COME ON ENGLAND!

A very happy household enjoyed Serbian food whilst Capello's boys turned on the magic and won 1-0, putting us through to the final 16 of the competition. Next match is Germany at 3pm on Sunday, which is right in the middle of the Lavender Festival in Battersea, an event which I am managing.

The photo above is of Cevapcici, a sort of sausage made from lamb and beef mince. The tall bloke couldn't find bell pepper powder (not available in ASDA!) and instead, used chopped up red chillies.

The Serbian salad was absolutely delicious - spot on for a hot summer's evening. It was refreshing on the tongue and accompanied the Cevapcici perfectly. High recommendation points scored for this dish.

USA 2 - Serbia 2

For America's second match in the tournament, this time against Serbia, the tall bloke prepared home made beef burgers and home made chips - using red skinned potatoes. It was exactly what I needed on a Friday night and made excellent accompaniment to England's match - i.e. at least something was satisfying!

The burgers were made by mixing salt, pepper, parsley, Worcester sauce, garlic and onion with the raw meat and letting marinate for a few hours. Then the tall bloke patted the mixture into small rounds and cooked them on a medium heat, in a frying pan with a knob of butter. They were delicious!

The chips were sliced to shape (the thinner you cut them, the crispier they turn out), covered in sun flower oil and cooked at 220degrees for a good half hour.

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."

Whilst researching tomorrow's dinner menu, I came upon this quote from Physiologie du Gout by Brillat-Savarin, 1822. My search through Australian, Serbian and German recipe websites, left me with one question: how much does what I eat, reflect where I am from?

The Australian cuisine takes its origins from the waves of European and Asian immigrants, such as the tradition of tea drinking (proximity to China) and roast lamb. Serbian cuisine is also a reflection of historical influences of the area, where Oriental and Slavic tastes are dominant. The Romans were the probably the first to make any significant comment on German food. Latin literature records that German cuisine was a simple affair, consisting of a lot of meat and a lot of mead (sausage and beer!). Both France and parts of Italy were later conquered by the Germans and with this came Charlemagne's rule, as did Switzerland and Austria.

I think these excerpts illustrate the connection between food and identity beautifully:

The Visit Serbia website welcomes, but warns: "The prices are low for western visitors, so go ahead, indulge yourself. Be aware though, if you are a vegetarian Serbia might not be the right place for you!"

The Australian Cooking website writes: "...more overseas tourists have probably eaten kangaroo than have Australian-born people."

The German website informs: "...until the Middle Ages, the German diet mainly consisted of meat and their by-products i.e. milk and cheese. Smoking, marinating and salting techniques were developed to store the abundance of meat, a practice which has survived and is evident with their myriad of sausages and preserved foods.".

And after all that, the tall bloke chose Algeria so he will be serving: couscous, Djedj b'L-Qasbour (chicken) and spiced potato cakes. Watch this space!