Posts Tagged With: France

Tanzanian Mango Cream Recipe

Posted on May 5, 2013 by pauldelancey

Tanzanian Dessert

MANGO CREAM

INGREDIENTS

2 mangoes
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream

PREPARATION

Peel mangoes. Cut fleshy part of mango in blender. Puree mango in blender. Put sugar and heavy cream in mixing bowl. Whip cream with whisk or electric beater until sugar dissolves and cream thickens. Pour pureed mango into mixing bowl. Mix with whisk until all is uniformly blended.

TIDBITS

1) Mango is not a palindrome.

2) However, it is anagram for Ma Nog.

3) Ma Nog led the extended Nog family of Tanzania from 1869 to 1914 and in 1888 developed egg nog. It was fantastic! The whole world took notice! The whole world loved egg nog! They all wanted it! Everyone ended sentences with exclamation points!

3) The late 1800s was best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the age of spiced dessert drinks. It was the age of militaristic imperialism.

4) In 1885, Germany invaded Tanzanzia, then Tanganyika, to secure the supply of Ma Nog’s egg nog. France and Britain the other big colonial powers resented Germany rolly polly Ma Nog egg monopoly.

5) Relations festered for decades between Germany and the Franco-British egg-nog alliance. War War One erupted in 1914. Supposedly it was because the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated but newly declassified documents prove decisively the Tanzania egg nog cause.

6) Millions died in World War One. This war spawned a sequel, World War Two. Millions died in that war as well.

7) But in 1961 Tanzania became independent. It’s peace loving government with the kind acquiesence of Ma Nog’s grandchildren posted her delicious egg nog recipe in all the prestigious culinary journals.

8) We haven’t had a global war since. Yay for Tanzania and egg nog.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.

Categories: cuisine, history, humor, international | Tags: Archduke Ferdinand, Britain, colonial powers, dessert, egg nog, France, Germany, global war, imperialism, mango, mangoes, monopoly, palindrome, recipe, sugar, Tanganyika, Tanzania, World War One, World War Two | 2 Comments

Simple Hawaiian Pancakes Recipe

Posted on April 24, 2013 by pauldelancey

Hawaiian Entree

SIMPLE HAWAIIAN PANCAKES

INGREDIENTS

8 frozen waffles
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 cups pineapple juice
4 ounce can pineapple chunks

PREPARATION

Toast waffles according to instructions on package. Cut butter into 16 pats. Combine in mixing bowl: sugar, milk, and pineapple juice. Place equal amounts of butter and mixed juice and 2-to-4 pineapple chunks of each toasted waffle. Aloha!

TIDBITS

1) In 1869, women of Wyoming got the right to vote. The waffle iron was first patented in 1869. It was a good year.

2) One-hundred years later, the amazing New York Mets won their first World Series championship after years of last place finishes. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

3) The waffle began its illustrious culinary journey during the Middle Ages. The waffle! So if someone calls this era the Dark Ages, waggle your finger at the fool and say, “Nooooo!”

4) The waffle became so popular that bloody fights became common between waffle vendors seeking prime locations. So much so, that a King of France took off time from wars and mistresses to decree a minimum distance between the warring vendors.

5) It has been said the French Revolution started in 1789 in part by disgruntled vendors seeking to throw out royal enforcement of the waffle decrees.

6) America annexed Hawaii in 1898 to ensure a steady supply of pineapple chunks in juice for its burgeoning appetite for Hawaiian waffles. A drastic measure perhaps, but it is worthwhile to note America has never since been involved in any military conflict over foreign pineapples. The same cannot be said for oil.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: America, Dark Ages, France, French Revolution, Hawaii, Hawaiian, king, Mets, Middle Ages, New York, New York Mets, oil, recipe, right to vote, waffle iron, waffles, women, World Series, Wyoming | 2 Comments

Roy Rogers Recipe

Posted on April 23, 2013 by pauldelancey

American Dessert

ROY ROGERS

INGREDIENTS

6 ounces cola (Mexican cola still uses sugar)
1/2 tablespoon grenadine
1 maraschino cherry (with stem is preferred)
ice (optional)

PREPARATION

Put all ingredients in tall glass. Stir. Drink. Repeat as needed.

TIDBITS

1) Roy Rogers was known as “King of the Cowboys.”

2) Roy is old French for king.

3) Only kings were allowed to rule France. According to Salic law a queen could never inherit the throne of France.

4) Henry IV of England claimed the French throne in 1415 based on tidbit 3). He and his English army routed French chivalry at the battle of Agincourt.

5) Shakespeare’s play Henry IV and the movie versions by Sir Lawrence Olivier and Kenneth Brannagh were all based on tidbit 4).

6) I’ll have to watch what I put down in my tidbits. Clearly, I have an awesome responsibility.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, history, humor | Tags: Agincourt, America, American, Chef Paul, chivalry, cola, cookbook, De Lancey, dessert, England, France, French, grenadine, Henry IV, Kenneth Brannagh, king, King of the Cowboyws, Lawrence Olivier, maraschino, Mexican, Pepsi, queen, recipe, recipes, Roy Rogers, Salic law, Shakespeare, sugar, throne | Leave a comment

Provencale Dressing Recipe

Posted on March 23, 2013 by pauldelancey

French Appetizer

PROVENÇALE DRESSING

INGREDIENTS

2 cups mayonnaise
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 tablespoon herbes de Provence
1/4 teaspoon French tarragon (or tarragon)
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sweet French basil (or basil)

PREPARATION

Mince garlic cloves. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until you can’t stand waiting any more or until ravenous guests arrive.

TIDBITS

1) This recipe tells you to cool the dressing in your fridge.

2) Putting your beer bottle in your fridge is not the fastest way to cool it down.

3) The fastest way to cool down your beer is to put it in a sink full of cold water and crushed ice while cold tap water falls on the beer bottle.

4) Okay, okay, the fastest way to cool down your bottle of beer is to combine your sink full of cold water and crushed ice with liquid nitrogen.

5) Too little liquid nitrogen and nothing happens.

6) Too much and your beer freezes. So will the water in your sink. So will your hand if you try to take the beer bottle out of the liquid nitrogen.

7) Tidbit 6 is why you must jump through all sorts of hoops to buy liquid nitrogen.

8) So may I suggest using tidbit 3 if you want to cool your beer.

9) Better living through chemistry.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, food, humor, international, recipes | Tags: appetizer, basil, beer, chemistry, cookbook, De Lancey, Dijon, dressing, France, French, herbes de Provence, liquid nitrogen, mayonnaise, mustard, Provencal, Provence, recipes, tarragon, vinegar, wine | Leave a comment

Shorba Baida – Algerian Chicken Soup Recipe

Posted on March 19, 2013 by pauldelancey

Algerian Soup

SHORBA BAIDA
(Chicken Soup)

INGREDIENTS

2 chicken breasts
1 medium onion
2 inch cinnamon stick
2 large tomatoes
10 ounce can chick peas
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon basmati rice
1 tablespoon barley
2 large tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 tablespoon parsley flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
SPECIAL UTENSIL

spice grinder
Dutch oven

PREPARATION

Cut chicken breasts into 1/2″ cubes. Mince the onion. Grind the cinnamon stick until you get powder. Dice the tomatoes. Drain the chick peas.

Use medium-high heat to sauté the chicken, onion, and cinnamon with olive oil in Dutch oven. Cook for 5-to-10 minutes or until onion softens. Stir frequently.

Add chick peas, chicken broth, lemon juice, rice, barley, tomatoes, chili powder, parsley, pepper, sat, and tumeric. Cover the Dutch oven and simmer on warm heat for about 1 hour or until rice and barley are soft.

This is great. People love it. Eat your share while you can.

TIDBITS

1) This heavenly soup is the reason the French conquered Algeria in 1830.

2) This heavenly soup is the reason Algeria threw out France in 1962. The Algerians didn’t want to share.

3) Did the Algerians get any culinary benefits from 132 years of Gallic occupation?

4) I hope so. A Vietnamese man once said the only benefit his countrymen derived from French colonial rule was the baguette.

5) Vietnamese culinary artists combined the baguettes with their way of preparing meat to produce the tasty and world-famous banh mi sandwiches.

6) America fought in Vietnam for the banh mi sandwiches. And so it goes.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, food, history, humor, international, recipes, Uncategorized | Tags: Algeria, Algerian, America, baguettes, banh mi, barley, basmati, broth, chick peas, chicken soup, cinnamon, cookbook, culinary, De Lancey, Dutch, France, French, Gallic, lemon juice, parsley, pepper, recipe, recipes, rice, shorba, shorba baida, tumeric, Vietnam, Vietnamese | Leave a comment

Potato Chervil Soup Recipe

Posted on March 8, 2013 by pauldelancey

French Soup

POTATO CHERVIL SOUP

INGREDIENTS

3 medium brown potatoes
1/2 onion
1 medium carrot
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/4 cups vegetable broth
3/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons chervil
1/2 teaspoon French four spice (Muntok white pepper, nutmeg, ginger, powdered cloves)
1/4 teaspoon parsley

PREPARATION

Peel potatoes. Dice potato, onion, and carrot. Put potato, onion, butter, and olive oil in large pot. Sauté potato and onion on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until potato and onion begin to soften. Stir frequently.

Add diced carrot, vegetable broth, milk, chervil, French four spice, and parsley to the pot. Cook for 20 minutes. Start at medium heat reducing to low when soup starts to boil. Stir occasionally.

TIDBITS

1) People use chervil a lot more during the Lenten season than other times as it symbolizes new life and rebirth.

2) People often give up foods for Lent.

3) I always give up lutefisk.

4) Successfully.

5) During all the non-Lenten times as well.

4) I looked up fun facts for chervil on the internet. I found chervil improves the taste of radishes growing next to it.

5) Fun fact, you bet.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, food, humor, international, recipes, Uncategorized | Tags: butter, chervil, cloves, cookbook, De Lancey, France, French, ginger, internet, Kindle, Lent, Lenten, lutefisk, Muntok, Nook, nutmeg, olive oil, pepper, potato, radishes, rebirth, recipe, recipes, soup | Leave a comment

Simple Corned Beef Recipe

Posted on February 22, 2013 by pauldelancey

Irish Entree

SIMPLE CORNED BEEF

INGREDIENTS

1 4-to-5 pound ready-to-cook corned beef brisket
6 russet potatoes
3 large carrots
1 large white onion
1/2 head cabbage
water

SPECIALTY UTENSIL

crock pot

PREPARATION

At the crock pot’s low setting, the brisket can take 10-to-14 hours to become tender. The high setting will cut this time by about half.

Put ready-to-cook corned beef brisket in crock pot. Add water to crock pot until it covers the brisket. You may need to cut the brisket into smaller pieces depending on the size of your crock pot. Cook for 10-to-14, possibly overnight, or until brisket is tender.

Clean potatoes and carrots. Cut potatoes carrots, onions, and cabbages in slices no thicker than 1/2″ inch and add them to the crock pot. and vegetables. Add water until it covers the brisket and vegetables. Cook on low setting for about 2 hours or until vegetables are tender. Serve to adoring guests.

This is an astoundingly versatile dish. See the following two recipes for delightful meals made out of this recipe’s leftovers.

Tell your spellbound guests corned-beef takes 10 days to prepare. This, of course, is the do-it-yourself corned-beef version. You used ready-to-eat corned beef brisket. But you needn’t tell them that.

TIDBITS

1) Potatoes make great French fries.

2) They’re nutritious and a great source of calories too.

3) They grow in the ground where they can’t be seen by hungry, foraging armies marching back and forth across peasants’ fields.

4) On July 14, 1689 Madame Farine du Blé of Poulet sur Marne noticed invading Bavarians ransacking the granary of her neighbors, the Herbes, while leaving her own field of potatoes completely untouched.

5) This fact kinda excited the peasantry of France who relied almost exclusively on food for eating.

6) Frederick the Great of Prussia noticed this fact as well. He insisted that all the Prussian peasants plant potatoes.

7) And boy, those peasants were glad they did. Massive French, Austrian, and Russian armies crisscrossed the Prussian kingdom from 1756 to 1763 carting off all the wheat they could find. But the Prussian peasants didn’t starve.

8) Why? These farmers simply waited for the invading soldiers to leave, dug up their potatoes, and cooked them. And if the peasants also had the proper spices and deep fryers, they dined on papas rellena, Peruvian stuffed potatoes.

9) When individual peasants don’t starve, the country as a whole doesn’t starve. A well-fed nation can afford to feed it armies in the field. And those Prussian armies did really well earning both victory and survival at the end of the Seven Years War.

10) Prussia united Germany in 1871. A united Germany caused World War I. A united Germany caused World War II. Both wars were unarguably unpleasant.

11) So think about that when you are asked, “Do you want fries with that?”

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, food, history, humor, international, recipes | Tags: 169 Fun Recipes From All Over the World, Austrian, Bavaria, Bavarians, brisket, cabbage, calories, cookbook, corned beef, De Lancey, deep fryers, France, Frederick the Great, French fries, Germany, Ireland, Irish, kingdom, Marne, papas rellena, peasantry, peasants, Peru, Peruvian, potatoes, Prussia, Prussian, recipes, Russian, Seven Years War, stuffed potatoes, united Germany, wheat, World War I, World War II | Leave a comment

Tomato Potato Soup Provençale Recipe

Posted on January 31, 2013 by pauldelancey

French Soup

Tomato Potato Soup Provençale

INGREDIENTS

1 white onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 russet potatoes
6 Roma tomatoes
32 ounces chicken broth
1 tablespoon red wine
1 1/2 tablespoons herbes de Provence

PREPARATION

Mince onion and garlic. Put onion, garlic, and olive oil into frying pan. Sauté on medium high for 3-to-5 minutes or until onion is tender. Put onion and garlic into soup pot.

Peel and chop potatoes into cubes small enough to go into food processor. Mince potatoes. Mince tomatoes. Add to soup pot: potatoes, tomato, chicken broth, red wine, and herbes de Provence. Cook soup on high until it starts to boil. Turn down heat to warm and simmer for 40 minutes.

TIDBITS

1) The world’s best tomato festival, La Tomatina, is held in Bunol, Spain. It occurs on the last Wednesday in August. Up to 100,000 people attend. Why? Because it’s fun!

2) The festival hosts the world’s biggest tomato fight. Yippee. Up to 30,000 people participate, hurling some 200,000 overripe tomatoes at each other.

3) But just try throwing a rotten tomato at home or at the school cafeteria. Or at your local mayor or police officer for that matter.

4) And you get to eat fantastic tomato-based dishes before this culinary melee.

5) I wanna go there. I wanna go there. I wanna go there.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, food, humor, international, recipes, Uncategorized | Tags: Bunol, Eat Me, France, French, Kindle, La Tomatina, mayor, overripe tomatoes, police, potato, Provencale, recipe, red wine, soup, Spain, tomato, tomato fight | Leave a comment

French Roasted Potatoes Recipe

Posted on January 27, 2013 by pauldelancey

French Entree

French Roasted Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

2 small red potatoes
8 small brown potatoes
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
2 teaspoons Sunny Paris seasoning

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut potatoes into halves. Mince garlic cloves. Place potatoes into roasting pan. Pour olive oil over potatoes. Turn potatoes until thoroughly coated. Sprinkle garlic, herbes de Provence, and Sunny Paris seasoning over potatoes. Turn potatoes until coated with oil and spices.

Put roasting pan in oven. Bake for 1 hour or until they are fork tender. Stir potatoes three times while roasting so they don’t burn on one side.

Now you have those tasty potatoes you always admired in fancy restaurants. C’est bien.

TIDBITS

1) Sunny Paris seasoning consists of purple shallots, French basil, French tarragon, chervil, bay leaf, and dill weed.

2) The air we breathe is primarily nitrogen and oxygen.

3) The main ingredient in people is water.

4) This tidbit didn’t make sense. It’s gone.

5) We humans share quite a few of the same chromosomes as a banana.

6) Which prompted Freud to speculate about that fruit.

7)) You can buy a banana slicer, called the Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer, on www.amazon.com. Read the reviews. They’re hilarious.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, humor | Tags: Amazon, banana, banana slicer, chervil, chromosomes, cookbook, De Lancey, dill weed, Eat Me, entree, France, French, Freud, garlic, herbes de Provence, Hutzler 571, olive oil, oxygen, potatoes, recipe, recipes, roasted, seasoning, shallots, Sunny Paris, tarragon, virgin | Leave a comment

Crunchy Tuna Casserole

Posted on January 26, 2013 by pauldelancey

American Entree

CRUNCHY TUNA CASSEROLE

INGREDIENTS

8 total tablespoons or a stick of butter
(You will be using butter four times.)
8 ounces bow-tie pasta
1 stalk celery
1/2 medium onion
1 clove garlic
2 5 ounce cans solid white albacore tuna
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Seafood MagicTM spice
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 2 ounce bag barbecue potato chips
1 cup shredded Four Mexican cheeses
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a medium baking dish with 1/2 tablespoon butter. (First use of butter.) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add bow-tie pasta. Cook for 9 minutes or al dente-firm but not hard. Drain.

While waiting for the pasta to be ready, cut the leafy top and white bottom off the celery stalk. De-vein the celery. That is, remove the thin green threads, or veins, that run down the length of the outside. It is easy to get a start on these pesky threads if you first snap the stalk in half. The alternative to de-veining is living with thready celery or not having celery. (Both choices put the entire cosmos in its own alternative universe, perhaps resulting in Armageddon tomorrow. Choose wisely.)

Metaphorically destroy (mince) the garlic, celery, and onion. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan over low-medium heat. (Second use of butter.) Stir in the onion, celery, and garlic for seven minutes or until tender. The mix really should be tender. You have been warned.

Melt 3 1/2 tablespoons butter in another saucepan. (Third use of butter.) Add milk, mayonnaise, and flour. Stir with whisk. Cook for 5 minutes until sauce is smooth and thickened. Add tuna, onion-celery-garlic mixture, and bow-tie pasta. Mix. Pour all of this casserole into baking dish.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in yet another pan. (Last use of butter.) Mix in bread crumbs. Sprinkle mixture over the casserole. Top with grated four cheeses and Parmesan cheese.

Bake casserole 20 minutes in the oven at 375 degrees. Take casserole out of the oven and sprinkle potato chips on top. Bake casserole for another 10 minutes or until it is bubbly and lightly browned. This dish is crunchy and yummy.

You generated lots of dishes for your companion to wash. Be sure to say thank you.

TIDBITS

1) My grandmother always said the outstanding chef would have everything cleaned and put away by the time the meal was ready to be eaten.

2) I actually did this for this meal. My grandmother would have been proud. My mother would have been astounded.

3) This is not a good meal to make if your dishwasher doesn’t work as happened to me. Grr!

4) 75 percent of all fish eaten comes from the ocean. Within a generation the percentage will drop to 50.

5) Only 1 percent of all tuna is sold fresh. The rest is canned.

6) “Tuna” spelled backwards is “a nut.” It is also an anagram for “aunt.”

7) Tuna can cruise up to 55 miles per hour and never stop moving. Cars in the heart of the world’s big cities move at an average of 8 miles per hour and are often stopped.

8) Most of the world’s oil supply comes from OPEC nations. Most of the world’s tuna is caught off California.

9) Tuna in France is canned in water, vegetable oil, tomato juice, and lemon juice.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef

Categories: cuisine, humor | Tags: America, American, Armageddon, butter, California, chef, cookbook, De Lancey, France, lordsoffun, magic, Mexican, Mexico, ocean, OPEC, Parmesan, pasta, recipes, tuna | Leave a comment

Posts Tagged With: France

Tanzanian Mango Cream Recipe

Simple Hawaiian Pancakes Recipe