What is your country's national or traditional dish?

Al Hart

Well, inspired by Solo, we are going South African for our first meal (come by and join us on June 10th).

With a combination platter of Frango Piri-Piri, Lamb Sosate, and Boerewors - Pumpkin Frittes and Chakalaka Relish - and Malva Pudding (using Oprah's recipe)

In a couple of weeks I'll start soliciting for ideas for the second meal. Perhaps we'll choose a more traditional country - Spain, Greece, etc. or a South American country.

Thanks for putting me on track for this Solo - and thanks to everyone else as well. Keep the ideas coming.

solo

Oooh! sosaties and boerewors! yummy.

I have had tomato bredie and babootie many times, not my favorite, but pap and Chakalaka certainly is one of my soft spots.

What I'd give to join y'all.

Al Hart

@solo said:

What I'd give to join y'all.

Just find a way to talk Google into flying you to Colorado for a meeting, and then drop by.

(If it works, met me know your secret.)

EscapeArtist

Post deleted because I didn't read the OP's post carefully enough. Why would I want to tell an American about Apple Pie? Silly me...

Jackson

Mmmmm....braai'd boerewors with a little All Gold tomatie sous!

Daniel

@escapeartist said:

Post deleted because I didn't read the OP's post carefully enough. Why would I want to tell an American about Apple Pie? Silly me...

Not everyone reading these posts are from the USA; some might be interested in that.

Al Hart

@escapeartist said:

Post deleted because I didn't read the OP's post carefully enough. Why would I want to tell an American about Apple Pie? Silly me...

The US is a big place. After we have offered a few foreign dishes, we may want to go for some US regional dishes. However we will probably not do the Colorado stuff - Buffalo steaks and Rocky Mountain Oysters.

solo

If you are planning a taste of the USA theme, then my suggestion would be a taste of Louisiana, there are so many excellent choices.

EscapeArtist

If anyone wants the apple pie recipe, I'll be happy to send it via PM until the US cuisine thread shows up .

One thing comes to mind when you mention the cuisine of Louisiana: Crawfish etouffee and dirty rice. Some of my favorites.

Bep

I like all seasonal foods.
This time of the year it is time to enjouy the new (soft+fat) "maatjes Haring",or "Hollandse nieuwe"
The first barel of this years New Herring was traditionaly sold today on an auction for charity for €66.000.
We Dutch eat about 30.000 ton of this dilicatesse a year.

Greetings Bep van Malde

Maatjes Herring

Stinkie

@bep said:

We Dutch eat about 30.000 ton of this dilicatesse a year.

And with good reason, too. Yum!

ely862me

excessive fishing...not good

Bep

@ely862me said:

excessive fishing...not good

We Dutch ar fisching this herring sins about the year 1500 ,we made a lot of mistakes in the past
but it is very regulated now a day's to not disturbe the continuity of the commercial herring fischery.

Bep van Malde

Al Hart

@bep said:

This time of the year it is time to enjouy the new (soft+fat) "maatjes Haring",or "Hollandse nieuwe"

I used to get Maatjes at the Imbiss when I lived in Hamburg, Germany, Yumm!!

Al Hart

This was a great success! (South African Night -See information below)

We sold out and served up 50 plates of food. I did about 1/2 the preparation work (chopping vegatables, skewing meat, making sauces, etc.) And filled about 1/2 of the plates. At one point we have more than 14 plates to serve all at once - a table of 6 and 4 other tables - so the rest of the cooking staff jumped in to help. (They weren't going to let the quality of the restaurant suffer just so I could learn how hard it is to complete 14 orders and dish up the plates)

I wanted to do Spain or Greece for July, but the Chef insists on a more obscure country. There are some ideas in this thread already (smaller countries or areas) - Palatine - Finland - Romania - Belgium - Hungary. I will consider them. Also, a South American country might be interesting.

Keep the ideas coming.

@unknownuser said:

Food is an Expression of the Heart

In this case, it’s an expression of our returning guest chef, Al Hart. Al has had two guest chef appearances at Sansone’s, as well as contributed to our Wine and Tidbits promotion throughout 2008. Join us Wednesday June 10th as Al Hart and Chef Robert recreate the national dishes that have captured the hearts of Africa.

A Special Combo Plate of:

Lamb Sosatie — grilled marinate lamb kabob with apricots, and green peppers

Boerewors (bu : ravors) - a traditional sausage of beef, pork, spices and vinegar

Frango Piri Piri—Chicken Piri Piri is originally a Mozambique Portuguese dish that is now a staple in many African restaurants.

Your African Taste Bud Safari will be completed with Pumpkin Fritters, Chakalaka Relish and Malva Pudding, and some wonderful wine selections from this amazing wine growing region of the world.

eeva

well, for a finish dinner i would suggest something like this:

for starters karelian pasties served with egg-butter (hardbolied eggs mixed with butter and salt) or gravlax

as the main dish glowfried salmon with potatoes

and as desert leipäjuusto served with cloudberries

i am getting hungry and i wish i could be in finland at the moment!

Al Hart

@eeva said:

well, for a finish dinner i would suggest something like this:

for starters karelian pasties served with egg-butter (hardbolied eggs mixed with butter and salt) or gravlax

as the main dish glowfried salmon with potatoes

and as desert leipäjuusto served with cloudberries

i am getting hungry and i wish i could be in finland at the moment!

How about a second main course - we like to offer either a choice or a combo.

honoluludesktop

Thanks to those who posted recipes. While it takes more then that to cook, its a start. In my part of the world, the most delicious ethnic food I've eaten is a wild pig, seasoned in part with sea salt, stuffed and roasted in a earthen oven lined with rock. It is covered with broad leaves that become part of the meal, and from time to time is steamed with water. Of course, kalua pig is no longer made in a imu. In fact the law makes it difficult to do so.

My roots immigrated to this part of the world from Japan, and our food, like my karate is "chop sui", a mix of east, and west fermenting in soy sauce:-)

eeva

@al hart said:

How about a second main course - we like to offer either a choice or a combo.

then i would serve sautéed reindeer, as notareal has already suggested.

following notreals links (and this one) i found this site with a few finnish recipies. there are also a few modern ones in between, but more traditional foods from finland. finnish food has been influenced by sweden (we have many common dishes) and also by russia. finland is a relative young country, it has been independent only for 91 years.

Al Hart

For our second dinner, (the first was a great success), we have chosen the country of Chile.

We will be serving Empanada de Pino, Curanto, and Panqueque con Manger. It should be great fun.

One question though, all the recipes I have found for Curanto have no special spices, (other than salt and pepper). Do you know what spices people in Chile might add to this, or other typical Chilean dishes?