Monaco: Nun sëmu pa gaire, ma defendëmu tüti a nostra tradiçiun. (We are not very numerous, but we all strive to defend our identity)

After our voyage to the small island nation of Saint V&G, it was off to the second smallest country in the world.  Is it French?   Is it Italian?  Is it Fretalian?  Oui, Si, and Yes.  This is the land of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier.  Their love was inspiration for all of Hollywood to pack up their Louis Vuitton luggage and head East to this posh vacation destination.  If you're not at the Grand Prix, you can spend your time losing several thousand Euro in one of Monaco's exclusive Casinos - only available to tourists.   However, we come for the food. We'd like to begin by pointing out that this country of no more .78 square miles was incredibly difficult to research.  It houses almost 33,000 people, none of which prefer to share Monegasquen cuisine on the internet.


We timed everything to perfection for this course; it all finished at the same time.  Bear in mind, that this is opposite of tradition European cooking with everything is served in courses. We started with a "Baked Cheese Wedge".  We've be watching Jersey Shore Season 3, and felt this to be a welcome version of this Monegasquen dish.  This by far surpassed any other cheese bread we've ever had. It can best be described as a hybrid of bread and quiche.  Take note that this requires some simple preparation, so start it first.


After beginning our baked cheese alchemy, we moved on to 'Oignons a la Monegasque'.  What comes to mind when you think of Onions?   Of course, like a true Monegasquen, you're saying 'raisins'.   Peanut butter and jelly.  Waffles and syrup.  Onions and raisins. These are some of life's great pairings.  You might be shaking your head right now, but seriously, don't knock it until you try it.  You start by soaking the onion to cut it's pungency.  You combine red wine vinegar and sugar until your reached the ideal sweet/sour ratio.   Next, your make fancy herb wraps to float atop the delicious ocean of simmering onions.  Turn the heat and leave it a while; seriously, don't "sweat the onions".

On to the main course, "Pan Bagnat".  This was the original 'Grace Kelly' recipe.  We scoured Al Gore's internet for Monegasquen cuisine to very little avail.  However, the ONLY consistently mentioned dish was Gracy Kelly's own Mediterranean style stuffed sandwich.  We made it with green pepper, onion, black olives, tomato, boiled egg, drizzled olive oil, and fish.  We were adventurous in using the traditional anchovy, but tuna, sardine or chicken would be easily substituted.  The sandwich is sans formage, but we think feta or goat cheese would be a welcome addition.



The whole meal was excellent, but the highlight was the cheese bread.   We were so exhausted from cooking and dodging the paparazzi that we had to hop on our G-6 to head somewhere south of the Equator.  "We're now cruising at 36,000 feet", said the captain, "you're now free to move about the cabin".  It's time for a quick nap, because next stop is Madagascar.  Until next week we say, "A votre sante", "Salute", "A votre salute".


Music this week brought to you by: "Radio Monaco".

St. Vincent & The Grenadines: Mwen grangou! (I'm hungry!)

Guatemala was a fabulous experience. We had a quick tutorial in Salsa dancing and a brief lesson in Spanish. Apart from that, we learned how to make Banana Bread (To be honest, I wouldn’t know how to spell Banana if it weren’t for Gwen Stefani). Central America had such flavour. Yes we spelled flavor with an extra ‘U’. After all, we haven’t yet been to Britain and we’re practicing.

Next on the list of the list of travels was “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines”. If you’re anything like us, you’ve just opened a tab in Google right now wondering, “Where in the world is that? Sounds hot.” Google and Wiki have schooled us again: It’s an island in the ‘Lesser Antilles chain between Grenada and St. Lucia’. “Oh.”, you might be saying to yourself, “I knew that”. Or, you can be like, “Antilles, wut?”

We learned some quick “Vincentian Creole”, picked up a case of Red Stripe, (hey, Jamaica is close!) and off we went to find the true national drink. We found the authentic cocktail of St.V&G, The Golden Apple Drink. Now, when we read golden apple, we think golden DELICIOUS apple. So that’s what we made it with...along with a full pint of the Captain Black Label instead of 2 tablespoons. I mean, really? Then, as it soaked with the shredded apple, we turned to google again to define the Golden Apple. Turns out, apart from the mythological tie to the Judgement of Paris, Aphrodite and Helen of Troy (holla!), the Golden Apple is not an apple as we know it here in the States, but a Caribbean fruit with a taste similar to pineapple. It also is called June Plum, Dew Plum, and Pommecythere. Our confusion aside, our golden delicious turned out, well, delicious. The apple mixed with rum, clove, cinnamon, lemon juice and a little bourbon felt like a cool breeze on a tropical night. Heated up it was like a warm blanket on a Slovakian night. Next time, we plan on saving the shredded apple for a rum-induced pie.

For our main dish we had Guinness Bottle Chicken Stew. Don’t worry, you don’t eat the bottle. You can, however, ‘taste’ the ingredients frequently. After all, we wouldn’t want to over saturate the chicken would we? I prefer to fry my chicken in true Vincentian manly fashion. Shirtless. This dish requires chili powder, so be cautious as not to over season. On second thought, you do have Guiness on hand, so powder away.

For a side, we had stuffed sweet potatoes. Now I’ve had my sweet potatoes boiled, baked, candied, and even grilled, but never stuffed. But to quote my favorite Creole chef Emeril, you throw some bacon, onions, diced meat, and kettle corn together, and ‘BAM’, Vincentian stuffed sweet potatoes. We left out the diced meat and kettle corn, but it was outstandingly tasty nonetheless. No need for a dessert with this meat and potato combination, the sweet potato was enough to satiate any sweet tooth.

It’s hard to leave the gorgeous white sand and blue water if the Caribbean, but next week we head to an international vacation spot: Monaco. Until next week we say, “Mwen swaf anpil - I'm very thirsty “

* Music this week was provided by Reggae!

Guatemala: Las aguas más profundas hacer el menor ruido.

After the indigestion from Thailand had subsided, we moved on to Guatemala.  This Central American country is a paradise full of mountains and beaches.  It’s incredibly colorful with food, dance, and culture as old as the Mayans.  Streaming live Guatemalan radio made the kitchen come alive with rhythm.  The bananas and tomatillos played the marimba while the radish and cilantro salsa’d across the counter-tops.  Es possible que puedas aprender espanol despues de una noche cocinando y escuchando musica de ese pais muy bello.  

We started with a simple salad Picado de Rábano (Guatemalan Radish Salad). A lot of people aren’t particularly crazy about radishes, but the combination of mint, orange juice, lime juice, & salt really complemented this rather boring root veggie.  However, we were divided in our opinion of the end result- Bax thought lettuce might have been a welcome addition, but I thought it was wonderful as is.  We both agreed that the leftover juice was delicious mixed with vodka. Salud!

We’ve come to find in our travels that much of what makes the foreign cuisine so wonderful is it’s simplicity.  It’s incredibly American to add ingredient after ingredient until you lose sight of the flavor of each individual ingredient.  We over-season, over-cook, over-add, and over-sweeten nearly every food we eat.  If you’re refrigerator at home is anything like ours, the condiments outnumber the food by almost 2:1.

Our next dish what can only be described as a Central American ‘Chicken Pesto’.  Jocón (Guatemalan chicken in tomatillo-cilantro sauce) was a fantastic change over the same chicken recipes we’ve been fed since birth.  If the Mayans are as accurate with their calendar as they were with the perfection of this dish, then we'll definitely be in for a surprise in 2012.  Since Tuesday, I have already made this dish again and followed the recipe directly - even with the sesame/pumpkin seed paste.  A coffee grinder truly is the best way to get these seeds transformed into a fine powder, but a food processor and some elbow grease with a pestle & mortar will work too.  The tahini we used on Tuesday was a great substitution...and a lot easier than the whole seed ordeal.  

 We served the dish over rice, but it could have easily easily been served with a pasta or put in tortillas or tacos.  Jocón calls for tomatillos, the likes of which, neither of us had ever encountered.  After a quick ‘google search’ for “How to prepare tomatillos” we were instant experts.  Tomatillos are much like the smaller, over protected, more colorful cousin of the tomato.  Peel off the paper like covering, cut of the top, and dice.  It was that simple.  

 

 For dessert we had Pan de platano (Banana Bread).  This turned out perfectly and the best part is that it’s incredibly easy.  We didn't have either sugar or cinnamon on hand.  But luckily Bax has a sweet neighbor that provided both. We made the bread in a 9x11 casserole dish and it cooked in about 15 minutes.  We're guessing that the loaf or muffin pan may take a little longer. 

Next week we head west to “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” for a taste of the Caribbean.  Until next time we say “Salud”.