I like to change up what I cook to keep things interesting and I'm not very attached to any one cuisine type - I try new things all the time and I'm eager to receive new suggestions. Occasionally though, I like to go back to childhood favorites, things that remind me of what my mom might cook on a Sunday afternoon or what my grandma would labor over for a whole day for a special holiday dinner. Romanian cooking is generally uncomplicated, simply seasoned and very seasonal - growing up fresh fruit and vegetables were exclusively available in their local growing seasons, and over the course of the winter we would lean heavily on cellar stored apples, potatoes, pickled everything and frozen (or canned) fire roasted vegetables.
There are a few features of a good weeknight dinner - few ingredients, uncomplicated cooking methods and limited amount of dishes to clean at the end. Many Romanian dishes fit the bill, though some require more extensive cooking time. That's where another perk comes in - ability to prep ahead! Comfort dishes have this neat feature of actually being more flavorful the next day, which lends itself well to doing the bulk of the work ahead. In setting out to make a full Romanian dinner, I picked an old family favorite - chicken paprikash! This is a comforting but bright stew of chicken with a rich paprika and sour cream sauce, with a depth of flavor brought in by a generous amount of cooked down onions, along with a bit of garlic, parsley and a bay leaf.
The first building block of flavor comes from searing the meat to a golden crispy outside - I chose bone in chicken thighs because they can cook slowly without losing too much moisture. A dutch oven is great for this (do as I say, not as I do - I used a frying pan for searing and sautéing the ingredients, then layered them in a casserole dish because that would fit in my fridge easier for overnight storage) - turn up the heat to medium, heat up a small amount of oil, then cook the chicken skin down in batches until golden and crispy, then flip over and sear the other side as well. Repeat until all the chicken has been seared, reserving it in a bowl to the side as you build the sauce.
Turn the heat down a bit and sautee the onions in the rendered fat from the chicken (if there is not much of it, you can supplement with a bit more cooking oil) until translucent and soft. You can use finely chopped onions if you prefer, but I like the texture of more distinctive pieces of onion so I thinly sliced them instead. Season with salt and pepper as they cook down, it helps release some of the excess water and prevent browning as they soften. Add crushed (or finely chopped) garlic and paprika powder, then cook a minute or two more for the flavors to permeate the onions. Be careful not to overcook the paprika at this stage, or it may taste a bit bitter. Add the bay leaf, a handful of parley (optional) and the chopped tomatoes, mix well and place the chicken back in the pot. Add enough water or chicken stock until chicken pieces are almost completely covered, bring to a boil.
This is the point where you decide if you want to eat this the same day or finish it the next day. I was prepping the day ahead, so I simmered the chicken for 10-15 minutes in the sauce then turned the heat off, let it cool off a bit, then put it in the fridge for the night. The next day, 30-45 minutes before you plan to serve, put the covered pot back on medium heat until it comes to a boil and turn the heat down to simmer for another 15-20 minutes until the chicken is hot and cooked all the way through. Carefully remove the chicken into your serving dish, leaving all the sauce in the pot. Mix the flour and sour cream together, adding a few tablespoons of water to obtain a creamy mixture. Add this slurry to the sauce and whisk in, then simmer on the heat for 5-10 minutes to cook and thicken. Ladle the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle some fresh chopped parsley and serve.
A classic side dish in Romanian cooking is mamaliga, which is similar to polenta (corn meal cooked simply with water and salt) and frequently served with butter and cheese. Remember though that I was in prep ahead mode, so I was thinking of a way to get this mostly ready the night before, so bulz came to mind - this is when mamaliga gets turned into baked dumplings stuffed with all sorts of goodness. To start, bring water to a boil, salt it, then add the measured corn meal whisking continuously to prevent clumps from forming. Then, turn the heat low, very low, to keep the mixture to a very gentle simmer - let it cook for 12-15 minutes stirring occasionally to keep everything smooth, then remove from heat. Now you have perfectly good mamaliga - you can flip it directly on a cutting board and serve as you've see above in my earlier Easter post. However, I added 2-3 tbsp of butter and stirred to soften the mixture a bit, then turned it over on a silpat mat and let it cool a bit so it was easier to handle.
I used a spatula to spread it out in a rectangle and score it into 8 even parts, then divided the filling among each of the servings - a dollop of sour cream and about 1/2oz of good feta cheese should do the trick. You can get creative here - some grated parmesan, a bit of ricotta or extra butter would also work nicely. Working with lightly greased (or wet) hands, gently pick up each section and roll it into a ball - it doesn't have to be perfect, if some of the filling leaks out it's ok, just smoosh it in there and get everything nice and tight. You'll get 8 roughly equal dumplings stuffed with cheesy goodness. Place them in a baking dish and cover, then refrigerate overnight if not using right away. When ready to serve, sprinkle with a bit more feta and a pat of butter and bake until warmed through.
To round off the plate, I went for a winter time classic - roasted bell peppers. These are easier to achieve in the oven or on an open flame if you have a gas stove, cook until soft on the inside and blistered on the outside, peel and remove the stem and seeds. Or you can take a shortcut and buy some roasted bell peppers in a jar, whatever works. Slice the peppers, add a thinly sliced shallot, then toss with salt, apple cider vinegar and a dash of olive oil. This also benefits from marinating overnight, so all components of your meal can be ready and waiting for you the next day. I packaged most of this meal to-go so I didn't plate to impress, but below you can see a snapshot of what my plate looked like once it all came together.
An essential bread on every Romanian table is bread. And one of the first things missing when moving out of the old country is "proper" bread - took me a bit of time to realize that what I was seeking is artisan bread. There's something so satisfying about a well developed, crunchy crust, a soft and fluffy inside with some chewiness to the crumb and a simple beauty in how it can enhance the enjoyment of a good meal by picking up those last bits of sauce off the plate. I've been experimenting with sourdough (as I've mentioned before), so I whipped up a beautiful high hydration boule following this recipe. In the pre-shaping step I folded in a couple of handfuls of chopped up cheddar and finely minced fresh rosemary for added flavor. It came out a beautiful deep auburn color and smelled fantastic.
Dessert is important to me, I bake all the time after all. So I wanted to finish the meal on an authentic flavor note, even if not a classic Romanian dish. I loved the sourdough cinnamon bun recipe from King Arthur (which you can find here), though last time I attempted it things did no go quite as planned (one of my bigger oopses on my IG feed). I saw it as my opportunity for redemption, and I had just enough active starter left for a half batch. To add a Romanian twist, however, I included orange zest in the dough and whipped up a quick poppyseed filling instead of the classic cinnamon sugar.
The recipe required ground up poppyseeds, so I started out with a mortar and pestle, a classic. It was taking too long so I switched to an electric spice grinder, which did the job in a cinch. Old fashioned way may work better for smaller amounts of seeds, I'll stick with my grinder though. I mixed in some lemon zest in the filling to harmonize with the orange zest in dough, then mixed it into a milk and sugar combination brought to a low simmer. Mix constantly as it reduces to a thick paste, then remove from the heat and and a bit of rum and vanilla extract to elevate it. Let it cool and use the same way you would cinnamon sugar on the rolled out dough. The rolls rose beautifully and resulted in these light, fluffy and slightly tangy breads with a a great flavor and textural contrast from the poppy seed filling.
These reheat quite well the next day, just save well covered in an airtight container. That is, if you can wait that long (spoiler alert - we couldn't! the first roll was removed from the pan and sampled while still hot). The recipe calls for a butter based icing which was delicious and actually great in complementing the poppyseed filling without clashing, though for the classic cinnamon rolls I might go the route of a cream cheese icing in the future.
For details on amounts and step-by-step of the recipes described here, read on.
Chicken Paprikash
(Serves 8)
Ingredients
8 bone in chicken thighs
2 tbsp oil
2-3 onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic
2-3 tbsp paprika powder
14oz can chopped tomatoes
bay leaf
300g sour cream
3 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
fresh chopped parsley, optional
Method
- Oil the bottom of a dutch oven, and sear the chicken thighs on both sides in batches until they're all golden and slightly crisp but not cooked through, reserve to the side.
- Sautee onions in rendered chicken fat, add a bit more oil if necessary, season and cook on moderate heat until translucent and softened.
- Add garlic and paprika, cook for 1-2 minutes longer to integrate the flavors.
- Pour in chopped tomatoes (liquid included), the bay leaf and optionally some dry or fresh parsley, then bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes to marry the flavors.
- Place chicken in one layer as much as possible back in the pot (you can angle it if needed), then add enough water or chicken stock to nearly cover the meat.
- Simmer for 20-30 minutes covered on low heat until chicken is cooked through and sauce is reduced a bit.
- Remove chicken into serving platter/bowl.
- Mix cold sour cream, flour and a few tablespoons of water until creamy, then add to the pot and whisk with the simmer sauce.
- Cook on medium-low heat until thickened and flour is cooked, about 10 minutes.
- Spoon sauce over chicken and serve.
Polenta hand dumplings
Ingredients
750 ml water
150g corn meal
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp sour cream
4 oz feta cheese
Method
- Bring water and salt to a gentle boil.
- Gradually add corn meal whisking constantly.
- Reduce heat until you get a gentle simmer, and cook for 15 minutes whisking occasionally. It may stick to the bottom slightly but it shouldn't burn up.
- When done, turn heat off and give it a couple of minutes to cool down.
- Adjust seasoning and whisk in butter
- Pour out in a sheet pan or better yet, silpat mat.
- Coax cooked mamaliga into a rough rectangle shape with a spatula, then cut in 4 across and two in length (so 8 equal parts), then divide sour cream and feta among them.
- When cool enough to handle, hand form into round dumplings and place in a baking pan.
- Bake to warm through and serve.
Notes
- You can use different cheese selection inside the dumplings, such as grated parmesan or ricotta salata.
- After forming, you can save these covered in the fridge overnight and bake covered until heated through the next day (top off with a dab of butter first)
- When serving, a bit of extra feta on top is always welcome :)
Poppyseed filling for rolls
Ingredients
100g poppyseeds
100 ml milk
40-50g sugar
rum and vanilla extract
Method
- Bring milk and sugar to a simmer.
- Add ground up poppyseeds.
- Cook on gentle heat until thickened to a spreadable paste-like consistency.
- Use as filling in enriched breads (like cozonac or cinnamon rolls) - scoop out chunks all over the dough, press down in a thin layer using fingers or an offset spatula.
Notes
- A coffee grinder or mortar and pestle work well for grinding the poppyseeds, I prefer the former.
- Any leftover filling can be used in other bread or cookie applications - I used some in baked oatmeal cups and it was just as delicious.
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