Skip to main content

Algeria: Cooking Around the World with Camilla (CATWWC)

A good friend told me that I wasn't doing the boys any favors by teaching them that whatever they "order" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, they get. So, I have actively been teaching them how to cook. They won't need to find girlfriends and wives to cater to their fearless palates; they'll be able to cook for themselves and their true loves.

What it means for this adventure, though, is bickering. "Mom, Riley helped you with Albania. I get to help with Algeria. Otherwise, it's not fair!" Fine. Wash your hands and get an apron.

We're on to country number three of our Cooking Around the World adventure. And Dylan is my sous-chef tonight.

So, here we go. We're moving from the Western Balkans to North Africa. Dinner tonight was made up of a trio of savory dishes from ALGERIA, the third country on the list.


Country: Algeria
The cuisine of Algeria is a mix of various influences - from Berber to Arabic to French to Jewish. Most cooking is centered around long-simmered meats and stews that are served with couscous. Meals often end with dried and fresh fruits. The range of ingredients is essentially Mediterranean, including lamb, chicken, tomatoes, olives, peppers, eggplant, lentils, oranges and lemons. Since lamb is not a favorite of my two small Manns, I opted to use ground beef for our main dish.

Here's what we ate on our tabletop journey to Algeria...


Tajine el Khoukh (Algerian Stuffed Peaches)
This recipe doesn't actually contain any peaches. It's called a 'peach' because the potato layer around the meat is fuzzy like a peach. This involved multiple steps but was well worth the effort.


Algerian-Spiced Carrots
Barely blanched and lightly spiced, with salt, ginger syrup, and lemon juice, these carrots were a hit...at least with the tall Manns. The boys prefer their carrots "crunchy and plain."


Fragrant Algerian Couscous
Normally my couscous is a tasty, but very plain, sidedish. Nothing in the pot except for the semolina wheat. Most of the recipes I found for Algerian couscous were laden with vegetables - zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, and more. This version used cauliflower which was perfect since I still had a head in my High Ground Organics CSA box. I omitted the garbanzo beans since I used those in the sauce for the meatballs.


I skipped making an Algerian dessert, opting instead to serve dried figs and apricots at the end of the meal.

Enjoy my tabletop travels. Join me in whipping up a dish or two. If you do cook something from one of these countries, I'd love to hear about it. Feel free to comment on the posts themselves or email me at constantmotioncamilla at gmail dot com.

This Knight of the Global Table Adventure is signing off for now. We're off to Andorra next. I'm going to  have to pull out the atlas myself for this one. Where the heck is Andorra?!?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce

Aloo Tiki {Pakistan}

To start off our Pakistani culinary adventure, I started us off with aloo tiki - potato cutlets. I'm always game for tasty street food. I found a couple of different recipes and incorporated those together for this version. Ingredients 6-8 small red potatoes, scrubbed 1 T cumin seeds 1 T fresh chopped parsley 1/2 t ground coriander 1 t minced garlic Procedure Boil the potatoes until they are tender. Drain and let cool. Mash the potatoes. Traditionally they are mashed without their skins. I left the skins on. In a small pan, toast the cumin seeds on high heat until the begin to give off an aroma and begin to darken. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to keep them from cooking any more. Blend all of the spices into the mashed potatoes, then shape into small patties. If you wet your hands, the potato mixture won't stick to them. Heat a splash of oil in a large, flat-bottom pan. Dip each patty into beaten egg and carefully place in the oil. P

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir