Armchair Dining on DP

I searched around and found recipe for Kunafa and they described it as being somewhat like the cheese Danish pastry that we have here. I'll have to consider drizzling a little honey on my next cheese Danish while I wait for the opportunity to try Kunafa. Neither will be too soon, I am afraid. Damn wife's diet.

 

You have to stop with this madness man, your diet sounds like a really sad and miserable place to be...

Anyways, the last few posts about desserts got me thinking about traditional Bulgarian ones...and boy was I in for a disappointment. A quick retrospect showed me that unlike many soups, salads and meals we don't really have anything highly traditional when it comes to desserts. Most of them are "borrowed" from Turkey and the oriental kitchen as a whole...but since we are on it, I will still share something



Behold, my friends, the Tulumbichki ! Those little sugary delights need some flour, eggs, butter, water and a pinch of salt. The rest is TONS of syrup that usually contains some vanilla and cinnamon. As expected they are quite juicy and you often make a pig of yourself while eating them

 

LOL. My business suits disagree with you in a big way about my diet. They are screaming for me to lose a bit more weight so that they do not split at the seams.

The Tulumbichki look absolutely awesome! I suspect that I could sit down with a bushelful of them and eat them in one sitting. They look like donut holes that are offered here, but much, much better. And vanilla and cinnamon syrup sound much better than the sugar glaze used on the donut holes. Definitely have to try these delicacies some time.

 

It is early Friday morning here in New England and my thoughts, therefore, turn to breakfast foods. Pancakes are a very common breakfast food here in the U.S. However, there is a traditional New England variation called Johnnycakes that may actually be the original predecessor of pancakes. Pancakes are made with wheat flour and johnnycakes are made with cornmeal. Most people put maple syrup on pancakes or johnnycakes, but I prefer to just have them swimming in melted butter. Here's a picture of Johnnycakes:



The good news is that they are quite simple to make, so you do not need to come to New England to try them. Here's a recipe that I pulled off the Internet:

Ingredients

2 cups fine-ground yellow or white cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup milk
Butter (for the pan)

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together cornmeal, sugar and salt. Pour in boiling water and mix until you form a paste.
2. Gradually add in milk and stir, stopping occasionally to check the consistency of the batter. It should feel like thin mashed potatoes. (You may not need all the milk, or you may need a little more than 1/2 cup to get the right consistency)
3. In a cast-iron skillet or on a griddle, melt 1 tbsp butter. Spoon tablespoonfuls of the batter onto the skillet, spreading them out to about a 2-inch diameter. Cook on each side until golden brown, about 4-6 minutes. Make sure you have a generous layer of butter on the bottom of the skillet or griddle when making these so they soak up the flavor.
4. Serve warm with syrup or your favorite pancake toppings (BUTTER!!!)

Source: tablespoon.com

Unfortunately, I will be eating gruel this morning, instead of Johnnycakes. Suits are still a bit tight but at least I can dream a bit right now.

 

You got me there with the doughnut holes - had not heard about those and don't think I've seen them around here. But I took a quick look at a recipee and it seems indeed quite similar and both desserts are deep fried so the syrup/glazing seem to be the main difference.

Moving on to breakfasts, eh? Here is one from me. One of the most traditional and easiest to make meals here:



This beauty is called "banitza", which Google Translate insists on calling just "pie". I don't see it being a pie-like creation though. This is so simple that even most kids can make one, provided they saw their mother/grandma make one. It consists of very thin sheets of dough which you lay one after the other with some kind of stuffing inside. The stuffing can be practically anything, the basic scenario is with white cheese but I've also eaten variations with spinach, minced meat, yellow cheese, leets (one of my personal favorites), potatoes...well, you get the idea - whatever rocks your boat. You then put in the oven and before its ready you can smear an egg all over so it can get to this perfect golden vision.

 

Wow, that looks absolutely fantastic! For breakfast, I might prefer the filling to be on the sweet side (like a sweet cheese filling or perhaps fruit?) When I first saw it, I thought that it might be similar to our sticky cinnamon buns that are sold here for a breakfast snack, but it is obviously different. By the way, I googled "leets" and could not find a food associated with that word. Can you provide more information about them?

 

Ah, Google Translate, you fail me for the last time!!!
Here is the vegetable I was referring to, will be glad if you give me a name: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Leeks_bg.JPG

Edit: Actually forget it, I see on the URL its called Leeks

As for the sweet banitsa, yeah, forgot to mention that there are many sweet variations too, mainly apple and vanilla. But I stick to my younger habits - you can always have one with white cheese and spread some powdered sugar (or plain sugar) all over it. Works like a charm

 

Leeks would be a great savory filling. Of course, you cannot go wrong with white cheese and powdered sugar! It is still a bit early here, but breakfast looms and I am getting really hungry!

 

My wife used to live in Croghan, upstate NY and her folks send us the Croghan bologna from time to time. If you've never tried it - you should. It's very good!

 

When I first saw the picture, it looked like salami. Looks to be amazing bologna which is typically uniform in appearance. This one seems to have a bunch of good stuff on display in it. My wife is from Rome in upstate NY and she always talks about the deli meats and the kielbasa.

How do you prefer to eat it? Like a slice of pepperoni to be enjoyed all by itself? In a sandwich with cheese? Fried up in an omelet? With crackers an cheese as shown in your picture? I like bologna all of those ways. Getting to be lunch time now and I am getting hungry again.

 

How do you cut it to serve it? Do you start on the side and cut slices or do you cut it into slices more shaped like pie slices? That might be a determining factor as when it is called a pie. For example, in additional to traditional fruit and meat pies, we also call pizza a "pie". What they have in common is a dough-based food with a crust and some sort of filling(s). But this is all just a guess.

 

We just slice it and eat it as an addition to whatever other meal we happen to eat. It has a different texture that the other bolognas. To me, it tastes more like the European kielbasas and/or bolognas. And of course, you can eat it on a cracker or just all by itself.

 

Well there are actually different types of banitsa. This particular one from the previous picture is eaten following the spiral, cutting long slices from the side inwards. There is another type of banitsa, where you lay the whole dough sheets and depending on the shape of the pan it is either round or rectangular. Something like this:



But even on this type of banitsa we still cut it on rectangular pieces more often than the triangular ones that are normally associated with pie cutting

 

Very interesting. This picture does make it look more like a pie of some sort. I kind of like the ring's looks better, but it is all in the tasting, of course.

 

Here is the U.S., we are heading into our Memorial Day holiday weekend which is the unofficial start of summer for the country. For a variety of reasons, we delayed taking my wife out to dinner for Mother's Day a couple of weeks ago and will be celebrating that holiday with her this weekend. Her favorite seafood dish is one that can only be found in New England: Baked Scrod (or Schrod). There is no actual fish named scrod. What it refers to is either a young cod or a young haddock ("scrod" means cod and "schrod" means haddock.) My wife prefers schrod:



It is a very light, sweet, and, cooked correctly, juicy fish meal. It has a less "fishy" taste than most fish dishes and, therefore, is attractive to folks that do not like a strong fish taste. A breadcrumb or similar crust is always added to the baked dish. Lemon and tartar sauce are the traditional accompaniments. The trick is to not overcook it.

 

Looks lovely! Do you de-bone the fish beforehand, not really sure how boney the cod was in the first place

 

They are always served as de-boned filets. In my experience, it is the fresh water fish (trout, bass, catfish, perch, etc.) that have all of the bones that make eating them a problem. Most fish that are harvested from the sea around here are quite large and have far fewer bones in the meat and most, in fact, are served entirely boneless in meals. But, I do have to admit that I have never prepared a fish from the ocean, so I only know what I see from restaurants.

I do like to fish on lakes and rivers and will clean and scale the fish that I catch but generally refuse to prepare, cook, or eat them because of the bones. And it is a pity because catfish and bluegill are absolutely the sweetest, juiciest fish I have ever eaten. I just don't want to deal with the bones.

 

You and me both buddy! If fish were boneless to begin with I am sure maaaaaaany more people would eat them. But knowing the gluttony of men we will then have a lot of extinct fish, so maybe its for the best

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention a dish that has Boston in its name. Boston Baked Beans are quite famous around here (and, I suspect, throughout the U.S.) and are very, very good. There are tons of recipes, but all typically include a generous portion of molasses to sweeten them up:



They are an excellent side dish for many meals; however, if you want to find them on the most restaurant menus, you need to look at their breakfast menus. Here in New England, you will find baked beans (substituting for hash browns or home fries) and eggs to be standard fare:



That said, I prefer them for lunch or dinner and served with hot dogs. The dish is often found on menus as Franks & Beans and it is traditionally eaten on Saturday night, as the picture below indicates:



The above picture is from yankeemagazine.com, a New England publication. As you can see, Boston Baked Beans are a very versatile side dish and definitely worth trying when you visit New England. They are very sweet and tasty!

 

Nice! Have always wondered about the type of breakfast that contains beans. I for one, find it pretty strange and unusual to start my day with something that is known to release a massive farting fury

Traditionally we use beans mainly in two dishes - one is like a bean soup which many oldschool housewives have tricks on preparing with various secret tricks and ingredients. The other is a simple bean salad with black pepper, onions and vinegar that works well as a side dish for some meats.




Beans with molasses?!? Now that just sounds bizarre