n Moldova you can find several varieties of beans that are good to eat fresh, before they mature and are ready to be dried. These are early- harvested yellow flat beans, consumed in summer. You may cook the beans with garlic, new potatoes or braised with sour cream. My memory tells me that yellow beans with potatoes and dill came top of my summer food list, especially when cooked in the small cast iron pot, which I brought with me to Canada.
WHITE CHERRY CONFITURE
White cherry confiture is the most delicate and rare of all traditional confitures.
Why is it so special? because it will drive you crazy with its taste. Whether we use it for tea, ice cream, pancakes or babă albă, this confiture is the finest, sweetest creation from our cuisine.
STUFFED ZUCCHINI
Similar to our traditional sarmale [sar’male], stuffed zucchini is made with the same filling but in a different way. I prefer sarmale; however, this dish is for those who don’t like the taste of vine leaves or pickled cabbage: a different recipe for those who seek new flavors. Do you know how delicious a stuffed zucchini with homemade sour cream can be?
ABOUT ME – WHO IS NATA ALBOT?
My name is Nata Albot. I am an event producer, entrepreneor and journalist passionate about cooking. I hope that one day you’ll come to Moldova to see how beautiful and delicious it is, through the festivals that me and my K Lumea team organize in our motherland.
SPICY CHEESE-STUFFED TOMATOES
This appetizer is particularly delicious when made with sweet and juicy, medium to small seasonal tomatoes. Combined with cheese and spicy garlic, this starter will boost your appetite.
PRESERVED GRAPE VINE LEAVES
In our Moldovan cuisine grape vine leaves are used for making sarmale, those little rolls of grape vine leaves stuffed with rice, vegetables and meat, that we are very proud of. Although, you can easily find these leaves in Arabic stores, in Moldova, women prefer to preserve them at home, especially when every family in Moldova has access to a vineyard, whether it is their own or of a relative.
SUMMER SALAD
There is nothing more delicious or dearer to the Moldovan soul than a summer salad made in the right way. There comes a moment when parents in Moldova will decide to plant a small garden with produce you would usually buy at a farmers’ market.
STRAWBERRY LEMONADE
Strawberry lemonade is a more colorful and flavorful version of the classic lemonade. Unfortunately, we can enjoy it only a few weeks a year, during the strawberry season. However, you can store some strawberries in the freezer, and make strawberry lemonade whenever you like it.
TRADITIONAL BISCUITS FROM THE NORTH
Because today, June 1, we celebrate International Children’s Day, this is the perfect dessert that can be cooked together with the little ones. This is how we spend quality and useful time together.
MÂNCĂRICĂ FROM THE NORTH
This dish, which literally translates as “little food” is made of chicken meat and stewed carrots, onions, and tomatoes and it ́s served cold. Dipping a slice of homemade bread in mâncărică and eating it with fresh garlic and sheep cheese is my type of culinary heaven.