If you are to ask a romanian to list few staple foods in Romania polenta would definitely be at the top of the list. We eat polenta as a substitute for bread, as a side dish and as a main course.
Baked Polenta with Cheese
Mushroom Spread
If you are looking for an appetizer idea this is a great option. It’s easy to make and you can prepare in advance, who doesn’t like that? Also, it’s a one pot dish (if you exclude the strainer) so in my mom of 3 world this would be a perfect dish – minimum effort, no dishes to clean and tastes great.
Homemade Ribs Sauce
Believe it or not BBQ Sauce is not the only sauce that goes with ribs. Next time you grill I challenge you to leave the BBQ sauce away and try to find something new, your own unique home recipe – maybe it’s a garlic and yogurt sauce, or a grilled pineapple and lemon sauce or maybe it’s a guacamole sauce. You will see that the different sauces you use will change the flavor and looks of the dish and it will be like a new dish every time. Ours is really simple and it includes ingredients that you find in any refrigerator – ketchup, mustard, sour cream and garlic.
Cauliflower Dip
One of my favorite dips and this was a good dish for my youngest (2 years old) to eat a good amount of garlic at the start of the cold season.
Ricotta Cheese Doughnuts (Papanasi)
This is one of my favorite desserts – Ricotta Cheese Doughnuts bathing in heavy cream, sour cream and jam. The combination is just delicious. Every time I go to Romania I always have the Ricotta Cheese Doughnuts (or ‘Papanasi’ in Romanian) and it never disappoints!
This recipe doesn’t usually call for heavy cream since in Romania the sour cream is more liquid. In order to give the doughnut something to soak in I like to add some heavy cream, however you don’t have to.