Home Cooking

Not that the food here has been terrible, but there’s no substitute for the quality or variety of home – especially when my family does the cooking. Knowing that the best way to the heart is through the stomach, I decided to give a dinner party for my host family and 12 other PCVs. The main course was home-made-from-scratch tomato sauce and pasta, with approximately 9 liters of month-old Moldovan wine. Special thanks to all who helped make the evening a success through financial contributions, culinary expertise, or musical talent for the post-dinner sing-a-long.

Here’s the recipe if those back in the States tire of Ragu or if those abroad want an excellent meal. I’m going to write what you need to feed 16 people with the metric system. You figure out the conversions.

Ingredients:
4 kilos of tomatoes
1 kilo onions1 kilo green peppers1 kilo chopped meat (beef) – this might be hard to come by outside the capital, but you might be able to substitute lamb or pork or make it vegetarian
red wine
olive oil – or cheaper oil is OK if it’s too pricey for you here in Moldova
garlic
oregano
bay leaves
salt
pepper
sugar
pasta

Directions:
I suppose it goes without saying, clean all the veges.
Cut a small “X” in the bottom of all the tomatoes and drop them into a pot of almost-boiling water for a few minutes. The skin will start to come off. Remove the tomatoes and peel the skin off and de-stem them.
Place these skinned tomatoes in a bowl and mash them with your hands.
Sautee the onions and green peppers and crushed garlic – about 4-5 cloves.
Brown the meat and pour off the excess fat.
Combine the meat, sautéed vegetables, and tomatoes in a big pot.
Cook for a few hours until it thickens to your liking. Add salt, pepper, oregano, bay leaves, sugar, and red wine to taste.
Make the pasta and eat!
Oh yeah – garlic bread goes well with this – just sautee up some additional crushed garlic and spread it on sliced bread with olive oil and bake for 5-10 minutes.