lauantai 22.08.2009

Started a new project today - every saturday, I'll pick a new european country, in alphabetical order, and use that country's recipes to fashion my dinner. Today, it started with Albania, the dishes being Tavë Kosi and Speca të mbushura.

Speca të mbushura is basically stuffed peppers. It went pretty well, and tasted great also.[KUVA]

Tavë Kosi ... well, it has sheep in it, and there was only frozen sheep in the local store. So, melting it proved to be a difficult task. It ended up making the meat.. not so tender. And there was a wee bit too much salt also. All in all though, an interesting recipe. Lamb, with yogurt-egg sauce on top. So, basically a sheep omelette. With yogurt. Lambyogumelette?[KUVA]

Next week, it's time for Andorra. I wonder if I can even find recipes from such a small country.

lauantai 29.08.2009

Second Saturday in my alphabetical culinary expedition across Europe. Today I made Trinxat, dish from Andorra. Or tried to make it... it's basically mashed cabbage and potato with some bacon, fried on a pan. Well, I was in too much of a hurry making it, trying to multitask, so it failed. Completely. It didn't fry properly on the pan, just soaked up the oil. The only good thing about that was, it was great on rye bread, for the next week. [KUVA]

lauantai 05.09.2009

Today it was time to make Armenian food. I didn't feel too adventurous, so just decided to make Lule Kebab, or broiled lamb-burgers. Except I used beef instead of lamb, since there was no lamb at the local store. Nevertheless, they were delicious, and easy to make. I'll certainly try this one again. [KUVA]

lauantai 12.09.2009

This weekend, it was turn for Palatschinken from Austria - which is basically like crêpes. I was pondering about doing a sweet filling, but decided I'd stick to yummy meat one. The stuffing had sliced pork, ground chicken, garlic, onion, and lots of other spices. On hindsight it could have used some more tomatoes, but it was decent enough as it was. [KUVA]

lauantai 19.09.2009

Azerbaijan this week, last of A. I went for Toyug Chighirtmasi - which is basically chicken with eggs. And tomatoes. I swear, there was something wrong with the recipe, it had way too few eggs, compared to the amount of tomatoes. Well, it ended up being way too wet, thus making it look like pile of puke on the plate, as you can see from the following picture. The taste was great, however! [KUVA]

Next week, it's time to start the letter B, from Belarus. They have nice amount of fancy recipes, I'm not sure which one to use yet.

sunnuntai 27.09.2009

Enter Belarus. Today I made stuffed liver, Homiel manner. Basically, it's liver with onion and pork fat inside, rolled into a loaf. The loaf is then deepfried, before being added into a pot with vegetables to stew until done. I have to say, I was a bit sceptical at first, but the pork fat did balance out the sometimes rather dry taste of liver. Also, I haven't had liver in a loooong time, and it was great to enjoy it again. Plus I think the photo was nice this time. Well, compared to last week, anyhow. [KUVA]

sunnuntai 04.10.2009

Belgium. This week I let my lil brother decide what we should make - surprise surprise, he chose Flammekeuch. It's pretty much a pizza, where the bottom layer is sourcream instead of tomato paste. Then, some cubed bacon, onions, cheese, and chives as a garnish. It did taste better than ordinary pizzas
[KUVA]