Ireland - sort of.

Ireland!

I made corned beef and Irish soda bread.

Corned Beef:

First I purchased a whole brisket, about 8 lbs, and brined it for 8 days.



I simmered the brisket for 4 hours.



I added whiskey just before finishing.





Soda Bread:



I shaped it into a round cake and cut into quarters, then cooked in a dry cast iron skillet until done.



Finished:



This one was really a hit. There is already a request in for next St. Patrick's Day.

Epilogue -

Corned beef isn't Irish. Who knew???? Apparently, corned beef is an Irish-American dish that came from Jewish kosher beef. Irish immigrants settled near Jewish settlements in New York and Boston and became fond of the kosher beef sold in Jewish delis.

Fiji - Nope, not cooking long pig. Sorry.

Fiji

This was a difficult country to plan. Traditional Fijian foods, like cassava and long pig, are a bit hard to come by around here.

There is a large Indian population on Fiji, so I made Fiji style curry meatballs.



I used potatoes instead of cassava.

I mixed all of the ingredients except the flour and oil. After mixing the meat, I formed small meatballs and rolled in flour.



Then fried in oil.



These are bitesized and oh so easy to eat. Yummm.

Wales - Insert witty Monty Python reference here

Wales

I made Welsh oysters and Welsh lamb steaks.

Oysters:



I shucked the oysters, reserving the liquid. I placed the oysters on the half shell in a bed of rock salt and added a sauce made with butter, white wine vinegar, lemon juice and reserved liquid, then sprinkled fresh parsley on top. I baked in the oven for 3 minutes.





Lamb:



I browned the lamb in olive oil then finished in the oven. I made a red wine glaze with currant jelly to finish.



Both were fantastic!

Argentina - don't cry for me, the peppers aren't that hot.

Argentina

I grilled flanken cut short ribs with red chimichurri.



I rubbed the meat with coarse salt, grilled, and served with a chimichurri made from parsley, oregano, red wine vinegar, red wine, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, pepper, salt and garlic olive oil.





I'm not as big of a fan of the red chimichurri as I hoped to be. The green mint one from last year was definitely superior. That said, this was still fine eats. I mean, it is grilled cow, what's not to like??

Italy. Nomnomnomnomnom

Italy!

I made Italian rolled flank steak and sweet and sour squash.

Flank steak:



First I butterflied the flank steak.



I also roasted the bell pepper in the broiler.



Then I laid out across the marinated flank steak the red peppers, basil leaves, pepper, prosciutto, fresh grated Parmesan and parsley.



I rolled it, tied it and baked for 40 minutes:



Finished:



Sweet and sour pumpkin:



I fried the squash in garlic infused olive oil until done:



I made a balsalmic vinegar reduction with sugar for a sweet and sour sauce, then drizzled the squash with it and topped with fresh chopped mint:



With a nice Chianti:



Delicious. My favorite so far, and half way there!

Tonga Tuna

Tonga

I made Oka Ita (Ceviche)



Diced the vegetables, juiced the limes, sliced the tuna into strips, let marinade for a bit in the refrigerator, and the result was




According to my searches, Tonga has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world. I went with a dish that looked flavorful and healthy. I only used half a jalapeno pepper and it has just the right amount of spice.

I did take a pass on Tonga Toast, available for many years at Disney Resorts. Although toast and banana deep fried in coconut oil sounds pretty good.

Russia Buckwheat Pancakes

Russia

I made Krasnye Bliny (Buckwheat Pancakes).



Interesting dish. This is a yeast leavened pancake. It has egg whites whipped till stiff, cream whipped til stiff, butter, sugar, buckwheat flour, milk and yeast. I allowed it to rise twice, then fried.



My recipe made quite a bit. I didn't even finish cooking all of it.



We ate these with a variety of toppings. Jam, jelly, maple syrup, sour cream, and the the following chocolate vodka.



I grated the chocolate and added it a bit at a time to hot vodka until the mixture couldn't hold any more chocolate. In my case, it was 450ml vodka to 275g chocolate.

The consistency at room temperature is similar to Jello pudding. Very alcoholic pudding.