Va invitam sa consultati cartea de bucate, realizata cu deosebita pasiune de de Simona.

Pofta buna.

1 large cabbage, 1 3/4 lb/750 g ground meat (mixture of pork and beef is recommended), 4 large onions, 2 tablespoons rice, 1 bread slice, 3 tablespoons lard, 5-6 tomatoes or 1 tablespoon tomato sauce, salt, pepper, chopped dill, 1 qt/1 l sour cream

Grind the meat with the crustless bread slice (previously soaked and squeezed dry) and a raw onion. Place in a bowl and mix with rice, dill, pepper, salt and finely chopped onion slightly fried in two tablespoons of lard. Mix everything well. Core the cabbage with a sharp thin knife and then blanch it with borsh. Then carefully remove the cabbage leaves, one by one, so that they do not tear. Cut larger leaves in 2 or 3 and then place a little meat in each cabbage piece and roll in. The smaller the rolls are, the tastier they are. Place a layer of rolls in the pan (take a deep one), then cover with a layer of chopped (julienned) cabbage, then a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes. Do this layering until all the rolls are made. The last layer must be tomato slices or add tomato sauce. Add a heaping tablespoon of lard, pour the borsh and let simmer on top of the range for 30 minutes. Then place in the oven so that the liquid is reduced. Serve with sour cream.

2 lbs/1 kg ground beef, 1/2 lb/250 g suet, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 2-3 garlic cloves, some ground pepper, juniper berries and caraway, 2-3 tablespoons meat broth, salt

Grind the meat together with the suet. Add salt, spices, chopped garlic, meat broth and baking soda and mix everything with your hands for 15 minutes, adding two tablespoons of water a little at a time. Keep the bowl with this mixture on ice for 5-6 hours. Just before grilling, take tablespoons of the mixture and with wet hands, shape the rolls (they are approx. 2-3 inches long and 1 inch thick). Before placing on the grill, grease them with oil and during grilling baste them with a mixture of meat broth and oil.

4-5 potatoes, 1 carrot, 1 parsley root, 1 parsnip (optional), 1 large celery root, a handful of green peas, 2 pickles, 1/2 lb/250 g poultry breast or beef sirloin, salt. For mayo: 1 hard boiled yolk, 3 raw yolks, 1/2 lb/250 g oil, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 tablespoon lemon juice

You get the best beef salad by boiling the vegetables with the meat (soup). Cube the potatoes and all other vegetables. The same goes for the meat and pickles. Place all in a bowl, add the peas, salt and let rest until you prepare the mayo. Sieve a hard boiled egg. Place it in a bowl. Add a little oil, mix with a spoon, add a raw yolk and add oil, a little at a time, stirring continuously in the same direction. When it starts to thicken, add another raw yolk and again oil a little at a time. Do this until all yolks and all oil is used up. Then add mustard, a little at a time and stirring continuously and the lemon juice, again stirring continuously. Add 3/4 of the mayo to the meat and vegetable mixture and mix well. Add salt if needed. Arrange on a serving platter. Smooth with a knife and then cover with the rest of the mayo. Garnish with a few olives, hard boiled egg white, or egg slices, pickled red peppers, parsley, etc. Try to shape flowers, other designs.

2 big eggplants, 1 onion (to taste), 3-4 tablespoons oil, a pinch of pepper (optional), salt, green pepper, tomatoes

Roast the eggplants, peel while still hot and then leave on a slanted cutting board to drain. Chop with a wooden or glass chopper, place in a bowl and then mix, using a wooden spoon, with a little oil at a time, until it whitens and becomes foamy. Add finely chopped onions (to taste), pepper and salt. Place in a a salad bowl or on a plate and garnish with tomato slices and rounds of green pepper.

Innards (heart, kidneys, liver, tongue, spleen) from a lamb, 2 big onions, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon mixed chopped parsley and dill, 1 tablespoon chopped green onions (green parts), salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon lard, 1 bread slice

Grind the innards with the finely chopped raw or slightly fried onion, lard and crustless slice of bread (previously soaked and squeezed dry). Add salt, pepper, chopped parsley and dill, chopped green onions, beaten eggs and mix everything well. In a well greased pan, set the washed lamb stomach so as to cover the bottom and sides of the pan with room to spare. Arrange the ground meat mixture, cover with the sides of the stomach and bake. When ready, turn onto a plate and serve with green lettuce.

5 tablespoons sugar, 5 eggs, 5 tablespoons fine bread crumbs, grated peel from 1 lemon, juice from 1/2 lemon, whipped cream. Syrup: 5 oz/150 g sugar, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon rum

Cream the sugar with the yolks, add, mixing continuously, lemon peel and juice, bread crumbs and finally whipped egg whites. Pour the mixture into savarin molds (little Bundt pans, with hole in the middle). Bake at medium heat. Then pour a syrup made from sugar, water and rum all over them. When they are cold, fill the middle hole with whipped cream. You may garnish with sour cherries or other fruits from preserves, on top of the whipped cream.

2 lbs/1 kg flour, 10 oz/300 g sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk, 6 eggs, 2 oz/50 g yeast, 7 oz/200 g butter, 2 tablespoons oil, vanilla stick, salt, egg for washing the dough, grease for the pans

Make a starter from yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Mix until the consistency of sour cream, add 2-3 tablespoons tepid milk, a little flour and mix well; sprinkle some flour on top, cover and let sit in a warm place to rise. Boil the milk with the vanilla stick (cut in very small pieces) and leave it on the side of the range, covered, to keep warm. Mix the yolks with the sugar and salt, then slowly pour the tepid milk, stirring continuously. Place the risen starter in a large bowl and pour, stirring continuously, the yolk-milk mixture and some flour, a little at a time. Then add 3 whipped egg whites. When you finish this step, start kneading. Knead, adding melted butter combined with oil, a little at a time, until the dough starts to easily come off your palms. Cover with a cloth and then something thicker (like a blanket). Leave in a warm place to triple in bulk. If during kneading the dough seems too hard, you may add a little milk. If, on the contrary, the dough seems too soft, you may add a little flour. When the dough has risen well, take a piece of it, place on the floured work surface, give it the desired shape (round, oval, braided, etc.) and place in the baking pan previously greased with butter. Let rise some more in the pan in a warm place. Wash with egg and bake at medium heat. Take out of the pan as soon as it is done, place on a cloth and let cool.