Romanian Meatball Soup (Ciorba de Perisoare)

This is such a delicious soup I just have to share it with you.  It’s a very traditional soup, and it’s one of my favorite soups.  ”Ciorba” in romanian usually refers to sour soups with vegetables and some form of meat.  They are made sour by adding either lemon juice, “bors” which is fermented wheat bran, sauerkraut juice, or sometimes even vinegar.  Most of the time I just use lemon juice and this gives the soup a very nice sour taste.  Also Romanians differentiate between “ciorba” and soup, soup is usually clear and has no added acid.  I grew up with this soup, my mother used to make it quite often, and as I said it’s one of my favorites.  Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

For the meatballs:

• 1 lb of ground meat (you can use chicken, pork, turkey, beef, whatever you prefer, you may even combine meat, such as beef and pork)
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of long grain rice
• 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs
• parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

For the soup:

• 1 onion chopped
• 2 carrots grated, or cut in very small pieces
• 2 stalks of celery cut in very small pieces
• 2 tbsp of tomato paste or 1 cup of tomato juice
• juice of one lemon
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• parsley

To start this off it’s very simple.  Mix all the ingredients for the meatballs and start forming small meatballs about 1 inch in diameter, or even smaller, depends on how much patience you have.  The smaller they are the cuter they look.

In a big pot, heat the oil and then add the vegetables and fry until the onion is clear. Add about 6 to 8 cups of water, you may even add beef or chicken broth to this, depending on the meat you’re using.  Wait for the soup to start boiling, then add the meatballs one at a time.  Keep boiling, when the meatballs are done, they will rise to the top, add the the tomato juice or paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper and let the soup simmer on medium heat for about 20 minutes.  When the soup is done, add the parsley. Serve this hot with a bit of sour cream.

Honey Glazed Rack of Pork Ribs

What's for dinner tonight? Well, I looked in the fridge and I noticed my husband bought a nice big rack of pork ribs, so I decided to make honey glazed rack of pork ribs with some mashed potatoes on the side.  Don't let this scare you, the glaze took me about 2 minutes to make, so the recipe is super easy and trust me it's so worth it and you'll love it.

• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• juice of a lemon
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 4 cloves of garlic crushed
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp oregano
• 1tbsp yellow mustard
• a rack of pork ribs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Now this is super easy to do, just mix all of the ingredients, excluding the rack of pork ribs, in a large bowl  and whisk well.  Add the pork ribs and massage the glaze all over the pork ribs thoroughly.

Place the ribs in a large roaster and pour the remaining glaze over it.  Bake in the oven for about 1 hour and a half and every 20 minutes or so, baste the ribs with the drippings from the pan.

Absolutely delicious. This was definitely worth it.

Enjoy!

Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)

Tripe Soup (Ciorba de Burta)

Jo’s Easy Tiramisu

Tiramisu is one of those wonderful cakes, and probably one of the most popular Italian cakes.  I used to think Tiramisu is one of those really hard to make cakes, but quite a few years ago, a friend of mine showed me how to make it really easily.  I used to make it quite often, wherever I needed to bring a dish I would always bring this Tiramisu and people just loved it.  So, it’s easy, so much fun to make, and need I say, so much fun to eat, and it’s just scrumptious. Absolutely yummy! So here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 1/4 cups of mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 24 ladyfingers
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups of brewed coffee

You know what’s so great about this cake, it does not require baking, so really how can it get any easier.  Anyway, in a mixer beat the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract until light, fluffy and smooth.  Fold the mascarpone cheese into the egg mixture with a spatula.  Set aside.

Dip the ladyfingers in coffee and arrange 12 of them in the bottom of an 8×8 inch dish.  You don’t have to soak them in the coffee for a long time, just briefly dip them on both sides.  Spread half of the cheese mixture over the ladyfingers and repeat with the remaining ladyfingers, then cheese mixture.  Now you need to cover this and refrigerate it for about 1 hour then sprinkle the cocoa powder just before serving.  It looks beautiful, and people will think you spent hours slaving over this in the kitchen.

Enjoy!

Cheese "Cake" (Prajitura cu branza)

So this is an interesting cake, it's called a cheesecake but it's not your traditional cheesecake with cream cheese.





This is yet another traditional Romanian recipe that I just love.  It's an easy to make cake, and the big difference between this cake and your traditional cheesecake is this is made with ricotta cheese.  This cake is light, and it's delicious. Here are the ingredients you'll need to make this cake:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup of flour
• 500g of ricotta cheese

Preheat the oven at 375 degrees.  In a mixer, add 2 of the eggs and 1/2 cup of the sugar and mix well until light and fluffy. Add the sour cream and the melted butter and mix well.  Add the flour and the baking powder, and mix well.

In another bowl mix the ricotta with the remainder of the sugar and the remaining 2 eggs and mix well.  You may also add raisins with ricotta if you wish.  Personally I like a few raisins in this cake, so now would be the time to add about 1/2 cup of raisins.

You can use a cheesecake pan, butter it well.  Pour the cake batter first, then pour the ricotta mix in the middle.  Do not mix.  Bake until golden brown.  Let cool before serving.  You may also sprinkle some powdered sugar on top of the cake.

Easy and delicious.

Enjoy!