Back to Italy Tomorrow

Well it’s been a fun, busy, and all-round a great couple of weeks on the amazing ship Koningsdam from Holland America Line traveling port to port from Amsterdam in the north around the coast line of Portugal, Spain, into the calm waters of the Mediterranean Ocean and back into Rome Italy for tomorrow Tuesday 3^rd October. 

The flexibility of the cruise has helped give us a great insight into the different foods and cultures of the regions that we have sailed into. The cruise also made it so easy to attend so many cooking classes in places that otherwise would have been difficult to get to, let alone me drive in!!!! Spanish drivers are worse than the Italians, but at least in Italy I can sort of understand the signage and the language.

The high lights food wise for me was the many ways that the octopus was cooked and prepared as part of the frequent Tapas opportunities we had the delight to consume on the way. The new way that we will now look at sherry as food paring option.

The paella cooking class in Malaga, Spain was such a great day and with the local chef with all her tips, this will certainly become a new dish that I will be able to prepare on the deck back at The Retreat, may need some volunteers … any takers?
 

 

So, looks like we will be doing some shopping for a paella pan too on our return as well as many other cooking gadgets we have seen and used on the way. Saw some great stuff here but as we still have 2 months adventures in front of us it’s just too much to carry!
Tomorrow we pick up a car at Rome airport and restart our Italian food journey and adventures as we head south. Our aim is to end up on the island of Sicily, if you are looking at a map it’s the ball at the toe as they say. We will also spend some time traveling through more of the southern parts of Italy and into the bottom food regain of Calabria, that we didn’t get to on our 2014 trip. 
So, after this southern trip over the next several weeks we will have seen and cooked in 17 of the 20 food regions of Italy. In 2018 from April till July we are returning to get to see the last 3 food regions so Sandy can work on her next cook book. This cook book will follow our past few years traveling and cooking in Italy and her passion for fresh produce and food preserving.

Heading south to capture some of the last warmth of the Italy sun as we are now a month into the Italian autumn. Locals tell us the further south we go the longer the warm weather will be with us.
 
We are also hoping to see how the spicy influences that Morocco and Africa have on the food culture in Sicily.
Sicily is closer to Africa than it is to Roma so looking forward to the Spice. 


The onboard Culinary Art Centre has also been a great spot on our sea days as well as some evening attending cooking classes and demonstration. It’s a shame as the Holland America Line are ceasing this type of cooking activities so lucky for us we were on one of the last cruises that do this. We have befriended loads of the Indonesian staff, as we do! and have manage to get some recipes from their home lands also. Had a great Rendeng the other day and todays lunch was a Balinese Lamb Curry, plenty of time for pasta when we are back on land. We have also managed to get a stash of fish sauce, something that is not easy to get in Italy, this will come in very handy when we are in need of a Thai hit over the next couple of months. 

We were introduced to Chef Ed on board today and he took us through how to make a Kambing Mekuah

 

Balinese Lamb Curry (Servers 10)

Coconut oil 100 ml
Spice Paste 200 grams
Coriander seeds 15 grams, Crushed
Lamb or Goat 1600 grams cut into 25mm cubes
Cardamom 10 grams, Roasted and ground
Lemon grass 60 grams, Bruised

White vinegar 20 ml
Chicken stock 750ml
The better you develop the flavour of your stock the better the end dish.
Coconut milk 1000ml
 
Preparation

Heat coconut oil in saucepan, add Spice Paste, coriander and sauté for 2 mins

Add lamb or goat sauté for a few mins, then add cardamom, lemon grass, vinegar, chicken stock and simmer until ¾ cooked about 40 mins, then add coconut milk and keep simmering for another 20 mins.
Sauce should have a creamy consistency
Salt and pepper to season at the end
Garnish with a generous amount of chopped coriander leaves

Sooooooo good!

 Spice Paste
Chili 20 grams, Seeded
Garlic 30 grams
Ginger 20 grams
Laos 20 grams, Peeled
Shallots 100 grams
Kencur roots 25 grams, Peeled
Turmeric fresh 35 grams, Peeled
Shrimp paste 15 grams
Candlenuts 25 grams
Nutmeg 3 grams, Ground
Cloves 5 grams
Coconut oil 100ml
Water 100 ml
Salt 10 grams
Coriander seeds 5 grams, Crushed

Preparation for Spice Paste
 
Blitz in blender and simmer for 1 hour to make a paste