Romania: Garlic Dip for Roasted or Grilled Chicken

Romanian cuisine uses a lot of garlic and onion in most recipes. Garlic is well known for its properties in lowering and controlling somewhat the blood pressure. Nevertheless, prepared properly can enhance the food and makes it even tastier, believed or not. This particular dip however uses garlic in its natural state, uncooked, and it is most useful with roasted, baked or grilled chicken. Just try it at least once.

Ingredients: One whole garlic, 2 tsp salt. 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, mayo (optional)

Procedure: Peel the garlic in the method you will find best. Also you might wand to purchase peeled garlic at your local grocery store. Fill a wooden mortar about halfway with garlic cloves and add the salt. Press the garlic with a wooden pestle (I use wooden utensils as much as I can) until becomes like a paste. Add the olive oil and mix well. Add water and mix well again without spilling. Pour everything in a small bowl, add more water and mix well. Water will cut down the "strength" of the garlic so you need to add as much or as less water as you feel. That's it. Dip pieces of cooked chicken and enjoy.

You might want to do another batch and coat the chicken with it before it is cooked and also for basting while the chicken is cooking on the grill or in the oven. Discard leftover, do not use the same batch for dipping. 

You might want to add a little mayo to make it cling to the chicken but that will be your option. Try it and find the best way to fit your taste. 

Greece: Mousaka

This dish can be made in many ways. Could be all vegetarian, meat and potatoes, meat and eggplant, and also you can use your own imagination and ingredients. The recipe I will post here is made with ground beef and potatoes for the reason that my teenage daughter likes very much those two ingredients.

The following recipe it is based on a 9" x 9" glass oven safe cooking dish that will be enough for four people. You can refrigerate leftovers for next day and just heated up in the oven or microwave (covered).

Ingredients: 3 big long white potatoes crosscut into 1/4" slices, your favorite cooking oil, 2 lbs of lean ground beef (93/7 is preferably), 3 beaten large eggs (like for omelet), shredded taco type cheese, shredded mozzarella. Also I use taco seasoning (the kind you find in a grocery store in a can - there are so many flavors - you choose the one you like) to mix with the ground beef.

Procedure: Set the ground beef in a large skillet at medium heat to be browned together with salt and pepper to taste and any other seasoning you would like to use. I use the taco seasoning in can so the browned ground beef will not be too dry after cooking. While the meat is cooking, set another large skillet with 2-3 tbls of your favorite cooking oil at medium high heat and fry potato slices on both sides until light brown. While everything is cooking (keep a close eye on your stove) set oven at 350 to preheat. Spray a 9" x 9" glass oven safe dish. As soon as potato slices become ready cover the bottom of the dish with one layer of potato slices. The remaining cooked potatoes place them in a dish lined with a paper towel to absorb the grease. After the bottom of the dish is covered in one layer of potatoes, pour about a half of the browned beef and spread that evenly. Spread a thin layer of the taco shredded cheese on top of the meat and add another layer of cooked sliced potatoes. Now pour the remaining of the meat and spread evenly again. Do not sprinkle any cheese this time, instead add the remaining potatoes making sure you cover the entire surface. On top of potatoes pour the beaten eggs and then sprinkle the shredded mozzarella. Cover an place dish in the oven for about 20 to 30 min. Use oven gloves to take the dish out and make sure the eggs are cooked and mozzarella is melted. Cut in 4 and serve hot. Enjoy!

Note: I like cheese a lot! It is up to you to use any cheese or what kind of cheese. Also, after you take the dish from the oven you may sprinkle some fresh parsley, or you can use some sun dry tomatoes or whatever you think might enhance the appearance of this dish. Some other recipes will require that the first layer should be with sliced tomatoes. Potatoes could be replace by slices of eggplant (I believe that is the original recipe for this dish). Use your own imagination and experiment with ingredients you and your family likes the most.

If you have any home cooking recipes I will be happy to post it here with your name attached to it so you will get the credit for it. Thank you!   

Austria: Viennese Schnitzel

The Viennese Schnitzel it is a dish that is fairly easy to cook. Cooking time is about 30 minutes. The original recipe calls for lamb meat but since lamb is quite expensive I use skinless chicken breast. I cut the skinless chicken breast in thin slices no more than 1/4 inch thick. Feel free to use any kind of meat for this recipe: lamb, skinless turkey breast, skinless chicken breast, sliced in thin layers. This recipe is made with chicken.

Ingredients: Skinless chicken breast, 2-3 tbls of fresh lemon juice, 1 cup flour, 2-3 large eggs, breadcrumbs (either Italian style or plain), your favorite cooking oil, lemon wedges, fresh parsley.

Procedure:  Wash and trim the chicken breast of any fat. Cut in thin slice no more than 1/4 inch thick. Slightly tenderize with the kitchen knife handle or a tenderizer utensil you have. Place the chicken in a medium size bowl. Mix enough water with the lemon juice just enough to cover the chicken. Slightly mix the chicken with a wooden spoon just to make sure all pieces are soak in this water and lemon juice mixture. Set aside. In a deep dish beat two of the eggs with one or two tbls of water like you are to do an omelet. Set aside. Pour the flour and the bread crumbs in two different plates (I use paper plates for this purpose). Set a large frying pan on the stove at medium heat and pour about 2-3 tbls of your favorite cooking oil. Take one chicken slice at the time and run them through flour (making sure the flour covers well the entire slice), then dip it to the eggs on both sides. Withe a fork keep the slice upright to allow the excess egg to drip back into the plate then place it into the bread crumbs on both sides. Transfer the breaded slice into the frying pan. Cook it on both sides till golden brown. Because the chicken is so thin it does not take long to be cooked so you have to watch it carefully. While the first slice is cooking repeat the procedure with the next slice. When you place it in the frying pan, check the previous slice for donness. Repeat this procedure with all remaining slices. Place cooked slice in a large bowl padded wit a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. You might have to change the oil in the frying pan during cooking due to burned bread crumbs that are deposited during cooking. Use your cook common sense.

I serve the Viennese Schnitzel with mashed potatoes and green salad (like baby spinach or romaine letuce) and if you like add a gravy of your choice.

I hope you will enjoy this dish as much as I and my teenage daughter do. See you next time for more home cooking recipes from arround the world.

Romania: Stuffed Peppers

Most of the Romanian foods require some preparation and cooking time. Long time ago, women were home keeping up the house and preparing delicious meals for the men. That is way some of the Romanian dishes require longer time for cooking. But they are delicious! Trust me! I know!

Ingredients: 2 lbs ground beef (better yet 1 lb ground lean beef and 1 lb ground pork), 8-10 small green peppers (4-5 medium), 1/2 Vidalia onion, 2 tbls rice,  1-2 tbls olive oil (vegetable oil), fresh parsley, salt, pepper, flour, sugar, tomato paste, sour cream or plain yogurt

Choose fresh green peppers that are of a good quality, hard and no soft spots or any other marks. To remove the seeds make a small enough opening to just remove the seeds and wash the inside with cold water.  

Filing Preparation: In a frying pan add oil, fine chopped onion and parsley (one of those electric choppers are excellent) and washed and cleaned rice. Cook at medium heat till onion and rice start to soften. Add about 1\2 cup of water and let simmer for about 3-4 min. Drain as much as you can and mix together with the meat adding salt and pepper.

The sauce: In a small pan add 2 tbls butter (or margarine) and 2 tbls of flour. After butter is absorbed by the flour pour in a cup of cold water and mix well with a wooden spoon. When it start boiling add 1 1/2 tbls of tomato paste, bit of salt and pepper and 1\2 tsp of sugar. Mix well and let it simmer covered for 3-4 min.

Putting all together: Fill the peppers with the meat mixture almost to the opening (the mixture will expand due to the rice content). If you feel that the opening is too big and mixture might come out during cooking, you can cover with a slice of tomato. If you have any filling mixture left over, well, buy more peppers :)  Arrange filled peppers in a pot standing up. Pour over the sauce and add water to cover the peppers. Cover and bring to a boil. Then move in the oven (preheated at 375) and let boil in the oven. Check time to time but do not add any more water. When peppers are soft almost to the point to come apart is ready. Add 3-4 tbls of sour cream and cook for another few minutes for the sour cream to blend in. Take out and serve with sour cream or yogurt.

I hope you enjoy this Romanian dish.