Saptamana 14 / Week 14

Saptamana ce a trecut de la ultima postare a fost, pentru mine, una plina de evenimente deosebite. Am avut placerea de a o intalni, la Cluj, pentru prima oara, pe ASR Principesa Mostenitoare, aflata intr-un turneu de promovare a volumului “Carte regala de bucate”. A fost un moment extrem de emotionant pentru mine, un moment ce imi va ramane viu in minte pentru tot restul vietii. Doresc sa multumesc pe aceasta cale cumnatei mele, Lorena Moldovan, care a creat un minunat buchet tricolor in cinstea Principesei . 

© adevarul.ro
Daruind ASR Principesa Mostenitoare buchetul tricolor, Cluj 8.04.2011

“Cartea regala de bucate” are o insemnatate deosebita pentru mine. Pe langa ideea originala, ceea ce m-a impresionat cel mai mult a fost gestul Principesei de a deschide usile caminului sau in fata cititorului, care este invitat sa paseasca in lumea elegantei si a traditiei de ospitalitate a regalitatii. Dar ambientul nu este doar unul formal intrucat cititorului ii este ingaduita si patrunderea in intimitatea familiala, ii sunt prezentate rudele si prietenii de familie, micile ritualuri domestice, dar si amintiri din vremuri trecute sau evenimente, mai mult sau mai putin formale. Bineinteles ca si felurile de mancare sunt importante, si ele spun o intreaga poveste despre cei care le-au trimis Principesei noastre, dar ce conteaza cel mai mult, in opinia mea, este sentimentul “experientei impartasite”.

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ASR Principesa Mostenitoare, Cluj 8.04.2011

 Aceasta carte este ca un muzeu modern: este informativa, educativa chiar, antrenanta dar si interactiva! Ne amintim cu totii vizitele organizate cu scoala la muzeul de istorie… toate obiectele inchise in cutii de sticla sau in corpuri de mobilier imens… nu este cazul “Cartii regale de bucate”! In acest “muzeu” vizitatorul are oportunitatea sa cunoasca personajele principale, sa participle la evenimentele importante si chiar sa guste din bucatele servite la masa! Este o deschidere fara precedent din partea Familiei Regale a Romaniei, o deschidere ce este in pas cu timpurile noastre.

Acest ultim volum al Principesei are si calitatea de a putea fi de interes pentru un segment larg de cititori: chiar nu trebuie sa fii un mare gurmand sau un maestru bucatar, precum nu este obligatoriu sa fii un amator al istoriei, si nici chiar un monarhist pentru a te bucura de “Cartea regala de bucate”.

Cu siguranta aceasta nu este o obisnuita carte cu retete, ci o experienta unica pe care o recomand tuturor!

Intorcandu-ma la propria mea experienta, pot sa spun ca deosebita “Carte regala de bucate” a stat la originea deciziei mele de a incepe acest blog, care imi aduce foarte multe satisfactii, motiv pentru care doresc sa multumesc din nou  ASR Principesa Mostenitoare a Romaniei!

Nu in ultimul rand, doresc sa multumesc din suflet ASR Principele Radu a carui sustinere inseamna pentru mine mai mult decat as putea vreodata exprima in cuvinte. Respect foarte mult, printre altele, caliatile sale oratorice si de scriitor, astfel ca aprecierea sa este cu atat mai pretioasa pentru mine! 

© ASR Principele Radu

Celor care aleg sa citeasca acest blog le multumesc, de asemenea, si sper ca lectura lui sa le faca la fel de multa placere pe cat imi face mie scrierea lui. (feedback-ul & comentariile sunt apreciate)

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Saptamana trecuta am evidentiat legaturile de rudenie dintre MS regele Simeon al II-lea al bulgarilor si Casa Regala romana. In postarea de azi doresc sa ma opresc putin asupra activitatii fostului monarh de la sud de Dunare dupa reintoarcerea in tara natala, mai exact activitatea din domeniul politic.

© kingsimeon.bg
ML Regina & Regele bulgarilor

Pentru inceput, este important de mentionat ca Simeon de Saxa-Coburg-Gotha sau Simeon Sakskoburggotski, cum mai este numit de catre compatriotii sai, nu a renuntat niciodata formal la coroana bulgara. Intoarcerea in patrie, in urma caderii cortinei de fier, l-a pus in contact cu realitatile post-comuniste, foarte familiare si noua, romanilor: un popor maltratat si vulnerabil, o economie inapoiata si atrofiata, total disfunctionala, coruptie, saracie, confuzie si teama – o societate dezradacinata si deloc eficienta.

Traind majoritatea vietii in Occident si avand avantajul unei educatii in context democratic, Simeon al Bulgariei a simtit nevoia sa se implice in reconstructia tarii sale in incercarea de a-i asigura un viitor stabil, democratic, compatibil cu valorile societatilor din vestul continentului. Acest demers este cu siguranta unul admirabil, insa modalitatea aleasa este una pe care personal nu o pot sustine in intregime.

Fostul suveran bulgar a pus bazele unui partid politic la inceputul noului secol, a participat la alegeri, le-a castigat si a fost numit prim-ministru al tarii sale, ceea ce, pana la urma, nu este o realizare de trecut cu vederea. Nu voi starui asupra detaliilor guvernarii sale si nici nu voi incerca o evaluare a acesteia, dorind mai mult o analiza din perspectiva principiului monarhiei constitutionale.

© kingsimeon.bg
MS regele Simeon II

Din acest unghi, cu siguranta, Simeon al Bulgariei a redus sansele unei evantuale restaurari a regalitatii in Bulgaria la zero, subminand insusi principiul de baza al monarhiei constitutionale, care se refera la stricta neimplicare in politica a monarhului, precum si a familiei sale. In Marea Britanie, pentru a oferi doar un exemplu, niciun membru al Familiei Regale, si cu atat mai putin Regina, nu s-ar gandi macar sa mearga la vot in ziua alegerilor generale. Cetatenia le ofera dreptul democratic de a se prezenta la urna, ca orice alt cetatean, insa pozitia lor in societate, precum si ceea ce am numi cutuma sau traditia, le pretinde o stricta impartialitate din punct de vedere politic.

Putem numi incercarea regelui Simeon ca fiind una pragmatica, chiar daca ea contravine principiilor monarhiei constitutionale. Dorinta lui de a ajuta poate fi pusa pe seama firi practice, precum si a educatiei occidentale, care incurajeaza participarea si mobilizarea societatii civile (lucru ce ne lipseste noua cu desavarsire!).

Ramane intrebarea: este mai indicata respectarea cu strictete a unui principiu sau atitudinea pragmatica, cu asumarea riscurilor ce decurg din ea? Probabil ca majoritatea se va declara in favoarea caii celei mai avantajoase pentru cei multi, lucru care ar fi perfect adevarat si indicat, in cazul in care am putea ghici viitorul…

Daca guvernarea Simeon de Saxa-Coburg-Gotha ar fi fost un succes rasunator care ar fi reformat din temelii societatea bulgara, ar fi transformat economia intr-una eficienta si competitiva pe plan mondial, ar fi eradicat coruptia si crima organizata si ar fi facut sa creasca standardul de viata al bulgarului de rand, schimbadu-i si mentalitatea, probabil ca acum ne inghesuiam cu totii sa prezentam acest model si sa-l recomandam in dreapta si in stanga!

Ramanand in zona realitatii, consider ca monarhia trebuie sa respecte principiul sau de baza al totalei separari de arena politica. Este ceea ce-i da “putere”!

Orez Banda

In spiritul separarii de care vorbeam mai sus, in aceasta saptamana voi prezenta o a doua reteta trimisa Principesei Mostenitoare de MS regele bulgarilor. Dupa cum arata si Principesa in cartea sa, arròs a banda inseamna “orezul separat”.

Am inceput prepararea acestei retete prin pregatirea unui consommé de peste [Sunt constient ca la noi, din obisnuinta sau comoditate, se gateste mai mult cu apa, dar avantajele de gust ale unui consommé facut in casa sunt infinite, dupa cum am precizat si in alte postari, mai ales atunci cand se pregateste orezul (risotto).]: am fiert un peste intreg (curatat de maruntaie) in apa cu sare, pana cand carnea era patrunsa si cadea de pe oase. In mod normal este indicat, si foarte pragmatic, sa folositi capete si cozi de peste pentru prepararea consommé-ului, insa eu am o totala aversiune fata de curatarea pestelui de solzi etc., astfel ca pentru restul retetei am luat peste curatat si filetat J.

Aceasta reteta tipic andaluza (regle bulgarilor a trait in exil in Spania si este casatorit cu o membra a aristocratiei iberice) presupune si pregatirea unui fel salsa, numita salmoretta. Aceasta se obtine prin zdrobirea si amestecarea impreuna a unei rosii coapte (decojite si fara samburi) cu usturoi, patrunjel proaspat, otet, boabe de piper si sare. Am pus acest amestec la fiert impreuna cu un polonic de consommé de peste.

Intr-o tigaie mare, am pus niste ulei la inclazit, la care am adaugat o ceapa alba, taiata marunt.  Dupa ce ceapa a devenit transparenta, am adaugat pestele [am folosit pentru aceasta reteta 6 filé-uri de peste proaspat, fara grasime], am sarat, am adaugat boabe de piper negru, foi de dafin, salmoretta obtinuta mai sus, dupa care am pus destul consommé incat pestele sa fie complet acoperit. Am lasat la foc mediu pana carnea a fost patrunsa, fara a se sfarama.

Separat, am zdrobit un catel de usturoi, o rosie cruda, decojita, sare, sofran si boia, dupa care am diluat amestecul cu consommé, ca si in casul salmorettei, amestecand pana la omogenizare.

Intr-o cratita am incalzit niste ulei, in care am calit doi ardei iuti, pana s-au inmuiat. Am adaugat orez (aprox. 6 portii) si l-am calit pana bobul a devenit translucent, dupa care am incorporat sosul cu sofran de mai sus, adauganad treptat restul de consommé de peste. Am tinut orezul la foc mediu, dupa care l-am introdus la cuptor, pana cand bobul s-a patruns in totalitate.

Am servit pestele si orezul a banda. Este o binevenita alternativa iberica la obisnuintele noastre culinare balcanice!

Reteta detaliata se afla in “Cartea regala de bucate”, Ed. Curtea Veche, Bucuresti 2010, pag. 134-5.

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The week that has passed since my last post has been full of exceptional events. I had the pleasure of meeting, for the first time, HRH Crown Princess Margarita, who was in Cluj to promote her latest book, “Carte regala de bucate”. It was a very special and moving moment for me and I am sure that it will stay with me for the rest of my life. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my sister-in-law, Lorena Moldovan, who created a wonderful flower arrangement in the Princess’ honour. 

“Cartea regala de bucate” is very special to me. Besides the original idea, what impressed me the most about this book is the Princess’ gesture of opening the doors of her home and inviting the reader in to see the elegant world of royalty and its hospitality tradition. But the environment is not solely formal, as the reader is allowed to meet the family in its privacy, is introduced to relatives and family friends, to little domestic rituals and also recollections from the past or events that were more or less formal. Of course that the recipes are important as well and they say a lot about the people that sent them to our Princess, but what matters the most, in my opinion, is the feeling of a “shared experience”.

This book is like a modern museum: it is informative, even educative, engaging, but also interactive! We all remember the school-organized visits to the history museum back in the day… every object encased in glass or locked up in pieces of massive furniture… that’s not the case in “Cartea regala de bucate”! In this “museum” the visitor has the opportunity to meet the main characters, to take part in the important events and even taste the food! It is an unprecedented openness for the Royal Family, an openness that is abreast with the times.    

This last volume written by the Princess also has the quality of being of potential interest to a wide segment of readers: one really doesn’t have to be a glutton or a chef to enjoy this book, nor does one necessarily have to be into history or a supporter of monarchy in order to enjoy “Cartea regala de bucate”.

This is no regular recipe book, but a unique experience that I recommend to everyone!

Going back to my own experience, I can say that this exquisite Royal Cookbook was the reason for my starting this blog, which gives me a lot of pleasure and is the source of great satisfaction, another reason for me to thank HRH the Crown Princess!

Last, but not least, I would like to thank HRH Prince Radu from the bottom of my heart for his great support, which means more to me than I could ever express in words. Among other things, I respect a great deal HRH’s oratorical and writing skills, which makes his appreciation of my work even more relevant and precious to me!

I also send my thanks to those who choose to read my blog, and hope that reading these lines gives them as much pleasure as writing them gives me.

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Last week I have shown the family ties that exist between HM king Simeon II of the Bulgarians and the Romanian Royal Family. In today’s post I would like to write about the monarch’s activity after his return to his native Bulgaria, specifically, his political activity.

To begin with, it is important to mention that Simeon of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or Simeon Sakskoburggotski, as he is called by his fellow countrymen, has never formally renounced his rights to the Bulgarian crown. His return to Eastern Europe, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, brought him into contact with the post-Communist realities that are very familiar to us Romanians: a people that was traumatized and vulnerable, a backwards economy that was highly dysfunctional, corruption, poverty, confusion and fear – an uprooted society characterized by a total lack of efficiency.

Having lived the majority of his life in the West and having had the advantage of an education in a democratic context, Simeon of Bulgaria felt the need to get involved in his country’s reconstruction in the hope of offering it a stable, democratic future, compatible with Western values. It was an admirable project, but personally I cannot agree completely with the methods used.

The former Bulgarian monarch established a political party at the beginning of the new century, took part in the general elections, won them and became his country’s prime minister, which, after all, is no small accomplishment. I will not go into the details of his government, nor will I try to evaluate his administration; my analysis will be done from the perspective of the constitutional monarchy’s principles.

From this perspective, for sure, Simeon of Bulgaria has reduced the chances of a restoration of the monarchy in Bulgaria to zero by undermining the very basic principle of constitutional monarchy, which refers to the strict political neutrality of the monarch, as well as that of his/her family. In the United Kingdom, to offer just one example, no member of the Royal Family, much less the Queen, would ever dream of voting in the general elections. Their citizenship guarantees their democratic right to go to the ballot just as any other citizen, but their rank and tradition in general requires that they are strictly impartial when it comes to politics.

We could call king Simeon a pragmatic, even though his attempt is contrary to the principles of constitutional monarchy. His desire to help can be attributed to his practical nature and his Western education, which encourages the participation and involvement of civil society (something that we really lack!).

The question remains: is it more advisable to strictly abide by a principle or to adopt a pragmatic attitude and accept the consequences? It is very likely that the majority will be in favour of the option that is advantageous to most, which would be advisable and true, if only we could predict the future…

If the Simeon of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha administration had been a huge success which had reformed the Bulgarian society from its core, had transformed the economy into an efficient one that was competitive on the world stage, would have eradicated corruption and organized crime and would have raised the standard of living of the average Bulgarian citizen, while also changing his/her mentality, then I believe that we would all be rushing to promote this model left and right!

Realistically, I consider that monarchy should respect the basic principle of a total separation from politics. It is what gives constitutional monarchy its “power”!

Arròs a Banda

Continuing in the same spirit of “separation”, this week I will try a new recipe that was sent to the Crown Princess by HM the King of Bulgaria. As the Crown Princess shows in her book, arròs a banda means to serve the rice separately.

I started by preparing a fish consommé [I know that mostly because of time constraints or indolence we cook with water, but a home-made consommé will bring any dish to a whole different level of quality and its advantages are huge, especially when preparing rice (risotto)]: I boiled a whole fish (cleaned of its insides) in water and salt until the meat was entirely cooked and was falling off the bones. Normally one would use the heads and tails of the fish for the consommé, but I have to admit that I have a real aversion for cleaning fish and for that reason I bought fish filet for the rest of this recipe.

This typical Andaluz recipe (the King of the Bulgarians has lived in exile in Spain and is married to a member of the Iberian aristocracy) requires a special sort of salsa, which is called salmoretta. Salmoretta is obtained by crushing and mixing together roasted tomatoes (peeled and seeded) with garlic, fresh parsley, vinegar, pepper corns and salt. I put this mixture to boil together with a ladel of fish consommé.

In a large skillet, I heated some oil and sautéed a finely chopped onion. Once the onion became translucent, I added the fish [for this recipe I used 6 pieces of fish filet with no fat], I put salt to taste, black pepper corns, bay leaves, the salmoretta and I added consommé until the fish was completely covered. I left everything over medium heat until the fish meat was cooked through without falling apart.

Separately I crushed a clove of garlic, a peeled tomato, salt, saffron and paprika and mixed everything up with consommé, just as I did with the salmoretta.

In a large pan I heated up some oil and sautéed two hot peppers until they became soft. On top of the peppers I added rice (enough for 6 people) and mixed everything together until the grain of rice became somewhat translucent. I put the above saffron sauce in the rice and added fish consommé, ladle by ladle. I cooked the rice over medium heat, after which I put it in the oven until it was cooked through.

I served the fish and rice a banda. It is a welcomed Iberian diversion from our Balkan culinary habits!

The detailed recipe can be found in “Cartea regala de bucate”, Ed. Curtea Veche, Bucuresti 2010, pag. 134-5.