The following recipe is not a potato puree, it is not mashed potatoes, it is mashed potatoes expanded with eggs, cheese and citrus fruits. It is a celebration of eating every damn cubic millimeter of that potato. It is the taste of the trauma and nostalgia of post conflict societies, in the taste buds of our grandmothers.
-Potato spread aka Бърканина (Barkanina) recipe:
+Potato spread aka Бърканина (Barkanina) recipe:
On recipe notebooks
Recipe notebooks have always been part of my life - every few weeks, my mother would decide it's time to bake a cake - choosing usually between 2 recipes - one just called cake and the name of a relative (chec Lena), the other one called cake with coconut (prajitura cu nuca de cocos). On these occasions, she would pull out an old, overstuffed school notebook, occasionally stained with eggyolks or butter, prop it up on a chair and consult it every now and again. Sometimes, she would skip a step, or add things in a different order than in the notebook. The cake would turn out great regardless.
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Papanași fierți
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ Ingredients:Whose is this recipe
A dozen modifications of the same dish are at the bottom of a deep culinary dispute on the Balkans. The Bulgarian banitsa, the Serbian gibanica, the Greek pita, the Macedonian maznik and the Bosnian and Turkish börek are in constant competition over the hearts and stomachs of millions of heavy dough snack fans. And there is more.
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Banitsa aka Баница aka Börek aka Gibanica aka Tiropita and many more
@@ -115,5 +115,87 @@ Ingredients: +Sandwiches
+Kids in school were always split between those who brought sandwiches from home and those who got pocket money and could buy themselves pastries - in my case that was the most coveted lunch in highschool, a triangular puff pastry filled with ham and ketchup. I brought a sandwich with me every day in my 12 years of school - ok maybe that's not true, sometimes I had homemade pizza or french toast or a red pepper filled with salty cheese. But I always had food from home.
+Types of sandwiches I used to bring - thick white bread, red peppers, butter or pate, ham, salami, cucumber, pickles, schnitzel, cascaval, cream cheese, breaded courgette . A combination of these, usually. Rarely it would be bread and zacusca, which smelled very potent and would always grease up the tissue my sandwich was wrapped in, which made me embarrased and sometimes I skipped lunch so I don't have to eat it in public.
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+There were some kids whose parents worked in other countries, usually Italy, and would send them nice cakes and tuna and salami from Italy
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+Other kids brought tostis, warm sandwiches which had become cold and greasy wrapped in now oily tissue paper with congealed cheese.
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+The cool kids never brought sandwiches.
+Grated egg open-faced sandwich
+ ++Ingredients: +
+Spread margarine or butter benerously on the slice of bread. Peel the egg and grate it in its entirety on the side of the grater with the smallest holes. Slice the pickled cucumbers (1-2 depending on their size) and arrange the slices onto the bread. Sprinkle the grated egg on top, and add a pinch of salt and pepper over everything. Enjoy the bits of egg that inevitably fall from the bread as you try to eat it! +
++Boterham Whatever's in the Fridge
++ This is typically a sandwich I make after a medium to long morning bike ride. About ten to twenty + kilometers before I get home (depending on the snacks I've had along the way), I mentally start scanning + my fridge. Sometimes I have some leftover pasta or a rice dish that I can just heat up. But if I don't, the + cooking prep starts with choosing tempeh, tofu or seitan. Based on that, I think about spices to add. With + scrambled tofu on toast, I tend to go the curry course, while tempeh and seitan are nice to fry in soy sauce + and sambal or hot sauce. Up next, bread. I usually have a loaf of rye or sour dough, sliced in the freezer. + While biking past the last bits of countryside before getting back to town, I wonder, which veggies are + left? But honestly, mostly, I'm looking forward to all the fried goodness! As you can imagine, this recipe + can go many directions, depending on your appetite and zest for certain flavors. I sometimes add canned + beans and tomato, going the Mexican influenced route, sort of an open faced burrito if you will, with + mango salsa. It all depends on... whatever's in the fridge. It easily falls into place once you start + somewhere, and let the ingredients guide each other. Below is the sandwich I prepared for Recipes on the + Radio hosts Yoana, Alice, and myself.
++Ingredients: +
+ Heat up a larger frying pan, add some oil. Cut the seitan in smaller bits, throw it in the pan. If you also + just got home from a bike ride, yoga class, morning run, or other activity, this is the point where you turn + down the heat, let it simmer, and take a quick shower. If you have a bit more patience, better regulated + blood sugars, or habits, you can add the rest first. Cut up the leafy greens, including the stems. I cut the + stems quite small, and throw them in first, they need a bit more time. Then cut up and add the rest of the + greens. If you like, you can mix in chili pepper, sambal or hot sauce right before it's all done.
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+ Lightly toast the bread. I happen to have a small toaster oven, but you can also use the same pan. Add a
+ generous layer of peanut butter, and (if you haven't already mixed it in with the seitan and veggies) top
+ this with your choice of sambal or hot sauce. Generously spread all the ingredients over the bread, and the
+ rest of the plate. Experiment with toppings you like that go nicely with the other flavors. I like nasturtium
+ flowers for some extra spice, diced up pickled gurkins for that little bit of tangy vinegar, and sweet chili
+ sauce cause it drips and nestles between everything... even your fingers... YUM.
+ Serve immediately. Enjoy!
+