Food & Culture
I absolutely love this poster/ sticker right outside my metro stop! How wonderful it is, no?
So tell me, what do you think he has been having? Is it strawberry jam, bloody mary, pasta with tomato sauce, red wine, a burger with too much ketchup? WHAT is it?
After the Taste of Brussels event yesterday (more to come on that soon), I just felt the need to come back to reality, where us, mere-mortals still enjoy the pleasure of the flesh, with impunity. What better place to surround myself with beautiful pieces of pork, veal, beef, ham, sausages & co. than my lovely butcher, M. Gaston? My week-end shopping list included 200gr préparé and a 800gr roti de porc/ pork shoulder (a wonderfully-fatty piece, now marinating in olive oil, smoked paprika, fresh rosemary & crushed garlic). To my surprise, something caught my eye: next to the tête préssée, a bit lonely and distinct: the pork’s tongue ham. I immediately asked M. Didier about it and he confirmed, then I proceeded to tell him about my love affair with pig’s tongue (while my man was telling him about pigs slaughtering in Romania). We ate the fresh préparé yesterday and I saved the best for last.
My Sunday tartine: dark bread + whole grain mustard + tongue ham + green & red pepper + home-grown ruccola.
Urban agriculture and food autonomy in Brussels = THE DREAM. If there’s something I strongly believe in…well, this is it! Will report back after the event 🙂
Let’s be honest here! Food trends come and go, but there’s one component that was always part of the game: looking good…which, in our western culture, translates into being slim. Or skinny. There was a subtle shift a couple of years ago, when all women magazines (yes, that’s my hidden pleasure, put it to rest now!) have started moving from advice on losing weight and being slim to being “in shape” and “glowy” and, finally, to being “healthy”. And it’s not just women, men face the same issues. They are more and more interested in the way they look (some have even started plucking their eyebrows…WHY? OH WHY???)(Sorry, couldn’t help it!). We’re all in the same fucked-up boat!
There are days when you can dismember and cook a whole chicken, make pizza or moussaka and there are days when all you can do is open a can of fish. Lately, most of my evenings were like that. I told you how I gradually started to embrace fish...well, I recently discovered canned mackerel and canned sardines. Fish full of good stuff and really, really tasty. I always buy the ones in (olive) oil, I get them from Aldi for less than 1 EUR a piece. Still, I did not resign to just cracking the can open and proceed to eating: a bit of sparkle is always welcome. In this case, the sparkle took the shape of onion, tomatoes, capers, red pepper and ruccola. Easy-peasy tartines!
Bio pumpkin bread + butter + canned mackerel fillets + raw onion + capers + ruccola. Sprinkled with spicy olive oil and freshly ground pepper.
Bio pumpkin bread + spicy olive oil + canned sardines + chopped home-grown tomatoes + charred red pepper + onion + ruccola. Salt & pepper
That’s it guys! Absolutely yummy, healthy and easy to make. The dream of any person that comes home from the office after seven PM and still wants to have a good meal.
Food hacks is back!!! I’m thrilled to share this new episode about all the crap we shouldn’t be buying…let alone eating. Hope you enjoy!
People ask me the strangest questions and most of the times I can come up with a cheeky answer in a heart beat. Other-times, I’m dumbstruck and I blankly stare at them like cat stares at a calendar (literal translation of a Romanian saying)(because cats can’t read calendars and they just staaaaare). Most of these questions are food-related: where did you buy the……….. -insert one of the following: dough for a tart, hummus, pesto, croquettes, etc., etc., etc.. My bewilderment comes from the fact that I don’t really grasp the question: I mean, why would I buy such stuff? And then enlightenment: people ARE actually buying these things…but, of course, they shouldn’t.
So here’s a non-exhaustive list of crap people buy. I’m not including all the frozen meals, powder soups, bullions, silly desserts- I hope we’re well past that already. Let’s focus on the very practical side of things: ingredients, money and time. I’m gonna do an analysis of ingredients, price, time & effort involved and the recipes to make these at home. The prices come from various supermarkets in Brussels, but my (educated) guess is that these proportions apply pretty much wherever you are.
While most people look forward to their holidays as a time where all the house chores, including cooking, are gone-bys, I always look at holidays as a time to experience cooking like a local, with local ingredients. And that’s exactly what I did during this holiday, too. We found the most magnificent market: my brain went into overdrive and I had to step out and smoke two cigarettes to gather myself. And then go back and start shopping (and cooking)!
We only ate outside twice, at one of my favorite spots, a workers’ bar, called Bar Dia. Only during the day, when all the (other) tourists were grilling themselves on the beach. I had to have my frito mallorquin: a local dish made of liver, lamb fat, potatoes & peas. We always sit at the bar, drink cheap beer and talk to the staff, whom we got to know a bit over the years. Truth be told, the food I cooked at home was better, but this place is such a big part of our trips on the island, that I feel I can’t skip it and I have to honor it properly. And then, there’s the frito!
All the other times, we ate at home. Lots of seafood, local charcuterie (sobrasada is my absolute favorite), tons of fresh, tasty veggies and, of course, lots of pork. One would imagine that pork is not really a staple on a Mediterranean island, but meat is very much a staple out there. It goes back to historical times, when locals were settling inland, to avoid close encounters with the invaders attacking the island. Will forever be thankful to those pirates! So here’s a snip-bit selection of what I cooked: most of the times, taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. Which is what one does on holidays, anyway 🙂
I haven’t had a chance to tell you about my holiday-food-adventure yet, but my colleague & friend Catarina will share her amazing experience with Georgian food. I have never been to Georgia myself (I hear their wine is legendary), but in a blink of inspiration I asked Catarina to document her culinary trip. It was almost impossible to choose some pictures for this article, they were all beyond great (thanks again!), but here goes. Read More
the pickled spruit. 