Month: April 2016
Not all recipes are a success
Not all recipes we try for the blog succeed. Some might seem a good idea for a post, but after repeated tries we might declare defeat, to much regret of the other food interpreter. The spectrum of abandoned recipes ranges from the disgusting to the blunt. The disgusting are an obvious choice to drop- but the blunt? We always feel that we did something not quite right – perhaps next time we will change the measures a little and it will succeed. Fact is, you know quite early if the recipe has a chance or not. Of course we end up eating the blunt; at least the ingredients are of a good quality, and we have a topic to discuss over dinner. And then there are the photos. We end up with a stock of photos we like for recipes we do not (the opposite is also often the case). Uploading the finished dish will not do – but why not the tomatoes, onions, eggs and peppers?
Spicy Shrimps and feta gratin
This is a recipe of my mother in law, who is an opiniated cook. When she cooks anything from the tradition of Smyrna she keeps to the letter of family recipes; there is only one way to prepare soutzoukakia or imam. Deviations are not acceptable: ‘why do the call it soutzoukakia if they add bread in the minced meat?’ There is always a hint of discredit in quotes like that. When the obligation of tradition does not apply, she lets her taste of spicy and well defined flavours prevail, as I hope you will find out in the following recipe. 500g shrimps shelled and deveined (fresh or frozen) 1 medium onion (about 120g), finely chopped 4 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes 6 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped ( plus 1 Tbsp for the garnish) 1 tsp mustard powder 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1/2 cup dry white wine 1 tsp brown sugar 1,5 cup feta, crumbled Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main dish. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Heat 2 Tbsp …
the food interpreters 