Global Recipe Project

I was thinking that Laos would be interesting but not terribly exciting. A weeknight country without any fanfare or party planning. Wow, was I wrong. Have you ever had larb? Aaaaaaaamazing. Larb is a meat salad which you can make with nearly any meat or poultry. You eat it with sticky rice or in lettuce cups. It is deceptively simple which, at first glance, leads you to believe the flavors would be boring. Not true. We will make this again. And again. It is the highest rated dish of this adventure so far. Seriously. I read a lot about larb before making the dish. Basically, you have a lot of flexibility with the ingredients but there are some deal breakers--don't use soy sauce, salt, vinegar, dried herbs, or store bought lime juice; ever. Turkey Larb Ingredients 1 lb ground turkey 2 large shallots 1 tbsp rice powder (or rice flour) 1/2 cup chopped cilantro  1/3 cup chopped mint leaves fresh lime juice fish sauce cayenne pepper (or red pepper flakes) lettuce lea...

In an effort to zip through a few more countries per year...I decided to opt out of trying Mansaf which is the national dish of Jordan. Although it sounds absolutely delicious, it sounds equally time consuming. Instead, I threw together the bright and summery salad, Fattoush. Fattoush Ingredients for Salad 2 pita breads, cut into 1 inch pieces (toasted in a pan with oil) 2 tomatoes, diced 1 cucumber, diced 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped 1/2 bunch of mint leaves, chopped 2 green onions, chopped 1/2 bell pepper, diced 1/2 head of romaine lettuce, chopped 1 handful of arugula Ingredients for Dressing 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 3/4 cup olive oil 1 tsp sumac salt and pepper Preparation Mix all the ingredients for the dressing except the sumac. Mix all the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Top with dressing and finish with sumac sprinkled on top. Antoine's Rating: 8 out of 10 Heidi's Rating: 7 out of 10 M's Rating: ??? (she refused to eat any vegetable...

Oh Japan. You're so cute. I happily vowed to pour my heart and soul into shoyu ramen. It was a three-day affair. It ended well. Very well. I invited some lovely friends and told them to bring empty stomachs and challenged them to bring a Japanese dessert. They obliged and we enjoyed a wonderful Saturday night filled with noodles, sarcasm, sweet treats and sake. Fun all around. I started the dashi on Wednesday evening it was finished by Friday night. Perfect timing for a Saturday party. Shoyu Ramen (loosely following this recipe) Ingredients The following will serve 10 Kombu Dashi And Tare · 2-4 pieces dried kombu · 1 cup soy sauce (shoyu) · 4 tbsp. dry sake · 2 Tbsp. mirin Pork And Stock 3 lbs. boneless pork shoulder 1 1/2 lbs pork belly 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil 2 lbs. chicken necks, backs, and/or wings 2 lbs. pork ribs 2 bunches scallions, chopped 1 1/2 cups of baby carrots 2 heads of garlic, halved horizontally 3 1” pieces ginger...

Spain! Land of tapas, late nights, sangria and naps. A kind of place I can appreciate on all those fronts. Tonight's exploration into the culinary Spanish world was a collaborative effort. If a friend tells you she's making paella and wants to come over, you let her. Since I wasn't tasked with the main dish I decided to tackle a side salad, two types of sangria and churros. Another friend made the appetizers and we were on our way to a Spanish feast. I can't tell you much of the paella recipe except that it was fantastic. And a lot of work. And it was beautiful. For the sangria, we had a Ruby Red and a White Peach. Both equally delicious. Ruby Red 1 bottle of red wine 1 cup grapefruit juice 1/4 cup of sugar 1/4 cup of triple sec juice of 2 limes Sliced oranges and limes for garnish White Peach 1 bottle of white wine 1/2 cup of orange juice 1/2 cup of triple sec 1 cup of orange sparkling water 1 peach pureed sliced peaches for garnish Spanish Sala...

Oh Peru, how I love thee. What a magical place that has been on my top travel destinations since forever.  But, has to wait until M is old enough to hold her own on the Inka Trail. I was quite ambitious and made the following: Anticuchos de corazon (beef heart kebabs) Pollo a la brasa (grilled chicken) Ceviche Chicha  (fermented corn beer) We invited some friends and had a house full of adults, children (six kids under 4) and pisco sours! The chicha was a last minute addition when a wonderful friend, Grace, sent me this link  and challenged me to have it ready in two days. Challenge accepted. Chicha is an ancient fermented drink of the Andrean region which tasted like sweet corn water. Fun though weak on the alcohol. We also had a potato salad, boiled corn, boiled sweet potatoes, and an edamame salad. The chicken was aaaaaamazing. Seriously. It will be my standard grilled chicken recipe forevermore. Out with the lemon and rosemary and in with the c...

Tucked behind Albania and just north of Greece is Macedonia. It's a little country that rarely makes the news. The food is similar to Greek and Bulgarian and it's delicious. I was quite ambitious and made Tavce Gravce, Shopska Salata, and Baklava. Tavce Gravce is a tr aditional dish and every family has their own variation. It's essentially baked bean colored with a large amount of paprika. I served it along side grilled polish sausage. Shopska Salata is the Macedonian version of feta, tomato and cucumber salad. Super simple but amazing if you use really excellent quality olive oil and red wine vinegar. My Bakalava was a cardamon/fig version and wonderful. I used less sugar for the sherbet (sugar syrup poured over the top at the end) and it was wonderful. Didn't even have the my-teeth-are-going-to-fall-out sensation that I usually have with the sweetness of traditional baklava.  We invited friends and laughed and ate and drank and enjoyed the meal.  Tavce Gravc...

I wanted so much to like this dish. But, I couldn't deny the little voice inside my head that said "Wow, this is going to be fishy" after I bought dried ground crawfish. Seriously, do you realize how many crawfish it would take to fill a cup of ground crawfish powder? I say at least 30--that's a lot of crawfish. The national dish of Cameroon is Ndole which is apparently incredibly popular and supposedly delicious. It "flies off the plates" one article told me. Unfortunately, it was way too fishy for my American palate and even my very adventurous husband declared it was "hardly edible." My dinner guests were kinder and even finished their servings with grace and politeness. The toddler shriveled her nose and boycotted dinner. However, it was universally agreed that without the egregious ingredient (ground crawfish) the dish would have actually been quite tasty. I loosely followed this recipe from africanbites.com.  Ndole   Ingredients ...