“What comes to your mind when you think of the word Transylvania, if you ponder it at all? What comes to my mind are mountains of savage beauty, ancient castles . . . " ~ Elizabeth Koslova

 

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Back when we were in Florida this past winter, I came across a full menu for a Transylvanian dinner party. On a goof, I e-mailed my BITE partners and suggested that whichever one of us had October as their month to host, being the month of Halloween, perhaps choosing Transylvania would be fun.  October turns out to be Chris's month to host, and being game, she has indeed chosen Transylvania as our theme!

This go-round, I was in charge of dessert.  The first recipe that came up whenever I searched for Transylvanian desserts was chimney cakes, but since this involved wrapping a yeast dough around a wooden dowel, which is then rotated in a special oven (or over burning coals) I decided that this was a bit too authentic for me to try.  Next there was the apricot cake, which seemed a pretty good bet, aside from the fact that I cannot get fresh apricots locally this time of year.  So - a bit more searching led me to a chocolate/walnut strudel, (however, I decided to use phyllo dough rather than puff pastry - and I used semi-sweet chocolate chips rather than the directions in the recipe) and this is what I decided to go with.

Tierney prepared our Transylvanian appetizers:  Spinach and Cheese Strudel (recipe at bottom of link) and Mititei (Grilled Sausages).

~a wonderful combination of creamy, tangy and crispy~

~sweet and spicy with a real bite~

Next was Ellen's side-dish of Mămăligă Cu Smăntănă (Polenta with Sour Cream) 

~just wonderful with a dollop of sour cream - and I added some of the sauce from the chicken to it - wonderful~

And then on to Chris's entree - Csirkepaprikás (Chicken with Paprika).

~fall off the bone goodness in a luscious vegetable sauce~

Closing out our wonderful meal was my chocolate/walnut strudel (with liberties taken with the recipe provided).

~I admit to not having any of this with dinner, I was just too full - however I just finished the last piece for breakfast, running my finger around the plate to get the last of the crispy outside.  I'm not much of a sweets person, but would make this (and eat it) again - it was yummy~

Chris provided a fall festive tables-cape, complete with take-home scented candles and little pumpkins, which we each decorated while chatting over dinner.

Another lovely evening - it doesn't get much better than this!  Next month, as we head into Thanksgiving, our theme will be Native American foods!!