Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Sarmale)

December 28, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Main Dish

During Christmas I tried to stay away from blogging. I still cooked, but I tried to make the experience a little less stressful. I skipped taking pictures and writing down recipes. Ever since I started gourmetcubicle cooking hasn’t been the same for me. I still enjoy it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s completely different than what it used to be. Now I measure each and every pinch of spice I add and document everything I do which makes the whole cooking process a lot more time consuming. Cooking should be fun. It should be about following your gut, tasting and adjusting, screwing it up then retrying it again until you perfect a recipe. That’s what us bloggers do. We cook the same dish over and over again, until it looks and tastes perfect (or at least that's what we'd like to think).

I brought over a lot of recipes with me from Romania and Hungary. I have recipes scribbled on grease stained paper from my grandma, Buna. Some of them were inherited from from my great-grandma. I am also fortunate to have my mother and grandma give me advice over Skype every time I run into problems. Yet still some of the recipes they’ve been using for decades don’t work with the ingredients that I find here. For example, the other week I tried to make Hungarian pogácsa which is a fluffy and soft scone-like of appetizer. I followed the recipe that my mom used with success in the past, but for some reason the final result wasn’t the same. The first batch was, how to put it nicely, really bad. The second was edible. The third one will be even better. It takes trial and error to perfect something and this holds true for anything in life, not just for cooking. You have to be willing to accept that failure plays an important part in success.

Even though Austin isn’t exactly a place that reminds you of Christmas, I decided to bring back my Christmas tree decoration party after skipping it last year due to my trip to Cambodia. I started this tradition years ago when I moved to Austin and knew no one. Not having any Christmas tree decorations either, I decided to throw a party where I’d serve food for my guests in exchange for a tree ornament that they’d hang. Over the past 5 years I have collected all sorts of decorations from a mustard bottle-shaped ornament, to an ornament with a Popsi-like dog inside of it, to a mini painting of me, Roni and Popsi in front of a Christmas tree. I also have a bunch of handmade decorations. No one knows where life will take us years from now, but it will be great hanging them and remembering those friends.

Anyway before I go too deep into emotional shit, I better focus on what this blog is about: cooking. Stuffed cabbage is a staple dish in Eastern European cuisine. It’s a dish that is being served during major events or Holidays. Growing up in Romania, I can’t remember a single Christmas without stuffed cabbage. Whether you call them sarmale, töltött káposzta, golumpki, dolma or holubtsi it doesn’t really matter since they are all basically the same – leaves of some sort (cabbage, grape, etc) stuffed with meat (pork, beef, lamb, etc) and rice. There are several variations of this dish all over the Balkans. Some prefer them with blanched cabbage leaves, some with sour cabbage leaves. Others use grape leaves or even cherry leaves. Pork or beef? It doesn’t really matter it will taste good. If you can’t get a hold of sour cabbage leaves, just use blanched cabbage leaves (sweet cabbage leaves as we call them in Romania and Hungary) instead. When the rolls are prepared just cook them in a half tomato juice half water concoction. Adding dill to the mix is pretty common as well. If you are a fan of parsley you can add some to the filling. Also, any smoked meat will do, so if you can’t find smoked pork hock, you can use smoked dry sausage or smoked ham. It adds that smoky-sweet flavor that contrasts well with the sourness of the cabbage.

My mom and grandma sometimes prepare the cabbage rolls in a special clay cooker in the oven, but I found that cooking them in a cast iron Dutch oven yields similar results. My family usually serves them with fresh bread and sour cream, but it’s pretty common to serve them with a side of mamaliga (polenta) or mashed potatoes. The choice is yours. Poftă bună! Jó étvágyat!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (Sarmale)

Yields 30-40 rolls
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

5 TBS canola oil (or sunflower seed)
1 large onion (about 1/2 lb), finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground caraway seeds
2 TBS chicken stock (or water)
2.2 lbs ground pork
11 oz white long grain rice, rinsed
2 medium grated carrots (about 1/2 lb)
1 1/2 TBS paprika
1 TBS salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 head pickled cabbage (or 20-25 whole sour cabbage leaves)
1 smoked pork hock (about 1/2 lb)
2 bay leaves

Instructions

Heat three tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil easily slides across the pan add onions and sauté for 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir frequently to make sure the garlic doesn’t burn.
Season with caraway and add stock. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 more minutes stirring every now and then.
When the onions become translucent, remove from the heat and let the mixture cool down.
In a large bowl, mix ground pork, rice and carrots. Season with paprika, salt and pepper. When the sautéed onions are cold enough to handle add them to the mix along with the rest of the oil (2 tablespoons)
Using your hand combine thoroughly until everything is well blended. Set aside.
Cut large leaves in half, removing the core and thick stems. Chop them roughly and set aside. Make sure you have 30-35 leaves ready to be stuffed. Don’t discard the rest, we’ll use them later.
Place a tablespoon or so of meat filling in the middle of the cabbage leaf and roll creating a cone (see pic). Make sure it’s rolled relatively tightly. Fold the other end and seal by pressing the cabbage leaf inwards.
Cut the meat off the smoked hock and roughly chop into bite size pieces. Keep the bone.
Sprinkle a third of the chopped cabbage leaves and a few pieces of smoked meat on the bottom of a cast iron Dutch oven.
Place the cabbage rolls in the Dutch oven with the pointy ends towards the middle. Keep the middle free of cabbage rolls. Add another layer of chopped cabbage leaves and then repeat laying the rolls until you run out of them.
Place the smoked hock bone in the middle, sprinkle with more chopped cabbage leaves.
Add enough water to barely cover the top layer of cabbage rolls, add the bay leaves and then lay a few whole cabbage leaves to keep the moisture in.
Cover the Dutch oven with a lid and place it on the stove. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.
Serve cabbage rolls with sour cream and fresh bread or mamaliga (polenta).

Notes

The amount of oil you add to the filling depends on the fat content of the ground pork. 2 tablespoons are recommended for 80/20 pork (20% fat content). For anything less than 20% fat, add an extra tablespoon of oil.
There are several ways to roll the stuffed cabbage, but my grandma’s method (creating cones) has worked perfectly for me.
Place cabbage rolls as close to each other as possible. That way they will not open while they are cooking.
I used a 24 liter (4 1/2 US quarts) Dutch oven for 38 cabbage rolls. Romanian cabbage rolls are smaller than Polish rolls, so the high number of rolls can be deceiving.

Romanian Meatballs (Chiftele)

December 01, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Thanksgiving weekend flew by so fast. It’s hard to believe that the long awaited break is over and I have to get back to work. As much as I love the idea of Thanksgiving, it is still a novelty for me. My first Thanksgiving experience took place in 2011 when my buddy Nathan invited me over to his parents’ house knowing that I was alone. I had just moved to the US at the time and barely knew anyone, so it felt really good to have someone think about me. Later I found out that Nathan’s father had the same experience when he was a freshman in college and didn’t know anyone so he made a promise to continue the tradition of inviting someone who’s far from family. It was a great experience: obviously we overate, drank good wines and watched football, which I didn’t understand because I (still) don’t know the rules. It felt like a genuine way of saying thanks to your family and friends for being there for you all the time.

It’s really nice to have a day when you acknowledge all the things and people that you’re thankful for, but in reality you should do that every day. It’s so easy to get caught up in your daily life and forget about what makes life so great. Too often this fast-paced lifestyle that we are part of doesn’t allow us the luxury to think about all the great things that happen to us. We spend too little time celebrating and enjoying our achievements. We just tend to move on to the next thing on our extensive list of things we want to check off. It’s as if we are continuously chasing something and way too often we forget to enjoy the journey. It may be a cultural thing. I feel like here in the U.S. people live in the future, always looking forward, always thinking about what’s going to happen next and forgetting about enjoying the present. I’m not saying it is something bad. It’s just different from what I’ve been used to.

For example, in Eastern Europe the mentality is the complete opposite- people live in their past. They love nostalgia and talking about how great things were years ago and they more often than not complain about the present. Give it a shot next time you meet an Eastern European and you’ll see that about 2 minutes into the conversation the person is going to be talking about our history and how great things were in the past. There is something comforting in recalling memories and talking about the past and no one does it better than Eastern Europeans. Now that I’m away, every time I go home and talk to my parents, family or friends I realize how conversations revolve around our past.

Especially when elderly people meet, the first topic they’ll talk about is their health. Conversations start with the standard "How have you been?" which quickly spirals into a shitstorm of problems and struggles. People love talking about their problems, so be careful when asking an older Eastern European this question unless you’re ready to hear that person’s medical history. You’ll learn about everything they’ve dealt with in the past few years with a very detailed description of the back pain they have when the seasons change. You’d think that you just joined a never ending pity party when all of a sudden you hear them end with “But I can’t complain”. That’s when it’s your turn to start whining how bad your health has been.

My granny, Buna, and her friends are the most entertaining. As a matter of fact, she sometimes just waits around the window or front porch of her house for a friend to pass by so she can start talking about her most recent health issue. The conversation almost instantly turns into a game of one-upping each other. If my granny had a flu, most likely her friend had something twice as bad, which in turn will bring up another health issue my granny had years ago that trumps her friend’s one. It is an interesting experience for an outsider. The funny part is that after about half an hour of complaining they both agree that life is actually great: there is still food on the table, a roof over their head, a cozy warm bed during the cold winters and of course the Mexican novelas.

Now, back to the present, where we should all strive to live. This meatballs recipe (chiftele in Romanian) is my family’s go-to emergency food. Whenever my mom runs short on time or is out of ideas, she makes meatballs. They are easy to prepare, filling, and of course delicious. Romanian meatballs are slightly different than Italian or Spanish meatballs as they are made out of pork with milk-soaked bread, a generous amount of garlic and parsley, and deep fried to a crispy exterior and juicy interior.

My mom prepares them not only as appetizers, but also as a main dish. The only difference between the appetizer and main dish meatballs is the size - smaller for appetizers, larger for main dish. Back home in Transylvania they are served with a side of mashed potatoes and tomato sauce, or with creamy squash and dill stew. The latter is my dad’s favorite, a Hungarian staple dish, called tökfőzelék. If none of these sound appealing to you, feel free to eat them with bread, homemade marinara sauce and shaved parmesan just like we did. Poftă bună!

Romanian Meatballs (Chiftele)

Yields 20-25 meatballs
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb potatoes (about 1 large potato)
2 oz sliced white bread (crust removed)
1/2 cup whole milk
1.5 lbs ground pork
1 egg, pasture raised
2-3 TBS garlic, crushed and finely chopped (about 4 cloves garlic)
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 black pepper, freshly cracked
1 tsp Hungarian paprika (or Spanish)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs, optional
1 1/2 cups oil (sunflower seed, vegetable or canola)

Instructions

Place potatoes in a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Add half tablespoon of salt and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook the potatoes for 15-20 minutes or until they are easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Remove from the heat, discard the water and let them cool down.
While the potatoes are boiling, soak the bread in milk in a bowl until all the milk is absorbed.
Using a knife or your hands peel the potatoes (the peel should slip off easily) and pass them through the small hole of a cheese grater.
Place the ground pork in a large bowl and add the potatoes, bread, egg, crushed garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and paprika. Using your hands mix them all together.
Shape the mixture into golf-sized balls and roll them in the breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Carefully place meatballs in the hot oil and fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side or until they are crispy brown.
When done transfer the meatballs to a paper towel lined plate or a wire rack.
Serve meatballs fresh and warm with a side of marinara sauce.

Notes

The amount of oil you'll have to use will depend on the size of the frying pan you're using. Make sure that the pan has about half inch of oil.
Do not overload the frying pan with meatballs as the temperature of the oil will drop too much and the meatballs will become greasy. Work in batches instead.

Romanian Savarin Cake (Savarina)

September 19, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Dessert

The savarin cake or savarina, as we call it in Romania, is the cake of my childhood. As a matter of fact, I'm confident that it's the childhood cake of every Romanian my age. So many great memories are related to this dessert. As a kid I thought that savarina was the best cake ever made and I'll tell you that I still think it's one of the best. The light and fluffy cake oozing with sugar and rum, stuffed with fresh whipped cream and topped with tart jam. It's heavenly.

Savarina was the first cake I remember eating at a patisserie and it was the first cake that I ever paid for on my own. I must've been 5 or 6 years old at the time. I remember walking home from the nearest playground after playing soccer all day with my buddies. It was at the local elementary school, which was very originally named Școala Generală Numărul 2 (translates as Elementary School #2). On my way home, I walked by one of the few patisseries that existed in my town. It was called Cofetăria Tineretului. Until that day I had never entered a bakery without one of my parents or my older sister. Going to such a place wasn't an everyday thing. It was always reserved for special occasions like birthdays, the end of the school year, or school festivities (serbare, in Romanian).

So that day I decided to break the rule, take some money from my savings (I was always saving money for something) and to treat myself and my buddy with a cake. I payed 2 lei (old Romanian currency) and it was one of the best feelings in the world. I remember punching my buddy for stealing the cherry from the top and taking too big of a bite from the whipped cream.

Other significant life events related to savarina:

my neighbor Gabriela's birthday (March 5th I still remember the day since we always had savarina for her birthday)
first elementary school date with a girl (can't remember her name. I was a player back then. Making all the girls in school believe that I was a ninja helped my dating life enormously.)
my sister's first date with a guy called Burzo (he bought me 2 savarine to leave him and my sister alone for 10 minutes so that they could hold hands.)
my sister's second date with Burzo (he bribed me with 4 savarine to skip going to the movies with them. The price was higher because I had to break my dad's instructions of following my sister closely)
first high school date with Andra (all the girls found out by then that I wasn't a ninja. The only girl willing to go out on a date with me was her.)
my mom's birthday (because she always brought savarina home every November 15th)

Years have passed since those days, but every time I go to Romania I will have a savarina or two. In less than a month, I'm going home on a two week vacation, but this time Roni is going to join me too. She's going to meet my family, eat my mom's and Buna's amazing food, meet my college friends and drink my father's awful homemade wine. All of these combined with the fact that she's never been to Romania before makes it one of those special occasions to add to the list above.

Romanian Savarin Cake (Savarina)

Yields 10-12 cakes
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 40 minutes
Inactive time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Dough

5 oz whole milk
1/4 oz dry yeast (1 packet)
1 TBS sugar
9 oz cake flour (about 2 cups)
2 whole eggs, pasture raised
2 egg yolks, pasture raised
2 TBS oil (peanut oil, canola oil, or softened butter)
1/4 tsp salt

Syrup

1 1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark rum (or 2 TBS rum essence)
2 tsp lemon zest (lime or orange)

Garnish

2 cups whipping cream
2 TBS sugar
2 inch vanilla pod (or 1/8 tsp vanilla extract)
2 tsp lemon zest (or orange)
2 TBS jelly (sour cheery or blueberry)

Instructions

Heat milk to around 110F (45C). Add yeast, sugar and mix well. Set aside for about 2-3 minutes until the milk starts to bloom (you'll see it bubble up).
In a large mixing bowl combine flour, eggs, yolks, oil and bloomed yeast-milk mixture. Using a spatula gently stir and mix the dough until it becomes smooth and silky. Add salt and stir one more time. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes until it doubles in size.
In the meantime prepare the syrup. In a medium sauce pan, mix water and sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Add rum and lemon zest and boil for 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat and let the syrup cool.
Preheat oven to 360F (185F) degrees.
Place parchment baking liners in a muffin pan. Using a spoon, fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full. Allow it to rise for a second time until the dough rises close to the top, about 10-15 minutes.
Place the muffin pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown*. Remove from the oven and let them cool.
In the meantime, in a large metal bowl mix sugar, vanilla beans, lemon zest and whipping cream. Using a whisk or a hand mixer whisk until you get stiff peaks.
When the cakes are cold, flip them upside down, and cut them crosswise about one inch from the top (flat side) to make a little lid.
Immerse the cakes in the rum syrup and let them soak for about 30 seconds each.**
Spoon whipped cream into a pastry bag. Pipe whipped cream between the layers of the cake.
Using a knife carefully spread jelly on the top of each cake.
Place the savarin cakes in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.

Notes:

* The baking time depends on the size of the cakes, but it shouldn't take more than 25 minutes.
** For extra moist cakes make double the amount of rum syrup and soak for 1 minutes instead.

Chocolate and Biscuit Dessert Salami

July 09, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Dessert

This blog post is dedicated to the most amazing grandparents that a child can ask for, Bunu and Buna.

The 9th of July is a special day for me- it's my favorite grandpa's birthday. Bunu was one of the most special people in my life and he would've turned 83 today had the Alzheimer’s not taken him away from us last year. Chocolate and Biscuit Dessert Salami, or Salam de biscuiti as we call it in Romania, was his favorite dessert. On my latest trip to Romania, I wanted to prepare this recipe with my grandma, Buna, to honor Bunu. This recipe belongs to my grandmother, who's been using it for years and years, making generations of kids happy.

Even though it was great seeing Buna and cooking together, the trip to Romania wasn’t as happy and positive as my time in Hungary, mostly because it was very hard for me emotionally to visit my grandparents’ house and to deal the fact that my Bunu was gone. The house that I grew up in was missing its liveliest element- the man who loved me like no one else, my role model, Bunu. His fun and happy stories, some of them real, some of them fiction, were noticeably missing.

One story in particular is very special to me. I must’ve heard it hundreds of times- the story of the time I cut the roots of Bunu's kohlrabi seedlings as a token of revenge for a small argument that we had. It was the only time we actually ever had one.

This story was Bunu’s favorite way of bringing joy to the table during our Sunday lunches. Everyone in our family knew it inside out. There were times when some would leave the room to get away from THE story. I never missed one. I loved to hear it, not only because my grandpa was such a gifted storyteller that he always made me feel like it was the first time I heard it, but also because I knew that he found extreme passion and joy in telling it. It was his favorite and it always made him and everyone around him happy.

The story itself is silly, yet still manages to bring a smile (and now a tear) to my face. I hope I can do it justice by retelling it here, but I know nothing can compare to the way he narrated it.

It goes a little something like this: like every summer, I was spending my break at my grandparents’ place. I loved it there- they had a big yard where I played all day, a beautiful garden, two big cherry trees that I climbed, and a chicken coup with dozens of chicken and roosters. Buna would cook whatever I craved, so for this little fatso it was heaven on earth.

One Saturday, Bunu and I were riding Bunu's bike back home from our usual Saturday trip to his river house. As we were riding we ran into one of Bunu's best friends, Lajos, who he loved showing off to about gardening. The two old men were always competing. They were like Jack Lemon and Water Matthau in "Grumpy Old Men". I remember Bunu going on and on about his kohlrabi seedlings and Lajos promised to come by later to see them in person.

Before I get further into the story, let me stop here for a moment to say that Bunu was the kind of guy who loved bragging about everything. Just to give you an idea- when I got my first promotion at work, he told everyone on his street that I was promoted to director level although I was just promoted from an intern to a full time entry level engineer. Just like any of his stories, his bragging was a bit inflated.

When we got home, Bunu and I had had an argument over him wanting to take a nap and me wanting to sing him a song- "Lipe its lipe”, better known as "Life is life” to y’all English speakers. I was being an obnoxious little punk and Bunu raised his voice and told me to go play outside until after he napped. I didn’t take to that order well, but complied.

While I was dismissed out in the yard, I found a bland rusty knife next to the chicken coop where Bunu kept his gardening tools. Now what does a 4 years old do when he finds himself with a knife in the garden while angry at grandpa? Cut the roots of his seedings, of course. Not all of them, just the kohlrabi he had just been bragging about to his friend earlier that day. I took the knife, whacked the roots, hid them, and put the seedling back in the ground as if nothing happened.

After supper, Bunu had the habit of spending hours in his garden. First he would water each and every plant with rain water he collected and then he would just sit and admire his gorgeous plants from his bench. He would even play classical music on his old radio sometimes, so that the eggplant, tomatoes and their other vegetable friends would grow faster.

As he was sitting there that evening waiting for his buddy to arrive, he saw that the kohlrabi seedlings started wilting. He got up, watered them again and waited a bit longer to see if they would perk up. It didn't help. So he pulled one of the seedlings out of the ground. When he saw that the roots were missing he thought that he either overwatered them and the roots had rotted, or that moles attacked his garden. Then he took a better look and realized that the roots were neither rotten, nor chewed by moles, but carefully cut. Then he saw the knife close to the crime scene.

My grandma, Buna,  proudly posing with my grandpa's favorite dessert- Chocolate and Biscuit Salami that we made together — My grandma, Buna, proudly posing with my grandpa's favorite dessert- Chocolate and Biscuit Salami that we made together

I saw all of this while hiding in the cherry tree. I watched and savored my sweet revenge. Bunu spotted me and chased me around the backyard and house. I ran to Buna who protected me, although I know Bunu would have not done anything to harm me. If anything, he would have made wash his bike or help him pull weeds out of his garden.

And this is the story he found extreme joy telling. He said it was the best prank anyone has ever pulled on him.

This is the story that Bunu told me last time we talked. It was over Skype a couple of days before he passed away. He had Alzheimer’s and even though he barely remembered the people around him or the house he lived in, he recognized me and told me OUR favorite story all over again. La multi ani, Bunutule! Te iubesc, mosule!

Chocolate and Biscuit Dessert Salami

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Inactive time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 lb tea biscuits, roughly chopped
3/4 cup water
4 TBS cocoa, unsweetened
7 oz sugar
1 TBS rum extract
7 oz butter, unsalted
4 oz walnuts, roasted and roughly chopped
1 cup sour cherries, roughly chopped (or regular cherries, apricots or Turkish Delight)

Instructions

Place biscuits in a food processor and pulse a few times until the biscuits are crumbled. Don't overdo it, as you don't want to turn them into biscuit powder.
In a medium sauce pan mix water, cocoa, sugar and rum. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Stir well to combine and cook for 3-4 minutes. Make sure there are no lumps in your chocolate mixture. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Add butter to the pan and stir until it melts. Slowly add biscuits, walnuts and cherries and still until combined. Make sure everything is evenly coated in chocolate.
Lay a long sheet of thick plastic wrap on you work station. Place the biscuit mixture in the center. Mold the mixture into a 4 inch wide and 12-15 inch long log. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, roll it a few times to give it a salami shape and then twist the ends of the wrap to seal. Place it in the fridge for at least one hour.
Before serving remove the plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes. You can even roll the chocolate salami in coconut or almond flakes. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices and serve.