Tag Archives: Food Blog UK

My Expedia World on a Plate

December 17, 2015 By in Lifestyle Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 24 Comments

Bulgarian Dish

I have been busy thinking and dreaming of various Bulgarian Recipes, trying to think of at least 1 great, tasty Bulgarian dish to blog about, and guess what? I found TWO, yayyy.

The people of Expedia got in touch, and challenged me to get involved in their World on a Plate challenge, which is simply, creating a Bulgarian meal from scratch and sharing with you guys. I have never been to Bulgaria, and I am not a food blogger, but I always up for a challenge, and if you have been reading Fashion and Style Police for a while, you should know that by now. Remember my last food challenge with Travelodge, I am always eager to do something new, so here I am, going ahead with this World on a Plate challenge.

I was sent a HUGE hamper filled up with Bulgarian goodies; Bulgarian cheese, yoghurt, pork, meat, wine, biscuits, pasta, tea, semolina, name it, I received it.I also received a Voucher to cover the costs of anything else I might need to cook up the dish. Armed with the food stuffs, voucher and some extensive research (took me weeks to finally decide on what to make), I decided to go for two recipes, Meatballs in rich tomato sauce also known as Kyufteta po Chirpanski, and Semolina Porridge with fruit.

 

Semolina porridge with fruit

I choose this recipe because it is fast, easy, and does not require a lot of ingredients. I wanted something a bit plain, for the kids to enjoy so I thought this would be a great option. I also wanted a quick dish, and this was done in under 30 minutes.

 

Bulgarian Semolina Recipe

 

Time preparation

10 minutes

Cooking time

15 minutes

Serves:

2

 

Ingredients

6 tablespoons semolina

180 ml water

2 apples

2 tsp of sunflower oil

50ml  orange, mango and passion fruit juice

Cooked Apples

 

Method of Preparation
1. Boil the Semolina in water while stirring.
2. Cut the apples into small chunks, and boil in some orange, mango and passion fruit juice.
3. Mash the apples up.
4. Add the mashed apples to the cooked semolina, add oil, stir and serve warm.

Semolina with Fruit

 

I found this dish very different but tasty. It is completely different from porridges I am used to, but I liked it, and the kids loved it as well. It is a great dish to offer children from 6 months, and I had fun playing around with this recipe, so a win-win.

 

Meatballs in rich tomato sauce

I wanted to incorporate some meatballs into the second recipe. Meatballs dishes are Bulgarian classics, they are amongst the most popular Bulgarian recipes, so I decided to go for the famous Meatballs in rich tomato sauce.

Meatballs

 

Time Preparation

10 minutes

Cooking Time

25 minutes

Ingredients

600g Meatballs

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic

1 can of chunky chopped tomatoes in tomatoes juice

1 cooking spoon of sunflower oil

1 big red pepper

1 small red pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp curry

1 tsp thyme

 

Method of Preparation

  1. Heat up the sunflower oil
  2. Fry the meatballs along with the garlic, turning it frequently for 5 minutes
  3. Put in the blended tomatoes, onions, and peppers.
  4. Stir and leave to boil for 10 minutes
  5. Add salt, curry and thyme.
  6. Leave to boil for another 10 minutes (or until the oil comes to the top of the sauce).
  7. Serve warm

 

Bulgarian Dish

 

We enjoyed this Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with some Bulgarian pasta, but you can also have it with rice, semolina or bread.

Taking part in this challenge opened my eyes to yummy world of the Bulgarian cuisines, and I will be playing around with the rest of the goodies over the Christmas holidays.

Have you ever had a Bulgarian dish? What do you think of these recipes? Drop me a comment, let’s chat.

Thanks for reading and have a fab day.

 

*This is a collaborative post.

 

 

 

Food Challenge: Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Lancashire Cheese

November 5, 2015 By in Lifestyle Tags: , , , , , , , , , 51 Comments

I was recently challenged by Travelodge to create a Northern dish. I have lived in North for over 5 years now, and I can say I know a thing or 2 about the dishes, so I decided to give it a go. With a budget of £50, I went into Sainsburys to get the items I needed, which were:

  1. 450g Potatoes
  2. Mixed Vegetables
  3. 250g Lancashire Cheese
  4. Salt
  5. Black Pepper
  6. 2 fat cloves of Garlic
  7. 25g Butter

North Treats

I wanted to make a simple dish I could share with my kids. I wanted a dish centred around Lancashire Cheese, and I didn’t want to complicate things as I am not a food blogger, but I do love a good challenge. My kids love anything with potatoes in it, so I decided to make mashed potatoes with garlic and Lancashire cheese.

Here are the steps:

  1. Start by placing the garlic in a small saucepan with the butter, leave it on the lowest heat possible to melt and infuse for 20 minutes.
  2. While that is melting, thinly peel the skins of the potatoes and cut them into even-sized chunks, or cut any large potatoes into quarters and small ones into halves if you prefer that.
  3. Place the potatoes in a steamer, sprinkle 1 level dessertspoonful of salt, put a lid on and let them cook for 20 minutes, or until it feels tender in the centre when tested with a skewer.
  4. While that is cooking, start to grate the cheese and stem some mixed vegetables.

Grating Cheese

5. Once the potatoes are cooked, with an electric hand whisk, switch to slow and begin to break up the potatoes, then add the melted butter and garlic, some black pepper and a handful of the grated cheese. Now switch the speed to high and continue adding the cheese, a handful at a time, while you whisk.

6. As you whisk the cheese in, the potatoes will turn translucent and glossy, which means it will be ready to be served soon, as you continue to lift and whisk, it will form stiff, glossy peaks. When all the cheese is in, it is ready to be served.

Mixing the Cheese

7. Add some mixed vegetables and enjoy with a bottle of wine (water or juice for the kids, lol). You can also add some gravy if you want, I tend not to as I find it a little too salty.

Lancashire Cheese and Veg

I found this dish quite tasty, I love the smell of garlic, and you can really taste the garlic in the food, the black pepper added a bit of spice to it as well. It was a delicious Northern treat, my kids loved it.

What do you think? What is your favourite Northern dish? Drop me a comment, let’s chat.

*This is a collaborative post.

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