Spain

Spain

What a pathetic showing.  World Cup history.  The kind you don't want to be associated with.  At least the food is good.

 

We made Trucha Catalana and gazpacho.

Catalan Trout:

 

Normally, I'd have gone and dug the steamers myself.  I was a bit spooked by the recent sewage spill in the bay, so I dug them at the supermarket instead.  I did send Jessi out to catch the trout though.

 

 

I cleaned, scaled and salted the trout.  Then I heated some almonds and garlic in olive oil, removed, crushed, and floured and cooked the trout.

I steamed the clams in white wine, then plated and garnished with almonds, garlic and fresh parsley.

Gazpacho:

Gazpacho has been a summertime favorite of mine.  Lots of veggies, blended together with a bit of salt, and eaten cold.  Sign me up.

Another hit of a meal.  Too bad Spain will forever be remembered for how poorly they shoed at the 2014 World Cup.  I honestly had them slated for the last dish to be cooked this year, since we try to have the countries still competing saved for the end.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.

South Korea

South Korea

I made bibimbap.

I started by rehydrating the braken fern, which I ordered online.  I boiled it for half an hour then let it soak all day.  Next I sliced and cooked each of the ingredients separately, adding sugar, salt, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil to taste as called for in the recipe.

Braken fern-

I put it in a large bowl over a bed of rice, and topped with an egg sunny side up.

Then I mixed it all together and served with chili sauce

. 
This was very good.  The fernbrake, or braken fern, gave a unique taste that I'm really glad was there.  The spinach was from my garden and the rest of the vegetables were from the farmer's market. 

Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast

We made poulet crapodine

First I boned the chicken and, instead of spatchcocking like crapaudine apparently means, I boned and cut into small pieces.

 

Then I mixed the minced garlic, grated ginger, parsley and bullion cube and rubbed on the chicken.

 

I sliced the tomatoes and onions and covered the chicken.

Then I placed in the oven.  The recipe called for 20 minutes at 355.  Yeah right.  I cooked for 75 minutes at 355.

 

 Served with diced fried potatoes.

This dish seemed a bit off as we went through the recipe.  The times were wrong, the recipe called for the chicken to be cut into small pieces when it turns out that crapaudine means to spatchcock the chicken and flatten it under weight.  Those revelations notwithstanding, this turned out delicious.  The tomatoes and ginger were a nice addition to the standard chicken-and-onion-in-a-pot west African recipes that we have come to cook over the last couple world cup projects. My guess is that the recipe was adapted from a recipe for a much smaller bird, maybe a pigeon, and it found its way to the web and first page of google.  No matter.  It was really good.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

 

We made a Tico breakfast with gallo pinto, chorizo, scrambled eggs and fried plantains. 

We soaked the beans overnight, then simmered until done.  We drained off the liquid, reserving.  Separately, we steamed the white rice.  Then we sauteed the onion, bell pepper and garlic in oil.  When slightly soft, we added the beans and the rice and a bit of bean liquid and a bit of chicken stock.

I fried the plantains.

And served pinto gallo garnished with cilantro and sour cream, with the plantains, scrambled eggs, chorizo and a tortilla.

Breakfast was hearty delicious.  Would definitely make it again.

Greece

Greece

We made souvlaki and dolmades.

First, we made the souvlaki.

I cut the pork shoulder, made a marinade with Oregon red wine, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon, garlic, mint, bay leaf, and oregano.  I let chill for a couple hours, then skewered and grilled.

Dolmades-

First I blanched the fresh grape leaves.

 

Then I chopped and sauteed the onion and fennel.

I added chicken stock, rice, parsley, and dill.  Then I stuffed the grape leaves.

Then I steamed them in more chicken stock.

Served:

Once again, another delicious dish.  It's summer, and this is our first report from Oregon.  We are at our property near Ashland.  We stopped at a favorite meat shop for the pork shoulder for the souvlaki.  The red wine is a Rouge Valley local wine.  The grape leaves were (shhhh) surreptitiously removed from Lithia park in Ashland from the young growth of wild grape plants. I'll definitely make both these again.  So good.

Uruguay

Uruguay:

We made Chivito sandwiches for lunch, as we watched with surprise as Uruguay dropped a match to Costa Rica 3-1.

First, I baked the bacon in the oven until crisp, setting aside the grease.

Then I cooked the ham slices.

Then I pounded the filets and cooked them in the grease.

 

Next,  I browned the mushrooms and caramelized the onions.

Finally I assembled the sandwich.  Brushed salsa golf on the bread, lettuce, filet, bacon, ham, tomato slice, mozzarella cheese, then placed under the broiler to melt the cheese.  Add caramelized onion and mushrooms, fried egg sunnyside up egg on top, and serve.

This sandwich is delicious.  It is a knife and fork sandwich for sure.  I could certainly see making these again.

Croatia

Croatia

We made Pašticada with gnocchi.

We started last night, pricking holes in a cut of rump roast and stuffing them with garlic and bacon.

Then we marinated the meat in red wine vinegar overnight.  This morning, we removed from the marinate, patted dry, and browned in bacon grease.

Next I chopped the parsnip, carrot, onion, and celery root and sauteed in olive oil.

I added prunes, pureed tomato and red wine, then cooked in my slow cooker for 5 hours.

I removed the meat, wrapped in foil, and reduced the remaining stock and vegetables for about an hour, then pureed it in a blender.

I sliced the meat then put it back on the heat in the sauce.

Gnocchi

 

I boiled the potatoes, peeled, ran through the ricer, added egg yolk and flour, gently worked and rolled the dumplings then cooked at a gentle simmer.

 

Plated:

This meal was super flavorful.  I also successfully made gnocchi, a first for me.