Bulgaria: Meatball Soup (and Peach Cobbler)

image taken from a google search page without permission

 

 Recently our dining travels have led us to the charming country of Bulgaria. Upon reading the few recipes listed under this country in the UN cookbook I was initially disappointed with the slim pickings. However, I was wrong to jump to conclusions. I tried out the 'Meatball Soup' and it wasn't much to look at when I was stirring it over the stove.

Upon first reading the recipe I had my doubts so I decided that even if it wasn't strictly 'Bulgarian' I would be sure to serve a tasty dessert to bribe the kids into trying the soup! But in the end the soup was hearty, warm and satisfying and everyone was happy to eat it up! They were also pretty happy about eating up the peach cobbler I made as the shameless bribery dessert. I would highly recommend this recipe. I read through the first few reviews and followed the suggestions to lessen the salt and sprinkled a little cinnamon and nutmeg over the peaches. Which were from a can because they were out of season.

Bulgarian Meatball Soup with fresh homemade bread and butter

 I felt like we made such a cozy little peasant family when we were around the table all happily eating such a simple, hearty dinner of meatball soup and fresh bread with thick butter!

Bulgarian Meatball Soup

Of course when it came time for dessert we were back to eating like kings!

Peach Cobbler

Bolivia: Beef Empanadas with Fiesta Rice

image taken from a google search results page without permission

Our table travels have recently taken us to the exciting, inspiring, soulful South American country of Bolivia! What an adventure it was... this has been one of our favorite countries to research online and learn about. So much color and life and beautiful, soaring music! Check out this video and let it play while you read the rest of the post. It will help set the mood.

There are other, higher quality videos with similar content on you tube... but I chose this one to share with you because it seemed more authentic and spirited.

 The dish we chose from the United Nations Cookbook from the country of Bolivia was called 'Empanadas de Carne' and although it was an enjoyable dish to prepare, I don't think I did it justice.

Empanadas de Carne

In my typical, granola mom style I balked at the idea of deep frying the Empanadas and instead baked them on a sheet... they were very dry and a little hard to chew... versus the way they really should be... soft and flaky. :/

However, it is worth noting that everyone in my family was a good sport and ate them happily and without complaining... they're the best! I really enjoyed the filling as it was beautiful mix of veggies, steak and fruit all stir fried together in a pan until well cooked down and then tucked into the empanadas.

There was a bit of extra filling and I ran out of dough it in! So I saved the day by mixing it into the rice and it was soooo delicious. This I may be making again sometime soon! Who knows? Maybe I will even give deep frying a shot... sometime.

Belgium: Vlaams Rundvlees en Bier Casserole "Beef and Beer Casserole"

image yanked from a google search page. without permission.

This weekend I went to Belgium! I was busy with a few other trips and projects... so for my culinary adventuring things were kept to a sweet slow and low style of cooking.  I love this style because one gets the opportunity to appreciate the meal on so many levels. First is the fresh ingredients phase... when you can notice and appreciate the high quality, colors, freshness and raw tang of the foods. Then as you begin chopping and throwing things into the crock pot or casserole dish a few more smells and tiny tastes get thrown into the air. By the time my casserole had been in the oven for a few hours you could smell it all the way down the block. As the boys were sure to tell me when they came back from their tennis show-down at the park. My favorite was our young friend Simon enthusiastically exclaiming, 'Smell that!!!" When he and Silas first walked into the house from outside. Best compliment of the evening. And there were many!

 

 

 

Belgian Beef and Beer Casserole with Belgian style beer!

Here are the basics of what I did so that you could try this for yourself sometime... I'm doing my best not to break copyrights with this book I am posting about so bear with me.

You will need:
A few pounds of quality beef. I used top shoulder think steaks.
A garnish of smoked ham. (I know, meat on meat! Don't you love it!?!)
A pound of thinly sliced onions
A heavy touch of your favorite saute oil... I went for lard. Goes well with the meat theme.
Few tablespoons of flour
Touch of herb... I used thyme.
Dash of Mollasses. (I swapped this for the sugar the origonal recipe called for)
A 12 oz beer.
few tablespoons of red wine vinegar

So basically saute your meat until it's just brown. Don't worry about cooking it through cause you're going to slow roast this lovely meat on meat mixture in your beer sauce. Set this aside and leave the juices in the pan. Saute your pound of thinly sliced onions until they are brown. Set this aside and get ready to ROUX. This was my first experience with a brown beer roux and I loved it so much I can't wait to try some more variations!! If you have a few tablespoons of oil and juices left... fantastic start with this... if not throw a little more oil or fat in the pan.. only a few tablespoons and try to deglaze  the meat and onion into the fat to help get that yummy brown flavor (and so that your pan doesn't start smoking!) add your flour and mix well. slowly add the beer. then the spices. a little bit of minced garlic is lovely as well. hold back the vinegar, that's for last. once the roux has boiled a bit and thickened then you're set to layer your meat and onions in a casserole (chose one with a lid to help keep the moisture in. a dutch oven would be perfect for this!) Once everything is in pour the beer roux over all and cover it with a lid and let it do it's thing in the oven at around 300 degrees for a few hours. When you just can't take it anymore... peel and boil some potatoes. I used golds with their wonderful buttery flavor. However, think that russets would go well with the meat theme as well. These are supposed to be peasant style, boiled and plain, a delicious preparation that I underestimated in the past. I like to have a green veggie represented on the plate of every dinner... this time we went with pan steamed kale and spinach. Once everything is set pull your casserole out of the oven and drizzle the vinegar over all and you are set to eat!

Austria: Tyrolese Soup, Gefullter Kalbsbraten and Linzer Torte

 We went to Austria! It was an exciting trip. We listened to many world renowned musicians as I slaved away in the kitchen over some pretty choice dishes! Mid-meal I flipped through some info about the country and showed the kiddos. I decided that if we did some actual, physical plain traveling that I would want to see the city of Hallstatt first in my visit to Austria. So cool! Oldest salt mines ever... and I love some salt!

Hallstatt, Austria. I ganked this image without permission from miriadna.com

More Hallstatt, this image was also taken without permission from seemorepictures.blogspot.com

And now to show off the fruits of my labor. We enjoyed a three course meal. It began with Tyrolese soup. This soup is like if potato soup and split pea soup had a love child. Totally yummy.

Tyrolese Soup

Next on the agenda was the main course. A lovely veal steak smeared with freshly minced veal, veg and spices and rolled around a hard boiled egg. Pan fried in butter to a golden perfection. Mmmmm.

Gefullter Kalbsbraten

After all that meat we needed something extra special to entice us when the dessert cart rolled around. Of course none of us could resist the Linzer Torte!

Linzer Torte

Linzer Torte, as served with an enormous tower of fresh, organic, grass fed, creamy whipped topping.

I dunno guys... you think Juda might be a little excited about dessert? Ah, my sweet little blur that refuses to be accurately photographed. Gotta love that kid!

Australia: Veal and Ham Pie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I snipped this image right off google's search page. bam!

We went to Australia! It was very cozy and entertaining. I feel that since we had some company joining us for the evening the hubby and I were a little distracted from the educational side of Around The World Night. However, there is a gentle effort made towards finding some didgeridoo music and we all enjoyed ourselves very much.

The main recipe of the evening was Veal and Ham pie. This was a casserole style dish of the comfort food variety. Our family loved it so much that I think I should put it on the regular rotation.

The first layer: veal, ham, potato, salt, pepper, parsley

Just before my final layer of potato... this is how I spaced out my veal and ham.

Enough fixin's for two more layers. I divided my ingredients to get three layers total.

 After arranging all my layers I poured on a cup of broth (chicken stock is what I had on hand) and then dotted the top with 2 Tbsp butter and laid my freshly prepared and rolled out pastry dough over all. Baked all that nice and low and slow at 325 or so for 1 1/2 hours. Since I had the oven on already I threw in a apple crisp. It remains etched in  amy memory forever as completely lovely. However, we were too busy eating it to take a picture!

Penfolds red wine. Koonunga Hill. Shiraz Cabernet. From Australia.. of course!

Lovely little salad of fresh greens with a sprinkle of feta.

Veal and Ham Pie

Argentina: Ninos Envuelitos & Humita Mendocina

Argentinian Coat of Arms image taken from Wikipedia

I would suggest playing the music in the above videos while reading this post to get the full effect. 

We went to Argentina! It was fantastic. We all had so much fun with the food, music and culture  of Argentina. We were blown away by the beautiful pictures of the dramatic Argentinian landscape. Here are a few to perk your interest.

Perito Merino taken from mapsofworld.com

Iguazu Falls taken from National Geographic photo by Winfield Parks

Cueva Manos taken from Wikipedia.com

 We had lots of fun getting into the spirit of Argentina with the music and pictures and delicious food! Hazel even dressed up like a little Andean mountain farmer. So sweet! The steak for the Ninos Envueltos was set to marinate hours in advance... giving us time to play and relax. Then once I stuffed and wrapped my steaks, smothered them in a mouth watering sauce with whole peeled canned tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and parsley. I was free to make my signature crowd pleasing appetizer... guacamole. I will throw my recipe for that one out on another post soon! The Humita Mendocina was a lovely mixed veggie dish of mostly corn. There was a hint of cinnamon and a dash of spice. So perfect!

Humita Mendocina and Ninos Envueltos

Ninos Envueltos

Humita Mendocina

Argentina on a plate! Ninos Enveultos and Humita Mendocina

Algeria: Kefta & Chakchouka

The flag of Algeria image taken from Wikipedia

The last Sunday of January got a little busy so we had our "around the world night" on Monday. I still went through all the motions with tracking the geography for the kids on Google maps and reading excerpts from the Wikipedia page... cause we went to Algeria!

Maritime front of Bejaia image from Wikipedia

El Taref Province, In eastern Algeria. image taken from Wikipedia

taken from google maps

I learned first hand that the food from Algeria is colorful and delicious! I thouroughly enjoyed listening to an Algerian radio station while I was cooking and.... ahem... dancing... through the afternoon. So much fun!

 Kefta & Chachouka

L to R: Chakchouka (mixed vegetables with eggs) and Kefta (meatballs)

Kefta

Chakchouka

Making the chakchouka was an adventure in burning eyes... there are four large onions in the pan! Yes ladies, that's right... got all my crying done for days. I've heard it can be good from you, crying. Releases certain stress hormones. Anyways, onions red pepper and green pepper, salt and black pepper, a dash of vinegar and another of hot sauce... simmer it all into mush and then make little nests for the eggs. Crack the eggs into their nests and cover your skillet. Leave this on medium/low for ten minutes. Delish!

The original recipe for the Kefta called for deep frying those little things. I wasn't about to subject myself to that. So I made the balls with the basic recipe (almost exactly like my favorite Italian-style meatballs with the addition of mint) and then I dropped them in boiling water... then pan fried them a couple minutes to brown the outside. Quite yummy!

And I made a desert for our fancy meal of the week! It wasn't Alergian, but it was still delectable. 

 

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

We don't eat a lot of desserts around these parts... so I sure won some friends when I served this. I really like those moments when everyone is grateful at the same time. I will post the recipe for this in a separate post sometime!

I have been really enjoying traveling the world from the comfort of my kitchen. What an adventurous year this has turned out to be so far!

Albania: Pule Me Harr & Kos Me Krastabec

The second country in our travels around the world was Albania. By this point my enthusiasm for this project was building and my faith in the cookbook and my personal abilities exceeded my caution. And I invited dinner guests! There are no photos of this meal... And that's probably because it didn't look that great. Didn't taste that great either. It wasn't bad... just bland and unexciting. Pule Me Harr is basically baked chicken in walnut sauce... however my sauce didn't thicken very well and was just a bit of drippy, nut slop to put over the chicken. Disappointing. * (one star)

The Kos Me Krastabec was a simple cucumber-yogurt salad served cold. I love my own version of cucumber yogurt salad so I was very excited to try this Albanian version. However, it came out runny and goopy and lacked the zip and pizzas that I had come to expect from what I have tried before.  -* (that's right folks... if it tastes bad than we go negative!)

I had a great time listening to Albanian radio all afternoon and drinking my own wildflower and spice herbal tea blend and chatting with my lovely guest. I also enjoyed pursing the results of a google search on Albania. I mostly stuck with Wikipedia and google image searches with the keywords being 'albanian landscape/countryside/castles/lakes'... so beautiful! So next time I go to Albania for reals I will just pack a bottle of hot sauce!

Afghanistan: Afghan Pelau & Ashaks

I took two weeks to get through the recipes from Afghanistan. Their were too many to chose from! First ever recipe to come to fruition was Afghan Pelau. I did not photograph this event as it was a very busy day and I wasn't resolved to record our culinary travels at this point. Basically, this was a dish served in a 9x13 ceramic casserole dish with lamb shanks underneath a full layer of rice. Everything got a healthy dose of butter, onions and slow, slow cooking. 2 1/2 hours of effort and watching over this delectable dish was worth it! And I even got some surprise visitors to share in the glorious moment with me. The most tender lamb, and most succulent rice I have ever had to date. I was so impressed with myself and satisfied! Served this with a side salad with a little feta cheese and coarsely chopped walnuts over spring green. Perfect meal! ***** (that's five stars) 

The following Sunday I tried another recipe from Afghanistan: Ashaks

The ashaks in their final presentation... and my husband eagerly anticipating!

This was an phenomenal dish! It took me a whole 3 hours of active cooking time. This was the first time ever making my own pasta... and it was an awesome and rewarding. I wish I had taken a few photos of the process because it was so involved yet simple and straightforward. This was another dish served in a casserole. However I had to break out my largest dish... a 12x17 Pyrex cooking pan. The basic composition was a layer of cream sauce, a layer of leek stuffed ravioli's another layer of cream sauce and then a layer of a beef sauce with a final sprinkling of mint. Absolutely incredible! *****

A gift given, a seed planted...

Myself and Silas, August 2013

Silas helping with his birthday cupcakes August 2013... seven!

Silas is my oldest child. He is a sweet hearted, loyal, literary kind of guy. This past November he went out to spend some quality time with his Dad at the local used bookstore. While they were there he got to thinking he would like to bring a present home to his sweet ol' Mama. And I was so, so tickled that he did! He chose well. 

Silas has learned from an early age (probably with a few nudges of help and explanation) that mom spends a lot of time in the kitchen because she loves him. And that every warm dinner on the table is an expression of that love. We have used this understanding in his favor and have tried to expose him to many kind of foods and flavors so that he will live a healthy, happy life full of a variety of fresh foods. I'm not sure if he knew fully what he was getting himself into... but probably he was thinking of how much he likes my Chicken Curry in Yogurt Sauce... or perhaps his soft spot for fresh Garlic Na'an steaming from the oven was wafting through his mind. Whatever the case, he not only bought me this cookbook as a present... he expressed upon giving it his wild enthusiasm for trying out some new recipes from far off places. This made my heart grow a few sizes for two reasons. 1) My seven year old has enough grasp of the world and culture to know that there is soooo much that he doesn't know and he has a hungery curiosity. 2) He has absolute, never-questioned-it-for-a-second faith that I can successfully make these dishes and that they will be delicious.

love

So after he gives me the book the holiday wave crashed upon the social calendar and throws a curve ball through my regularly scheduled programming in the kitchen. Silas doesn't loose heart though. He asked me very, very sweetly about once a week or so when was I planning on trying out a dinner from that new cookbook he gave me? I was a little intimidated from the strangeness and exotic nature of many of the recipes I was seeing.... the hours and hours involved in the crafting of these foods that I have no idea how they should be in their ideal forms. Not the mention the nagging idea that perhaps my family of young children would turn their sweet little noses up at my efforts and food and effort would go to waste! But eventually the new year came around... and since 2014 just feels so full of possibility and promise... I went for it. I have resolved to 'travel' around the world on a 'magic table ride'. Every Sunday afternoon I will be spending hours in the kitchen listening to the music from the country being visited. I will google up information and at least read the Wikipedia article if not more... and find some pictures to show the kids the general topography, geographical location, traditional dress and a few fun facts about the nation being visited. 

And, if Simon and Shuster respond to my request in a positive manner, I will also share the recipes here with you! Until such a time as I hear back from them, out of respect to the authors intellectual effort, I will only give partial notes to my very favorites dishes and of course... pictures!