Euro Twenty Twelve

It’s OK. You are on the right blog. Honest.

Is it possible to get bored with baking? That’s a big question but, when you have a customer like Gert, it’s quite difficult. As you will know from previous posts, Gert runs Oren, his little restaurant in Caernarfon. Normally his menu zooms from one country to the next on a weekly basis. But this time he has excelled himself. This is his latest customer email:

“It’s been an exciting few weeks in Caernarfon. First we had the Olympic flame, then we had lots of visitors because of the Urdd and the Music on the Maes ( I went wednesday and the atmosphere was lovely). The bank holidays saw boatraces on the Menai, tea & cakes at the sea, a local produce market, and live interactive park art.

This is all almost forgotten now the football has started (apologies for Holland’s poor performance in their first match). I decided it was a good occasion to have 2 weeks with an all-over-Europe menu, using the 16 participating countries in Euro 2012 as a guide.

So this week we’ve got Euro 2012 menu (part 1)

Polish Beetroot & Cucumber Soup

German Meatloaf

Spanish Hake

Ukrainian Vegetarian Dumplings with Caramelised Onions

Greek New Potatoes

Croatian Chard

Czech Summer Kohlrabi

English Strawberry & Earl Grey Mousse

And next week it’s Euro 2012 (part 2)

Russian Olivje Salad

Portugese Beef

Danish Fishcakes

Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

Italian Courgettes with Nuts & Sage

Irish Samphire with Peas & Broadbeans

Dutch Endive Mash

French Apricot Tart

In the week after we’ll have a special Danish Midsummer Menu (28/29/30ed o Mehefin/June).

NOTE: For the duration of the Summer we will also be open on Sunday lunchtime – from now on.”

So he’s now doing all the countries in Europe. Fortunately he doesn’t mind being a bit approximate. So for the host nations, Poland/Ukraine he’s happy with Silesian Rye with Pumpkin Seed:

My Polish neighbour, Dorota, has never heard of Silesia. Let’s say it straddles the Polish/Ukraine border. They do have a common border, don’t they? Ukraine is the co-host isn’t it?