Recipe Roundup: Foods from Kitchens Around the World

Are some of your greatest travel memories connected to food? Bring a little culinary flair to your own kitchen and dive into these recipes from our friends around the world.

Breakfast: Apple Lavender Pancakes

Start the day off with something new and wake up to some fresh flavours. Check out this recipe for apple lavender pancakes, thanks to the experts at Lyndoch Lavender Farm in South Australia.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup self-rising flour, sifted
• 2 tbsp superfine sugar
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 granny smith apples, peeled, grated
• 2 tsp L. angustifolia lavender seeds
• Low fat frozen yogurt or cream, to serve

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and lavender see in a bowl. Add egg and milk. Whisk until smooth. Stir in apples.
2. Heat a non-stick frying pan, lightly greased with butter, or spray with oil. Pour ¼ cup of mixture into pan. Gently spread out with back of spoon to a 4-inch round.
3. Cook pancakes in batches for 2 minutes or until bubbles for on surface. Flip and cook for 1 to 2 minutes or until cooked through. (Keep pancakes warm in oven whilst finishing batch.) Serve with kiwi fruit or strawberry for decoration and frozen yogurt or cream.

Side Dish: Traditional Irish Soda Bread

Have you tried making your own bread? Instead of sourdough, let’s give traditional Irish soda bread a try. Bake like a professional when you use this recipe from Cooks Academy in Dublin.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 3 tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ½ tbsp salt
• 1 egg, separated
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 3 tbsp buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 390 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix all but buttermilk and egg into a bowl.
3. Rub butter into all of the ingredients by hand.
4. Mix in buttermilk and egg, and leave a little to brush on top.
5. Score the top of the bread, and brush the egg and buttermilk mixture onto the exterior.
6. Bake for 22 minutes.
7. Enjoy warm with dinner.

First Course: Pasta Alla Norma

Did you know that the first course, or “il primo,” in Italy is usually pasta? Check out these steps for the tasty Pasta Alla Norma from one our Italy Tour Managers – Luigi Arveda.

Ingredients: (for 6 servings)

• ⅝ lb penne pasta
• ½ lb eggplant
• 5 oz salted ricotta
• ¾ lb canned tomatoes
• 1 ¾ oz chopped onion
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 5 basil leaves
• 1 small clove of garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the eggplant into small cubes. Lightly salt them and let them rest so that they lose excess water.
2. Place olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the chopped onion and the garlic clove.
3. Add the diced eggplant, tomato pulp, salt, and pepper and cook for 20–30 minutes. Remove the garlic clove.
4. When the sauce is almost ready, cook the penne in salted boiling water and when cooked al dente, toss the penne with the sauce in a nice serving bowl.
5. Add the basil and grated salted ricotta or diced mozzarella.

Soup: Seafood Gumbo & Potato Soup

Consider tasting a melting pot of cultures with a seafood gumbo, one of our favorites from New Orleans’ Court of Two Sisters Restaurant.

Ingredients: (20 servings)

• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1 cup bell pepper, diced
• 2 cups white onion, diced
• 2 cups okra, sliced
• 1 ½ tsp pureed garlic or garlic paste
• 1 cup margarine or cooking oil
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped
• 1 ½ lbs small or medium shrimp, peeled
• 6 qts water
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 ½ lbs gumbo crabs
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 pint oysters
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp Kitchen Bouquet (a browning & seasoning sauce)

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, make a medium-dark roux of the flour and margarine, heating the margarine until it is sizzling and gradually adding the flour and darkening.
2. Add seasonings and vegetables, and cook until vegetables are limp, and let cool about 30 minutes.
3. Boil shrimp separately, reserving stock. Add roux and vegetables to stock and blend well until thickened.
4. Add oysters, crab, shrimp, and Kitchen Bouquet for colour. Simmer 30 minutes.
5. Serve over rice.

Or maybe you’ll try a recipe for pasta e patate (potato soup with pasta) from another Tour Manager, Luciana Lyons.

Ingredients:

• 2 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
• ¼ cup (or 50 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 rib of celery, coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp pasta sauce
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 4 oz diced pancetta
• 10 oz spaghetti, broken into smaller pieces
• Parmigiano cheese

Directions:

1. Dice potatoes and celery and add to a large pot. Add a little olive oil to the bottom, just enough to coat it, along with the diced pancetta. Sauté until soft.
2. Add pasta sauce and stock and stir. When potatoes are soft, and soup has a nice gold colour, you’re ready to add the spaghetti. Important: Only add the pasta when you are ready to eat!
3. Grate fresh Parmigiano cheese on top. Any good Neapolitan also adds the rinds or whatever is left of the Parmigiano cheese. When cooked into the soup, it adds a delicious flavor!

Second Course: Carne Adovada

Why not shake things up and cook a beloved meat dish from Santa Fe? Try sizzling up carne adovada from the Rancho de Chimayo Restaurant.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp canola/vegetable oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 8 oz (about 25) whole, dried New Mexico red chile pods
• 4 cups water
• 2 tbsp crushed chile pequin (dried, hot New Mexican chile flakes)
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• ½ tsp crumbled dried Mexican oregano
• 3 lbs thick, boneless, shoulder pork chops, trimmed of fat & cut into 1-2 inch cubes

Directions:

1. Warm oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté until just golden. Immediately remove from heat.
2. Break stems off chile pods and discard seeds. (It isn’t necessary to remove every seed, but most should be removed.) Place chiles in a sink or large bowl, rinse carefully, and drain.
3. Place damp pods in one layer on a baking sheet and toast in oven for about 5 minutes, watching carefully to avoid burning. Chiles can have a little remaining moisture. Remove from oven and let cool.
4. Break each chile into 2 or 3 pieces. In a blender, puree half of pods with 2 cups water. (You will still be able to see tiny pieces of chile pulp.) Pour into saucepan with garlic. Repeat with remaining pods and water.
5. Stir remaining sauce ingredients into chile sauce and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce will thicken, but should remain a little soupy. Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature. Stir pork into chile sauce and refrigerate overnight.
6. The next day, preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Oil a large, covered baking dish. Spoon carne adovada into baking dish. Cover dish and bake until meat is completely tender and sauce has cooked down, about 3 hours. Stir once about halfway through. If sauce remains water after 3 hours, stir well again and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes more. Serve hot.

Dessert: Bananas Foster

Cap off your meal by satisfying your sweet tooth! Try this bananas foster recipe from the Court of Two Sisters Restaurant in New Orleans.

Ingredients: (6 servings)

• 6 whole bananas, quartered
• ¼ lb of butter
• 3 cups brown sugar
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 2 oz banana liqueur
• 2 oz brandy
• 6 dishes vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1. Melt butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a saucepan.
2. Add bananas and banana liqueur, letting cook until thoroughly heated.
3. Flame with brandy.
4. Serve over ice cream.

Cocktails: Italian Aperol Spritz & Pisco Sour

Cheers to trying new foods with a few international cocktail recipes. Flex your bartending skills with an Italian Aperol Spritz recipe from vinepair.com. And check out our video on how to make it!

 Ingredients:

• 3 oz of Aperol
• 2 oz of Sparkling Dry Wine (like Prosecco)
• 1 oz of Seltzer Water
• Orange slice for Garnish

Directions:

1. Fill a wine or lager glass with ice.
2. Add the Aperol, prosecco and sparkling water and stir until well chilled.
3. Garnish with a slice of orange and serve immediately.

Or maybe you’ll try the beloved Pisco Sour, the national drink of Peru. Take a sip of the culture with this recipe from Cala, a restaurant in Lima.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz pisco (grape brandy)
• 1 ozlemon juice
• 1 oz simple syrup
• 1 egg white
• 1 dash of angostura bitters

Directions:

1. Mix the pisco, lemon juice,simple syrup, angostura bitter, and the egg white in a cocktail shaker.
2. Mix with ice and shake rigorously for 10 to 12 seconds to combine all ingredients.
3. Place a few drops of angostura bitters in the centre of the foam before serving.

Which recipe will you try first? Let us know on our Facebook page!