The ultimate savory treat to have in summer, a Panzanella is more than a salad, but not quite lunch, a delicate combination of tomatoes, plenty of good olive oil, some balsamic vinegar, cucumbers and crusty bread to soak up all the juices. Simple and delicious and perfect for summer, the Italian way.
There are plenty of spin-offs being made and enjoyed on the classic combo, but first you must try and love the basic version before we can move on to more complicated or composite panzanellas. Enjoy :)
Recipe source: many, an example here.
Last year: Red beans and rice (Creole Louisiana version).
Two years ago: Smoked trout, fennel, apple and beet salad.
Three years ago: Garlic soup with chorizo and mustard (Czech).
Four years ago: Cream liquor cocktail, Green apple and peanut butter muffins and Brie, walnut and caraway salad.
One of the less known delicacies of the Romanian cuisine, this dish consists of delicate lobes of pork brain, cooked until just done (by boiling or steaming), then dipped in beaten egg and breadcrumbs and fried until crispy and golden. To many foreigners, it might sound unusual or plainly disgusting, but you don't know what you're missing, so give it a chance. If you manage to find pork brains at a meat store or in a delicacy shop, don't hesitate to get it - the dish is very easy to prepare at home. It would work also with calf brain, but pork is the staple.
Sometime in spring 2014, I was the field guide for two Norwegian researchers and we had a wonderful time doing some field research in villages around the Jiu county :). I remember my time with them in that research fondly. Well, since I was being one of the two guides, recommending food was also part of the ritual, and this dish was one of the most "adventurous" options I encouraged them to try from a local restaurant's menu. One of them built up the courage to try it and was pleasantly surprised. The thing most noticeable about it is the texture: the brain matter is so fine to the taste and its mouth-feel is so soft, it will compare to few things you've ever tasted. Give it a try.
Last year: Kelewele (Spicy fried plantains) (Ghanaian).
Two years ago: Sfințișori moldovenești (Mucenici) (Moldavian/Romanian).
Three years ago: Simple coconut brownies.
Four years ago: Italian sunset (cocktail), Amaretto (almond liquor) cupcakes and Chicken and avocado salad.
This is one of the most common soups in Romanian kitchens, and most of my childhood it was my absolute favorite thing from my mom's food rotations.
Large pieces of chicken and vegetables are boiled in a broth for an hour or so until the liquid becomes very flavorful, and then the solids are removed and reserved for another use (in our home, the chicken pieces would then get fried in a pan and the result was much more flavorful then a simple fried chicken that skipped the veggie soaking; and the vegetables - mainly parsley root and parsnip and carrots - would get mashed with a little butter and served as a side for the fried chicken pieces). With only the clear soup remaining on the stove, large semolina-based dumplings are then added and softly boiled until just right. It's served hot and if you try it, it will be the best thing you've ever eaten.
Making the dumplings can be a bit tricky - if the dough is too hard, the dumplings will be hard and chewy and not very good, but if you make it too soft they will disintegrate and form a mushy mass throughout the whole soup. It will still be tastier than the hard dumplings you would get in the first case, but definitely not too pretty. Luckily, you don't need to fret about getting it right, since you have my mom's recipe now :).
P.S: A regular large deep plate of soup usually contains 4-5 large dumplings, but in the picture above there's only one because I used a small(er) bowl as a serving dish. I usually enjoyed adding croutons to the soup bowl after finishing the dumplings and my mom joked about it being my milk-and-cereal dish, since it tended to be a staple of mine.
Last year: Ghanaian tomato and peanut soup (vegan).
Two years ago: Espresso and walnut iced brownies.
Three years ago: Simple coconut brownies.
Four years ago: Amaretto colada (cocktail), Easy home-made Raclette (French-Swiss) and Pasta with spicy mascarpone sauce, mushrooms and artichokes.
Za'atar is frankly one of my favorite things to put on (and in) latkes, and the taste match is balanced and perfect. If you usually have your latkes with a dollop of cream, rest assured that the za'atar and the cream aren't mutually exclusive and you can actually serve these with cream too.
Whenever you have a batch of latkes just waiting to be adorned with various toppings, do give this one a try, its spicy in a subtle way, delicious, and most importantly, it's fit for a Jewish cuisine-themed get together, because the topping doesn't stray outside of the area's specificity.
Also, my suggestion would be to not simply decorate existing latkes with this spice, but to go full in and add the spice to the latkes mix before frying them. This flavor shouldn't be simply in latkes only as a back-up idea for when you'd like an extra variety of toppings; give the za'atar a more mainstream role and you'll love the result. :)
Recipe source: here (the source only mentions putting the spice in the latkes, but I really wanted to add more on top as well, so bear that in mind if you're looking for super-authenticity). :)
Last year: Fluffy American pancakes (basic recipe).
Two years ago: Mexican hot chocolate.
Three years ago: Three cheese pasta with bell peppers and cranberries.
Four years ago: Blue skies cocktail (Blue curacao milk), Fastest home-made crackers (Romanian sărățele) and Oeufs Cocotte (French baked eggs).
The most well-known dish of the Jewish cuisine and perhaps the one which has seeped into the food of other peoples the most. The history of latkes is rich and fascinating, and while I won't recount it here for lack of space and time, it's enough to say that making them central to Jewish cuisine and culture would be somewhat of an understatement.
While everyone knows its Jewish origins, it's hard to encounter a latke-free celebration in today's USA even in completely Gentile gatherings. Of course, the delicious character of these bite-sized appetizers probably contributed to this as well: if just one dish had to be chosen from any food culture, the latkes would be the most difficult to resist from the Jewish cuisine. What's there not to love about potato based fried finger-food, right?
What sets latkes (also called potato pancakes) apart from any other potato appetizers or fried potato snacks is their special texture. The type of texture you can achieve only by grating raw potatoes into long and thin strips before mixing them with other ingredients and finally frying them to perfection. Many European peoples have their own versions of potato pancakes (such as the Czech bramboraki), but none really compare to the latkes, especially when you make them the base of various delicious toppings.
Recipe sources: Saveur, Smitten Kitchen and Bobby Flay (to name only the most prominent ones; I researched and tried the recipe extensively until I mastered it). :D
Last year: Grilled Romaine salad with honey-mustard dressing.
Two years ago: Spaghetti aglia e olio e peperoncino (Italian) (vegan).
Three years ago: Mini chicken skewers (oven-baked) with satay sauce (Indonesian).
Four years ago: Peanut butter hot chocolate milk, Chicken with peanut butter sauce (Thai) and Pigs in a blanket (British).
