Chez Shea's World Table

As a tribute to Anthony Bourdain, tonight I decided to make his favorite dish Cacio e pepe. Simple, but delicious... it was a fantastic meal.

Anthony Bourdain was a huge influence and inspiration to me and my family and our World Table adventures. The world has suffered a tremendous loss. 

Rest in peace.

Hola! Chez Shea’s World Table happily returned this weekend after many months of inactivity. Brrrr.... it’s been really cold around here... how’s about we discover a warmer climate? Let’s try Colombia!

The menu:

Chorizo y Tajadas de Plátano

Sudado de Pollo

Arepas

Aji y Hogao

Barras de Limón

For starters, it was a no brainer to serve Chorizo along with Tajadas de Plátano (aka fried plantains). Both of these delectable items have been part of many previous Chez Shea South American meals, and they are both always consumed in minutes. Colombia was no exception!

On such a cold winter’s day, Sudado de Pollo was the perfect meal to warm us up. Comprised of chicken, potatoes, peppers, onions, tomatoes and various seasonings and served with rice, avocado and a squeeze of lime, this traditional Colombian stew was comforting and delicious.

Arepas are fried or baked corn pancakes, made either plain or with a filling. Most Colombians eat them as part of their daily diet in place of bread. As an accompaniment to the stew, I attempted making homemade arepas with queso blanco and cotija cheeses. The process was tedious and long, with many steps and timeouts for the dough to rest, but I was determined to make these myself. Though when it came time to flatten the dough balls and place in the oven to cook, the dough quickly came apart in my hands. I panicked and asked my husband to go into town and pick some up from a local eatery, just in case these were an epic fail. While he was out, I cooked mine anyway in the hopes that they’d turn out okay. Surprisingly, the homemade arepas (pictured on the left) ended up tasting much better than the takeout (on the right). Go me!

Two condiments were prepared for use with the arepas: Aji, made of mostly jalapeno peppers and served cold, and Hogao, a warm creole sauce comprised of tomatoes, scallions and garlic.

A dessert of Barras de Limón was the finale to our Colombian feast. These lemon-lime bars had a graham cracker crust and were a favorite with the kids (as usual).

Guess what? After an extended absence, Chez Shea will be returning to the World Table this weekend to enjoy recipes from and facts about our next featured country!

Robert Burns, Scottish poet and lyricist

Chez Shea made its final visit to the British Isles to conclude with Scotland. Looking back, we thoroughly enjoyed England, Wales and Ireland... would Scotland compare? We invited friends of Scottish heritage to partake in the evening with us. Slàinte mhath! (Listen to the Scotland playlist while reading!)

The menu:

Brown Bread with Smoked Salmon

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

Cheese Scones

Vegetarian Haggis

Shortbread

Smoked salmon is required eating in Scotland, and traditionally it is served on brown bread, often with cream cheese or butter. As you’ve come to know, baking is not my favorite kitchen activity, especially when flour is involved (by far the world’s messiest ingredient). However, this was a pretty easy recipe and not too labor intensive. I wasn’t able to find smoked salmon direct from Scotland, but scored with some from Ireland (surely the next best thing). *Cream cheese direct from Philadelphia.

Scotland’s national soup, Cock-a-leekie, is a chicken soup comprised of a ton of leeks and thickened with barley or rice (or sometimes potatoes). Cock-a-leekie was also one of the two choices of soup on the Titanic's lunch menu the day it sank on April 14, 1912. (My husband’s birthday. Well, not 1912.) This dish was comforting and delicious, and I would think much better than the grilled mutton chop entree. Thanks for mutton.

To go along with the soup, we served cheese scones which paired fabulously with the soup. Yes, more baking... but it didn’t bother me as much, because cheese. This photo makes them look awful and quite unappetizing, but I assure you these were very tasty. My daughter was bummed the next day when her brother had scarfed up the leftovers for breakfast before she had a chance to grab one.

What’s the one Scottish dish that lives in infamy? Haggis. A savory pudding containing sheep’s heart, liver and lungs encased in a sheep’s stomach, authentic Scottish haggis has been banned in the United States since 1971, when the USDA prohibited sheep's lung from importation. The supposed reason for the ban is the presence in the UK of Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis, aka Mad Cow Disease. Regardless of the ban, the chances of me ever attempting to make or eat this traditional Scottish dish are zero percent, but when I saw this recipe for Vegetarian Haggis, I was intrigued.

Something tells me this ended up looking just as gross as any authentic haggis would. I’m also not ashamed to admit that I was too afraid to even try this vegetarian version, as it looked so unappealing. One of our guests, who has eaten traditional haggis before, said this was okay but a bit bland. Another guest took the leftover haggis home with him - I hope he wasn’t just being polite! Needless to say, the kids didn’t try this, and I don’t blame them.

I lucked out and didn’t have to bake again, since my friend offered to make the Scottish shortbread for dessert. Not only was it a relief to have one thing taken off my checklist, her shortbread was amazing! This was the perfect end to a wonderful dinner with great friends. Thank you, Scotland - you did not disappoint.

The music:

Who knew so many great bands were from Scotland? I pulled together a playlist of songs from Scottish bands, which we listened to as background music during dinner and dessert. You too can listen to it here on Spotify.

Before and after dinner viewing:

While enjoying our appetizer of brown bread with smoked salmon, we watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown where he visits Scotland. After dinner, with the Scottish playlist still going on the speakers, we muted the TV and left Braveheart playing on the screen, since our group of adult friends was busy chatting, catching up and enjoying each other’s company too much to sit and watch a movie. A couple of the kids decided to watch Braveheart with the subtitles on rather than hang out elsewhere in the house. It was a good night.

Better late than never...

Chez Shea returned to Africa to learn about the food and culture of Ethiopia. Although this nation is considered one of the least calorie-consuming countries in the world, their cuisine is one of the most delicious.

The menu:

Injera bread

Ethiopian tomato and cucumber salad

Doro Wat

Misr Wat

Gomen Wat

Kahawa

The first step was to make berbere, a key ingredient in Ethiopian cooking used in many dishes. This spice mixture is comprised of red chili, paprika, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and other spices and seasonings. I cut this recipe by one-third as I didn’t need quite so much and had some left over, which has been safely preserved. It will likely be used again soon, as this meal was worth repeating.

Injera is a spongy, sour bread that is not only tasty, it is also used as both the surface upon which a meal is served and the utensil with which it is eaten. The injera ingredients were mixed together in a blender, then poured into a hot skillet and cooked one by one, much the same way crepes are made. It took some time to prepare but extremely essential to the meal. I made a batch the day before, separated them with sheets of wax paper and stored them at room temperature in tupperware until our dinner the next evening.

Another component of the dish that was easy to make ahead of time was the tomato and cucumber salad. I chopped up and mixed all the ingredients except for the olive oil, kept it covered in the fridge, then drizzled with olive oil before serving.

A spicy Ethiopian chicken stew known as Doro Wat was quite the undertaking. After each new addition to the stew, it was required to simmer for 30-45 minutes before the next ingredient was added... several times! Which meant this stew took a few hours to cook and not in the easy “throw everything in a pot and forget about it” way. Though, I was able to work on the other two dishes during its sit-and-simmer times.

My very first time cooking with collard greens was this recipe for Ethiopian greens called Gomen Wat. I bought an enormous amount of greens, not realizing it was too much (and ended up using what was left in an impromptu soup for my husband a few days later... so, my second time cooking with collard greens!).

No Ethiopian feast is complete without lentils (says me), so the meal was rounded out with Misr Wat, a spicy red lentil stew. The house was smelling very interesting with all these exotic dishes on the stove at once. We invited my husband’s brother to join us for dinner... this was about the point he walked in. I wonder what is was like being welcomed with this aroma?

Plated together, we have clockwise from the top left: Gomen Wat (Ethiopian greens), Doro Wat (spicy chicken stew), tomato and cucumber salad, and Misr Wat (spicy red lentil stew), served atop injera bread.

Although I did serve extra injera bread as a vehicle for the rest of the food, we decided to use forks for utensils. One step at a time. We had never eaten Ethiopian food before, and we were knocked out by how great everything was (well, the adults were... the kids mostly stuck with the chicken stew and the bread). My favorite by far was the lentil stew, but everything was really very good and worked very well together. 

Dessert is virtually unheard of in Ethiopia, so we improvised with premade pound cake and three kinds of ice cream: mango, coffee and vanilla. I had planned on making Ethiopian coffee (Kahawa) to go with dessert, but when the time came I was too tired. An adventure for another day.

While enjoying dessert, we watched an episode of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown where he visited Ethiopia with chef Marcus Samuelsson, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, and his wife Maya Haile, born and raised in Ethiopia.

Chez Shea returns this weekend!

Happy New Year! Our first 2017 visit to the World Table brought us to Pakistan. We were thrilled to share the evening with friends, and we were also more than happy to put them to work when it came to cooking our Pakistani meal.

The menu:

Pakistani Potato Samosas

Karahi Kheema

Aloo Palak

Kulfi

There’s nothing better than inviting people to dinner and having them offer to make something. I knew my friend was an expert in Indian/Pakistani cuisine and that he often attempts recipes from the New York Times, so when he offered to make an appetizer, I suggested these Pakistani Potato Samosas. I am so glad that I took him up on his offer, because these were so good, and I doubt I would have been as successful making them. My son ate five! Many, many thumbs up.

Karahi Kheema is a ground meat dish, sort of like a chili, and can be prepared using lamb, chicken, goat, beef, etc. Traditionally, lamb is used, but we opted for beef. I also cut back on the heat a little so that the kids would be more apt to try it but made sure to provide some cayenne pepper for the table in case anyone wanted to spice it up a bit more. I had also bought chili peppers to chop and add for garnish and spice, but I forgot to use them. This tasted really good with naan (store bought... sorry, not sorry), as well as our side dish of Aloo Palak, which consisted of mainly spinach and potatoes and spices. This side dish got cold quickly -- best to keep it piping hot before plating.

You can’t go wrong with ice cream. Way back when we visited India, I used this recipe for Kulfi and it was a big hit. Since kulfi is also a traditional Pakistani dessert, why not bring it back for a repeat performance at Chez Shea? This recipe is so simple and tastes so good -- you don’t even need an ice cream machine to make it. My twist is to add cinnamon as well as cardamom. Yum.

Dinner music:

During dinner, we enjoyed the Internet radio station FM 100 Karachi Pakistan steaming live from Karachi, Pakistan. The mix of traditional and pop music really added to the enjoyment of our meal.

After-dinner movie:

We didn’t have time to watch our chosen movie, but we’re hoping to view “He Named Me Malala” within the coming weeks. As a young Pakistani teenager, Malala Yousafzai was nearly killed by the Taliban after speaking her mind about the importance of educating young girls. She is the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize

What country awaits Chez Shea’s World Table this weekend?

Hola!  Chez Shea returned to the World Table this weekend with the Latin American nation of Guatemala, a name which means “Land of the Trees” in the Maya-Toltec language. Let’s check out what kind of food was in store for this long-awaited reunion meal:

The menu:

Chayote Soup

Carne Guisado

Green Rice

Sweet Plaintains

Pan de Banano

Have you ever heard of chayote? Yeah, me neither. When researching recipes, this ingredient kept reappearing. Now, I had no clue if I would be able to find any, so I initially decided to not choose any chayote recipes. Wouldn’t you know, when I was grocery shopping I found some! They look kind of like pears, don’t they?  Well, they’re actually a type of squash. 

Good thing I read up on this vegetable before I tried to peel it raw: “The flesh of chayote will remain firm if the skin is left on during cooking. You can peel chayote before or after cooking, but if you peel it before it may secrete a sticky substance that might irritate your skin. This substance disappears during cooking. To peel chayote before cooking, wear gloves or oil your hands or peel under running water.”

I decided upon a recipe for Chayote Soup and followed the suggestion to simmer for an hour, then cool before peeling. This soup was really good!  Even my daughter ate everything in her bowl (this is no small feat). The soup has a creamy taste, but there is no cream or milk at all.

I don’t like either of these photographs, so lucky you... you get both of them.  My lack of photography skills was more than made up for by the taste of this concoction. Yummy! On to the next course...

I don’t have much luck with pork dishes. Most times it ends up too dry and/or chewy. *pout*  Although the sauce for the Carne Guisado was tasty, the pork was meh. At least that’s what my daughter and I agreed, though my husband and son liked it a lot and went back for seconds. To each his own. Side dishes included Green Rice (named for its components of tomatillos, cilantro and jalapeno peppers) and the always crowd-pleasing Sweet Plantains. Overall, a pretty good meal.

And for dessert: Guatemalan Pan de Banano (aka banana bread)!  Banana bread is always a hit at Chez Shea, and this time was no exception. We had some full bellies.  Thanks Guatemala!

Music and movie:

We listened to Radio Globo 98.9 for Latin hits of Guatemala during dinner. After our meal, both my daughter and husband went to sleep, but my son and I stayed up and watched “Living on One Dollar,” a documentary by four college friends who set out to live on just $1 a day for two months in rural Guatemala. The film is streaming free on AmazonPrime currently, and we both highly recommend it.