Latvia: Sklandrausis (Vegetable pies)

Sklandrausis is a traditional vegetable pie from Latvia, originating in the 16th century. They are traditionally made using a rye crust and can be eaten cold or warm.

On that note, my husband does not prefer rye bread and I didn't want to buy the flour and never use it again. So although this may have changed the integrity of the dish, I adapted this recipe and used whole wheat flour to make the crust.

Ingredients

·         3.5 cups whole wheat flour

·         1-2 Tablespoons molasses

·         7 T butter

·         1 cup warm water

·         1 teaspoon sugar

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         7 medium carrots

·         2 T sour cream

·         2 T honey

·         1 egg

·         2 medium potatoes

·         1/2 c milk

·         1 T butter

Instructions

1.    Peel and quarter the carrots and potatoes, place in a medium saucepan, cover with water and boil until tender.

2.    While the vegetables are boiling, prepare the dough. Dissolve the salt and sugar in the water. Add the softened butter and molasses, stir until combined. Mix the flour and stir well to form the dough. Knead the dough until it forms a ball.

3.    Preheat the oven to 400 F. Roll the dough until 1/2 cm thick. Use a mug or round cookie cutter to cut 12 discs big enough to fit in a muffin tin. Grease tin and shape crusts.

4.    Prepare the filling. Drain and mash the carrots. Add honey, egg and sour cream and stir until well blended. Drain the potatoes, mash until smooth, add milk and butter and stir until well combined.

5.    To fill the muffins, spread 1 teaspoon of mashed potatoes, top with a tablespoon of carrots.

6.    Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the pastry has cooked and the filling turns slightly golden.

China: Lotus Root Soup

Anyone that knows me should know by know that I have a penchant for Asian food. I was clearly born on the wrong continent. We eat Thai/ Asian inspired dishes at least once a week so I really wanted to challenge myself on this one. Our town recently acquired a Asian Gourmet market which I frequent. The last time I was visiting, I saw a seriously cool ingredient-- Lotus Root! I had never had Lotus Root before and knew I needed to try it! I found a recipe, heavily adapted it, and got deliciousness in return!

Lotus Root Soup

1 package Lotus Root slices-- I left these whole but if I were to make this again I would chop into fourths or eighths.
1/2 lb - 1 lb pork ribs
6 cups water
1-2 carrots (cut into small chunks)
4 oz chopped dates
1/2 c chopped, salted peanuts
2 large whole tomatoes
1 T soy sauce
1-2 T oyster or fish sauce, to taste

1) Add all ingredients except the oyster sauce to a large pot.
2) Simmer for 30 minutes. At this point you should have a dark broth. Add oyster sauce and remove beef from bones, placing the pieces of meat and bones back into the simmering liquid.
3) Simmer for 30 additional minutes or until lotus root is slightly softened (it will still retain some crunch) and beef is cooked.
4) Enjoy!

Baked Kibbeh Muffins- Lebanon

Served with the remainder of the taboule wheat salad and fresh veggies

This week I attempted to make a traditional Lebanese dish! The best known variety of kibbeh is fried, but I attempted a baked version (see my previous post for my reasoning). I used this recipe with heavy alterations. I also chose to make this dish into single serving "muffins", single portions are always fun!

In this dish there are two parts, a browned, pre-cooked meat stuffing and the portion which is raw until baked.





Prep time: 20 minutes active, 1 hour 20 minutes total
Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Kibbeh Nayyeh (raw)
1 c bulgar wheat ***
1/2 lb- 1 lb ground beef
1/4 onion, minced finely
1 t black pepper
1/2 t allspice
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt

***This sounds like an exotic ingredient but it is actually found perfectly portioned at the grocery store. Look for this ingredient near the spanish rice

Stuffing (pre-cooked)
handful of pine nuts
1/2 lb- 1 lb ground beef
1/4 onion, minced finely
1 t allspice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t salt

1) Pour 1 cup boiling water over the entire package of bulgar wheat. Cover to soak for 60 minutes
2) Begin making the stuffing. Heat up olive oil in a medium pan. Start cooking the beef on one half of the pan, toast the pine nuts on the other half.
3) When beef is no longer mostly pink, add remaining stuffing ingredients.
4) To form raw mixture, drain any excess water from bulgar wheat. Combine this with remining raw meat ingredients.

5) Spray a muffin tin. Spread half of the raw mixture in the muffin tins (aroiund 1/4 inch thick)
6) Add cooked stuffing mixture. Make little patties out of the remaining raw meat mixture, place on top of each "muffin". Drizzle each muffin with olive oil.
7) Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes

Notes
Ultimately I had a few thoughts when I finished this dish. The first was that I have no idea what the difference was between the "stuffing" and the outer, raw portion. If I were to make this again I would basically just double the stuffing mixture and cook it in the muffin tins like meatloaf. My other thought was that the meat was dry and would go really well with a yogurt sauce like in this recipe!

Cooking around the world- UK edition

 Hello all! I started this blog a long time ago but I have not been good about keeping up with it! As some of you may know, I love to cook but I especially love making authentic foreign foods. So this year I plan to blog some of my adventures. Once a week I will take on a new country and a new style of cooking. My goal is to make easy dishes to show that anyone can experience the flavors of the world from their kitchen!

I am starting out with some British food, as I am a dual British citizen so it wasn't too much of a stretch for me.

I made two dishes, Scotch Eggs and Sausage Rolls.

Scotch Eggs

I adapted a recipe in which the scotch eggs are baked, not fried. I did this for two reasons, A) it is healthier, and B) I don't own a fryer so I bake out of necessity.

Ingredients:

• Approx 3/4 lb Ground Pork Sausage (NOT Italian Sausage)
• 5 hard boiled eggs
• A handful of breadcrumbs

Divide the sausage into equal portions. Wrap these portions around the hard-boiled eggs. Roll the sausage- coated eggs in the breadcrumbs and placed on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375F for approximately 25 minutes or until the sausage is lightly browned but cooked internally.

Sausage Rolls

• 1/2 a container of puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• Approx 1 lb Ground Pork Sausage (NOT Italian Sausage)
• Ground basil, pepper, and thyme, to taste

Mix sausage and herbs with your hands. Roll out puff pastry with a rolling pin, flattening lightly so the pastry doesn't puff up too much. Cut into rectangles 1-2 inches wide and 2-3 inches long. Place around 2 t of sausage in the middle of each rectangle. Brush the edges of the pastry with egg and roll up. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown.