It was awesome to be a part of the Szabo family for a day - making a veggie spread that is a small piece of Romanian culture. Andre, Marianna, and Dani Szabo were very hospitable in their efforts to include us in the process, even though we understood them mainly through hand gestures and translation. Yet, work seems to be something that is universal - and it was a joy to work along-side and learn from this family.

 

Apparently, Zacusca is made and canned in the fall primarily so that it may be eaten in the winter, when fresh vegetables are scarce. It was truly an honor to be an active part in the Zacusca making processes, because it gives us a window into the greater Romanian tradition and heritage that has made and eaten Zacusca for centuries.

 

Matt Grey was kind enough to prepare a recipe/instructions for anyone willing and/or brave enough to create the infamous Zacusca. Here it is:

Zacusca Recipe

**For 1 Portion – 15 to 18 400 gram jars of Zacusca**

Ingredients:

• 5 Kg Eggplant
• 3 Kg Red Pepper (Kapia [long red pepper])
• 2 Kg Onion (white)
• 1 Kg Tomato Juice -OR- 200 g Tomato Paste
• 1.5 Kg Vegetable Oil (sunflower oil)
• 2-3 Bay Leaves
• 1 Packet of conservant
• Salt and Pepper to taste (rock salt is preferred)

Steps/Preparation:

1. Peel and slice all onions on wooden cutting board.
   • Peel, place in water, then slice on wooden board and place in large pot.
   • Note: Since cooking peppers takes longer, begin step 2 before step 1 (order of steps is flexible depending on number of participants and group circumstances).
2. Blacken/burn all red peppers over wood fire and place in basin covered by damp cloth, until ready for step 3.
3. Using a large basin of water, remove stem, seeds, and blackened skin from burnt red peppers, revealing cooked red skin. Place cleaned red skin in a large pot/basin.
4. Once all red peppers are cooked, start to cook eggplant over wood fire. Rotate once a side is brown and the skin peels to reveal brown underneath. Each side takes approximately a half hour – cook time depends on fire. Eggplant skin will turn from Black/purple to brown. Skin will crack, and each eggplant will turn from hard to soft.
5. Cook all onions in 1 Kg vegetable oil in large pot on stove. Cook time is 30 min to 1 hour. Onions are done once they are very soft. Stir with wooden spoon. Once cooked, strain (but do not dispose) vegetable oil out of onions, and let onions cool.
6. Once eggplants have cooked and cooled, proceed to remove blackened skin and dispose of skin in a bucket. Place all remaining mushy inner eggplant (non skin/stem) in a large basin.
7. Note: remove stem after all the skin has been peeled off in order to keep inner eggplant integrity.
8. Have a basin of water nearby to continually rinse black skin off hands.
9. Using a hand-turned meat grinder/mill/food processor, grind all cleaned red peppers, cooled (cooked) onions, and eggplant and combine in a very large basin. Do not stir until all onions, peppers and eggplant has been ground.
10. Add tomato paste -OR- tomato juice to ground vegetables
11. Add strained vegetable oil (from onions) back into ground vegetables and tomato paste.
12. Mix using a large wooden spoon
13. Continually check taste through remaining mixing
14. Mix in ground black pepper and rock salt to taste (quite a bit for 1 portion)
15. Mix in remaining .5 Kg of unused vegetable oil
16. Mix in 1 packet of conservant
17. Put mix in large cooking pot
18. Put 3 bay leaves on top of the pot contents. Leave pot uncovered.
19. Cook at a hot temperature for 2 hours. Stir every 30 minutes. Be sure to check Zacusca – cooking may not take 2 hours
20. When cooking is finished, place Zacusca in glass jars.