Dutch Comfort Food

Dutch cuisine has been influenced by French and German cuisine. Dinner is typically the main meal of the day (unlike Germany), and meat, potatoes, and a variety of vegetables are common. Apples are frequently used in savory main courses and side dishes. Most traditional dutch main courses are very heavy.

One cool and rainy Saturday seemed like the perfect day to have some warm, hearty comfort food simmering on the stove. I happened across a Stoofvlees recipe on Kayotic Kitchen, and the author said she liked to eat it with just fries. That sounded good to me! I made some modifications to the Stoofvlees recipe using the Kayotic Kitchen Hachee recipe. It was fantastic! Flavorful and hearty and satisfying. If I make it again, though, I'd throw the dutch oven in the oven instead of simmering on the stove - more than I'd prefer stuck to the bottom. I also made a salad with a warm bacon dressing to get some vegetables. It was supposed to be two meals, but was so delicious I polished it off immediately!

Uruguay: A total meat-fest

South America is known for its beef. The gaucho has perhaps an even more romantic connotation than our cowboys - cattle are a big deal. Consequently, one of the most common Uruguayan meals is meat grilled over a wood fire, perhaps accompanied by some herb-y sauce. On the other hand, everything the Barbecue Bible listed for Uruguay was meat rolled up with stuff inside it. I made my own recipe based on what I had on hand (using chicken instead of beef since the beef version took about an hour to grill), and it was delicious! It couldn't even compare to the beef, though. We were a little worried about the short ribs, since after starting them in the oven they didn't smell super appetizing, but after a little time on the grill with some mojo (in this case, salt water) they were falling-apart tender and meaty. The flank steak wasn't really tender, but it was also delicious and highly edible. I'm looking forward to making tacos with the leftovers!

Another note: I'd read that South American short ribs are cut differently than American short ribs, so I went to a Latin market in Del Ray and talked to the butcher there about what I wanted. It was definitely a different cut, and worked really well. He also sliced the flank steak extra thin for me so that it cooked in no time! 

Indonesia: Meat on a Stick

A shamefully long time ago now, I made a bunch of Indonesian food. It was a rare nice day in February, I had been reading the Barbecue Bible, and it just seemed a shame to waste the opportunity. Indonesian food is typically fresh and heavily spiced, as well as quite diverse. Sates, or small kebabs, are the most common street food. I made three of them: two beef and one chicken, as well as a fresh relish/salad and dessert. Overall, the meal looked gorgeous on a plate. And it was enjoyable. I'd say it was the most exotic meal I've cooked so far, with the most unfamiliar flavors and combinations. The highlight was the coconut lemongrass caramel sauce from dessert; I could actually have done without the caramelized banana it was served over. The chicken sates were my favorite. I finished the leftover relish, but for me it was more interesting than enjoyable, especially after the first couple of bites. It was very strong.

Bulgaria

Bulgarian food seems to be pretty generic Mediterranean food, so when I found a couple of recipes in the Barbecue Bible that were supposed to be pretty stereotypically and even uniquely Bulgarian, I jumped at them. It helped that they were simple. One was a tomato and feta salad. It was pretty delicious, but I would say that lessons were learned. Kenny, who gave me the Barbecue Bible, loves to grill (I say he's a master, he says he's a hack) so we decided to grill as much as possible. Afterward, we decided that grilling the tomatoes had been a mistake (it compromised their structural integrity more than I would say is ideal), but if I do it again I should grill the onions too. I used the Greek-style feta in brine from Trader Joe's and oh my goodness was it good. Creamy, just like I remember it being in Athens (although I'm pretty sure Molly will say that marinating it in oil is the only way to go). We also made kufteh, or Bulgarian meatballs. Only the Bulgarian way is to make them more like burgers, but we ate them plain. Kenny liked them much more than I did; he was thrilled to take the leftovers home. All in all, a solid meal, but maybe not stuff I'd make again.

Ireland

My impression from reading the recipes in my favorite cookbook (ATK International, of course) is that Irish food is hearty, not too heavily spiced, and big on potatoes. Since my friend Ben gave me a gorgeous dutch oven for Christmas, I definitely wanted to utilize it, so I went with some standards: Guinness Beef Stew and Irish Soda Bread. My friend Becky of BeCouply joined me for the meal, and if I do say so myself, we both thought it was tasty! My dad even enjoyed the leftover bread, untoasted, for breakfast two days later. I'm making a couple more loaves for potluck contributions this weekend. One thing I have to say, though: the recipe says not to overknead the dough, and they are not kidding (apparently in Ireland, it was a huge compliment to say that someone had a light hand with the bread). Also make sure you don't use too much flour like I did the first time.

Vietnam

Vietnamese cuisine is heavily influenced by Cantonese cuisine, with many French influences. Rice and noodles are both used frequently, as are fresh fruit and vegetables and herbs. When I wanted to make Vietnamese food, I called Kim of DCWrappedDates. He sent me a chao recipe that looked good to him and approved my proposal to make pho as well.

According to Kim, chao and pho are the two most common Vietnamese dishes. Chao, a rice porridge cooked in chicken broth, is generally eaten for breakfast. Pho, a clear beef soup with noodles and flavorful garnishes, is considered a hangover cure, and is a complete meal in and of itself. I'd had pho before at Pho75 in Rosslyn, and loved it. Chao was totally new to me.

These are not quick dishes to make. The broth for the chao, which I made from scratch as per the recipe, took about 5 hours and required me to disassemble a whole chicken. I'd be interested to try it again with packaged chicken broth and see whether I notice a difference. But I enjoyed the finished product, and Kim said it was spot on. Pho is supposed to cook all day (at a minimum) to infuse the broth with a robust beefy flavor. It's a great way to use less-tender parts of a cow like tripe and oxtail. Obviously I didn't have all day to sit on a pot of soup, so I used the America's Test Kitchen recipe, which was ready in about an hour and only used beef tenderloin. It was good (especially the sliced beef), but Kim said it was definitely an American version of the recipe: many of the flavors were there, but it didn't have the meatiness you get from the real thing. I also accidentally got wheat noodles instead of rice noodles, but they seemed fine; I just cooked them according to the package directions instead of the recipe.

I had a great time eating with Kim. He was super helpful toward the end when the last-minute prep got hectic, and it was great to find out how authentic (or not) the finished dishes were. If you know a cuisine and want to get involved with my blog, send an email to 45sqftkitchen at gmail dot com. I'd love to have you!

Belarus

Sorry for the delay in posting. I started a new job and got bronchitis at the same time, which hasn't been great for my motivation. But I have a food-packed week planned, so expect more frequent posts from here on out!

Belarusian cuisine is influenced primarily by climate; the growing season is relatively short and wheat does not grow well. Root vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, and carrots are relatively common, and meat is relatively scarce (probably due in part to the poverty of the country). Culinary influences include Russia and Jewish immigrants from Germany. Salt and onions are the primary seasoning agents; I was afraid the meal would be bland. I settled on babka, a meat and potato bake, and pskovsky, a warm vegetable salad. They weren't that difficult to make and were ready around the same time. All together, it took about an hour and a half to make, although I probably could have done it faster with better time management skills (and better potato-grating skills!). I did take some liberties. The babka recipe only called for "meat," so when I found veal at Shoppers I decided to go for the tenderness (sorry, Molly), and doubled the amount. I'm pretty sure it's the only thing that saved the dish. I also cut the number of potatoes in half in both recipes, partially because I got really tired of grating potatoes. Finally, instead of switching over to a casserole dish to bake the babka, I just used my cast iron skillet, in which I'd fried the meat and onions. I think it was a good decision.

When everything was ready, I really thought I was going to have to order pizza or something. It all looked incredibly bland (my first bite supported this) despite a ridiculous amount of salt. The potatoes on top of the meat were gray and dismal-looking, and barely cooked. I seriously wished I'd put cheese on it. But the meat and onion mixture was tasty and flavorful and the potatoes were edible with yet more salt (I put the leftovers back in the oven for ~15 minutes at 425 with a nice topping of shredded sharp cheddar cheese because I hate throwing out food. I expect them to be pretty good). I forgot the sour cream, but am not sure it would have helped. The vegetables were pretty bland. Next time I'd probably salt the water they simmered in, but the topping was good. I might make it again and just eat it on peas or pasta or something. I'd also add some garlic.

Has anyone ever been to Belarus? Is this a good representation of the cuisine? I was wishing I'd made the mushroom croquettes with bacon I'd found a recipe for, but didn't really have time or energy for more than two dishes. On a related note, I'm going to have to do Moldova and Ukraine sometime; does anyone have suggestions? Chicken Kiev is actually Russian, I think.

Armenia

Armenian cuisine is fairly typical of the Mediterranean and Eastern European regions. Fresh ingredients are usually more important than spices, and common elements include lamb, bulghur, rice, yogurt, apricots, nuts, zucchini, and stuffed fruit and vegetables.

I planned to make zucchini fritters, a pilaf with bulghur, and apricots stuffed with beef. I was pretty sure this meal was going to be an epic disaster. Here is a list of the things that went wrong before I even started cooking:
1. I got home later than expected and had about an hour less to cook than I had hoped for.
2. Trader Joe's did not have bulghur and I scraped my car on a pillar in the parking garage (pretty sure this was divine punishment for stopping there on the way home instead of parking at home and walking the two blocks over).
3. I didn't think to label the ziplock bags of meat in my freezer and accidentally thawed pork instead of beef (hello, cultural inaccuracy).
4. Shoppers didn't have apricots to stuff with said pork, so I turned to zucchini. Unfortunately, they also only had tiny zucchini. So I figured I would just have to deal.

I assured my friend Anika that there was excellent pizza only a few minutes away if it all proved inedible, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. The pilaf turned out pretty delicious with rice instead of bulghur, and the fritters were excellent. I didn't keep the leftover stuffed zucchini (the recipe didn't say to cook the rice beforehand, so I didn't...and maybe I should have? It was crunchy and I did not find it delicious), but we each ate one.

Sweden

From my recipe searches, Swedish cuisine appears to be centered on meat, cookies, and sweet breads, with some potatoes thrown in for good measure. Wikipedia tells me that traditional Swedish cuisine includes local ingredients such as berries as well. I guess the latitude is a good reason for the lack of vegetables other than potatoes. There are also fish dishes such as pickled herring, but I'm definitely not adventurous enough to touch that yet. I am REALLY not adventurous enough to try Lutfisk, fish cured in lye. As one of my coworkers told me, friends don't let friends eat Lutfisk.

In case you needed proof that there's no particular order to these countries, I picked Sweden this past weekend because I read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo last weekend and the bacon pancake sounded good. Unfortunately, I got to the bacon pancake after I'd left my parents' house outside Philadelphia - and the Ikea I drive past to get back to DC. Consequently, I was worried about finding lingonberry anything, especially after the red currant jam issues. And I definitely couldn't make Swedish food without lingonberry! So my plan was to try World Market first, then Harris Teeter and Whole Foods, and settle for the boysenberry I used for Austria if I couldn't find it. Luckily, World Market came through!

While I was traipsing all over NoVA, I decided to check out Penzey's Spices in Falls Church to pick up white pepper. Great decision! They had almost everything I could have wanted (no vanilla beans that I saw, but they did have vanilla sugar), and I'll definitely be heading back there. Everything was cheaper than the supermarket, there was way more variety, I could usually get smaller quantities, and I'm pretty sure the quality is higher. As a bonus, they have descriptions of many of the more exotic spices or varieties posted so you know what you're buying.

My parents have been making Swedish meatballs since I was little, but theirs are just basic meatballs in a simple beef gravy. I wanted to see what the real thing was like. The recipe I used had all this stuff like roll the meat carefully into balls, dip in flour, freeze so that they stay together better. I didn't want to deal with all of that, so I made little patties using spoons. They're not the most baller meatballs I've ever made, but they were also fast, and I fried them in so much butter that they were in no danger of sticking to the pan and coming apart. I also knew I wanted to make that bacon pancake, but the recipes I found were for a large souffle like the Salzburger Nockerl, and souffles do not make good leftovers. So I made a third of the recipe and baked it in two personal-sized ramekins until they were golden brown and delicious. It worked well, although the actual pancakes were a little eggy for my taste, and I didn't think the bacon flavor was as integrated as I wanted it to be. I was at a loss for a vegetable recipe - I'm trying to eat a little healthier, and potatoes do not count as vegetables. Finally I found a creamed mushroom recipe from Jamie Oliver Does Sweden. I don't know how authentic it was, but it worked. It was supposed to be made with chanterelles, which are allegedly common in Sweden, but I had shiitakes. The meatballs and mushrooms were really tasty, if incredibly fattening from all the sweet, sweet butter.

The first recipe I found that I decided I wanted to make was glogg, a mulled wine. This recipe was unique because it also included white rum and bourbon, and was supposed to be SET ON FIRE. Unfortunately, my landlords are not fans of temperature moderation, so between the blasting heat and slaving over the stove, oven, and skillet, I was just not in the mood to mull anything, much less set it on fire.

Ethiopia

I love Ethiopian food. I love eating with my fingers and the bread, I love the flavors, I love telling the server I don't love spicy food and leaving the choice of what I'm eating in his or her hands. But making Ethiopian food was more than a little intimidating. Ethiopian cuisine is based on stews of vegetables, lentils, and meat served on and scooped up with flatbread called injera. Chicken, beef, and lamb are common, especially on special occasions, but pork is never eaten. The two most prevalent flavoring agents are niter kibbeh, or spiced ghee, and berbere, a hot pepper-based paste. Most dishes contain cardamom and ginger; garlic and onions are common as well. Many Ethiopians drink a honey wine called tej on special occasions. I didn't have this, but I did have a bottle of mead sitting around!

If I knew of a place to buy injera, the flat, spongy bread, I probably would have. I definitely didn't plan on making as many dishes as I did! I split up the work over several days: I made the niter kibbeh and started the injera on Friday (it had to sit for three days before being cooked), made the two lentil dishes on Sunday night because I knew they'd reheat well, and made everything else on Monday. Altogether, about 5 or 6 hours of active cooking time. I cooked for Ben and his dad, who was in town to help him move (to my neighborhood, yay!). Luckily, Papa Ben isn't a picky eater! I ended up making sega wat (beef in a zesty-ish sauce), mesir wat (stewed red lentils), kik alicha (yellow split peas), atakilt wat (stewed vegetables), alicha doro wat (chicken in a mild sauce), and kitfo (seasoned raw beef). Even though the injera didn't come out quite right (probably because I used all purpose flour instead of teff), everyone seemed to enjoy it, and the leftovers are fantastic. I'll probably make one or two of these dishes at a time in the future to just eat with a fork or over rice.

Afghanistan

Afghan cuisine is diverse, as is the culture, but there are some things that are close to universal. Flatbread and yogurt seem to be consumed all over the country. Lamb is common, when meat is available. Common seasonings include onions, garlic, and mint. Meals are typically consumed communally, with each person dipping into a big bowl of stew or similar food.

My first exposure to Afghan food was at Friends Kebab in Vienna, VA, from which my department ordered lunch on my first day at my company. Meat on a stick, rice, tomatoes, bread..what's not to love? Months later, I finally tried the lentil soup, and was totally blown away. I decided that when I made Afghan food, that soup was going to be the first thing I did. While I was looking at recipes, a former coworker who's now on his way to becoming an Afghanistan subject matter expert told me I had to make these dumplings called Mantus. I also planned to make some fried kebabs.

Unfortunately, I got busy. I was going to be eating alone, and cooking around a lot of other activities in a packed day. The kebabs didn't make it. I couldn't find ground lamb. I bought bread instead of making it (although it was good). I left the garlic out of the yogurt sauce for the Mantus because I was going dancing, and I just spread the beef-and-yogurt mixture over a piece of bread and ate it like a pizza on the run instead of really sitting down and enjoying it. The dumplings were fine, but only that. Overall, the meal was not a success. Fortunately, the lentil soup I had for lunch was excellent, although not the same as Friends Kebab. I want this blog to be a mixture of meals that take hours to prepare and meals I could just make for dinner after work (and eat before 9!), but I guess I need to put a little more thought into how to do that.