Travel Recipes We Found and Loved

Travel is about food!

Sure, it’s about shopping and seeing the sights, but there’s no better way to get to know a culture and its people than by sharing their food with them. 

Not cuisine, food!?? I mean the fabled falafel stands and savory street food in North Africa, the small tavernas of Italy and Greece. Maybe the Fish and Chips stands in the UK and certainly the mole sauces in Mexico.

From Drop Box

Image Credit: Wendie Hansen

In Canada’s Prince Edward Island we fell in love with Malpeque Oysters and Blue Mussels, and on the other side of the world, we lived off the hommus of the Middle East.

Here are a couple favs (modified) from those wildly disparate regions:

From Kaleel

Shuck ‘em and Eat ‘em

Prince Edward Island’s Malpeque Oysters and Blue Mussels have earned Canada’s smallest province a big reputation worldwide. ?With their sweet meat and glossy black shells, mussels have muscled their way into all the best restaurants, and supermarkets.

Mussels A la PEI

2 lbs. PEI mussels, rinsed

1/2 cup dry white wine or beer

2 Tbsp. diced celery

2 Tbsp. diced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Place wine, celery, onion, garlic and mussels in a large pan. Cover and steam over high heat for 6 minutes or until mussels ?open. Discard any that don’t open. Serve immediately with juice, sprinkled with black pepper and parsley.

Serves 2.

Hummus in Arabic just means “beans.” As a meal, it’s a staple in the Middle East from big cities to Bedouin tents.

Hommus bi Tahini (with tahini)

From Drop Box

This has become a very familiar product in most grocery stores, but it’s so easy and cheap to make…and you can add your own personal touches.

Here’s our take on this classic

1 can of chick peas, drained. Or dried beans soaked and cooked.

Juice of 1 plump lemon

1 plump crushed garlic clove?s

Splash of olive oil

2 TBSPs of Tahini

2 TBSP’s water

salt (and pepper) to taste

Put lemon juice, olive oil, garlic in the bottom of a processor, or blender, then add chick peas and tahini.

Blend slowly, and add water til it reaches a ‘dippable’ consistency.

Hommus will thicken as it stands, so if you don’t plan to eat it right away make it a little ‘looser’.? Now here’s where you ’play’.

If you were to taste hommus in different countries of the Middle East, each one would have a slightly different flavor.. Here you get to add your favorite things.

You can add things like fresh mint, parsley, cilantro, scallions, ground black pepper, hot pepper flakes, curry, roasted chipotle pepper, sundried tomatoes…you name it!

You can also control the ‘texture’ by the amount of blending.?It should be spread in a shallow colorful dish, and drizzled with olive oil.

Then, create an inviting presentation: I like to ring it with sliced cucumber, sprinkle with pepper or sumac and top with a sprig of mint.

Enjoy! Let us know if you want more  recipes