Off to Andora

Sorry for the delay between postings I have recently discovered that computers don't swim, nor do they need watering and hence have been with out one for the past 2 and a half weeks!!!Never fear - I am back on board and now we are off to Andorra! Random fact - Andorrans have the highest life expectancy in the world (83.5 years!!!)

Andorrans speak Catalan and not surprisingly their cuisine is influenced by Catalan with a wee (or should that be oui) bit of a french influence!

The National dish of Andorra is call Escudella which is a hearty stew which i guess makes perfect sense given Andorras location in the Pyrenees and the fact that it's capital, Andorra La Vella, is Europes highest capital!

So... this is my next dish - I plan on whipping it up on Thursday night and I will be sure to keep you all posted!!

Until then,

Sonya

Planes of the future!

Not really food related but certainly travel related and worthy of a post! Check out the link below to see planes of the future!!! Yes Please!

Where do i sign up???

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/seethrough-plane-airbus-reveals-aircraft-of-the-future-20110614-1g15w.html#ixzz1Qot5ynNq

Tweet Tweet

Heya Folks,

Well I have now ventured out into the Twitter world!!! You can follow my blog at @WorldTables...

Andora is up next so I will definitely keep you posted :-)

Albania - Baked Lamb in Yoghurt + Spinach and Fetta Pie + Bean Salad = YUM!

Sorry for the delay in posting my yummy albanian dinner - I have been gallavanting around Indochina (and eating way too many local delights i might add!).
My Albanian dinner was sooooooooooooo lovely and I shared it with Kate, my Pepps and my 3 lovely neighbours. I cooked 3 different dishes and my fav was definitely the Spinach and Fetta pie - i'll be making that one again and it was great as you can make it in advance and just throw it in the oven 45mins before you serve. There were not any leftovers of anything!!!

Apart from the pie I cooked a Lamb dish which was baked in yoghurt called Tave Kosi, it is apparently a favourite of Albanians and a great comfort food, sounds a little odd I know but was actually delicious. The bean salad was lovely and fresh to compliment the other 2 heavier dishes.

I managed to raise $20 this time around bringing my grand total to date to $50!!! Awesome effort everyone :-)

I have found an amazing charity called Captive Daughters and it exists to mobilize the global will to end the sex trafficking of women and children through public education and creative media.. Check it out at http://captivedaughters.org/index.htm Their focus is on California, Nepal and Albania and our $20 will go to them :-)

You just made a payment of
$20.00 USD

Paid to
Captive Daughters
310-815-1511

Here are the recipes:

Tave Kosi - Lamb baked in yoghurt

The Ingredients:

600-700 g lamb leg or shoulder
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons rice
Salt and Pepper (according to your tastes)
For the Yogurt Sauce:
1 tablespoon plain flour
4 tablespoons butter
900 g yogurt
5 eggs
Salt and Pepper (according to your tastes)
The Instructions:

Cut the lamb into 4-6 serving pieces, and season each piece with salt and pepper. Dot the pieces with the butter. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Place the pieces into a baking pan and put it into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes, checking in every now and again to basting the lamb pieces with their own gravy.

After the lamb has turned brown, remove the baking pan from the oven. Add the 2 tablespoons of rice into the baking pan, making sure it is covered by the gravy. Leave aside for now.

It's now time to prepare the yogurt sauce.

Saute the flour in butter until both of them are mixed thoroughly.

Place the yogurt into a bowl. Add in salt and pepper according to taste. Try not to do overdo the salt and pepper here because the lamb pieces have already been seasoned. Stir in the eggs until the mixture is uniform.

Stir this yogurt mixture into the flour and butter mixture in the saute pan. Stir until everything is smooth.

Pour the combined sauce into the baking pan, stirring it with lamb pieces, and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

This dish is best served hot!
Sallate me Fasule (Bean Salad)1 can white kidney beans
1/4 cup of chopped pimento
½ cup of olives
½ cup of scallions (cut into 1 inch stripes)
1 small cucumber (diced)
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Olive oil
Juice of ½ lemon - just mix them all together!

Spinach and Fetta Pie

• 1 cup olive oil
• 30 phyllo pastry sheets
• 1 1/2 lbs spinach, chopped
• 1 cup feta cheese, diced
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 2 -3 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:

Prep Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 1 1/2 hrs

1.     1 A medium-sized, round baking pan is recommended because it?s more authentic but any medium-sized baking pan will do.

2.     2 Brush the baking pan with some of the oil, and start laying the pastry leaves inside. First, lay two leaves, sprinkle or brush with oil, then lay two other leaves, and repeat the procedure until half of the leaves are laid. Make sure that they cover the pan by hanging them about one inch over the edges of the pan.

3.     3 Sprinkle spinach with salt, then mix well by hand. Add the feta cheese, oil, onions, eggs and salt, and spread this mixture over the already laid pastry leaves. Finish by covering the spinach with the rest of the pastry leaves repeating the first-half procedure and then roll the hanging edges of the bottom leaves over the pie (think of a pizza crust), sprinkle top with oil and bake moderately at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve hot, accompanied with buttermilk, or beaten yogurt, thinned down in cold water or with chilled stewed prunes. Sometimes a green salad adds to the meal!

Thats all for now but tune in for Andorra :-)
Live Eat Travel
 

New Rule

I have given myself a new rule which is that I have to make everything from scratch... Eg. I was looking at Dolma (like Dolmades) which are Albanian and thought - I'll just get them fro m Woolies. NO NO NO...  I have to make everything from scratch...no cheating!!! I'm starving...

Afghan Dinner - Qaubili Pilau and Sabse Borani

Well, who would have thought that Afghanistani food could be so tasty! I am happy to report that my very first World Table dinner went swimmingly :-) I ended up cooking the Qaubili Pilau and the Lamb was super tender and the mix of flavours was yum yum yummy. I also cooked a side of Sabse Borani which was like a spinach and yohurt based side (super easy to whip up) and I really felt that it topped the dish off. I was worried about the rice and lamb being too dry on its own and i think that the Sabse took the dish to the next level (hahahah such a masterchef!) Seriously though, the mix of the zingy yoghurt and spinach did compliment the rice dish. Anyway I have put the recipes below for anyone that wants to have a crack at them! Let me know how you all go :-)

Marga's Modified Qaubili Pilau Recipe

Ingredients

·  1/4 cup olive oil

·  1 yellow onion, diced

·  2 lbs lamb

·  1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

·  1/4 tsp. ground cloves

·  1/4 tsp. ground cardamon

·  1/2 tsp. ground cumin

·  1/2 tsp. garam masala

·  1 tsp. salt

·  2 cups water.

·  1/4 cup vegetable oil

·  2 carrots

·  1 tsp. sugar

·  1 cup raisins

·  1 cup blanched almonds

·  2 cups basmati rice

·  1 tsp. salt

·  1/2 tsp. saffron

·  1 cup water

Instructions
In a heavy pot, fry the onions until golden brown. Cut the lamb into bite-size cubes and add to the onions. Add salt and spices. Add water. Mix well, cover and cook until the lamb is done.
Meanwhile cut the carrots into toothpick-size pieces. Fry them on vegetable oil with sugar until tender. Remove from oil. Add raisins to the oil and fry until they swell up. Remove from the oil. Add almonds to the oil and brown. Remove and set aside.
Once the lamb is done, remove from the water and set aside. Add rice to the remaining lamb stock. Add salt and water. Boil until the rice is done, about 20 minutes.
Once the rice is done, remove from the pot and put it on a oven-save caserole. Place lamb on top of the rice, cover and cook on 300 degrees for about 20'.
Serve by placing the lamb on a serving plate, covering it with the rice, and topping it with the carrots, raisins and almonds

Sabse Borani

• 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped (i just used a packed of baby spinach)
• 1 medium Onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 cup lightly drained plain yogurt (I didnt drain)

Directions

1. Place damp spinach in a saucepan, cover and cook until wilted.
2. Drain and squeeze to remove excess water.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet, sauté Onion at low heat until golden, add garlic and sauté briefly, then add spinach, and cook for a minute or two more.
4. Let cool. In a bowl, smooth yogurt and add spinach mixture.
5. Season with salt and pepper.

I am going to atempt to put up some photos... hmmmm

Look at me go!

So I was lucky enough to enjoy the company of Simmy, Donoghue and the Pepps for my inaugural World Tables feast and together we raised $30 which I have donated to the Central Asia Institute. That will be the equivalent of 18months worth of school supplies for one child - yay awesome work!!!

	Items selected for Sonya Duck
	Item Description Quantity Amount One-Time Gift 1 $30.00
	Items Count :   1	Total :   $30.00

I am super excited about the next meal - bring on Albania - i have had a sneak peak and it all looks very Turkish/Greek!!! Think Meze Plate - YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I will be sure to keep you all up to date and I now need to find myself a worthy cause...

'til then... eat, drink, travel....

Afghanistan

Firstly a big congrats to Daz for becoming my very first follower - thanks dude! As someone who is completely new to this blogging thing having never followed anyone and certainly never written one it is all proving to be challenging and very exciting! So.... we are starting in Afghanistan, there is a random story behind this as I was talking with my roomy - Simmy about my idea of saving the world through my kitchen and she told me that I would be starting in Afghanistan, after a few googles I found that she was correct (didn't doubt you for a minute lovely) and a few more googles uncovered that Qaubili Pilau is apparently their National Dish. Safe in the knowledge that I had my idea and my first dish sorted I retired to my boudoir to read the amazing book I am half way through at the moment - Three Cups of Tea (highly recommended!).

I settled in to start reading and it spoke about Mr Gregs first attempt at making Afghan friends in an attempt to build a school and low and behold - he talks about being offered a feast of Qaubili Pilau...! That is when I knew that it was a sign and I definitely had to get started with this idea... the universe had given me a kick up the bum!

So I am making Qaubili Pilau this afternoon for Simmy, The Pepps and Donoghue and I have decided that their donation will go to the Central Asia Institute which is what the book is about and believes in empowering communities throughout Central Asia through literacy and education. You can check out the not for profit organisation at https://www.ikat.org/projects/ and read 'Three Cups of Tea' if you get a chance - what an inspirational man! My aim for this dinner is to raise $20 and that will be one student's school supplies for 1 year...

I shall tell you all about how I go tonight and fingers crossed I will be able to upload some photos of the meal... wish me luck :-)