Around the World in Foodventures (North Macedonia: AJVAR)

Ajvar is a spread, jam, relish, dip, condiment, or sauce (all depending how you choose to use it) made primarily of eggplants, a specific variety of red bell peppers, and oil.  It's easy to make, but can be very time consuming -- though, it's scrumptious and well worth it.

Normally, I just give a link to someone else's recipe that I used, but this time around (because I referenced many but followed none to the letter, because I greatly reduced the planned yield, and because there are lots of possible ingredient variations anyways) I decided to write out exactly what I did to get the final result I ended up with.  Here goes....

INGREDIENTS:

• a 1.25 pound Eggplant
• 4 pounds "Italian Peppers" (these weren't regular red bells, but darker and smaller, and were the closest thing my market had to actual Red Bull’s Horn a/k/a Corno di Toro peppers)
• 10 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil (I had, and so used, Safflower)
• Additional oil for initial cooking of the Eggplant (the exact amount depends on the size of your pot, see Step #8 below)
• a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of Sugar
• 1 teaspoon of Kosher Salt

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 475°F.
2. Cover two baking sheets with foil and lay the Peppers out on them with space in between.  Roast the Peppers for about 45 minutes, checking on and turning them every so often (rotate the baking sheets and/or switch which rack each one is on if you find that one side, corner, or rack is cooking faster than another).  Your oven may take longer or even less time (so just keep an eye on them) -- in the end, you want them to be soft, leaking some juices, and have little black patches all over with the skin starting to bubble up.
3. Remove the Peppers to a large bowl (or multiple bowls if you don't have one big enough to fit them all) and cover tightly with plastic wrap or foil....or, the bowl's own cover if it has one.  The goal here is to steam them in their residual heat so that by the time they are completely cooled, the skins will come off easily.  Leave them there until they are completely cool.
4. Roast the Eggplant the same way you did the Peppers (you could of course do it at the same time as the Peppers if you have space in your oven).  The Eggplant may take a little more or less time than the Peppers, so be sure to keep a special eye on it.
5. When done cooking, the Eggplant should also go into a well sealed bowl (separate from the peppers) so that it can steam in its own residual heat for later easy skin removal.
6. When everything is cool enough to handle, carefully remove the stems and peel off the skins, retaining as much of the flesh as possible.  You may find that dipping the Peppers in a bowl of water will help to remove their seeds.  Keep the Eggplant's seeds.  And make sure there are as few blackened bits as possible left on anything.
7. Some recipes say to dice the Peppers and Eggplant into very, very small pieces (retaining as much of their juices as possible) -- and others say to grind them down into a paste.  I opted to do the dicing.  Whatever you do, just keep storing them in those separate bowls, because they will be going into the cook pot at different times.
8. In a pot large enough to fit all the ingredients plus have a few inches of space on top, add approximately 1/3" - 1/2" of Vegetable oil.  Warm it up, add the diced Eggplant, and simmer (not deep fry) for 15 minutes, stirring frequently so nothing sticks to the bottom.
9. Add the diced Peppers, mix to combine well, and reduce the temperature to where you get the ever so gentlest boil happening.
10. Next, we need to cook the mixture.  Some recipes cite only 30-ish minutes of cooking; but it sure sounded to me like true tradition requires hours of cooking, so I chose that path.  I went for about 4 hours, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent burning or sticking, as well as adding in a couple teaspoons of the Vegetable Oil about every 15 minutes.  (This may have been too long considering how much I cut down the volume of this recipe, but that's okay. -- I'm not sad about it at all.)
11. When you are nearing the finish line* add in the Sugar.  Keep stirring! 😃
12. At the very end, throw in the Salt.
13. I noticed that the diced and cooked vegetables wanted to stay separated from the oil in my pot.  So, because some recipes call for grinding the vegetables (instead of dicing) even before cooking, I decided at this point to put it all in a blender and get it to emulsify.  I think this was a good idea; it resulted in a more cohesive final product with a better (in my opinion) texture throughout. 

* Where is the finish line?  Some recipes say you're looking for a bright orange hue.  Others show something much more red and deep.  What you don't want is to be moving over into brown tones.  Also important is a creamy consistency.

Customarily, people jar and preserve the Ajvar (because it's something they would make in much larger quantities than I did, likely only once annually at pepper harvest time, then store and use it all year round).  I'm not an expert in canning, so if you want to go that route, I urge you to research and choose a method that is best and safest for you.  For me, personally, I planned to use what I made within a few days, so I just lidded my one-and-a-half jars and stuck them in the fridge.  I cannot advise as to how long they will (or should) stay good this way, but I expect we will have consumed it all well before they could spoil anyways.

Some Ajvar recipes call for additions like hot pepper flake or vinegar or garlic, or even olives.  I opted to forego these things and stick to the "purest" form of the food, partly because I bought a commercially-made jar of Ajvar that I wanted to compare what I made to (my understanding being that it just couldn't compete with homemade)....

....and they certainly weren't the same.  They're both identifiable as Ajvar, of course, and both pretty addictive (I could barely stop taste-testing and comparing them).  I think I like that the eggplant is more pronounced in mine than it is in the factory-made jar which is much more pepper forward -- this makes mine more savory and theirs sweeter.  It also seemed like the two flavors in mine were more integrated (in other words, the peppers and eggplant merged together to form a new, singularly coherent, rich taste rather than how the storebought jar was more like two separate things mixed together).  Theirs is kind of chunky and a little thicker, and mine is smoother and creamier.  I would happily eat lots of either one, and I can't wait to get both of these onto some bread!  

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Sunflower Seed & Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

I whipped up a delicious meal last night that I thought worth sharing, so here it is:

INGREDIENTS:
(I didn't really measure anything, so these are just after-the-fact guesstimations)

• 1 Pork Tenderloin
• 1 Egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup shelled Sunflower Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon dried Thyme
• 1 Tablespoon dried Savory
• 1 Tablespoon dried Rosemary
• 1 Tablespoon dried Sage
• 1 Tablespoon dried Parsley
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh-cracked Black Pepper
• 1 Green Apple
• 2 Tablespoons of Butter
• Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Put the Sunflower Seeds and all the Herbs into a food processor, along with your desired amount of Salt & Pepper, and pulse until a very coarse bread crumb like mixture forms.  (You could also do this step in a plastic zipper bag, crushing it all together with a rolling pin, for example.)
3. Cover the Pork Tenderloin with the Egg, then coat that whole thing with the Sunflower & Herb mixture (getting as much to stick on as possible); and throw even some more of the coating on top after you've placed the Tenderloin into its baking pan.
4. Bake the Tenderloin for approximately 30 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the middle reads at least 145-degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Remove the Tenderloin from the oven and set it aside to cool.
6. While the Tenderloin is cooling, cut the Green Apple -- across the core -- into 1/4" or thinner slices (you should get 10 or more slices).  Remove the seeds.  Sprinkle each slice very lightly with some Salt & Sugar.
7. Heat a Tablespoon of Butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat, then place one-half of the Green Apple slices (Sugared & Salted side down) into the Butter.  Now is the time to lightly Sugar & Salt the exposed (up) side.  Cook the slices until a little browned on the bottom, then flip over and do the same to the second side. Remove them from the pan, and repeat this process with the remaining slices.
8. Cut the Tenderloin into 1/4-1/2" thick slices, and plate it all together by alternating apple slices with pork slices, sort of like a Caprese Salad.  If any of the pork coating fell off in the oven, you can spoon it over the top for some extra crunch and flavor.
9. I ate mine last night with a kale and cilantro based Side Salad.

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

** You'll also never find ads here. **

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or

contact me directly using the form near the top of the right-hand column.

Around the World in Foodventures (Guyana: PEPPERPOT)

A little over 3 months ago, I went (only culinarily, of course) to Antigua and Barbuda -- where Pepperpot was a more than viable option.  But since it also turned out to be the actual national dish of Guyana, I decided to make something else for Antigua and Barbuda, and save the Pepperpot for now, with Guyana.

Pepperpot is stewed meat.  You use what you can get your hands on, and make it super tender by boiling it in flavorful liquid -- spiced with....hot peppers (duh! 😉) -- for hours along with the "secret"/special ingredient: Cassareep (sort of like molasses but thinner, and made from cassava root juice -- it has a slight licorice flavor).   I followed the method given in this YouTube video (Simple Guyanese Pepperpot Recipe) using a combination of ingredients from that one and this one (Guyanese Pepperpot || Step By Step Traditional Recipe- Episode 153):

• ~ 4 lbs of Meat (I used pot roast/rump cut into chunks, plus some short ribs for the collagen and bone marrow properties)
• 1 cup of Dave's Cassava Cassareep Sauced
• 2 Cinnamon Sticks
• 1/2 an Orange worth of Peel
• 6 cloves Garlic, smashed
• 3 Habanero Peppers (I couldn't find the traditional 4 Wiri Wiri Peppers called for)
• 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 10+ springs Thyme
• 6 Cloves (optional)
• 1 medium-large Onion, cut into chunks
• 1-2 Tbsp. grated Ginger
• enough Water to cover the meat
• Kosher Salt & Black Pepper to taste

The only real change I made from the cooking method was that I started with only 1 Habanero pepper (because I didn't want it to come out too spicy for the people I was making it for).  About an hour into the boiling, I transferred half the contents to a second pot, taking the first Habanero with that, and added the 2 additional Habanero peppers to the second pot.  So we ended up with one pot that was mild and a second pot that was quite spicy -- though it seems like 90% of the spiciness stayed in the cooking liquid rather than getting into the meat directly (which may explain why this meal is typically served with Plait Bread -- to soak up all that goodness).  Still tasted awesome, though -- and we're going to find a way to use the leftover liquid in a soup or to cook noodles in, etc.

This is what it looked like right at the beginning,
and before I split it into 2 pots.

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Creamy Wild Boar, Kielbasa, and Kale Soup

The items I pulled out of the freezer this weekend included leftover bits of raw wild boar and a piece of kielbasa.  We also had fresh kale that, due to it's leafy-ness compared to the heartiness of other vegetables we recently bought, was first in line to be used up.  So, after Googling for ideas, I made this soup that both Hubby and I are very happy with.  I especially love the way the heavy cream and the fats from the meat sort of separate when you let the soup sit still for a minute, creating a wonderful contrasting swirl of colors.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 slices of Bacon, chopped into 1/4-inch squares
• 5 ounces of Wild Boar meat, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
• Approximately 6-inches of kielbasa, sliced into relatively thin half-moons
• 1 stalk of Celery, chopped
• 1 large Carrot, cut into cubes
• 1 large Shallot, sliced
• 1 heaping cereal spoonful of minced Garlic
• 2 Tablespoons of Auntie Arwen's Salt-Free Kitchen Sink spice mix
• Kosher Salt & Black Pepper
• a 3-finger pinch of Red Pepper flakes
• 2-3 cups of Vegetable Broth
• 2-3 cups of Homemade Chicken Stock
• 1 bunch of Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale -- top leafy halves only, cut into 2-3" strips
• 1/2 pint of Heavy Cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot (I used an enameled cast iron one), cook the Bacon over medium heat until just barely starting to crisp.  Add the Wild Boar and cook it in the bacon fat (leave the bacon bits in, too) until the Wild Boar is browned on all sides.  Then add the Kielbasa and continue cooking and stirring all the meats together until the Kielbasa also starts to show brown bits.
2. Dump the Celery, Carrot, Shallot, Garlic, Auntie Arwen's, a couple pinches of Salt, and Red Pepper Flakes into the same pot with the meats.  Cook all together, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes (until the vegetables just start to soften).
3. Add the Vegetable Broth and Chicken Stock, and simmer the whole pot for about 5 minutes.  Then add the Kale.
4. As soon as the Kale is cooked to your liking, add the Heavy Cream and stir it all together just until everything is hot again.
5. Season to taste with Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper, then enjoy!

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

** You'll also never find ads here. **

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or
contact me directly using the form near the top of the right-hand column.

Vegan Avocado and Herb Pasta

I'm trying really, really hard to stick to eating Vegan these days.  Roaming around my kitchen wondering what to have for lunch today, and running low on fresh ingredients because it's almost time to go food shopping, I realized there were a bunch of miscellaneous green things I could work with.  So I came up with this:

And of course I put it in a green bowl.  😛

INGREDIENTS*:

• 6 dry ounces of your pasta of choice (I used tricolor corkscrews)
• 1 - 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• ~1/3 cup chopped Onion
• 1 heaping Tablespoon of minced Garlic
• 1 hefty pinch of Salt
• 2 handfuls of Baby Spinach
• 1 Avocado
• 8 springs of fresh Cilantro, thick stems removed
• 4 springs of fresh Dill, thick stems removed
• 1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper
• 1/2 cup of frozen Peas
• 1/4 cup of Almond Milk

* I didn't actually measure anything as I was making this, but have given my best estimate on the amounts I put in. You can certainly adjust how much you use of any of the ingredients depending on your personal taste.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook the pasta according to the box instructions.
2. While the pasta is cooking -- In a saute pan, heat up the Olive Oil and cook the Onion and Garlic with the Salt over medium-low heat (you don't want them to burn).  When they are soft and just turning brown, turn off the heat and add 1/2 of the Baby Spinach.  Stir to combine and to wilt the spinach.
3. In the bowl of your food processor**, combine the Avocado, Cilantro, Dill, the other 1/2 of the Baby Spinach, and the Black Pepper.  Process (scraping down the sides as needed) until mostly smooth and looking like a pesto.
4. When the pasta is done, drain it and put it back into its cooking pan.  Add the mix from your food processor, the mix from the saute pan, the Peas, and the Almond Milk, and stir to combine.  (You might need to turn the heat on for a minute or two if your Peas are still frozen, while you stir to get everything warmed through.)
5. Enjoy!

** You can do this step in a blender, too.  If you have neither a blender nor a food processor, I would suggest chopping the spinach and herbs up as small as you can, and then whisking everything together in a bowl as vigorously as you can.  You will likely end up with a lumpier sauce in the end, but it will still taste just as good.

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

** You'll also never find ads here. **

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or
contact me directly using the form near the top of the right-hand column.

Around the World in Foodventures (Antigua and Barbuda: DUCANA)

One of the most popular foods in Antigua and Barbuda is Pepperpot, which is their adaptation of the same meal from Guyana.  Since Pepperpot happens to be the national dish of Guyana, I decided to save it for when I virtually travel there.  For Antigua and Barbuda, then, I decided to go with something more on the sweet side: Ducana:

Ducana is a relatively sweet hash-brown-like dumpling traditionally cooked by wrapping the mixture in lovely little banana leaf packages (which I guess also makes them tamale-like), and then boiling them.  It's often served as a side dish along with more savory items (like Salt Fish), but is sometimes treated as a dessert too; which is the application I went for today.  Made from root vegetables, sweet fruits, sugar, and some spices; it's really easy to put together.  People vary the amounts of each ingredient and how fine they chop or grate them, depending on how sweet and firm they prefer their final product to be.

I studied these two videos and their linked written blog posts, before deciding to use fresh Tannia (a root vegetable I'd never heard of or eaten before) instead of All-Purpose Flour:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NUDUc2lH8w
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3RvrVN8NYI

Ducana are delicious warm, cold, and lightly-fried as a snack (which of course I tried).  Here are photos of the one I quickly pan fried in a mixture of butter and oil:

The bonus of this week's adventure is that shopping for Tannia allowed us to find a great local Caribbean grocery store, which I am now keeping on my list of go-to's.

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Sweet & Savory Moroccan Jackfruit "Tagine" - made in a Crock Pot

I've been meaning to do this for a while, and having made a stop at H Mart over the weekend to pick up the fresh jackfruit, was finally able to get around to it last night.  This is essentially an easy modification of what I made almost 10 (wow) years ago, but I am going to write out the full recipe here since it of course comes along with a new photo.

Other than the inclusion of Honey, this recipe is Vegan.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 of an average-size Jackfruit (after breaking down, mine yielded about 2.5 pounds of "meat")
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound of onions, peeled & quartered
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound of carrots, cut into chunks (I don't peel them; you certainly can if you want)
• 1 large can of whole tomatoes, drained
• 8 ounces of dates, pitted and torn/cut in half
• 6 ounces of raisins (I used a mix of golden and dark, because that's what I had on hand)
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2-1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon)
• 2 teaspoons of cumin powder
• 2 teaspoons of coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon each of salt & pepper
• Toasted sliced almonds (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Get a medium saucepot mostly full of water on the stove and bring it to a boil.
2. While the water is coming up to boil -- break down the jackfruit by separating all the yellow and white bits of "meat" from the core and the skin.  (You'll probably need to use a knife, as well as tearing things apart with your hands, to get the most yield.  It's a good idea to wear gloves and oil your knife blade, because depending on the ripeness of your particular specimen, there may be a lot of very sticky sap involved. I got lucky and didn't encounter much of that this time.)  Also, find the seed buried inside each yellow section, fish them out, and keep them -- they are edible, have a nutty texture, and we're going to use them.  The white and yellow jackfruit meat can just go right into the crock pot.
3. Put the seeds into the boiling water and cook them for 20-30 minutes, until the skins start to crack open.  Once they are cooked, scoop them out of the water and set them aside to cool.
4. Drop the carrots into the same boiling water and par-cook them for about 3-5 minutes.  When done, scoop them out and put them into the crock pot.
5. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and brown the onion quarters over a fairly high heat until nicely charred.  Tip them into the crock pot.
6. Hopefully, your seeds are cool enough at this point that you can handle them.  Peel the white skins off (discard the skins), and throw those seeds into the crock pot.
7. Finally, put everything else (except the almonds) into the crock pot and stir it all together until well incorporated.
8. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender to your liking and the jackfruit is shredding apart.
9. Serve over your favorite cooked grain (rice, quinoa, barley, couscous, etc.), with some some toasted sliced almonds sprinkled on top.

Around the World in Foodventures (Angola: MUAMBA DE GALINHA and FUNGE)

I felt strongly before I even started cooking this dish, just by reading ingredient lists and looking at finished product photos, that it was going to be delicious.   And I was right.  On top of that, I got to use a new-to-me ingredient.  And it was strange.  Details below this juicy photo....

So....first of all, one of the ingredients that the recipe (https://www.africanbites.com/muamba-chickenmuamba-de-galinha/) I worked from called for was Palm Oil -- and I simply wasn't going to use that given the controversy around it.  Instead, I put Ghee in its place.  I also used Sweet Potato instead of Butternut Squash, as the recipe suggested for an option.  (I do have Butternut Squash on hand, but it's already cut into small cubes and frozen and I didn't want to have the effect on texture that those factors would cause -- so I went with my fresh Sweet Potato.)  Finally, I will say that this recipe I was following was a bit wonky in terms of not being completely clear regarding amounts and at which points to add some of the ingredients -- so I simply went with my instincts and experience to do what I thought was most correct.  All of this worked out just fine, because in the end we had an excellent dinner.

As for the strange part....that's the side dish: Funge (http://viaja-en-mi-cocina-english.blogspot.com/2017/04/funge.html).  While very simple to make (if not a bit tiring for my arm muscles 😉), I didn't expect the incredibly sticky, stretchy, putty-like texture that cooked Cassava Flour results in (like, you can literally twirl this porridge around a fork!).  But it is what it is, serves its purpose as a meal base or filler quite well, and now I have the rest of the unused Cassava Flour to find other ways to use and experiment with -- which, isn't that what this whole journey is all about?

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Around the World in Foodventures (Andorra: ESCUDELLA I CARN D'OLLA)

"Escudella i Carn D'olla" translates to "Soup and stewed meat" -- and that's exactly what this bowl deliciously contains. It also all comes together quickly enough that you can make it on a weeknight. I started after 5:00 PM and we were eating by 7:15.

Because this is clearly one of those dishes that every household has their own version of, and/or uses varying ingredients depending on what they have available that day, I followed the general gist of this recipe: https://www.notesfromamessykitchen.com/recipe/andorra-escudella/ -- but changed the timing of some parts because I didn't want my beans or potatoes to get too mushy; and because I read in some other posts that thick-cut ham is sometimes included, I added that to my pot as well.

I suspected that the homemade broth specifically would remind me of holiday family soups from my childhood.  And I was happily correct.  On top of that -- this meal is hearty, rich and fatty but not too much so, just salty enough, and the pork meatballs offer a little pop of surprising flavor due to their inclusion of nutmeg and cumin.  So good and delightfully balanced, all around.

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Around the World in Foodventures (France: CROISSANTS)

Most of the traditional/national dishes from France are stews that are pretty similar to things I've already made or had -- and despite eating probably hundreds of them throughout my life and always wanting to make them, I had never attempted croissants.  Internal debate over; easy decision. 😁

The recipe to follow?  Julia Child's, of course. 💕

(https://www.wgbh.org/food/dining-in/2020/11/10/julia-childs-croissant-recipe)

I went with three varieties: plain, chocolate chip, and pistachio.  And while I didn't succeed in getting these 100% perfect (likely let the butter get too warm and/or rolled the dough out too roughly - i.e. it delaminated thus not creating a perfect interior lattice upon baking), they for sure were flaky and tasted great.  I'll make them again sometime, but for this series, it's one and done per country, so on to Andorra we go....

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain

Vegan Banana Bread Muffins

These muffins are shaped like muffins, but have the texture of banana bread.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 3/4 cups of Flour
• 2/3 cup Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 2 large very ripe Bananas, mashed until just about smooth
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
• 1/4 cup Almond Milk
• 2 Chia Eggs*
• OPTIONAL: 1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped nuts (for this iteration I used Pistachios, but I prefer Walnuts or Pecans)

* To make a Chia Egg, mix 3 Tablespoons of water with 1 Tablespoon of Chia seeds, and let it sit for about five minutes until it's goopy.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 350-degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In either the bowl of your stand mixer or some other big bowl, combine about half of the flour with all of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt - then mix to combine.
3. Add the mashed bananas, oil, and almond milk -- and after stirring to combine, use either the paddle attachment to your stand mixer or a hand held electric mixer to beat the batter for 2 minutes.
4. Add the chia eggs and the rest of the flour, and beat until blended.  Now stir in your nuts, if you're adding any.
5. Scoop the batter into a greased muffin pan, filling each cup about halfway.  (I like to use a #20 / 3 Tablespoon disher.)  You should get about 10 muffins (or 11 - 12 if you added nuts).
6. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until starting to brown and when a toothpick comes out clean.  Let them sit in the muffin pan for a couple of minutes after removing from the oven, to help them release from the sides -- then pop them out and enjoy.

This recipe is a modification of "Banana Bread" from the

Better Homes and Gardens Classic Red Plaid Cookbook.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

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