Recipes and Food
Sage Potatoes
Sage is a familiar herb that plays a great part in Romany cooking. It relieves flatulence. Its flavor is strong, so it should be used sparingly. Add just a pinch to soups, egg dishes and stews.
Here’s a recipe for Sage Potatoes:
Bake potatoes in their jackets, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the centers, leaving just enough flesh in so that the cases remain firm. Mash potato with a little margarine, 1 teaspoon fresh,or half teaspoon dried sage, seasoning, and a little bit of milk. Pack back into the potato cases and cover with grated cheese. Lay a thin piece of apple on top, return to oven and bake until the tops are crisp and golden.
Quick Biscuits Gypsy Style
A very simple recipe for biscuits. They are not light and fluffy, but they will fill an empty belly and are great for when you have nothing in your cupboard except for flour and some sour milk.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 cup sour milk
Instructions:
Put the flour into a bowl and quickly mix in the sour milk. Knead briefly on a floured surface and pat out into a thick round or square. Cut into rounds or squares. Cook on both sides on a hot floured griddle or heavy frying pan until cooked through.
Found at: Journey Folki
Granny’s Shooshi Dinner
Ingredients:
- 3 Lbs rabbit meat, cut into pieces
- 2 fresh bay leaves
- 3 stems thyme
- 2 whole cloves
- 3 onions, minced
- 1 tablespoon oil
- A few black peppercorns, crushed
- Salt
- Water and red wine
- 1 and half cups diced carrots
- 12 small white onions
- 12 small mushrooms
- 18 small potatoes
- 1 tablespoon butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Instructions:
Put rabbit, bay leaves, thyme, cloves, minced onion, oil, peppercorns, and salt into a large pot. Pour in sufficient water and wine to cover the ingredients in the pan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently for 2 hours. Add carrots, white onions, mushrooms, and potatoes and cook, covered, until vegetables are tender, approx 25-30 minutes. Mix the butter with the flour and stir into the stew until the mixture has thickened. Simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley just before serving.
From: Journey Folki
Poacher’s Stew
Ingredients:
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 pounds venison, inch pieces
- 2 tablespoon shortening or lard (not oil)
- 6 cups hot water
- 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 inch pieces
- 1 medium turnip, peeled and cubed 1 inch pieces
- 4 medium carrots, peeled and cubed 1 inch pieces
- 1 bell pepper, ¼ inch strips (optional)
- 4 stalks of celery, cubed 1inch pieces
- ½ cup diced sweet onion
- 1 pound small fresh white button mushrooms cut in half
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 1 bay leaf
Mix flour, salt, and pepper. Coat the meat with the flour mixture. Melt shortening in heavy cast iron Dutch oven pot; brown meat thoroughly. Add water, heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer about 2 hours. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer 30-45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
To thicken stew: Shake 1 cup cold water and ¼ cup flour in a covered jar until well blended. Stirring stew constantly add the water/flour mix. Heat to boiling and boil for 2 minutes, continuing to stir constantly. Remove bay leaf before serving
Best if served with fresh rolls or fresh bread.
Jugged Kaunengro
Jugged Kaunengro is a traditional Romany recipe for hare or rabbit stew.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons flour
- Salt and pepper
- 1 hare, jointed
- 3 and a quarter cups strong stock, hot
- 1 lemon, peeled and sliced
- 1 onion, stuck with 3 cloves
- 12 black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup of red wine
Instructions:
Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dredge the joints with the seasoned flour. Put the hare into the stew jar with the hot stock, lemon onion, and peppercorns. Cover the jar tightly and stand it in a deep pan of cold water. Bring this to the boil and simmer for 3-4 hours (depending on the age of the hare). Remove the hare from the jar and keep hot. Knead the butter and flour together and stir into the stock with wine. Heat the sauce, stirring until smooth and thick.
From: Journey Folki
Campfire Bread
Ingredients:
- 8 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons butter or shortening
- 1 cup of milk
Method:
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and rub in the butter until mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add in the milk gradually to form a stiff dough – you may add a little water or more milk. Wind the dough around a clean branch or stick and suspend the branch over the dying embers of the fire, turning frequently until browned and crisp. Pull off the stick and the bread is ready to eat.
Note: The dough can be patted into a round and cooked on a hot greased griddle for 5-7 minutes on each side until cooked through.
Found at: Journey Folki
Joe Grey Soup (Traditional Gypsy Recipe)
An authentic Romany Gypsy recipe for a cheap and filling sausage and potatoes soup. Like most traditional Romany recipes, its easy to make and can feed a large family cheaply.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 4 links pork sausage
- 8 slices unsmoked back bacon, rindless
- 2 onions, chopped into large chunks
- 5 tomatoes, sliced
- 5 medium potatoes, sliced
- 3 beef bouillon cubes
- bread, to serve
- butter, to serve
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan and brown the sausages. Remove from the pan and cut each sausage into 3 pieces. Return to the pan.
Cut each bacon slice into 3, add to the pan and cook until browned. Add the onion and cook until browned. Cover the contents of the pan with boiling water, but not to the top of the pan. Continue cooking and add the sliced potato.
Cook until the potatoes are soft – you may need to top it up with more boiling water from the kettle. Add the sliced tomatoes and crumble in the stock cubes. Stir well and simmer until the tomatoes are soft.
Serve on plates (not bowls) with lots of fresh chunky bread
Serves 6
From: Food.com
Gypsy Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs peeled pumpkin, cut into chunks
- 4 1/2 cups of strong white bread flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 oz fresh yeast
Instructions:
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the pumpkin. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. Drain well, reserve the liquid. Sieve the pumpkin into a bowl and beat to a puree. Cool until just warm, and then mix with the flour and salt. Dissolve the yeast in 6 tablespoons of the cooking liquid and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes until frothy. Pour into the flour mixture and mix well to form a firm dough . If the mixture is too dry add a little more cooking liquid.
Knead well until smooth, place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Knock back the dough, knead lightly, and shape into ball. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and leave for about 1 hour until well risen.
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Using a sharp knife make a circular incision around the top of the ball about 2 inches from the edge. Place on a baking tray and cook for 45-50 minutes until deep golden and cooked through.
Found at: Journey Folki
Griddle Cakes – Gypsy Style
Ingredients:
- 2 cups self-raising flour
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of ground mixed/pumpkin spices
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons shortening or lard
- 3 tablespoons unrefined light brown muscovado sugar
- 4 tablespoons currants
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- Sugar for sprinkling
Instructions:
Sift the flour, salt, and spices into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter and shortening until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the sugar, currants, and lemon peel. Beat the egg and milk together and add to the dry ingredients to form a soft dough. Roll out lightly on a floured surface about 1/4 inch thick and cut into 2 inch rounds. Cook on a hot floured griddle or heavy frying pan until golden on both sides. Sprinkle with sugar and serve hot and fresh.
From: Journey Folki
Gembétsa
Get kidney suet from the butcher and grind or chop it very fine after removing all skin and blood. Knead this with wheat flour, salt, pepper, baking soda, and parsley and enough water to make a stiff dry dough. In another pan fry bacon or sausage meat until quite crispy and break into small pieces. Shape the dough (about the size of a golf ball) around the fried bacon or sausage, sealing the ball. Drop into the soup you will serve with it and let cook. They will swell up about three times bigger.
From: Journey Folki
.
I think it's time to go shopping... maybe even buy some really cool stuff at my online shops!!