Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Lithuania

We start the journey of Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 semi final two in beautiful Lithuania, with a rhubarb cake you could manage to eat all by yourself...little by little!

Roll tape....

 Laura and her lovers placed last in the 2005 semi final which is a totally unfair position as the song is quite catchy and that is some serious hair action going on!
Yes I have a lot  of hair envy with the guitarist...but I bet he can't grow a beard! 

I adore rhubarb for it sharpness so when I found this recipe on Desert Wiki I had to try it and recreated it so that the sugar content didn't have you bouncing off the walls till Eurovision 2016!

Lithuanian rhubarb cake
Ingredients

• 120g butter
• 230g caster sugar
• 450g self raising flour
• 500g rhubarb
• 60g self raising flour
• 150g caster sugar
• Salt

Method

• Line a 20cm square spring form cake tin
• Melt butter in microwave 1 min
• Combine caster sugar and flour in a mixing bowl
• Add butter and mix till it looks like "sand" 
• Put half into the cake tin and press down
• Chop the rhubarb into 1-2cm piece
• In a mixing bowl coat rhubarb with self raising flour, caster sugar and pinch of salt
• Add the rhubarb mix to the cake tin 
• Cover with remaining "sand" and press down
• Bake at 180°C for 60 minutes
• Serve with a ridiculous amount of thick cream

Light top and crisp bottom with tangy middle AKA bliss! 

Could This Time mean we will have Eurovision coming to us from Lithuania.....next time?

Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Baumila form another duet in the Eurovision 2015 lineup and cover the start of a relationship rather than the break ups as others have. 

Lithuania is giving us fun with a capital F with a hook that goes round and round and round our heads and our hearts.

Will Monika get to lock lips with Validas one extra time in Saturdays final?

Past Lithuania Chow Down to Eurovision:

2014 Turnip Salad

2013 Lithuanian bacon buns

Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Lithuania

Labas vakaras this is Lithuania calling, almost our halfway point in Semi Final 2 of Chow Down to Eurovision 2014.

Often some of the best performance in Eurovision come from the background with some superb/unique vocal contribution or possibly  dancers that appear from under a tent dress, a piano and sometimes yes even a sack.

It could be a sand artist, a stripper, a drum banging granny, a Russian Olympian, or perhaps a wood fired oven just begging for some babushka's biccie.

Lithuanian is offering us another wonderful ensemble player, salad, as not every dish in the Chow Down to Eurovision needs to be a headlining artist.

In 2001 Skamp brought us some stylish backing singing, just off the party bus after a buck's night.

You got style, had a certain style but placed 13th.

In my travels around the internet (first class all the way) I found a brilliant site offering traditional Lithuanian foods and couldn't go past trying their turnip salad. This recipe is based on their recipe for Ropiø salotos

Turnip Salad
Ingredients

• 1 large turnip
• 1/2 bunch of spring onions
• 300ml sour cream
• 1/4 of a bunch of dill
• Sea salt flakes and pepper
• 1kg chat potatoes
• olive oil

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C
• Cut potatoes in half and add to a baking dish
• Add about a 1/4 cup of olive oil, just enough to coat potato rather than swim
• Season with sea salt flakes and pepper
• Bake for about 40-45 minutes till crisp
• Peel the turnip
• Grate coarsely and squeeze out any excess liquid 
• Add to a mixing bowl
• Roughly chop the spring onions and dill
• Stir sour cream through turnips, spring onions and dill
• Season to taste
• Serve as a pimped up sour cream with the potatoes or even on it's own
• I could see this also working well as a filling with smoked salmon

Vilija Matačiūnaitė will definitely command Attention especially if she is able to make her dancer's head disappear as it does in this clip.

Will we see her go straight to the fi-fi-fi-final?

Sėkmės!

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - Lithunania

In 2006 Lithuania were the winners of Eurovision, well according to their song anyway but they really came sixth. It is a shame the year I went to Eurovision they sent their worst entry because I normally enjoy what Lithuania has to offer. The biggest mistake ever in any Eurovision song is to try to predict the future. Any time there is a lyric about being the winner it's almost automatically guarantees it ain't gonna happen. So I wont be making the claim that these Lithuanian bacon buns will be the winners of Chow Down to Eurovision 2013, but just as they said in 2006 "you got to vote! Vote! Vote for the winners"
Just a side bar on the voting, it is open now, you can vote for more than one country and as many times as you like. Don't let Lithuania's pleading cries go unanswered.
I found these little gems on lithuanian-recipes.com and based my recipe on that. The recipe there states that they disappear quickly which is no word of a lie, AB and I scoffed them down so that was dinner done. The larger bun I made was perfect for toasting in that bacon and egg all in a piece of toast kind of way. Just writing this I can taste them again and am on the verge of needing a private moment.

They didn't win.

Lithuanian Bacon Buns
Ingredients

• 500g bacon rindless
• 250g ham finely diced
• 1 large onion
• 2 cups milk
• 250g butter
• 7g yeast
• 5 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 cups plan flour
• egg wash

Method

• Finely dice the bacon and the onion
• Add to a frypan with 3/4 of a cup of water
• Simmer till the water has reduced to nothing
• Transfer into a glass bowl and refrigerate to cool
• When cooled add the ham
• Put 1/2 cup of milk and the butter into a glass bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes till the butter is melted.
• Pour into the bowl of a stand mix and add remaining 1 1/2 cups of milk
• Make sure the milk/butter is only lukewarm and not too hot
• Add the yeast, eggs, salt and flour
• Mix using a dough hook for about 3-4 minutes to combine, it will be a wet dough
• Transfer into an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap
• Let prove for about 2 hours
• Punch down the dough and leave it in the fridge over night
• On a floured surface roll out to about 1-2cm thick
• Use a 6-7cm cutter (or glass) to cut circles out of the dough 
• Fill each circle with 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture
• Gather the edges together and seal
• Roll in a cupped hand on the bench to form the bun
• Put buns on a greased baking tray
• Allow to rise for about an hour
• Brush with egg wash (1egg, 1 tablespoon water, pinch of salt)
• Bake in a 170°C oven for about 20 mins
• If you make a mega loaf as I did it takes about 45 minutes. To shape the loaf I rolled out the dough and cover with the meat mixture. Rolled it into a log, then rolled in like a snail.
• Try to save some to toast the next day, so yum!

Andrius Pojavis will preform the song Something in Malmö.

Sėkmės!