Romanian Food

3. Grilled minced meat rolls
Mititei
• 2 lbs/1 kg ground beef, 1/2 lb/250 g suet,
1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 2-3 garlic
cloves, some ground pepper, juniper
berries and caraway, 2-3 tablespoons
meat broth, salt
• Grind the meat together with the suet.
Add salt, spices, chopped garlic, meat
broth and baking soda and mix
everything with your hands for 15
minutes, adding two tablespoons of
water a little at a time. Keep the bowl
with this mixture on ice for 5-6 hours.
Just before grilling, take tablespoons of
the mixture and with wet hands, shape
the rolls (they are approx. 2-3 inches
long and 1 inch thick). Before placing on
the grill, grease them with oil and during
grilling baste them with a mixture of meat
broth and oil.

4. Lamb haggis
Drob de miel
• Innards (heart, kidneys, liver, tongue, spleen) from a lamb, 2 big onions, 2
eggs, 1 tablespoon mixed chopped parsley and dill, 1 tablespoon chopped
green onions (green parts), salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon lard, 1 bread slice
• Grind the innards with the finely chopped raw or slightly fried onion, lard and
crustless slice of bread (previously soaked and squeezed dry). Add salt,
pepper, chopped parsley and dill, chopped green onions, beaten eggs and
mix everything well. In a well greased pan, set the washed lamb stomach so
as to cover the bottom and sides of the pan with room to spare. Arrange the
ground meat mixture, cover with the sides of the stomach and bake. When
ready, turn onto a plate and serve with green lettuce.

5. Lamb haggis

6. Regular cabbage rolls
Sarmale cu varza dulce
• 1 large cabbage, 1 3/4 lb/750 g ground meat (mixture of pork and beef is
recommended), 4 large onions, 2 tablespoons rice, 1 bread slice, 3
tablespoons lard, 5-6 tomatoes or 1 tablespoon tomato sauce, salt, pepper,
chopped dill, 1 qt/1 l borsh, sour cream
• Grind the meat with the crustless bread slice (previously soaked and
squeezed dry) and a raw onion. Place in a bowl and mix with rice, dill,
pepper, salt and finely chopped onion slightly fried in two tablespoons of
lard. Mix everything well. Core the cabbage with a sharp thin knife and then
blanch it with borsh. Then carefully remove the cabbage leaves, one by one,
so that they do not tear. Cut larger leaves in 2 or 3 and then place a little
meat in each cabbage piece and roll in. The smaller the rolls are, the tastier
they are. Place a layer of rolls in the pan (take a deep one), then cover with
a layer of chopped (julienned) cabbage, then a layer of thinly sliced
tomatoes. Do this layering until all the rolls are made. The last layer must be
tomato slices or add tomato sauce. Add a heaping tablespoon of lard, pour
the borsh and let simmer on top of the range for 30 minutes. Then place in
the oven so that the liquid is reduced. Serve with sour cream.

7. Regular cabbage rolls

8. Lamb roast
Friptura de miel la tava
• 3 lbs/1,5 kg lamb meat (from legs),
1-2 tablespoons lard, salt, a few garlic
cloves
• Wash and dry the meat, salt and let
sit for a half hour. Grease a roasting
pan with lard, arrange the meat in,
pour 2-3 tablespoons of water and
place in the oven, first at low
temperature, then increase the heat.
When it is roasted, place on a platter.
Pour a few tablespoons of water in
the roasting pan, add a few chopped
garlic cloves and set it on top of the
range where it should be allowed to
come to a boil. Strain the liquid and
pour it over the roast. Serve with
French fries and salad to taste.

9. Easter cake with cottage cheese
Pasca cu brinza de vaca
• Sweet bread dough (regular or Russian). Filling (more or less in quantity
according to taste): 1 lb/500 g cottage cheese, 4 oz/100 g raisins, 3-4 eggs,
1 tablespoon butter, sugar to taste, a little grated lemon peel, salt
• Mix the ingredients for filling to obtain a homogenuous paste. Roll a pencil
thick sheet out of the sweet bread dough. Place in a baking pan. From
another piece of dough form a long, finger thick roll and arrange it around
the sheet, sticking to the walls of the pan. Place the filling within, without
covering the roll on the edges. Make two more such dough rolls and place
them over the filling in an X shape. After the cake has risen a bit in a warm
place, use a little egg wash over the dough rolls. Set in the oven to bake.
Remove from the pan when it is cold.

10. Easter cake with cottage cheese

11. Regular sweet bread
Cozonaci obisnuiti
• 2 lbs/1 kg flour, 10 oz/300 g sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk, 6 eggs, 2 oz/50 g yeast, 7 oz/200
g butter, 2 tablespoons oil, vanilla stick, salt, egg for washing the dough, grease for
the pans
• Make a starter from yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix until the consistency of sour
cream, add 2-3 tablespoons tepid milk, a little flour and mix well; sprinkle some flour
on top, cover and let sit in a warm place to rise. Boil the milk with the vanilla stick (cut
in very small pieces) and leave it on the side of the range, covered, to keep warm.
Mix the yolks with the sugar and salt, then slowly pour the tepid milk, stirring
continuously. Place the risen starter in a large bowl and pour, stirring continuously,
the yolk-milk mixture and some flour, a little at a time. Then add 3 whipped egg
whites. When you finish this step, start kneading. Knead, adding melted butter
combined with oil, a little at a time, until the dough starts to easily come off your
palms. Cover with a cloth and then something thicker (like a blanket). Leave in a
warm place to triple in bulk. If during kneading the dough seems too hard, you may
add a little milk. If, on the contrary, the dough seems too soft, you may add a little
flour. When the dough has risen well, take a piece of it, place on the floured work
surface, give it the desired shape (round, oval, braided, etc.) and place in the baking
pan previously greased with butter. Let rise some more in the pan in a warm place.
Wash with egg and bake at medium heat. Take out of the pan as soon as it is done,
place on a cloth and let cool.

12. Regular sweet bread

13. Traditional Easter Eggs