Radio România Internațional

Tag: salad

  • Sorrel dishes

    Sorrel dishes

    The Romanian village world used to have a saying: ‘when sorrel unfurls its leaves from the warming ground in early spring, you are set for your daily meal’. Sorrel is a generous plant, its leaves are rich in vitamins and sorrel leaves can provide a good, nourishing meal especially after the winter season, either used in salads or cooked.



    Sorrel is a hardy perennial plant with long, spear-shaped leaves, which grows in uncultivated gardens and meadows in Romania. Across Romania’s regions, sorrel has been given various local names, being used in salads, soups and meat dishes. In the Romanian traditional households, the sorrel root was used to obtain various dyes.




    In the southern Romanian region of Oltenia, people traditionally prepare ‘sorrel dolls’, a quick recipe for the people tilling the land. For this recipe, you need to wash the sorrel leaves well and remove any tough stalks. The leaves are best shredded, but, for this recipe, you need to layer and roll them up into ‘fat cigars’ and then tie the leaves together with thread. Sprinkle the leaves with oil and fry, turning on each side. After cooking, remove the thread, place the leaves in a bowl, and add chopped cayenne pepper, and a thinly sliced carrot and onion previously boiled in salted water. This dish can be seasoned with a little vinegar.



    Another quick sorrel recipe is the peasant sorrel omelette. For this recipe, besides sorrel leaves, you need a bunch of green onions, brined cheese, a bunch of parsley or dill and, of course, eggs. Wash the sorrel leaves well, and cut them into strips. Melt butter in a frying pan or use oil instead, dice the green onions and put them into the pan together with the sorrel leaves, the beaten eggs and the finely chopped parsley or dill, and season with salt and pepper. Serve hot with grated brined cheese.



    Sorrel leaves are also used to make soup. For soup you need 20-30 sorrel leaves, one carrot, one onion, a bell pepper, a cup of rice, bors – which is the Romanian for the sour liquid obtained from fermented wheat bran, tomato paste and salt. Remove the sorrel leaves’ tough stocks, blanch and drain. Finely chop the carrot, onion and bell pepper and sauté them in oil. Add water and boil together with the sorrel leaves and a cup of rice. When almost cooked, add bors to the soup, which was previously boiled, two tablespoons of tomato paste and season with salt to taste. You can also season the soup with sour cream or add pieces of smoked gammon. Sorrel leaves can also be used in purees served as a side dish to steak. (tr. L. Simion)

  • Dishes made in early summer

    Dishes made in early summer

    During the summer, Romanian markets are full of vegetables. One of the most popular being string beans. Either green or yellow, round or flat-shaped, string beans serve as an excellent ingredient, most often used together with other vegetables.



    Popular appetizers making use of string beans include string bean and mayonnaise salad. For this simple dish, you will need one kilogram of string beans, a small jar of mayonnaise and one head of garlic. This tasty dish is extremely easy to prepare. Peel and rinse the beans, then boil in water with a bit of salt. If the strings are long, feel free to cut them in halves.



    Let the boiled beans cool. After draining, mix the beans with the mayonnaise and crushed garlic, add a little salt to taste and serve as an appetizer. You can also add a skinned and finely chopped tomato, or a little chopped dill.



    Another very tasty dish is string bean stew. Meat is also used in this dish – beef, pork, or chicken, the latter being the most popular choice. Chicken breast or legs work just as well. You will need 1 to 1 and ½ kilograms of string beans and 3 chicken legs.



    First, boil the chicken, repeatedly removing the foam that forms on top of the pot. Add the string beans after having washed and peeled them, then let boil over a low heat. For flavor, add a few finely chopped cloves of garlic. Try from time to time to see if its boiled enough, and when it is, add a little tomato paste, freshly chopped dill and salt to taste. Let the new mix boil for a little longer, then serve!



    Early summer is also when markets in Romania are teeming with the new harvest of potatoes. Few foods are more versatile than the potato, and we will be looking at a couple of recipes that are as effective as they are simple.



    Take about a kilo of potatoes, a few stalks of spring garlic, and a bunch of fresh dill. Brush the potatoes well to remove much of the thin peel. If they look less than fresh keep them in cold water for about a quarter of an hour. Cut them into pieces if larger, leave them whole if smaller. Strain them well, then deep fry them for a few minutes, until golden. Take them out, sprinkle them with finely chopped fresh garlic and dill, with salt to taste.



    You can also make a similar dish, which is baked instead of fried. Sprinkle the potatoes with finely chopped spring garlic and dill, and also drizzle a generous amount of olive oil over them before putting them in the oven. It takes about 20 minutes for the potatoes to get cooked. You can replace the spring garlic with a garlic paste as a dip of sorts.



    Irrespective of how you prepare them, new potatoes are always a treat. Enjoy!