IDEA159: Tackle the Mysterious Fennel with a French Recipe, Even Your Kids Will Eat

Do you have a certain vegetable that you in principle find a good idea to eat but in practice a culinary puzzle to prepare?

I have a vegetable like that and it's fennel. I like the way it tastes, I like its fragrance, but how to actually consume it always remained a bit of a mystery. I mean, taking raw bites out of it is simply not very elegant. What is elegant on the other hand is French cuisine... always! So I figured I will go to my latest obsession the evocative, Mimi Thorisson's Manger blog, to see if there was any hope left for the poor fennel bulb. I was in total luck! (As one who searches usually is...)

I scanned the recipe for "Sausages and Fennel" picking out key words such as, mustard, thyme, butter and red wine and immediately decided to give it a try! 

Since the oven was doing most of the work, I was left with the hard task of struggling against myself not to finish all of the red wine before it was time to add one cup of it to the recipe... An hour later and a bit later dinner was served. It was phenomenal! Let's just say even our two boys ate the fennel. We did end up pairing it with some fancy Belgian beers because alas the red wine did not make it to dinner.

Thank you Mimi for changing my non-consummate relationship with fennel, the flirtation is definitely on - STRONG!  

Here is the recipe for the amazing "Roast Sausages With Fennel" and happy Culinary Travels!
 

• • •    LESSONS LEARNED    • • •

When you're not sure what to make, make it French! 

Get everyday adventure ideas @LiveLikeYoureTraveling  

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IDEA122: Sweeten Your Day (and Tea), Russian Style

I was born in Ukraine and when I was about 10 years old, my family immigrated to the US first passing through Austria and Italy. Coming from a closed off (back then) to the world country and getting exposed to so many new places and sensations this experience has forever changed me. It was an adventure of a lifetime before that moment I only read about in my adventure books. That experience made me realize that anything was possible and since then I've been a nonstop pursuer of adventures. (Or as my mom would lovingly put it: "Someone who looks for trouble to befall their ass".)

First years in America I spent trying to understand this brand new culture, and being based in the colorful Brooklyn, it involved also understanding the Italian, Greek, Mexican, Hatian, Chinese, and Puerto Rican cultures as well! What a treat that was! All I wanted to do was know everything about my new friends and how they did things. I always say that New York is no melting pot, but more of a salad bowl.  All the ingredients are tossed together, but they very much retain their own character and taste. 

In college I was lucky enough to study abroad both in Spain and in Italy having the greatest time learning all I possibly can about these cultures and languages. I remember once picking up a book in Russian and being so out of practice that reading just one paragraph exhausted me when at the time I'd have no problem reading in Italian, my language love of the moment. 

But this isn't really a story about vagabonding through cultures. This is about coming 'home' and rediscovering your own roots with the same voracious curiosity. And this is exactly what has started to happen after I gave birth to our Mo two and a half years ago. All of the sudden I wanted to immerse in the culture of my long forgotten 'home' and discover everything about the Ukrainian and Russian cultures so I can teach him as well. I found the songs and cartoons on youtube that I used to watch as a child and of course I wanted him to taste the foods I used to eat.  

"Merchant's Wife at Tea"  by Boris Kustodiev.  She is feasting on the exotic fruits and wares her husband just brought back from his travels. Among them tea, which came to Russia with the merchants from far away China. Additional factoid, in the late 1800's the plumper the woman was the more beautiful she was considered. Plumpness was also a sign of good health and riches . (Oh to have those times back!)

But before this 'novel' gets any longer let me share with you something that I have just recently remembered. It's something very simple and you can find it in almost every fridge of any Russian or Ukrainian.  And that is: a little dish, cup or a glass jar full of lemon slices covered in sugar.  

• • •

Lemon with Sugar Concentrate

Russians add lemon with sugar syrup to tea.  This is how I always drank my tea when I was little. Though sometimes I would just sneak into the fridge and stick my little fingers into the bowl then suck up the delicious lemony syrup.

Ingredients
• 1 or 2 lemons (preferably organic, pealed or not that's up to you!)
• 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar (I use Caribbean brown sugar)

PrepSlice up one big or two medium lemons any which way you like. Pour the sugar over them and mix a bit to be sure the lemons are coated in sugar. Press with a spoon to pack lightly. Put it in your fridge! Next time you go to use it you'll see that the lemon juice has turned the sugar into syrup... yummy! (Good for about a week.) 

Serve
If you're a lemon lover like me, you'll soon discover yourself putting this in everything, and even eating it with a spoon in the middle of the night with the slightly open fridge illuminating your way... But here are some elegant ways to partake. 

• Add one or more slices of lemon accompanied by a teaspoon of syrup to your unsweetened tea. Why not go traditional with Russian Caravan tea blend. Russian merchants first brought tea to Russia from China among the other wares they were bringing back. The Russian Caravan tea bland is a black tea blend with rich smoky taste that is said to have been acquired at nights when merchants would make stops on their long road from China to rest and campfires would be lit to burn all night while they sat around drinking, eating and no doubt playing chess. How romantic! 

• Add it to a glass of cold water for a refreshing drink with a hint of sweetness. 

• Add it to cocktails whenever sugar syrup or agave is called for!!! OR (and this is strictly for "advanced" drinkers, I mean... readers, just put a few spoonfuls of the lemon sugar concentrate into a tumbler, pour Cachaça over it, add some ice and call it a caipirinha! NOW we're talking. If this isn't a beautiful example of a fantastic cross-cultural collaboration then I don't know what is! 

For a real Russian tea experience...
Steep tea and hot water in a small teapot. The resulting dark liquid is called "zavarka". You and your guests can variate the strength of your tea by pouring as little or as much zavarka into your cups according taste.  Fill the rest of your cup with hot water, from a "samovar" perhaps, and drink with lemon and sugar syrup. Check out more scrumptious Russian Tea blends from Kusmi Tea.   

And as a bonus, get a few of these authentic tea holders so you and your friends can sit around arguing late into the night whether Anna Karenina was a woman lost to the imposed societal laws of propriety or simply a hysterical selfish slut. I'll let you guess what 'camp' I'm in. 

Traditional Soviet tea cup holder (podstakannik) and glass. I remember drinking tea from these exact ones when traveling on overnight train from Kiev to Chernovtzy to visit my maternal Grandmother (babushka). 

Learn: 
More about the Russian Tea Culture.
Caipirinha recipe. (Cachaca can be replaced by vodka to make a Caipivodka!) 
For additional things you can do with lemons, visit J* over at Sparklingly. 

Where to find:  
Russian Tea Blends
Vintage soviet era tea holder and glass. 

--> For more refreshing drink ideas: visit our Pinterest board (First Sip!)

 

• • •     LESSONS LEARNED    • • •

If you look carefully you will find adventures
right in your own cup of tea. 

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IDEA119 : Bake the Easiest Lemon Tart Just Like the One in Normandy, France

Let me tell you a story about my search for the perfect lemon tart recipe. It all started last summer in Normandy, France where we went on a family vacation. My dad and brother joined from New York, Vito's mom and brother with his girlfriend made us a merry little group of eight. We stayed in a lovely town by the sea called Saint Aubin sur Mer, where time didn't hurry, tourists were not many, yet there were plenty of things to do and see. It was a delicious week of family bonding, discovering the sites and of course eating as many pain au chocolate for breakfast as humanly possible (well, maybe this last one was just my personal achievement).

We stayed at a camping (Cote de Nacre) a ten minute walk from the seaside promenade lined with sunny colored villas, happy little cafes and restaurants. Our mornings consisted of sightseeing, and afternoons in the pool or at the beach and of course no day went by without promenading up and down by the sea.

Walking from Cote de Nacre camping to the beach. 

Pastel villas along the promenade in Saint Aubin sur Mer. (Mo has just two settings, run or sit.) 

But back to the lemon tart...  as you can imagine a family of eight including one 1.5 year old boy and one 13 year old boy there is always someone ready for a snack (or a 5 course meal).

Dinner on the promenade.

On one such occasion we stopped at a cozy cafe with cream colored furniture, nautical prints and walls lined with book shelves giving you a feeling of a sea side day lounge. Lemon tart was the first thing we saw on the chalk board menu and that was enough of a suggestion for all us to order a round. The tart was incredible! The lemony filling was creamy with sweet and tart flavors in perfect harmony. The crust, a wonderful companion, perfectly yummy yet not trying to compete jealously with the filling for attention. The tart was so delicious that we immediately ordered seconds nervous that the cafe might not have enough! Thankfully they did, so there was no need for violence. And since that moment I've been looking for a recipe that will reunite me with my perfect lemon tart...

My brother reclining after the lemon tart and Nutella crape. 

Until finally! I have come across this recipe on Julia's blog.  She in turn found it in a newspaper article about a German illustrator who lived in Lisbon for a while. This illustrator upon tasting this tart at a rowdy summer backyard party asked the cousin of her neighbor, a certain Anita, for the recipe. She then illustrated the recipe which Julia transcribes on her blog. (In English thankfully.) 

So there! A recipe found via our global neighbor Julia, from literally someone's actual neighbor (well cousin of said neighbor) has made its way to me in The Netherlands! AND! What has set off this world wind recipe search? Why a visit to a little seaside town in France called Saint Aubin sur Mer... Now tell me we are not all connected. :)

• • • 

If you are like me and have been searching for an easy way to make lemon tart feel free to raise your hopes high.  Real high! This tart does not require intimidating baking thermometers, high scores on your math tests to perform calculations involving heat, altitude, timing, and egg yolk temperaments. There are two, JUST TWO ingredients for the filling. Condensed milk and juice of 2 lemons, ok 3 if you count lemon zest. That's it!!! The crust? The easiest ever, and you don't even have to have your butter at room temperature. I hate it when recipes call for that, when I want to bake, I must bake right then and there before inspiration leaves me and I can't wait for princess butter to arrive at room temperature. (Excuse me, I'm an Aries, it's a biological fact that I can't wait for stuff.) 

Now I'm not a baker and trust me when I say, you can't do this recipe wrong. I did have to look up how to beat egg yolks stiff on youtube because I wasn't 100% sure of the right way to do it. I know my grandma did it by hand with a fork but after 2 minutes (ok 15 seconds) I gave up and looked it up on youtube.  Here is the video, listen to the nice Italian lady all the way to the end, that's when she tells you how to make your egg whites really stiff.  

Lemon Tart 
Recipe: on Julia's blog.
 

Saint Aubin sur Mer, Normandy, France.
Stay at: Camping Cote de Nacre  (Groups)

Eat at: Wherever speaks to you on the promenade, however for dinner you should make a reservation, and of course lemon tart and other deserts at Aux Bains des Mots.

To do: Visit the town of Cabourg on market day and eat lunch on the promenade, bring your swim suits for when the inevitable desire strikes for a dip in the sea.  Normandy is also the land of apple brandy, do visit Château du Breui, a Calvados distillery and a historical manor house. 

Sight see: Saint Aubin sur Mer is a great base for discovering Normany. Not to miss  Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery Memorial. Visit the UNESCO heritage site, the medieval monastery Le Mont Saint Michel.  

Take home: a bottle of Calvados. Hemingway would have approved.  

Now, what have we conclude from all this madness? 

• • •    LESSONS LEARNED    • • •

You might find your lemon tart exactly where
you didn't think to look for it.

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