Week 4: Scotland

In last week's blog, I mentioned that we weren't drawing for a country this go 'round since we already had a country in mind due to a special holiday. Only one person made a guess (nice effort, Meredith!) but no one guessed that January 25th was Robbie Burns Night. Why is that so special to let us bend the rules and not draw (and, erm, even make something we've had before)? The reason is that my sister and I  are a quarter Scottish--we love our heritage and love celebrating special days (for that matter, we need to take a look at some other countries' holidays--anybody know any Czech Republican/Slovak, Irish, or English holidays we should observe?).  In his honor, I'd like to take a brief paragraph to introduce you to Robbie Burns--the beloved Scottish poet.

Robbie Burns

Robbie Burns (1759-1796), the famous Scottish poet, was born on January 25--hence the celebration of his birthday every year on the same day. He was born in Ayrshire (the same region of Scotland my family's from--yay!) and lived in various parts of the country until his death at age 37. He is known for several poems, including some that you might know: A Red, Red Rose, My Heart is in the Highlands,  and Address to a Haggis. Traditionally, haggis is served on Burns Night in honor of his poem about the meal. <From Wikipedia> Visit the Robert Burns Wikpedia Page to learn more about "Scotland's Favorite Son," his works and the traditional Burns Supper.

Since there is a traditional menu for the Burns Supper, we worked from it to create our Burns Night feast. We decided to include several dishes: cock-a-leekie soup, haggis (vegetarian), neeps and tatties and Highland toffee. Cock-a-leekie soup is basically a chicken and leek soup. Haggis--well--let's say it's a Scottish delicacy! We weren't quite brave enough to try the real thing--and yes, Deidra, you're right--that's the whole point of the ATWin52 experience!--maybe next time I'll be able to convince my family to at least try canned haggis or even this beef "presentation haggis" (wow!). For those of you who aren't aware of what haggis is, here's a brief description: sheep's heart, liver and lungs with other ingredients cooked inside a sheep's stomach (read full description). Needless to say, that's a lot of "special" ingredients to procure, so we opted for the vegetarian version. "Neeps and tatties" is the Scottish phrasing of "turnips and potatoes"; both boiled and mashed separately and served alongside the haggis. The last item, Highland toffee, is a toffee dessert made with oats (while not necessarily a traditional Burns Night dessert, 'tis a traditional Scottish dessert so 'twas quite acceptable).

The soup is a fairly basic recipe which was not too difficult to make--it was time-intensive, though; it required making your own stock which was the most time-consuming part.We strayed away from the recipe's directions somewhat (by omitting bacon and prunes--whoops!). The soup turned out to be quite tasty and not very different than chicken-and-rice soup--the leeks did not carry a strong flavor. The haggis contains an array of ingredients including hazelnuts, oats and mixed spice. Courtney and I had this haggis recipe last year at Burns Night, so re-creating it this time around wasn't too difficult (albeit time-consuming); since we had church on Wednesday night, we did most of the preparation before church and finished it off in the oven after we got home. The veg haggis definitely has a unique flavor--it's similar to dressing/stuffing in both flavor and texture. The neeps and tatties were also simple to make--chop 'em up and get them each boiling in separate pots and then prepare like you would mashed potatoes (except no milk in the tatties). Courtney made the toffee (and did an excellent job on it!), which consisted of baking the oat mixture, coating with melted chocolate and letting it set.

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

Neeps, Haggis and Tatties

Highland Toffee

Everyone liked the cock-a-leekie soup--it was close enough to something we're used to that it was eaten without hesitation. The haggis, well, everyone tried it (way-to-go Rick!) but like I said before, it's quite a distinctive (and highly spiced) flavor--you should totally try it and let me know what you think about it! With the neeps and tatties, we all enjoyed the "tatties" part, which was pretty much good old fashioned American mashed potatoes, but the "neeps" were met with mixed reviews: mom absolutely LOVED them, Courtney managed to eat her portion, and I struggled through mine (only with the help of the bites of tattie and haggis that I put on the same forkful each time!). I honestly tried the "neeps" with an open mind, but the vegetable itself I did not care for--the flavor is reminiscent of cabbage (which I do like), but somewhat different--mom REALLY liked them, so don't let my opinion sway you on the neeps. The Highland toffee was a big hit and a great treat--the oaty flavor along with saltiness and chocolately/caramelly sweetness made it something I'll definitely want to try again!

I hope this week's adventure helped you learn a bit about the Scottish history that Courtney and I love so much--it's a pleasure sharing it with everyone! Props to Courtney this week for doing at least half the work on the feast and taking great photos as always! You did awesome!

We've already drawn our next country--it's definitely a different region than we've visited so far. This week's choice is Thailand. Bring on the suggestions! I think the only Thai food we've ever had is satay, so the opportunities are wide open! Thanks in advance for your suggestions and as always, thanks for joining us on our culinary adventure!

Week 3: Colombia

This past week's country was Colombia. A country that seemed somewhat in our comfort zones, but still exotic enough to make it exciting!

After Rick drew Colombia, I jumped right into the research and after a bit of digging, I found several things I wanted to try--like coconut rice, Colombian red beans and Papas Chorreadas (Potatoes with Cheese). I knew I wanted to try my hand at making plantain as a side dish, which was also something I was excited about (I LOVE plantain--and so does Courtney ;-D ). So this week, for the first time, we prepared a full menu for our country and not just a main dish: plantain as a side, as well as arepas and pollo con leche de coco (chicken with coconut milk thanks to http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/ for the authentic recipe name).

The recipes we chose came from three different sources, so you'll have to click each dish for each recipe: pollo con leche de coco | arepas | plantain. The ingredient list for the whole feast was a bit exotic but not extremely so. The plantains only required plantains and cooking spray (go figure!), the arepas just needed instant masa (as pictured below), butter and oil. The main dish was a bit more complicated, as it required two special ingredients that we don't normally keep in our pantry: coconut milk and Sazón Goya con Azafrán (also pictured below). Sazón Goya con Azafrán is a Hispanic seasoning blend popular in Colombian cooking containing saffron (azafrán). We were fortunate enough to find each of these special ingredients at our local Wal-Mart thanks to our large local Hispanic population.

Instant Masa, Plantain and Coconut Milk

Sazón Goya con Azafrán

The meal, although somewhat complex in composition, was not too difficult to prepare. Courtney prepared the marinade (with which she actually improvised a bit and it was great!)  for the chicken which we let the chicken sit in for the afternoon. Cooking the main dish was as simple as browning the chicken, sautéing the peppers/onions/garlic and then simmering them all with the coconut milk and sazón Goya. Courtney also helped me prepare the plantain, which was as simple as peeling/slicing/baking in the oven (make sure you don't get an under-ripe one like we did!). The most complicated part of the meal was the arepas (corn meal cakes), which required making dough and then carefully pan-frying and serving hot. The plantain were delicious, but we concurred that the recipe needed salt for next time. The arepas were quite a pleasant surprise--although Courtney likes corn tortillas, mom and I don't particularly care for them so we had a bit of hesitation with the arepas--but we both LOVED them--very tasty and quite a treat! The coconut chicken was, in a word, OHMYGOSH. It was scrumptious! The coconut milk was slightly sweet and cooking it with bell peppers, chicken and sazón Goya made it incredible. I think it's safe to say that Colombia week has been our favorite week thus far with the coconut chicken and arepas--and although I've said that we'd try the other recipes again, I can say with confidence that we'll definitely do this one again! If anybody wants to try it, shoot me an email and we'll make it happen! ;-D

Pollo con leche de coco, plantain slices and an arepa

Sorry for the late blog again this week--the family took a weekend trip to Atlanta (hi Ashley and Haley and Ron and Cindy and Howie and Zach!!)--now that we've come back home, I'm able to get Colombia's blog up ;-D Thanks to Colombian native Shakira for providing the music for tonight's blog-writing:

This coming week, we're bending the rules and will not be drawing a country because of a special holiday our family likes to observe (I'll give you a hint: it's on January 25th)--do you know which country it'll be?

Week 2: Greece

This past week, we chose Greece as our country of the week. We again breathed a sigh of relief--yet another country that was somewhat of a not-too-different country for us to try.

I was pretty stoked that we drew Greece--I even have a recipe book strictly devoted to Greek food (that Meredith gave me--thanks!!), so I immediately consulted it:

Although there were some great recipes in there, most of them were a bit too out there (i.e. exotic or authentic) for the whole family to be willing to try. While I was searching my book, mom was Googling recipes and found some more strong contenders. Most of mom's finds, however, left me scared stiff--they were mostly seafood. Seafood is something I've never cooked before (except for Gorton's frozen fish from the box); what made me most apprehensive, though, was the type of seafood dishes she was finding: fish stews. Although I'm all about the ATWin52 project widening our horizons and stretching our tastes, I desperately pleaded that we not have a fish stew--something about the idea just did not sit well with me--I kept thinking that fishy fish cooked in broth = fishy fish and fishy broth--I just wasn't quite at the point of embarking on that adventure! So mom made the suggestion that if we're having Greek food, our protein needed to be seafood or lamb (like seafood NOT cooked in stew); although the roasted/grilled seafood idea was appealing, I opted for lamb. Albeit I am not a huge fan of lamb either, but I was very willing to make the sacrifice so as to avoid the seafood stew. 

The one lamb dish inspiration I got from the book was "Oven-baked Arni," which was basically roasted leg of lamb. We concurred that plain-old roasted leg of lamb was a bit too ordinary (not to mention expensive!), so we continued to Google around for lamb recipes. What we decided on was Arni me Fassolakia (αρνί με φασολάκια if you'd like to get technical), literally "lamb with beans." Like last week, what I ended up cooking was a mix of two recipes (Recipe #1 | Recipe #2). Arni me Fassolakia is really a fairly simple recipe--a lamb stew with potatoes, tomatoes and green beans. Acquiring the lamb for the meal was quite the adventure (including my car giving out at the Lowe's Foods), but after going from place-to-place to find reasonably priced lamb and getting the meat off the bones, the rest of the meal was a breeze. What made it special was the lamb and the seasonings (parsley, mint, dill and cinnamon).

The Arni me Fassolakia simmering away

Overall, the family liked the Arni; it's a feat in and of itself when we can find something new that the whole family will enjoy! The first bit of feedback I received from Rick was "is there peanut butter in this?" to which I aptly replied "umm...no!" He noticed the sweetness of the cinnamon and after I pointed that ingredient out to him, I think he got it. Mom didn't love the flavor of cinnamon mixed in with the savory ingredients, but she finished her meal along with Rick (score!). Rick commented that he wished the stew "had a kick to it" (a spicy kick, that is). Courtney seemed to enjoy it as well; I personally thought it needed a bit more of the herbs than the recipe(s) called for, as well as more tomatoes and salt (I always want more tomatoes and salt, so that might not be a fair comment!). This is definitely a recipe I'd be willing to try again!

The finished product

Thanks to everyone who's been keeping up with the blog and making some great suggestions on Facebook (and props to Courtney for the great photos!)! Although we didn't have any spanikopita or galaktoboureko (or "galactic burrito" as Olga dubbed it), we may be able to sneak those in next time! Keep the suggestions coming--although we may not plug them in right away (since we're trying to avoid foods we've already experienced), we'll definitely keep them in mind to try in the future! And, as always, if there's a country you'd like to join with us in experiencing, just let me know and we'd be happy to share the experience--at the table--with you!

Stay tuned--this week's country is being drawn later this afternoon!

Week 1: Mexico

Last night, we jumped into our journey by visiting the cuisine of our first country: Mexico.

Our family was quite relieved to have a somewhat familiar selection for our first week--it took the edge off of the xenophobia we were experiencing, that's for sure! While Mexico is a country whose cuisine is familiar to our family and yours, no doubt (Taco Bell and Moe's--yum!), I was determined to find a recipe that was new to us. Finding a new Mexican recipe that everyone in the house would eat was quite a challenge: Rick doesn't like cheese, Mom doesn't like cilantro and Courtney doesn't like onions. That made finding an agreeable recipe a treasure hunt in itself.

I did find something, though, that I knew everyone would like--Pibil Pollo (or Pollo Pibil). For those of you that know some Spanish, you've already figured out we had chicken. Pibil Pollo is a chicken dish marinated in a bitter citrus and chili pepper sauce and steamed/roasted in banana leaves (traditionally). "Pibil," I had assumed from the point I first found the recipe, referred to "bitter citrus" or something like that. "Pibil," however, actually refers to the traditional method of cooking the dish, which requires (as discussed) wrapping meat in banana leaves, cooking in a citrus sauce and roasting in an underground barbecue pit. As you may have guessed, I did not obey the underground-roasting technique (Pibil defined)--and although we looked for banana leaves, we settled to wrapping our chicken in foil.

Red Chili and Citrus Marinade with lime, orange and grapefruit

I merged the two recipes I found online for our Pibil Pollo, borrowing techniques and flavors from the two to create my own rendition (Pibil Pollo recipe #1 | Pibil Pollo recipe #2). Regrettably, I could not seem to find epazote without visiting a specialty grocery store, so we left it out. Next time I make this (which I do believe there will be a next time), I'll be sure to put it in. And hopefully I'll be able to find banana leaves, as well. I think that the family enjoyed the recipe (except for Rick pulling off the roasted tomatoes--what's that about?)--since I only marinated the chicken for 90 minutes, the flavor wasn't quite strong enough. Another few steps for next time will be letting this marinate for 2 days as Recipe #2 suggests and using the cooking technique described in Recipe #1 (oven-steaming).

Pibil Pollo with rice and black beans

Overall, the first week was a success! We'll be drawing the next country tonight so we can have the weekend to visit those specialty grocery stores. Follow me on Twitter for the next country and include the hashtag #atwin52 to join in the conversation!