My special guest is Annabelle Andreea, a university student from Romania with a popular Romanian recipe- Drob.
Andreea blogs on her fascination for social sciences, publishing very interesting articles that will definitely arouse our curiousities to read all. Do visit her at: : http://curioustendency.blogspot.com/
One of her latest post is entitled “Queen Elizabeth’s obsession with beauty”- Link http://curioustendency.blogspot.com/2011/08/elizabeth-i-obsession-with-beauty.html;
LET'S HEAR IT FROM ANDREEA:
Hello,
My name is Andreea and I’m a 24 year old girl from Romania. I am very happy I have the opportunity to write about a traditional dish in my country.
There’s not much to tell about myself. I have two majors, one in Philosophy and another in Journalism; I am working to get my third major in Psychology and on my way to become a clinical psychologist. I also just finished my Master’s thesis in Contemporary Philosophy and I work as a Copywriter for different electronic magazines about diets and healthy eating, fashion, and financial advice. I live with my best friend and I love cooking (although I don’t have much time), making handmade jewelry, sculpting, drawing and reading. But probably my biggest hobbies are history, philosophy, psychology (of course), and writing. I love food (who doesn’t?) and I’m constantly trying to experiment different dishes. I’m not always good at cooking and my main victim is my flat mate who has to eat and like the food I make
This is a recipe for a typical Romanian dish called Drob. Drob is also a common food during Easter in other balkanic countries. Drob can be described as a block of meat (because it actually looks like a block of meat depending on what type of pan you use to cook it) made from different animal organs or just liver and meat. Some choose to bake Drob in the same pans they use for baking bread making it easier to slice and use for sandwiches.
The dish can be compared with the Irish dish called haggis that contains sheep meat instead. However, Drob is traditionally made with lamb but you can use any type of meat you like: beef, chicken, turkey, etc. (according to your taste, religion and tradition). Our Drob also has a few religious meanings. Because it is made of lamb it symbolizes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ in Christian religion. Religious or not, you will probably find this dish extremely tasty and what’s great about it is the fact that it can be eaten cold and it’s also a great dish for picnic. You can eat it as an appetizer and even as a main dish with a side dish like: potatoes, salad, and even cheese. It is easy to make and it usually takes about 60-70 minutes.
There are thousands of ways to make Drob but here I will show you how it is made in my family.
8-10 servings
- 250 grams of ground meat
- 250 grams of heart
- 500 grams of liver
- 250 grams of any type of mushrooms(you can use canned mushrooms but it is preferable to use fresh mushrooms)
- 4 boiled eggs
- 4 raw eggs
- 250 grams of chopped green onions
- 100 grams of chopped green garlic
- a slice of bread that has been kept in milk for a few minutes (this is optional but when added it helps the coagulate the composition and hold it together) or bread crumbs
Spices:
- pepper
- dill leaves (we use it a lot here in but you can probably find some dry leaves in your local supermarket)
- parsley (preferably fresh)
How to prepare:
- finely chop the meat or you use a meat grinder.
- boil the hearts and liver for about 15 minutes
- chop or use a meat grinder with the boiled hearts, liver, mushrooms, green onions and garlic
- mix your chopped ingredients with the raw egg, bread crumbs or slice of bread and the spices.
- put half of your mix in a pan (that is covered with baking parchment paper) then add the boiled eggs and then cover them with the other half of your mix; this will create a wonderful pattern when you cut the Drob into slices
- put the pan in your preheated oven at 350 F and leave it for about 40-50 minutes and check it from time to time
I prefer Drob made with chicken liver and meat but as I mentioned earlier you can use whatever you want. I also love eating it with mustard and it’s also a great dish for those of you who eat low carb.
For the love of art, Andreea posted a Food art painting and your curious tendencies may want to guess who the painter is :)
My special thank you to Andree for her willingness to do this guest post and i wish her all the best in her studies. http://curioustendency.blogspot.com/ url at sidebar
