Fried Beetroot, Liver and Bacon Recipe

Fried Beetroot, Liver and Bacon

The combination of beetroot, liver and bacon may sound strange but it should work in theory. The sweetness and earthiness from the beets, smokiness and saltiness from bacon and the livery taste from liver, combined with chili and garlic sound good together. In spite of the sound theory I did have some doubts in practice. Nevertheless I proceeded to make this since I wanted to use the ingredients and could not be bothered cooking them separately.

I am glad I did. I wolfed it down in minutes, it was good, and I was hungry. The combination really surprised me. The 'livery' or irony taste was subtle and the beetroots tasted much less earthy. All the ingredients had different textures. The beets were al dente, liver was soft while the bacon was slightly crispy and hard. While the different textures were evident, the same cannot be said for the color. Beets are bullies, everything was red. 

The amounts shown in the recipe below is an approximation. Please feel free to adjust to your preferences.

Fried Beetroot, Liver and Bacon

Ingredients

1 medium beetroot

50 grams bacon

50 grams liver

1 clove garlic

Salt and chili powder to taste

Directions

1. Peel the beets and cut it finely. I preferred match stick shaped
2. In a pan over medium heat, cook bacon until the fat is rendered and the bacon turns crispy.
3. Add beetroot, salt and chili and cook until the beetroot is just done
4. Add liver and cook to your liking

Fried Beetroot, Liver and Bacon

Armenian Gingerbread Cake Recipe

Armenian Gingerbread Cake

To avoid any confusion there is nothing Armenian about this cake.

In case you are not familiar with Armenian Cake, it is like an upside down crumb cake. The crumbs are at the bottom, giving the cake a crunchy base. It’s not just the crumbs that make this cake unique, actually there’s nothing unique about crumbs. What is unique is the process of making the cake. You make only one batter, use half for the crumbly base and add milk and other ingredients to the other half to get the cakey top. It’s a nice shortcut approach. 

Something else unique about Armenian Cake is that it is not from Armenia, but from Australia. Why it is called Armenian Cake remains a mystery. The story is no different from Afghan Cookies which are from New Zealand, not Afghanistan. And Mars bars is not from Mars. Analogy taken too far I think. 

Armenian Cake is usually made with nutmeg. I replaced nutmeg with ginger and cinnamon to make the gingerbread version. 

Armenian Gingerbread Cake

Recipe adopted from my earlier recipe for Armenian Cake

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

125 g butter

1½ cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon molasses

¾ cup milk

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons fresh ginger (or 2 teaspoons dried ground ginger)

Directions

1. Mix flour, baking powder, salt, butter and sugar until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Either use your fingers or food processor
2. Press ½ the mixture into a greased 20cm baking tin 
3. In a bowl beat egg. Add milk, molasses, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger and mix well.
4. Add this liquid to second half of the flour mixture.
5. Mix well and pour on top of mixture in the baking tin.
6. Bake at 180°C/360°C until done, about 40-45 minutes

Armenian Gingerbread Cake

Glamorgan Vegetarian Sausages Recipe

Glamorgan Sausage 

Mention Britain and we probably think of fish and chips.

Mention Ireland and we probably think of Guinness and Irish Stew.

Mention Scotland and we probably think of whisky and fried Mars bars (maybe).

Mention Wales and we probably hit a blank.

Personally I have never come across a Welsh dish, other than Welsh rarebit, which I didn't think came from Wales. Just like Afghan Cookies are not from Afghanistan.

Wales does have a few interesting dishes, glamorgan sausage being one of them. And surprisingly it is vegetarian, if you consider an egg to be vegetable, or non-meat. Glamorgan sausage is also known as poor mans sausage because it has no meat. 

The sausage is made from a few very basic ingredients which are most probably sitting in your pantry and refrigerator. Even though the ingredients are pretty basic, the result really surprised me. I found it absolutely delicious, crunchy on the outside and firm but soft on the inside. It reminded me of a pie that I ate in New Zealand, and which I haven’t seen anywhere else. I don’t remember the name and it wasn’t quite a regular pie. The pie was coated with bread crumbs and either deep fried or baked. It was cheesey inside. Glamorgan sausage has very similar smell and taste. 

The recipe suggests caerphilly cheese. Caerphilly cheese is a hard, white crumbly cheese originating from the area around the town of Caerphilly in Wales. It generally has a fat content of around 48%. I didn’t have caerphilly cheese so I substituted with cheddar. It was perfect. Maybe next time I will try feta.

Glamorgan Sausage 

 

Recipe adopted from Telegraph

Ingredients

4 cups (250g) fresh white breadcrumbs

200g Caerphilly cheese (or use cheddar)

75g leek (white part) or spring onions or regular onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs (or 1 tablespoon fresh parsley and ½ teaspoon thyme)

2 eggs lightly whisked

1½ teaspoon English or Dijon mustard

3 tablespoon milk

Salt and pepper

Butter for shallow frying

Directions

1. Mix together 170g of the breadcrumbs, cheese, milk, leek or onion, herbs, salt and pepper. I put everything in a food processor and pulsed it. Note: only use 170 grams breadcrumbs, set aside the rest for coating the sausage
2. In a separate bowl mix the eggs with mustard and set aside about ¼. This will be for coating the sausage
3. Add the rest of the eggs to the breadcrumb mixture and mix until a paste is formed.
4. Divide the mixture into 12 and shape each portion into a sausage. Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes so it sets (optional)
5. Coat the sausages with the egg mixture, followed by the breadcrumbs. Refrigerate for 30 minutes (optional)
6. Heat frying pan over medium heat and shallow fry the sausage until golden brown and delicious, about 5-8 minutes.

Glamorgan Sausage