A Box of Bites from the Baltic

This is my first month of Foodie Penpals run by a fellow foodie blogger and I was so excited about it!  The idea is simple.  You are given a person to put together a £10 box of goodies for, and someone else is given you to do the same.  On this occasion, I was paired with the same person, but that won't always be the case.  And you must include something written as part of your package - a note, a recipe, a poem...

My penpal this month was Lina from Lithuania.  After a brief email exchange to check out likes, dislikes, dietary requirements etc, I learned that Lina loves chocolate, but is on a health food kick at the moment, so no processed foods for her!  She loves tea and coffee and enjoys baking.  But she was really happy to receive anything new and interesting.

I wanted to put together a box of local ingredients for Lina, but being new to Bristol I had to go on a bit of a discovery mission myself, both in terms of local gastronomy and shops at which to spend my £10.  This general part of the country is big on apples and cider.  But other than that, and with the limitations of sending perishables to Eastern Europe, I found myself a little stumped, particularly as I am a savoury rather than sweet kind of person.

Still, I think I put together an interesting little box.  I found dried apples, local chocolate and regional cider in the Southville Deli, a local health food shop and cafe.  And then I topped the box up with some pretty cupcake cases and a bottle of maple syrup - because you can do so much with maple syrup!

Along with the box, I sent Lina a postcard with the famous Bristol hot air balloons with a little explanation of all the items in the box and a few suggestions on how to use the maple syrup and cider.  I also sent her a recipe for Apple Cider Cake with Marscapone from the BBC Food website, so that she could use the ingredients for some baking.

It's all sounding pretty great, right?  Well, Lina put me to shame.  She asked me what I liked, and I told her that I liked savoury things, and was really willing to try anything and everything.  With such a vast range of possibilities, she asked me to narrow it down a little for her and let her know what my favourite things were.  That's easy.  Cheese.  And cured meats.  I'd die happy if that were my last meal.

My box from Lina contained a variety of cheeses, meats and spices, including:
Dvaro (a dried curd cheese);
Su Kmynais (a smoked goats cheese);
Shashlik spice (onion, mustard, paprika, black pepper, tomato, basilica, oregano, thyme, marjoram, chilli & parsley);
Lizdeikos (a cured beef sausage); and
Baravykai (dried boletus - a type of mushroom)

Thankfully, Lina had put little notes on all of the items so that I knew what they were and the ingredients.  I have been nibbling at the cheese and meat (to make it last longer!).  And last night I used the spice mixture on some lamb kebabs - Lina recommended that I use the spice on something cooked over fire.  Well, it wasn't quite fire, but I did use a griddle pan...  I made a minty tzatziki and a tomato, red spring onion and oregano salad with balsamic dressing to load up the wraps before adding the spiced lamb.  It was a fab summer dinner.

Lamb Kebabs with Shashlik from Lithuania

With such an amazing introduction to Lithuania, I need to get myself over there - well, when all the studying, marrying, buying a house etc is finished with!  I can't wait for next month of my penpal experience.

Buckfast: Sherry's Misunderstood Cousin

Having lived in Scotland for 11 years, I am very familiar with Buckfast Tonic Wine (or Buckie as we affectionately call it) - its easily identifiable retro yellow label; its sweet, sparkly taste; and its reputation as the cause of ALL Scottish anti-social behaviour.

The argument in favour of Buckfast is a difficult one to win.  Politicians like to be able to identify an easy solution to problems such as anti-social behaviour, and have so turned on Buckfast Tonic Wine, branding it as the inciter of Scotland's youth crime.  They have cited its high alcohol content coupled with excessive levels of caffeine as the reason for singling out Buckfast over other alcoholic drinks.  And, damningly, they present evidence to show the association between Buckfast and crime.

And yet this scourge of Scotland has a holy beginning.  The Benedictine monks at the Buckfast Abbey in Devon have produced this fortified wine, similar to sherry, madeira or port, based on an ancient French recipe for over 100 years.

I recently met Stewart Wilson, who has now taken over from his father, Jim Wilson, as spokesperson for J Chandler & Co, the distributors of Buckfast.  While obviously recognising that his support of Buckfast was likely to be somewhat biased, he made very clear, coherent and persuasive arguments in favour of the vilified wine.

For example, while Buckfast has been mentioned by name in 5,638 crime reports between 2006 and 2009, he points out that police specifically target drinkers of Buckfast, automatically inflating the figures.  Furthermore, when making their reports, police have the brand-name Buckfast as its own little tick-box, while using generic tick-boxes for other types of alcohol.  So, for drinkers of Glen's vodka (one of the cheapest vodka's on the market), they tick 'vodka', thus not subjecting Glen's to the same scrutiny as Buckfast.

As far as its alcohol and caffeine content go, Buckfast in the UK contains 15% alcohol - pretty standard for a bottle of wine.  A quick scout around the house shows that my port contains 20% and the bottle of Voigner in the fridge contains 13.5%.  By comparison, vodka in Europe must contain a minimum of 37.5% alcohol to be classed as vodka.  As for caffeine, Buckfast in the UK contains 37.5mg per 100ml, which is deemed to be equivalent to the caffeine content of black tea.

Of course, if you drink 750ml of black tea (about 3 cups) of tea in one go, then I don't imagine you're going to feel that great, but it does put the argument into perspective.  If I drink a bottle of wine and 3 cups of tea, I am not going to then go off and commit crime - there are obviously more complex issues at play here.

And that is assuming I drink the whole lot myself.  What usually happens with young people drinking Buckfast is that they club together to buy a bottle between 3 or 4 of them, meaning they drink 1/3 a bottle of wine (2 small glasses) and a cup of tea in an evening.  No more (and probably substantially less) than I would drink myself at a dinner party with friends.

All of this controversy will, I'm sure, be completely alien to readers living in England or the US, where Buckfast does not have the infamy that it does in Scotland.  In fact, Buckfast is developing a high-end reputation across the UK.  At the end of the day, it is a fortified wine, comparable with sherry and port, that is sweet with a light finish.

Because of the sweetness, it is also ideal for some imaginative cookery.  At the Bristol Foodies Festival, where I met Stewart Wilson, we tried a brownie where the sugar had been replaced with Buckfast that was really delicious.  Well, it should have been!  It was created by Michelin-starred chef Martin Blunos.  In fact, the celebrity chef has created a number of other dishes using Buckfast, including Mulled Pears and Boeuf Bourguinon.  And he is not alone in using the interesting ingredient in chefy creations.  I have certainly seen Buckfast ice cream and sorbets on menus and can imagine slow-cooking pork in Buckfast would produce as delicious a result as it does when cooked in cola.

I had intended to give you some Buckfast recipes in this post, but I find that I have gone on quite a bit about the background.  I shall, instead, save them for a second post about this misunderstood beverage.

As a final point, I would just say that I am by no means dismissing the obviously problematic relationship that Scotland and the rest of the UK has with alcohol.  I simply mean to suggest that the issue has deeper roots than the young person's choice of drink.

Guacamole! Ole!

I didn't really have a more imaginative title for this post.  As you will see, it is a short wee thing about that amazing South American dip and a pig.  And I shall start with the pig...

I had been wanting a salt pig for a while when it dawned on me that my pig should look like a pig too!  I found one that I liked and mum duly obliged at Christmas.  My piggy is cute as a button, but it turns out that he is a salsa pig, not a salt pig.  And you can't keep salt in a salsa pig!  I have tried to find a link for you, but I can only find a double salsa pig - well, if you're going to make one salsa, why not two?

The first opportunity that I have had to use my pig appeared this week, when I joined Dave and his colleagues for a work rounders and BBQ evening - which was really good fun.  I had a couple of ripe avocados and thought guacamole would be just the thing to take along.

My recipe for guacamole is a bit transient - it depends on what I have to hand, what we're having it with and what I fancy.  But before I give you my bare bones of the recipe, I shall tell you a little bit about its origins.

Mole is the Aztec word for sauce.  So, it was an almond sauce (mole) that went with Thomasina Miers' chicken and chorizo.  The Spanish for avocado is aguacate, which also derives from the Aztec language, so there you go - guaca (avocado) mole (sauce).

I have also recently learned that avocado is also a good alternative to butter to spread on bread.  It was the Spanish and other Europeans that brought cows to America, so before this there was no butter.  "Poor-man's Butter" (Mantequilla de Pobre) is a spread made of avocado, tomato, oil and lemon juice - although, if they knew the price of avocados here, they would probably need to rethink the name!!

And so to the guacamole...

Ingredients
2 ripe avocados
3 small tomatoes
1 fat clove of garlic
1 lime
Fresh coriander
Salt
1/4 tsp cumin
Olive oil

Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar with a little salt.  This is extremely satisfying.  The salt draws out all the water and it makes a great paste. (Alternatively, just crush the garlic into a bowl in sprinkle in some salt).

Dice the avocado roughly and mix with the garlic paste.  Crush the avocado with the back of a fork so that it breaks up.  Personally, I prefer my salsa chunky, so don't squash the avocado too much.

Put your tomatoes in a bowl or cup and cover with boiling water.  30 seconds later, (carefully!) remove the tomatoes and the skin should peel away easily.  Discard the skin and chop the tomato.  Add this to the avocado mix.  Again, do some mushing, but don't be too keen.

Squeeze in the juice of half the lime, add a good handful of chopped coriander and sprinkle in the cumin.  Then taste.  This is important.  Decide if you like how it tastes, or if you want more lime, coriander, cumin or salt.

Stir through a glug of olive oil to loosen it up and your guacamole is ready.

Sometimes I also add onion for a bit of bite.  And I've read you could also add yogurt.  You might also like to add a pinch of paprika or some chilli to spice it up.  Get creative!

A Caribbean Staycation in Berkshire

I am currently on my own in the middle of a 3 week stay in rural Berkshire, looking after the family dogs while the rest of the family is away.  The countryside is beautiful, the weather is as good as its going to get, and its always nice for a change of scenery, but there is not much going on here.  The three closest pubs to the isolated cottage have recently closed down and my farming friends have embarked upon silly season in preparation for harvest.

Me and my brother, Tim in St Vincent and the Grenadines

With the upcoming wedding putting the kibosh on summer holiday abroad, I did the next best thing, and brought the summer holiday to me!  Having spent many summers (and a Christmas) exploring the Caribbean by boat, nothing says holiday to me like a warm salty breeze, rum punch and the fresh, zingy flavours of the islands.

So to holiday-up my stacation, I took with me my Levi Roots 'Food with Friends' cook book.  In retrospect, considering I am on my own, bringing a book aimed at "making fabulicious food for your mates and family and getting the island vibe around the table" was not really the appropriate medium for my first spin of this book, but at least it gave me a chance to try some of the recipes out first.

I picked 5 recipes from the book.  Despite only cooking for one, the shopping bill wasn't too high because there are some key ingredients in Levi's cooking, including limes, ginger, chilli, demerara sugar, thyme and allspice, which meant I did not have to buy lots of different ingredients that I would use once and waste the rest.

My dinners this week have included Calypso Pork Chops with Roots' Rice; Okra, Cashew and Tofu Stir-fry (with prawns instead of tofu, because no matter how hard I try, I am just not a tofu person); Lime & Thyme Lamb Chops; Lime-Escovitched Sea Bream with Tiger Prawns; and his Sunshine Kit Cooking Sauce.

Lime-Escovitched Sea Bream with Tiger Prawns

Every dish was really delicious.  The balance of ingredients managed to achieve both depth and lightness of flavour at the same time.  I would really recommend that you buy this book.  There are so many more recipes that I want to try from it, including the Crispy Corn Bread, Cuban Roast Pork and Lamb with Cherry and Rum Sauce.  The only thing I would say is that the recipes' cooking times didn't work for me - but I think that was because I was quartering the recipes and thus needed to make adjustments to the times.

Obviously, with copy right laws and the fact that I firmly believe you should go out and buy this book, I can't divulge any of these recipes to you.  However, I can share two of my own.

Firstly, Levi's book inspired a south american style salad.  I used some of his core ingredients, including thyme, chilli and ginger, and added cumin and paprika to season chunks of squash.  I then roasted these in the oven at 200C for 35 minutes with olive oil and maple syrup (instead of demerara).  Once cooked, I added the warm squash to a mixed salad of spinach, peppers, tomatoes, capers and lots of avocado.  The creaminess of the avocado made for a great balance with the caramelised, spicy squash.

As I said, I made Levi's Sunshine Kit Cooking Sauce, which was a tomato based sauce with chilli and lime and other herbs, spices and seasoning.  The Sunshine Kit is made up of Levi's core Caribbean cooking ingredients - see his very short video.  Using just 2 or 3 of these ingredients will give a Caribbean flavour to your cooking.  Levi recommends using the sauce in a Bolognese sauce or in a chow mein (recipes for both are within the book) to give an island slant to our regular go-to recipes.

Sunshine Kit Cooking Sauce

I did just that, except with my own Bolognese recipe - or rather, that of my Grandpa Mickey.  I also then used the sauce for a marinade for chicken wings and ribs to take advantage of the hottest day of the year so far!

Grandpa Mickey and Grandma Pat
Note the cigarette in Grandma's hand, located
very closely to the exposed engine!

Grandpa Mickey's Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1kg lean beef mince
3tsp salt
ground black pepper
4 tins whole plum tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 pinch sugar
2tsp oregano
3 bay leaves
1 tin button mushrooms, halved
1 tin pitted black olives

1. Soften the chopped onions, celery and garlic in the olive oil.  Add the minced beef and cook until brown.

2. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, salt, pepper, sugar, oregano and bay leaves.  Adjust the seasoning according to your tastes.  Then add the mushrooms and olives (I tried to leave the olives out once, and the sauce just didn't taste the same.  Even if you don't eat the olives themselves, make sure they're in and giving body to the sauce!)

3. Turn the heat down so that the sauce simmers, then place the lid on the pan and leave to cook for as many hours as you can - at least 1 hour, but 4 hours is better!  Keep checking on the sauce, stirring it and adding water and adjusting seasoning if necessary.

Cooking the sauce for so long will ensure that the meat breaks down and is fully integrated.  In fact, just as you rest a steak or other meat after you've cooked it to allow the fibres to relax and take in the juices, the same principle applies with the Bolognese sauce.  This is why the heated up left-overs always taste better.

This recipe makes enough for about 8-10 servings - so plenty to stock up the freezer.

Adding about 4tbsp of Levi Root's Sunshine Kit Cooking Sauce gave the Bolognese a little bit of heat and a fruity zing.  I've gone so far beyond authentic now, that Italians will be queuing up with an EU petition against me calling the sauce Bolognese, so I've renamed it Caribbese.  A spag carib ('spag cab' if said quickly) is a great addition to my weekday staples!