World Cup Dinners

I thought they might do it, I really did.

Belgium have looked absolutely brilliant throughout the tournament, with Kevin De Bruyne running the show from midfield, and Romelu Lukaku banging in the goals up front, but alas it was not to be for the Red Devils, as they met France in today’s first Semi Final.

France edged out the Belgians 1-0 with a pretty slick display that must have them as clear favourites to take the big prize on Sunday.

For my Belgian World Cup dinner last time round I made Moules Frites which you can check out here:

https://worldcupdinners.com/2014/07/07/belgium-moules-frites/

This time around I had some help for a World Cup Breakfast rather than dinner with some tasty waffles made by my wife!

We got a new Breville Toastie machine recently, and noticed that they just released detachable waffle plates for it, so ordered some up for this dish.

The recipe is for ‘Classic Waffles’  taken from the little booklet that comes with the machine.

Perfect breakfast fare for a busy World Cup Schedule!

Ingredients (makes 12 waffles):

• 280g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 425ml milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 125g butter, melted

Method:

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2. Whisk the milk, vanilla extract and eggs in a separate bowl.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the milk mixture along with the butter. Whisk together until barely combined, the batter will still be slightly lumpy. Don’t over-mix. For best results, leave the batter to rest for a few minutes.
4. Pre-heat your sandwich toaster until the ready-to-cook light comes on.
5. Grease both the waffle plates with a little oil-based cooking spray, then pour about 75ml of the batter mix evenly into the centre of each grid of the waffle plate.
6. Lower the lid but don’t clip the latch shut. Cook for about 7 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, chopped nuts and bananas.

Proost!

After a traditional English last 16 penalty shootout- this time with a different result, its time to mark the occasion with an English World Cup Dinner!

For this dinner, I decided to go for something a little more unusual that the regular dishes you would associate with the home of the Three Lions.

Inspired by England legend Steven Gerrard’s arrival in Scottish football to take over the manager’s role at my favourite team Rangers, I decided to go with that most Liverpudlian of dishes- Scouse!

Scouse, a stew of meat, potatoes and root vegetables originates from ‘Lobscouse’ a dish commonly eaten in sailing ports throughout Europe including Liverpool where it is a staple dish and even gives the people of the city their nickname of ‘Scousers’ due to their love for the meal!

It was really tasty, especially with the pickled cabbage and beetroot on the side, and of course the rest of the ale left over from cooking to wash it all down!

Ingredients (serves four):

• 1 tbsp oil
• 500g diced chuck steak
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 400g onion- cut into 1cm pieces
• 300g swede- cut into 1.5cm cubes
• 300g carrots- cut into 1.5cm cubes
• 400g new potatoes- leave skin on, but cut into quarters.
• 300ml bitter ale- I went for ‘Courage Best Bitter’ which went really well!
• 500ml beef stock

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat- then add the diced beef, stirring until brown.
2. Season beef with salt and pepper.
3. Add onions, and continue cooking until soft.
4. Add the bitter, and continue to cook on the hob until the liquid reduces to around half the original amount.
5.  Add the carrots, swede, potatoes, bay leaves and thyme.
6. Add beef stock, bring to boil, then turn down, cover the pot, and simmer for around 1.5-2 hours.
7. Check the mix occasionally- add some water if its drying out, but you are aiming for a nice thick gravy.

To serve:

1. Scouse is traditionally served with pickled cabbage, pickled beetroot, and plenty of bread and butter on the side!

Cheers!

And so we bid ‘Adios!’ to Mexico, who have made their customary last 16 exit against Brazil; ‘El Tri’ have gone out at this stage of the World Cup for the seventh time in a row!

I’ve always liked Mexico since their stunning appearance at my favourite ever World Cup- USA’94 with the colourful Jorge Campos dazzling in goals with his outlandish Aztec inspired kit.

I’m also a huge fan of Mexican food- it’s one of the cuisines I cook most often at home from Chilli Con Carne, to Tacos, and Fajitas.

It’s great for me that I have a local Mexican delicatessen just along the road- Lupe Pintos on Great Western Road, which is a tiny treasure trove of all those hard to get ingredients, and my favourite hot sauces which I put on practically everything, Mexican or not. It’s a really great place to get some of the more unusual ingredients in this recipe like tomatillos and hominy.

For my Mexican World Cup Dinner I was keen to try something new, and found a great recipe for Green Chicken Pozole- a sort of spicy stew-come-soup.

Like my previous World Cup Dinners of Spanish Tortilla, or Italian Margherita Pizza, one of the main features of this dish is its patriotic colours which resemble the Mexican National Flag with super bright green, white and red ingredients, which makes it really appropriate to make during this feast of football.

¡Salud!

INGREDIENTS (Serves Four):

Chicken:

• 2 large chicken breasts
• 1 bouquet garni
• 1 tsp salt.

Green Chilli Sauce:

• 50g green pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 tbsp oregano fresh leaves (or 1 tsp dry)
• 2 green jalapeño chillies
• 1 tsp ground clove
• 1 Cup rocket
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 large can tomatillos (green tomatoes) drained
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 500g can hominy ( a large type of corn)

Garnish:

• 4-5 Thinly sliced radishes
• 1 sliced jalepeno chilli- seeds left in.
• 1 cup shredded lettuce.
• 1 green onion cut into thin slices.
• Lime wedges.

Method:

1. Bring large pan of water to the boil, turn down to a simmer, then add the chicken bouquet garni and salt. Cook for around 30 minutes.
2. Once chicken is poached, remove from pan, chop into bite sized chunks, and set aside to cool. Keep the poaching water for later.
3. Toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan until they start to pop- be careful not to burn them.
4. Blend the toasted seeds along with the oregano, jalepenos, clove, rocket, fennel seeds, garlic, tomatillos and half of the hominy.
5. Once you’ve blended the chili paste add around 250ml of the poaching water to give the mix the consistency of a runny sauce.
6. Put the sauce into a pan and add the rest of the drained hominy and cook for about 10 minutes.
7. Add the chicken, and cook for a few minutes til it’s cooked through.
8. Dish up between bowls and top with the radishes, jalepeno slices, shredded lettuce and onion.

I served this with some freshly made corn tortillas, but it would also would be great with rice or corn chips.