Recipe: Romanian martyrs soup

This is a traditional Romanian dessert for Martyrs Day, March 9th (mucenici means martyrs). Most of the proportions of the "soup" can be altered to your personal taste, so no specific quantities are given except for the pasta. Originally this celebratory dish was made with honey, the Romanians being renowned throughout Europe for the high quality of the honey their bees produced. When honey -- like many other things :-( -- became scarce during the dark days of Ceaucescu, sugar was substituted. Use whatever sweetener you prefer; it is very good with Romanian beet sugar, which is minimally processed and imparts a slightly fruity flavour. You can either make your own pasta or buy small rings and other shapes, but it's far tastier and more fun to make your own. Double, triple, or otherwise multiply the amounts called for to make larger quantities -- I think you will find that no matter how much you make it will disappear very quickly!

Mucenici (Romanian martyrs soup -- pronounced MOO-cheh-neech)
About 4 servings

1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
-or - purchased small pasta shapes, such as rings (ditalini) and bowties (farfalle)
additional water for soup
sweetener of choice, including at least part granulated (dry) sweetener -- sugar, Sucanat, brown sugar, etc.
walnuts
cinnamon sticks
pinch of lemon or orange zest, optional
ground cinnamon or cinnamon sugar

Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Slowly mix in the water until the dough is just stiff enough to knead. (Use only as much water as necessary to make an elastic dough; quantity will depend on how dry the flour and the air in the room are.) Knead the dough for ten minutes, flouring hands as necessary. Form into a ball, cover, and let stand at room temperature for one hour. On a floured surface, roll the dough into long, thin (about 1/4 inch or .6 cm) ropes. Cut into a length that can just wrap around your finger. Pinch the edges together to form a ring. Also make a few figure 8's by cutting a piece of dough twice as long as for the ring, making a larger ring, and twisting the middle to form an 8. (The figure 8's are for luck!) Flour hands and work surface as needed. As you finish forming each ring or 8, place it on a flour-covered dish or a piece of waxed paper. Let dry for about ten minutes, then turn over and let other side dry for about ten more minutes. Meanwhile you'll mix up the soup as follows...

Fill a large, heavy pot large or Dutch oven to 3/4 full with water. Add sweetener to taste, along with one or more cinnamon sticks. You can also add some lemon or orange zest (be sure to avoid using the white part, which will make it bitter). Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to make sure the sweetener is completely dissolved. Remove any citrus zest pieces.

Lower the heat to medium, and drop the pasta shapes into the sweetened liquid. After a minute, stir gently to be sure the pastas don't stick together. Taste-test the pastas after about three minutes; cook only until tender. (You can also do this in several batches, removing the cooked pastas and adding more, if you have more than the pot can accommodate.) If using homemade pastas, they will normally be finished cooking once all the pastas have floated to or near the top of the water. Adjust cooking time if using purchased pasta. When all the pastas have been cooked, remove pot from the heat, and add back any pastas you've removed. Stir to be sure none are sticking. Then...

In a blender or food processor, grind walnuts with sugar and ground cinnamon (or combination cinnamon sugar). You can also chop the walnuts finely by hand and mix with cinnamon and sugar in a bowl. The sweetness should be to your taste, but as a general guideline try one cup walnuts to 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder.

Vary proportions to taste. Stir the ground walnut mixture into the soup pot and stir well. Allow to rest at stovetop for about ten minutes, then transfer to a bowl or plastic container and place in the refrigerator until just cool. Serve in bowls -- with or without a piece of cinnamon in each -- and watch it disappear!