Fasole batuta/facaluita

“Mashed beans”

I'm not sure if there is a difference between fasole batuta and fasole facaluita or whether the difference is simply a regionalism, but either way, mashed beans topped with paprika-flavoured caramelized onion is a staple of the Romanian table. It goes wonderfully with smoked meats, spicy sausages, and slices of dry-cured ham but is, in my opinion, at its best as a spread for a thick-cut piece of crusty country loaf.

Dried beans are cheap, easy to grow, easy to store and are very filling. Back in the UK the majority of beans consumed are tinned beans in tomato sauce (à la Heinz) and while these are certainly tasty and cheap, I dread to think of the amount of salt and sugar contained in one can. Bean dishes, such as these mashed beans or something like a cassoulette, are simple to do but often considered time consuming. As a general rule, the dried beans have to be soaked overnight and then boiled for several hours in order for them to regain their softness.

I forgot to put my beans in water to soak last night, so I've ‘fast-soaked’ them. This involves covering them with about three times their volume of cold water, bringing it to the boil, taking it off the heat, and leaving to cool for at least an hour. You can then discard the water and proceed as normal. I've read around on the net – some swear by the cold-soak method, other say the fast-soak method makes no difference to the taste. Anyway, we’ll see...

Time: 1-3 hours plus overnight soaking
Servings:  Makes a large bowl of mashed beans

Ingredients:
500g of dried beans (white ones are usually used but I had a mixed bag of different types from the garden and so I used those)
2-3 onions
1 teaspoon of paprika (hot or mild, whichever you prefer)
A couple of cloves of garlic, minced (optional)
100g of vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Drain off the water that you soaked the beans in and add fresh cold water. Bring to the boil and allow it to boil for a few minutes. Discard the water and replenish, bring to the boil again, leave it to boil for a few minutes again, discard again, and so on, two or three times in total. The idea is that this extracts the chemicals from the beans that cause their well-document effect.
2. After discarding the water at least twice, bring the beans to the boil again in fresh water, add a teaspoon of salt, and leave to boil until the beans are soft. The time this takes depends on how fresh the dried beans are. If they've been sitting around in the shed (or the supermarket) for a couple of years, then this could take a few hours, but If they are really fresh, maybe less than an hour. Check on them frequently, topping up the pan with hot water if it’s evaporating too quickly, and testing the beans for softness. Make sure you test several beans and it’s quite possible that they come from different batches and whilst one might soften in 60 minutes, others might take double that.
3. At some point during the cooking process, you can prepare the onions. Slice them julienne, heat a few tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan, and gently fry them until they are soft and caramelized. Don’t fry them at too high a temperature; you want them soft and sweet and rich, not bitter and crispy. Once they’re done (I leave mine sautéing for about 20-25 minutes, stirring frequently), add the paprika and a little salt to taste and put to one side.
4. When you are satisfied that the beans are thoroughly cooked, drain them and mash them up. You can do this with a fork, a potato ricer (maybe, haven’t tried it), or in the blender. How chunky or smooth you like it is up to you but at this point you can add the rest of the oil (sometimes helps to add this before mashing) and salt to taste. At this point you can also add the garlic if it’s too your taste.
5. Arrange the mashed and seasoned beans in a bowl and spread the onion mixture on top and serve.

Sarmele de post in foi de vita

"Vine leaves stuffed with rice"

When you ask most Romanians which food best represents their cuisine, the majority will probably mention sarmale in the top three. These stuffed leaves probably introduced to the region by the Ottoman Turks who governed parts of Romania for many years. They are obviously closely related to Turkish dolma and Greek dolmades. I'm not sure of the origin of the name but perhaps it came from the Turkish sarmala, meaning 'to wrap' or 'to roll up'.

The most commonly encountered type of sarmale are the pork stuffed cabbage leaves but during periods when young vine leaves (foi de vita) are plentiful these are often made instead. They can also be stuffed with meat but during post, a time when people refrain from eating animal products, they are made more simply with rice and vegetables. It's not uncommon to find sarmale de post made with mushrooms, indeed with any bountiful or seasonal vegetable. They work well as a starter, served warm with smantana (sour cream), or in larger quantities as a main course. The ultimate demonstration of sarmale-making skills is for them to turn out small and tightly wrapped.

The vine leaves can either be fresh, in which case they require blanching first to make them softer and easier to roll, or preserved in brine and then soaked to remove excess saltiness.

Time: About 3 hours

Servings: About 40 sarmale

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil

1 large finely chopped onion

1 large carrot, grated

1 stick of celery, finely chopped*

1 bay leaf

2 heaped tablespoons of tomato puree

1 cup (~250g) of short grain rice

3 cups of boiling water for the rice + more for cooking the sarmale (can use stock if you like)

Chopped herbs to taste (parsley and dill)

About 40-50 vine leaves preserved in brine, left to soak in cold water for an hour or so before needed

*alternatively, you can grate some celeriac root

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the chopped onion. Cook on a gentle heat until is has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add the grated onion and celery and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring well to combine.

3. Add the cup of rice, stir into the vegetable mixture to coat the grains with oil.

4. Add one tablespoon of tomato puree and mix it into the rice and veg until it’s all well coated.

5. Allow to cook gently like that for a minute or two and then add the hot water, push the bay leaf into the mix, stir once or twice, and leave for 15-20 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the liquid and is just about soft (but don’t overcook it). From time to time check the pan to make sure it’s not drying out and sticking to the bottom, give it a gentle stir with a wooden spoon, and add some more liquid in necessary.

6. Once the rice is cooked, add the copped fresh herbs, and leave it to one side to cool.

7. Once the rice mixture is cool enough to handle, take one of the vine leaves, cut off the hard stalk at the base, lay it in front of you on a worktop, put a tablespoonful of rice mixture near the base of the leaf, fold over the lower ‘flaps’ from the bottom up, then fold in the sides over the mixture, and finally roll it up towards the point of the leaf. Repeat this process with until you are either out of leaves or out of rice. If there are any broken or torn leaves, keep them to one side. In the unlikely even of there being no torn or damaged leaves at all, keep 3 or 4 to one side – we’ll need them in the next step.

8. Take a large, deep pot and lay the reserved vine leaves on the bottom. This will help to prevent the sarmele burning. Then layer the sarmale in the pot, quite tightly and evenly packed. Finally, mix some more boiling water with the other tablespoon of tomato puree (and if you like, some more herbs - thyme is quite nice I find) and pour over the top of the sarmale until the water is about 1cm above them.

9. Cover the pot and put it on the stove on a very low heat and leave to cook for about an hour. Check in from time to time and if it’s looking really dry (i.e. the water has all boiled away) then add a drop more. After the hour is up, take off the lid and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes to reduce any remaining liquid into a sauce.

10. Serve hot with smantana.

Fasole boabe cu carne de porc

"Bean stew with pork"

Bean stews are a fairly world-wide concept, being both cheap and filling. Various cuisines around the continent have their own versions, the most famous probably being the opulent French cassoulet. The Romanian version is very similar and equally as tasty, although I don’t believe I’ve seen it cooked with duck. Pork is the most common meat to be used in the dish, although the form of it varies from pork sausages (carnati) to the rich smoky ham on the bone (ciolan)  - essentially you just add whatever you have to hand, whatever you can afford, or whatever you prefer.

For my bean stew I’ve used a mixture of cuts – some fatty belly of pork, some leaner neck, and a few slices of smoked rib for flavour. The belly came on the bone so I stripped it off and cut it into large chunks, but reserved the bone to add to the stew, to be fished out before serving (and probably nibbled at – chef’s privilege!).

Time: About 4 hours

Servings: Enough for 5-6 portions

Ingredients:

500g of dried white beans

Two tablespoons of oil/fat (can be vegetable oil, pork dripping, or a mixture of olive oil and butter)

2 mediums onions, finely chopped

1 large tablespoon of tomato puree

450g of chopped tomatoes (1 can if you prefer)

A bouquet garni of parsley, thyme and bay leaves*

Chopped parsley to garnish

Method:

1. Leave the beans to soak overnight in cold water. Alternatively, put them in a saucepan with enough cold water to cover them and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for two minutes, take off the heat, cover, and leave for an hour. Either way, once soaked they should be drained and rinced.

2. Cover the beans with cold water again and very slowly bring to a gentle simmer. Check them from time to time and skip off the scum that appears on the top. Once you see no more scum is appearing, rinse them under a cold running tap for a minute or two, drain well, and put to one side.
3. In a large pan, preferably with a thick base, heat up the oil or fat and sear the meat on all sides. If you are using fatty cuts, you may want to scoop out a tablespoon or two of the resulting fat.
4. Add the chopped onion to the pan and turn the heat down and allow the onion to soften, stirring from time to time, for about 5-6 minutes.
5. Once the onion is soft and golden in colour, add the tomato puree and the chopped tomatoes and mix well with the onion/meat mixture.6. Add the drained beans combine a little. You want to avoid stirring the dish too much otherwise you’ll end up with the beans breaking apart.
7. Pour on enough hot water that it comes to the top of the beans, maybe 5mm above them.
8. Push the bouquet garni into the middle of the dish.
9. Bring briefly to the boil and then turn the heat right down (fast boiling is another way to shatter the beans into a pulp), cover, and leave to simmer quietly until the beans are soft. Check it every 30 minutes or so, add a little liquid if it has started to dry out, and carefully stir from the bottom to stop the base burning (nothing worse that bitter little burn bits in the stew). The beans are ready when the can be easily crushed between your fingers – this could take up to two hours, depending on the heat and the age of the beans.
10. When cooked, remove the bouquet garni, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve in bowls, sprinkled with a garnish of fresh parsley.

* To make the bouquet garni, tie the leaves together in a bundle with a piece of string. Alternatively (and this is the method I prefer) get hold of one of those empty tea bags (like little pouches into which you can put loose tea leaves) and fill it with the herbs you want to use (works ok with dried herbs too) and simply tie the neck together with some string and insert into the dish you are making.