Road trips, mountain walks and holidays

If we talk about national dishes, Lithuanian cepelinai and sakotis are obvious representatives of Lithuanian cuisine. I wrote about the Lithuanian dessert sakotis before, so in this post more about their main dish – Lithuanian dumplings cepelinai. Every time I have a chance to stay in Lithuania for a few days, I try to include Lithuanian dumplings cepelinai in one of my meals at least once. So what are Lithuanian dumplings cepelinai? They are large-sized dumplings made from potato dough, which have a shape similar to an airship or zeppelin. The honour of the inventor of the airship goes to the inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Zeppelins (cepelinai) as a food were already known before the invention of the airship, and before that they were called didžkukuliai (something like grand dumplings) in Lithuanian. It is said that this dish originated in Germany, but was originally made without filling. Potato dough is made by mixing fresh grated potatoes with mashed boiled potatoes. The ...

There are some occasions when the fridge is almost empty, and you need to start using food from the freezer. These can be delicacies stored for special occasions or some other food. This recipe would prevent you from doing that in case you still have something left in your fridge, which may be any sort of thing; this recipe may suit in such case. An easy and quick way to prepare vegetable salad with crab sticks Ingredients 2 to 3 crab sticks; maybe more Half of a sweet red pepper 100 – 150 grams of a leek A couple of chopped onion slices 2 tablespoons of sour cream Half a tablespoon of Provencal mayonnaise Half a teaspoon of mustard A pinch of salt Preparation Crab sticks and peppers are cut into pieces, the leek is cut first into four parts along the length (it must be washed), and then cut into thin slices. Cut a few slices from the onion and chop. Add sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard, and a pinch of salt to all this in a bowl and mix. The salad is quite spicy, if you wish something l...

It may happen that you had an early lunch but there still is plenty of time to wait until dinner. What to do? You can prepare a light afternoon meal as a vegetable salad. Ingredients Half of a red pepper, about 75 grams Cucumber, about 100 grams Leeks, about 100 grams Two tablespoons of 12-18% sour cream, about 50 grams Tablespoon of Provencal mayonnaise, about 20 grams A pinch of salt If you like to count, it’s a total of about 315 calories (Kcal). Preparation Cut the leek lengthwise into four parts and then into slices. Do the same with cucumber, then clean peppers and cut into mid-sized cubes. After that everything goes into a salad bowl, add on top soured cream, mayonnaise and salt. Mix it and taste if any seasoning is needed. You can eat this with rye bread; butter on the bread isn’t even necessary because the salad is juicy enough. Leeks Leeks are one of my favourite vegetables, so a little about those here. Leeks can be bought in grocery shops all year round. It is often called ...

A terrine is a loaf of prepared food, similar to a pate; it is cooked in a pottery of a certain form. As knowledgeable people say, all pates are terrines, but not all terrines are pates. The main difference between pates and terrines is that pates are easier to make, although to make a terrine some understanding of food preparation and experience are necessary. It may be any kind of meat used for cooking depending on your preferences. Terrines are more widely used to prepare meats, however, seafood may be used too and smoked salmon terrine is widely known and very popular. On this page is one of the recipes you can use to prepare salmon terrine. The quantity of ingredients in this recipe will make up a full medium size baking dish. Ingredients 500 grams of skinless salmon fillets salt and ground pepper 2 tablespoons lime juice 10 grams of butter for spreading of the baking form 200 grams of sliced dried salmon 1 egg 250 grams of soured cream 250 grams of double cream 1 tablespoon diced...

Barbeque burger sauce Without a doubt, sauce is one of the most important components of a meal – either for meat or non-meat dishes. If the sauce is homemade, that would ensure even more satisfaction. There are tons of different recipes available on the internet to be used on various occasions. In this case, below is a recipe for barbeque grill sauce, which you may use for homemade burgers, salads and so on – my little contribution towards making meals a bit different and a bit more tasty, according to everyone’s individual taste preferences. All the ingredients are the most usual you can buy in any supermarket, although the taste of the sauce you can improve completely up to your mood and given situation. For that reason, precise amounts of ingredients are not given – feel free to experiment. Of course, using more honey than ketchup may end up with a bit weird result, although you never know what others would prefer (if you do not use honey, this sauce might even be suitable for veget...

Bakery near Ignalina This is another part of our trip around Lithuania. On the morning of the second day of our trip, after a coffee and light breakfast, we went to Ignalina. Our destination was bakery Romnesa, where Lithuanian desert sakotis (šakotis, šakočiai or raguolis), what is a national delicacy, is produced.   Sakotis is a special muffin in the shape of a tree with a hollow in the middle prepared by monks since the 15th century. A similar kind of muffin is also popular in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Hungary and Japan. However, every country has its own specific traditions of preparing them. Variants of preparation may vary but just for an example here is one sakotis recipe (keep in mind that the same importance as ingredients also is a technology of sakotis preparation). In this case, sakotis was made on open fire. We were also told about the history of sakotis (there is a small museum inside the factory’s premises) as well as made our own. The size of sakotis depends on the a...

Seafood in Montenegro During our vacation trip to Montenegro , we obviously enjoyed a lot of seafood in Montenegro and local fermented grape juice of course. Especially, we were excited about buying fresh seafood on the shore from fishermen and preparing our (not anymore their) catch at home. In my opinion, there are more tasty oysters in neighbouring Croatia, however, the taste of mussels from the Bay of Kotor outperforms many regions offering similar production. In local warehouses, it was possible to buy different kinds of seafood (and the price was excellent indeed). It was a real celebration of summer every evening in Montenegro all week long. Seafood in Montenegro is a usual thing for locals. Humans have used seafood in their cuisine for thousands of years. For example, mussels can be smoked, boiled, steamed, roasted, barbecued or fried in butter or vegetable oil. As with almost all shellfish, mussels should be checked to ensure they are still alive just before they are cooked. W...