Europe - Retro Food For Modern Times

11
Apr
2020

Sighs of a Nun

categories: Desserts, Pastry Desserts, Spain

Hello, people of the internet! I hope you are all keeping safe and staying indoors! And whilst you’re indoors, why not make these little Spanish treats called Suspiros de Monja aka Sighs of a Nun.

I love food with kooky names so as soon as I saw these I knew they would someday make their way to here. I know they are not chocolate but consider them my Easter treat to you!

When I heard the name, Sighs of a Nun, I assumed it would refer to sighs of ecstasy over how delicious these are. Not so. They are delicious but the sighs are definitely not what I thought they would be!

The literal translation is Nun’s Farts as the sound of a dollop of uncooked pastry hitting the hot oil makes a sound identical to a nun letting off!!!!

I have noticed that my Sighs of a Nun are flatter than the ones I can see on the internet. I think that is because I pan-fried mine instead of deep-frying them. Either way, they were delicious! I was dubious about how much use the lemon would be in this but there was a distinct lemon flavour which I liked against the creamy interior and the crispy outside.

One of the best things about them, in these COVID times, is that you only pantry staples to make them. And, eaten while still warm? They are comfort food on crack!!! Like warm, creamy, lemony doughnuts! Albeit slightly flattened doughnuts in my case!

There is a recipe for Sighs of a Nun in the Goodhousekeeping World Cookery book which is where I first found out about them. They say Sighs of a Nun originate in Portugal and I have also seen recipes that say they came from France. I ended up using this recipe from The Spruce Eats so we are going with Spain!

Sighs of a Nun are fairly rich so just one or two will be enough…okay maybe three. Four will be fine. Hey, we’re at home. Who cares how many you eat?

Signs Of a Nun?

BTW, if you ever try to Google this recipe, Google has a bad habit (😃) of thinking you want to know about the signs of a nun…

If you were inadvertently directed here because you are trying to decide if you want to be a Bride of Christ…I’m sorry. I’ll try to keep the blasphemy and general debauchery down to a minimum. Sorry about the fart talk above. Given we are living in plague times, now more than ever I do not need the wrath of anyone’s God smiting me down.

Having said that, potential novitiates block your ears.

I can’t remember if I told this story at the time (it seems so long ago, for being less than a month!!!!), But when we were in the Uber on the way home from seeing New Order my friend Claire and I got an absolute earful from the driver who was a total God botherer. He kept saying to us “You people put your faith in science. What is science doing to stop this disease?”

Ummm….well…I don’t know EXACTLY. But I’ll put my money on science coming through with a cure before any type of divine intervention! And whilst we’re on that subject? When that cure comes, I certainly hope all those anti-vaxxers are going to politely wait at the back of a social isolation distance correct line while the rest of us get the jab and can give each other a big old hug!!!!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

15
Mar
2019

Use By: Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

categories: Apricots, France, Fruit, Sorbet

There were so many things I could have named this post. But hey, I made an Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet. So when I couldn’t decide between witty or explanatory I decided to go with plain old pragmatism. Who knew ice cream was so complicated?

BEING MORE FRENCH

Towards the end of last year, one of my work buddies and I were talking about New Year’s Resolutions. He said he never made the traditional resos of saving money, losing weight or getting fit. Instead, he chooses something that explores a different way of being / thinking / creating. So, it could be a year of reading the financial papers or a year of being vegetarian or a year of being celibate or totally slutty or otherwise exploring a part of your personality that you feel needs expressing or you just want to have fun with.

“You know, like a year of being more French”

My reaction?

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

This is the beauty of something like this – it can mean whatever you want it to be. For me…in no particular order:

Dress More French

Such as totally indulging my love of a striped t shirt.

Eat / Drink more French food (and wine)

Fromage anyone?

Watch More French movies / French tv shows

Including one of my favourite films ever The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

And just to balance out all that sweeetness, some gritty French police drama.

Be more Cultured

Last week I saw The Clock by Christian Marclay and loved every minute of it.
This weekend I’m planning on attending a local art show.

Self Care

French women take fabulous care of their skin and have amazing beauty regimes.

I plan on getting me a piece of that. My first foray into this realm was to buy some French eye drops that were RAVED about in a beauty blog. They have made absolutely no discernible difference so that was money down le toilet but I will try a new product each month.

Other ideas not fully thought out yet

Have an attitude
Start a revolution
Sexy Frugality

Mais, bien sûr

Cook More French

Which brings us back to doh oh oh oh.

The topic for our latest Tasty Reads Book Club was a “non book” book. So you could cook recipes off the interwebs or the tv or, in my case a food magazine. I bought this mag when I was on holiday last year and had not cooked anything from it.

So, when some friends gave me a big bag of apricots of varying degrees of ripeness, I decided to

Be more French, and
To use this produce before it went bad (Year of Less Waste)

By cooking the Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet from the mag.

Here’s the recipe.

In English.

Print

Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

Print Recipe

A delightfully refreshing fruity sorbet

Ingredients

Scale

500g apricots
12 basil leaves
juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs
200ml of cream
150g sugar
1 tbsp honey

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Infuse 6 basil leaves in cream for at least 2 hours.
Then put the apricots, the rest of the basil, lemon juice and a little water into a pot and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes.
Taste and add the honey (a little more or less may be required depending on the sweetness of the apricots.
Cook for another five minutes.
Let cool.
Separate the eggs.
In a large bowl, beat the yolks and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture turns pale. Then stir in the apricot mixture.
In a separate bowl, beat the whites to soft peaks.
In a third bowl, beat the cream to soft peaks.
Add the cream to the apricot mix and blend through.
Gently fold in the egg whites.
Pour into a container. Freeze for 24 hours

Au revoir mes amis and have a lovely weekend!

15
Oct
2018

Chicken Cacciatore

categories: Chicken, Italy

Happy Chicken Cacciatore Day Everyone!!!!

You might now know it but there is a debate raging on the backstory of Chicken Cacciatore!

Commonly received wisdom will have you believing that Chicken Cacciatore or Hunter’s Chicken originated in Renaissance Italy.

The big problem with this theory is that there were no tomatoes in Renaissance Italy – they only came to Italy post the discovery of the New World!

Ah, but the…let’s call them the Old Worlders will tell you, “It was made without tomatoes back in the day”.

Possible. But tomatoes seem to be fairly integral to the idea of Chicken Cacciatore. Even this old recipe for it which doesn’t contain mushrooms or olives or any of the additions we see in modern Cacciatore contains tomatoes. Two types!

By the way, how adorable is this recipe? The whole book is like this! And where else have you read a recipe that mentions “wretched” little chicken wing or tells you to stir something with enthusiasm!

But, I’ve only told you one side of the debate. The second theory of Chicken Cacciatore comes from Nikki Sengit from her amazing book, The Flavour Thesaurus. Her contention is that Chicken Cacciatore is about as Italian as Chicken Tikka Masala is Indian!

“Hunter’s Stew – which is not, sadly, the invention of pockmarked Sicilian peasants, returning home with a brace of feral chickens slung over their waistcoats, but an English recipe from the 1950’s taught to nice girls by their mothers in the hope they’d bag the sort of chap who’d neither be too unadventurous nor too suspiciously cosmopolitan to object to a lightly herbed slop of chicken in tomato sauce”

Oh Nikki, so harsh!

Chicken Cacciatore is delicious!!! At least this recipe, which is the one I used is! I only took one photo so here it is again!

So, tell me which side of the debate do you land on? Renaissance or 1950’s. Either way, buon appetito and have a great week!!!!

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12
Aug
2018

Macdedonian Grilled Cheese (Przeni Lepcinja)

categories: Bread, French Toast, Grilled Cheese, Macedonia, World Cooking

Grilled cheese is one of life’s little pleasures. Warm toasty bread, oozy melty grilled cheese…it doesn’t get better than this. Except in Macedonia where they top their grilled cheese with…wait for it….more cheese!!!

Today we’re continuing our visit to the Balkan States with a little look at Przeni Lepcinja – Macedonian grilled cheese.

Macedonian Grilled Cheese is essentially a cheesy French toast, topped with cheese. It’s delicious and so quick and easy to make!

The blend of creamy melted mozzarella and the salty feta cheese is great and perfect with the crisp french toast style bread!

I found the recipe for Macedonian Grilled Cheese here I’ve also copied it below. I served mine with a little tomato and red onion salsa that was very similar to the Sopska Salata featured here. Although given the double cheese abundance in the toast, I left the cheese out of the salad!

If you feel like something a bit more substantial, this is also great if you serve with a poached or fried egg on top…this I think also has a nice symmetry – cheesy eggy bread, topped with cheese and egg.

And now, just because I can, here’s a cheesy joke for you:

What’s cheese’s favourite music?

R ‘n’ Brie.

🤗

Cheesy and cheesy if you know what I mean.

Just like a Przeni Lepcinja!

Have a great week!

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18
Jun
2018

Cevapcici with Sopska Salata and Random Facts about David Bowie

categories: Salad, Sausage, Serbia, World Cooking

Поздрав из Србије!

Or, to my non-Serbian friends, Greetings from Serbia. Today we are continuing to explore the former Yugoslavian regions with a side step from Croatia to Serbia.

On the menu today are Cevapcici (aka Cevapi) which are sausages found all over the Balkans in various shapes, sizes and flavours. The word is derived from the Turkish kebab from which my serving suggestion today is also derived.

Because meat+bread+salad = delicious in any language! 😘

Wikipedia lists the following variations:

Sarajevski ćevap, from Sarajevo, Bosnia, meat mix of beef and sheepmeat
Travnički ćevapi, from Travnik, Bosnia, meat mix of beef, veal, mutton and lamb
Banjalučki ćevapi, from Banja Luka, Bosnia, beef meat
Tuzlanski ćevapi, from Tuzla, Bosnia, meat mix of beef, mutton and lamb
Novopazarski ćevap, from Novi Pazar, Serbia, traditionally sheepmeat
Leskovački ćevap, from Leskovac, Serbia, veal meat

My version uses lamb so takes its cues from a the novopazarski cevap. I could not find a recipe for one of these online and the entry in Good Housekeeping’s World Cookery was vague to say the least:

So I used a lamb cevapcici recipe I found online here. The spice blend made these sausages super tasty and the high-fat content of the lamb kept the sausages from drying out during cooking so this was a really good find. Also, the cevapcici were super easy to make.

The recipe for the Sopska Salata or Serbian Tomato Salad came from here.

My pita recipe came from the Relish Mama Family cookbook which is our current Tasty Reads cookbook but you could use any homemade pita recipe or use bought flatbreads to make cooking this even easier.

And now for some fun facts about Serbia. Which turned into random facts about David Bowie.

Nikola Tesla was a Serb. Amongst other things, Tesla is known for the development of alternating current and wireless technology. He was also played by David Bowie in the amazing movie The Prestige!

The most known Serbian word?

Vampire.

David Bowie starred alongside Susan Sarandon in a vampire film back in the 1980’s called The Hunger.

Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie in the Tony Scott movie “The Hunger”… (1983)
byu/Reporter_at_large inDavidBowie

Serbia is the world’s largest exporter of a particular (and delicious) food item. In 2012, 95% of this item came from Serbia. And seeing as this has now also become an unofficial David Bowie post, it features as an ingredient in two of the cocktails on this list inspired by David Bowie.

The ingredient? Raspberries.

One more….just to really tie things together…Brian Rasic (Brajan Rašić) who was Bowie’s official photographer for many years and gave the world several iconic photos of the great man? Was born in Belgrade.

Seriously, sometimes this just writes itself….

Have a wonderful week everyone!

And tell me, if you were going to drink a David Bowie-inspired cocktail from the list above, which would you choose? I’d have a Starman.

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Cevapcici Recipe:

Sopska Salata Recipe (SBS Food)

Retro Food For Modern Times

Category: Europe

Sighs of a Nun

Signs Of a Nun?

Use By: Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

BEING MORE FRENCH

Dress More French

Eat / Drink more French food (and wine)

Watch More French movies / French tv shows

Be more Cultured

Self Care

Read More French

Other ideas not fully thought out yet

Cook More French

Apricot, Lemon and Basil Sorbet

Ingredients

Instructions

Chicken Cacciatore

Macdedonian Grilled Cheese (Przeni Lepcinja)

Cevapcici with Sopska Salata and Random Facts about David Bowie