You don’t have to know how to pronounce it to enjoy eating it. Pljeskavica. If this long, meandering string of letters makes you stutter, just clap your hands, because that’s what Pljeskavica means – the sound of hands clapping as the “Balkan burger” patties are formed. And this is not just a big word. This is big food. This is the original “super-size.” Not only are the patties large enough to cover a small plate, they contain as many as 6 cuts of meat from three different animals. Everyone has their variation and you’ll typically find beef, lamb, and pork (for non-Muslims) in every bite. The entire animal is fair game. You can’t help but smile as your mouth stretches open with every bite. While each region (country, town, family, person!) has their own variation, most chow down on pljeskavica with a knife and fork. More recently, tucking the patty inside lepina, or thick pita bread with onion and tomato, is gaining popularity. Either way, don’t forget to slather each bite with roasted ajvar spread! For …
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Makes 6 rolls (on 1/2 sheet nori seeweed) – serves 2 Do you have a yearning to be creative? An artist? Do you want to release your imagination into the wild? Are you also hungry? The answer is sushi. While sushi making is an art that requires years of training to master, everyone can play the game. It’s like I tell my husband – you don’t have to be Michelangelo to paint a personal masterpiece. Similarly, you don’t have to be a sushi chef to fill your belly with satisfying sushi. Today we’re tackling futomaki. Futomaki is a large sushi roll, typically filled with vegetables and/or cooked fish. I thought this was a good place to start for those of us who don’t have refrigerated work spaces for handling raw fish. After all, let’s be honest. This is all about fun. Not tummy troubles. So let’s get our art on and make some sushi. Once you get the hang of it, I highly suggest having a sushi themed small dinner party. It’s super sushi fun. Here’s what you …
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Makes 8-10 Imagine. It’s the height of summer. You spend all day roughhousing with the ocean. When every muscle in your body is heavy, you lay down in the sand for an impromptu picnic with a package of street food – tortas. In less than a minute you make several cheesy, crispy, fried plantain tortas disappear into your happy belly. After the last bite, you lick the salt from your fingers and drink a tall glass of water. You stretch out for a nap, still warm from the glow of a little too much sun. Did I just find one of the secrets to a happy Honduran childhood by the seashore? I sure hope so. What is it about summer and fried food? While I don’t normally include loads of oil in my daily line-up, there’s nothing like a big bite of crispy fried goodness to cap off a great day in the sun. Play around with this recipe – make it your own. Our tortas simply contain cheese, although beans are traditional as well. Ingredients: 4 …
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Serves 4 Barbecue, called coupé coupé, is all over Africa. This sandwich is inspired by Gabonese love for smoked meats piled into crusty baguettes. I posted this recipe in diary format because, well, it was a little bit of an Adventure. Ingredients: 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1 1/2 tsp powdered chicken bouillon 1/4 tsp cayenne salt pepper 1 1/2 lbs flank steak grilled poblano peppers, skinned and cut into strips 1 onion, sliced and grilled (I grilled in foil with olive oil) 1 baguette 2 cups hickory wood chips Method: 8:00 am Woke up to a perfect day. Methinks one should always smoke meat under a blue sky and budding trees. 8:01 am Realize we don’t have any wood chips. Keith runs off to get some. I go back to sleep, ignoring blue skies and budding trees. 8:30 am I wake up to my hero, sneaking in with arms full of hickory wood chips, aluminum trays, and cat food. Nice. (Cat food for cats, not for sandwiches. Double nice). Soak wood chips for about …
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Makes 12 canapés Throughout Scandinavia the smørrebrød, or open faced sandwich is the pretty way to eat lunch. I’ve turned them into dainty finger food, perfect for parties. Yum! Ingredients: 12 slices of dark rye bread or pumpernickel softened butter 1 package of smoked salmon 1/2 a cucumber, halved & sliced thinly thinly sliced red onion, to taste 1 lemon a few sprigs of fresh dill Method: Slice up all your ingredients so they are ready to go. Then, lay out the bread like a little chess board. I used pumpernickel because the petite 2″x2″ size is way too cute. Next butter up the bread. This keeps the bread from getting soggy. Then, lay thinly sliced cucumber halves on top of the bread. The thinner they are, the easier they’ll lay down. Next, up? Smoked salmon (one of my favorite ingredients). Folding each piece in half makes for a pretty presentation. And then? Sliced red onion. Again, thin is the name of the game here. Just look at the vibrant colors of this smørresbrød… you are making …
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Serves 2 Ooey, gooey and sizzling hot, The Cuban sandwich will rock your world. The key to a great Cuban Sandwich is to obtain the best possible ingredients, especially when it comes to the bread and pork. Ingredients: 18″ long Cuban bread (can substitute Italian or French bread) yellow mustard (to taste) 4 slices of ham 4 slices of roast pork 4 slices of Swiss cheese thinly sliced pickles (to taste) Method: First of all, roast yourself a pork and use the leftovers in this sandwich. It will be so much better! Now, that that’s out of the way, let’s get started. Slice a loaf of cuban bread almost completely in half, lengthwise. Spread the bottom with yellow mustard. This is very important in a traditional Cuban. My stone ground mustard still isn’t speaking to me. Add sliced ham… deli ham is fine! And thinly sliced roast pork. Make sure you trim off any fatty bits. This is regret speaking. Layer on the beautiful Swiss cheese and sandwich pickles. Cover with top of bread and …
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Serves 4 Steaming fish in banana leaves – extremely common in Africa – results in a light, healthy dish. Liboke is a congolese word (in the Lingala dialect) for packets of food cooked in banana leaves. Ingredients: 4 fish fillets (I used tilapia, you can use any white fish you like) 4 banana leaves (or sheets of aluminum foil) 1/2 onion, thinly sliced 1-2 tomatoes, thinly sliced lemon juice, to taste salt cayenne pepper Method: First, prepare the banana leaves. Trim off the tough side of the leaf. Then run the leaf quickly over a flame to soften it and make it more pliable. When it changes from dull to shiny, it is soft enough. Next, assemble the liboke. First the onions. Then, a few tomato slices. Jewl red and just as juicy. A pristine fillet of fish. No square, pressed fish here! Sprinkle with a bit of cayenne, if you dare! Or just a bit of lemon juice. Once you have everything in there, fold up the leaf like a burrito. Top down. Then, …
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Serves 4 This traditional African dish combines peanut butter with goat, two of the most common ingredients in many parts of the continent, especially west and central Africa. Hot peppers and cayenne add kick. Ingredients: 1 lb goat meat, cubed 1/2 onion, sliced thinly 1 poblano pepper, sliced thinly 4 12″x12″ banana leaves (or sheets of aluminum foil) For the Sauce: 3/4 cup peanut butter 1 Tbsp bouillon 1/2 tsp cayenne water, as needed (I used 5 Tbsp) Method: Cube up some goat meat. The butcher cut me two pieces from the leg, with little bone. Next, mix up the ingredients for the sauce. First up – peanut butter. I open the jar, and my husband comes running. He loves the stuff. Some bouillon powder. Cayenne, for heat. Feel free to omit this or use less… but I hope you don’t. Finally, add water and mix all the ingredients together until a smooth sauce forms. I used about 5 tablespoons. Next, add in the meat. And onions. Make sure you slice them as thinly as …
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Serves 1-2 Piled high with juicy, sweet tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and rich eggs and mayo, this sandwich is popular in Comoros. Ingredients: 8″ piece of baguette (I had to buy wide-style – “rustique” so it holds more) 1-2 tomatoes, sliced 1 cucumber, sliced (or 1/2 an english cucumber) 3 hard-boiled eggs mayonnaise, to taste Method: Slice a baguette in half lengthwise… watch your fingers! Spread with a thin layer of mayo. Or thick, if that’s more your style. Next, place juicy slices of ripe tomatoes. The juices will seep into the bread a bit and make for excellent flavor. Add the cukes. I used English cukes so I didn’t have to peel them. Add a sunny layer of hard-boiled eggs. Ava loves hard-boiled eggs. She’s so wise for her age. Cover with the top half of the bread and … … slice up to eat! Share if you dare… Comoros Sandwich Votes: 0 Rating: 0 You: Rate this recipe! Print Recipe Piled high with juicy, sweet tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and rich eggs and mayo, this …
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Makes about 8 pancakes Chinese Pancakes are quick and easy to make… and wonderful for scooping up stir-fry. The key to obtaining the characteristic chewy texture is to use boiling water. Make sure you use a healthy dose of salt to flavor the dough. Serve with Moo Shu Pork. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup boiling water pinch salt 2 scallions, sliced thinly sesame oil, as needed Method: Add flour and salt to a food processor… Add boiling water … boiling water actually blanches the flour (cooks it briefly) and makes for a nice, chewy pancake. This is desirable because the texture will hold up better to moist stir-fry mixtures. Pulse until dough starts to come together. I used my hands to press the shaggy bits into a smooth ball. The dough is not sticky and should not cling to your hands much. Add more water or flour as needed to get the right texture. Let rest for about an hour. The dough will relax and become super easy to work with. Make small …
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Makes about 16 finger sausages Cevapi, pronounced cheh-VAH-pee, are highly addictive mini sausages served in a special Bosnian pita bread called Somun. You may substitute either naan or other thick, doughy bread. Some Bosnians swear by quickly dipping the bread in beef broth and heating for a minute over a hot grill. The hot, slightly brothy bread with Cevapi is a bite of heaven. Simply inspired! Although this recipe contains pork, you may also make it with equal parts lamb and beef. NOTE: Pljeskavice (pronounced PLYEH-skah-vee-tseh) are made the same way, but you add finely diced onion & green pepper to the mixture. Then form them into little patties, about 3″ diameter. Serve the same way. UPDATE: A reader sent in the following comment, which may be useful to you in your stovetop travels: In Bosnia they are not made with pork. It is good to mix the meats, but pork is not used because of the high percentage of Muslim population in the country. Part of the country might use it, but again their most …
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Serves 8 We had great fun with the Aussie Burger at our barbecue. Follow my tips to help you if you are expecting a big group of people. The pickled beetroot is a lot like pickle, so don’t be shy! Ingredients: 8 hamburger buns 8 beef patties (or turkey) Toppings (all to taste): cooked bacon sliced cheddar cheese red onion, sliced thin into rings tomato, sliced thin pickled beetroot (beet), sliced thin lettuce pineapple rings 8 fried eggs, sunny side up Method: 1. Grill beef patties on a hot grill until done to your preference. A minute or two before taking the meat off of the grill, top burgers with bacon and cheese. Toast buns on the grill. 2. Assemble burger in the order given, starting with bacon and ending with eggs. Enjoy! TIPS: How to make fried eggs for a crowd Oil a sheet pan or cookie sheet. Heat an oiled griddle over medium high and crack eggs on it. Cook until white is set on the bottom, but top is still translucent. Move eggs …
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