Week 22: The United Kingdom

Jean loves all things British; so much that her college major was English--which happens to be the national language of Great Britain!

Things we love about the UK: First and foremost, Robert Pattinson. Ok, fine. "We" don't love him. Jean does.

But then there is gin, Freddy Mercury, scones, clotted cream, lemon curd, finger sandwiches, tea, teatime in general, trifle, shepherd's pie, London, IPA, Brown Ale, other ale, Bushmills whiskey (Northern Ireland is part of the UK. It totally counts), Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen, Harry Potter, Ben Sherman, Wagamama, Anglophiles, the tube, minding the gap, the gap, British accents, umbrellas, giant hats at weddings, Prince William, The Clash, Dame Julie Andrews, King Arthur, Merlin, Erasure, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Imperialism, Monty Python, Bowie, Muse, Def Leppard, english cucumbers, fish & chips, the BBC, tweed, John Oliver, pasties, Sunday Roast (see below), Yorkshire Puddings (see below) calling things puddings that are in no way puddings (see below), Wellies, J.R.R. Tolkien, Professor Steven Hawking, Big Ben and Parliament, the monarchy, use of the Pound instead of the Euro, the invention of tennis, Debrett's, the Pump Room, taking a turn about the room (it's so refreshing), take-away instead of take-out, butlers, Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Sean Connery, Sir David Attenborough , 007, Wham!, Rupert Giles, Spike and Drusilla, Carlisle Cullen, dandyism, kilts (Scotland is part of the UK), scotch, scotch tape, Ewan McGregor, monocles and top hats, and Shakespeare.

Did anyone mention Robert Pattinson and the fact that Jean is a dirty old woman?

Anyway... We decided to do a Sunday Roast for our UK experience. This is typically roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and some kind of vegetable (we did brussels sprouts) served on (you guessed it) Sunday.

Yorkshire Puddings

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• Equal quantity of milk
  
• Equal quantity of flour
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp Sunday Roast pan drippings

Instructions:

Visit Pike Place Market and purchase a Popover Pan at Sur la Table for this very specific occasion.

Whisk to combine milk and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the pinch of salt. Walk away for 10 minutes. Maybe enjoy a cocktail while you wait.

Sift the flour into the mixture and whisk together until creamy. No lumps, Mrs. Bennett, NO LUMPS!

Walk away for another 30 minutes or so. Maybe you need a refill on that cocktail.

Grease the popover pan with a small bit of pan drippings from the roast (or vegetable oil). Heat in the oven at about 450 until the fat is smoking.

Add 1 tbsps cold water to the batter and give it another good whisk. Fill the popover pan to one third of each section return quickly to the oven. Don't dawdle! Bake until golden brown, approx 20 minutes. Enjoy!











Idaho Potatoes - UK Style!

1. Par-boil the potatoes in gently boiling salted water for about 8 minutes. Stop cooking before they're cooked right through.

2. Leave to cool completely, then scratch roughly with a fork and season with a little fine salt.
3. Roast them along with the, um, roast. Baste or turn the potatoes as soon as they go into the pan so they have a light coating of oil from the start.

4. Roast for the last 45 minutes of the roast's cooking time, turning at least once. If they look like they could use a bit more browning leave them in after the roast has come out to rest, while you increase the heat for the Yorkshire pudding.

Roast Beef

We talked to the butcher and got a nice roast. The preparation was straightforward, just a simple rubbing of kosher salt and black pepper. Then into a 450F oven for 30 minutes, then drop the temperature to 325F until the thermometer reads 120F (rare and mooing). Give it at least 20 minutes to rest before slicing.

Put it all together and enjoy with a nice home brewed Brown Ale.

Week 21: France

We love France; the food, the wine, the coffee, the tauntings, the franch fries, the franch dressing and the franch bread. We have been there and experienced the deliciousness first-hand. And we aren't the only ones, France is the most visited country in the world (CIA world factbook). And why not, France is home to the some of the most popular cuisine in the world and the French do their best to protect it's integrity. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) makes sure that France's signature products like wines, Cognacs, cheeses, butters and many others are safe from infringing copycats. The baguette is regulated by law in France. The Treaty of Versailles which ended World War I between Germany and the Allied powers affirmed France's sole right to produce Champagne. This, mes amies, is a country with priorities.

Even with such a massive appreciation for food--or perhaps because of it--French people are not fat. French men have the lowest incidence of obesity in the EU, and French women are fatter only than the ladies of Denmark. 44% of Frenchies are atheist, and family and friends greet one another in France with cheek kisses. The number of kisses varies by region from one kiss to as many as five kisses. Skinny, godless and gay? This is why the Bush Administration promoted anti-French sentiment, not because France opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq!

France is a powerful player in the games of international intrigues. It is the fifth largest economy in the world, and the number three military spender in the world behind the U.S. and China, according to estimates by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

All this packed into an area a bit smaller than Texas... seems like we could do a little more with Texas but anyway...

We found the easiest way to choose a dish to cook was simply to throw an imaginary dart at the lists and lists of regional specialties. Actually, it was pretty much that we were in the mood for something seafoody.

Moules à la Normande


2 T unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
2 T fresh thyme
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
2 lbs mussels (we used Penn Cove), de-bearded
1 cup white wine
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup crème fraîche

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic, shallots, and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes. Add herbs, mussels and wine. Cover and increase heat to high, shaking pot to distribute mussels evenly. Cook until mussels open (3-5 minutes), discarding any that haven’t opened. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm. Bring pan juices to the boil and cook until reduced by a third. Remove from heat, whisk in crème fraîche and season to taste. Pour over mussels. Serve with a crusty baguette.

* If you are planning a visit please feel free to contact us and we can recommend a good beret monogrammer.

Week 20: Thailand

I don't know why it didn't occur to me that Thailand is some sort of monarchy (a constitutional monarchy to be specific) . Duh, "Anna and the King of Siam"? Thailand used to be called Siam up until about 1939? Hello!


Some additional fun facts we learned about Thailand:

• Thailand has never been taken over by a European power.
• The country is 95% Buddhist.
• Number of coups d'etat since 1932: eighteen.
• Thailand is the number one rice exporter in the world.

And speaking of carbo-liciousness, Thai noodley dishes are some of my favorite comfort foods. I can't decide whether I like the old standby of Pad Thai with all its fishy, limey, peanutty flavors, or Pad See Ew with its wide noodles swimming in thick, sweet soy sauce gravy. Please also give me some fresh rolls with fresh mint, crunchy veggies, and maybe some shrimps. I adore chicken satay with peanut sauce. In fact, I don't think I have met a Thai dish I didn't love.

I can't go too spicey, but my trusty glass of Thai iced tea, generously laced with cream, will help cool off any flavas that get too excited. [Insert David Carradine joke.]

Hands down my favorite curry in the entire world is a Thai coconut curry of any color liberally sprinkled with some fresh cilantro or Thai basil. This is what inspired this week's recipe, which I sort of half-assed made up and used prepackaged stuff.

I sautéd some onion and shiitake mushrooms, and some red and orange bell peppers. I simmered some coconut milk with some Thai red curry paste (from a jar). I added some shrimps, the sauted veggies, and voila! We topped it with basil and cilantro from the garden and ate it over white rice. Fantastic!

Week 19: Iran

The BBC has a great profile of Iran: "Persia, as Iran was known before 1935, was one of the greatest empires of the ancient world, and the country has long maintained a distinct cultural identity within the Islamic world by retaining its own language and adhering to the Shia interpretation of Islam."

Iran's primary exports are petroleum (who knew?), carpets (do you think they're Persian carpets?) and agricultural products.

Check out some hilarity and excellent banter on The Daily Show regarding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It will be interesting to see if the results of the recent election in Iran will keep him in power. Sounds like there is a lot of unrest surrounding the results of the election, with quite some violence in Tehran.

Speaking of violence and crazy world leaders, this reminds us that thanks to former President Bush #43, Iran has the distinction of being our first Geography of the Delicious nation to also be a founding member of the prestigious Axis of Evil! Congratulations Iran! We thought you just belonged to the Axis of Deliciousness.

Chelo kebab

The internet seems to agree that this is the most popular and most famous Iranian dish.

1/2 lb ground lamb
1 egg
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp marjoram

Place ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Use your hands--it's funner than making mud pies because you actually get to eat the results of this. Once ingredients are thoroughly mixed, divide mixture into four portions and shape each portion into a long hotdoggity shape. Grill on your bbq until cooked through. Serve with buttery rice and grilled tomatoes.

We loved the flavor of the cinnamon with the marjoram in the lamb. Grilling the meat made it much less greasy than lamb tends to be, which I think was a plus. This is pretty much individually-sized Iranian meatloaf.

Week 18: Democratic Republic of The Congo

Hey, don't confuse the Democratic Republic of The Congo with the Republic of the Congo. Uhoh, my attention span is already at its limit.

But wait. We are francophiles (that means we like all things French, duh, that's my name) and the République démocratique du Congo (that's French) was formerly the Belgian colony from 1908 - 1960, the Belgian Congo (not to be confused with the unreleased 3rd installment of the Dirty Dancing trilogy, Dirty Dancing: Belgian Congo, staring Zach Efron).

Did someone say Belgian? Holy croissants, batman! Does this mean there might be some French influence in the cuisine? As much as this whole "geography of the delicious" thing is broadening my horizons, give me a goddamn baguette and some fricken fracken camembert, les bitches!

Dr. Congo, as I like to call this country, has both dense tropical rainforest and areas where drought is common. AIDS is a major issue here, as is human trafficking. Violence, famine, and disease are all very real threats for the Congolese people. It's heavy, heavy stuff.

Holy pain au chocolat, batman! The official language is French! But alas, the cuisine seems not to have retained any sort of Belgian or French influence. Even so, their national dish, Chicken Moambe*, looked like a winner to us. And indeed it was. It was very rich from all the peanutbuttery goodness, and the chicken was so tender it just fell apart.

Chicken Moambe

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper

pinch of red pepper
1 T butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 tsp nutmeg
10 oz tomato sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter, chunky style

Put chicken in a large pot. Add salt and pepper. Cover with water, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender 1 hour. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and nutmeg and simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes. Remove a cup of the tomato sauce and reserve. Add the chicken and simmer over low heat, covered, for about 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine the reserved tomato sauce with the peanut butter until smooth and slightly liquified. Add the peanut butter mixture to the pan to thicken the sauce and simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes.

*Not to be confused with Chicken Moambe, national dish of the Republic of the Congo.

Week 17: Turkey

Istanbul was Constantinople

Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks

No, the country, not the bird. (Which is a shame, because we do love a roast turkey). But it turns out we also like Turkey the country, if only for the deliciousness. Once the home of the great Ottoman empire which spanned 3 continents, Turkish culture is a mix of eastern and western. It is a country with old traditions and seeking to modernize. Its people are 99.8% Muslim with Mormon missionaries making up the last 0.2% (just a guess).

Turkey is home to Mount Ararat which is the highest peak in Turkey and the birthplace of the world famous Nuh'un lezzetli egzotik et deposu (Noah's Tasty Exotic Meat Emporium, est. 2344 BC, try the Unicorn steaks, limit 2 per customer).

But let's not forget Oiled Wrestling. Invented in the 1300s because Dry Wrestling isn't greasy enough. (Go ahead and try holding on to a nubile Turkish boy slathered in oil. Or not.) Enough cannot be said about Oiled Wrestling.

I have said too much... Moving on!

Turkish Bread or "Ekmek"

Ekmek is a staple of the Turkish diet and is made fresh up to 3 times a day. Typically, it is made from a starter similar to sourdough bread. We made the starter 5 days ahead of time by mixing 1/2 cup of water and a 1/4 cup flour and leaving loosely covered on the counter. Every day we added a few more tablespoons flour and water. On the 4th day it really got lively and fluffed way up (that's what she said)--a sure sign that wild yeasts had made a home there.

• 1 1/4 cup starter (see above)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• teaspoon salt

Proof the dry yeast and sugar in the warm water. When fluffy and happy add the proof to the starter and mix well. Gradually, stir in 2 cups flour. Add salt. Add flour until the dough is a sticky ball but manageable. Use the remaining flour to knead the flour until it is a tacky ball. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until double. Punch down and let it rest. Then knead a few minute and finish in the shape of a rough oval loaf. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 425 for around 40 minutes or until it sounds hollow when the bottom is thumped. Eat it.

Cacik

This reminded us of Greek tzatziki. Mix together:
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 finely chopped cuke
1 clove garlic, minced

Antalya Bean Salad

This dish is like chunky style hummus. We found it to be a tad too oniony. Still, quite a Turkish delight.

1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can northern beans
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

In a bowl mix tahini, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and onion. Add beans and mix well. Add in parsley last. Enjoy!

Turkish Lamb Chops ( taken from Recipezaar )

• 1/3 Onion grated
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 2 lamb chops, approx. 1" thick
• lemon for garnish
  
• salt and pepper
  

Sprinkle the onion with salt, squeeze out any juice. Add the thyme and oil and mix. Rub the chops with the mixture and let sit for 1 hour. Grill or broil, season with lemon, salt and pepper.

And enjoy this photo of all of the above:

Week 16: Germany

Germany, land of lederhosen and phalic castles. Actually, that's just a small part of Germany. Germany is in fact quite diverse: there are people who are infatuated with sausage and polka, and then there people who like sausage but prefer The Hasselhoff. Crazy, right?! When not looking angular and beautiful they are secretly wondering why they didn't invade your stupid country and fix everything you screwed up (the Swiss are the exception here, even Germans think they are uptight).

Thanks in no small part to former President Bush's super-appropriate backrub for German Chancellor Angela Merkel there has been peace between Germany and the USA for over 60 years.

Personally, we love Germany's cars (Jetta, baby), its beers, its Daniels, and its foods.

Some of you may know that we visited Germany briefly last year which makes us experts on German history and culture. The following picture illustrates our ability to blend in seamlessly with the locals in Munich.

Munich was great but we also took in some small town culture in Rothenburg ob der Tauber which loosely translated means "Horny Pig Thief River" in German. Our Geography of the Delicious experiment attempts to recreate a delicious meal we enjoyed here.


We made Bratwurst with veggies, several deserts and sampled some homebrewed Helles made by Michael last year.












Bratwurst with braised apples, cabbage and carrots
Makes 2 Servings.

2 bratwursts
1 onion, diced
1 green apple, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 cups sauerkraut
1 cup Riesling wine (or dark beer)
Salt and Pepper

Cook the brats in a pan until brown. Add the onions and cook until brown. Add the apples and carrots and cook briefly. Add carrot, sauerkraut, caraway and wine. Cook until wine reduces. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Spätzle - German Eggs Noodles

1 cup flour
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water

Start water heating in a pot like you would for dry noodles, add a little salt. This will be for cooking the noodles. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, salt and water until combined. Slowly , sift in the flour and mix until a sticky dough forms. We had to add more flour until the dough came together into a sticky ball. Don't kneed too much, this could make it tough. That's what she said.

Divide the dough into manageable pieces and working one piece at a time roll out to about 1/4 inch. The dough will be sticky so use lots of flour to help. Cut the dough into thin, 1/4 inch strips a few inches long.

Drop these into the boiling water, try not to let the noodles stick to one another as you add them. They will cook in just a few minutes, floating to the top when they are done. Try them to check if they are done to your liking. Serve with butter, salt and parsley.


Windbeutel - cream puffs
5 oz water
2 oz butter,unsalted
pinch of salt
3 oz plain flour
2 eggs
whipped cream
berries (optional)

Boil the water and add the butter. When butter is melted remove from the heat. Add a pinch of salt and the flour. Stir until mixed. it should eventually form into a sticky ball. Add one egg and mix until combined. Repeat with another egg.

Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. The dough will more than double in size and you can make the puffs as small or large as you want. We made 8 puffs by spooning the dough onto the baking sheet. Traditionally, you would use a pastry bag which I think would result in a more consistent puff. We put a little pan of water in the oven to keep the oven humid. You can also flick some water onto the baking sheet. This should help with the crust of the puffs and help them reached their puffy potential. Crust puff! Puffy crust!

Put in the oven and don't open it as the puffs can fall. No one likes a fallen puff. Watch them carefully--depending on size they cook fast or slow. Ours took about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest momentarily then carefully cut in half.

When cooled, fill each puff with whipped cream and berries. These can also be filled with savory foods. Delicious!

We also made this beautiful Black Forest Cake suggested by Daniel. The cake was truly delicious but we had to substitute our own concoction for Kirchwasser since we didn't have any. We used some mariciano cherry syrup and vodka which turned out pretty tasty. We also added some to the cake. What what!


And finally, check out this hot German dish! Taste the handsomeness!