Coming up: Food from the new EU (BBC) {Romanian & Bulgarian cuisine}

[eppur_se_muova]

ROMANIA

Mamaliga: This is Romania's version of polenta, made from yellow maize flour, and eaten with butter, sour cream and cheese. In rural areas it is sometimes made thick enough to slice and used as a substitute for bread. It can also be cooked to a softer consistency and eaten with a spoon.

Ciorba de perisoare: Soup with meatballs. The soup can be sour - made with fermented wheat bran, lemon juice, or the liquid from sauerkraut. It also contains vegetables such as carrot, parsnip and chopped tomatoes, and can be flavoured with celeriac, lovage and dill.

Mititei: Sausage-shaped hamburgers of minced beef with garlic and pepper, sometimes mixed with lamb or pork. They are fried in a pan and served with mustard. Legend has it that they were invented one night at an inn in Bucharest, after the kitchen ran out of casings for sausage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/mititieromanianmince_80342.shtml

BULGARIA

Lyutenitsa : A relish of roasted red peppers, peeled and then finely minced. Other ingredients include tomato puree, onion, garlic, and some chilli peppers to make it slightly hot. That's where its name comes from - lyut means "hot". But lyutenitsa also has a sweet taste, because the type of long, thin pepper used is sweeter than some varieties. Sometimes aubergines - roasted, peeled and minced - are added.

Banitsa: A dish made of filo pastry layered with crumbled feta cheese and beaten eggs. The best banitsa, "rolled banitsa", is made with thin rolls of pastry arranged in a spiral shape inside a pan. It is sold in bakeries and usually eaten with yoghurt.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6222615.stm