Food multiculturalism - Croatian pizza, Bosnian gelati, German stir fry (don't worry we said 'no' to the fritz sandwich)

A beautiful morning despite the early hour

So our tummies are feeling a little crook. It has been a long day and our choice of food at each location was not, what one would say, the best.  Getting up too early to make the hotel breakfast, ‘Olly and I went empty stomach on the ferry from Hvar town to Split.   At the very glamous Split port we had about five minutes spare between the ferry and the bus.  (This was another example of the website not quite corresponding to the actual timetable.)  We had just enough time to fit in a scrumptious slice of Croatian pizza, a chocolate filled berliner bun and a bottle of coke.  Healthy breakfast.  We both concluded that Croatian pizza is quite like Italian pizza only square.  (The name of ‘Olly’s coke btw was Laura.  Mine was unpronounceable.)  

Seriously...

We jumped onto the bus – well I actually jumped on to the wrong bus by accident only to find it was completely empty. Second time lucky I was then able to snooze for the first leg of the trip to Dubrovnik.  Actually, ‘Olly snoozed while I kept watch to make sure she was still alive.  ‘Olly’s sleeping habits are rather unusual in public transport.  I was most concerned when I saw that she had face planted the seat.  I wasn’t quite sure whether she had had a stroke or suffocated but before checking her breathing or pulse I made sure I took a photo.  She remained in that position for quite some time so I figured she was comfortable.

The trip from Split to Dubrovnik takes some time and we were quite miffed when the bus driver decided to make an extra long stop in Bosnia. We made the best of the situation and in keeping with out desire to test the local delights we ate Bosnian gelati and admired the view of the Adriatic sea from the bus park.  Like Croatian pizza, Bosnian gelati is quite like the Italian version. 

Concrete cafe

After our terribly inconvenient stop over, we were back on the road; ‘Olly assumed her usual bus position while I listen to some tunes – namely fuck you by Lilly Allen.  I was fondly thinking “fuck you” to the bus driver for making our trip unnecessarily long.  After another border control in Bosnia we finally arrived at Dubrovnik just a few minutes too late for the airport shuttle bus – Lilly Allen was still ringing in my head.  We made friends with a honeymooning couple from Woollongong and shared a cab to the airport.  We didn’t feel the need to consume any food in the taxi however while at the airport we ate a foul chicken coucous salad, some spinach and cheese Croatian concoction resembling the common dog turd and ‘Olly had another not so Italian cuppa coffee.  We also spent a few hours sunning ourselves in the idyllic concrete car park café. 

While we had already had a fairly long day, we had much more to come.  In a bid to save some cashola, ‘Olly and I had decided to fly via Munich on the way home and for some reason we thought we should eat…again.   After all, it was diner time. ‘Olly had the munchies for some noodles so we settled on a German Asian fusion restaurant.  It wasn’t so bad if you like 2 minute noodles and a tonne of chicken salt. 

While we are not quite home yet we are thankful to even be on the final leg of the journey.  As we casually enjoyed our noodles outside gate 30, it was brought to our attention that it was the final call for our flight.  The moron flight attendant on our earlier flight had told us that we were at gate 8… needless to say this was incorrect and after having our names called out on the loud speaker we ran 25 gates like fatty boombaladas only to be informed that the new gate was gate 31…just behind our original restaurant. Due to our fitness levels we powerwalked 22 gates back and then feigned running for a further 4 gates to save face and after receiving a stern talking to by the grumpy German, we are now sitting on the plane. I am pleased to advise that we have both turned down the offer of a fritz and tomato sandwich and opted instead for a glass of water.  I suppose we can eat at Charles de Gaulle airport if we are hungry upon arrival.  I think not mon ami! Then again, we can always get the taxi to go via a drive through.

We are both rather stuffed but are enjoying the hysterical giggles that overtiredness has brought us.  The only thing that makes me want to cry is that I have to get in a taxi in 7 hours to get on another plane to Geneva.  Holy smokes! @Hollpopp  

Getting creamed...

A good few days have passed already since my last two cooking classes but I make absolutely no 
excuse for this delay in writing as it has taken me this long to recover from the extreme consumption. However after a few days in the Croatian sun, I now feel ready to raconte.

My last few days started with mastering the magic of macarons and ended in getting creamed - so creamed in fact that I don't think I can cream again for some time.

I’ll leave the creaming until later and instead start with macarons.  The class was fun but nowhere near as good as the other classes as it was targeted to tourists a little more than to people who actually have some idea about using a spatula.  Don’t get me wrong, I don't want to be a cooking snob, but it does somewhat help if you actually like to cook and know some of the basics such as know what a saucepan and blender looks like and what they are used for.  Their piping skills probably irked me the most.  Other than Igor, the Serbian pastry chef who currently works in St Petersbourg and was looking to add macarons to his repertoire, no one had the slightest idea about cooking.  Apparently macarons have not hit the Russian market yet and Igor wanted to be the one to make the introductions.  It was more than amusing watching this big burly guy take such an interest in this dainty dessert but he was happy to share some of his tips with us all during the class.

We learnt both the French and the Italian method of macarons and I much prefer the Italian method which involves pouring a hot sugar mix into egg white mixture as it gives you a smoother finish. After dabbling with different flavours and fillings, I learnt that despite their fun and colourful appearance macarons are sickly sweet and quite expensive to make if you want to have a few different flavours. 

Reducing strawberries - Yum!

Fortunately, Olly and I had a dinner party to go to that evening with some friends so my little collection was taken along. Although macarons are supposed to be devoured after a 24 hour waiting period, mine were promptly devoured that very night after the necessary amount of oohing and ahhing from the taste testers.

Now, onto getting creamed. My cream class was a small class of four back at Lenotre. It was mostly smooth sailing until I nearly completely ruined the crème au beurre (butter cream) which was highly embarrassing and left me cursing in French after the chef’s slightly overdramatic shrieks of panic. Besides the almost-burnt crème au beurre, we learnt how to make: crème anglaise (similar to pouring custard), crème pâtissière (similar to thick custard), crème au chocolat (chocolate custard as found in eclairs), crème au cafe (coffee custard as found in eclairs), crème a la pistache (pistachio cream), crème legere (“light” cream similar to pouring cream which was not light at all!), crème caramel and crème brulee.  I think in total we used about 5 kgs of butter. That can either be viewed as delicious or really just disgusting. There was a lot of cream to say the least. I felt totally creamed out by the end of the day and much to my distress, I had to take the damn stuff home. I must admit the crème brulee and the crème caramel were nothing short of delicious and were enjoyed by Olly and myself.

Now days later, I still feel like I am oozing butter and cream from my pores.

Look at this!  This is just pure art!

Gorgeous creations coming out of the oven.

 

Nearly there...

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

150g whipping cream

150g dark chocolate (good quality and minimum 64% cocoa content)
53g butter, room temperature and cubed

Method

Weigh chocolate into medium-sized bowl.  Cut chocolate into small pieces if not already done.  Weigh whipping cream into a saucepan.  Weigh out butter.

Bring whipping cream to a boil.  Pour heated cream over dark chocolate in several stages, making sure it is smooth and well incorporated each time.

Let the mixture cool a little before adding the butter.  Incorporate the butter until smooth.  Place ganache into piping back.  Refrigerate around 40 minutes or until texture is workable.


This is also perfect for the inside of your maracons.

Strawberry Garnish

Ingredients

250g strawberries, diced
50g caster sugar
10g cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Method

Combine strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan.  Place over medium heat and cook until the strawberries soften.  Add the cornstarch and stir, continue to cook until the mixutre boils and thickens.  Remove from heat and let cool in the fridge (mixture will thicken some more).

This is perfect for the inside of your macarons.

Macaron Cookie - French Meringue Method

The French method actually gives you a slightly rough looking meringue.

Ingredients

180g ground almonds

270g powdered sugar

150g egg whites

100g granulated sugar

colouring of choice (powdered not liquid)

Method

Sift ground almonds and powdered sugar together into a mixing bowl.  Measure the egg whites and place into a clean mixer bowl.

Using a whisk attachment, start whisking the egg whites on medium speed and slowly add the sugar.  Gradually increase speed and continue to whisk the whites until they form a flossy stiff meringue and the sugar is dissolved.

Add the colouring and whisk just until combined.  Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the meringue a little at a time and gently blend.  Be careful not to over mix.

Place the mixture into a pastry bag with a size 10mm tip.  Place parchment paper onto a baking sheet and form small rounds.  Option: let rest on baking sheet 15-30 minutes. This helps the any air bubbles escape. Alternatively, you could gently tap the trap against the bench.

Bake at 160 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Let cool on cooling rack and then remove from paper.  The cookies should come off easily if they are cooked through.

Makes about 30 cookies.

# having the exact measurements is important for meringues. Also the reason you use powdered colouring is because liquid colouring makes the mixture too wet.

Macaron Cookie - Italian Meringue Method

The Italian method gives you a smooth meringue.

Ingredients

300g ground almonds
300g powdered sugar
110g egg whites
Colouring of choice (needs to be powdered not liquid colouring)
---
300g sugar
75g mineral water
110g egg whites

Method

Weigh sifted ground almonds and powdered sugar in medium bowl.  Add egg whites and food colouring and mix well.

Preparing the meringue: bring sugar and water to the boil and cook to 118 degrees celsius (this temp is very important).  When sugar is at 115 degrees, start beating the eggs with a whisk (use whisk on kitchen aid or other food processor). When sugar is cooked pour onto the beaten egg whites and continue whisking until the meringue is not hot anymore (50 degrees).

Carefully fold the meringue into the dry ingredients, a little at a time and very gently.  Put mixture into piping bag with size 10mm tip.

Place parchment paper on to baking sheet and form small circles.  Optional: let rest on the baking sheet 15-30 minutes.

Bake at 160 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Let cool on cooling rack and then remove from paper.  It should come off easily if cookie is cooked enough.

Makes about 70 meringues.

In search of the sun

'Olly and I have jetted off to Croatia for a bit of fun in the sun.

We are currently in Dubrovnik which is a pretty town but lacking a little local je ne sais quoi.

Given the terrible weather in Paris, our priority is to find the sun.   Yesterday's quest for sun involved reading and falling asleep on a walkway.  Mind you, that experience was rudely interrupted when some little twat 'accidentally' stepped on my stomach while trying to step over me. Today we spent the whole day lying on the beach trying to get a tan with our 15+ suncream.  I ventured into the water but 'Olly proclaimed that it was far too cold for her to go in.  Whimp! 

The food so far has been ok.  On our first night we found ourselves in a little pizza bar - our two waiters did a fine job of helping us enjoy our experience which included giving us mystery shots of some random liquor.  We shared a pizza, salad and a good hangover in the morning.

After a snooze on the wall

Last night we thought we'd try some local cuisine and so ventured out to a little Bosnian restaurant called the Taj Mahal.  We had tried to get in the evening before but they were fully booked.  I have to say, the food was delicious.  Not quite sure what we had but it certainly wasn't Indian as the name might suggest.

Given it was a Saturday night and Dubrovnik is the place to party we decided to hit the cobble stones and go for a boogie!  In keeping with our usual stylish and sophisticated selves we downed a few buckets of alcohol and bore witness to some incredible bogan tourist behaviour.  Those in glass houses shouldn't throw stones so I will admit that my behaviour wasn't squeaky clean at our final destination - an enormous nightclub hidden inside the old wall.  

Oh Danny-boy - how you were an idiot

We were lured to this nightclub by two Americans and two heavily tattooed Englishmen and when we arrived we were greeted by scantily clad dancers in cages and a huge stage with a few djs and a laser light show.  'Olly amused herself while I was being 'wooed' by one of the young Americans -  he lived in Barcelona and wanted to teach me the salsa (how romantic!).  Ha!  I had been up to my old tricks and told them we were from New Zealand. This proved quite difficult to follow up as they proceeded to ask a series of geographical questions for which neither I nor 'Olly had any idea.

My American love of 2 hours and I didn't quite see eye to eye on how the evening was to conclude.  A fake name and number sufficed and I merrily skipped down the stairs with 'Olly to go home.  [Olly also made it quite clear that it was hometime]. There was another display of Croatian efficiency upon our

Dubrovnik by night

departure as we had to find out own jackets in the cloak room  - not quite sure where the guy had gone.  I found myself helping a few people out too - one Croatian man took offence to me speaking English to him.  He said: "I am Croatian, no need to speak to me in English".  My response was: "I am not Croatian, I am Australian and I don't speak Croatian and more importantly, I don't actually work here.  But if you would like me to give you a coat hanger for your coat, I would be happy to do so".  He declined my request.  

It was dumping down with rain on our way home and being old revellers 

Olly is going to throttle me
when she sees this photo

that we are, we were pre-prepared with an umbrella.  We escorted a young 16 year old girl to the pile gate - she said that nightclub was one of the only places you could get in underage.  Charming.

The next morning my headache was compounded by the knowledge 'Olly had secured some photographic evidence of the previous night's antics. Hmm.

Tomorrow we have a big day of travel as we are heading to Hvar.  We have an 8am bus to Split and then a ferry to Hvar Town on Hvar Island.  It should be interesting!  

Lunch Day 1 - Fresh squid

Testing out my
bridesmaid skills

He caught nothing other
than white bait