Category: Main Dish

Hakuna Matata

47 Comments

Hakuna matata. There are no worries – especially with today’s dish from Mozambique. Seafood is predominant in this coastal nation which is fortunate since all four of us enjoy it. This time we selected a clam and peanut stew called Matata.

We started with our bag of unsalted and raw peanuts. The kids were both super excited – as in asking over and over if it was time to make dinner – to crack the peanut shells.

Now you might be wondering why cracking peanuts would garner such excitement, well it’s probably because I told the kids they could toss the shells on the floor like at the ballgame. Hakuna matata!  Continue reading →

It Ain’t Easy Being Green

65 Comments

Well, here we go! It’s time for our next international adventure. This time we’re heading back to Africa for a culinary visit with Mozambique. Mozambique is in southeast Africa and borders the Indian ocean. Now what I was surprised to learn is that the official language of Mozambique is actually Portuguese; and like the language, the food is infused with Portuguese influence.

For our first recipe, we went with one that had a high chance of success around here – Shrimp Mozambique. Not only did it promise to be simple, but we’re all big shrimp fans. We started today’s recipe by melting some butter in a large skillet and then tossing in some diced shallots. Continue reading →

Hot Diggity Dog!

55 Comments

Whew! That week went by in the blink of an eye. We hope you all enjoyed our adventure with Kosher cooking. We know we sure did. I imagine we’ll revisit Kosher food at some point along this adventure again. Until then, many thanks to Tori for our first introduction to it. Incidentally, Tori just won the IACP People’s Choice Best Culinary Blog or Website for 2012! Congrats! It’s well-deserved.

Now before we get to our next international cooking adventure we wanted to wrap up our stateside culinary tour of Hawaii. This last dish doesn’t really have a recipe per say. We didn’t whip up any original ingredients, or make any fancy homemade sausages. Nope. We simply wanted to see how authentically we could recreate our favorite treat from Hawaii, The Puka Dog!  Continue reading →

If I Was a Betting Woman

60 Comments

Fortunately I’m not, because this is one bet I would have lost. I should know by now not to assume what the kids will or will not eat. It’s not like they haven’t surprised me before, but this time I thought I would surely have been right.

Aerial of Greenland from my best friend Sue’s flight to Europe.

You see this was one meal that kept popping up on our search for Greenlandic recipes, and it’s one I was not terribly thrilled about making. In fact, I think we were all kind of dreading this one. Now you would think that would be enough to find a different recipe, but we were determined to give it a shot. After all you never know, and that’s what this whole experience is about for us – learning new things.

Aerial of Greenland, shot by Sue.

So we finally set to making the recipe for Halibut Cream Casserole. (I think it was the word casserole that had me dreading this meal. While I’ve had plenty of good casseroles over the years, I still associate the word with the many bad ones I’ve eaten.) The kids were also complaining about the meal before we even started as they’re not big fans of stews, but on we went. We started with the halibut, which we were fortunate enough to find this time – and on the first try too!  Continue reading →

A Moment Changes Everything

59 Comments

Before we wrap up our Greenlandic recipes next week, we thought we’d toss in our stateside cooking adventure for the week. We’re still focused on Hawaii…nothing like prolonging the vacation a bit, even if it is from our own kitchen.

Vacations, at least for Mike and I, are always a time of reflection. We like to spend some time looking back on what brought us to this particular point – the challenges, the joys, the decisions (both spontaneous and well-thought out ones). It’s always interesting to go back and look at the turning points we’ve faced and the random series of events that have led us to a certain place, or brought an interesting person into our lives. It’s really quite remarkable how things have a way of coming together sometimes.  Continue reading →

A Dinner Bargain

74 Comments

Tonight we continue our Greenlandic food adventure with a main dish recipe from The Official Tourism Site of Greenland. I have to say, the tourism department did a convincing job with the website. I had never really considered Greenland among the places I want to see in the world, but the photos are just breathtaking. 

That said, I don’t see us packing up Mr. N and Miss A for a tour of icebergs anytime soon; so until then we’ll live vicariously through the cuisine from the warmth of our own kitchen. Now as we mentioned in our previous post, Greenlandic cuisine is high in protein from marine mammals, fish, game and birds. We did try to get our hands on some caribou to make Greenland’s traditional dish of suaasat, but didn’t have any luck. So we went with our fall back recipe for Pan Fried White Fish and Roasted Vegetables. Continue reading →