Global Table Adventure

Recipe: West African Peanut Bites | Kanya

February 3, 2013 By Sasha Martin 5 Comments

If there's one thing I've learned from this Adventure, it's that my family's unfaltering love of peanuts inexorably links us to the fine people of West Africa, where this little legume is enjoyed in both savory and sweet concoctions. Peanut soups and cookies are both fair game, but today we explore Kanya, an altogether new delight. Kanya are naturally gluten free and beyond simple, made with just three ingredients: peanuts, sugar, and toasted rice flour. That's it! Kanya remind me of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sierra Leone, Sweets, Valentine's Day, Vegan

Recipe: Creamy Coconut & Banana Tart

January 25, 2013 By Sasha Martin 8 Comments

Imagine sitting by the sea one lazy afternoon, focused on the tattered nets of nearby fishing boats, when something big and hard bumps against your foot. When you look down, you see a giant, two lobed coconut has washed up, onto the sand. From end to end, this coconut is as long as your forearm, with tufts of hair poking out between the brown, oblong lobes. She would have traveled hundreds (thousands!) of miles to reach you, all the way from the Seychelles. And you'd know she came from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Fruit, International Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Seychelles, Technique Thursday, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian

Recipe: Coconut Fish Curry | Cari de Poisson

January 24, 2013 By Sasha Martin 12 Comments

When the sun dips low and spreads her rouge all over the sky, I enjoy knowing that this glorious watercolor of light travels around the world like a comet, leaving behind a glowing trail for all to see. No matter where they are from, or where they are going. The sun has universal beauty. It makes me smile to know that, somewhere in the Seychelles - half a world away - they, too, see her rose and curried colors curl through the clouds, right before bedtime. And I imagine that maybe, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Gluten Free Adaptable, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Seafood, Seychelles, Technique Thursday

Recipe: Serbian Salad

January 20, 2013 By Sasha Martin 3 Comments

Although the air still hangs crisp with winter, seed sowing season is nearly upon us - that time of year when the window sills of the industrious are stocked with small, peat lined plastic containers. With careful gifts of water and radiant window light, small seeds will crack open and send vivid green shoots through the black, crumbling soil, into the glow. In a few months time, these brave seedlings will make their way outdoors, into the deep, hot sunshine, where they will mature into edible … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, Gluten Free Adaptable, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Salads, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Serbia, Vegetarian

Recipe: Chocolate Ice Cube Cake | ledene kocke

January 17, 2013 By Sasha Martin 18 Comments

If there was a giant table strewn with every cake, brownie, custard, and pie, ever, I'd be the first in line. But I wouldn't be there to eat them. Not initially. I'd be there to soak in their beauty, to enjoy the geometry. Circles, rectangles, towers of truffles. Cubes, even. I'd languish to revel in the colors - chocolate browns, raspberry reds, vanilla-cream whites, mint-leaf greens, passion fruit golds. I'd eat with my eyes until ever bit of my spirit was nourished. Then I'd … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Serbia, Sweets, Technique Thursday, Vegetarian

Recipe: Senegal’s PB & Peanut Sugar Cookies | Cinq Centimes

January 11, 2013 By Sasha Martin 6 Comments

In French, Cinq Centimes means Five Cents. Don't be fooled by the name. This isn't the sort of recipe that must be studied like a terrible, paragraph-long math problem. This is not a prerequisite to calculus, or even rocket science. This is a snippet - a slice of a dream from Senegalese street vendors. A one-two-three treat worthy of any snack time. No more. No less. Every step is ridiculously easy. The hardest part will be keeping your sweet, adoring Mr. Picky from sniffing the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Fun Friday, International Recipes, Mr. Picky's Favorite Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Senegal, Sweets, Vegetarian

Recipe: Senegal’s Black-eyed Pea Salad | Saladu Ñebbe

January 9, 2013 By Sasha Martin 4 Comments

This New Year, I'm making room for sunlight to lay across the floor. No more discarded shoes to trip over. No more stacks of books or useless tchotchkes. Senegal inspired me. I saw photo after photo of her beautiful waters... vast expanses where sunlight runs free, unhampered by clutter. Less stuff in general, with more of the right stuff - friendship, laughter, love. This is how I want my home and my life to be. I want to eat fresh and right. I want sunlight in my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa, Gluten Free Adaptable, International Recipes, Miss Ava's Favorite Recipes, New Year's, Potluck Friendly, Salads, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Senegal, Technique Thursday, Vegan, Vegetables/Pulses, Vegetarian

Recipe: Sweet Semolina Cake with Lemon & Rosewater | Basboosa

January 3, 2013 By Sasha Martin 11 Comments

Love's every whimsy can be found in the tender, fragile curve of a rose. Arab cooks must know this in their hearts, as they imbue many of their desserts with the essence of this great flower. Rose water is made from hundreds (thousands!) of rose petals and I'm convinced there is magic in every drop. Today's cake, called Basboosa, is heavy with such magic. This incredibly moist cake is conjured up with durum semolina, then soaked in a pool of syrup made with sweetened rose water and fresh … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Asia, International Recipes, Potluck Friendly, Sasha's Favorite Recipes, Saudi Arabia, Sweets, Technique Thursday, Valentine's Day, Vegetarian