Culinary Adventures with Camilla

It's hard to believe that we're already in 2019...where did the year go?! So, here we are for the first 2019 installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of  CulturEatz . Here's  her challenge . And this month she has us traveling by tabletop to Ethiopia. She wrote: "We will start off 2019 with a trip back to African roots with a gorgeous and delicious African country! Ethiopia!" Check out all the wonderful Ethiopian dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Juli: Misir Wot - Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew   Sue: Ethiopian Beef Tibs   Amy: Buticha - Ethiopian Hummus   Syama: Himbasha - Ethiopian Spiced Bread  Evelyne: Flavor-Packed Ethiopian Shekla Tibs   Lynda: Tikel Gomen (Ethiopian Cabbage & Potatoes)   Wendy: Doro Wat and Atkilt   Camilla: Ye’abesha Gomen (Ethiopian Collard Greens) When I thought about what to make, I revisited Yemarina Yewotet Dabo (E...

Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories invited the Festive Foodies to join her for #WorldBreadDay. She wrote: "Preheat your oven. October 16 is World Bread Day. In honor of the day, please bake any bread of your choice using yeast or sourdough. New posts only. Here's more info about the day. https://anydayguide.com/calendar/3377." Honestly, that woman is bread-making genius. So, I wasn't sure I wanted to join in; her beautiful breads are seriously intimidating. But, then I realized, my bread baking is never going to improve if I don't bake bread. Makes sense, right? So I put on my thinking cap and let the boys do some reseaching, too, since they were on Fall Break. Before I get to my pick, here's our global bread basket... Bao Buns from Karen's Kitchen Stories Cheesy Garlic Sourdough Focaccia from Cooking with Carlee Chocolate Babka from Amy's Cooking Adventures Chocolate Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm Sourdough Rye Bread fro...

Tonight we wrapped up the 'E' countries in our culinary global adventure with an Ethiopian dinner. I had thought, a la Harry from When Harry Met Sally , to put empty plates in front of the boys and be done with it...while discussing famine, of course. Instead, I did  make injera , iab , and vegetable wat . And we ran out the door to go get school supplies. So, talk about famine will have to wait. Injera is an Ethiopian flat bread that is more like a spongy c rêpe versus hefty naan. Click here for the recipe. Our main dish was an aromatic vegetable stew called wat and we topped it with a creamy iab . Click on the names for the recipes. This Global Table Ambassador is signing off for now and preparing to launch into researching Fijian recipes! Coconuts, cassava, and more. Here we come.

I had initially planned to make Doro Wat (chicken wat ), but I missed putting the chicken into the fridge when I got home from the grocery store the night before. So, it was sitting at room temperature for far too long. I dumped it in the garbage - with a little bit of cursing (in Italian! I only curse in Italian, so no one knows what I'm saying. And even if the boys repeat me, no one will understand them.) - and changed directions, using whatever vegetables I had. There is an Ethiopian vegetable stew that looked interesting, but I preferred the spice combination in the wat , so I flew by the seat of my pants on this one. 1 onion, diced 1 shallot, diced 1 head of cauliflower, shopped into bite-sized pieces 2 zucchini, chopped 4 potatoes, chopped 2 C tomato sauce 1-1/2 C water 1 t ground cinnamon 1 t ground cumin 1/2 t ground paprika 1/2 t ground ginger 1/2 t ground cardamom 1/2 t ground nutmeg zest from 1 lemon juice from 1 lemon salt and pepper to taste ...

Iab (also spelled aiyb or ayib ) is a fresh Ethiopian cheese similar to cottage cheese. It has a cooling flavor that is the perfect foil for many spicy Ethiopian stews. All the recipes were slightly different, so I used the basics and put my own twist in there. Riley said that it was his least favorite part of the meal, but I loved it. Citrusy and herby! 1 C cottage cheese, small curd 4 T plain yogurt 1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice freshly ground pink Himalaya salt and rainbow peppercorns zest from 1 lemon 2 T fresh mint, thinly sliced 1 T fresh flat-leaf parsley, thinly sliced Mix everything together in a bowl. Let flavors develop for at least 20 minutes.

Injera is an Ethiopian flat bread. If you've never had it, think spongy c rêpe versus hefty naan. This is an Ethiopian staple and is traditionally made with teff, a very finely milled millet flour. I used what I had which happened to be an mixture of all-purpose flour and rye flour. Ethiopians use this bread to sop up the flavors of spicy stews. When I first set out to make it, I hadn't read the directions very carefully and didn't realize that the dough needed to ferment for 24 hours before you use the batter. So, that set me back a day. I mixed the dough, left it to ferment, and came back the following evening, ready to make some injera . Let's just say that this was a torturous project. Only about 25% of my injera were worth eating and the boys declared it - "not your best effort, Mommy. It kinda tastes like wine...or beer." I guess I got the fermentation down. The texture et al needs some work. Oh, well. 1 T active dry yeast 5 C warm water 2...