Back to Basics. Zacuska with Laura.

This week is really different!  Laura is sharing her Romanian recipe which is made of ingredients we mostly grow here in summer in Australia.  I really wanted to learn this!

Zacuscă 

(Romanian pronunciation: [zaˈkuskə]

 I think the most beloved "something good" to preserve for the winter is, for Romanians, zacusca, a vegetable spread which originated from Armenia or Georgia. Because it has no meat, dairy or eggs in composition, it is eaten during long fasting seasons. It tastes better after 2-3 months of maturing, that is why it is a delicious winter food.

The recipe for eggplant zacusca is the most widespread and one of the most loved in my family, although I make, sometimes, other varieties such as dry bean zacusca and mushroom zacusca, depedning of what I have on hand or what I find at a good price. 

Ingredients:

• 5 kg. eggplants (choose the ones with black and shiny skin, slightly fluffy to the touch)
• 3 kg. of red peppers (gogosari), preferably kapia or red bell peppers or bell peppers
• 2 kg. of onions
• 1 liter of tomato paste
• 500 ml. – 1000 ml of sunflower oil (other type of cooking oil would be just fine) 
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper or 1 teaspoon peppercorns

How to prepare eggplant zacusca:

• the first step: bake the eggplants on the grill, on a disc, on the stove or in the oven, on whatever is possible, only come into direct contact with a hot surface or live flame. It is good to prick the eggplants before baking them, to avoid accidents that can occur due to their explosion.

Eggplants are baked all around, until the skin is charred in places and the core is soft. Immediately, I remove them from the grill and clean them. There are recipes that recommend chilling eggplants in their skins, but doing so will turn them black. I scoop them out of the shell with a spoon.

Immediately after removing the eggplants from the charred skin, I put them in a colander to drain the liquid well.

Step 2 

• The raw peppers are put through the grinder. Or, the second method is the classic one and involves baking the peppers by direct contact with a heated surface, exactly as we did with the eggplants. After they cool down completely, put the peppers through the grinder, collecting them in a bowl.

How to prepare the baked vegetables: 

Step 3. In the case of eggplants, the liquid that drains has nothing to look for in any dish, being bitter. This is also the reason why the eggplants drain well, through the sieve (step 1). Instead, the liquid that the cooked peppers leave behind will be sweet and very tasty, so it can be kept. This is how I proceed, this liquid brings an extra sweetness to the zacusca.

Step 4. Finely chop the eggplants, well drained of the liquid, with a non-metallic (wooden or ceramic) knife, so as not to blacken, which would also affect the appearance of the zacusca.

Preparation of the onion

Step 5. So far we have only discussed eggplant and peppers, indisputably the star ingredients of the zacusca recipe. However, before starting the actual cooking of the dish, we still have to clean and chop the onion. I peel it, wash it, cut it into quarters and then put it through the mincer/grinder, collecting it separately from the other ingredients.

Zacusca preparation – boiling

Step 6. To cook zacusca, it is ideal to choose a pot with a thick bottom, which is not placed directly on the flame of the stove. In recent years, I have made a habit of cooking zacusca outside, in the open air, in a cauldron.

First, put the oil (all at once) in the dish in which the zacusca will be cooked. Heat the oil on a suitable heat and add the onion given through the machine. Reduce the heat to low and add 1 teaspoon of salt at the beginning to extract the water from the onions. This will cause the onions to stew, not fry. Cook the onion until soft (about 7-8 minutes), stirring frequently with a large wooden spoon. 

Step 7.  Add the ground or finely chopped baked peppers. Mix well and bring to a boil. 

Step 8. After the onions and peppers have homogenized and come to a boil together, add the ground eggplant. Mix well to homogenize, while the pot is constantly on fire.

Step 9. Immediately after the eggplant, add the tomate paste, pepper and bay leaves. Mix well and reduce the heat. Cover the pot with a lid pulled aside so that the steam has room to escape. During boiling, the zacusca, being viscous, splashes everything around, so it is safer to have a lid.

How long does the zacusca boil?

Step 10. Boil zacusca for 45 minutes - 1 hour, on low heat. During all this time, check and mix, insisting on the bottom, every 10 minutes. You can check the zacusca even more often than that. There is no need to boil more, all the ingredients are already cooked. The peppers are cooked, the eggplant the same, the tomate paste is cooked.

Finally, the zacusca must have a homogeneous, pasty consistency. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper and, if you want to accentuate the natural sweetness of the peppers and onions, you can also add a spoonful of sugar.

Bottling eggplant zacusca

The zacusca is poured hot into sterilized jars, placed on a metal tray, so as not to crack.

Close the jars with lids or staples checked, not deformed or rusted and close tightly.

Product sterilization

In order to be sure that the zacusca will be stored without problems throughout the winter, we must make sure that all possible germs that it might contain are destroyed. The process  which I do this is sterilization, by placing the jars, filled with hot zacusca, in a nest lined with thick blankets (textiles or old towels). Wrap them well and let them cool slowly before storing them in the pantry.

A few notes about the recipe

Finally, I would like to tell you that, in terms of quantities, the indications for this recipe are somewhat indicative. My family prefers this way posted above but you can prepare the same recipe for zacusca using half liter of oil, the zacusca will turn out just as well with less oil. And you can approximate the rest of the ingredients, usually by what you have in abundance in the garden or at the market. It is not an exact science, it is what people did with what they had without using electricity or modern storage conditions.

Likewise, if you expect more acidity from your zacusca, add a little extra tomatoe sauce. Nothing bad will happen, it will just be more sour.

Also, if your taste feels the need to add an extra spice to this eggplant snack, compared to the classic ones indicated, don't refrain from doing it. Keep a sense of proportion, however, adding a little at a time, mixing everything well and tasting the zacusca after each new amount added.

You can store un-opened jars in the cellar or a cool pantry for a year or more. But you will eat it long before that, or give it as a present – I 

don*t know anyone who doesn*t like zacusca, or who doesn*t have a bite of the slice of bread spread with zacusca.

Thank you so much Laura!  This looks delicious and nutritious.    

I know that the USA and Canadian ladies will want to can it.  Since I started this blog I learned different countries have different ways of food preservation.   I never had heard of jams/jellies or relishes being canned before I made so many beautiful American friends!    I have learned so much food preservation from both my European and US Bluebirds.    If any experienced canner wants to include canning instructions in comments please do.     

When I first started posting on FB my title included the word Organisation.   I had someone from another part of the world jump all over me saying I spelled it incorrectly.    Well, it turns out it depends on where you live.  I didn't know that!   Thus began a series of opinions on the right way and wrong way of doing things according to country.   I don't mind as long as people are kind and respectful.

Years ago I had a surgery and one of the first things I asked after was if I was allowed to take baths.   My specialist said no but if I lived in England they would say yes.  So I pretended to live in England and the problem was solved.  😊

I will be making this recipe as long as I can get hold of or grow enough eggplant.   To me it would be divine on pasta!  But it is like summer packed into a jar!   In my world I would make it as Laura does and keep it in the fridge.  If I didn't think it would all be used quickly enough I would freeze some.   But by the looks of it I would use it in many meals!

I am so happy to learn something from Romania and amazed how we basically grow the same things in summer!   Laura I hope your garden gives you masses of produce so you can make loads of Zacuska this year!  Thank you so much for the great lesson and recipe!  xxx