How to cook classic Romanian dishes for the holidays

Traditional Romanian food made with mostly local Oxford ingredients will be the centerpiece of one of my upcoming holiday meals. We’ll have tocana, mamaliga and placinta. The Romanian names make them sound more exotic and fun to eat than the English boiled chicken, mush and cottage cheese pie.

Tocana is a generic Romanian word for stew, which could be beef, pork, chicken or lamb. For my in-law’s family and their fellow immigrants who moved from a specific part of Romania to Canton, Ohio, a century ago, tocana always signifies chicken.

For mamaliga, I use Patricia Wells’ polenta recipe, which can be passed off as the same thing. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add a pinch of salt, and slowly add 1 cup cornmeal, stirring constantly with a whisk. Reduce the heat to low and stir frequently for around half an hour. Sprinkle dill and parsley on the mamaliga.

Placinta is the generic Romanian word for pie, and can have many types of filling. The European Union has designated one variety of placinta, known as placinta dobrogeana, as a Protected Geographical Indication product, from the southeast of Romania known as Dobrogea, near the mouth of the Danube River. The E.U. registration document defines placinta dobrogeana as “a baked pastry product filled with salted soft cheese.” My in-laws came from the other end of Romania, but their recipe agrees with the E.U. definition except that they use unsalted cottage cheese.

Placinta dobrogeana, as well as the family recipe, bakes the cheese in a soft pizza-like dough — that is, a yeast-based dough kneaded and left to rise — rather than a flaky pastry dough. The family recipe places the dough on the bottom and a bit on the sides, but some internet photos show the dough on top as well. The Moldova version uses puff pastry.

The recipe I inherited fed a large family and appeared at breakfast. I’ve reduced the ingredients here to fit a 6-inch springform pan, although the ingredient list easily doubles for a 10-inch springform pan. Further deviating from family tradition, I replace the soft dough with a crunchy shell. I’ve imposed my preference in my kitchen because I like a thin crunchy shell and a high percentage of filling, and I serve it as dessert rather than breakfast.

Soften 5 tablespoons of sweet unsalted butter. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/8 teaspoon almond extract, 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extra and a pinch of fine sea salt. Mix with 2/3 cup unbleached organic pastry flour and form into a soft cookie-like dough.

Butter the sides and bottom of the springform pan and press the dough evenly into the sides and bottom. Bake the shell for 12 minutes at 375.

Finely grind 2 tablespoons of almonds, and when the shell is removed from the oven immediately sprinkle the ground almonds to cover the bottom. This adds flavor and also prevents the shell from getting soggy.

While the shell cooks, mix with a blender 1/2 container (8 ounces) of cottage cheese, 1/2 container (6 ounces) of creme fraiche, 1 egg, 3 tablespoons sugar and 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract. Sprinkle with nutmeg and/or cinnamon and bake for 15 minutes at 375.

Place the pan on a rack and remove the placinta from the pan when cool. I prefer placinta cold the next day.

As they say in Romanian, pofta buna (good appetite).

James Rubenstein is president of the Board of Directors for the Oxford Free Press and professor emeritus of geography at Miami University.