What could be a better way to remember your friends than to cook a meal which you associate with them, share with them, and know they love … 

It gives you the pleasure of almost feeling their presence and will give you a nice topic to chat about with your friends. Maybe you will have a virtual meal which will bring several countries around to celebrate friendship!

 I felt quite well today, hay fever is not merciful to me this time of the year so each day is a battlefield. Today, to my surprise was a quiet day. I do not need a lot of convincing when I am granted days like this – I make sure I enjoy it to the full. 

I did things I loved – felted – I am preparing an online course for some months already, but I hope I will be able to launch in the Woolfest Online 2020 at the end of June. I also spend some time listening to the boys reading their stories – part of a home schooling programme. Wow, the stories were really good, and the handwriting of the little one is improving. I learned about BODMAS – math lesson – it is great to  discover English names for something which you knew and finally be able to name it! And then I felt it would be nice to make a special meal. 

 What shall I do? You know sometimes Facebook is a real darling, several days ago it reminded me about a meal my friend Irina cooked us one day when staying at ours. Irina is from Moldova and apart from the fact that she is a great friend and amazing artist she is also a brilliant cook. She is a great ambassador of her country. 

When she cooked for us we had Moldovian meal with Georgian cognac from another great friend Giorgi. God bless Erasmus programme, what a time it was! 

This though took me back to the friends I met on the Erasmus project and who became a big part of my life and the life of my family even when we do not see each other that often these days. 

So the decision was made. I was to make a Moldavian meal of pork casserole in Georgian spice mix, served with Italian polenta – a substitute to Moldovian mamaliga served with Greek feta cheese and soured cream. For drinks this time was water and juice served in the glasses from Poland (thank you Marzena) and the table was decorated with placemats and towels from other countries – oops, here my memory met a black spot – so if you could help me identify the countries they are coming from – put them in the comments. 

 I also put some flowers from the garden and for dessert we had sourdough pancakes – but about them there will be an extra post. 

 My boys were really ‘shocked’ to see the table and Andy said that it was one of my best meals. 

 So I would really recommend it.

 

Casseroled Pork with Polenta, Greek cheese and soured cream

 

750 g pork chops (I chosen almost without fat bits)

2-3 or 1/3 of amount of meat – onion chopped in small cubes

salt and pepper to taste

I also used Georgian Spice Mix – Chmeli-Suneli – contains salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, chilli, marjoram etc..

Olive oil

 Polenta – is ready made – ready to be reheated. I had this one from Lidl.

 Soured Cream – 300 ml

 Feta cheese 100+ g (i had this one from Lidl)

 

Add olive oil to the casserole and when hot, add meat. 

When the juice evaporates, allow it to brown well, while stirring regularly, for several minutes.

 

At this stage Andy screams that something is burning 🙂 Do not worry, Andy, everything is under control, we are just adding a flavour to the dish.  

Now add a bit of water, reduce the heat and cover the lid.

 Allow to simmer for 30 minutes (add small amounts of  water regularly, ensuring there is a little bit of water all the time and it does not dry.

Meanwhile put soured cream into a serving dish.

Grate coarsely feta and put it in a serving dish.

 

 (The book on the picture is for decoration purpose, unfortunately it did not have the recipe, so what you have is my improvisation, but I promise a very good one).

Add chopped onion, spices and simmer for further 20-30 minutes on a low heat, with a bit of juice in the casserole. When it is done, turn off the heat and grill the polenta.

 

 Slice polenta in 1-1.5cm slices and grill for several minutes on each side. 

 

 

When the polenta is ready, serve it on the plates with a spoonful of feta cheese, soured cream and meat.

 

 It tastes best when you combine all flavours together. There is a way to eat a real homemade mamaliga/ polenta with you hand-adding soured cream, cheese and meat on the top, but I mastered my way using a fork. 

 It is a rather filling dish. But so tasty – you should really try it.

And if you share with me the pictures of your dishes – that will take me back to the happy moments and to my amazing friends and their countries. 

 I think I ought  to now to make posts about Moldova, Romania, Georgia and Poland to start with. Watch this space :-).