Andorra, part deux

So now that Andorra has fixed their website, here is the recipe for Trinxat.

Trinxat

Green Cabbage

Potatoes, chunked

Garlic

Bacon

Oil

Salt

Boil the cabbage for 20 minutes.  When cooked, add the potatoes.  Separately, fry some garlic cloves in the oil.  When done, remove garlic and add bacon.  Drain the vegetables well, and place in bowl.  Add garlic and oil.  With a slotted spoon, stir vegetables until well mixed.  Serve on a plate with bacon.

Andorra

Andorra is a small, landlocked country nestled between Spain and France in Europe.  The cuisine is primarily Catalan (Spanish), with some French and Italian influences, according to Recipes Wiki.  For our Andorran meal, we decided to go with a combination of two dishes - Andorran River Trout, as well as Tinxat which, we hope, will compliment each other quite nicely.  Both of these recipes come straight off the Andorran tourism website. 

Andorran River Trout

River Trout, 1 large (12-16")

Flour

2 thick ham slices

Lard or oil (we use Olive Oil)

Salt 

Pepper

Season the trout and roll in the flour.  Fry in a hot frying pan with the oil or lard.  Once fried, remove to a plate.  Fry ham slightly in oil, then place ham over trout, and pour oil over trout and ham.

Hmm...I will have to include the recipe for Tinxat in the next entry, as for some reason, Andorra's tourism website went down.  Maybe they suspected?  A giant government conspiracy?  Who knows?

Dinner from the Desert

So last week's (yes, I am late posting this!) meal was from Algeria- Algerian Chicken with Couscous.  Frankly, I wondered just how this would taste, as turnips are not exactly on my list of favorite vegetables.  In addition, there were a LOT (I mean...A LOT!!!!) of vegetables in the dish that we had chosen.  So much, in fact, that I did not even bother looking for a side dish, as we certainly would ingest at least one serving of fruits and vegetables from this dish.  Actually, looking at the recipe again, I was thoroughly convinced we would receive one serving of vegetables per spoonful.  I'm exaggerating, of course, but only slightly.

After re-examining the recipe prior to cooking, one thing jumped out.  This dish would require a bit of preparation before hand.  Namely, I spent about 20 minutes chopping and slicing my way through the onion, pepper, cauliflower, rutabaga (No turnips in season, so we settled on a straight up swap), chicken, and so on.  I of course separated it into bowls, depending on when it would be required in the recipe:

Next came the actual cooking.  Frankly, I was not expecting much.  I had concerns as to how the mixture of cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon would taste.  The answers came shortly after I started cooking, when I added said spices into the mixture.  WOW!  The smell wafting up from the frying pan was just short of heaven.  The cumin and cinnamon combined into a smell that set off the ole dinner bell in the temporal lobe of my brain.

The result?  Well, judge for yourself:

All I can say for sure is that the combination of spices, chicken, couscous, and vegetables provides an amazing array of flavors and textures that satisfied two very skeptical palettes.  This dish is definitely on our "to do" list again.

One word of caution- the recipe states that this meal serves 4.  I think they are mistaken, unless all 4 individuals are NFL linemen, and they bring their 4 brothers.  It is an understatement to say this meal makes a lot.

Next Up: Andorra

Land of the Sahara...can someone start playing "Kashmir" for me?

Ok, so Kashmir was written about southern Morocco not Algeria.  Up this week: Algeria.  Land of the Saharan Desert.  Algerian cuisine revolves around the national dish, couscous, which was first developed by Berbers during the dawn of the Roman Empire, roughly 2,100 years ago.  Since then, Algerian cuisine has been influenced by Muslim Arabs, Spaniards, Italians, Turkish Ottomans, and the French, and has evolved into a unique cuisine all of its own.  The choice for our dish this week was somewhat simple.  Obviously, it would have a grain base of couscous, and since chicken is the most prevalent meat source in Algeria, we decided on Algerian Chicken Couscous, with a little help from the internet:

 Algerian Chicken Couscous

2 TB Olive Oil

1 medium onion - chopped

2 cloves of garlic - minced

1 TB cumin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 can diced tomatoes

2 medium carrots - chopped

2 stalks celery - chopped

1 cup cauliflower - chopped

1 medium red bell pepper

1 medium turnip

1 cup chicken broth

1 pound of chicken breast - cut into strips

1 medium zucchini - dials

1 cup water

1 cup whole wheat couscous

3 TB dried parsley

Saute garlic and onion in Olive Oil.  Stir in seasonings.  Add tomatoes, carrots, celery, cauliflower, pepper, turnip, parsley, water and broth.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add chicken and zucchini, and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook couscous as directed on package (more on this later) and stir into the mixture.  

We'll see how this one turns out tonight!

Can you overdose on Feta Cheese and survive?

We had a small change of plans in our Albanian meal last night.  Well, actually, several changes.  First, we moved the meal from Friday night to Saturday night, so that our friends Wayne and Peg could join us.  Wayne's family is originally from Greece, and I thought it would be a nice touch to have him sit down for the Albanian meal with us, since Albanian cuisine is so heavily influenced by the Greek.  Secondly, Peg is essentially a vegetarian, so that meant the chicken with walnuts was out.  So we switched to the Albanian version of Spanakopita, which is Greek Spinach Pie.  Here is the recipe:

Spinach Pie (Byrek me spinaq)

Ingredients:

1 cup oil, preferably olive oil
1 1/2 packets (or about 30) pastry leaves (Filo Dough)
1 1/2 pounds spinach, chopped
1 cup diced feta cheese
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 eggs
salt, half teaspoon
(NOTE: A medium-sized, round baking pan is recommended because it's more authentic but any medium-sized baking pan will do).

Cooking Instructions:

Brush the baking pan with some of the oil, and start laying the pastry leaves inside. First, lay two leaves, sprinkle or brush with oil, then lay two other leaves, and repeat the procedure until half of the leaves are laid. Make sure that they cover the pan by hanging them about one inch over the edges of the pan.
Sprinkle spinach with salt, then mix well by hand. Add the feta cheese, oil, onions, eggs and salt, and spread this mixture over the already laid pastry leaves. Finish by covering the spinach with the rest of the pastry leaves repeating the first-half procedure and then roll the hanging edges of the bottom leaves over the pie (think of a pizza crust), sprinkle top with oil and bake moderately at 350F for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve hot, accompanied with buttermilk, or beaten yogurt, thinned down in cold water or with chilled stewed prunes.


We coupled this with the Vegetable dish we were originally planning on.  Many, many thanks go out to Marian, who actually prepared the meal, as I had a guiding engagement that took me away for most of the afternoon.  In the words of a Maine redneck, "She dun good".  Unfortunately, there are no pictures this week, as it looked too good to wait...


So how was it?  The vegetable dish was fanastic!  We used bell pepper, potato, and summer squash for the vegetables, and it was a wonderful variety of flavor in one dish.  In fact, Wayne had four helpings of this, and the rest of us were convinced that he would soon grab the pot and lick it out.  The Spinach Pie received mixed reviews.  Wayne and Peg loved it, Wayne giving the entire meal a "9.75" out of a possible "10".  Both Marian and I felt that the feta cheese was a bit too much.  It was hard to swallow several chunks of Feta at once.  I think that if we make this dish again, we might decide to shred the Feta instead of dicing it as the recipe dictates.


Next up: Algeria.  Headed for some Saharan dishes!

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Albania, Albania...Where you been so long?

Ok, so my modified lyrics to Eric Clapton's Alberta do not really work.  It was worth a try though.  As previously stated at the end of the last blog entry, this week we are looking at Albanian cuisine.  My friend Janis, upon hearing that this week we were exploring Albania via food, expressed her skepticism.  Apparently, growing up, she was often told that if she didn't like the food on her plate, then it could be given to "the starving Albanians".  Obviously, times have changed a lot since then!  Albanian food is heavily influenced by Turkish, Italian, and Greek cuisine, and I am excited to try it out.  A fellow postcrosser named Alva, who hails from Albania, suggested this website as a great place to find traditional Albanian recipes.  After some deliberation between Marian and I, we have decided upon the following recipes to try:

 Gjellë me Arra (Chicken or Veal with Walnuts)

2 tablespoons flour
15 finely crushed shelled walnuts
2 beaten egg yokes
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 lb. sticks butter
2-3 lbs of Veal or Chicken meat cut up in 1" cubes

Cooking Instructions:

Place the meat or chicken in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until tender. Then remove the meat setting it aside in a dish while leaving the remaining juices in the saucepan. In another saucepan, add the flour and sauté over heat until it becomes light brown in color (do not overcook!) and add the half a stick of butter. Then, add the finely crushed walnuts, minced garlic clove, and the two egg yokes, stirring constantly. Add the juices from the other saucepan and sauté until all the ingredients thicken. Immediately remove from the heat to avoid solidifying the egg yolks. Then fold in either the meat or chicken. Pan fry the remaining half stick of butter until brown and pour over the four servings.

Turli perimesh (Main Dish of Vegetables)

2 lbs various vegetables (peppers, eggplant, okra, zucchini, potatoes, etc)
1/2 cup oil, divided
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup peeled chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt
Pepper

Cooking Instructions:

After cutting off inedible tips of vegetables, wash and slice them into 1-inch squares. Sauté vegetables in half of the oil and remove them from the frying pan. Sauté onion and tomatoes in the remaining oil, and season with parsley, salt, and pepper. Put everything in a stock pot with a cup of water, cover tightly, and simmer until almost all moisture has cooked away. Serve hot, accompanied by steak, meatballs, or any other main dish.

Of course, according to Alva, no Albanian meal is finished without Baklava...so we will probably have some of that as well :).  Both dishes seem to be a bit heavy on the fat (a whole stick of butter in the first!), so hopefully this is not a heart-attack waiting to happen.  Stay tuned!

hot Afghani food on a chilly wet Maine night...

Wow.  Yup, that is how I begin this entry.  Wow.  I will admit that I had some preconceived notions about Afghani food before starting this project.  I pictured fermented goat's milk, goat cheese, fermented meat, and that's about it.  Oh yeah, and some spice as well.  Marian and I prepared Mantis and Braised Leeks and Rice as discussed in the last entry for supper, and um, wow.  Yeah, I am speechless....mark it on your calendar, as it may be the last time.

We found the trickiest part of the preparation of the meal to be in two places.  One was preparing the mantis, folding the dough over the filling, and sealing it.  The other tricky part was fully washing the leeks to cleanse them of all sand and dirt.  Follow the recipes carefully in both areas.  Here is a picture of the cleaned and split leeks and a prepared manti, ready for cooking.

The braised leeks were a snap to prepare, other than washing the leeks.  I was somewhat skeptical that the small amount of rice would absorb the relatively large amount of water and olive oil in the recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the water was absorbed.  Here's a picture of the Braised leeks in process:

The other little tidbit of advice that we would add to the recipes, would be to slide the mantis into the stock once they are fully cooked, in order to keep them warm while cooking the rest of the meal.  Here is a picture of the meal, as served:

So how did it taste?  That is the million dollar question, isn't it?  Well, here is where the "wow" comes in.  I was very surprised by the cornucopia of flavors in what seemed like a very plain and simple meal.  The manti filling and dough were very good by themselves, but when combined with the yogurt and then dipped in the stock, the flavor exploded in your mouth.  The yogurt and the stock compliment each other very well.  The Braised Leeks and rice were also very, very good.  The leeks softened during the cooking process, and browned slightly.  Add the carrots, olive oil, and rice, and this was a great side dish for the mantis.  Both Marian and I give this meal two thumbs up!

Next up: Albania.  Details forthcoming in the next couple of days.

Recipes of the week...

So this week, as previously stated, we are cooking traditional foodstuffs from Afghanistan.  We did some searching, and settled on cooking lamb Mantis as a main course.  Mantis are much like Chinese pot stickers, (dumplings), but Afghans cook them with broth and yogurt.  We are planning on serving these with braised leeks and rice.  My trepidation with this recipe was in the lamb.  It is very hard to find real lamb here in the US, as a great deal of farmers raise mutton, and call it lamb.  But thanks to our friend Amy, we managed to find real lamb.  Kudos to her!  Both of the recipes for this week do come out of a cookbook, The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman.  Unfortunately, we had to resort to the ol' cookbooks, as we have yet to make any friends in Afghanistan. 

Mantis

1.5 cups yogurt

1pound boneless lean lamb

salt and black pepper to taste

1 medium onion

6 cups stock

Vareniki wrappers (made from another recipe, you can substitute store bought dumpling wrappers)

2 eggs lightly beaten 

minced fresh scallion (green onions)

1. Drain the yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer while you prepare the dumplings.  Combine the lamb, salt, pepper, and onion in a food processor and pulse to chop coarsely; be careful not to over-process.  Set a large pot of water to boil and add salt (if you have a large steamer, you can use that).  In a separate pot, warm the stock.  

2. Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of the filling in the center of a wrapper, then brush the edges of the wrapper with the egg.  If you have circles (for dumpling wrappers), form half-moons; if you have squares, form triangles.  Press the seam tightly to seal; it's best if no air is trapped between filling and wrapper.  Set on a lightly floured plate or wax paper.  

3. Boil the dumplings without crowding-you may have to do this in batches-stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 10 minutes.  As they finish cooking, transfer them to the hot broth.  Just before serving, taste and adjust the broth's seasoning.  Serve the manti in a bowl, with broth, garnished with some yogurt and scallion.

 

Braised Leeks with Olive Oil and Rice

4 large leeks, about 2 pounds

1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 small carrots

salt and black pepper to taste

1/4 cup white long grain rice

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1. Trim the hard green parts from the leeks; split in half from about an inch below the root end (leave this intact for now) to the leafy end.  Carefully wash between all the layers, removing all traces of sand.  Cut off the root end and cut the leeks into 4 inch sections.

2. Put all but a tablespoon of the oil in a skillet with a lid or a saucepan large enough to hold the leeks in one layer.  Turn the heat to medium.  When the oil is hot, add the leeks and carrots, along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and cook for about 25 minutes, turning occasionally, until the leeks are tender.  Your goal is not to brown the leeks, but to soften them; if they brown a little, however, that's fine.

3. Add the rice and 1.5 cups of water, cover, and adjust the heat so the mixture simmers.  Cook for about 30 minutes, or until the water is absorbed; the mixture should be moist but not soupy.  Serve hot, at room temperature, or cold.  Just before serving, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice.

Stay tuned for the results after we cook tomorrow night!

The International Community Comes To Dinner...

Hello, my name is Dustin.  My wife's name is Marian.  We are cooking addicts.  No, scratch that.  What is beyond addict?  Anyway, I am digressing.  My wife and I have been cooking together for 5 awesome years, and we have managed to acquire quite a collection of cookbooks.  We often flip through our cookbooks Sunday evening, planning our meals for the week.  Despite having a recipe collection that would stretch from Maine to DC, if set down side by side, we have fallen into a cooking rut over the past few months.  Favored recipes have turned dull and boring.  Cooking has become a chore, not the pleasure it should be.

So what could we do?  Well, we examined the situation over (aptly enough) dinner one night.  I made the suggestion that perhaps we could cook one meal from each country in the world as a way to "spice" things up.  At first, I was not serious, but one look at Marian's face told me that I might have hit upon something.  So we started to explore the idea a bit more.  We took a look online, and discovered that others had already embarked on this quest.  So much for being the first :).  What we had also discovered was that many of the "international" recipes that we had, were actually Americanized versions of the original.  If we were going to do this, we wanted to do it right.  That left us trying to find a collection of recipes for our project.  Where to turn?

Recently, I embarked on a new hobby - collecting postcards through the postcrossing project.  Marian and I spoke a bit more on the subject, and Marian suggested that we collect recipes from the international community, and use those to prepare meals from each country.  So we sent out the word- through postcrossing, through our international friends, and other avenues: "Calling all cooks- send us your recipes!".  There is no more authentic source for a country's cuisine than someone who was born and raised in that country.  We have been collecting recipes for a couple of weeks, and we are ready to start cooking!

First up, the first country in alphabetical order- Afghanistan.  We will be cooking this meal on Saturday, but I will post the recipes we will be using a little later this week.  Stay tuned for the recipes, as well as our post-meal critiques.