a side of nettles is quite a delicacy accompanied by fresh onion and garlic. It is also a great side dish for a sweet river fish with white meat, alongside polenta.


    Enjoy!