Transylvanian Fare for October
October makes me crave hearty braised meats, warm stadium blankets and scary stories. Lots of scary stories. So I am celebrating October with a vampire novel and a culinary trip to Transylvania. My novel of choice is Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden (impulse Amazon purchase). This book is a well written gothic horror novel, interspersed with dozens of illustrations by Mignola, the talented comic artist.
My food choices just had to be traditional Transylvanian fare. Paprika Chicken (Csirkepaprikas) and Romanian polenta (Mămăligă Cu Smăntănă) are pretty much the national dishes of Romania, even earning mention by the hapless Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s famous Dracula.
Saveur magazine provided the recipes, the unpronounceable (by me) dish names and a wonderful Transylvania travel log. The recipes worked especially well for me as I am oven-free this October during a kitchen remodel. My crappy garage chef hot plate setup was sufficient for this meal. The enameled pot I cooked the chicken in kept it steaming hot during the 10 minutes it took me to make the polenta. If you are also kitchen disadvantaged, staging hints are below.
Go to full recipes at Saveur
I loved both of these recipes. The polenta was an Eastern European conquest of a bland side dish that usually exists solely to host gravy of some kind. Feta cheese and sour cream create a new twist here. Feta added an actual flavor! A sour cream topping contributed an unexpected creaminess and coolness to form a perfect foil for the spicy chicken.
The chicken was deeply flavored even though I had to substitute water for the chicken stock. As I went to my makeshift laundry room pantry, the box of chicken stock I always have on hand turned out to be 4 identical boxes of beef broth (which I almost never use), 😱. Some other time I will explain why I also manage to have four full boxes of kosher salt that I have somehow randomly purchased.
No matter. The paprika and cumin spices layer flavor on a base of red pepper, onion, celery, carrot, chili, garlic and chicken goodness that is impressive for the 35 short minutes of cook time that I gave it. Especially impressive because I used boneless meat. Yes, yes I used boneless chicken thighs and breasts instead of cutting up a whole chicken because I’m lazy. One caution I give to substituters – do NOT omit the chili pepper. It is really not that spicy and the very small mount of heat is a great trade-off for the flavor it adds. I used a mild Fresno chili because that is the closest my market had to a Holland chili pepper.
It’s just vampire food, what could go wrong? Right?
- Nothing really. Even with the substitutions of water for stock and boneless meat, I loved it. MotaraManDan was especially impressed. So hints follow.
- Polenta – You are supposed to spread sour cream on top of crumbled feta on top of cooled polenta. Really? This is like trying to spread frosting on a plate of crumbled cookies. I suggest mixing all the feta in with the cooking polenta. Then form, cool and top it with sour cream per the original directions.
- Chicken – the recipe calls for straining the broth before serving. While it may not be traditional, I think you could easily leave the veggies in. It seemed a waste to toss them after painstakingly dicing into tiny perfect cubes (see photot above, aren’t they perfect?). Plus the veggies tasted really yummy. I also would have liked the broth a little thicker. The next night I cooked it down to half volume (without the chicken). It was much better at clinging to the chicken.
- Garage chef strategy – I staged this by cooking the chicken recipe first. While it was cooking, I collected everything for the polenta and microwaved the milk to just simmering. As soon as I pulled the chicken pot off the burner, I poured the milk/butter in a pan and cooked the polenta following the recipe. While the polenta was cooling, I strained the chicken. It only came together well because I used instant polenta, which is pretty much just corn meal.
Recipes
Paprika Chicken (Csirkepaprikas)
Chicken stew with paprika, cumin and chiles
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 ( 3-4-lb.) chicken, cut into 8 pieces
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup flour
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
- 2 ribs celery, finely chopped
- 1 large carrot, finely chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 red Holland or Fresno chile, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 3 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
Directions
Go to Saveur for the full recipe.
Romanian Polenta with Sour Cream (Mămăligă Cu Smăntănă)
Polenta with feta cheese and sour cream
- 4 cups milk
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
- 2 cups quick-cooking cornmeal
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 cup finely crumbled feta cheese
- 1 cup sour cream
Directions
Go to Saveur for the full recipe.