Today we take you
\nto Oltenia, a Romanian region bordered by the Danube, Southern Carpathians and
\nOlt river. Leek is a staple produce of the region. It is largely used in
\nOltenia’s typical dishes. Proof of that is the fact that some of the food
\nfarmers in Oltenia’s Dolj County among other things have been granted
\ncertifications for such traditional products as Oltenian pressed cheese with
\nleek or Oltenian cured white cheese with leek. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Fasting periods
\nhave their staple and most popular dishes. One such dish is leek with olives.
\nWe need 4 or 5 stalks of leek, 200 grams of black olives, oil, salt and tomato
\npaste. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Peel the leek, then cut it in rounds, about 3
\nor 4 centimeters long. Slightly saut\u00e9 the leek in a little bit of oil, then put
\nit to the boil with a little bit of salt, or put the leek to the boil without
\npreviously saut\u00e9ing it. Boil the black olives separately for a couple of
\nminutes, with the water brought to boiling point one or twice to reduce the
\nolives’ content of salt. Then add the olives in the pot where the leek is
\nboiling. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste and salt to taste. You need around
\nhalf an hour to cook the leek-based dish, which is usually served cold. You can
\nalso add meat, and the dish you cook can be, for instance, pork tongue with
\nleek and black olives. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Boiled leek can
\nalso be used as a base for other dishes where chicken or fish is used. For the
\noven-baked fish with leek, for instance, you need 4 or 5 leek stalks. Peel the
\nleek, then cut it in thin slices. Set it to boil in a little bit of water and
\nsalt, together with a bell pepper, finely schopped. In the pot where all the
\nvegetables boiled, add a tablespoon of tomato paste, a little bit of oil, basil
\nand finely-shredded dill, pepper and salt to taste. Arrange the mix in an oven
\ndish, then on top of it place the fish fillet. Oven-bake for about 20 to 30
\nminutes until the fish browns.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\nThe region of Oltenia also boasts staple dishes where
\nno leek is used. For instance, we have the stuffed cabbage in a pumpkin, the
\nplainfields stew or the Oltenian stew, with beef or sausages. For the minced
\nmeat cabbage rolls in a pumpkin, we need one such pumpkin. Remove the seeds.
\nLightly saut\u00e9 two finely chopped onions in oil. Add a cup of rice and a little
\nbit of tomato paste. As soon as everything cools, mix the onion and the rice
\ninto a kilo of chopped pork, with a little bit of ground pepper and salt to
\ntaste. Spread the cabbage leaves, having previously removed the thick veins. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Add the mix and roll the leaves, preparing the typical sarmale. Boil the
\nminced meat cabbage rolls for about an hour, then arrange them inside the
\npumpkin. Place pieces of gammon between them and two or three little thyme
\nsprigs. Oven-bake the pumpkin for two hours, on medium to low heat. Serve the
\ncabbage rolls straight away with sour cream and polenta. They best go with a
\nglass of red wine, even with a glass of zaibar, a sortof wine
\nmade of ungrafted grapevine. Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today we take you to Oltenia, in the south, where leek is a staple produce and largely used in typical dishes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45767],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-173448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cooking-show"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n