STEW WITH PORK MEAT, ZUCCHINI AND EGGPLANT

       Here, in Romania, we have a saying: the best vegetable is the meat and there is no better bird as the pork, hahahaha... So, i think you guessed already, we eat a lot of pork meat here. Almost each family has a pig for Christmas and we cook a lot of traditional food: sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls), home made sausages, piftie (meat in pork jelly) and all kind of stews and soups. We are masters of stews and soups. Today i show you one that i like a lot, because it has 2 vegetables that i adore: eggplant and zucchini.
       You need:
1 pound pork meat
2 onions
3-4 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 zucchini
1 eggplant
5-6 tablespoons olive oil
salt, pepper
oregano
fresh parsley
rice
butter
       Cutt the meat in pieces as you like, add salt and pepper and fry them a few minutes, untill they become light brown. Add the onion cut in small pieces, the zucchini and the eggplant cut in 2 inch pieces. Cook them a few more minutes, till they change colour a little bit, add the tomato sauce and cook 2-3 more minutes, stiring well, add water enough to cover everything, but not to transform it into a soup. Taste it and adjust the salt and pepper, add oregano and other herbs to your like, cover with a lead and boil it untill the meat is
soft. When is done, add fresh parsley cut small. Serve it with rice boiled with water, salt and one tablespoon of butter, or with pasta, if you like it more.

      Enjoy it!!!!!

WALNUT CARAMEL BAR COOKIES

      Lets see: what are you doing if you loooooooooovvvveeeeeeeeee caramel and nuts and this recipe makes you die for a piece of it, but don't have any pecan on hands? You become creative, no? At least so did i. This is my version of the recipe, where i replaced the pecans with walnuts and the result was more than what i expected.

The dough:
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (80 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (95 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg (i used one medium egg)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
I stired all the ingredients into a bowl, untill i got a tough dough.

I lined up a pan with baking paper and press the dough in it, using my fingers (wet your hands, if the dough stick to your fingers). I let it chill for 1/2 hour, baked it at 175C, untill the edges were golden.

I let it cool off completelly.


The topping:
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream
3 tablespoons (40 grams) unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon  salt
1 cup (114 grams) pecans, toasted cooled, and coarsely chopped (we dont have pecan trees
here, so i replaced the pecans with walnuts, the taste it is not too different, i think)
I cooked the sugar into a pan until it melted and became golden caramel. i poured in cream and cooked on low fire untill the caramel was dissolved. I removed it from head and added butter, vanilla, salt and walnuts.

I spreaded it on the top of cooked dough and baked it until it started bubbling on the edges.I let it cool completelly and cut it in bars.
       Enjoy it!!!!!

SO LONG TIME...

      ...since i didn't post anything on my blog!!!!!!!!! And so many things happened. We left from the village, returned to Bucharest and now i'm in Italy, since october last year. I'll be here for a few more months, i think. I missed my blog and posting here. I missed reading the other blogs. I just hope the things will settle a little bit and i'll have time to post again.
      For now, lets try something sweet, just to remember how to do it, so...
         YOGHURT PIE!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients:
2 pounds yoghurt
7-8 eggs
1/2 pound sugar
8 sheets of phillo pasta
vanilla, lemon zest, raisins
2 teablespoons of melted butter
Beat up the eggs with sugar untill they increase their volume 2-3 times. Add them to the yoghurt, add in the vanilla, the lemon zest and the raisins. Mix well. Grease a pan with a spoon of butter, grease 3 sheets of phillo pasta with melted butter and lay them one in top of eachother in the prepared pan, pour 1/3 of the yoghurt, lay another 2 sheets of pasta, add another 1/3 of yoghurt. Lay the last layer of 3 sheets of phillo and the rest of the yoghurt. Bake it for about 40 minutes at 350F. After you take it out of the oven let it cool
off for a few minutes and, if you want, dust it with powder sugar.

　Enjoy it!!!!!