Beans in Budapest and Black Rice in Barcelona

Hello again everyone! Many apologies for not having written about the seasonal produce in Italy for awhile! It has been a busy month! And this entry, I'm not even writing about Italy, but where I've been traveling this fall. Don't worry, I still have some time to write about what's at the market here in Turin before I go home for the holidays...

Budapest

First on our itinerary: Budapest. I ate a lot of Hungarian food, in particular, a lot of goulash. It was amazing, very heavy stuff, but amazing. At the end of the trip, one of my work colleagues coined a lovely new phrase, she was "goulashata"! In Italian, -ato/a is a common way to end an adjective. Her new linguistic invention expresses the following: "I am so full of goulash, I'm getting acne from all this heavy food, I'm ready to go back to pizza and pasta in Italy." 

A big thank you to my friends and colleagues who took all these pictures  for me in Budapest. Long story short, I forgot my camera :)

My favorite dish in Budapest, however, was not the goulash, but an amazing, cheap bean soup we had the first night in a cozy little underground pub called Green's.

This is part of the description on the webpage where I found the recipe upon returning home "You may be stunned by how meat-heavy and fat-laden it is. Well, welcome to the wonderful world of Hungarian cuisine." I thought I had ordered a vegetarian dish... to my delight, especially to the delight of my taste buds, this is an incredibly tasty bean soup thanks to all the meat! To try and reproduce my Budapest bean adventure, check out this recipe - it's well written with a bit anecdote. 

My brief research on Hungarian beans reveals that peas and soybeans are the most import legumes produced in the country, although I don’t think they were featured in my soup. The soybeans are used for animal feed. There is an increasing movement to produce soybeans locally because of the distaste for genetically modified foreign imports and because organic farming is on the rise. Over the years, however, domestic production of total legumes has gradually decreased both for human and animal consumption. Even with government subsidies, imports are required each year to meet demand. Perhaps this is because the northern regions of the country are too dry to produce what’s needed – most soybean production in Hungary occurs in the south. Grain legumes are full of proteins and amino acids, that’s why they’re so important as animal feed and as a staple food for human sustenance.[i]

If you search around on this webpage, you can find out why producing “grain legumes” (i.e. beans, lentils, lupins, peas, and peanuts) is not bad for the environment, mainly because of their lower fossil energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Another big item produced in Hungary is its paprika. You can find it everywhere, and it's a popular item for the tourists to take home (see the jar I brought home). 

I looked up the scientific name of this Hungarian paprika because I wanted to know if it was the same as certain Italian or Latin American peppers. The paprika I bought and saw dangling around everywhere in Budapest is of the species Capsicum annum.[ii] This genus species combination covers a wide range of varieties: Aleppo, Anaheim (also called California), Ancho (called poblano when fresh), Bell pepper, Cascabel, Cayenne, Chilaca (called pasilla when dried), Chiltepin, Cubanelle, De árbol, Dundicut, Fresno, Guajillo, Hungarian wax, Italian sweet pepper, Jalapeño (called chipotle when smoked), Japanese, Mirasol, Macho chili, Mulato pepper, Niora, New Mexico (known more widely as 'Anaheim'), Pasilla (called chilaca when fresh), Pepperoncini, Piquín, Pimento (also called cherry pepper), Poblano (called ancho when dried), Puya, Sanaam, Serrano, Sport, Super Chili, and Tien Tsin![iii] These prolific peppers are originally from Mexico, but found their way to Hungary in the 16^th century with the Turks. Hungary is know to produce high quality stuff, in a range of colors from bright red to terra cotta brown. Its spicy property is also used as a pain killer in some parts of the world. It’s also a source of vitamin C. Hungarians first used the plant to fire up food served to invaders before it became widely used and loved! The sunniest, southern-most parts of Hungary are the main producing regions.[iv] To learn much more about Hungarian paprika, and to find recipes, click here. Beware, do not stock this up in your cupboards for too long, it’s best fresh.

For another good Hungarian recipe website check out Chew Hungary. Remember to try and play with the ingredients to include produce and meat products from your local area!

Barcelona

Next stop: Barcelona! I was barely in the city long enough to get to a decent restaurant, but one night, instead of buying pastries and orange juice in the supermarket by my hostel, I ventured down to the old town area and had some banging seafood. 

First, I enjoyed some prawns grilled in garlic and presented with a sinful butter sauce outside the Saint Mary of the Sea Cathedral. (This was a mandatory stop for me - last year, I read the book Catedral del Mar, or "Cathedral of the Sea" by Ildefonso Falcone. This novel talks about the construction of this church in historic romance perfection, set in 14th century Spain.) Sorry, no pictures, I ate them up too fast! 

Not full yet, and wanting to salute the ocean before heading back to sleep, I went down to the old port of the city. I briefly inhaled in the scent of the Mediterranean, and went in search of a not too expensive seafood restaurant. It's a bit touristy and cliche, but I didn't have the funds or time to search out anything better this time around, I ordered paella. I didn't go for the classic, saffron infused variety, however, I chose the rice sauteed in cuttlefish ink - that's why it's black.

In 1993, Spain produced 102,000 metric tons of squid and cuttlefish and imported another 74,355 metric tons. In 2004, the country produced a mere 21,000 metric tons and imported instead 142,000 metric tons.[v]  This could be because Morocco wanted a better deal, as Spanish ships made a large percentage of their catches in Moroccan water in the early 90s.[vi] The country was an overall net exporter of cuttlefish and squid until it joined the EU 1986, so perhaps it’s just cheaper to import from non-EU Member States. It gets most of its cuttlefish from the US, with smaller amounts coming from India, Argentina, and Morocco. I wonder, does the lower cost of foreign cuttlefish also mean catching it in these other countries equals lower impact on the environment? Or do we sacrifice bad greenhouse gas emissions for the transport of cheap, high quality products from elsewhere? How do we solve such problems while still promoting free and global trade? 

So many things to research! Until next time...

BACI

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[i] http://www.grainlegumes.com/aep/special_reports/grain_legumes_in_central_and_eastern_europe/grain_legumes_in_hungary_today

[ii] http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/hungarian-paprika.html

[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum_annuum

[iv] http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/hungarian-paprika.html

[v] http://indexmundi.com/en/commodities/agricultural/squid-cuttlefish/

[vi] http://aquanic.org/publicat/govagen/fas/sp5039.htm

 

Peperoni...Bell Peppers

Last weekend I ate the most amazing peperoni. My boyfriend’s colleague Enrico took us to a barbecue at his wife’s parents’ home outside of Torino, in the province of Cuneo in a little town called Sanfrè. During the short hour drive into the country, Enrico pointed out to us all the trucks and improvised vegetable stands by the side of the road full of beautiful red and yellow bell peppers. This area is known for its peppers, and that weekend there was the official festival celebrating the famous peperoni the nearby town of Carmagnola. We arrived to the family gathering, and after putting the meat on the grill, we sat down to eat the l’antipast as they say in Piemontese[i], or appetizers. The traditional cold cuts of salami and raw sausages were passed around, along with a plate of average looking, oily bell peppers. Cut into little rectangles, the peppers, however, had been prepared to taste-bud perfection. A little taste of olive oil, something sweet, and something salty. Cooked, yet crisp. I immediately asked how they had been prepared. In the “agro-dolce” (sweet-and-sour) method! I was told. Giorgio, the man of the house, showed us around his garden he’d been taking care of the last 20 years of his life in retirement, and his cellar full of even more peppers that could never be eaten before they went bad. Of course, nothing in his garden went to waste. While he, like unfortunately my boyfriend refuses to eat vegetables, he lets nothing go unused. Everything is preserved in jars, with methods learned from their mothers and fathers, so it can be eaten year round. 

During the week, I tried to repeat the magic, but my peppers didn’t turn out like the ones at the barbecue with the recipes I found online. They were, however, fantastic tasting! Like all my creations, the recipe you find below is the product of several of my attempts, mixing various recipes, to recreate some amazing pepper taste.

Peperoni in agro-dolce

Ingrediants:

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 cup water

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 big spoon full of honey

A few mint leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

What I did:

Cut up the bell peppers into strips (easier to bring out of the pot with a straining ladle), or small rectangles if you can fit them all in their at once (and then use a colander to strain them). Bring the water, oil, and vinegar to boil. Add in the honey and mint leaves. Put just enough strips in at a time they they remain completely covered by the boiling mixture. Let them sit in there around 3 minutes and then take them out with the straining ladle and add in the next batch for three minutes. I put the pepper pieces separated in an aluminum pan to cool and then to store. Because food continues to cook even after you take it out of the heat, if you want the peppers to stay extra crunchy, you can prepare a bowl of cold water to drop the pieces into after they've boiled in the agro-dolce mixture.

And how I ate them:

A few I ate right away, seasoned with salt and pepper. In the next two days, I ate the rest in two very mouth-watering creations:

1. In a salad with cut-up tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, and tuna canned in olive olive (not water), seasoned with salt, a little pepper, oregano, and freshly squeezed lemon. This definitely did not fill me up for lunch, so I ate it with a roll of whole wheat bread. Another more filling way to eat this salad would be to spread it over a nice thick piece of "red pizza," which means pizza cooked just with tomato sauce, oregano, and a bit of oil.

2. With scrambled eggs. I put a quarter of a yellow onion cut up with olive oil in a pan, added the peppers chopped up into smaller pieces, a few sliced up sun dried tomatoes that had been stored in olive oil, and then poured in a mixture of two eggs, grated parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses, salt, and pepper. AMAZING...

Bell peppers are in season in the United States in the summer and early fall.[ii] In Italy, its the same, from July to September.[iii] They are full of vitamins A and C, which in fruits and vegetables act as strong anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory agents.[iv]

*** Remember to try and buy organic produce from your local farmer's market free of pesticides and full of natural nutrients!***

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[i] Piemonte, or Peidmont one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is in the northwest of the country. It’s biggest city is Torino, or Turin, where I've been living since June 2007.

[ii] http://localfoods.about.com/od/finduselocalfoods/a/natlseason.htm

[iii] http://www.bio-benessere.it/alimentibio.php?id=113&pp=120&lev=2

[iv] http://www.mothernature.com/library/ency/index.cfm/id/1962007