Creamy pasta with chard - 2x
Steamed vermicelli with chicken, onion, and raisins - 1x
Tunisian fricassé sandwiches - 1x
Couscous - 2x
Ojja (Tunisian style shakshuka) with round fluffy bread - 1x, with leftovers for next day's lunch
Not a lot meaty meals - the couscous was with chicken first, second time vegetarian. The fricassé sandwiches did contain a small amount of tuna, but it was just one tin for 5 persons. We didn't have a lot of legumes, which I'll try to catch up with this week.
Inflation. We've heard a lot about it and about everyone is affected by it - from Philippines to Argentina and everywhere in between. Firstly, I want to say that this post is in no way intended as a complaint, and that I want to acknowledge that we've been blessed in so many ways - more than so many other people. I just think it's interesting to show how different people can be affected differently by crises like these.
One of the biggest privileges anyone can have when it comes to finances is defenitely to have your own house. And I don't mean still have to pay a large amount each month despite the housd being still "yours". Our house, even though it's a relatively small one, is ours and not paid anything for. So that's our biggest security in leaner times. Even if you have barely anything to eat (not that it's ever been like that for us, but let's think of a hypothetical scenario when things get worse), at least you don't have to worry about a roof over your head. That's a very reassuring thought for me, especially since we did experience poverty with a lot of insecurities of being able to pay all the bills monthly and there's certainly still trauma that I need to overcome. Our house isn't perfect, by far, but it is our house. We'd like to renovate the bathroom and kitchen one day, but for now we're very content with our small dwelling. We feel very fortunate to have this house, especially during times with less income.
Food: this is probably the area in which we're affected the most. Prices are going through the roof it seems. There are some products that we're hardly able to afford. Yes, most of these products aren't strictly necessary, so it's still a bit less of a problem. It would have been problematic if this would apply for the basic staples. Bread, pasta etc. fortunately are very affordable, as they're being subsidized by the government. I sincerely hope that will never change, as it would be problematic for the poorest people if even bread prices would go up. Some of the foods we buy less (or rarely buy) are olive oil, meat, rice, eggs, bananas, and even regular cooking oil, white flour, among other foods. Most of them aren't particularly known as pricey foods for most people, yet some of them have quadrupled or have even multiplied more times than that so they've defenitely become expensive. Most of these foods are even more expensive than they are back home in the Netherlands. But the thing is, our salary isn't nearly as high... If you have 1/3 of a western European salary, it's considered a middle class income. Our income is not the same each month, there's months when we barely scrape by, and there are months when we can even save money. So even if we don't spend everything that comes in, I still certainly don't want to spend everything we earn and challenge myself to make do with alternatives or just without.
The biggest issue when it comes to food isn't just the price- it's the lack of availability. There are lots of shortages, especially when it comes to staples. Milk, rice, semolina, tea, sugar, flour etc. There's some reasons behind this, which I don't want to elaborate on as it's a very complex set of reasons, some of which have to do with politics, and I rather don't discuss that here. But defenitely the worldwide inflation has contributed tremendously to this situation. A few years ago there were short periods of shortages, like few weeks usually. Now some products have been out of stock for more than a year. And they alternate; when there's semolina there's milk shortages, and the other way around. This all started around the covid period and then got worse after the Ukrainian war. At the beginning it was more like "annoying" but now people are getting increasingly worried. This really shows us how vital a good stockpile is. Yes, you'll eventually run out, but at least you don't have to worry for a certain period. It doesn't take an unstable political situation, war, or floods to have empty shelves. It can also be less serious issues. If the truckers are striking, empty shelves are very likely too. It really doesn't have to take long to find empty supermarket shelves. In my opinion, the supermarket should not be relied on as a "spare pantry" like many people do nowadays. This annoying/worrisome situation has taught us a lot, especially about preparedness. And also about being creative with what's available. Fortunately, there is enough food. It's just that some items at some times aren't available so you just make do without. No white flour; make whole wheat/sorghum/oatmeal cookies. No rice; just cook bulgur instead, etc. I also found oat milk a decent replacement for cow's milk, even though it lacks nutritional value, but when I bake er French toast or pancakes that doesn't really matter to me. I would love the situation to get back to normal again defenitely, but this taught us a lot.
Utilities: this is our 2nd biggest thing in which we're affected. Not as much as with food though, but still, utilities are a big dent in our monthly costs at some times. I must say that we're fortunate to live in a country that doesn't get their gas from Russia. Not that I'd mind if they did, I'm not going into politics here, but just because that has caused troubles in many European countries. I heard stories from people I know in the Netherlands, the UK etc that are quite unbelievable, but are the harsh reality for some people. Things like not putting on the heater at all despite freezing cold weather, cold showers or having just one hot shower a week, not cooking to save gas but putting some convenience foods in the microwave instead. I feel sorry for everyone having to fo through things like these, it must be very hard to actually have to choose between heating and eating. Apart from the fact that we're not in that desperate of a situation, the weather here is usually such that a heater is a nice extra, not strictly necessary. I still don't want to go without heating if it's still possible to pay for that, but if that became impossible, I'm still happy that we're just chilly and not freezing to death. So that's the gas price. Electricity here is much more expensive than gas. Heating with electricity is nearly impossible, unless you're able to use free electricity (we have a relative whose partner works at the electricity/gas company, and they are allowed tu use as much electricity as possible without any costs!), or solar panels etc. We try to be very frugal with both gas and electricity, but with electricity in particular because of this. This is why we use the air conditioning minimal during the summer, which is one of the most guzzling appliances in our house. Still, with prices having gone up, our bills have too. You can only scrimp that much, and if you wanted to pay the same that you were paying two years ago, you'd need to use even less. But since we're not even using much already, that's nearly impossible. So higher utility bills it is, and we're very fortunate to be able to still pay them, even if that means we have to be more frugal in other areas.
Petrol prices: they have quadrupled so needless to say, most people feel that, and so do we. Fortunately we don't need our car a lot so it's still manageable, but it is still quite an expensive bit from our budget.
These are the main areas in which we're affected. I want to repeat that we're very privileged to be house owners which is a major factor in being able to manage the inflation a bit. But, after all, we still feel it. I will try to elaborate a bit more in a future post on how we still try to save as much as possible despite the increasing prices.
As some of my readers have noticed, we eat quite a lot of pasta! Pasta, in my opinion, is the frugal cook's best friend. The variety of sauces, protein sources and whatever else you add to this starch are just unlimited. Not to mention the kind of pasta you're using, there are just so many choices!
Where we live, pasta is insanely cheap, costing a bit less than €0,15 (or $0,16...) a bag. A bag contains 500 grams/1.10 lbs. This is due to government subsidies on certain food items, to keep them available for all people, including the poor. There's also subsidized bread, semolina, milk, and couscous. But for some reason, pasta seems to be the most popular starch of choice- probably because couscous can be time consuming to prepare. There's a history behind the reason of pasta being so popular. Apparently, around 100 years ago, there were many Sicilians living in Tunisia who brought with them various kinds of pasta. And they quickly fell in love with the pasta! Nowasays, pasta is consumed almost as much here as it is in Italy. I must admit that when I first came here, I was overwhelmed by the variety of pasta shapes and sizes. In the Netherlands we usually did our groceries at a budget supermarket chain where they had spaghetti, elbow macaroni and maybe some bigger shapes such as penne or fussili. Here, the pasta aisle is the most elaborated one of the entire supermarket. Not only are there a lot of different shapes, each shape has different sizes as well, suitable to use in different dishes. Overtime, I've learned which shape and size works best for which dish and we know our preferences. There are also some more luxurious pastas that are more expensive, such as cannoli and lasagna, but most of the pastas are cheap. They also go by different names, in some cases. Most shapes have their original Italian name, but some are changed to Arabic or French, possibly to make pronouncing a bit easier. I think it's fair to say that we don't even eat as much pasta as many other locals here, they consume it that much.
Rice, on the other hand, isn't really a thing here. And not just because it's not a culinary tradition, but the cheapest rice here is 6 times as expensive as pasta. So for many people, including us, rice is really an once in a while treat. I personally am also a bit sensitive to rice. I had no idea that it was a thing (being sensitive to pasta is understandable... you know, wheat, gluten and all that!), but after trying again and again I've noticed that- with many kinds of rice, many ways of preparation- soaking, not soaking, using water, using broth etc. Everytime I eat rice, my esophagus really hurts, as if it's being suffocated or something. I do like rice though, so sometimes I can't help but to "hurt" myself and still eat rice when I prepare it for my family. And every single time I regret it again. I did find some decent replacements, to eat when my family eats rice. These include burgul (or bulgur) wheat, barley, and orzo (rice shaped pasta). It's still different, but a decent replacement in case you can't buy or tolerate rice.
So pasta it is for us, on a lot of days. How do we eat them? Here's some ways we enjoy them most often:
The most well known traditional Tunisian way (recipe soon to come).
Makarouna bechamel, also known as the "Arabic mac 'n cheese"
Italian pasta all'ortolana (with mixed vegetables)
Aglio e olio (garlic and olive oil)
The "Dutch way" of pasta with red sauce, mince, and lots of veggies
Pasta with a creamy sauce and whatever vegetables we have on hand; we had this on Monday, when I used up a lot of chard
Pasta salads during the summer
Pasta based soups; such as mhamsa (Tunisian pearl couscous soup), or makarouna jaria (another kind of soup with small pasta shapes), cream of chicken soup with vermicelli/orzo, etc. We eat these mainly during the winter.
Steamed pastas: vermicelli and nouassar (which is, I think, a very traditional shape that isn't even found in Italy - it's flat, like the shape of a small postage). We also have a steamed orzo dish regularly. Steaming pasta is probably a very north African thing to do, and it's very yummy. Some steamed pastas are one pot meals whereas others have a separate sauce/stew added on top.
And of course, pasta is very suitable for using up all kinds of leftovers! This is probably one of my favourites as you never know what you end up with and it's never disappointing.
We do eat some Asian style dishes with noodles too, however, I don't think that fits in this post and probably needs it's own post.
So, these were some of the reasons why we eat a lot of pasta and how we eat them.
I guess I was on a blogging binge yesterday. It can happen... 😃
We've had a few weeks of nice autumn weather, in March and April, but especially for the past two weeks it's been very hot around these parts. It might not be "officially" summer yet in the northern hemisphere, but the weather is certainly more summer-like than spring-like here! I'm aware of the fact that summer is not something everyone necessarily enjoys, especially very hot summers. I still prefer summer over winter though. Even though we don't have very cold winters, I quite enjoy the heat. The added benefit of summers is that there's a lot of things you can save on.
Air conditioning: Our days without putting on the air conditioning are probably numbered, we can only delay it so much... But, every day without having to put it on is yet another one! Yeah, I know living without air conditioning is the ideal, both frugality wise as environmentally wise. There was a time when I didn't want one for these two reasons, but I'm glad we eventually purchased one. It was during a heat wave, when temperatures outside reached nearly 50°c... (which is 122° f). Living in a desert without air conditioning can be like living in Siberia without heating! It didn't feel as a luxury anymore and we were so relieved after ours was installed. Both my husband and me suffer from the heat when it reaches a certain temperature in the home. He sweats a lot, and gets warm easily. I'm quite the opposite, where the heat kind of stays in my body and doesn't come out because I can't sweat. I also have asthma and a lot of muscle contractions during the summer which both decreased immensely since we have an air conditioning. Still, we try to be relatively frugal with it - we put it on when it becomes almost unbearable and it's set on 26° c (78° f), never lower. We only have one unit in the living room- I guess that's one of the benefits of living in a small home. In our bedrooms we have fans, and I actually prefer sleeping with a fan on rather than AC. Also, the air conditioning is not on all day long. That's how we still try to use it minimal but still make it more bearable during the summer heat. Still, I've found that our "minimal air conditioning use" tends to be cheaper than minimal heating during the winter.
Another way of saving on utilities is by using cold water. Our pipes are outside the house which means the water heats up fast. On very hot summer days that means you can have a warm shower with "cold" water. This applies to the washing machine too- I usually turn the temperature setting completely off, as it's usually still at least 30°c, if not more. Same with doing dishes. We also try not to cook dishes with a long cooking time to avoid heating up the kitchen, and use the oven less.
Speaking of laundry: since line drying is something we do all year round, it's not necessarily a saving, but it is much easier now than it is during the winter. Also, since the house isn't cold like it is during the winter, we wear less layers of clothes. Less clothes = less laundry.
Gas: our car is mostly used to drive and pick up the children from school. Since they have a three month long break during the summer, we're defenitely saving on gas. We still use the car during the summer break, but much less than our average use.
Fun things: since it's so hot here, it's not adviced to go outside during most part of the day, so we really need to find ways to entertain ourselves at home. This usually happens to be a lot cheaper too! We do enjoy going outside at night for a stroll and an ice cream every so often. Vacations are not something we do a lot, last year was the first time in 4 years that we went on a small vacation. To be honest I'd rather stay home, but I did enjoy the children having a great time. I'm not sure whether we'll go on a vacation this year or not, but if we go, it'll be as frugal as possible. We don't go abroad but stay in our country. Since we live in a small country, it's just a few hours drive to get to the coastal region.
Food: we generally eat less during the summer, and prefer lighter meals with more veggies. In season produce is quite cheap here, fortunately, so that's a big saving right there. I've also noticed that some foods that can spoil quickly (like eggs) tend to be cheaper during the summer months.
As promised, here is my recipe for Douara, a Tunisian offal stew. I use the ingredients as a guide and have no strict measurements, so these are just rough estimates.
• About one kg of offal (we used cow's offal, but sheep or goat is good too) - It's usually a mixture of inestine and tripe, but lungs go well in this dish too
•one onion
•a few heaped spoons of tomato paste
•seasonings of your choice (I used a Tunisian spice mixture, garlic, turmeric, and salt)
•vegetables I used: tomatoes, hot green peppers, potatoes, parsley, and chard
•some cooking oil and water
First off, make sure your meat is very clean. Our butchers clean it thoroughly, but when we home butcher we have to do it ourselves obviously. Then cut into pieces and boil in water, just until the water boils. Then drain. Don't skip this step, it will prevent the dish from becoming bitter.
Then clean the pot (or just get another one), the remainder from the boiled offal can be a bit sticky. Chop your onion and sautee in some oil. Then add the garlic, diced tomatoes, salt, and spices*. Also add in your tomato paste and sautee for another minute or so. Now add in the meat and about three to four cups of water. It depends on how you like your stew and how long it needs to cook (the older the animal, the longer it needs to cook). About an hour into the cooking, add in your chopped vegetables and chopped parsley. You can use any vegetables of your choice, I just use what I had on hand. Leaving out the vegetables altogether (except for the onion) is possible too, I prefer some veggies in my stew though. I cooked this stew for about an hour and a half. Since it was calf offal, it didn't have to cook for hours to get it tender.
We eat this with either baguette from the bakery or homemade bread.
*I use an Tunisian spice mixture called 'tabel karwiya' which consists of mainly caraway and coriander, and if you can't find this spice mixture you can make your own. (A suggestion would be caraway, coriander, turmeric, cumin, and black pepper). I've also found that Chinese 5 spice powder mixed with garam masala (a 1:1 ratio) is a decent replacement. Or you can just use the seasonings of your choice, such as Mexican spices. Also, if you dont use hot pepper (like I did), I'd recommend to add some ground hot pepper, harissa, or other condiment.
Douara (offal stew) with bread - 2x
Roz Djerbi (Tunisian steamed rice dish, but made with orzo instead of rice) - 2x
Adass (lentil stew) with bread - 1x, but with enough leftovers to eat as lunch or to freeze.
Couscous - not every traditional one, made with courgette, onion and chicken fillets. It was very nice though - 1x, but some leftovers for lunch.
And one day, we did just a "leftovers buffet" as we call it. A great way to clear out the fridge when there's different single portions.
Did a bit more batch cooking past week, and also tried to make use of leftovers. In fact, the lentil stew were mainly reinvented leftovers, but with lentils mixed into it.
Most of my clothes are thrifted, but that doesn't mean I don't take good care of them and try to extend their life as much as possible. Fabrics have a bigger environmental impact than most people might expect, and it's just being wasteful with money not to take care of clothes. I do this by not tossing items in the laundry mindlessly (if it's not dirty, it can be worn another time, without guilt!), by wearing an apron when doing "dirty" kitchen stuff, removing stains directly, line drying etc. As a fulltime homemaker, I definitely have some "accidents" every now and then. I'm a bit clumpsy, which is probably why I mentioned removing the stains. And I have a talent for snagging on sharp corners. For some reason, some clothes get stretched out too quickly. Apart from them being too stretched out, they're still in good shape, which makes tossing them such a waste.
In a lot of cases, mending is really helpful to extend the life of many items from the wardrobe. I must admit that I'm terrible at needlework though. My mum used to sew, crochet, and knit, but unfortunately, it's not something I inherited from her! Yes, I know that everything can be learned. Still, I think I'll never be good at this, partially due to bad fine motor skills. Everyone is good at something else in the end, so it's not that I mind it that much. I'm fortunate to have a husband who is good at these things, and not only that, but in fact enjoys mending. So in my opinion, the perfect solution for a clumsy homemaker who still doesn't want to get rid of clothes that quickly.
I think, without exaggerating, we've already saved hundreds of euros by mending clothes- just everytime there was something my husband mended (not only for me, but the entire family) we could have bought a new item. So that's defenitely a huge saving! It's amazing how clothes can be rescued from going into the landfill by minimal effort. Oh, and did I mention we don't even have a sewing machine? It's something that we'd like in the future, perhaps for even making all of our clothes altogether instead of just to repair. But for now, we don't have one, and are still be able to save so much money by mending our clothes. It's sometimes these small efforts that people tend to forget when trying to save money but small things really add up.
I already mentioned how I love batch cooking. It saves time, cooking fuel, and effort, allowing me to focus on other chores around the house on days I don't have to cook, but only reheat our previously cooked meal.
People have mixed opinions about batch cooking. Probably the main misconception is that when you batch cook, you have to make do with a very repetitive way of eating. I don't necessarily think that we have to vary like in the way it's being propagated by most modern day nutritionists (fueled by the "food" industry). A so called "varied diet" is quite overrated in my opinion. The funny thing is though, people who think they eat very varied often are only doing so with their dinner while being very repetitive when it comes to breakfasts and lunches. Whereas for us, it's very rare that we eat the same breakfast for two days in a row. So I guess that despite batch cooking, we still do vary enough.
If I batch cook a certain dish, we usually eat the same every other day. So, for example, if I make a stew on Monday, we have it again on Wednesday. And on Tuesday and Thursday, we either eat another batch cooked meal, or I make two separate meals. Two sperate cooked meals can happen because I don't batch cook every dish, although I do batch cook most of the dishes we eat. I also do is what I call "half batch cooking". I may cook up a pasta sauce and have it with different kinds of pasta and side dishes/protein sources. Or I steam a large batch of couscous and we have it with different sauces. Even if this method isn't strictly batch cooking, it still saves a lot of time, because more than half of the work has already been done. And an additional bonus is that it's still a bit less repetitive than eating the exact dish being eaten twice.
I also batch cook ingredients such as the legumes that we use as a source of protein in many dishes. Since some legumes take up a long time to cook, it's best to cook them in larger amounts. As we speak, there's a pot of chickpeas boiling now. I'll devide that in several portions; a part for tonight's dinner and the rest goes in the freezer for later use. I do the same with lentils, despite the fact that they don't have nearly such a long cooking time. Even if it doesn't necessarily saves a lot of cooking time, it saves a lot of energy -and my sanity. If I make a legume based stew, I usually cook a double batch too. It doesn't go in the freezer usually, but we just finish it within a few days, not necessarily for dinner but for lunches too. I also keep small portions in the freezer for my mother in law, since she can't tolerate everything I cook, so I don't always have to cook separately for her. When baking bread, I also make bigger quantities and freeze is right after it's cooled down. That way, we can enjoy freshly baked bread with a bit less of effort.
Some other concern which is mentioned often is food safety. Even though I have some anxieties when it comes to food, food safety of home cooked foods is not something I worry about a lot. If you think you get sick of eating certain foods, you will probably get sick (in most cases). The thing is, people are afraid of storing foods in the fridge and eat it within 3 days or so- to me, that's just silly. If that's the case, what do you need a fridge for anyway? Most vegetables will keep outside the fridge. In fact, some last even longer outside the fridge, when stored properly. I think most foods can be stored in fridges longer than the official guidelines says. I usually know how long a certain type of cooked food will last, based on experience. If I'm not sure whether or not I'm using up something that's been there for a few days already, and I'm neither planning to freeze it, I simply reheat it to the point that it's been boiled thoroughly. That way, foods can technically be stored for ages if it's then put away again in a new, clean container. Because any bacteria have been boiled dead, it's as if you've cooked up something freshly. By this method, I've rescued quite a lot foods from spoilage. I know this might be a bit controversial and certainly not officially advised, but it does work for us and I have no concerns whatsoever.
The taste is yet another concern, and I find it a bit interesting that I've heard this concern more than once, because my experience is quite the contrary. In my experience, most dishes improve as they age. This is also why slow cooking methods are much better, taste wise. The faster food cooks, the less taste is has (with a few exceptions such as stir frying). Especially soups, sauces and stews taste much better the next day. This is why I sometimes make certain foods in advance. So in my opinion, this is another benefit of batch cooking; the next batch is even tastier! That's defenitely a win win if you ask me.
When I was pregnant with my youngest (11 years ago... Time certainly flies!), I batch cooked a lot. The 2nd batch went directly into the freezer to have some quick meals during my postpartum period. It turned out to be very handy as I was hospitalized for a week after giving birth and my husband was taking care of our oldest daughter while being injured himself, after a car hit him. If you have a surgery planned, having a baby, or knowing you'll have an insanely busy time ahead for whatever reason, batch cooking and then freezing that food is really a good solution to still have homemade food with less effort. It's almost like a takeaway, but healthier and cheaper. And about everything can be kept in the freezer, you just need to know how to store certain foods. What I also love about batch cooking is that there's always foods for unexpected visitors. Yes, people will technically be "served leftovers" but I don't see a reason to be squeamish about that. It's not different than freshly cooked foods. And I've never heard that people had anything against it either, around these parts anyhow.
So, despite all the objections people may have, I love batch cooking and will probably continue doing so for the rest of my life, as long as we have a fridge.
I've struggled a lot with keeping up with my recipes. It's mainly baking recipes, as they should be followed more precisely than cooking. I don't have a real recipe for most dishes and just use what I have on hand/what's in season etc. Baking is a bit different though, as a bit too much of baking powder or butter can totally ruin the end result! Let alone if I don't remember what temperature the oven should be set on. It's just that I don't like writing. Well, I do enjoy writing (or else I wouldn't be blogging), but not physical handwriting. I know that there are probably more apps than I am aware of, which all claim that they have the perfect solution to this problem. However, I don't like to be dependent on my phone too much. Screens can be addictive and I already spend more time on my phone than is good for me. I'm also afraid that if something were to happen, I lost everything.
I also want to have something physical which was really made and written by myself (despite my ugly handwriting!), to start a family tradition of passing on recipes. I really like a lot of old fashioned stuff. And when I think of handwriting recipe cooks, that's really an old fashioned tradition that should be kept alive, in my opinion. Whenever I read about people who have family recipes being passed down by their grandmother, it honestly makes me a bit jealous! I never had this opportunity. My eldest late grandmother passed away when I was 13 and I guess I was too young to think about her recipes; if she had written them down at all, which I doubt. My other late grandmother passed away 8 years ago, but to say she was a picky eater would be an understatement. Were she willing to get help she'd probably be diagnosed with ARFID. I don't recall her ever having cooked a meal for us; she nearly only ate cheese sandwiches. And when we came to visit her, she usually made pancakes. So, unfortunately we don't really have family recipes. That means I'm the first one to be starting this tradition! I don't want my children to miss out too. This will also include recipes that are being passed down by my mother in law (which she in turn learned from her mother). She's illiterate, so she cannot write them down herself. I think it's very cool to have such a strong connection with ancestors; through food. Of course, we hope we'll all be given much years to come to spend together as a family without having to worry about whether recipes were written down... But still, one can't start early enough.
And it's not just in case something were to happen to me- even with small calamities, it can come in handy. I realised this when I really needed a certain recipe but there was an internet blackout. Our internet connection isn't that strong, and blackouts are quite common here, but they usually last for a few minutes. That specific time, it lasted for hours! I ended up making something else, of which I was sure I knew the measurements of the ingredients. From then on I've tried to write down my recipes. One at a time. Since I don't like handwriting (I have a terribly looking handwriting and writing for more than 10 minutes just hurts my arms), it's a slow progress, but slow progress is better than no progress at all, after all. I try to at least write down a few recipes a week. Sometimes it takes a few weeks until I write down even one single recipe, but i'm getting there slowly. What I'm writing it down in is nothing fancy; just a basic notebook. Maybe one day when I get a really pretty notebook I might have to re-write everything again... 😆
I've made a few categories: breads, cookies, cakes, and miscellaneous (for things that don't fit in other categories). I guess I'll have to write down my main dishes too, although that's going to be a bit more challenging. Whenever I share recipe online of a main dish, it's always estimated and never precisely, so if I write them down in a notebook it's not going to be any different. The main dishes deserve a separate notebook, in my opinion. It'll be the next project when my current one is finished.
And I won't be tempted to use any app on my phone for this.
On monday, DH and I decided to do some shopping at the souk, the north African equivalent of a wet market. I love going there every so often. Everything is divided by category- vegetables, fish, etc. There's also a large meat section. We wanted to see what the butchers sold that day- as they don't always sell the same meats everyday. We were all craving an organ meat dish, which I'll go to in a minute. I also wanted to see if they had some fat to render.
Coming from Europe, it's quite interesting how it all works here when it comes to meat. First off, meat is very expensive here, hence, it's not something that's eaten a lot. Most people here won't eat meat on a daily basis, especially red meat. And we are no exception to that. Since meat is so expensive, people are in general not very picky, so they won't just eat only certain cuts of meat. They don't shy away from eating the "weird" parts - or which is considered weird in western societies, anyhow. Everything of the animal is appreciated equally, it seems. Since I was raised as a vegetarian, I think this is why it's not that big of a deal to me. I wasn't used to eating only chicken breasts and mince, like many Europeans, rather all meat was foreign to me anyway. So when I did start to eat meat, because of that, I didn't differentiate between a chicken breast and sheep lungs. It's not to say that people here eat the "weird" parts just because it's more economical. In fact, some parts are truly considered a delicacy.
I wanted to make douara (a stew with offal meat), something which we realized we didn't have in a long time and is one of our favourite dishes. There is absolutely no reason to look down upon organ meat; organ meats are super nutritious, and delicious. If the picky eaters would only get over their initial hesitation! The fun thing is, that even if it's not insanely cheap, the "regular" meat is 5 times as expensive, or 3 times as expensive when it comes to very old meat that requires a long cooking time. It's interesting that organ meat is becoming more and more popular in certain circles, especially those that focus on eating a nourishing tradition kind of diet, also known as ancestral diets.
Honouring the whole animal and being appreciative for the nutrients that all of the animal has to offer, is also known as 'nose to tail eating'. Where we live, one can take that quite literally! When we walked by some of the butchers (there are a lot to choose from) there were several butchers selling heads: goat, sheep and cow's heads. I was amazed by how massive that cows head was though! I must probably be integrated quite well, because I don't have a problem seeing this. I do eat meat, so I have no problem to see that it actually came from an real animal. I would have a problem eating meat from a factory, but I know these animals were raised at the countryside, which is probably also why they're expensive.
Hopefully I'll be posting my douara recipe soon.
Years ago, I ate a lot of Heinz sandwich spread- it was a good vegetarian option in a time when there was not a lot to choose from besides cheese. Being frugal as I was, I later switched to the generic brands when they developed their own version. Even though I wasn't vegetarian anymore, I still liked it, and still didn't eat meat on bread. Now I make my own, as they don't sell anything like this around these parts. The homemade version is obviously healthier, but I find it way more flavourful as well. As it's quite perishable compared to the store bought version, I don't make large batches at once. Or I only prepare the vegetables so I can mix in the remaining ingredients on the spot. This past week, I made a batch sandwich spread to have on baguette with lentil soup. There was some leftovers for the next day. When it comes to perishable foods, I'm always a bit anxious not to make too much as I'm so cautious about wasting anything.
I always make it a bit different, depending on what's in season and what I have at home. This is how I made it:
An onion, cut in half and sliced very thinly Grated carrots, turnips and courgette Some homemade sauerkraut Seasonings: salt, red pepper flakes, dried parsley, and garlic
Mayonnaise and double concentrated tomato paste
Sautee the onion and then add the carrots, sautee this with the onion for about a minute, then add the seasonings, turnip, and courgette. Stirr well and cover your pot with a lid. The turnip and courgette will release liquid so don't add any liquid. After about 10 minutes, check the doneness and if it's tender but there's still some liquid, let it evaporate without the lid. Then allow to cool completely and when it's cooled down enough, add the mayonnaise and tomato paste. The tomato paste isn't essential, but it kind of duplicates the store bought version that I liked the most. Then add some well drained sauerkraut. You can add any other fermented or pickled vegetables, this is just what I had on hand. The fermented vegetables not only adds in some extra nutrients, it's also a flavour enhancer- there should be a bit of tangy flavour in this sandwich spread, in my opinion.
Just use your creativity and remember to use what you have, rather than to run to the store for single items. No mayonnaise? No problem! Make your own, or use yogurt/cream cheese/even leftover bechamel sauce. Use any veggie you like. No fermented/pickled vegetables? Add in some lemon zest and juice, or vinegar etc.
As I mentioned previously, I wanted to do a post about making your own seitan. I really don't know why it took so long to post it, or ev...
