My friend Chinezu came to Cluj a bit, having some things to attend to at Tiff. Yesterday evening we went together to Bonțida to see “Odessa in Flames”, a document film with an interesting history that you can learn about from the official page of the festival (the atmosphere at the mansion was awesome, thank you for the invitation, I had a very pleasant evening). In the morning I woke up before the aforementioned gentleman because I had to change the gas tank of the grill, but once that problem was taken care of, I woke him up and tortured him by making him stay by my side while I prepared the menu for next Saturday at Ramada, in Oradea (take a look here for reservations). I made satay skewers, spice-crusted tenderloin, a pineapple and peanut sauce for the satay, a raspberry sauce for the pork chop (look up the post with the barbecues in Timișoara for the recipe of the raspberry sauce) and onion chutney for the tenderloin. The onion chutney is an adaptation of the recipe sent to me by Mircea Groza (he brought the chutney at the bloggers’ skewer – I reproduced the recipe almost entirely, but I reduced its preparation time, you’ll see). Here’s all about the onion chutney:
For 600-700 grams of chutney that you can store in the fridge for a long time, you need a kilo of onions (red onions, for example), three garlic cloves, two green onions, one bell pepper, a handful of dill, 300-400 grams of brown sugar, a glass of wine, two tablespoons of reduction of balsamic vinegar, two teaspoons of coriander seeds, four-five cloves and two pots/pans.
The onions, sliced and with the cores removed (they are tougher, hotter and they have on one end a segment of the roots, which is useless), are macerated for half an hour with half the quantity of sugar.
The bell pepper cut into cubes, fine slices of green onions and the diced garlic are left for half an hour to sit with the other half of the quantity of sugar.
The two pans/pots (one with onions, the other with pepper and other stuff) are put on the stove on low temperature, each with a cup of water. Stir them until they are softened. Once the onion has softened, add over it the crushed spices and the reduction of balsamic vinegar reduction and keep stirring (this whole business takes about half an hour).
After all the ingredients have softened, mix them in the same pot/pan, pour the wine over them (red wine would be fine, I used a rosé, Vinul Cavalerului, from SERVE). Allow it to reduce (a quarter of an hour), remove it from the stove and let it cool.
Held in an airtight jar in a cold storage space, the onion chutney is good even after a month.
This is (approximately) the aspect of the plating at Ramada, at the end of the week.
For dessert, grilled peached with a splash of vanilla, honey and orange juice syrup, paired with chocolate ice cream and crushed pistachio. It’s a wonderful dessert and I’m not saying that because I made it.
Chinezu had a taste, took photos and said he was satisfied. Therefore, you can go ahead and make reservations, the menu has been approved :).
Special thanks to
Oana Bodnariuc, Authorized Translator
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facebook.com/oana.bodnariuc