Tour of Europe: Ireland's meal

It’s been a while, but we are finally getting back into our Europe country meals.  The last meal chosen was for Ireland, so it seemed fitting that we had this meal on Saint Patrick’s Day!!  We decided to go with the (American) traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage!   Everyone LOVED it.  We didn’t have dessert this weekend.

Menu:  Corned beef and cabbage, boiled potatoes and carrots, and sourdough bread with Irish butter and Irish cheese

Next Up:  Bridget chose Wales!

Our "rocky" weekend

Our weekend trip to Aiken State Park didn’t happen, but it’s still on our to-do list.  Weekends were shifted due to kids’ activities and we haven’t scheduled a makeup yet.  This past weekend we went to Poinsett State Park for a 3-day getaway.  Saturday morning we left home and drove for an hour to get there.  Poinsett SP is nicknamed “The Mountains of the Midlands” and we fully agree!  We were just so surprised to see the rolling hills and twisty, curvy steep “mountain” roads.  (Well, steep to us flatlanders!)  The park opened in 1934 and was built by the CCC.  Thank you to all of the workers – it’s gorgeous!  There is a 10 acre mill pond and ruins of a pre-Revolutionary mill. 

Ranger Station/Office



Across the mill pond

Blue Apron Meal Delivery Service Review

We tried Blue Apron for the first time. The girls have told us that their mom has ordered from them several times, and they all really like it. So with an offer for $30 off our first box, we decided to give it a try.

Our Memorial Day weekend

 We had a busy and productive weekend. Whew!

Florida trip

Here are some shots from last weekend.  The girls were interested in seeing how the Atlantic Ocean looks from another location on the East coast than Charleston.  They were pleasantly surprised! 
(Click on picture to make it larger.  They are so pretty!)

Mediterranean Omelet

With the abundance of fresh eggs from our happy chickens, we frequently have omelets on the weekends when the kids are here.  They are usually filled with some variation of:

sauteed mushrooms
sauteed onions
ham chunks
bell peppers
American cheese
Cheddar cheese

and we love them. When Bill and I were planning last weekend's menu, we came up with the idea of a Mediterranean-style omelet.  We weren't trying to specifically represent Malta, our country for the week, just the region.   Spinach, Provolone, onions, dried fruit, and pine nuts made an amazing creation.  This was a home run!  Crunchy, creamy, sweet, tangy, earthy -- it was all there.  We are making this again and I recommend anyone reading to give it a try!

Okay, it's technically a folded "frittata" but we call it an "omelet".  A real French-style omelette is rolled around a filling and is made individually very quickly and has no browning.  We put all the eggs in the pan, cook until it's set, then top it, broil, and fold over as the whole thing is slid out of the pan...  omelet it is to us.  ☺ 

Tour of Europe: Malta's meal

The cuisine of Malta shows strong Sicilian and English influences as well as Spanish, French, Maghrebin, Provençal, and other Mediterranean cuisines. Having to import most of its food, being located along important trade routes, and having to cater f Foreign dishes and tastes were absorbed, transformed and adapted.  The traditional Maltese stewed rabbit (fenek) is often identified as the national dish (but we are not having rabbit.)
or the resident foreign powers who ruled the islands, opened Maltese cuisine to outside influences.

During my research on Malta, I kept finding recipes for “marrow” in my search. Well, I’m not too keen on eating the stuff from the inside of a bone, but I wondered … Then I discovered that a “marrow” is a vegetable – also known as courgette (in Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand) or zucchini (in North America, Australia, Germany and Austria). Like courgettes or zucchini, marrows are oblong, green squash, but marrows have a firm rind and a neutral flavor, making them useful as edible casings for mincemeat and other stuffing. Aha!  Stuffed Zucchini! 

Marrows for sale in the U.K.

To be served with Pastizzi, golden pastries that are loved all over the country.  They are a puff pastry that are stuffed with cheese or a curried pea mash.  They are enjoyed at any time of day and found on nearly every corner.  Some say pastizzi is one of those foods that simply says “Malta”.  They are often enjoyed with friends and cup of coffee or tea. 

Imqaret is a remnant of the Arab world which was left behind in Malta. Dates, citrus and spices are encased in a pastry and then deep fried.  Imqaret is derived from the Arabic word for “diamond”. These pastries are usually cut into diamond shapes before deep frying (or baking, in our case) but can also be cut into rectangles.

Malta's meal

Menu:  Qarabaghli Mimli Bl-Irkotta, Pastizzi, Imqaret 

Outcome: Since we could not find marrows here, we had stuffed zucchini and all of us really liked it ... there were NO leftovers!  At first, I thought it was a little odd to put onions and potatoes in the pan, but it made sense later when the zucchini halves had a nice little bed to rest on, and they didn't tip over.  The sauce that everything baked in was quite tasty as well.  We had the pastizzi on the plate and although these were very good on their own, so light and fluffy, they were even better when we used them to sop up the sauce from our plates.  Very delicious stuff.  We talked about making this again later this summer when the zucchini are much larger.  I'm thinking filled with meatloaf mixture, taco meat, or even sloppy joe mixture. Mmm.  
When we made the imqaret, well, we may have cheated a little bit.  The recipe called for making your own dough ... but we already had a can of crescent rolls in the fridge, so ... we used them! The girls wanted to help, and who will ever turn down willing helpers?  They unrolled the crescent roll dough on a cookie sheet, then they pressed the perforations together to make a solid large rectangle of dough, then they spooned the filling down the middle and folded the long sides over the filling.  Then they brushed the loaf with olive oil and we baked it, then cut it into slices (rather than deep frying).  The filling was spiced perfectly -- the girls said it tasted like "Christmas" and "Spring" and I was thinking it was like mincemeat.  Either way, quite tasty.

Next up:  Paula chose England!

Tour of Europe: Liechtenstein's meal

Located in Central Europe, Liechtenstein is a doubly land locked Alpine country that borders Switzerland and Austria and is the only Alpine country to be located totally in the Alps.

 

Cuisine in Liechtenstein is heavily influenced by its Swiss and Austrian neighbors, as well by French traditions.  Dumplings, cheese, pork, bacon, schnitzel, tomatoes, apples and pears are commonly eaten. Cinnamon, vanilla, fruit filled pancakes and pastries make up an impressive array of desserts. 

Although Liechtenstein is too small to have developed an extensive national cuisine, it does have some distinctive regional dishes. Käseknöpfle consists of dumplings made by squeezing a mixture of flour, water, and eggs through a perforated board. The dumplings are then layered with grated cheese and a layer of fried onions and are often served with applesauce or a salad.

 

Menu:  Käseknöpfle (Dumpling topped with cheese and onions), Asparagus, Applesauce, Salad, Apfel Ring Krapfen (Apple Ring Fritters)

Outcome:  Who would have thought that simple flour/egg dumplings would be so GOOD?  As I removed each batch of the dumplings from the boiling water and added them to the serving bowl, I sprinkled a good handful of shredded cheese over the top.  I didn’t want to crowd the pot, so we ended up making 7 or 8 batches -- our bowl was full of yummy, cheesy dumplings.  Then the fried onions were added and heaven was made!  This was comfort food all the way and was perfect on a rainy and blustery Sunday afternoon.  The information I’d read about the dumplings stated that applesauce is usually served on the side.  We tried it.  Oh my...  Warm, cheesy, gooey dumplings with a sweet/tangy applesauce?  This was over the top wonderful.  NOT A BIT was left over!  This was like "fancy schmancy" mac and cheese. 

 

Bill sautéed the asparagus and mushrooms for us – I don’t even know what he added besides a little white wine and butter, but they sure did come out tasty!

 

The apple ring fritters were quite good as well – we just dusted the top of the slices with a little powdered sugar, but I think that it would be glorious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!  (I want to try this with pears, too.)  I chose Golden Delicious apples and we cooked them slowly in just a tablespoon of butter.  The recipe called for Cognac, but I happened to have some apple brandy on hand from a previous recipe so we used that.  I LOVE having a gas range – all I have to do is tip the skillet a little and the alcohol catches immediately and burns off within seconds but it sure does leave a great taste! 

PS:  No, Kirstin, no one "licked" any "steins"!!  LOL 

Käseknöpfle with fried onions, applesauce, asparagus

Next up:  Ben chose Malta! 

Tour of Europe: Albania's meal

 

This week’s meal is from the country of Albania.  The cuisine in Albania is Mediterranean, influenced by many including Greek, Italian and Turkish cooking.  It is characterized by the use of Mediterranean herbs such as oregano, mint, basil, rosemary and more in cooking meat and fish, but also chili pepper and garlic. Vegetables are used in almost every dish.  In Greece, a popular dish is spanakopita, made by laying phyllo dough with spinach and baking it, and I found an Albanian recipe that is the same thing as spanakopita, but called byrek me spinaq.  Byrek can be made with meat or other vegetables, but I opted to make the spinach version. 

Menu:  Byrek me Spinaq (Spinach Pie), Sheqerpare (cookies in syrup)

Outcome:  The byrek me spinaq came out pretty good.  The girls wanted to help, so after Bridget sautéed the spinach, I had her sit down at the table with a little bowl of olive oil, the phyllo dough, and a baking dish.  While I was making the salad, I talked her through how to layer and brush the sheets while Brandi helped to make up the spinach mixture.  When Bridget finished with the first half of the phyllo layering/brushing, she sat back and said, “Whew!  That was tedious!!”  Of course, Brandi reminded her that she was only halfway finished!  haha.  The dish was pretty good, but we agreed that the use of phyllo dough was a bit time-consuming and we’ll probably choose a dish other than spanakopita when we get to making a meal for Greece. 


Bridget also helped make the yummy cookies – they are kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and a butter cookie.  They came out light and crispy.  The recipe called for hazelnuts, but since both girls don’t care for them, we put whole almonds on the top of the cookies instead.  After we pulled the cookies from the oven, we put them on cooling racks with the parchment paper that was on the cookie sheet placed under the racks to catch any drips from the syrup.  I used a pastry brush and drizzled the sugar syrup over the cookies – it was so cool the way the syrup transformed into very thin threads that cooled instantly!  It reminded me of the cooking shows I’ve seen where they make a croquembouche with the sugar threads binding the tower together.  The crunchy topping was a great addition to the cookies, and we all loved them. 
Next up:    Bill chose Liechtenstein! 

Tour of Europe: Russia's meal!

This week’s meal was from Russia.  I wanted to find some traditional Russia-specific recipes rather than to prepare a meal from one of the former Soviet Socialist Republics.  When I searched for “Russian” cuisine, a lot of the recipes I found are attributed to Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, or one of the many “istan” locations.  In the future, we may move on to Asia, when I will include the former SSRs.

I also discovered that in the late 18th century, French chefs were invited to cook for the nobility of Russia, which is where dishes such as Chicken Kiev and Beef Stroganoff originated, so not very Russian indeed.  I finally found a recipe for Rassolnik, a (strange and) classic soup made with barley, beef, potatoes, carrots, and pickles; meaning the dill pickles in a jar. It’s hearty and the beef is tender and satisfying. Rassolnik has existed for more than 500 years and is definitely a comfort food to many Russians.

To accompany the soup, I made small blini that were topped with sour cream, smoked salmon and a tiny dill sprig.  Even if they are traditionally topped with caviar, we opted not to go that route. 

For dessert I found a recipe for a dessert that sounds rather interesting:  “Sharlotka would sound like it relates to a dessert Charlotte, but Charlottes, with their mousse-like, Lady Fingers-decked grandiosity, have little in common aside from the course in which it is served. It can be referred to as a cake (but it contains no milk, no butter), a Russian pie (but it has no crusts) and/or a pancake (but it’s not very cakey). It’s almost like a clafoutis, but no, that’s not right either, with no cream or milk and a proportion of fruit to batter that is nothing short of staggering. It contains no butter, save that which you need to grease the pan. Although it has sugar, it’s not very sweet. Although it contains flour, it’s not a whole lot for the size of the pan. Although it has eggs, it’s not very rich. Really, the whole structure comes from apples. You fill the cake pan nearly to the brim with peeled and chopped apples and you pour the batter over then smooth it to encourage it to seep down. It fills the spaces between the apples and makes a torte of what was a pile, and then you bake it until it’s done.”

Menu:  Rassolnik (Beef, Barley and Pickle soup), Blini with smoked salmon, Apple Sharlotka

Outcome:  We were in doubt of the soup – who sautés dill pickles and adds them to soup?!  But oh, my goodness, this was just downright good.  The beef was very tender and amazingly, the dill pickles added just a bit of tartness and zing!  Without them, the soup would have been on the boring side.  It was really, really tasty and we all liked the addition of the barley, which looks like large oats.  I found a box of it in Walmart, rice aisle, top shelf, made by Quaker oats.  Trivia:  Russia is the world’s largest producer of barley! 
The blini came out pretty well, after a couple of trial runs.  The batter was so very thin that would have been perfect to make large, skillet-sized foldable blini.  However, since I was wanting for these to be silver dollar size, I needed to add more flour so they could be a little thicker.  The Sharlotka came out very nicely, and we all agreed that we want to make it the next time the kids come, but with some of the peaches that we picked last summer!   

Rassolnik

Next up:  Brandi chose Albania! 

Tour of Europe: the Netherlands' meal

This week's meal was from the Netherlands, aka Holland, whose people are Dutch. There are a lot of great dishes that I found for this small country, but I settled on Erwtensoep (pea soup.)  If you make and eat it today, it is called Erwtensoep, but if you eat it any following day, it's called Snert!  Yes, I called the kids to dinner by telling them,  "Y'all get to the table and eat yer Snert."  LOL. Why don't we call it this in the U.S.? 



Remember the nursery rhyme:
Pease porridge hot, pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot, nine days old;
Some like it hot, some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot, nine days old.



From what I've read, it seems that the nursery rhyme was Middle-English based, but I think that this could also refer to Snert -- each day, some of the soup is eaten and other items are added -- another carrot, an onion, a piece of bacon, more dried peas, etc., thus the "nine days old."



According to Wikipedia, oliebollen, or oily balls, are said to have been first eaten by Germanic tribes in the Netherlands during the Yule, the period between December 26 and January 6. The Germanic goddess Perchta, together with evil spirits, would fly through the mid-winter sky. To appease these spirits, food was offered, much of which contained deep-fried dough. It was said Perchta would try to cut open the bellies of all she came across, but because of the fat in the oliebollen, her sword would slide off the body of whoever ate them. Well, we ate our olieballen on January 29. Close enough.


Menu: Erwtensoep (Snert), Olieballen, Stroopwafels
Outcome:  For breakfast we had steaming mugs of cocoa topped with Stroopwafels (found at World Market.)  The waffled sandwich cookies are very thin and have a layer of cinnamon-laced caramel in between that melts when placed directly on top of a hot mug.  Wow.  This was great!  I also found some "Amsterdam" shortbreads at World Market that we dunked in our coffee/cocoa.  Very good also!

World Market to the rescue!  Note the Stroopwafels atop a mug.

At dinner, we all enjoyed the soup.  I made it on Saturday but served it on Sunday...therefore, it was Snert!  It's said that to be a proper Snert, the spoon will stand up straight in the pot.  It did!!!  We opted not to puree the soup, as suggested in the recipe; instead, we wanted to see the carrot coins, diced potatoes, halved peas, etc. This recipe was plenty for us, plus there is enough left over for Bill and I to carry it for lunch all week.  This is a very flavorful version of split pea soup -- I liked the slices of smoked sausage that were added at the end.  What really "kicked this up a notch" was the simple buttered rye bread topped with slices of gouda that we all had with our soup.  Oh, this was good!!!  Spoon of soup, bite of bread, repeat!  

Dessert was Olieballen.  NOTE:  the recipe states to add a tablespoon of dough to the hot oil -- but when I did, the outside cooked, but not the inside.  So first, I dropped the temperature and I switched to dropping teaspoons of dough to the hot oil.  These cooked quite nicely -- golden brown, crispy with a soft interior.  After I cooked a batch, I sprinkled that layer with powdered sugar, then started on the next batch.  It took a while and I probably won't make these again, but they were really good!  The super-tart Granny Smith apple with rum-soaked raisins in a very light yeast doughnut batter came together very nicely.  I think I'll work on making a baked version -- maybe a quick banana-type bread to have one day.

Next up:  Bridget chose Russia!

Snert with rye bread and gouda

Tour of Europe: San Marino's meal

Our next European country we are visiting is San Marino,officially the Republic of San Marino, also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino.  It is an enclaved microstate surrounded by Italy, on the border between the regions of Emilia Romagna and Marche and about 6.21 miles from the Adriatic coast at Rimini. San Marino is the third smallest country in Europe, with only Vatican City and Monaco being smaller. It is also the fifth smallest country in the world. The cuisine of San Marino is extremely similar to Italian, especially of the adjoining Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions, but it has a number of its own unique dishes and products.

Menu: Vincisgrassi (mushroom lasagna), Piadina (flatbread) with Fontina and Prosciutto, Cacciatello (creme caramel), served with wines of the region:  Lambrusco and Sangiovese

Wines from Italy, but close to San Marino

Outcome:   Delizioso!!  We really had a winner with this country.  Everyone loved the mushroom lasagna made with white sauce, the starter of the flatbread was a hit, and the dessert -- creamy custard topped with caramel?  What's not to love about that?  100% success!  See each recipe for info. 

Next up:  Brandi chose the Netherlands!

Tour of Europe: Norway's meal

Our next European country we are visiting is Norway.  Granny (my mom) lived there when she was in second-fourth grade when my Grandpa was stationed in Asgardstrand.  She remembers eating “white” meals, which meant their plates were filled with cod, boiled potatoes, bread … it was not very appetizing!  Also, Grandpa’s (and my) ancestors arrived in the US from Norway many years ago. 

Most Norwegians eat three or four regular meals a day, usually consisting of a cold breakfast with coffee, a cold (usually packed) lunch at work and a hot dinner at home with the family. Dinner (middag) is usually eaten around 4-5 PM. This is the most important meal of the day and includes carbohydrates such potatoes and animal proteins such as meat or fish.  Supper (kveldsmat) is usually eaten around 7-8 PM. This may be some open bread sandwich.

Menu:  Gravlax (Cured Salmon), Lefse (Potato Bread), Fårikål (lamb stew), Gjetost and Snofrisk cheeses, crispbread, smoked salmon, sardines, and smoked salmon devilled eggs.

Outcome:   Granny and Grandpa joined us for this meal.  I think everything went quite well!  We served this as two courses – first was the various crispbreads, cheese, sardines, and salmons, and second was the stew.  My favorite was the gravlax.  I liked it a lot better than the smoked salmon that I am used to.  This differs from the cured salmon that I made before, as this one sits a lot longer, is heavily weighted to remove water, and contains a good amount of dill.  We all loved the mustard-dill sauce, too! 

I’d never had lefse before, so I didn’t know what to expect.  I followed the recipe as written … we rolled out balls of the dough on a floured board to a 6” diameter, but we only ended up with 15.  Not the 30 that the recipe said we’d end up with, so I guess the ones we made were twice as thick as they should have been.   On a few, we buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, then rolled them up.  This was pretty good!  Better than expected.  The rest were served on the table and everyone could top pieces as they chose with salmon, cheese, etc. 

After the table was cleared, we served up the Fårikål (lamb and cabbage stew.)  This is the national dish of Norway.  It was pretty good and everyone seemed to like it.  Perhaps if we’d left more time between courses 1 and 2, we’d have been able to eat more!  LOL

P.S.:  I forgot the Jarlsburg cheese; it was in the other fridge.  Sorry!

Next up:  Since we had company, we let them have a turn!  Granny and Grandpa chose San Marino!

Devilled eggs -- mixed some mustard and smoked salmon with the yolks and topped w/ dill

Salmon platter, mustard, and Snofrisk (garlic goat cheese spread)

 

 

 

 

Sardines, Wasa, toast crisps, cracker crisps