Week 62. Andorra. Trinxat.

I love my son more than you could ever imagine, but we have just had 24 hours of bliss without him. Looking after a two year old is an intense job and slowly, slowly your energy levels drain. You don’t realize it’s happening as it’s so slow, but 6 hours sleep starts to reduce your personality. You talk less at social events, you don’t do much needed exercise, you forget how to relax and simple things like doing the ironing become enormous jobs. It took us about two years to realize that just a very occasional break does wonders. In the last 24 hours I have had a 2 hour rest, a 9 hour (wow) overnight sleep, had a run, been for lunch, been to the cinema and been out for dinner. I feel utterly revitalized and ready to take on the world. I hate to be the smug parent who thinks they know best, and this is far from the truth, but what I can say is that if you are a parent and you get the opportunity for a break and a rest it doesn’t make you a bad parent – it makes you a better parent for when you are back with them in your possession. Adults need looking after too sometimes.

I drew Andorra this week and one of the very smallest countries in the world. Sandwiched in between France and Spain it has the highest capital in Europe in Andorra la Vella and is a prosperous country, largely due to the ski fields. I decided, therefore, that I needed to do mountain food. I’ve only been skiing once (I can parallel turn one way but not the other) but what I do know is it makes you ravenous. When it got to lunch time I needed mulled wine and a lot of hot food. Trinxat would have been perfect.

In the UK we have a dish called Bubble & Squeak which is named after the sound it makes in the pan when cooked. It is usually a breakfast dish and is made with the leftovers from a Roast Dinner. We usually make it on Boxing Day and use mashed roast potatoes and sprouts. It’s delicious but doesn’t take much thought and it lazily flavoured, usually with just salt and pepper. Trinxat is a a restaurant quality version of Bubble & Squeak. Think about the texture you would get by mashing a tough sprout and a hard roast potato. It’s rough and chunky. Trinxat uses cabbage and mashed boiled potatoes. They blend together much better and you can infiltrate the flavours garlic and pepper much more evenly throughout. The streaky bacon adds smoke and makes it more of a meal. I would eat it with some chunky buttered bread. If you were tired from a morning’s skiing, this is the dish to order. It will fill you with carbohydrates and iron and give you the fuel for another afternoon of exercise.

Right – I’m off to pick up the little monkey and take him to the park and kick a rugby ball about. I’ve got so much energy you see!

Trinxat Recipe:

I don’t want to be too strict on this as like Bubble and Squeak it can be thrown together.

You will need:

• Cabbage or Kale
• 3 Large Potatoes
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 5 rashers of smokey bacon

Boil a large cabbage or kale or both. Boil the potatoes.

Drain the cabbage and potato thoroughly and pat dry. Mash together with a little oil and salt and pepper.

Turn on the grill and grill strips of bacon on high. You want them very crispy.

In a flying pan, fry 3 chopped cloves of garlic softly for five minutes.

Pour the garlic infused oil into the bowl you set aside for the mash and stir it all in.

Return the flying pan to the heat and add in the mixture in small patties, frying them on both sides until they are browned.

Plate up and add the bacon strips. Enjoy!

Week 59. Algeria. Meatball Tagine & Coriander Salad.

I’m not allowed a Tagine. Our house is too small apparently and our cupboards are full of cooking equipment I “use once and then forget about”. It’s a fair comment and living in a two up two down terraced house in London there isn’t a lot of room for anything. When I have my huge Victorian house with the island kitchen and tri-fold doors which open onto the vast garden I’ll get me a tagine and I’ll impress at dinner parties by using it as the centerpiece and unveiling the food by lifting off the chimney.

Living in London in your 30s means for most that you have to live in a pretty small house. For what we paid for our house, with one downstairs room, you could buy a 4 bedroom house in the country but I wouldn’t want it any differently – especially with my love of food. Within 3 miles of my kitchen there is a Thai Supermarket, a Chinese Supermarket an Indian Supermarket and a generalist supermarket with African and Caribbean sections. There is a Polish shop at the end of my road which covers food from most of Eastern Europe and if I need anything from Sweden I go to Ikea. I learned once in Holland that their dish Hotchpotch is called so as it is a many different ingredients all thrown together in the same pot and they all combine to produce one wonderful result. I see the food scene in London very much on the same lines. We have British cuisine in the background but on top of that we have world cuisine and we can tap into it whenever we please.

I drew Algeria this week and the Meatball Tagine stood out.  For those who is not sure what a tagine is, here is a pic.

Without having Tagine and cooking a dish which required one, it meant I needed to improvise, so I used my casserole. Instead of constantly checking during the cooking process, as I usually would, I put the lid three quarters on and let it steam away. It produced a decent dish.

I love meatballs in most forms. There’s something about the texture which improves the overall taste somehow. These meatballs were the best I have ever made. It’s a big statement but they contained some really bold flavours which didn’t overpower and the undercurrent of harissa is wonderful. I would usually eat meatballs in a thick sauce and put them with rice or pasta, but with this dish there is not much sauce left at the end of the process and I ate it in a flatbread with homous and a fragrant coriander salad. It was rich, spicy, floral, meaty and fresh all at the same time. It’s brilliant food for when you have people round but you don’t want to sit all around the table in an smart dinner party way. You need to eat this with your hands and it’s quite messy.

I often get comments from people who have read this blog which say “that looked great, I really should make one of your dishes”.  All I would say in response, is perhaps you should, but if not then definitely cook something this week which is completely new for you. You will probably like it, it will certainly teach you something and overall you will be a better cook for it.

Meatball Tagine.

• 500g Beef Mince
• 1 Tbsp Paprika
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tbsp Cumin
• 1 Tbsp Turmeric
• 2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley
• 5 Tomatoes (skinned)
• 2 Tbsp Harissa
• 2 Shallots
• 2 Cups Water

Mix the beef mince with the Paprika, Garlic, Cumin, Turmeric and Parsley and divide into about 10 large balls. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

Heat some oil in a frying pan. Roll the balls all around just until they are browned all over and then set them aside.

In a casserole gently fry the shallots for 5 minutes and then add the chopped tomatoes and the harissa. Gently fry for another 5 minutes and then add the water and bring to the boil. Add in the meatballs, stir and then put the lid on the casserole, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and leave it for 30 mins with one stir half way.

Coriander Salad

• 1 Diced Red Onion
• 1 Diced Cucumber
• 5 Handfuls of Chopped Coriander
• A drizzle of Lemon Juice

Combine!

Week 55. Namibia. Magic Lamb.

It’s hardly been above zero degrees for a week, so I thought we would have a barbeque.

Am I mad? Maybe. Am I bored of winter? Definitely. Do I have the option of a deep pit in my garden to bury a leg of lamb in? No.

I drew Namibia this week and looked at the options for dishes to cook which would be relevant, not similar to something I have done before and appropriate for a Sunday night meal. Magic Lamb stood out.

It’s not clear why Magic Lamb is called so, but it is clear that it is a meal for whilst on the go – and on the go in the African wilderness….not Twickenham West London. It seems as though the dish originated with game or bush meat and was cooked in hastily arranged pits dug into the earth and filled with fire. According to the recipes I read the best option is the pit, but having only a paved courtyard for a garden I didn’t really have an option for that so had to throw on a load of layers and get the BBQ out!.

This particular dish lends well to a photo tour of it, so below I explain how I made it. Taste review post photos. Note – I didn’t do a leg of lamb, but shanks – it just worked better for an evening meal for two.

Lamb Shanks

 

I studded each with chopped anchovies, rosemary, pomegranate seeds, garlic and green peppercorns.

Stud the lamb

BBQ the lamb. In zero degrees.

The lamb tasted phenomenal. When I took it out of the foil I was concerned that the half which had been in contact with the grill was burnt, but I made a sauce/ gravy using some lamb stock, peppercorns and rosemary and just sat the shanks in the liquid for twenty minutes. It worked brilliantly and it almost tasted caramelized.

I’m tired right now. I’ve been cooking outside in the middle of winter. In Namibia it might not get cold much, but it bloody does here.

It’s back to the grindstone tomorrow. It’s quite funny; when I started this blog I saw it as my route to the future and I would amass an enormous following. Do you know how many followers I have? 13. I have cooked for 55 weeks and cooked nearly a third of every country in the world….and 13 people read this blog each week. For you 13 I love you. I will be inviting you to my wrap party. I have cancelled Wembley Arena and we are going to The Kings Head.

Week 49. Madagascar. Akoho misy sakamalao & Sakay

Next week I will be cooking my 5oth dish in this journey. Honestly I’m pretty impressed with myself. I had no idea if I would stick to it, but it has consumed me. I look forward to the next dish, the research, the new ingredients and new blends of ingredients I already know. I like the thought that I might hate some of the dishes (Vanuatu) or love them (Sri Lanka). I enjoy ticking off new countries or adding new (South Sudan). It will take a long time to do this but when I finish it will I be the only person in the history of the world to have done this? Maybe.

Back to this week.

It’s firework night in the UK and my mouth is conducting fireworks of its own. My tongue is burning, my nose is running, even my teeth hurt a bit and it has little to do with the mountain of chilli in this dish. I’m burning with garlic overload. If I wasn’t married and wanted to nip out tonight and try and secure the lips of a young lady I wouldn’t have a hope. I stink.

I’ve eaten 8 cloves of garlic in one dish and whilst delicious it’s just not practical if you have to see people within a week. Dishes from Madagascar are characterized by powerful flavours and once I had peeled and squashed the garlic I then blitzed a few chilies for the sauce…..30 chilies. Oh, and then just to continue with the theme I chopped a piece of ginger about the length of my arm.

As you can see from the picture (which I took about 20 minutes trying to style and look even the slightest bit interesting) this is not the most beautiful of dishes. It looks bland. It isn’t!

According to all the facts I looked at Madagascar is the 4th largest island in the world after Greenland, Borneo and New Guinea. What about Australia you scream at me. I thought the same. Australia, despite technically being an island, is actually a continent and that supersedes island status. I wonder if Australia would be happy being classed as the smallest of all continents rather than the beast of all islands?

I was tempted to cook a dish called Mo-Fo just because of how that would translate into the street language of today but instead if chose a different Mo-fo..ing dish.

Based off the East Coast of the African continent, Madagascar has a blend of colonial history which influences cuisine, but typically meat and rice are eaten for main dishes when available.

I chose Akoho misy sakama as it was simple and could be made from readily available ingredients.

To make the chicken (this covered 4 pieces) I poured approximately 6 tbsp of vegetable oil into a bowl and then added 6 cloves of chopped garlic and two inches of grated ginger. Adding a tbsp of salt I then just rubbed all the chicken in this marinade and set apart for a couple of hours.

I baked the chicken which took about 40 minutes and whilst they were heating I made the Sakay. All you need to do is blitz about 30 chillies with 3 tbsp of oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 3 tbsp of ginger powder, 2 tbsp and 1 tsp of sugar. You will make far more than you need but I bottled the rest and will use over the next few weeks on different dishes. It is brutally strong so use in minute moderation. I stirred some through rice and used the rest as a dipping sauce.

Overall this dish is powerful but delicious. Do be aware you won’t be able to speak to anyone close up for a few days after though.

 

Week 23. Pakistan. Lamb Karachi & Naan.

I know a lot more about Pakistan after reading the incredible Three Cups of Tea. The book tells the real story of Greg Mortenson who, after failing to climb K2 (second highest mountain on Earth), he stumbled disoriented into a village in the mountains of Pakistan. After feeding him back to health, Mortenson decided to repay the favour and build the village their first school. He got hooked and built 50 all across northern Pakistan. Possibly even more impressively he built a bridge over the Indus River which for the first time meant villages could trade with each other rather than having to haul themselves from one side to another on a pulley hundreds of feet above the river. It is a great book and really paints a picture of the bustling cities and the insular mountain villages and it talks of how to get from one to the other you must drive for 4 days along mountain passes high above a graveyard of trucks which have slipped off the edge. In the book Mortenson mentions food and how lamb and goat is eaten just as often as it is available. It is usually served with dhal, which is served with every meal. Blog wise I decided not to make a dhal this week as I made one when I cooked dishes from India only 13 weeks back.

Week 7. Cape Verde. Cachupa

The more I write this blog, the more it fuels my desire to open the shop. To give you some background, I will one day open ‘Riverbank and Badger’. It’ll be a Delicatessen, open from 6am until 7pm and it’ll sell stunning food from small independent companies across the country. Snacks will be available for breakfast with coffee, small bites will be available at lunchtime and each night a 3 course ‘pick me up’ meal will be on offer. There is more to that, but I need to hold some back or I might just be copied before I exist! I’ll also have an online shop which’ll utilize the skills I’ve developed in my current career.

Week 6. Brazil. Vatapá & Acarajé

Right. I am going to add a bit of the review before the usual preamble. Vatapa is highly interesting and tastes great. Acaraje is a mega hassle, didn’t work, drove me totally nuts and looks rubbish photographed. Back to the preamble….

The choosing of the country was pretty amusing this week, as it was chosen by a very good friend of mine (Dom) without realising what he was doing. We were discussing how we hadn’t had him round to dinner in a while so he suggested this Thursday. I said that was perfect and therefore he could chose the country. At this point I realised that very few of my friends actually know I do this blog, and he stood there with a blank expression and simply replied “you what mate?”.