Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Switzerland

With four official languages in Switzerland here goes:

Bonsoir,
Buonasera,
Guten Abend,
Buna saira.....this is Switzerland calling!

1956 Lugano, Switzerland is when Eurovision all began but our story begins in Zürich in 2011.

I have previously mentioned that the dishes in Chow Down to Eurovision are an homage or link, sometimes remote link to the featured country rather than an official national dish.

So instead of Switzerland presenting chocolate as they did last year, I have been inspired by an Australian themed restaurant AB and I dined at in Zürich. The menu is actually quite hilarious with probably the flavours of Thailand or India rather than Australia, but as Pat Benatar once said, we are young and have been influenced.

Before we head to perusing the menu, let's go back to when Eurovision was young and the first ever winner Lys Assia with Refrain.

 

Bless you Lys you are the start of wonderful things to come!

 

Australia in Switzerland

I suspect they mean bush whacker rather than packer!

 Nothing scream Australia like Thai red curry!
 

 

Possibly not authentic indigenous art?

 

 

 Am I on the set of Rush?

I understand how the whole of Ireland must feel about Irish Pubs!

 

I have gone though my travel blog archive to find my reaction at the time:

"Strewth cobber, what the blazers am I doing in an Australian themed drinking and eating type establishment.

My butch is through the roof with the waiter's Swiss French German lisp I just chuck in a few " yeah I'll have the coopers mate, ta beutie" (spit) oh for a pack of winnie red.

The soundtrack is Let's Go Disco volume 2... We are family, the hustle, I will survive. It's like I'm at the Broken Hill mardi gras!

Dessert menu no pavlova? I think this might more Austrian than Australian. Btw the Prime Minster favourite dish....ostrich! I'm ready to belt at a bit of cold chisel....cheap wine and a three way grope."

One thing that was so obviously missing from the menu was a prawn...sorry shrimp on the barbie???? Not a single one......never fear I have fixed that with "Australian" (Thai) flavours.

Prawns with Devil's Butter Sauce (inspired by the chicken breast with either angel or devil butter)
Ingredients

• 500g green prawn cutlets tail on
• 1-2 cups plain flour
• Salt and pepper
• Oil for frying
• 60g butter
• 2-3 long red chilli chopped
• 1 red onion chopped (small)
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• Zest and juice of lime
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1/4 cup cream or coconut cream
• 1/2 bunch coriander chopped

Method

• Make the sauce
• In a saucepan on low heat melt the butter
• Sweat the onions, chilli and garlic without browning the onions
• Add the chopped stems of coriander
• Add lime, sugar, fish sauce and combine
• Add cream and whisk
• Adjust seasons......(pinch more sugar, drop more lime or fish sauce)
• Serve in a bowl for dipping
• In a large bowl season the flour with salt and pepper (lots)
• Coat the prawns in the flour
• If the prawns are wet, it makes the flour form little bits of batter for added texture. To avoid this and have smooth prawns, pat them dry before coating
• Fry in hot oil for 1-2minutes till prawn is cooked
• Let the prawns drain in a colander over a bowl
• Sprinkle with extra salt and pepper
• Serve with the sauce and sprinkling of coriander

 

I imagine Sebalter could do well with Hunter of Stars as a handsome young fella on stage fiddling usually gets a fairytale response from the Eurovision crowd.
 

Will he make it through to the final and follow in the foot steps of Lys Assia, or be more like DJ BoBo when the vampire were alive but non qualifying?

Viel Gluck!

Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Norway

God kveld this is Oslo, Norway calling, current home of the Chow Down to Eurovision trophy*.

In 2013 Norway presented Smultringers, a cardamom flavoured donut cooked in lard, so really no one else had a chance of wining the inaugural Chow Down to Eurovision.

*no actual physical trophy due to budget cut backs



Smultringers...yes please!

 

So in fairness to the other contestants this year they are just presenting a sandwich, but being Chow Down to Eurovision you know it won't be just any old sandwich.

To honour of our reigning champions let's enjoy Anne Karine Strøm singing Mata Hari in 1976 where she came dressed as a gold statute.

 

Unbelievably she come last on 7 points, which thinking positively is 4 points better than when she came equal last in 1974.

 

No matter what  history says I hereby state she came first in the fashion stakes!

Douze Points la Norvège!

 

 

Don't worry I'm not going to give you a recipe for a sandwich, just the filling!

 

I used a loaf I'd baked using Dan Lepard's Sour Cream Sandwich Loaf, with the slight variation of increasing the sour cream to a use up a 300ml tub and doubling the remaining ingredients to make 2 loaves.

 

You can use precooked prawns or cook them yourself. I prefer chopped larger prawns rather than the little baby one...let them have a good life before hitting my tummy. 

  

Norwegian Prawn Open Sandwich

Ingredients

• 500-600g of prawns (about 100-150g per sandwich, see note)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (jar or made depends if the chickens have delivered enough eggs)
• Juice of 1/2 small lemon
• 2 spring onions (whites only) finely chopped 
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Chop the cold cooked prawns (not too small)
• Mix through mayonnaise, lemon juice, spring onions and season to taste
• Assemble the sandwich, with or without an attempt at a great work of art

The other ingredient in my Prawn Garden masterpiece are

• Bread of your choice
• Boiled eggs sliced (flowers)
• Avocado (stems and leaves)
• Red and black caviar (pollen)
• Chives chopped (grass)
• Note: I use peeled green prawns and poached for 1-2 minutes in salted boiling water
• The perfect snack for an afternoon of Eurovision repeats

  

 

 Carl Espen will take the heartbreaking ballad Silent Storm to Demark this May, will Norway go from a victorious Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 to Eurovision 2014 champions?
Lykke til!

More tales from the wood panel Chinese

The 2014 Chinese Lunar New Year welcomes the year of the Horse (or whores as the BBC typo read, true, Google it).

I am thrilled about this year for no other reason than that it is no longer the year of the Snake! (Still hate them)

To accompany the Ham and Chicken rolls previously mentioned, I thought I'd recreate another authentic dish from the wood panelled Aussie-Chinese restaurants of my childhood.

Now when I say authentic I'm talking a restaurant that was more like a converted house on an inconvenient bend of the main road of East Gosford, its not quite Guangzhou.

Dome rice is the name I remember this dish by but I have no recollection whether that is what it was called on the menu.

I always found this dish magical as a kid, firstly because it had white sauce and that really should have only ever been used for vegetables. (what were they thinking??)

And secondly I had no idea of how they made the rice take on a shape, let alone fill it. I had visions of the rice being built up and around to enclose that special combination goodness. Those rice ads where the rice took on the shape of famous landmarks only further confused me.

In reflection I don't believed I was a particularly thick kid but the idea of serving an upside down bowl of rice just didn't cross my mind.

This doesn't take long to cook but there is a bit of prep at the start. It also seems like there are a million steps but it's really just a stir fry, in a bowl of rice with a white sauce but packed full of flavour and memories. 

Dome Rice
Ingredients

• 1-11/2 large mugs of basmati rice
• 2 chicken thigh fillet diced
• 200g beef diced (I had some scotch fillet)
• 2 x pinch bi carb soda
• 2 tbsp. oil (peanut/canola)
• 2 tbsp. sesame oil
• 4 Chinese sausages, diagonally sliced
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 2 carrots (see note on vegetables)
• 1 zucchini,
• 1 broccoli stem
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1 small thumb ginger finely chopped
• 200g green prawns (halved if large)
• 2 spring onions chopped
• small handful of sliced bamboo shoots
• Small handful of chopped baby corn
• 6-8 quartered straw mushrooms (more if they are smaller)
• 2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
• 2-3 tbsp. Oyster sauce
• Salt and a pinch of Schezuan pepper to taste
• a few toasted almonds to decorate

 Method

• Place chicken and beef in two separate bowls of cold water and a pinch of bi carb soda
• Allow to rest for 20-30 mins (this is what makes the meat silky tender)
• Cook the rice (I use the microwave method of 1 mug rice 2 mugs water)
• Blanch the vegetables
• Make white sauce (see directions below)
• Drain the chicken and beef separately and pat dry with paper towel
• Into a hot wok add the oil and sesame oil
• Fry off the Chinese sausage them remove just the sausage and place in a bowl
• Repeat with chicken, fry till just cooked and remove to the bowl
• Repeat with beef, fry till just cooked and remove to the bowl
• Leave the juices in the wok as this forms the base of the sauce
• Reduce the heat and add the onions, garlic and ginger stir fry until tender
• Add the meats and prawns back to the wok
• Add all remaining ingredients and
• Add about a 1/4 cup of the white sauce to the wok and combine
• Take off the heat

• To assemble dome
• Spray a glass bowl with oil
• Spread the enough rice to line the bowl with a thin layer (about 3/4 of the rice)

My bowl has a diameter of 22cm and is about 12cm at it's centre

My walls are a bit thicker than I would normally have them, the rice was very hot and I was hungry!!

• Fill bowl with stir fry
• Cover with a layer of rice to enclose it all, press firmly so it takes on the shape of the bowl
• Place a plate over the bowl and then flip it over
• Remove the bowl and you'll have a great looking rice dome!

Steaming!

To serve pour over hot white sauce and top with some toasted almonds or more decorative vegetables.
There were only ever 3 almonds on the top of this dish at the restaurants but live a little and add a few more, I think I have 6!

 


 


 


 

 

White Sauce

Ingredients

• 40g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 250ml chicken stock
• 500ml light milk 

Sauce Method

• In a  saucepan melt the butter
• Add the flour and stir to combine, cook the flour for about 1 minute
• Add stock and milk together in a jug (or use all milk and a good quality stock cube)
• Slowly add some stock/milk mix  while whisking to make a smooth sauce
• As the sauce thickens add more stock a little at a time, you might not use all the stock.
• While whisking let the sauce cook to thicken further for a few minutes, it should have a thick pourable consistency (but not thick enough you can cut it!)
• Season to taste

Vegetable Note:

If you have a lot of spare time on your hands or don't mind heading to the land of all things naff, you could can use various cutters to shape the vegetables.

 

The broccoli stem adds element of surprise as it is a pale green star that looks nothing like it but tastes like broccoli.

 

The zucchini I sliced lengthy ways around the outside so I got .5cm thick slices with the skin on one side for the colour contrast.

 

Blanch each vegetable separately in boiling water for about 1 minute, then  refresh in icy water.

 

 

 

Beer battered SOS

As I was checking Facebook I saw a cry for help after an incident with a pre mixed packet batter "EPIC FAIL"

With a quick adjustment from inside to outside undies it was Super Kitchen Boy to the rescue, fighting evil dodgy packet mixes where ever they may be!

You're still back at the underpants on the outside visual, aren't you? So I'll leave you with it and just head to the recipes.


Beer Batter
Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup self raising flour
• 330ml of icy cold beer (I used Peroni* but any light flavoured beer would work)

Method

• Add flour to a mixing bowl
• Whisk in the beer to combine
• Don't stress about lumps!
• It shouldn't be too thick as the batter will take over rather than being the coating for the dish
• Let rest covered in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes prior to use
• If it gets too thick add a little more beer

I did thin the batter after this picture with about 30ml more beer



This was my mixed fried seafood but use any boneless fish, calamari, soft shell crab etc. that you can get your hands on.

Quasi Fritto Misto
Ingredients for about 4 peeps

• 400g rockling fillet
• 400g blue grenadier fillet
• 8 green prawns, deveined with tails on
• 8 scallops roe on or off depending on your preference
• 11/2 cups seasoned flour (salt and pepper)
• 1 quantity of beer batter
• sunflower or canola oil for frying

Method

• Cut the fish into portions just bigger than bite size (depending on your mouth)
• Lightly coat the fish, prawns and scallops in the seasoned flour
• Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok over high heat
• Dip fish portions into batter and then let the excess drip off
• Gently plunge the fish into the hot oil and cook for about 1 minute on each side depending the size of your fish
• As soon as the batter has browned remove from the oil and drain
• If you don't have a draining attachment a metal colander over a bowl keeps the batter crispy rather than draining on paper towel
• Repeat with the remaining seafood, taking care not to over cook it.
• The scallops take about 30secs depending on their size and the prawns just over 1 minute
• Sprinkle with a little sea salt and serve with rocket, lemon wedges, ciabatta and capsicum mayo

Weird lighting but I'm inspired to do a saffron batter now....

This was inspired by a rouille that would normally accompany a bouillabaisse

Capsicum mayo
Ingredients

• 2  red capsicums
• 2  cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup of mayonnaise (I didn't make it...oops)
• About 50-60g of ciabatta or stale bread
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Put the whole capsicums and garlic cloves in a small baking dish with a splash of olive oil
• Cover with foil and bake in a 150°C oven for about 1 hour.
• Turn the oven off and either take them out or leave till you are ready to use them
• Peel the skin from the capsicum, de-stork and remove any seeds
• Peel the garlic
• Blend all ingredients together and season to taste
• Serve chilled

 
*not a paid endorsement of Peroni but happy to receive a case anytime!!

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - United Kingdom

Love, shine a light it's time for the United Kingdom to plate up their offering to the Chow Down to Eurovision 2013.
If you have been on this journey with me from Austria or if you followed this blog before the Chow Down, firstly I love you! And secondly you may have noticed I can be a bit odd, some dress it up as quirky but I'm happy with plain old odd.

My good friend and hairdresser tells me I'm simple, but as English is his second language I don't think I should feel hurt, it just means I'm no fuss....I think.

Anyway the point of this story, and yes there is one is to talk about travel souvenirs.
Most people end up with postcards, trinkets, or statues but I seek out recipe books.
I love food magazines but my favourites are the free ones from supermarkets or in newspaper lift out as they are a bit like a time capsule.
Only available for that particular time when I happened to be in a certain place, you can't see them on line or order them from amazon.
Are we still in the territory of quirky odd or have with hit down right weird??

Today's recipe comes from a Waitrose winter cookbook  I picked up the last time I was in London. I think it is a supersized memory trigger for all the senses as not only do you get the enjoyment of imaging cooking and tasting the recipes but you remember back to the place and scene where you found it.

Don't play that Song Again was the UK entry in 2000, a risky title in a song contest and resulted in Nikki French placing 16th which was the UK's worst result till the off key Jemini. (dead last with nul points) Nikki shares a link with this year's contestant Bonnie Tyler as they both had top 5 hits with Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Luxury Salmon and Caper Pie based on Waitrose winter cookbook
Ingredients

• 500g piece of salmon fillet/s
• 350ml milk
• 150g butter
• 50g plain flour
• 150ml white wine
• 110g baby capers
• 400g green prawns
• 1kg of potatoes for mash

Method

• Add potatoes to a boiler of cold water and boil till tender (peeled or unpeeled)
• In a deep frypan cover the salmon with the milk
• Simmer on low for 7-10 minutes
• Remove the fish but reserve the milk
• In a saucepan melt 50g of butter and add the flour to make a roux
• Add the wine and the milk and whisk to avoid lumps
• Continue to heat and whisk the sauce as it thickens about 2-3 minutes
• Remove from the heat and add the capers and prawns and stir through
• Break up the salmon and add it too the sauce
• Mash the potatoes with 100g of butter, a splash of milk and salt to taste
• Pour sauce into a baking or pie dish and cover with the mash potato
• You can go fancy old school and pipe it or just spoon it on
• Bake in a 200°C oven for about half an hour.
• Doesn't photograph well but is the ultimate in loving comfort food, get me a blankie and a spoon toot sweet!

 

Believe in Me is Bonnie Tyler's plea for Malmö, will she do as well as Nikki or Jemini?

Good Luck!

 

 

Amazingly with the power of the internet I was able to locate a rough demo first draft of Bonnie's Eurovision song, this may have been a better option?

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - Croatia

Today we arrive in the beautiful land of Croatia for some Dalmatian cuisine (no, not dogs.) Scampi Buzara is a rich tomato, cognac and white wine sauce that the seafood is cooked in. On my trip to the market I couldn't get scampi so I recreated the dish with prawns. I was lucky enough to find some yabbies so they will play the role of a massive tasty garnish. I've also substituted the Cognac for Brandy as surprisingly I already had some in the pantry from my almost needing to "check into rehab Christmas cakes".
Our Croatian Eurovision treat is Maria Magdalena from Doris Dragovic in 1999. I love a strong performance from a strong woman who halfway through, whips off some of the outfit for a reveal. I remember years ago in a Eurovision chat room talking to someone who claimed they had designed her dress. I have no idea whether it was the truth or just an attempt to get me to do a private reveal, rest assured it didn't happen. Trust me by the end of this you will all join in on the "woe ahh ahh ahh ahh", you don't believe me but wait and see.

Is that Jane Turner on backing vocals?

Scampi Prawn Buzara
Ingredients

• 500g green prawns, peeled and devein
• 60ml olive oil
• 1 medium brown onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 60 ml brandy
• 120ml white wine
• 240ml tomato passata
• Salt
• Pepper
• 4 cooked yabbies (optional)
• Chopped parsley to garnish

Method

• Peel the prawns and devein them (I'm bad I don't always devein, I know, I know)
• In a deep fry pan heat the oil on a medium to high heat.
• Add the onion and garlic and let cook till soft without browning
• Add brandy, white wine and passata and let cook down for about 10 minutes to thicken.
• Add the prawns and cook for about 4 mins till just cooked through.
• Remove the prawns and add the yabbies to way through (this will avoid the prawns and the yabbies over cooking)
• Return the prawns and season with salt and pepper.
• Traditionally served with bread and butter, but I served on a bed of basmati rice.
• Garnish with chopped parsley.
• This served both AB and I but I could have happily had it all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Klapa s mora will perform Mižerja in Malmö

Sretno!

 

I hate snakes, will all year and forever

There is nothing I hate more in this world than snakes. I'm a tad odd, as I can watch a snake in an open area without a hint of Whitney Houston pitched screaming. But put me in a dark enclosed reptile house and I am running for the hills. The strangest part of my "condition" is that is it a million times worse if it is just an image on TV or in a magazine. I would often have to drive past a furniture store called the Cane Cobra and their sign with a badly drawn not remotely realistic image would freak me out. AB has been nothing but a rock when it comes to this phobia, especially when he had to show me every plastic snake in Toys R Us, there wasn't chasing more just running away. So great is my hatred that AB had a dream about there being a snake in our backyard but didn't tell me for weeks in fear that I would put the house on the market that morning.
I am sounding like a total wimp but I have touched a snake, on my 25th birthday at a reptile park. Yep I was taken (the man who hates snakes) to a reptile park for my birthday, this was only topped by my cake which was topped with more plastic snakes than the set of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
So you can imagine my despair about this Chinese New Year starting the year of the snake, I am concerned it will impact on my Yum Cha experience if I have to be constantly on the look out for snakes. With snakes at the end of the hate spectrum, Yum Cha is worlds apart on the absolutely love immensely end...ahhh my poor brain!

The first thing I always get at Yum Cha is the chickens feet, it's like a code to the staff to not just send the spring rolls to this table. It proves you're hardcore and can handle the tendons, jellyfish and tripe, oh then tendons.
In Eurovision terms it means you're not just after ABBA and Lulu, but bring on the Bulgarian stilt walkers.
My other must have item is sui mai, those steamed morsels of pork and prawn goodness. I'm not proud of it but there is probably nothing I wouldn't do for a sui mai......I mean nothing.
I'm late for Chinese New Year but I have been making a couple of inspired dishes, more a homage than truly authentic, and sometimes the eating has gotten in the way of the photography.

Enjoy the year of the Snake, just keep em far away from me.

Seafood Roll
Ingredients

• 250grams green prawn meat
• 200grams boneless fish fillet (I used Basa)
• 2 chopped spring onions
• 1 teaspoon schezwan pepper
• 1/2 thumb ginger grated
• Salt to taste
• Sesame Oil
• 1 packet rice paper
• extra cornflour

Method

• In a food processor add prawn, fish, spring onions, schezwan pepper, ginger, salt and a couple of drops of sesame oil.
• Pulse to mince the prawns and fish, but not into a puree. Some rough bits add texture.
• Wrap a small amount of the mixture (however big or small your like) in the rice paper.
• Coat the wrapped rolls in a little corn flour
• Fry in hot oil for about 5 mins or until firm and slightly golden. You will know when they are cooked by the colour, so you may need to make a few extras to try just to make sure it is right, bonus!
• A tip I learnt for the rice paper is to not over water them, 2 seconds max in the water and then onto a barely damp tea towel.
• The 2 dipping sauces in the picture are quick and tasty, not really cooking more combining.  To 3 parts kewpie mayonnaise add either 1 part sweet chili sauce or kepis manis.
• Bamboo shoots can also be added for extra texture, either chopped separately or towards the end of the pulsing.
• If you would like me to add some pics of how to roll the rice paper, let me know and I'll make it happen