Late Post: World Cup champion dinner

What are we doing with our time now that the World Cup is over? Our household followed all the action in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We watched the USA, we watched all Group C, we watched the Netherlands, Ghana, Uruguay, Germany, and Spain and... well, really we watched almost all of it. And what we didn't watch, we followed on fifa.com. M had a bracket poster that Steve brought back from Malaysia and updated the scores and winners of all of the games.

Around the end of the group stage, we decided that we would make an Around the World dinner from the champion nation. Spain, of course, came out on top. We debated making paella in honor of Spain's victory, but decided, in the end, to make another tapas dinner.

M's interruption
I do not think that I wanted Spain to win (Yes, even after the USA lost). Here are my top 5 nations that deserve to win the World Cup that haven't.


1. Netherlands
2. Portugal
3. South Korea
4. USA
5. Mexico

Me gusta tortilla esponol, chocolate caliente y churros.


Back to Mom...
Can you tell that we are a soccer family? :)

Anyway, the menu:
bread,
olives,
Manchego cheese
tortilla espanol
and, for dessert, hot chocolate & churros.

Tortilla Espanol is becoming one of my "go-to" dinners when we want a quick dinner.
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb potatoes, diced
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 eggs
salt & pepper to taste

1.) Heat oil in a non-stick skillet. Add potatoes, onion, and red bell pepper. Saute until soft, but not brown (about 15-20 minutes), stirring occasionally.

2.) In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add to the potatoes and veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, shaking the skillet occasionally, until the underside is set and beginning to brown.

3.) Cover the skillet with a large plate and hold in place with one hand. Quickly turn the skillet upside down so the tortilla falls onto the plate (no, really, it's not that hard). Slide the tortilla back into the skillet to cook the other side. Cook until the underside is lightly brown. Slide the tortilla onto a serving plate.

Churros
Vegetable oil for frying
Powdered sugar for dusting

dough:
1 c. minus 2 Tbsp self-rising flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 c. butter, diced
3/4 c. water
3 eggs, beaten

1.) Sift together the flour and cinnamon. Set by the stove.
2.) Heat the butter and water until the butter has melted. Quickly bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the flour mixture all at once. Beat until smooth. Return to heat for about 30s, continuing to beat. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Gradually beat in the eggs until the mixture is a smooth, glossy paste.
3.) Heat oil to 375oF.
4.) Spoon dough into a pastry bag (or a Ziploc bag with a corner cut) and pipe 3-4 pieces of dough into the oil. Fry for about 3 minutes, turning once, until golden. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the churros to paper towels to drain. Keep warm while cooking the remaining dough. Dust with sugar. Serve with hot chocolate, and dunk the churros in the hot chocolate.

Ethiopia dinner

Everyone enjoyed our recent trip to the Blue Nile so much that on Friday, we made an Ethiopian dinner at home.

The menu:
Akara (the same appetizer we made for our South African dinner, recipe here.
Cabbage and potato (see below)
lentils (also below)
and, of course, homemade injera (also called biddeena, the bread that doubles as utensils, recipe below).

M had fun helping make the injera and eating with his hands. Our homemade injera was a little thicker than the restaurant's, which made it a little harder to pick up bites of lentils and, especially, the cabbage and potato. But we still enjoyed sharing a platter of food. Steve named it "Gosa Gosa Mom," like Blue Nile's Gosa Gosa A (I think Gosa Gosa means combo).

M's interruption

Hi.We made injera and then ate it with the other dishes.We also had some yogurt (It isn't on the menu).

Back to Mom...

I used the recipes for injera and yellow lentils from "The Africa News Cookbook: African Cooking for Western Cooking" and also adapted the recipe for the potato and cabbage from one of the recipes in "The Africa News."

Injera (cut in half from the cookbook's recipe, made plenty for the three of us)
2 c self-rising flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 c club soda
2 c water

Combine the dry ingredients. Add the club soda and water and mix into a smooth, fairly thin batter.

Heat a large, non-stick skillet. When a drop of water bounces on the pan, dip about 1/2 c of batter and swirl to spread the batter thinly and evenly (maybe you'll be better at making it thin than I was). When the moisture has evaporated and small bubbles appear on the surface, remove the injera. The recipe calls for cooking on only one side. I flipped mine and cooked briefly on the other side, since I had trouble getting them thin.

Stack the injera as you remove them from the skillet and cover with a cloth to keep them from drying out. To serve, lay them on a platter in overlapping circles. Serve the veggies and lentils on top and make a second plate with extras (see photo above).

Potatoes and cabbage (this is my version of "The Africa News"'s Yataklete Kilkil, spiced vegetables)
1/4 lb butter
2 Tbsp chopped onion
1/2 tsp dried ginger
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 inch piece of cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 lb new potatoes, halved
a head of cabbage, cut into to thin shreds

1.) Steam the potatoes until tender (about 20 minutes).
2.) Melt the butter over low heat. Add all of the spices and stir to keep from burning. Add the cabbage and saute until wilted and tender.
3.) Add the potatoes and stir to coat the potatoes in the melted butter.
4.) Discard the cinnamon stick before serving.

Yellow Lentils (halved the original recipe)
1 c. orange lentils (I used toor dal)
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp fresh ginger (emergency substitution, I used 1/4 tsp dried ginger powder)
1/2 garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, pounded
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Bring 2 c water to a boil. Add the lentils and the salt. Cook until the lentils are tender (about 30 minutes). Drain and then mash slightly with a fork or potato masher. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Fry the onions until golden. Add the spices and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add the lentils, stirring well. Heat until the mixture is thick.

On location: Blue Nile restaurant

On Saturday night, we took Around the World dinners on location to the Blue Nile restaurant, an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis. Steve and I used to eat here frequently in the years B.C. (before child) but hadn't been back in... well, in about seven or eight years. It was just as good as we had remembered, maybe even better. We ordered the Gosa Gosa A combo, a platter of their vegetarian dishes, served on a communal platter. In traditional custom, Blue Nile doesn't give you silverware: you eat by breaking off pieces of biddeena (bread) and using it to pick up bites of the other foods. I was struck by what a sense of closeness sharing a platter of food gave our meal. M's favorite dish was the sauteed potato and carrot but he also ate plenty of red lentils and black lentils. My favorite was the foule, a fava bean stew. Check them out at Blue Nile Restaurant. We will not wait another seven years to return and will probably make a homemade Ethiopian meal soon, but maybe with fewer dishes on our Gosa Gosa platter.


M's comment I liked the biddeena and I liked using it as a spoon!

Friday June 11: World Cup celebration

M here.
Hi. On Friday June 11 we ate a special World Cup dinner. We ate 5 different things from 4 different countries for 4 different reasons.

Menu:
Akara from South Africa.
Tortilla espanol and asparagus with citrus sauce from Spain.
Scones from England.
Cookies FROM THE U.S.A!


The reasons: Spain: a high ranked team; South Africa: you should always respect the host; U.S.A we live there; England it's a great place.

Mom's interruption
What a yummy dinner! And easy to make. Other than the cookies, which we made the day before the dinner, we made everything after a long day that included both a trip to the zoo and a play date with friends.

Tortilla espanol is much like an omelet or an Italian frittata. Akara are black-eyed pea fritters. The cookies were classic tollhouse but with peanut butter and chocolate chips, because, after all, what's more American than peanut butter! :)

Back to M
Well, here's a little info about U.S.A. and the World Cup. The U.S.A. has hosted one. It was in 1994. The mascot was Striker. They have never won one. More about Striker: Striker is a English football(Soccer)-mad dog. He has the U.S.A. kit on. Weeelll, I guess that's it. Enjoy the World Cup!!!!!! Bonus: How many times did I say U.S.A.?(the one in the question counts!)

Back to Mom for links to the recipes.
Mom again:
This is the best recipe for akara that I have found: http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Akara.
For the asparagus, I planned to make this sauce but at the last minute, just mixed olive oil, yogurt, and orange juice. How did I cook before the internet??

Late Posts: South Africa & Malaysia

We have been cooking plenty but not writing these last couple of weeks. We've had two Around the World dinners since our last post. The first was on April 10. In honor of South Africa hosting this summer's World Cup soccer tournament, we made a South African dinner. We made two courses, a main and a dessert. The main course is a popular South African street vendor food, bunny chow. It is curry served inside a bread bowl. The bread serves as the container and the utensil and is supposed to have originated as a way to serve workers who couldn't afford their own spoons or bowls. We chose to fill our bread with a simple chickpea and tomato curry that I make frequently and which is a family favorite. For dessert, we made Malva pudding. The recipe came from Recipezaar, one of my favorite go to spots for recipes. The recipes for Malva pudding is here. I agree with the review declaring this "the most fab pud ever!"

Last Wed, we made a dinner from Malaysia, in order to see what Dad (aka Steve) would eat on his business trip to Penang, Malaysia. We made Malaysian rojak, a salad made of pineapple, cucumber, bean sprouts, and crushed peanuts. The dressing is usually very spicy but I left out the chilis and just used honey, vinegar, and a little olive oil. Steve and I added red chili paste to our salad. M isn't a fan of bean sprouts but still enjoyed the rojak. I also made Char kway teow, a Malaysian Chinese dish which is kind of like fried rice, except with rice noodles instead of rice. I don't have a good link to the recipe, as I mixed several recipes together. I've always had a hard time making fried rice at home and the char kway teow had a similar problem; it didn't seem as "fried" as it sounded like it should have been. But it was still tasty. I look forward to hearing about the char kway teow that Steve is trying in Malaysia and having it for myself at a local Malaysian restaurant (Peninsula Malaysia) to see how close I got it. M saw a Mango and Tofu stir fry on Peninsula's menu and is eager to try that one!

On location: England

We've just returned from a 10-day trip to England. What a beautiful country, with a rich history. And great food. I know no one associates England with good food, but we have eaten so well on both of our trips.

One of the culinary highlights was a goat cheese tart at the George Inn in Lacock Village. The tart was delish and the setting was perfect. The village of Lacock is fully owned by the National Trust and the town has been featured in many movies and TV. The cloisters in the town abbey were part of Hogwarts, one of the buildings was in the miniseries version of "Pride & Prejudice," and another house is Judy Dench's character's house in the British TV series ("Cranford"), among others. The George Inn has had a liquor license since 1362. No, that's not a typo, 1362!!

In London, we had two dinners at the Prince Edward pub. Prior to our trip, I had set my Google status to "London Calling." Guess what started playing as soon as we sat down the first night at the Prince Edward? I was so excited that I had to text a friend in the States to tell her.

M's interruption:
I liked Pizza Express. We ate there in Bath, London, AND York! I also liked the pizza at Garfunkel's at Heathrow Airport. Mom also found FIFA trading cards at the airport. I also got English Premier League trading cards and watched Bolton v. Manchester United on TV at one of the pubs.

Yo Sushi! was also very cool. Instead of ordering, you take your food from a conveyor belt. Bowls are color-coded so you know the price. Surprisingly avocado rolls and edamame are among the cheapest. I had 3 bowls of avocado rolls, each bowl has 4 rolls, so I had 12 avocado rolls!

Back to Mom.
Yes, we ate in Pizza Express three times. Among the best pizza I've ever had. I especially liked the Fiortina, which had spinach and a fried egg on top. The egg worked much better than it sounds. Really. One thing that I noticed and really appreciated about Pizza Express and other chain family restaurants is that they said that they avoided using GMOs. Wish it would happen here, but I'm afraid that the agribusiness lobbies are too strong.

Tonight, we're making our first post-vacation Around the World dinner. Keeping with M's interest in the FIFA World Cup, it'll be a South African meal ("bunny chow" and Malva pudding). Look for a post tonight or tomorrow!

Mothering Day/ Simnel Cake

Happy Mothering Day! Yesterday morning, after we changed all our clocks forward an hour, we saw that the calendar said that it was Mothering Day in the UK. We're getting excited for our spring break trip to England so we're interested in all things UK. Thanks to Wikipedia, we learned that Mothering Day is the fourth Sunday of Lent and Mothering Day traditions are hard to separate from Lent/Easter prep. One tradition that started with Mothering Day and is now also an Easter tradition is the Simnel cake. Who can resist a recipe that calls for a pound of marzipan -- even if it means Mom has to be in the kitchen on Mothering Day?!

I used the recipe here, which even includes step by step pictorial directions! My Simnel cake didn't turn out quite as pretty as theirs, but tastes wonderful!!