plate 16: sweden

While on holidays on the not-so-sunny, but totally relaxing Gold Coast, for one night I was transported to Sweden - in the kitchen, of course.

It was going to be tricky to make a meal that was as stunning as the one we had the night before at a beautiful, intimate restaurant, Satiate, in the cute little town of Bangalow on the NSW far north coast. Their five-course degustation was nothing short of remarkable. (They have a SMH Good Food Guide hat, which substantiates my judgement.)

But from the humble kitchen of our little holiday apartment I was set to create a Swedish meal that was just as memorable. And, just like a piece of IKEA furniture, it didn't disappoint. The meal was simple in design - meatballs and potato bake; easy to assemble when following detailed instructions; and very satisfying once complete. Thankfully, the recipes were easy peasy - not like following that crazy muppet - The Swedish Chef.

Swedish meatballs - kottbullar (pronounced "shirt-boolar") are no ordinary meatballs. Across Sweden they're served at smorgasbords and lovingly referred to as "Mum's meatballs" because every household has their own recipe. Essentially, though, they contain mince meat, onion, breadcrumbs, herbs and spices, and some, like the ones I made, even feature mashed potato - a wonderful thing for a girl who loves starchy carbs. And with cream-based gravy poured over the top, plus a few little sliced gherkins and a glass of chilled red from the lush Queensland town of Mount Tamborine, they taste excellent.

On the side I served Janssons Frestelse (said yahn-sons freh-stel-seh), which means Jansson's Temptation. Uh huh, it was tempting alright. It's traditionally served at Christmas when the weather is bitterly cold in Sweden, so that semi-suited the weather we were having on the GC. OK, it would be melodramatic to say it was freezing, but it was a little wet and chilly at times. Instead of cutting the potatoes into rounds as you would for a gratin, you cut the potatoes into matchsticks, layer it with onions, deliciously salty anchovies, pour over a basic cream sauce and sprinkle over some breadcrumbs. An hour later, there you have it: a super-fabulous potato bake sporting a crunchy golden top - and a meal that'll be gobbled up quick.

plate 15: the philippines

It's intrigued me for a little while as to why Filipino cuisine is under-represented in the Sydney food scene. Takeaway menus of South-East Asian cuisine - Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and even Indonesian - are probably stashed in many people's drawers at home, but our knowledge (well mine anyway) of the food of the Philippines is limited. Actually, it's non-existent. 

Enter my foodie friend Yasmin who, with her Filipino heritage, was able to enlighten me and arm me with her recipes.  I was delighted to see a common ingredient across the three dishes - garlic: 3 cloves in one dish; 12 cloves in another; and a whole head of it in the third. I hoped my fellow diners wouldn't be worried about the smell - it was sure to pour out of every pore in our bodies.

Dish number one and the national dish of the Philippines was adobong manok. If your Filipino food knowledge extends into existent territory, you may have heard this by its English name - chicken adobo. The two sides that accompanied this garlic, vinegar and soy marinated chicken was garlic fried rice and pancit (pronounced "pun-sit"), which is rice vermicelli noodles stir-fried with chicken, prawns, cabbage, carrot, green beans, onions, lemon juice and, yes, garlic.

To prepare the chicken I had to cut up a whole one into pieces - something I'd never done before and felt a little apprehensive about tackling. 8am on a Monday may not have been the best time to try it, but I did it, and it worked - hurrah. I left it to marinade all day, so I was confident it was going to taste awesome even if the pieces weren't perfectly portioned.

It was the first time I'd eaten Filipino food and, thanks to Yasmin, it certainly won't be the last. The chicken was wonderfully tender and had a sweet, yet savoury flavour from the mixture of soy sauce and apple cider vinegar. I hate pepper, but even the teaspoon of peppercorns in the marinade didn't detract from the taste for me. The sauce soaked through our garlic rice on the plate, which was equally delicious, and the pancit had a really fabulous mix of colours and flavours.

While I could say I also made dessert, I won't. A Monday-night dinner party is somewhat ambitious and because I'm no superwoman in the kitchen, sadly I couldn't do it all. AJ's sister Serena, on the other hand, is quite the cooking queen and she kindly offered to make Filipino leche flans which, due to the Spanish influence in the Philippines, are similar to the Spanish version of creme caramels. Indulging in the super-sweet deliciousness took me back to the days where I ate sweetened condensed milk straight out of the can, so I was pretty happy at this point in the evening.

If Serena's boyfriend Andrew's parting comment was anything to go by, I'll label the dinner a success: "I feel like I've been to the Philippines and back." And, an email from Serena saying that Andrew didn't stop talking about the chicken all night, means he probably meant what he said, so you'll have to try Yasmin's recipes to taste for yourself.

Adobong Manok (Chicken Adobo)

1 whole chicken, cut into serving size pieces

1½ cups rice wine vinegar*

¼ cup soy sauce

12 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed

In a large non-reactive container, combine the vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaf and pepper. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover and allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Transfer the chicken and marinade to a large saucepan and add 1 cup of water. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30-35 minutes, or until the chicken is tender, stirring occasionally to ensure the chicken is covered in the marinade.

Remove the chicken and set aside.  Increase the heat to medium high and continue to reduce until the sauce has thickened and the flavour developed. Season with salt to taste, Return the chicken to the sauce and gently cook till just warmed through. Serve with boiled or garlic fried rice.

* Coconut or apple cider vinegar can be substituted. 

Pancit Bihon

1 large chicken breast or thigh

1kg chicken bones

6-8 medium green prawns 

260g packet rice vermicelli noodles

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium onions, chopped

handful green beans, stalked and cut into diagonal strips

1 large carrot, peeled, sliced into thirds and cut into diagonal strips

¼ wedge cabbage, finely chopped at an angle

3 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 lemon, juiced

Vegetable oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Coriander to garnish

To make chicken stock, remove excess fat from bones. Place in a large saucepan and cover with water. Over high heat, bring to the boil, removing any scum that surfaces with a metal spoon. For a good quality stock, continue to remove scum until the liquid is completely clear. This is much easier to do before the soup comes to a continuous roaring boil, so reduce heat if necessary. Once clear, add one chopped onion and simmer for approx. 1 hour. In the last 10-20 minutes, add the chicken and boil until tender. Remove the chicken and bones and allow to cool, shredding any chicken meat for the noodles.

For the prawn stock, shell the prawns and set aside the flesh to be cooked in the noodles. Place the shells including the head in a mortar and pestle and crush to extract any liquid. Pour into a bowl and add 3 tablespoons boiling water. Set aside.

For the noodles, place in a large bowl and break into smaller pieces. Bring the chicken stock to a boil then remove from heat and pour over the noodles in batches, allowing time for the noodles to soak up the liquid and soften. Allow to rest for around 5-10 minutes until the noodles are soft.

In a wok, add 2 tablespoons oil and heat over medium high. Add the garlic and sauté till aromatic then add the onion and cook until semi-translucent. Next add the beans, then carrot, followed by the cabbage, timing it so the vegetables cook but retain their crunch, approx 1-2 minutes between each. Add the chicken and prawns, followed by the fish and soy sauces, stirring till cooked and well combined. Remove mix from the wok and set aside in a bowl. Heat 1-2 tablespoons oil then add the noodles. Pour over shrimp stock and toss to combine. Reduce heat and add the vegetable mix, tossing till well combined. Remove from heat and squeeze over lemon juice. Season with salt and cracked pepper and garnish with coriander leaves. 

Garlic fried rice

Generous amount of vegetable (canola) oil

Head of garlic, peeled, coarsely chopped

Day-old boiled rice

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until aromatic. Don't leave it too long as you don't want it to burn - you just want to infuse the oil. Shake the pan and allow the garlic to become a little crispy. Add the rice and fry until the grains are glossy and warm.

plate 14: croatia

This week was Destination Degustation People’s Choice. Before heading up to AJ’s folks’ place for the Easter long weekend I gave the family a choice of three countries: Croatia; Ethiopia; and the Philippines. Croatia won hands down, so Destination Degustation stays in Europe for another week.

I had no clue about Croatian cuisine and a preliminary click through Google didn’t offer me anything concrete. Croatian cooking is apparently dubbed the “Cuisine of Regions” because the food varies enormously across the country, split mainly into two influences: Mediterranean on the Dalmatian coast; and Austro-Hungarian (Croatia borders Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia). Although no one dish reigns supreme, this fortunately meant I had a number of delicious-sounding dishes to choose from. 

A few caught my attention. Black risotto, made with squid ink, brodet – a seafood stew – and cevapcici – little sausages. Just when I settled on cevapcici, I discovered their origins are more Bosnian than Croatia, even though they’re made extensively across Croatia.

But no matter, I stumbled across pasticada [pronounced “pash-ti-tsada] – beef slow-cooked in a list of ingredients as long as my arm: Dijon mustard, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, parsnip, parsley, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, figs, prunes, apples and red wine. Not only did my mouth water at the flavours, but I also read that [insert Goran Ivanisevic accent here] “Pasticada is a typically Dalmatian meal served for feasts like birthdays, religious holidays, not to mention mother-in-law visit.” Pasticada would be perfect. It was Easter and I would be cooking for my kind of mother-in-law.

Now I may have impressed my “mother-in-law”, but it seemed “father-in-law” was even more taken with my culinary efforts, literally licking his plate clean. The flavours of this stew, with all its saucy awesomeness, really were amazing and the dish was certainly deserving of a plate-licking to finish. For those who don’t do fruit with meat (you know who you are!), I assure you won’t even notice their presence in pasticada. The apple, figs and prunes give an oh-so-subtle sweetness to the beef and vegetables.

The cooking didn’t stop there, though. After four pleasant hours chopping, peeling and stirring, I also produced two sides to go with the pasticada. While they’re not traditionally served all together at the table, I wanted to try them anyway.

First up was ajvar – roasted capsicum and roasted eggplants finely chopped and mixed with lots of garlic and even more olive oil – divine, and colourful to boot. Apparently ajvar is sold in jars at Croatian supermarkets, but it’s easy to make your own and the flavours are so fresh and rich. One dinner party member even thought it would be great mixed through pasta.

The second side was blitva, silverbeet cooked with garlic and potatoes. This was also “yami yami” as my grandmother would say, even though it did require tearing up two kilograms of silverbeet, which seemed to take forever – you could barely see me under the mound of ripped up leaves. But don't be alarmed by the seemingly hefty amount - double this recipe and it feeds about 8 people since the silverbeet reduces to about a tenth of its original volume when cooked.

All in all, our trip to Croatia this week was fun and super tasty. If you want to impress your in-laws, print out the recipes and get cooking. Have fun! x