Clatite Brasovene

“Brasov-style savoury pancakes”

Pancakes, or clatite, are a big part of the Romanian dining experience. Most restaurants, from the lowliest neighbourhood carciuma (a kind of bar-bistro) to the more elegant downtown restaurant will serve pancakes of some sort. Most commonly they are the sweet versions, making good use of the countries plethora of jams and preserves, but you frequently find savoury pancakes served as a starter or a main course. These savoury pancakes hail from the city of Brasov and differe from regular pancakes in that they are dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and then crisped off before serving.

They can be stuffed with whatever you like. The chicken can be omitted to make a simple vegetarian mushroom-stuffed pancake. Chicken livers can be chopped and added, as can smoke-cured meats, or even pork tenderloin. I've chosen to make them with the chicken I had left over from making supa de pui cu galuste de gris earlier, but you can use whatever you have in the fridge.

Servings: About 6-7 pancakes

Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

For the pancake batter:

300g of plain flour

500ml of milk

3 eggs

Salt to taste

For the crispy coating:

3 eggs

200g of breadcrumbs (pesmet)

For the filling:

1 medium onion

2 eggs

1 tablespoon of plan flour

1 glass of cold milk

1 bunch of dill

A few tarragon leaves

300g of cooked chicken chunks

600g of mushrooms

A pinch of dried thyme

Salt, pepper, and paprika, to taste

Oil (olive, butter, dripping, sunflower – whatever you prefer)

For serving:

Some kind of sauce, such as homemade tomato sauce, sour cream sauce, cheese sauce, or whatever you like.

Some chopped parsley or dill to sprinkle on top

Method:

For the filling:

1. Trim and rinse the mushrooms and perhaps cut them into thick slices (or leave whole, if they are small enough.)

2. Finely chop the onion.

3. Heat the oil in the pan and when it’s hot, add the mushrooms (and chicken pieces if they are uncooked) and onion and sauté for about 5-10 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked and the onion is translucent.

4. While they are cooking, dissolve the flour in the cold milk, add the eggs, and beat till well combined.

5. Finely chop the dill and the tarragon.

6. When the mushrooms and onions are soft, add the chicken (if you used cooked chicken), the milk/egg mixture, the thyme, pepper, salt, paprika, and mix well and leave to continue cooking on a medium-low heat for a few more minutes, until it starts to thicken up a little, then take off the heat.

7. Then stir in the chopped dill and tarragon.

For the pancakes:

1. Beat together the flour and eggs and the salt, and gradually add the milk until you get the right consistency.

2. Make the pancakes in the normal way, but they should be a little large than regular pancakes, and a little bit thicker.

3. Make all the pancakes you can with the batter and keep them warm to one side.

For the final composition:

1. Lay a pancake out in front of you.

2. Spread some of the filling on the pancake, spreading it quite thinly, from top to bottom, but not out to the sides too much.

3. Fold both sides in (fold about 2-3cm over on each side) and then roll the pancake up from the bottom to the top (thus trapping the sides you’ve just folded over to prevent the filling leaking out when you cook them).

4. Repeat until you’re out of pancakes or filling.

5. Heat some oil in a frying pan, needs to be about 1cm of oil (of whatever kind, but sunflower or dripping is most commonly used). Make sure the oil is hot, but not smoking. If it’s not hot enough, the pancakes will absorb loads of oil which makes them soggy, oily, and unpleasant.

5. Beat the eggs for the crispy coating together and pour them into a shallow dish.

6. Tip the breadcrumbs onto another plate.

7. Dip each pancake into the egg to coat it well, then roll them in the breadcrumbs until thoroughly coated, then pop them into the frying pan with the hot oil.

8. Fry them evenly all over and remove to a plate with some kitchen paper on it to drain off any excess oil.

9. Arrange them nicely on the serving plates and just before serving, drizzle on some sauce of your chose, but don’t pour on too much on the top or they’ll go soggy. Garnish with herbs and serve.

Enjoy!

Supa de pui cu galuste de gris

"Chicken soup with semolina dumplings"

Chicken soup is a worldwide cure-all for cold days, stuffy noses, and general under-the-weather moments. If you are a regular cook, then you should try making your own broth. It’s a good economical way to use a whole chicken and the remaining meat can be stripped from the carcass and made into a salad to follow the soup or saved for another day. Making 3 litres of stock is no more difficult than make 1 litre, so it’s worth making up a big batch and refrigerating or freezing the rest to save time at a later date, if you don't need to use it all fo the soup.

If you don’t fancy making such a huge quantity of stock, you can cut down on the ingredients listed below and make a smaller batch using a couple of chicken legs, about 150g of celeriac, 50g of parsley root, 1 carrot, 1 teaspoon of salt, and about 2 litres of water. The stock won’t be quite as rich as it would be if you used the entire carcass, but it’ll do very well. These quantities will result in enough soup for 2 as a lunch-sized portion, or maybe 3 bowls for a smaller starter-sized portion. You might want to cut down on the dumpling mix too if making it for two.

If you can’t find parsley root where you are (it’s not so common in western Europe and North America) then you can substitute it with a parsnip or even some celery. If you’ve never seen a parsley root, it looks just like a parsnip and is called radicina patronjel in Romanian.

Of course, if you are really lazy or short of time, you can use a shop bought broth or stock, or even just make up the required amount of liquid with hot water and a stock cube, but where’s the fun (and cooking) in that?

Servings: 4-6 portions (depending on size)
Time: 30 minutes (plus 3 hours for homemade broth)

Ingredients:

For the chicken broth (makes about 2-3 litres after reducing):
1 whole chicken
300g of celeriac
100g of parsley root
2 carrots
Salt

For the dumplings (makes about 16 dumplings):
2 eggs
7-8 tablespoons of semolina flour
1 teaspoon of oil
A couple of pinches of salt

For garnish:
Salt and pepper
Parsley for garnish

Method:

To make the chicken broth:
1. Wash the chicken inside and out and put it, whole, into a deep stock pot and cover with water, probably about 4-5 litres. Put the pot on a low heat.
2. Peel and roughly chop up the celeriac, parsley root, and carrots and add to the broth along with two teaspoons of salt. Leave in on a low heat until the broth starts to simmer. The theory is that if you bring it rapidly to the boil, you won’t end up with a nice clear broth.
3. Skim the top of the broth with a slotted spoon to remove the froth and scum that rises. Do this regularly until it produces no more froth (maybe an hour) and then wipe any scum off the inside edge of the pot with a damp piece of kitchen roll.
4. Once it has finished producing scum, pop the lid on to stop it reducing too much and leave for about another two hours.
5. When the time is up, strain the soup through a fine sieve into a clean pot.

For the chicken dumpling soup we only need the broth, but obviously it would be wasteful not to make use of the lovely tender chicken meat. The whole chicken can be stripped of its meat, which can then be added to a salad, or reserved to be put into a stew or a soup. I used mine to make some clatite Brasovene (Brasov-style savoury pancakes).

If you make this broth using a whole chicken, you should end up with about 2-3 litres of liquid. For the dumpling soup you might only want half of that (depending how many you're cooking for) so any leftover broth can be reserved for a couple of days in the fridge to be used as stock for other recipes, or frozen in a plastic tub and stored in the freezer for a couple of months.

The vegetables used in the stock can also be eaten, put into a soup (perhaps with the remaining stock and chicken pieces to make a basic chicken soup), or even mashed up as a side dish for something else.

To make the dumpling soup:
1. Beat the eggs in a bowl with the oil and the salt.
2. One tablespoon at a time, sprinkle the semolina flour into the beaten egg mixture, stirring constantly, until you reach the desired consistency. After adding each tablespoon, drag a fork through the mixture: it’s good to go when the fork marks remain visible. Too soft, and the dumplings will fall apart when added to the soup, too thick, and they’ll end up like cannonballs. It should be thicker than pancake batter, but not quite as thick as a dough.
3. Put the broth on a low heat – don’t allow it to boil or it’ll break the dumplings up when you add them.
4. Once the broth is up to temperature (hot, but not boiling), you can start to making dumplings. Put a teaspoon into the hot broth for a few seconds to moisten it and make it hot, then take a spoonful of the dumpling mixture and lower it into the broth (don’t drop it from height) and allow it to slide off. Repeat this until you have used up all the dumpling mixture.
5. Put the lid on the pot and leave on a low heat for another 5-10 minutes until the dumplings are cooked through and have expanded (they'll double in size).
6. Taste and adjust the seasoning, give it a twist of pepper, and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

Papricas de pui cu galuscute

"Paprika chicken with dumplings"

Papricas, pronounced ‘papricash’, is a dish of Hungarian origin and in Romania it is most popular in the Ardeal region of Transylvania where a large proportion of the Hungarian population live. Although every family will have their own version of this recipe the basis of the dish is chicken, onion, paprika and some form of cooking fat. Other people add tomatoes and peppers and some kind of sour cream (smantana). If you want, you can serve it with potatoes or polenta (mamaliga) or even with pasta, but the more traditional way to serve it is with little dumplings which are cooked in the sauce, in which case serving it with potatoes/pasta is a bit redundant. Make sure you have nice fresh paprika, the sweet kind (boia dulce)  rather than the hot variety (boia uite).

I was fortunate enough to receive from a friend, and this is his family recipe for papricas I’m presenting here, a large bag of sweet paprika which originated from a village populated by Hungarian somewhere near Arad. It’s rich orange colour is astonishing. As regards the meat, I’ve plumped for bone-in, skin-on chicken legs, separated into two, but if you are making a larger amount you can buy a whole chicken and joint it into ten pieces – the two breasts halved – and make enough papricas for 4-5 people. For a healthy version you can use skinless chicken breast and cut it into chunks.

Time: 90 minutes

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of oil (vegetable, olive oil/butter mixture, or dripping)

2 chicken legs, separated at the join to give four pieces, skin on or off according to preference

2 mediums onions

1 level tablespoon of Hungarian sweet paprika

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 glass of liquid – this can be chicken stock, simply water, or a 50/50 mixture of water and wine.

1 egg

4 tablespoons of flour

Salt and pepper

Parsley for garnish (optional)

Method:

1. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

2. Heat the oil in a high-sided pan and fry the piece of chicken at a low to moderate heat until cooked through and brown on the outside, probably about 30 minutes for leg on the bone. If you are using a jointed whole chicken you may find some parts cook quicker than other, so just remove the various pieces to a plate once they’ve cooked through.

3. Meanwhile, cut the onion quite finely. Some recipes call for larger pieces of onion, which is fine too. Personally I prefer the onion finely cut so it almost melts into a sauce.

4. Add the onion to the pan in which you previously cooked the chicken and cook on the same low-medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent, about 10-15 minutes. Don’t allow them to burn or they’ll taste bitter.

5. Add the liquid and raise the heat to a boil briefly and deglaze the pan, then reduce the heat back down to a gentle simmer and allow to reduce slightly over about 5-7 minutes.

6. Add the paprika and the chopped garlic and mix well to combine.

7. In a mixing bowl, combine the egg and the flour to get a batter. It should be a thick consistency, but slowly slide off the back of a spoon. Something thicker than pancake mixture, but not quite a dough.

8. Using a teaspoon, spoon the mixture into the papricas liquid drop by drop. The liquid shouldn’t be boiling otherwise the dumplings will break apart. Don’t drop them in from any height, just lower the teaspoon to just above the liquid and let them slide in. Allow them to harden for a few minutes and if necessary, move them to one side to clear space for more. Once all the dumpling mixture has been used up, let it simmer for another 3-5 minutes until they have all hardened. The dumplings will absorb some liquid from the papricas so add a little more stock or water if necessary.

10. Taste the liquid for seasoning and replace the chicken pieces on top and allow to simmer gently for a few more minutes to warm up the rested chicken.

11. Serve hot in bowls with a sprinkle of parsley if desired

Ostropel de pui

"Chicken in tomato sauce"

Ostropel is a Romanian dish that can be found all around the country; each area, each person even, having their own variations, additions, or omissions. Even the chicken is exchangeable, and the dish could easily be cooked with chicken livers, pork chunks, or even a vegetarian version with the meat replaced by potatoes or another solid vegetable. The fundamental part of the dish is the tomato sauce. For my version I've used a little white wine to deglaze the pan after browning off the chicken and perfumed the tomato sauce with a few sprigs of thyme and a fresh bay leaf (as I have them growing on the balcony).

Time: About an hour and a bit, depending on which cuts of chicken you use
Servings: Enough for four people

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (or a pack of your favourite parts)
1/2 a cup of plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
Cooking oil (olive oil, butter, vegetable oil - I like a little olive oil with a knob of butter for richness)
1 large onion, finely chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed, chopped, or sliced
1 glass of white wine
800g of chopped peeled tomatoes (2 cans will do if you don't have fresh tomatoes)
1 or 2 bay leaves
A few sprigs of thyme
A little stock (optional)

Method:

1. If you are using a whole chicken, remove the breasts and cut each in half, remove the legs and cut them at the knee to give you two drumsticks and two upper thighs, and remove the wings. If you like, you can make a good stock out of the carcass for a chicken soup or for adding to the sauce later if it is a little thick.
2. Dredge the chicken pieces in the seasoned flour and put them in the pan, in which you have heated up the oil/butter to a moderate temperature. Let each side brown and turn them. Once browned all over, remove to a dish. Cook in batches if necessary.
3. Into the same pan, throw the onion and allow to soften, stirring frequently, for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Use a wooden spoon to mix them well with the chicken-flavoured oil and the bits of remaining flour.
4. Deglaze the pan with a glass of white wine, scraping the side and mixing well. Turn up the heat a little and allow the wine to reduce until the smell coming off the pan is less alcoholic and the sauce is a little thicker.
5. Pour in the tomatoes and their juices, the bay leaves and the thyme, and bring back to the boil. Once it has returned to the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes, stirring to combine all the ingredients. Once the sauce is well mixed, put the chicken pieces back in, cover the pan, and simmer on a low heat for about 15-20 minutes. Check the thicker pieces of chicken after this time to see if they are cooked to the centre nd continue cooking if they are still pink.
6. Once all the chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked, remove them to the serving dish. If the sauce is a little thick, you can add a few splashes of stock. if it's a little thin, you can add a knob of butter and a tablespoon of flour and thicken it up. The sauce for ostropel is usually quite thin - not quite soup, but not a thick gloopy sauce.
7. Serve the ostropel de pui with mamaliga (polenta) or mashed potatoes, and a hot chilli pepper on the side.

This dish would also work well with pasta, or even just on its own with some thick-cut crusty bread.

Ciulama de pui

"Chicken and mushrooms in a bechemal sauce"

Ciulama is said to originate from a Turkish dish, and indeed the Turks do have a dish of the same name, although it bears little resemblence to the Romanian dish. Ciulama itself refers to the thick white sauce in which many ingredients can be added: chicken, pigeon, veal, offal, or just mushrooms. This recipe is for chicken 'ciulama' with added mushrooms, but it's quite commonly cooked without the mushroom so leave them out if you're not a fan.

It is traditionally served with 'mamaliga' (Romanian polenta) and hot peppers (pickled or fresh) and liberally sprinkled with parsley.

Time: About three quarters of an hour
Servings: For 2 people
Ingredients
500g of chicken (whatever part you prefer, but commonly breast)
200g of sliced fresh mushrooms (or more if you like them a lot)
50g of butter
1 tablespoon of plain flour
2 tablespoons of sour cream ('smantana')
2 egg yolks
1 small carrot
1 small onion
1 bunch of parsley

Method
1. Cut the chicken into smallish pieces and put them to boil in just enough lightly-salted cold water to cover them.
2. After it starts to boil, skim off the scum that appears on the surface of the water and then add the carrot and the onion (to flavour the stock) and leave to boil gently. When the chicken is boiled it will break apart easily or come off the bone if you are using thighs.
3. In the meantime, chop up the parsley.
4. In a separate pan gently melt the butter and stir in the flour, making sure not to burn it, until you get a paste. Splash in a little of the liquid the chicken is cooking in and mix well until you get a consistancy something like double cream - without lumps, naturally (if it's lumpy, pass it through a sieve).
5. Mix the two egg yolks into the two tablespoons of sour cream and add this to the sauce, which should be on a low heat so as not to split it.
6. Saute the mushrooms for a minute or two in butter.
7. Add the chicken pieces (boned if using thighs) and the mushrooms and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, without allowing it to boil, stirring constantly.
8. Season with salt and freshly-ground pepper, a generous sprinkle of chopped parsley, and serve piping hot.

Pofta buna!

Snitel din piept de pui

"Chicken breast schnitzel"

Much of the north-west of Romania, Transylvania in particular, came under the influence of the Austro-Hungarian empire before its unification with the rest of Romania and as a result there are many Central-European culinary influences in Romanian cuisine. One of the most evident of these is the schnitzel, which can be found on the menu of almost any local restaurant. On the whole it's done very well and only ocassionally have I been faced with a slightly soggy and floppy reheated schnitzel. At its best it is crispy on the outside, succulent in the middle, and accompanied by roast potatoes, shredded cabbage and a squeeze of lemon. It's simple to cook but there are a few things to be aware of. Here are the basic instructions:

Time: About half an hour
Servings: For two people
Ingredients
Chicken breasts, without skin
Flour (one cup)
Egg, beaten (one for each pair of breasts)
Pesmet/breadcrumbs (one cup for two schnitzel)
Oil for frying (sunflower or olive oil)

Method
1. Place the chicken breast between two sheets of clingfilm, or alternatively (as I hate faffing around with clingfilm, which seems to constantly wrap itself up into an inextricable ball the moment I try to use it) put the breast into a large freezer beg. Beat it with a meat mallet, rolling pin, empty wine bottle, or your head until it is about 5mm thin all over, being careful not to bash holes in it.
2. Pass the breast through a dish of flour and shake off the excess. The flour helps the egg in the next step to adhere.
3. Pass the floured breast through the beaten egg (to which you can also add a few splashes of milk, if you like).
4. Then pass it through the breadcrumbs making sure it's well coated and put it into the frying pan, which has about a centimetre of oil in it pre-heated to a medium-hot temperature.
5. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, flip, cook the other side and serve with potatoes of your choosing, a salad, and a wedge of lemon.

The breadcrumbs can be homemade, but if you're reading this in Romania and can't be bothered to make your own breadcrumbs then look out for 'pesmet' (very fine breadcrumbs) in your local store. It's usually kept near the flour.

The temperature of the oil is of the utmost importance. If it's too hot, then you outside will be burnt before the chicken is cooked through. If it is too cool, then the breadcrumbs will absorb too much oil and you'll end up with a horrible greasy schnitzel.