Cook N Bake British Series: Welsh Cawl

Welcome back to our weekly blog, folks!

After our brief trip to Turkey we move now a little norther, because the protagonist of this month’s Cook N Bake is the British cuisine. Yes, my dear reader, you heard me right. Regardless of its bad reputation, we decided that there must be at least five dishes that are worth listing and experimenting, so here we go!
First of all, let’s try to understand this unusual cuisine: the rich history of the United Kingdom is in grand part the reason why it seems like British cuisine is more of a cultural mix than a defined tradition. Welsh, Scottish and English dishes are indeed greatly influenced by local ingredients; in addition throughout history Celts, Anglo-Saxons and later on Indians (following the Middle Ages when Britain became a pivot for the maritime spice trade) have affected the cuisine with both flavors and techniques. But that does not explain still why British food is bad.
Back in the day, during the Edwardian England (if you watched Downton Abbey you know what I am talking about!), food was the art of skilled chefs who enjoyed going above and beyond also with the utilization of new pots and molds. The upper and middle classes were the hot pit of such a sophisticated cuisine. With the beginning of industrialization, and World War I, the upper and middle class started losing their power and influence, and industrial foods started to replace the traditional ones.
Rationing, thought to be a prevention against food shortages, became a great limitation for the British cuisine. Long story short: British traditional, sophisticated dishes were lost forever and even after the war British cuisine never completely recovered.

There are some dishes, however, that survived the two World Wars and can be considered traditional British dishes. Among them, the Welsh Cawl. Cawl is a traditional Welsh soup, typical of the Winter season, made with salted bacon (or beef, today lamb seems to have substituted it), potatoes, carrots , leeks and a choice of seasonal vegetables. Served with bread and cheese if desired.

Ingredients:
2-3 lb. Welsh lamb best end of neck cutlets
1 large sliced onion
3 leeks
2 medium sliced carrots
1 medium parsnip
1 small swede turnip or 2 white turnips
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
6 small potatoes
salt and pepper
4 pints (8 cups) water
If in season cabbage, celery, etc., can all be used

Trim the meat of fat so far as possible, cover with cold water, add salt and pepper, bring to the boil, and simmer slowly for 1 hour, then leave it to get cold and skim off all the fat. Put in all the vegetables except 1 leek, the potatoes and half the parsley, cover and simmer very slowly for 1 hour, then add the potatoes cut in half and continue cooking for 20 minutes. Then add the remainder of the parsley, taste for seasoning and finely chop the remaining leek (green and white part) on top. Let it cook for not more than 5 minutes and serve. Some families treat it as a French pot-au-feu – that is, they serve the clear broth first, then the meat and vegetables as a second course. Traditionally Cawl was eaten in wooden bowls with wooden spoons so that there was no fear of burning the mouth. Serves 4-6.

~Enjoy!

Recipe from http://www.welshholidaycottages.com

Memorial Day Special: Texas Lemon Iced Tea

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and you surely are all getting together with family and friends for the biggest patriotic holiday after Fourth of July. Some of you might even throw a bigger party on Memorial Day weekend, which marks, if you like, the beginning of Summer, or at least makes it seem not so far away.

Perfect for a party as a refreshing alcoholic drink, Texas Lemon Iced Tea can be mixed in a pitcher and stored in the refrigerator. A variation of the Long Island Iced Tea, Texas Lemon Iced Tea has more tequila, no gin, and Rometti Limoncello. With its smooth, sweet flavor, Texas Lemon Iced Tea is great with any type of dish, from barbecues to desserts. Just make sure that you alternate it with glasses of water or nothing will save you from a buzz!

Drink responsibly. Don’t drink and drive.

Happy Memorial Day!

Ingredients:
1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Rum
1 oz Tequila
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1/2 oz Rometti Limoncello
1 tablespoon Cola-flavored carbonated beverage

Combine vodka, rum, tequila, lemon juice, Cola and Rometti Limoncello in a pitcher. Stir and pour into glasses filled with ice.

~Enjoy!

God Bless America ~ Happy Memorial Day

Today we remember all the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives, that believe so much in freedom that they dedicate their lives to protect others’. We also remember their families, who are faced with the constant heartache.  Questions of their health, sleep,  frame of mind, or whether the weight of the duty they bear is beyond anything we can comprehend.

We especially hope our active soldiers can see the stars at night, and be proud of a country and of a people, and not have a clouded vision of a world in turmoil but a world that still has hope for peace and freedom.  Today we remember how lucky we are to have such freedom, a gift that needs to be protected and embraced for all times.

Today we must remember to look at our warrior families and friends living or not, with different eyes, ones of courage, gratitude and love.  For those that are still with us let us support the backbone of a nation that so greatly supported us.  Lets embrace them in our lives in our work, and build a stronger nation.

God continue to bless all those fallen, and all those standing to influence our lives for the good of all.

Happy Memorial Day, and God bless America!

The Rometti Team

Cook N Bake Turkish Series: Sutlac Dessert

It’s Thursday again, and hopefully after four delicious Turkish recipes you still have room for some dessert! For one last time during this Turkish Series, my friend Ceren from Istanbul suggested Sutlac Dessert, nothing less than rice pudding with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon. The very first bite of it will awaken your childhood memories, the sweet smell of vanilla and cinnamon will bring you back to those after school afternoon filled with homework when either mom or grandma would cheer you up with a chilled, creamy rice pudding.
One of the favorite Ottoman desserts, which at the time was usually flavored with rose-water, Sutlac Dessert is still a very popular home made dish, as well as a dessert you can often find on restaurant menus.

On the note of such a simple yet ethereal treat, we must now say goodbye to our Turkish Series. We hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for more recipes from around the world to come!
Ingredients:
1 liter of milk (plus an extra 1/2 cup for mixing the starch)
1/2 a cup of rice
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of starch
1/2 a package of vanilla
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
Clean the rice and boil slowly in 1 cup of water. Add milk and boil for 10 more minutes. Add sugar and stir until it dissolves.
Mix the starch with half a cup of milk ad then add it into the rest of the milk and rice mixture. Bring to a boil then remove from heat and add in vanilla. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
Pour into serving bowls while it is still warm. Sprinkle cinnamon on top once it has cooled.
Note: if desired make sutlac in the oven during directions 1-3
if desired mix starch with 2 eggs and 1 cup of milk before adding it to the milk and rice mixture.then add in vanilla.
If desired put the pudding into oven safe bowls and set on a tray with water in it then put bowls in the oven,and use overhead heat to toast the tops of the pudding.

~Enjoy!

Happy Hour Tuesday: Tuscan Rosemary Lemon Drop

Happy Hour Tuesday!

as the countdown to Summer gets shorter – as a matter of fact Memorial Day is next week!- this week we chose another drink that tastes fresh, zesty, yet pungent but extremely earthly aromatic: Tuscan Rosemary Lemon Drop.

Herbs are perfect for cooking, however they also taste delicious in drinks thanks to their oils and aromas which are released especially after muddling their leaves. Rosemary does not need to be muddled because its needle-style leaves are so astringent that by only putting them in contact with the alcoholic mixer they contaminate its flavor (in a good way of course!). Believed to improve memory, rosemary is a source of antioxidants, iron, vitamin b6 and calcium.

Tuscan Rosemary Lemon Drop was created by Chef Kathy Casey during a friends’ wedding in Tuscany. Whether or not the wedding was the reason of her choice of using rosemary, its association with weddings goes a long way back. To the Middle Ages, when rosemary would be used in weddings as a love charm. Since then rosemary has played the folkloristic role of symbolizing love and loyalty in proportion to how big and strong the plant would grow, together with its believed ability of repelling nightmares and witches.

Whether it’s a friend’s wedding, a date night, a gathering with friends and family or a Sunday barbecue, Tuscan Rosemary Lemon Drop is an inspirational recipe that will refreshen your soul on a Summer night.

 

Ingredients:
Rosemary Sugar (recipe follows)
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 1/2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce Rometti Limoncello
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce Simple Syrup
1 rosemary sprig for garnish
Rosemary Sugar
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, coarsely chopped
1 cup superfine or baker’s sugar

 

To make Rosemary Sugar:
Mix the rosemary and sugar together in a small bowl, and spread the mixture on a rimmed baking sheet. Set in a warm dry place for about 4 days, until the rosemary is completely dried. Process in a food processor or spice grinder until finely ground. Store in a tightly sealed container for up to one month at room temperature.
Rim a large martini glass with rosemary sugar, and set aside. Bend 1 rosemary sprig and drop into a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice. Measure in the vodka, Rometti Limoncello, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Cap and shake vigorously. Strain into the sugar-rimmed glass. Float a rosemary sprig in the drink for garnish.

~Enjoy!

Recipe from Sips and Apps: Classic and Contemporary Recipes for Cocktails and Appetizersby Kathy Casey (Chronicle Books, May 2009).

Cook N Bake Turkish Series: Sehriyeli Pilav

It can be boiled or steamed, with small and round or long, thin grain, and it surely is one of the most predominant ingredients in either western and eastern cuisines. So versatile to form compact breaded balls, yet again light and airy, sometimes crispy. This week’s dish is a manifesto of Turkish cuisine’s rice dishes, Sehriyeli Pilav, also known as Pilaf with Orzo.
In Turkish, pilaf means “lump of boiled rice”, although pilaf does not alway refer to dishes made with rice but also with other grains. As a matter of fact we often hear the word bulgur associated to pilaf: bulgur is a type of rice made from gluten-free wheat. Cous cous and cracked wheat can also make pilaf.
Born as a ceremonial dish, pilaf used to be served in Ottoman cerimonies with soups, dolma, meat, vegetables and sweets. A Turkish tradition is to serve a dish of pilaf, called sözkesen, at the end of the meal to indicate the meal completion.
Whether it is served with vegetables, seafood, meatballs, pistachios or dried fruit, pilaf is made with rice soaked in water, drained and fired in oil, water and salt. After the cooking it needs to rest for about 20 minutes, and then accompanied by meat, poultry, vegetables, or orzo. While the condiment is what determines the flavor of the dish, a good pilaf must have a good quality rice, which should not absorb too much water and the grains should not stick together.
Sehriyeli Pilav is a great source of protein to complete your meal, you can prepare it for a succulent Sunday meal or serve it as a complete, nutrient dinner on a weekly night. And if you make a little too much, don’t worry, it’ll taste even more flavorful the day after!

Ingredients:
2/3 cup orzo
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 carrots 1/4 inch dice
2 ribs of celery 1/4 inch dice
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 cup water
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped fresh italian parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted real butter
1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper or to taste
1 small zucchini if desired, 1/4 inch dice (1 1/4 cups)
1/4 cup slivered almonds toasted

Chop the onions, carrots, celery and garlic, parsley and zucchini if desired.
Heat the oil and butter in the skillet over medium heat, then saute the orzo, stirring it constantly until it is golden brown about one minute. Add the prepared vegetables (except the parsley and zucchini) and add the salt and pepper. Stir until the onion is lightly browned, then add the rice, saute and stir until coated with oil and butter.
Add the broth and the water and bring to a boil, lower the heat to low and cook covered, until liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Avoid removing the lid and letting the steam escape. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the zucchini, and let it stand 5 minutes. Zucchini will steam. Then stir in the parsley and serve sprinkled with toasted almonds. Enjoy!

Recipe from http://www.justapinch.com
Image © Fénot

Happy Mother’s Day 2013

Today is a celebration of those women who will always have a special, irreplaceable place in our heart. They gave us life, raised us, taught us how to walk / talk, they have always been at our side even then they disagreed with us.  But most of all, regardless of our imperfections and mistakes, they have  and will always love us.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!

Auguri mamma!

The Rometti Team

Cook N Bake Turkish Series: Doner Kebab

As we already mentioned, vegetables are probably the most common base ingredient in Turkish cuisine. This week, however, we couldn’t ignore the most known turkish dish all around the world: Kebab.

Kebabs are made with casserole meat, stews or even grilled meat. Doner Kebab (“rotating roast“) is extremely popular throughout Europe, but also in some areas of the United States, both as a dine-in dish and, especially, as a take away. It is not uncommon that Doner Kebab is called shawarma, a word originated from the Turkish çevirme which is simply a synonym of doner. A mixture of veal, beef and lamp, Kebab is cooked on a vertical spit and shaved into thin shavings. It is then wrapped in a either a flatbread or a sandwich. Sometimes it can be also served on a plate together with lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber.

Kebab seems to have originated in the 18th century during the Ottoman empire, however back then the spit, called doner, was not vertical but horizontal. The vertical mangal,” barbecue”, according to tradition, is attributed to Hacı İskender, who owned a restaurant in the industrial 19th century Bursa, Turkey, and invented the way of roast vertically as his grandson İskender Efendi states in one of the family biography.
Doner Kebab is not a very easy dish to make at home, however the homemade version is almost as tasty and good as the one made on a vertical slit!

Ingredients:
1 (2 1/2- 3 pound) Lamb Leg (boned & cut in slices)
3 pounds Ground Lamb
3 cups minced Onions
1 large Tomato
1 Egg
1 tbsp Black Pepper Powder
Salt (to taste)
Lamb Fat
1 cup Olive Oil

Remove any bits of skin and bone from the lamb leg. Cut it into serving-size slices, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Pound it with a meat tenderizer or the edge of a heavy saucepan until thin and trim.

Prepare a marinade sauce with onions, olive oil, salt and pepper, and soak the meat in this marinade overnight.

Spread the lamb fat over each piece of the meat, and ground lamb mixed with an egg. Thread pieces of meat on a long skewer, starting with the larger pieces. Trim the chunk of meat on the skewer and add trimmings to the end of the skewer. The tomato is put on the skewer whole at the end.

If you have a Doner Kebab broiler you can let the meat cook while turning and shave it as you go. But if you don’t you can still shape the minced lamb into a loaf tin and cook it on a baking tray  at 356 F for about 1 hour and 20 min, turing it halfway through. When it is done wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest for about 10 min. Slice it as thin as possible and serve with lettuce, onions, tomato and cucumber, chili if you like, over a pita bread or on a plate.

~Enjoy!

Happy Hour Tuesday: The Mediterranee

Happy Hour Tuesday!

Whether you have a job that takes up most of your time during the day sitting in an office, you can’t deny that feeling of wanting to get out and throw yourself on the beach for a little vacation! With Spring Break over and Memorial Day just round the corner, all I can think of is how sweet and marvelous it would be to go on a road trip around the Mediterranean! So this week our drink is dedicated to all those Europeans that are lucky enough to smell new, refreshing air,  a melange of ocean breeze, country fields and flower blossoms. The Mediterranee is a simple cocktail that uses very humble yet popular ingredients:  Meyer lemon and the Pineau des Charantes. The first one is a hybrid lemon originated by a cross breeding of the common yellow lemonade and a mandarin, thus with less acidity and a stronger, floral aroma. The second one, Pineau des Charantes, is a mix of Cognac with unfermented grape juice, typical of the Cognac region of France where Pineau des Charantes is consumed as a sewer aperitif. The sweetness and softness of these two ingredients is accentuated by Rometti Limoncello and contrasted by the pungent, earthy sage flavor.
Salute!

Ingredients:
1 oz Pineau des Charantes
1/2 oz Rometti Limoncello
1 oz fresh Meyer lemon juice
2 dashes orange bitter (like Campari)
1 sage leaf
Zest of Meyer lemon

Add all the ingredients – except the safe leaf – to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Rub the sage leaf around the rim of a Martini glass. Strain the cocktail into the Martini glass and garnish with the sage leaf.

~Enjoy!

Recipe from http://www.thenibble.com