Euro desserts. European desserts

For a long time I had the idea to write about Slovakia in my head, because many tourists ignore it, and some do not even know about its existence. In this article, I have collected the most interesting facts about Slovakia and the Slovaks, after reading which you will at least become interested in this amazing country. By the way, I've posted this before.

1. Most importantly, Czechoslovakia has been gone since 1991, and stop thinking about it. I understand that in the memory of our parents, Czechoslovakian walls, shoes or gloves are completely stuck, and they cannot be thrown out of there. But we are already a new generation that knows for sure that there are two separate countries: the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

2. Slovakia and Slovenia are different countries. Slovenia is one of the former Yugoslav republics that has a sea. There is no sea in Slovakia, however, as in the Czech Republic.

3. In Czech, "Slovakia" sounds like "Slovensko" (Slovensko), and "Slovenia" - "Slovinsko" (Slovinsko). Therefore, if you communicate with the Czechs, do not get confused in these names.

4. Slovaks hate Hungarians, Gypsies and Poles, but they love Russians, what to hide.

5. If you speak Czech or Ukrainian, the Slovaks will definitely understand you, because All 3 of these languages ​​are very similar. Russian in the eastern regions of the country is also readily understood.

6. The word "what?" in Slovak it sounds like "what?". This is a literary version of the language, not slang :)

7. There is not a single million-plus city in Slovakia. Less than half a million people live in the capital. 5.4 million people live throughout the country.

8. Currency of Slovakia - Euro.

9. The current president of Slovakia is Andrej Kiska.

10. Favorite alcoholic drinks for Slovaks - borovichka - alcohol tincture on juniper berries, as well as slivovitz - tincture on plum.

11. There are a lot of budget ski resorts in Slovakia, which few people know about, and which are not inferior in beauty to Austrian resorts! For example, Jasna, Strbske Pleso, Tatranska Lomnica, Vratna.

12. Slovaks are incredibly friendly people.

13. Slovaks are very fond of hockey, and they have a powerful hockey school. There are 11 teams in the National Extraliga. There are 12 players in the NHL. Slovak hockey player Stan Mikita is in 14th place in the NHL in terms of the number of goals scored.

14. There are a lot of words in Slovak that are consonant with Russian, but with a completely different meaning. For example, the Slovaks call a room a "hut", and they call a city a "place". But the meaning of the word "pies" in them coincides with ours.

15. The Slovak Tatras (High and Low) are popular all over the world. Car brands, drinks, waffles and even cans are named after them.

16. Slovakia has the highest VAT in the European Union - 20%.

17. The average salary varies in the eastern and western regions of the country and is approximately 700 Euros. For comparison, in the Czech Republic, the average salary is 980 Euros, and in one of the richest countries in Europe - Luxembourg - 3,860 Euros.

18. Rumor has it that in some situations on the road you can "negotiate" with the policeman without getting a fine. However, this is only possible if you are a Czech or Slovak, such a number will not work with foreigners.

19. The famous youth comedy Eurotour, one of the plots of which shows Bratislava, was actually filmed in the Czech city of Milovice.

20. Slovakia has a very tasty, but rather fatty cuisine: it includes feta cheese dumplings, a thick rich soup called cabbage, and juicy meat pies. You can read more about it in our article of the same name.

Summing up, I would like to say that Slovakia is a wonderful country with gorgeous nature and kind people. If you want to see cute little European cities, feel the kindness and hospitality of the locals, if you like mountains and walks in national parks (I am still impressed by the beauties

I won't be surprised if many fellow Tourists, after reading the title of the album, will say in bewilderment: "Well, this is understandable to a fool ...". And in my opinion, not everything is so simple. It is known that there are three pairs of countries (Austria-Australia, Sweden-Switzerland. and, finally, Slovenia-Slovakia), which cause some confusion not only among many ordinary people, but also among individual advanced tourists, and even among politicians like J Bush Jr. (remember, he got lost in locating Austria). Going to Slovenia, for example, a couple of times I came across the opinion of acquaintances that there is no sea there (after all, Czechoslovakia did not have access to the sea even under socialism). In a word, having visited Slovenia - a small (it occupies 150th place in the world in terms of area, with a population of just over two million people), but a beautiful and hospitable country - I decided to contribute to the development of the geographical knowledge of users of the worldwide network. No, it's so immodest. I just decided, without rewriting texts from Wikipedia, to tell about what was deposited in my memory after two weeks of my stay in Slovenia. Well, to supply these impressions with some photographs.

Slovenia is a small country, but very formidable (an army of almost 10,000 people). At least if we judge this by such a symbol of the capital of the country - Ljubljana. This dragon can often be found on souvenirs, T-shirts, etc.
The country is small, the airport is small...
... and the plane of the Slovenian ADRIA, on which we flew from Moscow, is small (about 100 passengers). But there (almost like in Greece) there is everything.
There are mountains (after all, the location of Slovenia is the Alpine-Danube region of Central Europe) with the highest peak - Triglav (2864 m). Ski lovers know about the beautiful slopes of the country.

This is the capital of the country Ljubljana from the height of the observation deck of the castle Ljubljana Castle. I will not write about other cities and towns in the comments to the photos, because in the context of this album this is not relevant. I will try to talk about specific cities in other works.
Slovenia - "land - reminiscent of paradise" (from childhood, the familiar words of a frog-traveler are not plagiarism). Everything is green and flowers. It is no coincidence that the main resort of the country is Portorož in the translation of the Port of Roses.



In addition to a small airport and small planes, the country has an extensive network of railways connecting Ljubljana with the main cities of Slovenia and the capitals of neighboring states. By the way, in Slovenian "railroad" sounds very nice - "railway". Just some song.
And the trains on this railroad are like this. And graffiti lovers have nothing to do with it.

As a car enthusiast, as a passenger, and as a simply objective and unbiased person, I must admit that in Slovenia there are not directions, as we often do, but Roads. I would even say, not just roads, but a well-thought-out and clear infrastructure with interchanges, tunnels, bridges, viaducts ... Moreover, not only the main (by the way, toll) highways are good, but also secondary roads connecting small settlements.


And, finally, in Slovenia there is a sea... the Adriatic Sea... the Gulf of Piran... Unfortunately, over the Gulf of Piran, Slovenia continues to disagree with Croatia. Well, not about that here, because everything is complicated there. And here is a small lyrical digression. The driver who took us to the hotel, to my remark about 46 km of the Slovenian coast, sternly remarked: "Not 46 km, but 46.6 km!". By the way, over there, on the other side - Croatia.
And yet, the Gulf of Piran, which means the Slovenian coast is an expanse for yachtsmen. Only I, not an expert and a person who does not swim behind the buoys, counted five marinas.

And these couple of shots are like some kind of illustration of the weather conditions in Slovenia. During the two weeks of our stay there was everything (well, except for snow): more than +30, and +13, and a day of heavy rain, and not May heat. Well, what did you want? The sea, the mountains, the month of May in the yard ...
Separately, it is worth mentioning the architectural features of Slovenia. Actually, there are probably no Slovenian features (I'm not an expert, "what I see is what I sing", I can be mistaken). The fact is that the ancestors of the Slovenes, having founded on these lands almost the first Slavic state - Carantania - back in the 8th century, could not preserve their originality. The power of the Habsburgs and Austria-Hungary in the main part of modern Slovenia and the cooperation (agreement of 923) of Piran and other coastal cities (about them in other albums) with the Venetian Republic left their mark on the town planning of the region. What can I say - these are two different states. Judge for yourself. I won't even name specific cities. All this is Slovenia.

I could not resist. I'll just say one thing. I have such an opinion. Venets, Venetians, but for us, just Italians, mainly, along with everything else, taught Slovenes three things: 1. Italian (in coastal areas it is the second official language); 2. the skill of making pizza; 3. and hanging clothes to dry in narrow streets. Well, this - you can’t throw words out of a song - are the results of the work of the “local” housing and communal services. Somewhere better, well, somewhere ...






This album is kind of a prelude. For two weeks, two cameras (my wife is an active participant in all photo shoots, photo hunts, etc.) captured a lot of interesting things. I will offer other works to those who are interested in Slovenia.

Recipes for those who have long wanted to learn how to do something unusual and easy, from the field of desserts. After all, almost all of our traditional cakes and pastries are too heavy, sweet and straightforward in an oriental manner. Obviously, you can do something more refined and non-trivial.

Especially for our readers, confectioner Timur Abdulkadyrov held a master class on cooking some European desserts.

Timur has been working as a confectioner for 10 years. After graduation, he trained in Italy, worked in French restaurants. He admits that by nature he has a sweet tooth and he really likes to taste desserts. Now we have such an opportunity.

Italian millefeuille with fruit and cheese

For it we need the following products:

Strawberries - 30 gr,
Raspberries - 10 gr,
Blueberries - 10 gr,
Blackberry - 10 gr,
Red currant - 20 gr,
Millefeuil - 20 gr,
Crushed pistachios - 20 gr,
Mascarpone cream - 60 gr,
Mint - 1 sprig.

Explanations are required here: millefeuil (or millefolier (Italian mille foglie) - in “translation of a thousand petals”) are the thinnest crispy puff pastry cakes. To make them, you can simply thinly roll out the puff pastry bought in the store, cut it into identical squares of about 8 by 8 cm and bake in the oven. Pistachios should be crushed, not ground. That is, they must be crushed to the state of pieces 1-2 mm thick. Mascarpone cream to be made by yourself.

It will require:
Mascarpone (this is Italian cream cheese) - 0.5 jars,
Egg yolk - 1 piece,
Powdered sugar - 100 gr.

Cooking like this:

First, the cream: for it, we combine cheese, egg yolk and powdered sugar and beat with a whisk until a homogeneous lush mass is obtained.

Now we take three squares of millefeuille, spread the cream evenly on two of them (not too plentifully). Then we cut the berries: strawberries into quarters (if very large, then smaller), blackberries and raspberries in half. Leave the rest of the berries whole.

We spread the chopped berries on top of the cream, add a blueberry berry to each cake. Then we connect the cake and cover it with the third crispy square of millefeuille.

Now you need to carefully spread the sides of the cake with cream so that all the filling is hidden under its layer, and both extreme cakes remain intact. Finally, the final trick: holding the cakes by the cream-free top and bottom cakes, alternately dip all four sides in crushed pistachios so that they cover the cream with an even thick layer.

The cake is almost ready! Timur starts decorating him. He first draws a berry sauce graphic around it on a plate. If you have the patience, you can make this sauce yourself. For it, you need to take 200 g of blackberries, passion fruit and raspberries, grind in a blender, add 50 g of powdered sugar and boil until a thick sauce, and then cool.

Timur sprinkles the finished cake with powdered sugar and decorates it with a sprig of red currant and a mint leaf on top. Now it is not only very tasty, but also spectacular.

Try it and you will see that this is something quite extraordinary! Mascarpone cheese is much softer than any usual creams and not as sweet as they are, and in the combination of its enveloping texture with crispy millefeuille and nuts there is something unusually attractive. And it's relatively easy to prepare. True, you need to know that this dessert cannot be prepared in advance, it must be eaten immediately.

French ice cream dessert with basil and mint

The second dessert is beautiful in that it does not look like anything familiar at all. It has an unusual flavor combination of basil and mint. And it has a completely different texture of its three composite layers, which give a firework of tactile sensations when you feast on it.

For this dessert, you need to prepare three components in advance and store them in the refrigerator. These are mint-lime granita, airy espuma and basil sorbet.

We will need the following products:

For Mint Lime Granite:
Sugar syrup - 100 gr,
Fresh mint - 40 gr,
Limes - 2 pcs,

For air espuma:
Sour cream with a fat content of 42% - 300 gr,
Sugar syrup - 100 gr,
Non-alcoholic mint syrup (ready) - 40 gr,

For the basil sorber:
Basil leaves - 100 gr,
Sugar syrup - 150 gr,
Carbonated water - 350 gr,
Ice cream stabilizer-emulsifier - 10 gr,
Egg white - 40 gr,
Glucose syrup - 50 gr,

Cooking like this:

Granite is the smallest ice crystals that are obtained by freezing the liquid gradually, stirring it all the time. To make mint-lime granita, you need to scald mint with hot sugar syrup, let it stand for 2 minutes, so that the mint gives off its color and taste.

Then take it out, cool the syrup a little, add the crushed zest removed from the lime and squeezed lime juice, pour the mixture into a plate and put in the freezer. As soon as the liquid seizes on top with the thinnest crust of ice, you need to remove it from the freezer, mix thoroughly and freeze again, repeating mixing every 15-20 minutes. Then we will get not quite ice, but the smallest ice crystals: a delicate delicacy with a pronounced sweet and sour, minty taste.

Espuma is a culinary technique that allows you to turn anything into the most delicate mousse. To prepare foam mousse, you will need a siphon for sauces. Of course, not every kitchen has a siphon, but this is just what you should buy.

After all, with its help you can do a variety of culinary miracles, surprising guests not only with sweets, but also with the most delicate foamy sauces from mushrooms, vegetables, fish or dairy products. From anything, with the help of a siphon, a light, tasty, frothy mass is obtained, reminiscent of whipped mousse.

In our case, we need to mix very fatty sour cream, sugar syrup and any non-alcoholic mint syrup. Fill the resulting mass into a siphon and store it in the refrigerator (but not in the freezer). It is necessary to cook espuma (foam the mass with a siphon) right before serving, since the mousse has a very delicate texture and settles quickly.

And finally, sorbet. We cook it like this: scald the basil with hot sugar syrup, let it stand for 2-3 minutes, take out the leaves. Then we cool, add the beaten egg white and the rest of the ingredients, beat everything and send it to the ice cream sorbet.

While Timur was cooking, we asked him which desserts he likes the most. It turned out that those that combine at first glance incongruous tastes. For example, basil and ice cream. And he also loves chocolate ice cream, which he makes with Guinness beer (half a liter of beer for one and a half liters of chocolate ice cream composition, beat it into a sorber bowl).

When all three ingredients for our dessert are ready, we proceed to the “assembly” of the dessert. Timur does it very effectively. In a glass vase, he places mint leaves, then places a glass cone on top, into which he places several spoons of bright green fragrant granite.

From above, with the help of a siphon, he lays out a layer of light green most delicate mousse with the help of a siphon and, finally, a ball of white ice cream is sent to the center of this splendor.

This magnificent dessert is truly a complex work. It is beautiful both visually, and texturally, and in taste. The eye is pleased with the color stretch from a white scoop of ice cream to bright mint green. And there is also a taste and tactile play of sensations: from the rather sweet and dense creamy taste of a ball of ice cream, through the most delicate texture of whipped mousse to sour mint granite crystals. Plus, basil and mint in the dessert give a completely original combination. Royal Dessert!

At first glance, it seems that it is rather difficult to make it, but it is still worth learning. Moreover, along the way, you can master several culinary techniques at once, which will give scope for your personal creativity.