Day/Country #16 -- Akrotiri (Crete)

Akrotiri

Fast Facts:

Population: ~10,321

Belongs To: Greece 

Official Languages: Greek

Known For: The site of the tombs of  Eleftherios

Venizelos and his son Sophoklis, headquarters of

the Cretan Revolution.

Yes, finally, I have managed to line something up to cook, and this time I drew Akrotiri.

I must confess to some misunderstanding as far as Akrotiri is concerned as it turns out there are three of them.  One was an ancient Minoan City located on the island of Santorini whose ruins are now a popular tourist attraction; another is the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia that whilst located on the island of Cyprus politically belong to the United Kingdom; and the third is a peninsula on the island of Crete in Greece.

In my hurried google to find out what groceries I needed to pick up on the way home from work I stumbled upon some Cretan recipes and ran with those.  Only after I'd cooked did Mum point out that Akrotiri as it appeared on our list probably meant the miltary base, but seriously, how good can military food really be?  And besides, Cyprus is it's own country and will be visited in time anyway...so today we're off to Crete!

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek Islands (of which Akrotiri forms a small rocky headland).  It was once the center of the Minoan Civilization, arguably the earliest recorded civilization in Europe.  In more recent times Crete has come to occupy a large part of the overall Greek economy but retains its own distinct cultural elements, including poetry, music...and cuisine.

So, with this in mind I decided to try a suite of Cretan-style dishes that included a starter of grilled artichokes (from a bottle I confess), kalamata olives (okay, so not exactly Cretan olives), and olive oil.  For entree I made Cretan dakos; basically a cretan-style crustini consisting of crispy twice-baked bread (I oiled and re-baked some ciabata buns) topped with diced tomatoes, feta and fresh oregano.  Then for mains I did a trifecta of pilafi (rice boiled in lamb broth), Cretan green beans with tomato, and the dish I was most looking froward to: coriander & thyme-rubbed roasted pork served with a white wine, honey, lemon, currant and walnut glaze.  (I also served the lamb boiled with a lemon to make the broth on the side--mustn't waste good lamb!).

The result was a positively enormous meal (as you might imagine) the highlight of which was absolutely the pork.  The starter was super-simple and moreish, and the dakos was delicious.  Unfortunately the rice was bland and didn't have a great consistency (I was so busy doing everything else I'll admit to neglecting the rice), and even the green bean dish was fairly uninspiring.  Finally the pork...admittedly it was slightly overcooked, but the glaze made it, with an intense flavour that went well with the meat, but really was so good I was tempted just to pick up a spoon and eat the leftover glaze on its own.

For an accompanying cocktail Mum produced a stunner she's dubbed Akrotiri Sunrise, consisting of ouzo, cointreau, grenadine, lemonade and a dash of strawberry conserve. It tasted like licorice and strawberry jellybeans..and I don't normally like jellybeans, but it was delicious!

Rating (out of 5):

Cretan Olives, Artichokes & Olive Oil 4/5

Cretan Dakos_4.5/5 
Pilafi (Cretan Style Rice) 2/5
Cretan Green Beans 2.5/5
Cretan Pork with Currant & Walnut Glaze  4.5/5
Akrotiri Sunrise 4.5/5 (although Mum gave it a 0, I loved it! So I um, drank hers too...)

Day/Country #15 -- Romania

As I've been working myself senseless Mum is cooking again! What a trooper.

Romanian Flag

Fast Facts:

Land Area: 238,391 km²

Population: ~20,121,641

Capital: Bucharest

GDP (PPP) per capita: $16,518

Official Languages: Romanian

Known For: Transylvania (and yes, Dracula),

rolling countryside, sturgeon from the Danube delta

So today we're heading to Romania, known by most of us as the land of the fabled vampire Count Dracula, dwelling in a creepy castle in the mountainous region of Transylvania.  A few things you may not know are that it is home to the oldest human remains ever discovered in Europe (42,000 years old), and that it consisted of various principalities that fought for internal autonomy under the dominion of Austro-Hungarian rule, finally declaring independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877

At the outbreak of Word War II Romania declared neutrality under King Carol II, but territorial disputes saw Romania lose the bulk of the land it had gained following World War I and resulted the rise of military dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu, who sided with the Axis powers in 1941.  Marshall Antonescu was removed from power in 1944 and

Romania switched allegiance to the Allied forces.

Following WWII Nicolae Ceausescu's leadership saw Romania become a highly Stalinist police state, but this regime was toppled by the Romanian Revolution in 1989.  With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991 Romania began a transition to democracy and in recent times extensive reforms have fostered economic recovery from its post-revolution decline.  Romania is now the eighth largest country in the European Union.

So, with its long history but comparative youth as an independent state, what traditional recipes would Mum find to cook? 

The unofficial national and definitely staple dish of Romania is a cornmeal dish called mamaliga; Mum improvised by bulking the dish up with cous cous, and while filling, it was still bland and served more as a stomach filler than a taste bud tingler.  This lack of flavour in the mamaliga was more than compensated for in the mititei, spicy homemade skinless sausages composed of mixed beef, pork and lamb mince seasoned with garlic, black pepper and thyme.  The black pepper was a little overpowering at first, but the flavours infused with time, and when I took the leftovers to work for lunch the next day the sausages were delicious!

What else to have a Romanian-themed cocktail than a blood-red concoction Mum dubbed Dracula's Nappe.  A mixture of vodka, chambord and grenadine it didn't taste like blood but unfortunately still wasn't all that pleasant and won't be making it onto the 'yum! lets have that again' list.

Rating (out of 5):

Mamaliga 2.5/5 

Mititei_4/5 
Dracula's Nappe 2/5 

Day/Country #14 -- Luxembourg

Luxembourgian Flag

Fast Facts:

Land Area: 2,586 km²

Population: ~537,853

Capital: Luxembourg City

GDP (PPP) per capita: $79,785

Official Languages: French, German, Luxembourgish

Known For: Banking, castles, good-value alcohol,

beautiful china.

Our first culinary venture into Europe and we head to the tiny but extremely prosperous nation of Luxembourg.


A representative democracy, Luxembourg is headed by a grand duke, and is the only grand duchy (pronounced 'dutchy' rather than 'dukey'...) left in the world.  Initially founded as a Roman fortress, it was the site of an important Frankish castle (the Franks being a confederation of Germanic tribes that ruled much of mainland Europe during the early Middle Ages), and was a critical center along an important military supply route in the 1500-1600's, which stretched for ~1000km northwest - southeast through Europe and was known as the "Spanish Road".

So what from this land of fairy tales and feudal castles was Mum going to cook? It had to be the national dish!  With the tongue-twisting name of judd mat gaardebounen it consists of pork brined for four days, then smoked, boiled and finally served with creamy white sauce, broad beans and potatoes.  In addition to this marathon effort Mum also produced gromperekniddelen: egg and potato dumplings boiled and rolled in buttered bread crumbs.  Not to mention another original cocktail she's dubbed Eifel Groove, consisting of lager, orange juice, lemon juice and sugar syrup.

The pork dish was flavoursome and the meat simply fell apart on your fork, but with white sauce, broad beans and potatoes it was always going to be a bit stodgy.  The dumplings were also heavy, but in a nice way that would serve as a great alternative to a side dish of mashed potatoes that are so common in Kiwi home-cooking.  Finally the cocktail was refreshing, but it didn't really grab hold of your taste buds like some of Mum's other creations.

So, Luxembourg, a place I'd love to visit...though I'll prepare for some heavy and hearty meals while I'm there!

Rating (out of 5):

Judd mat gaardebounen 2.5/5 

Gromperekniddelen_4.5/5
Eifel Groove 3/5