Back when I was about 7 and my sister, Kathie, was about 4, we went to our grandparents' place in Hamilton for a week. During that time, our very Scottish Granny invited her friend, Rosie, over for a visit. Rosie was a Romanian immigrant and we had heard many stories about her over the years. But this was to be the first and only time I ever met her.
We were told that Rosie wanted to show us how to make a famous Romanian dessert which she called 'pie by the mile'. The dish had earned such a title because it involved the laborious rolling out of pastry into a very large and extremely thin sheet. (Thin enough to read a newspaper through it, apparently.) Can you imagine how excited we were? Granny's European friend letting us help her make a fancy pie with such a great name? We were hopping up and down with the very thought of it.
We were so excited, in fact, that we just couldn't wait for her to arrive and we wanted to go down to the street to wait for her. Mind you, our grandparents lived in an apartment above a dry cleaners on a very busy downtown city street and we were small town kids, but we were keen to do it. Amazingly, Granny let us go out, and she would peer down from the window every few minutes to check on us.
Well, we watched and watched and watched every woman walking down the street to try to catch a glimpse of Rosie the Romanian. This was extremely challenging because we had no idea what she looked like. So, here we were, two excited little girls, standing on the edge of the sidewalk, getting jostled by the crowd, on a mission to greet this exotic European woman.
All of a sudden, out of the blue, a rather largish, brusque woman walked up to us with a very stern scowl and a raised finger, shouting, "Get away from those filthy garbage cans, you little street urchins!!" Then, suddenly, she disappeared into the crowd. Of course, we were horrified to have been spoken to in this way, so we ran as quickly as possible back to the stairs and bolted right up them to tell Granny all about it. (And to ask her what 'urchins' were, I imagine.) Our little hearts were beating very fast but, honestly, they nearly stopped when we burst through the apartment door and saw Granny chatting away with that horrible woman. It was shocking and unbelievable to us that this 'nasty old witch' was Granny's friend! How could we tell Granny now?
Well, Rosie surely wasn't about to tell her either! In fact, she glared at us at regular intervals to ensure our silence. And so it was that our exciting adventure in European pastry making ended up becoming an afternoon filled with liberal helpings of nervous tension, coupled with a generous portion of fear. I didn't want any part of it. I can clearly recall eating only the most minimal piece of the much ballyhooed 'pie by the mile' and even that tasted bitter on my tongue. But it's a dish I've never forgotten!
Romanian 'Cere du Mere', or 'Apple Strudel', or (for nostalgia's sake), 'Pie by the Mile'
Fortunately, you won't have to suffer through the tedious process of rolling out pastry to a paper-thin consistency because phyllo pastry is easily available and easy to use. Trust me, you'll feel yourself transforming into a European pastry chef. Romanian, or otherwise.
Please try the recipe below and enchant your family, friends, and coworkers. They all need a treat!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/apple-strudel-recipe/index.html
Recipe courtesy Robert Bleifer. Photo (above) and recipe description courtesy of Sara Moulton.
For an endless supply of amazing recipes, tips, and tantalizing menu ideas, please check out:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
Cheers!
Diane
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