Czech Republic

ahoj 

Two roasts in one weekend, it seems that we are living well or trying to catch up on our recipes. This roast was a pork roast cooked in beer. While not quite as good as the lamb roast from Cyprus the pork roast taught me a few new things about making gravy and cooking with beer.

The roast didn’t take as long to cook and was served with cabbage, carrot and dumplings.

Dumplings, I can’t follow the recipe for them and my first attempt at putting the dough into boiling water caused it to go everywhere. In the end I settled for baking the dough which actually turned out quite nice.

This meal is certainly one that is best served hot and best if there are no leftovers.

sbohem

Sam’s rating: 9/10

Cyprus Capers

γεια σας

For this island in the Mediterranean we cooked a lamb roast, it was typical of most roast so nothing too different. While I couldn’t duplicate their cooking methods which typically uses a wood fire oven, the lamb was cooked in the conventional oven for over 5 hours.

After so long in the oven and slow cooking, the lamb was melt-in-the-mouth beautiful, the dish was served with roast vegies.

The Cypriots know their stuff about cooking lamb, that’s for sure!

αντίο

Sam’s rating: 9/10

The land of Cuba

Hola,

The largest island in the Caribbean is Cuba, a land which seems stuck in the past. It seems a fascinating place and one that I would like to visit.

For Cuba we cooked spicy pork with beans and rice. Spicy was the right word! There was a bit too much tomato for my liking.

Adios

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Game of Cooking, Croatia

Zdravo

For this European country, currently popular due to the Game of Thrones, we cooked calamari. The dish was cooked in the oven with potato, white wine, onion and other seasoning. Unfortunately, I think the calamari that we used, which was more typical of calamari rings and dried out too much in the oven.

Considering the bad cooking methods, it was pretty bad, a little bit dry and maybe a touch too much wine.

zbogom

Sam’s rating: 5/10

Slow at Côte d'Ivoire

Bonjour

This chicken dish from Côte d'Ivoire called Kedjenou was nice and served with cous cous. The dish is typically cooked in a well-sealed pot, we opted to use a casserole dish covered in foil.

There is a lot to be said for slow cooking, a number of slow cooked meals are rich in flavour and tenderness.

Au revoir

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Beans and rice with Costa Rica

Hola,

For this central American country we cooked Gallo Pinto. A rather odd combination, beans and rice but a nice meal all the same. The sausage in the meal was spicy adding a twist to the beans and rice.

Hasta la vista

Sam’s rating 7/10

The tale of two countries, Cheating with the Congos

 

  Bonjour 

So tonight I decided to cheat a little, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo are extremely similar countries, neighbours and with the same national dish. The Congos do have different histories with the Democratic Republic of Congo being a former French colony and the Republic of Congo being a former Belgium colony. It is interesting that two countries that are so close together with similar cultures and often mentioned in the same breath have enough differences to be divided.

Their national dish Chicken Moambe is a combination of chicken served with rice. It contained peanuts (not my favourite) but was quite tasty.

au revoir

Sam’s rating 7/10