A taste of Oltenian Christmas

Meat rolls in cabbage, sausages, pork steaks and specialties, goodies of all kinds, sponge cakes and usual ones, we have them all here, around Christmas. But we also have some things that are ours only, because we, here in Oltenia, have thought of them and made them to be as they are. A winter inspiration, with chosen tastes, that gathers around family and friends, for fasting and not only, to please everyone.

A food for fasting, easy, with our traditional and well-known leeks. We need: 3 thick leek stalks, 1 glass of oil, 3 tomatoes, 1 onion, 3-4 cloves of garlic, 1 bunch of dill, 100 g crushed black olives, salt, pepper, paprika (to taste), 1 spoon lemon juice or 1 glass of white wine.

The onion, tomatoes and garlic are finely chopped, the onion is browned in oil, over low heat, and when it turns golden, the tomatoes, garlic, cloves and pepper are added. Cut the leeks into pieces, and after 5 minutes add it too and extinguish with a cup of water. Leave it to boil, over low heat, for 30 minutes. Remove the seeds from olives, if you prefer, and after half an hour add them also to boil for 5-10 minutes, along with lemon juice or the glass of wine. Finally, chop the dill and add it, altogether with the salt - to taste -, after everything is ready.

What do we need? 200 g sausages, 500 g lean meat - bird or pork, 5 stalks of leeks - could not have missed that, 2 peppers, 3 big tomatoes, well riped, 6 large potatoes, 1 hot pepper, 1 bunch of dill, 1 glass of white wine , 1 bunch of parsley, 1 glass of oil, salt as you consider.

Cut the meat, sausage and leeks into slices and fry in hot oil until lightly browned. The peppers, tomatoes, peppers are cleaned and minced. The frying pan is extinguished with tomatoes and is left to boil for 10 minutes, after that adding 1 cup of water to the stew and covering it, to boil slowly for a half an hour. Add the diced potatoes, peppers, hot peppers and wine, season with salt and bring to a boil on the stove or in the oven, for about 30 minutes. Chop the greens and add them over the wonderful food at the end.

The story is like this: you take 1 young chicken, 4 tomatoes, 1 clove of garlic, 2 peppers, same amount of hot peppers, salt and enough lovage.

The well-cleaned chicken is cut in two and placed on the grill or on a frying pan sprinkled with salt. While turning it from time to time, put the tomatoes, peppers and grilled tomatoes on the stove or grill, and after they have been thoroughly cooked, clean and peel them.

The cooked chicken is put in a saucepan, covered with tomatoes and peppers, but also with the sliced garlic. Cover it with water, but also with a glass of wine and one of plum brandy, and allowed to boil for a while. Put the chopped greens at the end and maybe, just maybe add some polenta, to cut off the steam.

Well, here's something else, some special fasting treat, but more complicated.

But an Oltenian taste is not easy to obtain. For the "crab" soup - those peppers presented in the link below - we need 10-12 peppers, 5-6 onions or 4 leeks, 300 g flour, 2 carrots, 1 parsnip, 1.5 l sauerkraut juice, oil, tomato sauce to taste, 100 g tomato paste, and pepper, dill, thyme, parsley and salt.

The finely chopped onion is softened in a pan, keeping a bit for the broth. Over the remaining one, put salt, pepper, flour and tomato paste, carefully mixing them so that they remain creamy. Once homogenized, the composition will be used to fill the "crabs", and if it is too thick, you can soften it with water. Wash the "crab" peppers, clean the seeds and drown them in boiling water for a while. Nick them at the top and fill them with the above mixture. Then, "powder" them a little with flour at the end, so that the filling does not come out. Separately, bring the sauerkraut juice to a boil, add the carrots cut in rings, the parsnip cut in cubes and the onion. After boiling it a little, add more tomato paste and water, the filled "crabs" and leave to boil for half an hour on low heat. As usual, the chopped greens at the end.

And, because every Oltenian knows that it’s winter and that nature is the medicine, this recipe could not be missed here. What do we need?

4 tablespoons of grated horseradish paste, 2 grated apples, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of grated carrot, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, 4 tablespoons of grated red beet. All these are rubbed with vinegar and salt and everything is ready. It goes with any food, except fish.

Make some polenta, set the table and call your loved ones for a special Oltenian Christmas.

Sources of inspiration: the wonderful Radu Anton Roman - gustarte.ro, the book "Romanian dishes, wines and customs", but also the local source, blog.zaibar.ro.

Photo: bucataras.ro, e-retete.ro, gustarte.ro, retetelebunicii.ro, deliciousromania.com