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

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t...

Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies #SundayFunday

Today the Sunday Funday group is celebrating childhood favorites. Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group. Today Stacy is hosting and she's given us the following prompt: "Childhood favorites. Did you have a favorite dish growing up? It could be something your family cooked or a restaurant dish, even a Chef Boyardee canned good or packaged ingredients like Rice-a Roni or mac and cheese. Recreate THAT dish from SCRATCH for this event."  Here's the #SundayFunday childhood favorites line-up... Chili Mac from A Day in the Life on the Farm Ham and Mushroom Breakfast Burritos from Making Miracles Homemade Lorna Doone Cookies from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Homemade Wonder Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories K-Mart Sub Sandwiches from Palatable Pastime Kempakki Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds Meat Chilly Fry...

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...