Springtime – dishes and soups of the ancestors that delight your senses. Three traditional dishes so tasty they're addictive
Spring is an incredible season for cooking. And that's because the seasonal truffles offer us the perfect opportunity for detoxification, vitaminization, but also to practice our qualities as amateur chefs with easy but delicious recipes.
Loboda soup PHOTO bucataras.ro
Spring fills the markets with trufandals and offers the perfect opportunity to vitaminize ourselves properly and, above all, to get rid of the toxins accumulated after the hearty holiday meals — especially after the little ones, sausages and mullet that sizzled on the May 1 grills. It is the ideal season to take care of our health, taking advantage of nature's generous help. Moreover, we have the opportunity to practice our skills as amateur chefs and impress our loved ones with simple ingredients, easy and quick to prepare, but with maximum taste impact.
It should be noted that traditional cuisine is deeply seasonal. In the past, people used the ingredients at hand, skillfully improvising absolutely fantastic dishes. Romanians have preserved some traditional spring recipes that are not only extremely tasty, but also particularly healthy. Here are three of them:
Lobster Zama: A treasure that keeps the doctor away
One of the healthiest spring plants for human consumption is undoubtedly the loboda. Specifically, those deep purple leaves, which specialists consider a real source of energy. Rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, but with a very low calorie content, loboda is frequently used in detoxification and balanced nutrition.
First of all, it is an excellent source of vitamins K, A and C. It also contains essential minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese. Due to its high fiber content, loboda helps digestion and provides a quick feeling of satiety. Its consumption fights anemia and asthenia, detoxifies the body, supports the immune system, bone and eye health. Last but not least, its antioxidant effect slows down the aging process. Without knowing all this scientific “terminology”, the Romanian peasant was fully aware of the benefits of the loboda and, very importantly, found it in abundance every spring.
Loboda soup PHOTO bucataras.ro
This is how zama de loboda was born, a dish consumed in all geographical and ethnographic areas of the country. In Transylvania, it goes perfectly with ham, in Oltenia it is prepared with many vegetables, and in Moldova it is added with a good borsch. Here is a delicious and traditional version of spring lobode soup:
You need:
- Loboda (2-3 links);
- Green onion, carrot, parsnip, celery and bell pepper;
- Optional: a spoonful of rice, a little stevia, cream and eggs.
Method of preparation:
First, wash the loboda well and cut into thin strips, then chop the rest of the vegetables. Fry the onion a little in lard (for the traditional taste) or in oil, then extinguish with water. Add the rest of the finely chopped vegetables and let it boil over low heat.
Towards the end, when the vegetables have softened, add the chopped loboda and boil everything for a maximum of 10 minutes. At this point, you can choose one of the regional variants: either leave it “Olteneasca”, rich in vegetables and without cream (in which case you add a spoonful of boiled rice with the vegetables), or sour it with borscht, as in Moldova.
There is also the Transylvanian version, more consistent and extremely tasty: mix the egg yolks with the cream and rub well. To avoid curdling, the composition is brought to the same temperature as the rest of the dish by gradually adding a few ladlefuls of hot juice over the eggs and cream, stirring continuously. Afterwards, the mixture is poured into the pot. A generous sprinkling of leuștean on top. In the Transylvanian version, a little pork or kaizer ham can also be added to the stew.
Note: Don't forget to turn off the heat before drizzling the soup with the cream and egg mixture!
A spring queen of Romanian cuisine
One of the most delicious and original Romanian dishes is, without a doubt, salad soup. It is filling, healthy and tasty at the same time.
“One thing is certain: along with bean soup, green bean soup or smoked potato soup (and there are more!), the green salad soup from the mountainous countries of Bârsa, Făgăraș, Amlaș, Hațeg is a superlative of Transylvanian summers and autumns, being at the same time one of the tastiest, nutritious and most original dishes that can be tasted in Romania”stated the well-known Radu Anton Roman in “Romanian Kitchen Stories”.
The harsh conclusion of the Romanian producers of trufandales: “We don't need European funds, but they should leave our markets alone” PHOTO
Here's what you need for a salad soup: obviously, lettuce (about 5 links), 200 milliliters of condensed milk, 100 grams of smoked lard, 100 grams of smoked sausage, half a kilogram of whey, four eggs, cream, a head of garlic, a carrot and a pinch of flour. Don't forget salt, pepper, paprika and chives or parsley.
Green salad soup PHOTO lauralaurentiu.ro
We start by washing the salad well and cutting it into strips or “fish sticks”. Then cut the sausage as small as possible, grate the onion and carrot. Boil the salad with onion, carrot and sausage. In the meantime, we're busy. That is, we brown the bacon in a pot or pan (we don't burn it). Separately, brown the flour in two tablespoons of oil with a small grated onion, until it becomes a kind of thin sauce. At the same time, beat three eggs and make an omelette. Cut the omelet into strips. We also crush the garlic and mix it with the paprika.
After the soup has boiled for about 50 minutes, we add everything we have prepared in the meantime: the garlic with paprika, the onion sauce with flour, the omelette, and the fried bacon. Boil another quarter of an hour. We turn off the heat and prepare the mixture of yolks with cream and a little whey. Mix well, bring to the same temperature as the juice in the pot (add the juice with the polony over the cream and eggs, mixing) and pour the composition into the soup. We mix well. Finally, add the greens. It seems a bit painstaking, but it is quite easy, and the result is always worth all the money spent on salads and smoking.
The humble sorrel and his hidden talents
For many, sorrel is a commonplace green plant that can be found everywhere during spring, from the edges of forests to meadows and hayfields. Beyond its apparent simplicity, sorrel is a true lord of Romanian culinary springs. It is a plant with a high nutritional value, being highly appreciated for its rich content of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, while having a low caloric intake.
It is an excellent source of vitamin C (it can cover over 60-100% of the recommended daily dose), vitamin A (essential for eyes and skin) and a number of vitamins from the B complex. It also contains significant amounts of iron, magnesium, potassium (vasodilator, helps with blood pressure) and calcium. It is also rich in antioxidants such as flavonoids and polyphenolic acids. It also has an anti-inflammatory effect.
Sorrel soup PHOTO petitchef.ro
The truffles appeared in the markets. How much does it cost Romanians to eat healthy?
And our elders knew too well the benefits of sorrel. And from here many soups with a story were born. There are several variants. One of them is vegetable or, better said, ovo-lacto-vegetarian.
You need: one or two large bundles of sorrel, red pepper, a liter of whey, cream, eggs. Let's not forget the salt and pepper.
Boil the whey, and when it boils well, add the finely chopped sorrel. It boils fast so we have to move fast. Fry some flour in butter until it turns brown, stirring constantly. Add the red pepper (or pepper paste), mix well and add the mixture to the soup. Boil a little more and set aside. We make the mixture of eggs with cream, as for the salad soup or the loboda soup, bring it to the same temperature as the juice and pour it into the pot. Check for salt and pepper. Don't forget the greens.
There is also a “carnivorous” variant. More precisely, we add chicken. We boil this for the first time (this time in water), foam it and then add the sorrel. We do the same operation with the flour and pepper, but also with the cream and egg dressing at the end. Through Transylvania, kaizer, gouša or other delicious smoked products are added.
