in the kitchen: happenings

So a few updates on happenings in our Romanian Kitchen…

Apple Butter:  I tried this recipe with mixed results.  Of course, I didn’t have frozen apple concentrate or apple brandy, so I substituted apple juice.  It ended up soupier than we wanted, but that became a mixed blessing.  After putting it through a strainer, we had chunky tasty applesauce and a sweet apple syrup (that went great with these pancakes on Saturday morning).

Granola: My mom’s recipe for granola is fantastic and with a little translating I found everything for it here EXCEPT brown sugar.  I promise to post her recipe soon, including the Romanian translation.  But our breakfast this past week has been awesome — granola drizzled with a little milk and some applesauce.

Green Bean Casserole:  I cannot have Thanksgiving without green bean casserole.  That is NOT an option.  I heart green beans and if I were to die tomorrow and request a final meal it would include green bean casserole.  The thing is — here in Romania, we don’t have Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup or Durkee’s French Fried Onions.  Last week, I found a envelope of powder Cream of Mushroom Soup here.  So today, I attempted to make the dish (without the onions) using this powdered soup.  No dice. It tastes more fake than Campbell’s.  Looks like I’m going to have to do it the old-fashioned, from scratch way.  I’m thinking that this recipe for Cream of Mushroom might do the trick, if I can use less fluid to make it.  And maybe this recipe in place of the onions.  Any other recipes out there??

Gnocchi: With as cheap and ubiquitous as potatoes are here, I’m trying to find ways to make them more interesting.  Enter gnocchi.  I had leftover potatoes from the Shepherd’s Pie I made, so I used them to whip up this recipe for gnocchi.  I made some changes based on the reviews, but in general, it’s potatoes, flour, egg, and herbs.  I’ve got the dough chilling in the fridge, waiting til we “need” it (which might be a short while, since our menu’s pretty full this week).

This week, on our menu:
Shepherd’s Pie (Sunday dinner)
Chicken Tortilla Soup (Monday dinner & tons of lunches)
possible Red Beans, Rice, and Carnati lunch with the dear Dr. Dan of Peace Corps fame (Tuesday lunch)
Cheese Pizza with Whole Wheat Crust (Wednesday dinner)
and lots of leftovers, applesauce, yogurt, and granola
and maybe, if I’m motivated and decide it’s OK to use some of my precious brown sugar, I’ll try out this apple crisp recipe.