World Cuisine: Eastern Europe

The date on the top of my notes is 'March 2018'.
It's been a very busy several months with sewing deadlines, and now finally we're getting back to this project.
I have to say, I struggled with Eastern Europe. There are many small countries with their own cultures, but the food patterns are fairly similar and a lot of them are based around bread.
When trying to stay gluten free, there were several things I wanted to make but decided not to because I didn't think I could do it justice.

First we tried a dish that I had heard of years ago and has never gotten around to trying.
Polish Strawberries and cream...
...on pasta.

I've eaten a lot of pasta dishes in my day, but I can't say that I've ever had a 'dessert pasta'.

Even this is not considered dessert, but a summer snack. Strawberry season is short, and they are eaten fresh in every way possible.

Because this is more of a snack or lunch than a dessert, it is not very sweet.

Perhaps it's just my North American palette that was hoping for something sweeter, but we weren't quite sure how we felt about it. I think with some tweaking it could be really good, although maybe not authentic.

Also from Poland, and creeping in to Ukraine, pierogies!

I used the gluten free pasta dough that I also used for the samosas and Chinese dumplings.

Worked pretty well!

We stuffed them with mashed potatoes, onion, and bacon.

I've never been a huge pierogi fan. I prefer smaller pockets with beef in them like tortellini.

It was fun to make them ourselves though, and definitely better homemade than from frozen.

A reoccurring meal all over Eastern Europe is cabbage rolls.

We chose a recipe form Romania, where they are called sarmale.

Pork and heaps of fresh parsley and dill are mixed with rice and loaded in to blanched cabbage leaves.

To be truly authentic you are supposed to use sour cabbage leaves, which have been fermented in brine, similar to sauerkraut.

Toby was not a fan, even though we like all these ingredients separately.

It's a LOT of work for something that a family can eat up in one sitting.

Another Ukranian item we made was potato pancakes called deruny.
Potatoes are an important staple over here with whole cookbooks devoted to them.

These pancakes are not like their lacy cousin the latke, they are made with very finely grated or pureed raw potato so the appearance is more like a traditional pancake.
The taste, however, is nothing like a traditional pancake.
They are not sweet, and when cooked right they taste like the hashbrown patties we know and love.
Most recipes squeeze all the potato liquid out and this one did not, which I think made it a bit harder to cook. When I cooked it in a lot of hot oil they crisped up, but were still a bit soggy when they cooled, and when i cooked them without oil so they weren't soggy they got quite bitter.
Regardless, Toby liked them!
It's supposed to be a 'quick meal' but it took forever to grate the potatoes so I probably wouldn't do it again unless it was a special meal.

From Bulgaria we made tarator soup.
This delightfully cold yogurt soup would be perfect on a balmy day on the back patio.
I found it very similar in flavour to a Greek tzatziki spread, and the tartness of the Balkan style yogurt gives an extra bit of freshness to this dish.

Toby loved it and drizzled it over his deruny for a fun topping.

Lastly from Hungary we made goulash.
Goulash is a meat stew which is heavily seasoned with paprika. In North America we associate this term with a ground beef and pasta dish, but it's actually a very hearty stew.
I'm used to making beef stews with lots of chili and oregano and black pepper, but this recipe is only flavoured by onion, garlic, and paprika (1/4 cup of it!).
It was actually pretty good. I thought the paprika would be too overpowering but it was just right.
Paprika is a spice that is not actually made from crushed seeds, like most spices.
It's make from dried and crushed sweet red peppers so when cooked it lends a warm roasted pepper flavour to the dish. There are several ways to prepare the peppers for grinding which results in slightly different paprika flavours. Hungarian paprika is sweeter and less smokey than other kinds like Spanish paprika.

We're now busy planning meals for the Mediterranean!

Happy Eating!!

World Cuisine: Central Europe

Mistakes may have been made.

When we started this journey I wanted it to be more about the regional flavours of a continent, not necessarily focusing on specific countries for too long. Of course it happens, but we will touch on 

several of them and make a large meal out of it.
And then Europe happened.
Did you know there are at least 50 countries in Europe?
I knew we couldn't do them all, but it didn't feel right to single any of them out.
Northern Europe went pretty well, I think... then we moved south into central Europe.
No Problem!, I thought. The land of cheese, chocolate, and sausages!
But very quickly I realized that not only do countries like Germany and France have VERY different cuisine, the cuisine varies GREATLY within the provincial regions of each.

We had already begun taking some photos though, so we continued.
I apologize for the length and discord of this blog.
Europe, you have too much delicious food.

I thought perhaps we would at least work from beginning of day to end,
so from The Netherlands: Breakfast!

Yes, those are chocolate sprinkles.

Hagelslag - in either chocolate, anise, or fruit flavours - is a kitchen staple and a confusion for us North Americans who associate sprinkles with dessert.

Hot bread or rusks are slathered in butter (so the sprinkles don't roll off, duh) and then laden with hagelslag.

Not a bad way to start the day.

For lunch we're off to Berlin, Germany where currywurst is a popular street food.

Now you might be thinking: "'Wurst' is a sausage right? Because I've been to Oktoberfest, I know things. So this is just a sausage with curry in it?"

Nope.

It's weirder than that.

Currywurst is just a bratwurst sausage, but it's smothered with a curry infused

ketchup and lots of curry powder.

The sauces vary across the city, and each street vendor has their own way of serving it.

 

I liked it, Toby thought it was good. It's definitely not something I ever would have thought of doing on my own, and not sure if I'll enthusiastically make it again, but there is a unique heartiness to it that led to me eat two of these.

Usually it's served on-the-go with fries, or you can follow it up with a soft baked pretzel.

We made some gluten free ones.

Several of them were victims of an unfortunate over-salting incident.

An afternoon snack often calls for cheese and crackers!

We rounded up some European cheeses from some local cheese shops and had a tasting session.

Clockwise from the red rind we have Edam (Netherlands), Cumin Gouda (Netherlands), Brie (France), Emmental (Switzerland), Swiss (North America - I'll explain), plain Gouda (Netherlands), and Boursin (France).

We accompanied these with crackers and a German farmer's sausage.

Now, when we were buying cheese I knew I wanted to find things that were actually made in the country we were representing, not a North American 'knock off'.

I found an Emmental that was made in Switzerland, but could not for the life of me find just good old Swiss cheese. I finally bought a block of Canadian-made Swiss, but it wasn't until after we had done all this that I found out why we were having a hard time.

There's no such thing as 'Swiss cheese'.

Emmental IS 'Swiss cheese', however based on the one we tried it has a much stronger flavour than the Americanized version. I compared it to the flavour of Parmesan, Toby didn't like it.
Toby favourites were the cumin Gouda and the Boursin. I will always favour Swiss cheese over anything, but I liked the cumin Gouda a lot too.
I will note that that I went to a Dutch store to get the cumin Gouda. There is a 'spiced Gouda' in the grocery store and it is NOT the same. I think they use caraway seeds which look similar but have a very different flavour. We didn't like it when we tried it later.

Appetizers before dinner?

How about we hop to France for some escargot?

We were not fans...I wanted to like it, I know lots of people do.

I got through three, and Toby was excited to try it until he saw the blubbery bits.

Snails not your thing?

How about we go to Switzerland for some Swiss fondue?

Usually it's just eaten with bread, and maybe apples, but we had some broccoli too for colour.
Swiss fondue is SO much more that just melted cheese. It's a whole new flavour experience.
Two types of sharp cheese are melted down with white wine, brandy, garlic, nutmeg, and lemon to make a rich, stringy dip.
The taste is not what you expect, but strangely appealing. Very rich.

Dinnertime!
First from The Netherlands we have Boerenkool.
It's exactly what it looks like and tastes even better.
Potatoes are boiled and mashed with onion, garlic, and kale; and then fried sausages are cut up and mashed in as well.
The more overlying word for this type of dish is stamppot, which refers to stuff that's cooked then mashed. There are lots of different types of stamppot - one for every mood and season.

It's so simple - no different than just having potatoes and sausage for dinner.
Toby has asked for this multiple times since.

Another jumbled dinner: Älplermagronen
This Swiss dish translates to Alpine Macaroni and originated in the Swiss Alps when winter food was scarce, but dairy products were plentiful from the cows that these mountain farms raised.

Pasta and potatoes are boiled together, onions are caramelized, and then the pasta mix is layered with cream and lots of cheese (emmental, gruyere, or both), then topped with the onions and baked.

This baked mac and cheese is then served hot over a generous helping of apple sauce.

We're not used to such sharp cheeses, so we just had small helpings, but it was pretty good! I would not have thought of serving apple sauce with mac and cheese, but then I guess people put apples and pears in grilled cheese sandwiches!

Hopping back to France for a more 'dignified' dinner: Boeuf Bourguignon.

The recipe I used was based on Julia Child's recipe which made this dish famous in the 1960s.

French cooking is not for the faint of heart.

I like cooking (clearly) but just reading this recipe made me go searching for something simpler.

I looked at lots of different traditional French dishes and every one of them had multiple steps, sometimes marinating or simmering things for days.

It was around this time where 'Mistakes may have been made' started floating around in my head over and over and over again.

I came back to this.

As daunting as all the steps were, and as tempted as I was to just throw everything in a pot and boil it like I usually make stew, I stuck with it.

And wow.

There is a reason that the French regard cooking as an art. It is a labour with incredible rewards.

And this stew is one of them.

You start with chunks of bacon which are browned and set aside.
You brown chunks of stewing beef in the same pot and set aside.
Again in the same pot  you saute chunks of carrot and sliced onion before removing the excess grease and adding back the meat. Salt, pepper, and flour are added to the pot to coat everything.
This is put in a hot oven for just a few minutes so the flour heats without burning.
The pot is then put back on the stove where beef stock, red wine (lots of it), tomato paste, and 'bouquet garni' (a bundle of thyme, bay, and parsley) are added.
This is brought to a simmer and then put back in the oven for 3-4 hours.
While you're waiting for that to cook you peel and braise pearl onions (becuase the other onions we used will lose their shape and are just for flavouring the broth). These baby onions are browned in butter until they are a little soft, and then they are simmered with beef stock and herbs.
Usually there are sauteed button mushrooms in this recipe too, but Toby doesn't like mushrooms and I wanted him to eat this.
After the pot is removed from the oven, it's contents are poured over a sieve to separate the meat and carrot chunks from the broth. The now very thick broth is simmered on the stove and the extra fat is skimmed off the top.
The pot contents are tossed with the onions and put in a large dish. The gravy-like broth is poured over top.

This is usually served with potatoes or rice. We had rice and baguette with it

It was.... so good.

I'm having a hard time describing it.

It was very rich. Very filling. Very tender - everything, even the beef, melted in your mouth. Very flavourful. I cook with wine and broth a lot, but it's never been anything like this.

So now, as if you weren't full enough, it's time for dessert!

There are so so many little after dinner foods from these countries, but we collected a few together for a taste-test.

From France - macaroons. These light and chewy desserts are a cross between a cookie and a candy and come in tons of flavours and colours.
From Belgium - shell chocolates. Heavy, rich, and creamy treats with just a hint of hazelnut.
From The Netherlands - Droppies and stroopwafels. Droppies are a horror to the snack world that any self-respecting Dutch person will use to prank their non-Dutch friends, while genuinely enjoying snacking on them. They are potent, salty black licorice treats that come in all shapes, sizes, and salt levels. Stoopwafels on the other hand are the greatest thing on earth. I grew up eating these and recently found a GOOD gluten free version. Thin cookie-like waffles have caramel syrup pressed between them. If you rest one over a warm cup of coffee or tea the middle gets all gooey again.
I've had the privilege of eating a fresh one before. A small amount of batter is poured on a hot waffle iron and cooked quickly so that when the iron is opened a large air bubble inflates in the middle of the waffle, like a pita. The waffle is cut open, filled with caramel, and smooshed closed again.
Nothing will ever beat that fresh one.

Except maybe this.

The Black Forest Cake comes from the Black Forest region of Germany.

If you don't know what that is, think Brothers Grimm fairy tales, and any folk-tale about not going in to the forest alone. The trees there grow so close together that the forest is always dark, even in the day.

Despite that fact the cake didn't get it's name for it's dark colour, but rather the type of cherry brandy (kirschwasser) that is used to flavour the cake. There are even measures in place dictating that you can not claim that a cake like this is a Black Forest Cake if kirschwasser has not been poured over the cake layers as you're assembling them.

Kirsch is a clear brandy from the black cherry pit, and although I didn't have clear kirsch, I did have dark cherry brandy.

I was supremely proud of the way this turned out. I even curled my own chocolate for the top and sides. I'm not a chocolate-person but I loved every bit of this.

So there you have it.
A whirlwind journey of central Europe.
I would like to say I've learned lessons from the amount of stuff that was crammed in here and the amount of things I missed, but we all know that's not true.
Onward!

Happy Eating!!