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@aroundtheworldin52meals
Taking a Break
I’m taking a break from this blog…. probably for the summer. I don’t find it too much work to do, as I would be cooking for the family anyway, and I’ve really enjoyed learning about different countries. The problem is that I want to cook more healthily, and it’s difficult to fit that in when you are hurtling around the cuisines of the world.
Week 19: Mexico: Lentil and Plantain Soup, Pork Carnitas with Corn Tortillas, Chocolate Sorbet The pork carnitas were a big hit with the kids. You cook the pork at 130ºC for four hours, with sliced oranges, bay leaves, peppercorns and Coke. Obviously it is meant to be full fat Coke, but I only had diet so I added some demerara sugar. The chocolate sorbet is vegan but you wouldn't believe it if you tasted it. It is dark chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar and water. Churned in an ice cream maker, it gets a silky smooth texture. A serving suggestion is to pour a shot of tequila over it. I suppose I should give it a go, in the interests of research.
Week 19: Mexico: Corn Tortillas, Tortilla Soup
Corn tortillas are made by mixing 250g harina de masa (maize flour) with up to 400ml water and a pinch of salt. It is amazing how much water this flour can absorb. You get a very satisfying play-doh like dough, which you roll out into tortillas between sheets of plastic, then fry. I did look at tortilla presses but they all had bad reviews.
Tortilla soup is made with onions, garlic, polenta, canned tomatoes, chipotle, chicken stock and oregano. It’s a lovely thick soup that you top with torn tortillas, avocado, feta, coriander and a little sour cream. Nigella does a Dallas version with cumin and celery salt that is also lovely. This was the first time I’ve made corn tortillas from scratch. It’s much cheaper than buying them and the tortillas are much more interesting to eat - with some parts crisp, some parts puffed, some parts chewy. You don’t get that from the vac-pac versions.
Week 19: Mexico: Poached Chicken in Almond Mole, Cucumber Agua Fresca, Mexican Wedding Cookies
I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I love to poach a chicken. The idea of boiling a chicken for 30-40 minutes then leaving it to slow cook in its own heat really appeals to me.
If you can master the technique of dry scorching, you have cracked the basis of mexican cooking. It’s not hard to crack, since the point is to burn your ingredients.
There are 24 ingredients in this dish, but most of the work is frying ingredients in sequence for a couple of minutes each, then whacking them in the processor. Special mention should go to the raisins - who would have thought to fry them -? They puff up in the heat to tiny caramel grapes. Once I was on the phone to my auntie, and I said I was cooking a chicken dish with 24 ingredients. She replied that she was doing a roast chicken - one ingredient.
Mexican wedding cookies are light walnut and orange shortbreads, rolled in icing sugar and sandwiched together with cajeta, a toffee made from goat’s milk that is like dulce de leche. I had some cajeta in the fridge, made during Peru week when I realised no-one in the family would go for quinoa in goat’s milk for breakfast. What was I thinking?
Week 19: Mexico: Mexican Crudites with Chilli Salt, Chorizo, Potato and Thyme Quesadillas
The salt dip for the crudites is made by grinding sea salt, sugar, lime zest, arbol chillies and cumin seeds. It had a very spicy kick.
Quesadillas are a staple in our house, quick to make and always a hit with kids. In this case you pre-cook the chorizo and potatoes, then toast them in a wrap with some cheese. A quicker version would be cheese, ham and spinach or frozen peas/sweetcorn.
Week 19: Mexico: Margaritas, Sesame and Pumpkin Seed Dip, Prawn Enchipotlada, Smoked Mackerel Tostadas
I do the cooking and my husband does the drinks, and he’s dangerously good at cocktails.
The pumpkin and sesame seed dip is unlike anything I’ve made before. Nutty, spicy and salty, it is very savoury and moreish. It and the prawns in chipotle are from Wahaca: Mexican Food at Home
Finally the mackerel tostadas. These can be knocked up very quickly if you use bought corn tortillas. I quickly fried the tortillas to make them puffed and crisp, then added salad, fresh tomato salsa and smoked mackerel. Then we settled down to watch The Walking Dead. Good night!
Week 19: Mexico: Spring and Summer Tacos, Pink Pickled Onions
I had a little chilli audit before starting this week… chipotle, arbol, habanero, picillo, jalapeño, red chillies, tiny little dried chillies I picked up in Spain years ago (they have lost their colour but not their spice), scotch bonnet, and some random massive pale green chillies I bought in the oriental store. In 1999 habanero chillies were in the Guinness Book of Records as the hottest chilli in the world. *worried face*
The tacos and onions are from Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers. Thomasina is the owner of the Wahaca chain of Mexican restaurants, and won Masterchef in 2005. I once spent a weekend cooking in her kitchen - here we are together. One of the people assisting her was a woman called Nikki, who time tested the recipes in Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. I told her my record was 36 minutes. She eyerolled with pity at my ineptitude.
I made both spring (mushroom) and summer (courgette and corn) tacos, since it is a beautiful sunny day in May. The red onions are pickled with scotch bonnet chilli in orange and lime juice. They last a couple of weeks in the fridge. I once left a jar of this in the fridge for far too long, and my husband said it was the worst thing he had ever smelled. Oops!
Week 18: Czech Republic: Meatloaf, Koláče
This week I mostly cooked from Czech and Slovak Food and Cooking. I very much enjoyed it. I have a romantic soft spot for the Czech Republic, fuelled by Milan Kundera novels and imaginings of its Bohemian past.
Aged 19 I was abandoned in Brno by my hitchhiking partner. I don’t know what he was expecting from me, but let’s just say it didn’t work out. I decided it wasn’t safe to hitchhike alone, so I got the bus back to Prague, thinking if worst came to worst I could ask the British Embassy to post me home. I was so nervous about missing this bus, I arrived three hours early. I ended up sitting by the roadside with the bus driver. We talked for over an hour, and the only word we had in common was “football”. He got me to sit in the front seat of the bus, where a tour guide would sit. He was very nice, but when he tried to get me to stay with him on arrival in Prague, I worried that I was jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, so I shook his hand firmly, and thanked him, and kept saying that international word, “hotel”. I stayed overnight in a hostel, on a camp bed, in a mirrored former ballet studio, in a chandeliered mansion. The next day I got the bus home to London. The ticket cost £45. The journey lasted 36 hours. I have a varicose vein on my leg to prove it.
Anyway, meatloaf. This was demolished by the children, despite my efforts to make it even less appetising with a tomato sauce (tomatoes are not their favourite). The koláče are sweet breads with plum jam. A bit like a heathier version of a doughnut. They managed three each. I think maybe I fed them a bit late today - too busy out voting in our local elections!
Week 18: Czech Republic: Vlassky Salad Snacks, Beef with Wild Mushrooms, Tomato Salad, Cucumber Salad
The vlassky salad snacks are often served to guests at Christmas and New Year. Vlassky means walnut, but the salad doesn’t contain any. Boiled potato, peas and ham are mixed with mayo that has been loosened with a little vinegar from the gherkin jar. This gives it a really Eastern European taste. They are topped with gherkin and boiled egg. They’d go really well with a beer.
I love the way that Czech food is so often from the forest. The wild mushrooms were sauteed in a little butter, then cream is added at the last minute to make the sauce.
The accompanying tomato salad is reasonably familiar, but the cucumber salad was quite different. The cucumber is grated, for one thing, and instead of oil in the dressing, a little soured cream is used.
I am relieved to say that my oven is working again. So normal service will be resumed. Phew! The boys had big macs last night for dinner. But it will be back to the Czech Republic tonight!
Week 18: Czech Republic: Witches’ Night (2 of 2)
After burning the witch of winter, we gathered round the fire and toasted sausages on sticks. These sausages from the Polish deli are already cooked. We ate them with lokse, pancakes made with mashed potato and flour, which turned out to be Slovak rather than Czech.
Somewhat inconveniently for someone throwing a dinner party, my oven has broken. So it was back to the Polish deli to buy cakes, including the poppy seed roulade I had planned to bake myself. It meant that I spent hardly any time cooking, and I could really relax and enjoy myself. I had the most brilliant night… Czech Republic rocks!
Week 18: Czech Republic: Witches' Night:1of 2 My eldest son was off to a sleepover so I decided to invite my younger son's pal over for a sleepover. He is half Czech, so naturally this snowballed to a Czech dinner party for eleven. Only after reading my newly ordered Czech cookbook did I realize that I had organised a Czech dinner party for April 30th: Witches' night. Here we needed to burn an effigy of a witch to say goodbye to winter. Normally, as a feminist, I am against witch burning, but as she represents winter I'll let it slide.
Week 17: Lebanon: Rose Ice Cream with Macadamia Nuts, Date Jam
The rose ice cream is highly perfumed even though I only put in a third of the rose water advised by the recipe. It’s like the ice cream a princess would eat in an Enid Blyton story. It was enjoyed by adults and children alike.
I had some dates that were a little too dry to eat - we’re a bit spoiled with medjool dates these days. They became date jam, spiced with cinnamon and ground ginger. The jury is out as to whether it goes better with scones or cheese.
Week 17: Lebanon: Flatbread, Labneh, Lentil Soup
The flatbread was meant to be pitta but it didn’t turn out that way. It was still lovely! Labneh balls are dried yoghurt, rolled and dipped in either nigella, black sesame, za'tar or sumac. It’s like soft cheese. Lentil soup is spiced with cumin.
Seeing the week numbers inching ever upwards is a bit disconcerting for someone like me who is permanently in the grip of a mid-life crisis. But I’ll look back on this year with happiness, at least I’ll look back on this project with happiness. I’m glad I’m making the effort to explore and experience different cuisines.
Week 17: Lebanon: Tabbouleh, Chilli and Garlic Prawns, Sesame and Nigella Seed Halloumi
There is a scale of deliciousness with halloumi. First is gently fried or barbecued. Better is dipped in plain flour and then deep fried (a trick I learned from a street food seller at Mos Eisley Space Port at Secret Cinema). Then there is this… dipped in za'tar spiced flour, egg, then a mixture of nigella (black onion) seeds, sesame and breadcrumbs. Wonderful!
Week 17: Lebanon: Halloumi Pizza This recipe is from Comptoir Libanais, the book of the restaurant chain. For something so easy it was really special. The addition of fresh mint lifts it. It’s made with pitta dough, so I made some pizzas from the same dough for the children as they had friends over and didn’t seem in the mood for anything challenging. I will definitely make this for any passing vegetarian. Halloumi is like kryptonite to vegetarians - they can’t resist it.
Week 17: Lebanon: Fundraising Dinner for Doctors of the World
The food of Syria, Jordan and the Lebanon share many dishes. I really enjoyed making Turkish Delight! It’s much softer than the stuff you buy pre made here. I imagine it to be like the Turkish Delight given by the Snow Queen to Edward in Narnia.
I also made labneh (dried yoghurt balls), poached chicken with freekeh, hummus, baba ghanoush, spinach and feta pies; kibbeh (meatballs with lamb and bulghur wheat), tabbouleh, pitta bread, taboon bread, rose ice cream, fig sorbet, polenta, date and almond shortbread, sesame and pistachio biscuits… the hummus used the trick of microwaving the garlic in a little olive oil for 40 seconds to give it a softer taste. I didn’t have time to photograph everything, because sometimes you just have to focus on your guests…
A good time was had by all, although I have to admit that we were all a little under the weather the morning after. Doctors of the World are treating the refugees stranded in Calais, so it was for a good cause.
Week 16: Korea: Pork Belly Wraps with Soy Dipping Sauce I love the packaging on this Yes! sauce. It's a spicy soy paste, a bit like miso. It is mixed with sesame oil, rice vinegar and of course gochujang chilli to make the sauce. I'm not normally a fan of pork belly because it's so fatty, but rendered this way and served with rice in a lettuce wrap it was actually pretty light. So light, in fact, that we ended up mindlessly eating baguettes and Boursin in front of the TV afterward. :-/ Not very Korean.