1796 Foods

639. Smoked Meat

You know how an entire year ago I went on vacation to Quebec? Well, for some reason it took me this whole time to realise that I did in fact have smoked meat whilst I was there and I took a picture and I should have posted it on the blog. Quite how I managed to forget for 12 full months is beyond me; I’m a huge ditz obviously. Anyway, my smoked meat was served on top of poutine, which was probably just about the best thing ever. If anyone can tell me a better combination than chunky chips, cheese, rich gravy and piles of salty, smoky meat, then I will probably not believe them. I’ll just be over here googling flights to Canada.

639 down, 1157 to go

638. Sole a la Meuniere

Sole a la Meuniere is a really simple fish dish which involves a pan-fried sole fillet topped with a white wine, butter and parsley sauce which you very quickly whip up in the pan you cook the fish in. This meal didn’t get off to the greatest of starts as I opened up the fish which I’d bought the day before only to find it smelled really bad. I had to take it back to the store and get some new fish, by which time I was over-hungry and hated fish and didn’t even want to eat it any more. As a result, I ended up thinking it was just ok. I think if I’d cooked it without all the drama it would have tasted much better though!

638 down, 1158 to go

637. Soupa Avgolemono

Soupa avgolemono was one of the dishes I had down on my ‘must-try’ list when I went to Athens, but I never found anywhere that sold it. Perhaps because it was the summer they did not think anyone would really be after soup (I’ll eat soup any time; I’m weird like that). Anyway, as I couldn’t try it in Greece I decided to just make it myself at home. It’s a really easy soup to make. You just have to cook a little bit of rice in a pot of good-flavoured chicken stock, then when the rice is done you mix in lemon juice and egg yolk. The egg yolk thickens it and gives it this lovely creamy, silky texture, and the lemon juice brightens the whole flavour and gives this delicious hint of sour. As a huge fan of both soup and lemon this dish was pretty much tailor made for me, so I shall definitely be adding it to my soup repertoire!

637 down, 1159 to go

636. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

Spaghetti aglio e olio is one of those classic Italian dishes which I’ve often heard about but never tried before. Spaghetti with nothing but olive oil and garlic just sounded kind of dull to me, and also really heavy if you’re having all that pasta and olive oil with very little else to lighten the dish up and cut through the stodge. I decided to give it a go for my lunch though so I heated up the olive oil with a couple of cloves of sliced garlic and mixed in the spaghetti. I found that my suspicions were at least part right. Surprisingly it wasn’t too heavy, the garlic seemed to be enough to give it a kick and cut through the oil; it was dull though. The first couple of mouthfuls were lovely, the strong garlic flavour really came through, but after that I was just craving for there to be something else. Some other flavour or texture to mix it up a little. I think perhaps this would be nice as a side dish, but I wouldn’t have it as a bowl of pasta on its own again.

636 down, 1160 to go

635. Strata

Strata is another one of the American dishes that I had never heard of before starting the blog. When I saw that it was like a savoury bread pudding I got very excited. I decided to keep mine relatively simple and mixed the cubed bread with some cubed potatoes, ham and cheese before pouring over the egg mixture. I made mine for dinner rather than brunch so I made it early morning, but I think it could have done with even more time to get all soaked up and moist and squidgy so next time I shall leave it overnight.

635 down, 1161 to go

634. Tamarillo

This was one of the foods that I thought I might have trouble getting hold of, but then I was just wandering around my local supermarket one day and they were right there in front of me. Sometimes my local supermarket is awesome. Anyway, I read up quite a bit about tamarillos on the internet as I wasn’t sure of the best way to eat them. There seemed to be a lot of debate between people saying they were the best thing ever, and people saying they were awful. It seems like most of the people who said they were awful did not do their internet research before eating them and just bit straight into the skin (which is supposed to be bitter and gross). I decided to keep it simple and eat it raw, scooped out of the shell (like you would eat a kiwi) with a little bit of sugar sprinkled on the top. It was delicious. A little bit like a cross between a tomato and a papaya.

634 down, 1162 to go

633. Tangerine

Like the other types of oranges I’ve eaten for the blog before, tangerines are nice and sweet and tasty and tangy, but frankly I can’t really tell the difference between them and other small, orange-type fruits. They always make a good snack though.

633 down, 1163 to go

632. Toasted Teacake

I already had hot cross buns for the list before, which are basically a decorated toasted teacake, so this was perhaps a pointless addition to the list. Then again, I’m never going to complain about eating a warm, toasty, crispy, sweet, spicy, butter-drenched bun. I love to have toasted teacakes for breakfast, or as an afternoon snack with a cup of tea. I have some in my freezer now…

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631. Welsh Cawl

For my dad’s birthday we went to a Welsh/Italian/Spanish restaurant. They literally have three separate menus for each of the cuisines, which is weird, but actually great as you can have a total mix for your meal. For my starter I picked this cawl, which is a Welsh soup, then I had a Spanish chicken and ham dish for my main course, and an Italian tiramisu for dessert. I got told off by the waiter when I ordered this as I pronounced it like call, but you are actually supposed to say it cowl, like the type of neckline, or like Simon. It’s a lamb broth with big chunky vegetables, and it was served with a piece of caerphilly cheese on the side. I chopped my cheese up and mixed it into the soup which was awesome and I think is an idea I’m going to have to take on to all kinds of future soups I have in my life.

631 down, 1165 to go