Callisto's Journey

Name of Cuisine:

Italian

Dining Experience:

Lots of very solid, very yummy food. Stories of proper Italian dinners involving multiple courses and a fish course, a pasta course, a beef course, a chicken course....Lots of lovely desserts too, the most famous of which is tiramisu. Italian (to me) is very much a home food. Every one has their own version of Spaghetti Bolognese (also known as SpagBol, SpagBog, Bog) and Lasagne. Chesh and I are planning to make lasagne a family event, from making the pasta through to the final product. We think it will be a fun activity to do with *every one*.  All the pastas mentioned below I expect to make by hand with Vinnie's assistance.

Customs and Notes:

Food is a very group and/or family affair. The care and love shown from growing the produce through to group processing and cooking and consumption is very much a tie in of food and love.

Recipes: (10 recipes)

1) Pizza with potato dough base and special tomato sauce
2) Roman Pan-fried Lamb
3) Gnocchi Romana
4) Pasta carbonara
5) Pasta Marinara
6) Lasagne
7) Parma-wrapped chicken stuffed with herbed garlic cheese
8) vegetarian Bean and Pasta Casserole
9) pancooked chicken with artichokes
10) Pumpkin and spinach cannelloni
11) Chicken (paprika) casserole


Main Ingredients I need to obtain (excluding meats):

General Ingredients

Anchovies	Olives (green)	Olives (black)
Parma Ham	Gruyere	Parmesan
Eggs	Flour	Cheese
Pasata	Soft Cheese with herbs and garlic	Pasta Sauce
Onion	Crushed Tinned tomatoes	Artichoke Hearts
Cannelini Beans

Resources (Books/Blogs/Etc)
This is the book I am using:
Italian - over 180 tantalising recipes
The funny thing about this book is that I tried to give it away! I didn't like the formatting or the recipes, but Chesh said he did, and would mark some things he liked to try. So, it's now going to be my main reference for this month.
Also, an old favourite might have few entries/.

Livejournal Posts
Roman Panfried Lamb and Potato Base Pizza with Special Tomato Sauce

Other notes... Japanese month was a complete flop. I was sick for three weeks out of four, and we did a couple of recipes, but not the whole array I had planned. I'll tackle Japanese again later, probably in a warmer month. I want to explore cold noodle soups and salads more!

( Garlic and Lemon Chicken with Tomato Pilaf and Mother's Birthday Cake )


Notes: The garlic and lemon chicken was lovely! I oven baked marylands rather than doing wings like in the recipe, but next time will go with wings. The skin really took on the flavours of the marinade, and it was crisp and juicy. The tomato pilaf was pretty good too, and was unusual in that in the recipe you start with 500gs of tomatoes, blend them, and then add a few bits and pieces, and use that as the water for the rice. I cheated and used a tin of tomatoes which I then blended.

The vegetable dish for the night was a lot like loobia, except it had carrots, and chickpeas. I cooked up some chick peas and made hummus for tomorrow night, and froze the rest to help me get into using them more in cooking. I want to use more legumes etc, so I have to start somewhere!
The chick peas were yummier than from a can. Weird. :-)

( Chicken and Onion Pie, Sweet Potato Salad and Couscous and My Secret )

Notes: I can not stress enough how much Chesh loves that sweet potato salad. I think it is the preserved lemon. I did not do the egg yolk wash on the philo as recommended, but it was good anyway. Dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon as per recipe. :-) It was all really really good! Again!

A kind of simple dinner tonight, two types of sausages with corn, and Aubergines with Tomato and Chickpeas. It was my first time to use the pomegranite molasses. One and a half tablespoons did indeed flavour the entire dish. It was lovely. It wouldn't make it to my favourites list yet, but was good, and probably will make for a shared meal one night.

( Bad photos of dinner. Enjoy! )

Name of Cuisine:

Turkish/Lebanese/Moroccan

Dining Experience:

Mostly sitting on cushions on the floor with a low table in the middle. Starters or appetizers, main course, and desserts. Drinks often yoghurt based. Usually men eat together, no mention of what women do. Gossip in the kitchen I guess. :-/ (Incomplete entry)

Customs and Notes:

Recipes: (10 recipes)

1 - Loobia (beans in tomatoes and onions)
2 - Turkish style kebabs (toasted pita bread, a tomato sauce, natural yoghurt sauce and beef or lamb mince kebabs with sumac sprinkle)
3 - Chicken honey tagine
4 - Lamb stew with egg and lemon sauce
5 - Chicken with dates
6 - Mini turkish pizzas
7 - Baked kibbeh with onion and pine nut topping
8 - Lamb chermoula
9 - Stuffed courgettes in tomato sauce
10 - Grilled chicken wings with lemon and garlic
11 - chicken pie with onions and sumac
12 - Aubergines with Tomato and Chickpeas
13 - Meat Cigars
14 - Cucumber and Yoghurt Salad
15 - Sweet Potato Salad
16 - Hummus


Main Ingredients I need to obtain (excluding meats):

General Ingredients

Yoghurt	Pine Nuts	Burghar
Mint	Dill	Parsley
eggplant	lemon	spring onions
Eggs	Capers	Feta
Walnuts	Filo Pastry	Cinnamon
all-spice	pistachios	tahini
chick peas	pomegranite molasses	vine leaves

Resources (Books/Blogs/Shops):
Arabesque by Claudia Roden
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Cookbook/Morocco.html
http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/

Livejournal Posts:
http://callistra.livejournal.com/411205.html
http://callistra.livejournal.com/412006.html
http://callistra.livejournal.com/415964.html
http://callistra.livejournal.com/416622.html
http://callistra.livejournal.com/418493.html
http://callistra.livejournal.com/422837.html
http://callistra.livejournal.com/424031.html

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