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[foodglobe]

Italy

Hi and welcome back!

This time we are going to talk about Italy. Italy is a country in Southern Europe that is famous for a lot of things, but maybe most for its food. Italy has given us our beloved pizza and many different pasta dishes. Since I have been to Italy quite a few times I can tell you that their food is amazing. Since I love Italian food I felt like I had to cook their national dish. As said, Italy is famous for a lot of different food but after some research I found that most Italians see Pasta Bolognese as their national dish. So that Is what I decided to do. Here comes the ingredients and how to cook a bolognese.

Ingredients 6 people:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small/medium carrot

1 small celery stalk

1 small onion

300g/10.5 ounces ground beef (not too lean)

300g/10.5 ounces ground pork

0.5 cup/1.2 dl dry red wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

500g/2.25 cups tomato puree (passata)

2-3 pinches salt

2 dashes pepper

1-2 whole bay leaves

80 g milk (2 % or whole milk)

Instructions:

Cut the carrot, celery and onion very fine (must not too much that it becomes pulpy when cooked).

In a medium to large heavy pot add the olive oil and chopped vegetables, cook covered on low heat (stirring occasionally) until onion is transparent.

Increase the heat to medium and add the ground beef and pork. Stirring as the meat is cooking to break up the pieces. Once the meat has browned turned the heat up to high and add the wine. 

Cook until the alcohol has evaporated (about 20-30 seconds) and the liquid has evaporated. Decrease the heat to medium/low and add the tomato paste, puree, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Gradually decrease the heat to the lowest setting cover and let simmer for three hours (the mixture should not boil). Stir occasionally.

After the time has passed remove the bay leaf and add the milk, heat thoroughly for a couple of minutes. Serve over cooked pasta.

This is how it turned out! And let me tell you, it was amazing, so worth the wait. Letting the bolognese simmer for a couple of hours really brings out some incredible flavors. Even though this can seem a bit difficult to make, it was really easy. I'm just an amateur home-chef who likes food and in my opinion this was one of the best bolognese I've ever eaten. One thing with this recipe that might be a bit controversial is that I used milk. When I did my research I actually found that they actually added milk in their bolognese when it was created. I'm not 100% certain of this information, but I feel like it was a good choice adding milk. I really recommend you to try this, you won't be disappointed!

Until next time, I'm out!

[foodglobe]

Hungary 

Hi guys and welcome back to my blog!

This time around we're going to try and cook the national dish of Hungary. Hungary's national dish is something called "Goulash soup". In Sweden we spell it as "Gulasch", but I don't know which one is right. Goulash soup is an old traditional dish, it actually traces back to 9th century. In short, Goulash is a meat, potato, and vegetable soup seasoned with paprika and som other spices.

This is how you make a Goulash soup:

4 portions

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion

1 clove of garlic

300 grams of prime rib

Butter for frying

Salt and freshly ground pepper

200 grams crushed tomatoes

8½ dl water

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp paprika powder, preferably Hungarian

½ tbsp cumin seeds

½ tbsp concentrated veal stock

¼ dl mild paprika crème (see the chef's tip)

¼ dl goulash crème (see the chef's tip)

75 g celeriac

1 large carrot

2½ potatoes of firm variety

¼ dl finely chopped parsley leaves

Now it's time for step by step Instructions:

Slice the onion, squeeze the garlic. Cut the meat into small cubes. Fry all the onions until soft and shiny in butter in a frying pan. Transfer it to a large pot.

Fry the meat in batches, and fry it so that it gets colour. Season with some salt, pepper and put it over the pot as you go.

Whisk out of the frying pan with the crushed tomatoes. Pour the tomatoes into the pot and add 5 dl water, tomato puree, paprika powder, cumin seeds, stock, paprika cream and goulash cream. Leave to cook covered for 2 hours. Stir occasionally.

Peel and dice celeriac, carrots and potatoes. Add the root vegetables and 3½ dl of water. Let the soup cook for another 30 minutes.

If the soup is too thick, add another deciliter of water. Season with salt and stir in parsley.

Serve with creme fraiche or sour cream and enjoy

I personally love goulash, not as much as I love Swedish meatballs, but I think it's very good I ate it many times growing up and I still think it's amazing. The dish isn't that hard to cook, but it takes time. When you decide to cook goulash it's best to have planned it in advance so that you know you'll be nearby through the whole cooking process. If you do decide to cook it you can definitely add or remove a vegetable and you can season it so that it suits your taste. The cooking time can also differ so keep an eye on the soup while cooking and you might be done with it faster. I would really recommend you to try this soup and I promise you won't be disappointed!

See you next time, I'm out!

[foodglobe]

SWEDEN

To start this blog of I will cook the national dish of Sweden. As a Swede, I am pretty confident that our national dish is meatballs. Some people think it might be something else but to me it's pretty clear that meatballs with some mashed potatoes, pickled cucumber and lingonberry is the national dish of Sweden. Cooking Swedish meatballs is actually very easy and you don't have to be a experienced cook to make this dish. First of all, this is what you need:

4 portions:

Meatballs

500 grams of minced meat

4 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

1.5 dl milk

half an yellow onion

salt

pepper

Raw stir-fried lingonberries

250 grams of lingonberry

0.5 dl sugar

Pickled cucumber

1 cucumber

2 tablespoons of vinegar essence

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 dl of water

Mashed potatoes

600 grams of potatoes

butter

salt

pepper

Swedish gravy:

2 tablespoons of flour

2 tablespoons of butter

2 dl cream

2 dl water

1 meat bouillon cube

1-2 teaspoons of soy sauce

salt

pepper

This is how you do it:

First, start boiling water with sugar vinegar essence. Then when the water starts to boil and the sugar has dissolved, add into a jar with thinly sliced cucumbers and put in the refrigerator.

Mix the lingonberries and sugar and let stand at room temperature until the sugar dissolves. Stir every now and then.

Mix breadcrumbs and milk and leave to swell for 5 minutes. Then mix with minced meat, egg, onion, salt and pepper.

Then roll the meatballs and fry in butter/rapeseed oil.

In a saucepan, melt butter and stir down the flour. Then carefully add the water while you stir followed by add , the bouillon cube, soy sauce, salt and pepper. (You can also add the juice from the pan you used to cook meatballs)

Boil potatoes in salted water. Drain and let steam off a little.

Mash the potatoes and mix with butter. Dilute if necessary with a little milk.

Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the meatballs, gravy, pickled cucumber and lingonberry.

I love Swedish meatballs and as I said it isn't that hard to cook. It just takes some time, but if you have the time and opportunity I would definitely recommend trying this. Also, if you can't get a hold of lingonberries, you can buy lingonberry jam at IKEA or you can switch it with something else.

See you next time!