QUICKSWOOD

Brand New Set of Rules

I’ve generally not been too bothered by the whole nasty process of aging.  It is what it is and I’ve tended to roll with the punches. I’ve pretty well accepted that it’s unlikely I’ll ever do another marathon; did 5 but would have loved to do 10. Come to think of it, I don’t run at all any more although it’s the sport that’s closest to my heart and the activity that I hoped I would never have to give up. 

 I take care of myself and I suppose that the self-depreciating backhanded compliment my father was so fond of applies: “When I was young, they said I was good looking; now they say I’m looking good.” But there are moments. Just the other day while tilting my head over to clear the water out of my ear after a swim, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and was horrified to see how much my face sagged.  I poked the jiggling, loose flesh.  I squeezed it. I pulled it back to see what a face-lift might accomplish.  Weakened connective tissue losing the battle with gravity.  A man of gravitas? Not very funny.

 The mantra I live by now is that I no longer have anything to prove. Dangerous moves on a mountain ridge, stunning displays of endurance in the bedroom or lifesaving maneuvers in the operating room? Been there, done that. As a young man, you need to get those notches on your gun and at this point in my life, I’m quite satisfied with the rough feel mine has. No, at this stage, I have new and much more important priorities or as Mick would say, “A brand new set of rules.”

 If you know me even a little bit, it shouldn’t be hard to guess what those priorities are.  First and foremost is Josée. It’s not just that we’re happily married...for nearly 30 years now (Hell, that’s longer than most life sentences!).  No, it’s much more than that. Over the years, our lives have more than intertwined, they’ve actually melded together so that we’ve become symbionts.  It’s a very good feeling and one that dominates my life.

 Coming in at a very close second are the children.  Alexandra and Philippe are in a good place in their lives right now.  We launched them into the big bad world with everything we could muster  and now we mostly sit back and watch as you would a very good movie that you’re pretty sure will have a happy ending. Alex, happily married to Kyle and Philippe happily living with Nina have their own lives now but they are more than generous at letting us share their happy moments as a family.

 Harper.  I can’t give Harper a rank.  Harper is the nova stellarum in our family’s galaxy and right now, she’s shedding a magnificent light on all of our lives.  What EPO was to Lance, Harper is to Josée and I. She’s the springtime in our lives unexpectedly arrived just when we were starting to think of fall. She’s the new and exciting storyline in that very good movie!

 Finally, there is a whole other category of things that are priorities in my life and  it would be remiss not to mention them.  Some of these are material while others are intellectual but they have all become essential to my existence.  Selfish, hedonist, dilettante, self-indulgent? Maybe but I love them and I don’t think I could do without them. The list is long but consider these as a starter: music, food and wine, art, design, reading, writing and debating.  Go ahead and fault me for refusing to drink espresso unless it’s in a proper cup...and NEVER at Starbucks; laugh when I demand white linen on the restaurant table; call me pretentious for always tuning the car radio to classical.  For these and many other things, I give no quarter.  Never have.  Never will.  Josée, you saint!

 I could fret about getting older and I have many friends who are doing just that.  And sure, I can’t honestly say I have no regrets at all; given the chance, there are more than a few things I would start over. On the whole, though, I feel a serenity settling over my life.  I get the feeling that the rough corners have been worn smooth and that a patina of wisdom and experience is beginning to show.  I’m in a good place right now...may it long be so.

 

Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - EPILOGUE

    The word challenge comes from the late 13c French chalonge meaning "a false or defamatory statement".  Its meaning as  "a calling to fight" is from the 1520s and its most modern use, challenged as a euphemism for "disabled" dates from 1985.

    In the case of Josée's challenge, however, the following definition is the appropriate one: "A difficult task, especially one that the person making the attempt finds more enjoyable because of that difficulty."  Difficult it was, I can assure you but enjoy she did and grateful I am that she took me along for the ride.  

     My wife is an amazing person as many of you may have already surmised.  She is a woman who has persued excellence in everything she has taken on.  She has also had the drive and zeal to reinvent herself when the need arose.  Just consider her segue from a high level nurse in cardiology research at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital, to fulltime motherhood, to cooking school owner/instructor, to Bailli of the Bermuda Chapter of the Chaîne de Rôtisseurs, the largest food and wine organisation in the world, and finally to Member of the International Board of the Chaîne in Paris.  I stand in admiration.

    It must be said, however, that  her achievements in the world of food and wine cannot be attributed to pure happenstance.  Josée has cooking in the blood; her brother was a chef and Josée's mother and sister, although not professionals, can certainly hold their own in the kitchen and at a very high standard at that.

    Many among you have asked how and why Josée came to burden herself with the 30/30/30 Food Challenge.  The how is simple.  Matt Cutts, an engineer at GOOGLE, gave an inspireing if lighthearted TED Talk in which he argued that setting and achieving a personal goal over a 30 day period can be a very fulfilling experience.  Josée was inspired enough by the talk to take on a 30 day challenge herself.  Here is Matt Cutts' TED Talk:

 

    The why is, perhaps, more personal.  Josée has always abhorred routine.  She is goal oriented and actually enjoys deadlines.  And, on a deeper psychological level, I think Josée uses cooking to express the tremendous love and affection she has for her family and friends.  Few things please her more than to see us enjoy the fruits of her many hours spent in the kitchen preparing a wonderful meal.

    Now a challenge such as the one she set for herself would be a daunting task in any big city but to do it in Bermuda presented a unique difficulty, and that is the pausity unusual ingredients. Fortunately, Josée enjoys a strong mutual respect with most the chefs at Bermuda's important establishments and as such was able to tap into their resources.  In addition, Mile's Market, our local purveyer of fine foods, is amazingly well stocked and was a regular source of necessary ingredients.  Kimchi or Swedish lingonberries, anyone?

    Consider what is involved in cooking a meal from a different country every day for 30 consecutive days.  First, you need to decide on the countries.  Josée did not want countries that were part of our regular routine so Canada, England and Bermuda were out and the USA was only included because one of the meals fell on Thanksgiving.  On the other hand, she could not exclude the countries that form the pillars of western cuisine, i.e. Italy, France, Spain and Greece.  The rest were chosen because Josée had a particulat interest in them or because they were completely unknown to her.

    You may have noticed that in order to make a difficult challenge even more difficult, Josée covered 33 countries, not 30; on three of the evenings, 2 countries were covered.    The reason for this is the important culinary similarities shared by the paired countries made them natural matches.  

    Josée then drew up a schedule so that the more important  events took place on the weekends when guests would be present.  She also had to take into consideration the days I was on-call as these are "dry" nights.  

    Then the ingredients had to be sourced and purchased. It was very important to do this well in advance as the authenticity of a dish could be jeopardized by the absence of a specific spice or condiment.

    Finally, the meals had to be prepared.  I have to say that this last part was when Josée seemed to be completely in her element.  I would walk into the kitchen after she had been cooking for 4 or 5 hours and she seemed happy as a lark. Something she said halfway though the challenge, however,  struck me as particularly apt, and that is, "You know, every time I walk into my house these days, it doesn't smell like it's my house."  Indeed, Josée managed to take us on a wonderful gastronomic journey.

    Just for the fun of it, I present you with some of the "numbers" we tallied for the 30 days of the Challenge:

 

• 1 -           number of TUMs used by Joe 
• 1 -           bottles of vintage port consumed
• 1 -           bottles of sake consumed
• 1 -           bottles of Averna consumed
• 2 -           items of clothing left behind
• 2 -           glasses broken
• 4 -           Margueritas served
• 8 -           bottles of beer drunk
• 34-          bottles of sparkling water
• 59 -         different guests who attended the dinners
• 88 -         total number oh hours Josée spent cooking
• 96 -         bottles of wine consumed
• 123 -       photographs of food taken
• 124 -       number of dishes prepared by Josée
• 339 -       number of glasses used (and washed)
• 1677 -     visitors to quickswood.com 
• 14,787 -  word count for blog articles written about the meals

 

 

    Now that it's over, we do feel a bit of a void.  Josée has a lot more spare time and is more inclined to make "reservations" for dinner.  For my part, I no longer feel like a New York Times reporter constantly trying to meet a publication deadline. And by the way, we are now accepting dinner invitations.

    Thank you Suparvan for your tremendous help as well as your contribution to the Thai evening.  The sweet Thai melodies you sing are very dear to me and enrich this household.

    We would like to thank all of the friends and family who joined us for one or more of the meals.  Your presence and appreciation certainly enhanced the enjoyment and made it all worth while.  So, thank you to Ian, Graham, Duncan, Jo, Chrissy, Peter, Reesa, Kyle, Alex, Phil, Nina, Hermann, Angela, Rod,Mary, Milan, Charlie, Edward, Alicia, Andrew, Judith, Margaret, Pennie, Ken, Colin, Peggy, Huw, Louise, Greg, Shelly, François, Charlene, Michael, Ian, Peter, Cathy, Maya, Charles, Tom, Robin, Christine, Craig, and  Veronique.

    

     And finally, here is a word from Josée who in spite of constantly telling me to stay out of her kitchen could not stay out of my blog:

    Yes indeed it was an amazing challenge for many reasons. It allowed me to learn so much about cuisines that otherwise I would not have dared tackle. It improved my knowledge of ingredients that I was not familiar with such as Mexican dry peppers, Indian spices as well as a whole array of Asian produces.

    As Joe mentioned I hate routine so this project made me look forward to take on something different everyday. Certainly though, the most enjoyable part was sharing many of those meals with good friends and family members. But most importantly, Joe and I did this together and it became our challenge. After almost 30 years of marriage to enjoy doing something like this with your spouse is extremely rewarding and I would not have succeeded without his support and involvement.

    I think somewhere, somehow there is a book project somewhere in this challenge so we will keep you posted for 30/30/30 by Joe and Josée!

    Here's to the next 30 Day Challenge!

 

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

    

    

    

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 30: Spain

    I have to start this post by admitting that just thinking about Spanish cuisine makes my heart ache.  I get depressed and, at times, teary-eyed.  July 30, 2011 was a really low point in my life, a day I had to stop everything and get a hold of myself and convince myself that life would go on.  I know you think I'm nuts but I'm sure you'll understand as soon as I explain.  ON JULY 30, 2011, EL BULLI CLOSED ITS DOORS AND NOW, WE'LL NEVER EVER GET TO EAT THERE, EVER!

    El Bulli, a small 3 Star Michelin restaurant in Catalonia, Spain was the brainchild of the chef/owner, Ferran Adrià and for more years than any other restaurant was considered to be the best restaurant on the planet.  Indeed, Restaurant Magazine's highly respected Top 50 list of the world's best restaurants rated El Bulli number one in 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and #2 in 2010.  John Carlin of The Guardian newspaper described El Bulli as "the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet".

    You might sympathise with me now when I tell you that try as we might, year after year, we were never able to secure a reservation at El Bulli.  And try we did, believe you me.  We called and emailed; we used our connections in the restaurant business and Josée's friends in the hospitality industry; our jet-setting surgeon friend told me he had a patient who was good friends with Ferran Adria so there would be no problem...he was wrong.  When you consider that the restaurant accommodated only 8,000 diners a season, but got more than two million requests, you can see why we did not succeed.

    Here is a short trailer about Adria and his (now closed) restaurant:

 

 

    Traditional Spanish cuisine, and for that matter Spain's entire culture, reflects the myriad foreign influences that have inculcated themselves through conquest and migration. Consider, for example, that in the 11th century, the Roma (also known by the slightly derogatory term gypsies or in Spain, gitanos) migrated to Europe from the Punjab & Rajasthan regions of India and there is historical evidence that many of them entered the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Zaragoza in 1447 from Northern Africa. Bringing along their culture and traditions, the Roma instilled in Spanish life the Kathak dance, their Indian classical dance form and Indian singing style and are believed to have contributed to what has become known as flamenco, the dance of Andalusia.

    Among the multitude of recipes that make up the varied cuisines of Spain, a few can be considered common to all or almost all of Spain's regions, even though some of them have an origin known and associated with specific places.  Examples include most importantly potatoe omlette ("tortilla de patata", "tortilla española" or just "tortilla"), paella, various stews, migas (traditional breakfast fare made from leftover bread or tortas), sausages (such as embutidos, chorizo, and morcilla), jamón serrano, and cheeses.

  There are also many dishes based on beans (chickpeas, lentils, green beans), soups, with many regional variations and various breads. The regional variations are less pronounced for Spanish desserts and cakes: flan, custard, rice pudding (arroz con leche), torrijas, churros, and madeleines are some of the most representative examples.

    Josée's Spanish menu and the final one in the 30/30/30 Challenge:

 

 

Bacalhau Buñelos

 

Chorizo, Jamón Serrano, Marcona Almonds

Spanish Green Olives,

Spanish Cheeses: Manchego and Murcia al Vino

 

Paella Valenciana

 

Pollo in Pepitoria

 

Gamba al Ajillo

 

Pequeña Torta de Crema Pastelera

Helado del Canela

 

 

    Bacalhau Buñelos  or Spanish cod fish fritters.  (I omitted to photograph this dish so this photo is taken from the internet.)

 

    Chorizo, Jamón Serrano, Marcona Almonds Spanish Green Olives, Spanish Cheeses: Manchego (sheep) and Murcia al Vino (goat)

 

    Paella Valenciana, arguably Spain's most famous dish. (chicken, chorizo and shrimps)

 

    Pollo in Pepitoria - Chicken braised in white wine, almonds and garlic.

 

    Gamba al Ajillo - Shimps sautéed with garlic.

 

    Pequeña Torta de Crema Pastelera - These little bite-sized custard filled pastries were served with Josée's freshly made cinnamon ice cream.  Unfortunately, by this point, the photographer had too many brain cell on energy-saving and forgot to photograph the ice cream.

    The wines for the evening:

 

        Eidosela, Albariño, Rias Baixas, 2011, Spain

        La Montesa, Rioja Palacios Remondo, 2009, Spain

 

    I hope you enjoyed Josée's gastronomic adventure as much as I did.  Please come back to the blog later this week for the final posting about Josée's 30/30/30 Food Challenge.

 

    Adiós!  

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 29: MOROCCO & TUNISIA

    Lounging on the Mediterranian, at the apex of the African land mass and separated by a mere 800km of Algerian desert, Morocco and Tunisia are a natural match for this evening's gastronomic adventure.  Arab historians and geographers used to refer to Morocco as al-Maghrib al-Aqṣá (المغرب الأقصى), "The Farthest West", in contrast to Tunisia which was referred to as al-Maghrib al-Adná (المغرب الأدنى), "The Nearest West".

    Casablanca, Morocco's largest city was immortalized in the 1942 film Casablanca starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  

    Moroccan cuisine has long been considered as one of the most diversified cuisines in the world.  The cuisine of Morocco is mainly an amalgam of Berber-Moorish, European and Mediterranean cuisines.  Spices are used extensively in Moroccan food. While spices have been imported to Morocco for thousands of years, many ingredients, like saffron from Tiliouine, mint and olives from Meknes, and oranges and lemons from Fez, are home-grown. Chicken is the most widely eaten white meat in Morocco while the most commonly eaten red meat is beef; lamb is preferred but is relatively expensive. Couscous is the most famous Moroccan dish along with pastilla, tagine, and harira. The most popular drink is green tea with mint.

    Carthage, now a suburb of Tunisia's capital city, Tunis, was one of the most important cities in antiquity.  Ancient Carthage was founded by the Phoenicians in 814 BC, destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. only to be then rebuilt later to become the Roman Empire's fourth most important city. It remained one of the most important Roman cities until the Muslim conquest when it was destroyed a second time in 698.

    The cuisine of Tunisia is a blend of Mediterranian and desert dwellers' culinary traditions. Its distinctive spicy fieriness comes from neighbouring Mediterranian countries and the many civilizations which have ruled the land now known as Tunisia:  Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs, Turkish, French and the native Berber people.  Many of the cooking styles and utensils began to take shape when the ancient tribes were nomads. Nomadic people were limited in their cooking implements by what pots and pans they could carry with them. A tagine, for example, is actually the name for a pot with a conical lid, although today the same word is applied to what is cooked in it.  Pork consumption is forbidden in accordance with Sharia, the religious laws of Islam.  Like all countries in the Mediterranean basin, Tunisia offers a "sun cuisine," based mainly on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood and meat, primarily lamb.

    I think the North African tagine or tajine deserves a bit more ink.  The word refers to both the cooking vessel and the dish one cooks in it.  Traditionally tagines are made of earthenware. However today the tagine is available in a variety of materials including cast iron. The tagine's unusual high-domed shape has evolved from the hardships and deprivations of dessert life and functions to preserve as much water as possible during the cooking process, a wise thing indeed when water is scarce. In addition, the thick clay used ensures  that heat is dissipated effectively thus reducing the amount of heat needed to cook the dish, handy on a small open fire.

    Tagines in North African cuisine are slow-cooked stews braised at low temperatures, resulting in tender meat with aromatic vegetables and sauce.  Moroccan tagines often combine lamb or chicken with a medley of ingredients or seasonings: olives, quinces, apples, pears, apricots, raisins, prunes, dates, nuts, with fresh or preserved lemons, with or without honey, with or without a complexity of spices. Traditional spices that are used to flavour tagines include ground cinnamon, saffron, ginger, tumeric, cumin, paprika, pepper as well as the famous spice blend, ras el hanout.

    Without further ado, I present Josée's Moroccan and Tunisian menu:

 

 

Hummus 

Merguez in Sauce

Lamb Tagine with Fennel and Dates

 Chicken Smothered in Green Olives

 Briouat Bil Kefta

  Spicy Carrot Salad

 Tunisian Salad

 Couscous with Dates and Almonds

 Harissa

Freshly Baked Pita Bread

 Orange and Date Cake

Figs, Dates, Clementines

Moroccan Green Tea with Mint

 

 

  Hummus 

 

Merguez in Sauce

 

Lamb Tagine with Fennel and Dates

 

Chicken Smothered in Green Olives

 

Briouat Bil Kefta

 

Spicy Carrot Salad and Tunisian Salad

 

Couscous with Dates and Almond and Harissa

 

Freshly Baked Pita Bread

 

Orange and Date Cake

 

Clementines

 

Fresh Figs

 

Fresh Dates and Moroccan Green Tea with Mint 

 

    The wines for the evening:

 

        "Calligramme", Domaine de Bellivière, Jasnières, 2004, France

         Chateau Musar, Gaston Hochar, 1999, Lebanon

 

    Twenty nine down and just one to go!  We're going to miss this.

 

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 28: CHINA

   

    China is as vast as it is is old and these two characteristics make a description of its cuisine extremely difficult.  The country has many regional styles of cuisine and dishes fall into one of the following eight culinary traditions:

• Hui: Anhui
• Yue (Cantonese): Guangdong
• Min: Fujian
• Xiang: Hunan (Can include Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi styles)
• Su (aka Huaiyang Cuisine): Jiangsu
• Lu: Shandong (Include Jinan, Jiaodong styles, etc.)
• Chuan: Sichuan
• Zhe: Zhejiang (Can include Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Shaoxing styles)

    

    Josée's simple Chinese menu for this evening:

Braised Prawns with Vegetables

 

Beef with Cashews

 

 

 

    Sorry for the short article but two big evenings coming up with Morocco & Tunisia tomorrow night and the grand finale, Spain, on Sunday.

 

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

 

 

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 27: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

   

     It was in 1621 that 53 Plymouth colonists and 90 Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is recognized today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. In 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens", to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.  Thanksgiving is one of the most important  holidays of the year for all Americans.

    On October 6, 1941, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution fixing the traditional last-Thursday date for the holiday beginning in 1942. However, in December of that year the Senate passed an amendment to the resolution that split the difference by requiring that Thanksgiving be observed annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes (less frequently) the next to last.  The amendment passed the U.S. House, and on December 26, 1941 President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November.

    Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys, in a ceremony known as the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation. In a tradition that began as a one-off joke by Ronald Reagan in 1987 and made permanent by Gearge H.W. Bush in 1989, the live turkey is "pardoned" and lives out the rest of its days on a nearby peaceful farm.  There are legends that state that the "pardoning" tradition dates to the Harry Truman administration or even to an anecdote of Abraham Lincoln pardoning his son's pet turkey; both stories have been quoted in more recent presidential speeches, but neither has any evidence in the Presidential record.  

    However, it is Sarah Palin, beloved of all political satirists, who in 2008 managed to single-handedly up the ante on Reagan's turkey humor.  Fresh off a defeat in the 2008 presidential election, Palin headed to a turkey farm in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, to pardon a local bird.  In front of a live television audience, Palin delivered her prepared remarks while in the near background, turkey after innocent turkey could be clearly seen being shoved upsidedown into a funnel and having its throat sliced open!  The footage is available on YouTube for those of you who can take that sort of stuff.

    In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. Roasted turkey is usually the featured item. Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, various fall vegetables and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. All of these are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. Turkey may be an exception. In his book Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick suggests that the Pilgrims might already have been familiar with turkey in England, even though the bird is native to the Americas. The Spaniards had brought domesticated turkeys back from Central America in the early 17th century, and the birds soon became popular fare all over Europe, including England, where turkey became a "fixture at English Christmases.

    Needless to say, Thanksgiving at QUICKSWOOD is celebrated as a purely secular tradition with emphasis on things of the flesh rather than the spirit.

    Josée's amazing Thanksgiving Dinner:

  

Duck Pâté on Toast

Smoked Salmon on Pumpernickel Bread with Cream Cheese

Roast Turkey with Cranberry Gravy

Roasted Winter Vegetables with Pomegranate Molasses

Buttered Green Beans 

Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, Lemon Zest and Red Walnuts

Cranberry Sauce

Pumpkin Pie

Spiced Cake with Caramel Sauce

    The wines served were both American:

        Migration, Chardonnay, Duckhorn Vinyards, 2010, Russian River Valley, California

        Paraduxx Red Blend, Duckhorn Vinyards, 2007, Napa, California

    Three more to go and feeling great!

    Cheers,

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 26: HUNGARY

    More than 40 years ago, I had a Hungarian girlfriend.  I learned many things from her, not the least of which was the correct pronunciation for a couple of famous Hungarian wines.  Along with Tokaji, Badacsonyi Szürkebarát is one of Hungary's most famous white wines...and most certainly the most difficult to pronounce.  Hungarians tell me I've got it spot on!   Hungary's most famous red wine is Egri Bikavér or "Bull's Blood from Eger", slightly easier to get right.

    Hungarians are also known as Magyars , the primary ethnic group, and their cuisine reflects this heritage.  Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, fresh bread, cheeses and honey. The importance of livestock and the nomadic lifestyle of the Magyar people is apparent in the prominence of meat in Hungarian food and may be reflected in traditional meat dishes cooked over the fire like goulash (in Hungarian "gulyás", lit. "herdsman's meal)"), pörkölt stew and the spicy fisherman's soup called halászlé are all traditionally cooked over the open fire in a bogrács (or cauldron)

     Hungarians are especially passionate about their soups, desserts and pastries and stuffed pancakes, with fierce rivalries between regional variations of the same dish, (like the Hungarian hot fish soup called Fisherman's Soup or halászlé, cooked differently on the banks of Hungary's two main rivers: the Danube and the Tisza).  Other famous Hungarian dishes would be Papricás (paprika stew, meat simmered in thick creamy paprika gravy) served with nokedli (small dumplings), gulyaás (goulash), palaczinta (pancakes served flambéed in dark chocolate sauce filled with ground walnuts) and Dobos Cake (layered sponge cake, with chocolate buttercream filling and topped with a thin caramel sauce).

    Josée's Hungarian menu:

 

 

 

Gulyaás

 

    Gulyaás or Hungarian goulash: Beef, onions, garlic, Hungarian paprika, caraway seeds, beef broth, potatoes, tomatoes and green peppers.

 

    Paprika is a spice made from ground, dried fruits of Capsicun annuum, either bell pepper or chili pepper varieties or mixtures thereof. The seasoning is used in many cuisines to add color and flavor to dishes, but it is usually associated with Hungary.

    Egészségédre!

 

    Joseph Froncioni

 

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 25: SWEDEN

    I can't resist it.  In fact, I think this post would be incomplete without some help from one my my favorite Muppet characters, the Swedish Chef!

 

    Because of its north-south orientation, Sweden has a very great variation in regional cuisines.  In the north, the cooking has been influenced the Sami people (also spelled Sámi or Saami),  the indigenous people inhabiting the Arctic area of Sàpmi, which today encompasses parts of far northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia.  In this region, reindeer and other game meat is popular.  Further south, vegetables play a much bigger role in the cuisine.  

    Many traditional dishes employ simple, contrasting flavours, such as the traditional dish of meatballs and gravy with tart, pungent lingonberry jam (slightly similar in taste to cranberry sauce).  Swedish cuisine can be described as centered around cultured dairy products, crisp and soft (often sugared) breads, berries stone fruits, beef, pork, seafood and fish.  Potatoes are often served as a side dish, often boiled. Swedish cuisine has a huge variety of breads of different shapes and sizes, made of rye, wheat, oat, white, dark, sour-dough, whole grain; soft flatbreads and crispbreads.

    Josée, our Swedish chef for the evening has cooked up the following:

 

 

Köttbullar (Swedish meatballs)

 

Janssons frestelse (Jansson's Temptation)

 

 

    Köttbullar , Swedish meatballs, is Sweden's national dish.  The meatballs are made with pork and beef, onions, bread soaked in milk, nutmeg, ginger and eggyolks.  The meatballs are then sautéed in vegetable oil.  The gravy is prepared with flour, beef stock and cream.

 

    And as cranberry sauce is a must for Americans eating turkey, Lingonberry jam is the perfect accompaniment to Köttbullar for the Swedes.  Fortunately, it is available in Bermuda.  

 

    Janssons frestelse:  This is a potato casserole made of grated potatoes, onion, anchovies and cream topped with bread crumbs and then baked in the oven for one hour.

    Oh! One more thing: One Sweden’s claims to fame it its status as having the world’s northernmost golf course. Officially known as the Arctic Golf Course, the northernmost golf course can be found within the Arctic Circle near the town of Kvarnbacksvagen. The golf course has just 9 holes, and is set mostly among tundra soil. The Arctic Golf course is open from the middle of June through the middle of August, and thanks to the sun shining almost 24 hours a day during these summer months, the course is open 24-hours a day to golfers.  I'm working hard to convince Josée that a road trip up Sweden's E6 highway to Kvarnbacksvagen might be just the project.  Her answer?  "No f#@king way!"  

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

 

    P.S.  Josée has always been a big ABBA fan.

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 24: ETHIOPIA

    Ethiopian cuisine is known for spicy vegetable and meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread, which is about 50 centimeters in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour. Ethiopians eat with their right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrées and side dishes.  Utensils are rarely used with Ethiopian cuisine.

    You will see from the photo that for the sake of authenticity, Josée and I followed the Ethiopian etiquette of eating with the right hand. Unfortunately, this did not serve the intended purpose as half way though the meal, we both admitted to each other that we are right handed for those other functions of, you know, personal hygiene.  

    Ethiopian cuisine mostly consists of breads, stews (wat), grains, and spices. Typically, an Ethiopian meal includes a combination of injera (flatbread) with different wats, yet each cultural group has their unique variation. A typical snack would be small pieces of baked bread called dabo kollo or local grains called kollo. Pasta is frequently available throughout Ethiopia, including rural areas.  Coffee is also a large part of Ethiopian culture/cuisine; after every meal a coffee ceremony is enacted and espresso coffee is drunk.  The pasta and the espresso are no doubt holdovers from the Italian occupation of 1936 - 1941.

    Berbere, a combination of powdered chili pepper and other spices (somewhat analogous to Southwestern American chili powder), is an important ingredient used in many dishes. Also essential is niter kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with ginger, garlic, and several spices.

    Our Ethiopian dinner:

Doro Wat

Iab

Queen of Sheba salad

Injera

    Doro Wat:   Chicken stew made with beri-beri or berbere.  Beri-beri  is made with tomato paste, paprika,, red wine ginger, red pepper flakes, cardamon, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and allspice. Turmeric is also added at the end.

    Injera:  Josée made hers with whole wheat flour as teff  flour cannot be found here in Bermuda. Wheat flour and buttermilk is also used.

     Iab:  White curd cheese. Since authentic Iab could not be found, a mixture of cottage cheese and yogurt with lemon zest and parsley was substituted,  a close approximation.

     Queen of Sheba salad: Tomatoes, onions, hot peppers and lettuce with a dressing of tomato sauce, vinegar, oil, wine and hot pepper sauce.

    The wine was not Ethiopian, obviously.

    You know what?  I think we'll miss this when it's all over.

    Cheers,

    Joseph Froncioni

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 23: INDIA

    We're on the home stretch and we see the light at the end of the tunnel.  However, we needed a little break from what has been a very difficult stretch. Consider that over the last three days, Josée has prepared 24 separate dishes from 3 different countries and we've had 11 different wines all with guests in attendence.  Rough.

    So today, something simple: Indian food.  India has much to offer the gastronome although I personally am not partial to it.  The taste palet, while vast, is at times a bit too spicy for my taste.  

    The English, however, can"t live without their Indian food which is proof enough that Imperialist England practiced "progressive imperialism",  one that was based upon a cosmopolitan view of humanity, that promoted the spread of civilization to allegedly "backward" societies to elevate living standards and culture in conquered territories, and that allowed subjects from conquered countries  to assimilate into the imperial society.

     Well, assimilate they did and with the Indians came a cuisine that was so superior to the extant bland English fare that it was taken in nearly as their own.  In 2003, there were as many as 10,000 restaurants serving Indian cuisine in England and Wales alone. According to Britain's Food Standards Agency, the Indian food industry in the United Kingdom is worth 3.2 billion pounds, accounts for two-thirds of all eating out and serves about 2.5 million customers every week.

    Josée's quick Indian meal:

 

 

Lentil and Spinach Dal

 

Lamb Korma

 

Naan Bread and Papadums

 

Mango Chutney, Hot Lime Pickle, Aubergine Pickle

 

    Dal is a delicious thick, soupy dish of lentils and other pulses (From the Latin puls, an annual leguninous crop yielding from one to twelve seeds of variable size, shape, and color within a pod. Examples: kidney beans, Lima beans, broad beans, chickpea, garbanzo, lentils and lupins.)  For many living on the Indian sub-continent, it is the most important dish they eat and an essential source of protein.   Josée prepared her Dal with coral lentils, mung beans, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers turmeric, chili powder, cumin seeds and garlic.

 

    Lamb Korma:  A korma is a dish originating from Pakistan and India which consists of braised meat with water or stock that is made creamy by the addition of either yogurt, cream or a paste of nuts or seeds or coconut milk. Josée's had a paste of cashews.

 

    Naan or Nan is a leavened, oven-baked flatbread. It is typical of and popular in West, Central and South Asia.

    Papadums are a thin, crisp Indian preparation sometimes described as a cracker.  They are typically served as an accompaniment to a meal in India. They are also eaten as an appetizer or a snack and can be eaten with various toppings such as chopped onions, chutney or other dips and condiments. In some parts of India, it is served as the final item in a meal.

    We also had a variety of condiments that are typically served with indian food including mango chutney, hot lime pickle and aubergine pickle.

    Next is Ethiopia.

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 22: Greece & Turkey

    Separated by the Adriatic Sea and in a seemingly endless conflict over Cypress, we nevertheless managed to have the cuisine of Greece and Turkey coexist on our table quite peacefully.  Josée wanted to emphasise the similarities between these two cuisines and I think she managed this very well.

    As any Greek will tell you, Greece is the birthplace of Modern Civilization and we remain grateful to it for having given us democracy, philosophy, Western literature, the Olympic Games, political science, Western drama as well as important scientific and mathematical principles.  But it's food that concerns us today and in that respect, Greece's cuisine is bountiful.  Consider feta cheese, peppery olive oil, fresh fruits like my favorite, figs, vegetables such as eggplant, and zucchini; Think of yogurt, nuts, honey and filo pastry.

    Turkish cuisine consists of a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine varies from region to region but popular ingredients include eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, grilled meats, mint, dill, cumin, yogurt and bread.    Meat, commonly lamb or chicken,  is usually minced and added to vegetables.  In Turkey as in many other Levantine countries, meze, a selection of small dishes, is served at the beginning of all large meals.  Vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant and peppers are cooked in olive oil and served at room temperature.  Shish Kebab, skewered grilled lamb, is well known outside Turkey.

    Josée's Greek and Turkish offering:

 

 

Lavash and Pita Bread

 

Dolmades with Mint Yogurt

 

Garides Me Feta

 

Pilic Adana Kebab

 

Karmi Yarik

 

Kisir

 

Tzaziki

 

Baklava

 

    Over the years, Josée has become quite an accomplished baker.  While her pita bread is to die for hot out of the oven, it is the lavash that is far more interesting to me.  Lavash is flatbread popular in Turkey, Iran and other Caucasian countries.  Traditionally the dough is rolled out flat and slapped against the hot walls of a clay oven. While quite flexible when fresh, lavash dries out quickly and becomes brittle and hard. The soft form is easier to use when making wrap sandwiches; however, the dry form can be used for long-term storage.  Lavash is made with flour, water and salt. The thickness of the bread varies and depends on how thin it's rolled out. Toasted sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds can be sprinkled on before baking. Josée also used caraway seeds on her little lovelies.

 

    Dolmades are grape leaves stuffed with rice, currents and pine nuts and served with mint sauce.

 

    Garides Me Feta: Shrimps with Tomatoes, Oregano and Feta Cheese.

 

    Pilic Adana Kebab: Chicken Kofte Kebab.

 

    Karmi Yarik is Turkish eggplant stuffed with meat and rice.

 

    Baklava. Sinful.  And totally naughty when served with......

 

 

    The wines selection tonight was a bit complicated...but in a good way.  I'll explain after the list of what was consumed.

 

        "Calligramme", Domaine de Bellivière, Jasnières, 2004, France

        Chateau Musar, Gaston Hochar, 1999, Lebanon

        Wild Hogge Moongate, Paso Robles, 2010, California

        Jade Moon Odyssey, Paso Robles, 2008, California

        Chateau Coutet, Premier Cru Classé, Sauternes-Barsac, 1999, France

 

    The wine that was meant to accompany the meal was Chateau Musar from Lebanon.  If you have not had this wine before, I highly recommend it.  Certainly, it is the perfect red to serve with food from any Levantine country.  However, one of our guests, our good friend Huw Morris, is a retired anesthetist who used to live here in Bermuda but who has reincarnated  as a winemaker in California.  Huw insisted that we try his new wines and we found it impossible to refuse.  Large quantities were consumed, once again.

    I seem to be having a second wind.  Today, I played 18 holes of golf and paddled 8 km.

    Next, India.

 

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

 

 

 

    

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 21: PORTUGAL

    I think every epicurian has a gastronomic refuge, a place he knows will comfort him and feed his belly and his soul.  That refuge for Josée and I is Ferreira Café in Montreal.  Our good friend, Marino Tavares, is the chef and part owner at this Portuguese restautant and he has never let us down.  Please don't take this wrongly but I have to say that when Josée and I want to get really serious about eating out, we much prefer it be just the two of us.  Sitting across from each other at Ferreira's, we seem to experience a synergy that has grown over the 30 wonderful years we have been together.

     Marino, above,  is always there to greet us and to gage our mood for the evening.  When he leaves the table with our menus in hand, we know we will be in for another impecable Portuguese food experience.  Crevettes géantes grillées à la portugaise;  Filets de sardines rôties à la fleur de sel; Morue noire rôtie en croûte de cèpes, réduction de porto; Gratin de morue salée, purée de pommes de terre.  These are just some of the delights we've had at Ferreira's .  What we love about Marino, though, is that he continues to innovate all the while keeping within the Portugese tradition of food preparation.  

    Portuguese cuisine is closely related to Mediteranian cuisine but with the addition of a number of unusual spices such as piri piri (small, fiery chilli peppers) and black pepper, as well as cinnamon, vanilla and saffron. Olive oil is used extensively both for cooking and flavouring meals. Garlic and herbs such as coriander and parsley.  A typical dinner includes soup the most typical being is caldo verde with potato, shredded kale, and chunks of chouriço sausage. Among fish recipes, bacalhau (cod) dishes are pervasive. The most typical desserts are rice pudding  and caramel custard, but they also often include a variety of cheeses. The most common varieties are made from sheep or goat's milk, and include the queijo da serra from the region Serra da Estrella. A popular pastry is the pastel de nata, a small custard tart sprinkled with cinnamon.

    Josée's Portuguese menu:

 

 

Caldeirada

 

Rojoes Cominbo

 

Espinacas con Piõnes, Almendras y Chouriço

 

Arroz con Azafràn

 

Porto Pudim Flan

 

Figos Recheados

 

    Caldeirada  is a typical seafood stew made with shirmps, squid, red snapper and cod.

 

    Portuguese corn bread.

 

    The Rojoes Cominbo  is braised pork with cumin, coriander and lemon.

 

    Espinacas con Piõnes, Almendras y Chouriço: spinach with pine nuts, almonds and chouriço (spelled chorizo in Spanish).

 

   Arroz con Azafràn (saffron rice)

 

 

    Porto Pudim Flan: Portuguese baked caramel and port custard. (No, she did NOT use the 1985 Vintage Port in the custard.)

 

    Figos Recheados;  These little beauties are dried figs stuffed with almonds and chocolate and eaten warm right out of the oven; absolutely wonderful with the Vintage Port!

    And last but not least, the poisons served up with this fantastic meal:

        Ava, Vinho de Mesa Branco, Avaleda, Portugal

        Chryseia, Douro, Prats & Simmington, 2006, Portugal

        Post Scriptum de Cryseia, Douro, Prats & Simmington, 2007, Portugal

        Warre's Vintage Port, 1985, Portugal

 

    I have to tell you the letters on my screen are a little fuzzy this morning; must be something wrong with the computer...

    Cheers,

 

    Joseph Froncioni

    

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 20: KOREA & VIETNAM

    Althought  I have a fondness for Vietnamese cuisine, I readily admit that my knowledge of it is minimal; I know even less about Korean cooking.  Fortunately, with the magic of the internet at my fingertips, you will be forgiven if you come away from this post thinking I'm an expert in Southeast Asian cuisine.

    Josée decided to tackle these two countries in one meal. Rightly or wrongly and from a foreigner's point of view, these two cuisines have a lot in common. 

    Korean cuisine is largely based upon rice, vegetables and meat. Traditional Korean meals are noted for the number of side dishes (banchan) that accompany steam-cooked short-grain rice. Kimchi is served often, sometimes at every meal. Commonly used ingredients include sesame oil, doenjang (fermented bean paste), soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, pepper flakes and gochujang (fermented red chili paste).

    A side note:  The consumption of dog meat in what is now Korea dates back to antiquity. Today, the primary dog breed raised for meat, the nureongi, differs from those breeds raised for pets, which Koreans may keep in their homes.  Dog meat is usually eaten during the summer months, in either roasted form or prepared in soups. No dog meat was served in this meal.

    In Vietnamese cuisine, regular ingredients include fish sauce,  shrimp paste,soy sauce,  rice, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables. Vietnamese recipes utilize lemongrass, mint, Vietnamese mint, coriander and Thai basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking is greatly admired for its fresh ingredients, minimal use of oil, and reliance on herbs and vegetables. Vietnamese food is often ranked as one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.  The most common meats used in Vietnamese cuisine are fish, chicken, pork, beef and various kinds of seafood. The Vietnamese also have a strong vegetarian tradition influenced by Buddhist values.

    A word on dining etiquette:  In Korea, unlike in China, Japan and Vietnam, the rice or soup bowl is not lifted from the table when eating from it. This is due to the fact that each diner is given a metal spoon along with the chopsticks known collectively as sujeo. The use of the spoon for eating rice and soups is expected.  One of our guests, Michael, is well travelled in the region and utilized this technique like an habitué.

    Josée's combined Korean and Vietnamese menu:

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

with Chili Dipping Sauce

Bindae Duk 

Vietnamese Beef and Spinach Soup

Kimchi (Mild and Hot)

Lemon Grass Chicken

Shrimps in Red Curry Paste

Spicy Vegetables

Jasmine Rice

Xoi Nuoc Dir A

    

 

     The Vietnamese summer rolls were made with rice paper and filled with cucumber, carrots, cabbage, rice noodles, shrimps and coriander.

 

    Bindae Duk is served in Korea and is a mung bean pancake.  The mung bean, also known as green gram or golden gram, is the seed of Vigna radiata, native to the Indian Subcontinent.  It is used as a foodstuff in both savoury and sweet dishes.

 

    The Vietnamese Beef and Spinach Soup is just that and is delicious.

 

    Kimchi refers to often fermented vegetable dishes usually made with napa cabbage, Korean radish, or sometimes cucumber, commonly fermented in a brine of ginger, garlic, scallions, and chili pepper.  There are endless varieties with regional variations, and it is served as a side dish or cooked into soups and rice dishes. Koreans traditionally make enough kimchi to last for the entire winter season, as fermented foods can keep for several years.

 

    The Lemon Grass Chicken is typically Vietnamese.  Chicken legs are marinated in lemongrass before baking.

 

    The Shrimps in Red Curry Sauce and the Spicy Vegetables are Korean specialities.

 

    The Xoi Nuoc Dir A is a typical Vietnamese dessert consisting of steamed sticky rIce in coconut cream.  Interesting.

    Wines are always difficult to choose for a meal like these.  Here is whar we drank:

 

         Weingut Bründlmayer, Stewinmassel, Riesling, 2008, Austria

         Clos des Capucins, Gewurztraminer Reserve, Domaine Weinbach, 2008, France

 

    I'm starting to get worried. I woke up in a sweat last night; I had a nightmare that I was about to start eating Smalahove, that Norwegian sheep head, when the thing started winking at me. Today, I was speaking to a friend when suddenly I started to use words neither of us could understand.  Turns out I was speaking Polish!  My morning yogurt tasted cumin.  Only ten days to go...don't know if I'll make it.

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 19: ARGENTINA

    As if prearranged, we went to the Bermuda World Rugby Classic last evening and watched Argentina play South Africa. Argentina lost.  We did, however, manage to get our Argentine meal in before the game.

    When pondering Argentia, my thoughts immediately go to red meat and red wine.  According to an article that appeared in The Economist earlier this year, Argentines eat more beef per capita that anyone else in the world.  Your average Argentine wolfs down 55.1kg of moo per year compared to, say, Canadians who eat a retatively modest 32.8kg. (Suprisingly, it's the Luxembourgeois' who consume more meat than anyone else when you include pork, poultry, mutton and goat - an unbelievable 136.5kg per person compared to Canadians, 98.7kg and Argentines, 91.7kg.)  VEGETARIANS NOT WELCOME.

    Meat is typically cooked on an asado, Argentine for BBQ.  Like its North American counterpart, asado also refers to the social gathering that surrounds the meal. The meat for an asado is not marinated,  the only preparation being the application of salt before and/or during the cooking period.  Salad is the most common accompaniment.

    Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world.  Sixty percent of Argentine wine comes from the Mendoza region. Malbec is used to make Argentina's best known wines.

    A popular confection about which I knew little until a few years ago is dulce de leche.  Yes, I know it might be your favorite Häagen-Dazs flavor but do you know what it is and that Argentines claim it as their own?  Dulce de leche, translated, means milk candy or milk jam.  You can make some at home.   Slowly simmer a mixture of milk and sugar stirring almost constantly. Much of the water in the milk evaporates and the mix thickens; the resulting dulce de leche is usually about a sixth of the volume of the milk used. The transformation that occurs in preparation is caused by a combination of two common browning reactions called caramelization and the Maillard reaction. Even easier, buy it at any perveyer of fine foods.

    Josée's pre-Rugby World Cup Argentine menu:

 

 

Grilled Beef and Sausages

Served with Chimichurri Sauce

 

Salad

 

    Chimichurri is a condiment that is used with grilled meats and has its origins in Argentina.  Chimichurri is made from finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, oregano and white or red vinager.  The Argentine gourmet Miguel Brascó claims that the word chimichurri originated when the British were captured after the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.  The prisoners asked for condiment for their food mixing English, aboriginal and Spanish words. According to this story, che-mi-curry stands for "che mi salsa" (give me condiment) or "give me curry". The word then corrupted to chimichurri.  Another theory for the name of the sauce comes from the Basque settlers that arrived in Argentina as early as the 19th century. According to this theory, the name of the sauce comes from the Basque term tximitxurri, loosely translated as "a mixture of several things in no particular order".

    The wine for the meal was Riglos Gran Malbec 2008, Mendoza, Argentina.  The wine for the Rugby?  I have no friggin idea but there was an awful lot of it.

    Salud!

 

    Joseph Froncioni

    

Paddling in Bermuda

    I recently purchased an Epic V8 surfski.  At 5.48m long and 55.88cm wide, it took some getting used to.  I've now been out on it 5 times and I thought you might enjoy seeing the video of my last outing.  

 

Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 18: EGYPT

    Bread has been an important element in the eating traditions of many cultures since the dawn of the Neolythic Age some 12,000 years ago and to this day, it forms the backbone of Egyptian cuisine.  There is evidence that leavened bread was discovered/invented in Egypt around 1600 B.C. and that over the next few centuries, they developed ovens that enabled large scale baking.   Archaeological excavations have found that workers on the
Great Pyramids of Giza were paid in bread, beer and onions. Bad pharaohs! The workers should have complained that this diet did not comply with the USDA Food Pyramid for daily recommended intake.

    In midieval Europe, rounds or squares of dry bread called trenchers (from the French "to cut or slice") were used to place food upon before eating it.   The trencher served as a primitive plate and absorbed the juice or sauce; it could also be eaten at the diner's pleasure.  One could rightly describe these as "edible utensiles" and in modern day Egypt, bread still has this very function in addition to being a primary source of protein and carbohydrate.  

    In Egypt, a form of pita bread called Eish Masri is consumed at nearly every meal.  Egyptians use their bread to scoop up food, sauces, and dips and to wrap kebabs, falafel and the like in the manner of sandwiches. Most pita breads are baked at high
temperatures (450°F or 232°C), causing the flattened rounds of dough to puff up dramatically. When removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened into pockets, creating a space for use in various dishes.

    Here are some typical Egyptian dishes: Ful medames, a dish of cooked and mashed fava beans served with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic and lemon juice; Shawarma, a meat preparation, where, lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef, veal,  or mixed meats are placed on a spit (commonly a vertical spit inrestaurants), and may be grilled for as long as a day; Kebab, a wide variety of skewered meals originating in the Middle East; Felafel, a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas, fava beans or both; Baba Ghannoug, eggplant (aubergine) mashed and mixed with virgin olive oil and various seasonings; Baklava, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.

    Here is Josée's midweek Egyptian menu:

 

 

Chicken Roulade

 

Kosheri

 

   The chicken roulade - mallet tenderized chicken breasts are stuffed with onions, pine nuts, lemon zest and parsley then baked in the oven with olive oil and lemon juice.

    Kosheri is considered by many to be the national dish of Egypt.  It consists of a mixture of rice, pasta and lentils.  A tomato sauce made with garlic and red wine vinegar is then poured over the rice and pasta mixture.  The dish is finished with a sprinkle of browned onions.

    It being an on-call night for yous truly, the meal was accompanied by sparkling water.

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 17: NORWAY

    I thought it might do to start with this little educational video which should tell you everything you need to know about Norway and Norwegian cuisine.

 

    At the heart of Norwegian cooking is fresh fish and seafood.  Meat and game are also very popular. Dairy plays a big role in the Norwegian diet. Jarlsberg cheese is known throughout the world.  For the adventure eaters among you, try Gamalost, an aged and very stinky cheese (See below for foods demanding of slightly more bravery.)

    And coffee; the average Norwegian drinks 160 liters, or 10.7 kg of coffee each year making it the world's leading coffee consumer.  

    Here are some Norwegian specialities Josée decided NOT to serve:

• Lutefisk - The word literally means "lye fish" in Norwegian. The fish prepared in lye! Remember that lye is caustic enough to dissolve silver cutlery. Making lutefisk is a long winded process, that basically boils down to putting a fish in a very strong lye solution until it no longer resembles a fish, or food. After several thorough water rinses the fish is again safe for consumption. The end result is a piece of fish that has the consistency of jello with a very distinct smell.
  
• Rakfisk - This is fermented fish, most commonly made from trout. Rakfisk is made by storing the fish in a salt brine for at least 8 weeks. The longer the fish ferments and the more blood that is allowed to be fermented with the fish, the stronger the flavor. Rakfisk is typically made early in the fall and is served as a delicacy for Christmas. This means the fish is allowed to ferment at low temperatures for 3 - 4 months. Rakfisk is not recommended for pregnant women or the elderly. This is because minor errors in the preparation can make the fish toxic. Since the fish is served raw after fermentation it can potentially contain a very powerful neurotoxin. Rakfisk is probably the most potent smelling food in the universe. The smell is intense and absolutely terrible. The flavor is very powerful but surprisingly very pleasant. Just make sure you are not around when the fish is taken out of the brine after fermenting for 4 months. (Excerpted from Wierd Foods of Norway on Yahoo! Voices)
  
• Smalahove - Smalahove (Pacha in Iraq) means 'sheep head' and is made from a lamb head split in half. The wool is burn off and the head is boiled for several hours. Enthusiasts claim that the ear and eye needs to be eaten first, probably in an attempt to make the meal as gross as humanly possible.
  
• Pizza Grandiosa - This may be the weirdest and the saddest of them all.  Pizza Grandiosa, or Grandis, is the most popular frozen pizza in Norway. In fact it is probably the most popular food item in Norway today. The name could not be more misleading as the pizza is not grandiose in any way. The pizza is tiny, is made from the cheapest of ingredients, and can barely pass as food. It is commonly referred to in Norwegian as 'cardboard pizza' or 'frozen evil' yet the half inch thick pizza continues to outsell everything else in Norway. The average Norwegian consumes 5 Pizza Grandiosa a year. The frozen pizza has spawned two number one hit singles in Norway, and there is a Norwegian Championship of Grandiosa eating. A Pizza Grandiosa can be eaten in just over one minute. There is even a book full of Grandiosa folklore, like the store of a man who broke his jaw so he had to run his Grandiosa through a blender before enjoying it. Though universally accepted as a terrible food product, Pizza Grandiosa has become a cultural phenomenon in Norway.  (Excerpted from Wierd Foods of Norway on Yahoo! Voices)
  

 

    Josée's Norwegian meal:

 

 

Smoked Salmon with Rye Bread and Chopped Egg and Dill Mustard

 

Pickled Herring

 

Jalsberg

 

Lefse

 

Beinløse Fugle

 

 

 

    The smoked salmon with chopped egg and dill mustard was delicious.  The pickled herring needed help from the mustard.

    Lefse is a traditional soft, Norwegian flatbread.  Lefse is made out of potatoe, milk or cream (or sometimes lard) and flour, and cooked on a griddle. Special tools are available for lefse baking, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves.  Needless to say, she managed without these quite well.

 

    Beinløse Fugle meaning  "boneless bird" is a beef roulade stuffed with mushrooms, onions, bacon, clove, ginger, sautéed and then baked with sauce made from beef stock and cream with ginger, allspice and nutmeg.  Very good indeed, especially with the A.Rafanelli Zinfandel, Dry Creek Vally, Sonoma County 2009.  I know, I know, Zinfandel in not Norwegian but akvavit always does a number on me.

 

    Next is Egypt...as in food pyramid.

 

Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 16: JAPAN

    Do you like sushi?  Ok.  Do you love sushi?  If the answer is yes, you must see the documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi.  Jiro Ono is an 85 year old man who many consider to be the best living sushi chef in the world.  Although his restaurant has only 10 seats and is located in a Tokyo subway station, the Japanese government has seen fit to declare him a National Treasure and Michelin has awarded him 3 stars.  Here is the official trailer for the film.  

 

 

    I must state upfront that I am no expert on Japanese traditional cuisine, or washoku in Japanese and that Josée and I have never been to Japan.  Furthermore, Japanese cookery is far too complex and varied to do it justice here.  Notwithstanding this, I have to say that I have the very highest respect for Japanese cuisine and I can think of very few other cuisines that have been elevated to such a high art form.  Maybe, the fact that I am a surgeon and place very high importance on precision and obcessive planning and order makes the Japanese way of doing things so appealing to me.

    Steamed white rice is served with nearly every meal and is the food staple of the Japanese. The rice is sticky so it can be easily handled with chopsticks.  Other common ingredients in a Japanese meal include seaweed, vegetables, noodles (soba or udon) and soybeans.  Typical dishes include miso soup, sushi, sashimi, tempura, gyoza (dumplings).  

  With no further ado and a humble "Itadakimasu", I present you Josée's Japanese offering.  (Note that today was a holiday in Bermuda and so no fresh fish was available which expains the absence of sashimi on the menu.

 

Salmon Miso Soup

 

Sushi

 

Tempura

 

 

 

    The miso soup was prepared with ginger, green onions, miso (fermented soybeans) dashi (a class of soup and cooking stock, considered fundamental to Japanese cooking, made from kelp and fermented bonito), tofu and salmon.

 

    Sushi:  rice, toasted seaweed sheets, cucumber, peppers, asparagus and avocado. Some had crab in them as well. Note that the rice needs to be cooked and handled well. When rice starts to cool sushi vinegar (rice wine vinegar with sugar and salt ) is added to it.

 

    Tempura: shrimps, shiitake and peppers dipped in a batter made of flour, cornstarch, baking powder and sesame oil and then deep fried.

 

    The meal was accompanied by a chilled bottle of Pure Night, Shimizu-No-Mai/Junmai Daiginjo Sake-Premium 2009, Japan.  This sake was outstanding.  The alcohol content is 16.5% and the taste is velvety smooth in the mouth.

    Stay tuned for Norway next.

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 15: MEXICO

    I have to say that the news coming out of Mexico these days is all pretty scary.  However, what concerns us today is not smokable or injectable but rather edible.  Mexican cuisine is a complex amalgam of traditional foods and preparation techniques of the indiginous Aztecs and the strong influence of the Spanish and French conquerers.  The basic ingredients that form the core of Mexican cuisine are corn, beans and chili.  Native ingredients such as varieties of tomatoes, squashes, avocados, cocoa and vanilla are also commonly used.  

    Because traditional Mexican cuisine is central to the cultural identity of the communities that practise and transmit it from generation to generation, UNESCO has recently added it to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

    Notable foods include mole dishes (Mole is a chili pepper based sauce that comes in many varieties, the most well known being mole poblano.); tamales, corn dough, plain or filled generally wrapped in a corn husk; ceviche, citrus marinated seafood; burritos, flour tortillas wrapped around a filling.  

    Tequila, mescal and beer, none of which agree with me,  are the favorite alcoholic beverages.

    How many of you remember Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  Forgive me for always assuming he was Mexican.  Well, he's not.  Rather he's a Jewish boy from Los Angeles and no one in his band was actually Hispanic.  Alpert used to describe his band as  "Four lasagnas, two bagels, and an American cheese".  Carlos Santana, also on our playlist for the evening, is Mexican.

    Josée's Mexican menu:

 

 

Chili nuts, Blue Corn Chips with Fresh Salsa

 

Quesadilla

 

Sutffed toasted poblano chilis with spinach, raisins and pine nuts

 

Enchiladas

 

Snapper Veracruz

 

Rice pudding cheesecake with Dulce de leche caramel

 

 

    The peanuts were toasted with lime juice, paprika, cayenne pepper and oil and served with blue corn chips and tomato salsa.

 

    The quesadilla were made with cured ham and queso chihuahua cheese.  Served with pico de gallo and fresh salsa verde; Guacamole with shrimps and crab served with tostadas.

 

     The poblano chilis were served with served with a Ranchera sauce. Toasted tomatoes with serano chilies, onions, cinnamon. 

 

    Enchiladas: corn tortilla filled with chicken and a cooked salsa verde made with tomatillo, jalapeño peppers and poblano peppers with a touch of cream. Baked in the oven with queso chihuahua cheese.

 

    Snapper Veracruz:  The snapper is baked with tomatoes, onions, cilantro, thyme, capers, bay leaves, lime juice and olive oil.

 

    The cheesecake: Basmati rice, cream, milk, sugar and cream cheese in a crust made with pecans and graham crackers; topped with dulce de leche mixed with cream.

    The beverages on offer this evening:

Cerveza Corona Extra, Spain

Jose Cuervo Margaritas. Only 2 takers.

Eidosela, Rias Baixas, Albariño 2011, Spain

La Montesa, Rioja, Spain

Villa de Corullón, Bierzo 2004, Spain

    I usually complain when we have Mexican food but to my great surprise, this meal was excellent.  I have to admit I passed on the Tequilla and beer and wisely stuck to wine.

    Well, we're half way there!  Fifteen down and fifteen to go.

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 14: SWITZERLAND

    Here's something I didn't know: La fée verte, the green fairy, originated in the canton of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.  Better known as absinthe, this very alcoholic, green herbal spirit was all the rage among artists and writers including the American expats in Paris in the late 19th and early 20th century.  Absinthe was banned in Europe and North America around 1915 because of its perported dangerously addictive psychoactive effects.  These effects were felt to be caused by the compound thujone which is present in absinthe in very small amounts.  Alas, the EU determined that the effects of La fée verte were merely another manifestation of plain old alcoholism and so legalised the production, sale and consumption of absinthe in the early 1990s. Here at QUICKSWOOD, we drink the stuff in summer...in very reasonable quantities, of course.

    The cuisine of landlocked Switzerland is heavily influenced by France, Germany and, in the south, by Italy.  Cheese and chocolate first come to mind when thinking Swiss thoughts.  Emmental, Gruyère, Vacherin and Appenzeller are the most famous cheeses and Tobler and Lindt the most famous chocolates.

    Raclette in front of and open fire after a powder day, rösti (potatoes) and cervelat (sausage);  for brealfast, muesli, another Swiss invention.

    Fascinating to me is the unusual pasta eaten in the eastern canton of Graubünden called pizzoccheri.  This ribbon pasta resembles tagliatelle but is made nearly entirely of buckwheat flour.  Very hard to find outside Graubünden or the Valtellina (The only place we have found this pasta is at EATALY in NYC.), pizzoccheri is traditionally served mixed with Swiss chard, cubed potatoes, Valtellina Casera cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, garlic, sage and butter.  Needless to say, this is one heavy dish and best served with fresh mountain air.

    Because we had already nibbled at a wine tasting early in the evening, Josée kept her Swiss menu short and simple:

 

Cheese Fondue

 

 

    

 

    To make a fondue, you need a caquelon, a stoneware, ceramic, enamelled cast iron or porcelain vessel that takes its name from the Swiss German word Kakel meaning an earthenware casserole; the caquelon sits atop a réchaud or portable spirit stove.  More importantly, you need friends and family because the mere act of eating out of communal pot over an open flame harks back to the very beginnings of human society and the importance of sharing.

    The ingredients:

   

1lb of Gruyère

1lb of Emmental

1 garlic clove to rub the fondue pot

3 tbsp flour

Pinch of nutmeg

pinch of paprika

1 1/2 cups of Riesling

    Grate the cheese and mix in the flour. Heat the wine then incorporate the cheeses while stirring. When the cheese has melted and mixture begins to thicken add the spices.

   

    Bread, long stemmed forks and a good glass of wine complete the meal.

   

    Joseph Froncioni

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 13: CHILE

    Look at Chile on a map of South America and you will immediately understand why it has the distinction of being the longest country in the world in terms of length-to-width ratio.  Add to this its very long coastline and the gastronome cannot be faulted for expecting his plate to include a tremendous variety of products both from the sea and the land.  

    The Humbolt Current contributes to the abundance of seafood available at any Chilean market; you will easily find eel, squid, sole, albacore, codfish, hake, salmon, tuna, prawns, crabs, shrimp, oysters and of course sea bass.  

    A vast number of crops can be found as a result of the different climatic regions from north to south.  Beef continues to be Chileans’ favorite (and most expensive) meat, though it is now third in consumption at 22.1 Kg (48.6 lbs.) per year behind pork and chicken and is declining. 

     Chile is now the fifth largest exporter of wines in the world, and the ninth largest producer.  The most common grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Carmenère.  

    Josée's menu for tonight:

 

Caldillo de Congrio a la Neruda

 

Pechugas de Pollo al Cilantro

 

Puré Picante de Garbanzos

 

 

    Caldillo de Congrio a la Neruda or Neruda's fish soup is a famous soup that was immortalized by the Chilean poet and Nobel laureate, Pablo Nerruda, well known for his love of good food. In his poem "Oda al Caldillo de Congrio" he sings the praises of this delicious soup. He says that this is the dish that brings together the different essences of Chile.  Congrio is considered to be the king of fish found in Chilean waters. Unfortunately it is not found outside Chile so Josée substituted Chilean sea bass.  I have to say that this dish was outstanding!  A bounty of different flavors including paprika, bay leaf, marjoram, hot pepper sauce combined with onions, garlic, pimento, tomatoes, white wine, milk and cream combine to elevate the taste of the sea bass to a high note.

 

    Pechugas de Pollo al Cilantro - lightly pan fried chicken with a sauce made of chicken broth, cilantro, garlic, oregano and cumin. 

 

     Puré Picante de Garbanzos or spicy mashed chickpeas is a very popular dish in Chile. This is an Old World specialty creolized by the addition of the Indians' favorite condiment, hot peppers; a perfect match for the pollo al cilantro.

 

    Tonight, we broke our no-wine-on-weekdays rule and had a bottle of Chilean red - Purple Angel, Montez, Carmenère/Petit Verdot, 2007. We're pretty good at breaking rules these days.

    You know what?  With 13 down and only 17 to go, we feel good and we're confident we're gonna make it to the very end...one way or the other.

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 12: LEBANON

    For much of my life, I admit readily that I was less than fond of Levantine cuisine.  It was not until Josée and I participated in The Genographic Project that I started identifying with what until then had seemed to me very exotic cuisine.  The reason for the change of heart? My DNA analysis showed that my ancestors had spent many generations in the Levant during their long trek out of Africa, a trek that began some 25,000 years ago. (See OUR LONG WALK on this website.)

    Lebanese cuisine tends to be healthy; animal fats are consumed sparingly and common dishes often include garlic, olive oil, vegetables, fresh fish and other seafood.  Poultry is much more common than red meat.  Meals often include hummus, blended chickpeas, sesame, tahini, lemon juice and garlic; baba ghanouj,  eggplant,  tahini,  olive oil, lemon juice and garlic purée—served as a dip; tabbouleh, diced parsley salad with bulgur, tomato and mint; fattoush, 'peasant' salad of toasted pita bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, chickweed and mint; mutabbel, one ove many types of eggplant salad; kibbeh, bulgur, minced onions and ground red meat, usually beef, lamb, or goat. 

    Josée's pleasantly light Lebanese menu for tonight:

     

    

Mihshee Kousa

 

Tabbouleh 

 

 

    Mihshee Kousa (stuffed zucchinis) - Zucchinis are hollowed out of most of their flesh and stuffed with onions, garlic, minced lamb and uncooked rice. The zucchinis are then put in a pan on top of the flesh of the zucchinis. Then tomato sauce, lemon and water are added to the pan. This mixture cooks covered for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

 

 

        Tabbouleh - Bulgur is soaked in hot water for one hour until soft and most of the liquid is absorbed. The bulgur is then drained of any liquid. The following ingredients are then added:

Diced tomatoes

Diced onions

1 bunch of parsley chopped

1 bunch of mint leaves chopped

Lemon juice

Olive oil

    Just what the doctor ordered.

    Joseph Froncioni

 

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 11: AUSTRIA

    My first trip to Europe was a ski trip to Innsbruck, Austria, in 1969 and I can still recall some of the delightful meals I had as a guest at the Goldener Rose Hotel on Herzog-Friedrich-Straße. I may have had a sweeter tooth then, although my wife might disagree, but I can still remember overdoing it on the pastries and of course Sachertorte. 

    The Viennese café remains one of the venerable institutions in Austria. Here, coffee has been served in style since the 17th century.  Since October 2011 the "Viennese Coffee House Culture" has been listed as "Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Austrian inventory of the "National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage", a part of UNESCO. The Viennese coffee house is described in this inventory as a place “where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill.”  Although my preference is Italian espresso, a Viennese mokka will do anytime.

    Some popular dishes in Austria include Gulasch, similar to the Hungarian version;  speck, cured ham; apfelstrudel, apple strudel; dumplings; Linzer Torte.

    No discussion of Austrian food can leave out the national dish, Wiener Schnitzel, the thin, breaded and deep fried veal cutlet that Josée has chosen for tonight's main.  The dish is prepared from veal cut about 4 mm thin and hammer tenderized, slightly salted, and rolled in flour, eggs and bread crumbs. The bread crumbs must not be pressed into the meat, so that they stay dry and can be "souffléed". Finally the Schnitzel is fried in a good proportion of oil or clarified butter at a temperature of 160 to 170 °C until golden brown. The Schnitzel must swim in the fat otherwise it will not cook evenly.  During the frying the Schnitzel is repeatedly moved around in the pan. After the underside has become golden brown, the Schnitzel is turned over for final cooking.

    The menu for tonight:

 

Wiener Schnitzel

Sautéed green beans with onions, paprika and sour cream

 

      

    Eleven down, nineteen to go.  Anyone have any TUMS?

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 10: POLAND

    At this point, I need light and lean.  But this was not to be; tonight was Polish night so the fare was hearty and filling. Typical Polish meals include meat, in particular pork, ham and sausages served with dumplings, potatoes or noodles with sauce. Bread (Chleb) and bread rolls (Bułka) remain one of the most important foods in the Polish cuisine.  Thick soups and pickled foods like beets and herring are also very popular.  Sour cream, curd cheese soured milk and dill weed are used liberally.  

    "Tłusty Czwartek" (Fat Thursday) is a Catholic feast celebrated on the last Thursday before Lent and on that day, Polish citizens consume almost 100 million paczki (Polish donuts) altogether. Vodka and beer are considered essential fluids.

    Notable dishes include a hunter's stew called Bigos (sauerkraut, sausage and other assorted meats), Barszez (beetroot soup), Zurek (sour rye meal mash) and aspics of meat or fish.

   ...and consonants, lots of consonants.

    Josée's Polish offering:

 

Mizeria 

 

Kielbasa

 

Placki

 

 

   Mizeria is a salad of thinly sliced cucumber topped with lemon, sour cream and dill.  According to legend, this was a favorite dish of the 16th century Queen Bona Sforza's. Though she adored the dish, it is said she was always moved to tears while consuming it; she would become overwhelmed with homesickness because the dish reminded her of her native home in Italy, giving the dish its melancholic name.

 

    Kielbasa, a pork and beef sausage, was prepared in a sauce of onions, beef broth and tomato paste.

 

    The Plaki are made by mixing finely chopped potatoes and onions. Dollops of the mixture are flatten in a hot skillet and browned; served with sour cream.

 

    We passed on the Vodka.

 

Joseph Froncioni

    

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 9: ITALY

    I thought I would start this post off with some food porn.  In the following clip from the 1954 film, An American in Rome, Alberto Sordi plays Nando Moriconi, a young Italian living in Rome. Nando dreams of moving to America and obsesses with all things American.  In this comedic soliloquy, Nando rails against his macaroni and red wine as he attempts to satisfy his hunger with what he believes is true American fare: yogurt, mustard and marmalade on bread with milk. In the end, he abandons the American food and, addressing the pasta, says, "...macaroni, you have provoked me and so I will destroy you!"

 

 

 

    Italian cooking was the first fully developed cuisine in Europe and is the source of every other Western cuisine.  The ancient Romans drew some of their culinary inspiration from Asia Minor and Greece and combined with the bounty of home grown products  made it possible for Italy to teach France and all other Occidental cultures the meaning of good cooking and eating.

    Now I know that at this point, my French friends are reaching for the phone and are about to dial my number to scream obscenities but un instant, mes amis. (Yes, Véro, I'm talking to you.) Please read the next line.

    Larousse Gastronomique, the bible of the French kitchen, has this to say on the matter: "Italian cooking can be considered, for all the countries of Latin Europe, as a veritable mother cuisine."

    Not to belabor the point but it can fairly be said that Italian cuisine became a mother in 1533 when Catherine de Medici travelled to France to marry the future King Henry II.  She brought with her teams of expert cooks who devulged to the French the most sophisticated cooking techniques that had yet been developed.  Apart from pastry and desserts including cakes, cream puffs and ices, they prepared, for the first time outside Italy, dishes that utilized vegetables such as artichokes, broccoli, and the tiny peas that the French eventually took as their own and that the world now knows as petits pois.  The French had never eaten so well.

    Italian cuisine is more about the ingredients than about the preparation. Chefs in Italy believe that the pleasure of eating is greatly increased by the charachteristic tastes of separate ingredients and that blending them together in complicated ways is secondary.  The success or failure of any Italian dish depends primarily on the freshness and goodness of the primary ingredients. 

    This evening's menu:

Antipasto

salami, soppressata, marinated artichokes, olives, roasted peppers,

giardiniera and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Focaccia with tomatoes and onions

 

Gnocchi alla Romana

 

Scaloppine Al Marsala

Broccoli alla Romana 

Patate Arrostite

Polenta Dolce con Ficchi

Biscotti

   

    
    

 

    Antipasto, that which is eaten before the meal, has become an integral part of the modern Italian meal. The focaccia was freshly made and the pepper roasted over an open flame.

    Gnocchi is unclassifiable as either northern or southern Italian and exists in many forms and varieties.  However, it is especially esteemed in Rome where it is made with semolina flour and without the potatoes or ricotta used elsewhere.  Resembling semolina cakes more than dumplings, and covered with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano, gnocchi alla Romana have always been my favorite.  Many years ago, I used to cook them for my wife; now, I've be reduced to wine waiter and dishwasher.

    

    Scaloppine al Marsala, thin slices of veal, mallet tenderized and sautéed in olive oil are simmered in butter and Marsala, the fortified Sicilian wine. The broccoli was sautéed in garlic and white wine; the potatoes were simply roasted in olive oil and rosemary.

    One of the more unusual dishes tonight was the Polenta Dolce con Ficchi. This is polenta cake prepared with grappa and figs.  Polenta has a long and storied history. Napoleon said, "An army marches on its stomach." and since the staple food of Caesar's troops was polenta, one might say that the Roman Empire was built on it.  Polenta is still cooked much as it was in the 1st century except that corn, introduced from America, has replaced the wheat and millet of the Romans.

    Such an ancient food is deserving of a bit more ink and so I have included the following adaptation from Waverly Root's THE COOKING OF ITALY.

    "The staple dish of the ancient Romans was puls or pulmentum.  It was a kind of mush made from grain - in those days usually millet or spelt, a primitive kind of wheat, and sometimes chick-pea flour.  Pulmentum could not have been very inspiring food, but it served to nourish the conquerors of the ancient world.  It was the field ration of the Roman soldier, who received daily about two pounds of grain, which he roasted on a hot stone over his campfire, crushed and put in his haversack.  Whenever and wherever he might bivouac, the mixture was ready to be boiled into a more or less palatable gruel, which could be eaten as porridge or allowed to harden into a sort of unleavened scone or cake.  To this day the modern version of polentum, called polenta, can be eaten in either version - soft and heated with about the consistency of mashed potatoes or hard and usually cold when it can be sliced like cake.

    As time passed, the ingredients of polentum changed.  Millet and spelt gave way to barley; and when the Romans found barley too bland they replaced it with far, a more palatable kind of wheat than spelt.  (In Britany, cakes of coarsely ground grain are still called fars.)  Today, made with corn meal, which was unknown to the Romans, polenta remains a national dish of Italy." 

     

    

    Josee makes the best biscotti in the world.  That simple. I kid you not.

    The wines for the evening: Ceretto Blangé Arneis 2008  and Gaja Ca' Marcanda Promis 2009.

    Joseph Froncioni

 

 

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 8: THAILAND

    Thai food is known for its balance of the four fundamental taste senses: sweet, sour, salty and bitter.  Thai food reflects influences from China and India.  Rice and noodles are the principle starches and fish sauce and shrimp paste are essential condiments.  Other ingredients typical of the region include lemon grass, coconut milk, ginger, galangal (a rhizome of plants in the ginger family but with little similarity in taste to common ginger) and chiles.

    Popular dishes are Khao phat, rice with chicken, beef, shrimp, pork, crab, coconut or pineapple; Mee krob, crispy noodles; Phat thai, rice noodles pan fried with fish sauce, sugar, lime juice or tamarind pulp, chopped peanuts, and egg combined with chicken, seafood, or tofu; Tom yam goong, spicy prawn soup.

    Josée planned and prepared tonight's Thai menu with the help of Supavan.

 

Spring Rolls

Fish Cakes

Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup

Phat  Thai

Beef Satay with Peanut Sauce

Green Chicken Curry

Coconut Ice Cream

 

        The spring rolls were made with chicken and vegetables and the fish cakes with white fish and sautéed vegetable and served with spicy sauce.

    The hot and sour shrimp soup: shrimps, red curry paste, tamarind purée, kaffir lime leaves, coriander and fish sauce.

    The Phat thai was Supavan's course.

    Beef satay with peanut sauce.

    Green chicken curry.

    

    ...and as if we really needed a rich dessert after all that food, coconut milk ice cream, freshly made, topped with toasted coconut shavings.

    Felt a bit off this morning but nothing serious. Eight down and ONLY 22 to go.

Joseph Froncioni

 

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 7: BELGIUM

   Do you know what the most expensive vegetable in the world is?  Go on, take a guess.  

   It should come as no surprise, given today's post, when I tell you that this super luxury veggie comes from none other than Belgium.  The fact of the matter is that most Belgians have never tasted this vegetable that some call "the caviar of Belgium".  

    A few years ago, I accompanied Josée, as Richard Thatcher was wont to with Margaret, on some Chaîne des Rôtisseurs business in Belgium.  Our very keen host in Brussels treated us to lunch at L'Écailler du Palais Royal, a top Michelin restaurant owned by a friend of his.  As we were making our food selections, the proprieter approached our table and announced with great pride that we were in for a rare and unique treat. Turns out we just happened to be in Belgium during the extremely short season (end of March - begining of April) for jets de houblon or hop sprouts, the aformentioned delicacy.      You heard correctly.  Young shoots of the common hop, Humulus lupulus, the very ingredient that imparts the bitter, tangy flavor to beer, are frustratingly seasonal, backbreaking to cultivate and havest, exceedingly rare and absolutely delicious. For these reasons, these little shoots that look like mini asparagus can fetch prices as high as high as 1,000 euro/kg!

   We had them poached in cream, butter and white wine and topped with a runny egg - the classic preparation.  Absolutely sublime! Do ask for them if you are ever in Brussels during the season.

    Oh, and just one more thing.  That evening, we were guests at another Michelin restaurant (...we train for this stuff) when, wouldn't you know it, the chef comes out and announces with great pride that we were in for a rare and unique treat...  You know what? Turns out that most of the Belgians at the table, gastronomes all, had never tasted jets de houblon.  We kept it to ourselves that it would be our second tasting of them in less than 12 hours.

    Although Belgian cuisine reflects the various political and cultural forces that have shaped it over the years, there are a number of dishes that are typical and here is a short list:  Witloof met kaassaus/Chicons au gratin, a traditional gratin of chicory with ham and a cheesy bechamel sauce; Stoemp, mashed potatoes and carrots with bacon and sausages; Kip met frieten en appelmoes, chicken, French fries and apple sauce; Konijn met pruimen, rabbit cooked in beer and dried plums; Waterzooi, a rich stew/soup of chicken (or sometimes fish), vegetables, cream and eggs.  And let's not forget chocolate and beer.

    For her Belgian meal, though, Josée opted for these favorites:

 

Mussels in White Wine

Frites

Waffles

 

   Moules frites is arguably the best known Belgian dish.  Josée and I have been eating them at L'Actuel, our favorite Belgian restaurant in Montreal for nearly 30 years.  Mussels are not sold to retail customers in Bermuda...unless you have the right connections. Tonight, Josée has prepared mussels à la sauce poulette:  fresh mussels cooked in white wine, shallots, parsley, butter, flour and cream.  The French fries on the side are a must; I like them lightly salted but if you are Belgian, go ahead and help yourself to the mayonaise.

    Beer is the perfect beverage for moules frites so we treated ourselves a large bottle of Chimay Pères Trappistes Belgian ale.

    The last sin of the evening...well, maybe no the very last, was Belgian waffles with strawberry syrup and home made ice cream.

    Tomorrow, Thailand.

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 6: VENEZUELA

    Venezuelan cuisine reflects its indigenous roots as well as the influence of European settlers from Spain, Italy, France and Portugal.  It has also incorporated elements from Incan and African  traditional cooking.

    Common staples include beef, chicken, corn and pork.  Notable dishes are sanchodo de pescado (fish stew),  cachito (ham stuffed bread rolls), muchacho (roast beef in sauce) and pabellón criollo (creole pavillion, Venezuela's national dish of rice, shredded beef and stewed black beans to which cheese and fried plantain can be added).

    Did you know that Venezuela consumes more pasta (12.0 kg/person/yr) than any other country in the world except Italy (26.0kg/person/yr)? So, we could have just eaten pasta this evening.  Instead, Josée chose the following dishes:

Empanadas Venezolanas

Ensalada de Quinua con Frejoles Negros y Choclo

 

    Empanada is basically stuffed bread or pastry.  The name derives from the Galician, Portuguese and Spanish verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread.  The dough in Colombia and Venezuela is made out of cornmeal, yuca flour and wheat flour. In Ecuador you can find dough mixed with dried white corn, rice or green plantains. Empanadas are filled with cheese, ground beef or pork.  Josée has made empanadas using dough made with wheat flour.  The filling is pork, herbs, onions, tomatoes, red bell pepper, garlic, capers and currants.

    Ensalada de Quinua con Frejoles Negros y Choclo or quinoa salad with black beans and corn is a common side dish throughout South America.  Quinoa is an ancient native grain from the western slopes of the Andes. It was first domesticated in Chile and Peru. Quinoa was sacred to the Incas who revered it for its nutritional value. The decline of quinoa started in the 19th century. The Spaniards rejected the grain as Indian food. Quinoa is now being revived thanks to the growing interest in health and nutrition. It has an amazing nutrient profile characterized by an outstanding balance of protein, minerals and amino acids. There are about 2000 varieties of quinoa. It is now widely used not only in South America but in the US as well as it is now being cultivated.

 

    ¡Qué delicioso!

 

    Joseph Froncioni

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 5: SOUTH AFRICA

    Our three weeks in South Africa were memorable for many reasons but for two incorrigible food lovers like Josée and I, the gastronomic delights we experienced stand out in bright lights.  This was a typical lunch offering at Lion Sands Game Reserve:

    South Africa is an amalgam of indigenous and colonial culture and its cuisine reflects this.  Black South Africans can trace many elements of their daily meals to the indigenous foods their ancestors ate.  Stiff, fluffy maize meal porridge similar to American grits is served with stewed meat gravy.

    Meat is very important both roasted and dried.  South Africans both black and white love a barbecue or braai in Afrikaans.  The SA equivalent of Canadian beef jerkey is called biltong.

    Settlers from Portugal, the Neatherlands, Germany, France and England each left their unique culinary legacy on SA. The most intriguing for us was Cape Malay cooking.  This distinctive food combines the Dutch culinary traditions with the rich and exotic ingredients brought to SA by slaves from Bengal, Java and Malaysia.  The chefs make generous use of allspice, nutmeg and hot peppers together with spicy curries, sambals, fish stews and pickled fish.  Here is a Cape Malay meal we shared in SA:

    Josée selected a typical Cape Malay dish for our SA midweek single-course meal.

 

Bobotie

 

    Bobotie combines spiced minced meat with an egg based topping and has been a staple in the Cape since the 17th century. The name derives from the Indonesian Bobotok. 

    

   Bobotie -  Mix sautéd ground beef with onions, curry powder mixed in white wine vinegar and bread soaked in milk and egg. The mixture is then topped with a mixture of milk and egg and baked in the oven.

    Spicy rice - Basmati rice cooked with a cinnamon stick, cardamon, bay leaves salt and pepper. When the rice is cooked, raisins and pistachios are added.

    Bobotie is traditionally served with chutney. Josée's was made with our own bananas, dates, raisins, crystalized ginger, white wine vinegar, brown sugar along with curry powder and cinnamon cooked slowly together until thick.

   

    Filling.  Delicious.

    Joseph Froncioni

    

 

    

30/30/30 Food Challenge - Day 4: GERMANY

    Surrounded as it is by Belgium, the Neatherlands, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Denmark, it is not surprising that one finds a tremendous variability in the cuisine from region to region.  Meat, most often pork, and potaoes form the basis for many classic German dishes.  The gastronome eating his way through Germany would make sure to sample Sauerbraten (beef roast braised in wine or vinegar), German rye bread, Hassenpfeffer (rabbit stew), Himmel und Erde (apples and potatoes), Beefsteak Tartar (tartar steak), Kasseler Rippenspeer (roasted smoked pork loin), wursts (sausages), sauerkraut, dumplings and Schwarzwalder (Black Forest cake).

    And lets not forget the beer; Germans love their beer.  In fact, Germans consume 8,787,000,000 L of beer per year!  That comes out to 107 L per capita per year.  Only the Czech Republic has a higher per capita consumption (132 L ).  Thirsty bunch, those Germans.

    Our German menu:

 

 

    Sauerkraut with Bratwursts and Smoked Pork Chops

Apple Strudel

 

 

    Making sauerkraut is a lengthy process.  For this reason, Josée used a store bought version - Hengstenberg Mildessa Mild German Sauerkraut.  This is your basic sauerkraut prepared with wine and salt only.  The Bratwursts were  pork, one with and the other without beer.  The pork chops were smoked.  Some guests had beer but Josée and I drank Clos des Capucins, Domaine Weinbach, Pinot Blanc, Alsace, 2009.

 

    Josée baked a fantastic Apfelstrudel (apple strudel) and served it with her home-made vanilla ice cream.  The wine for this course was a slightly maderized  Léon Beyer, Gewurztraminer Vendage Tardive, Alsace, 1990.

 

    Four down, 26 to go.

 

Joseph Froncioni