Traditional Transylvanian and Romanian Easter Foods

We have our first Easter meal soon after midnight, when we come back from church with our lit candles. If we have tall, thin candles, we stick them into the ground (often after we've snuffed them on the top of the doorframe). If we have tea candles, we simply leave them to burn somewhere outside.

There are all sorts of traditions regarding the time when you should prepare the Easter dishes. The eggs should be dyed on Thursday or Saturday, even though one story regarding this custom sees its origin in a basket of eggs that Mary placed under the cross where Jesus was crucified, eggs which turned red from the drops of blood falling from the wounds of Jesus.

On Good Friday baking is prohibited. I see this interdiction doesn't exist in the Catholic world, where hot cross buns are eaten and often baked on Good Friday. But then again, these make a symbolic connection with the Crucifixion, which is what the day is about.

Speaking of baking, you should have on the table cozonac (a sort of sponge cake with dough similar to Italian panettone, but made by braiding two strips of dough), pască (a cake made with the same dough as the cozonac, a layer of cheese mixed with egg and sugar, and sometimes raisins as well), and various cakes.

My aunt made pască, two sheet cakes, and Cremeschnitte filling for some store-bought rolls. I love holiday cakes. I munch on them in between meals. Also fruit.

We made together the meringue frosting for one of the cakes, the drob (a Romanian lamb haggis my aunt makes with lamb organs, chicken liver, green onions and leeks, egg yolks and hard-boiled eggs, and rice); diced the vegetables for the boeuf salad, which was not made with beef but rather with the chicken wings from the soup -- then with diced vegetables from said soup, pickled cucumbers, and mayo; and so on.

We went to church at midnight, met various people outside the church, said hi and nodded heads, circled the church three times, and returned home and laid the table with

• Romanian lamb haggis
• boeuf salad, very similar to Russian salad or Olivier salad
• another kind of salad, not traditional, made with leeks and mayo
• schnitzels (Like Viennese schnitzels, only not breaded), again not a special Easter food
• red eggs, of course; this time my aunt decided to go for red only
• green onions, radishes, and tomatoes
• pască (note that it's usually made round), pieces of cake, rolls with Cremeschnitte filling

Easter Sunday lunch was a tasty and leaner affair, with chicken soup and oven-baked lamb steak, served with mashed potatoes and salad (lettuce and green onion). Then we helped ourselves to sweets.

Some of us had an early dinner of haggis, cheese, and tomatoes/salad. Others waited for the mititei (translates as "small ones"; they're grilled meat rolls, made from ground beef and pork, mixed with spices). My cousin burned ours a little but they were still very tasty. We had them with horseradish and mustard (one or the other). These are not a traditional Easter food – just something very popular in Romania, on a par with cabbage rolls, sausages, or a chunk of pork meat with beans (also polenta with cheese and sour cream). If you’re interested in Romanian foods, see the Taste of Romania book below. Nicolae Klepper did a great job with it, culling not only some of most popular dishes, but also some of the best recipes for them.

As I said, popular on any occasion and traditional for Easter and Christmas are cabbage rolls. We had some of those too. Pork also made an appearance, even though the star this holiday was, of course, lamb.