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We were recently given the challenge of coming up with some recipes to enjoy during the FIFA World Cup. This year is the first year that our son has shown a real interest in football. He's supporting Brazil because they have won the most. He's not very good at losing! My husband and I are huge football fans. We met at a football statistics company when I was a football analyst and he was a football journalist, so the World Cup is of huge interest for both of us.
I decided to make eight different snack recipes, one for each group of the World Cup. I researched the countries speciality snacks and have really enjoyed learning about the foot from countries around the world. I involved the children wherever possible and we have had great fun making snacks for the World Cup 2014. My children have also tried a huge range of foods which we wouldn't ever have contemplated making before. #BigMatchPlanner #CollectiveBias
Before starting my recipes, I popped into our local Tesco to pick up a four pack of 1.5l World Cup pack of Coca Cola. The pack was only £4 which I thought was great value. Unfortunately the store I went to didn't have any diet coke in the special pack, so I got some Coca Cola Zero, which is a pretty good alternative (I don't really like the taste of normal Coca Cola.
My plan of choosing a team from each group was that we would put them against each other and see who the winner would be. The winner would be chosen based on how we all rated the snack and how easy it was to prepare.
Brazil vs Russia
We made Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread) to represent Brazil and blinis with sour cream, smoked salmon and caviar to represent Russia.
Both children loved the cheese bread. It was quite garlicky, but they wolfed it down. It was also incredibly easy to make, although finding the tapioca flour proved slightly difficult. It was really crispy straight out of the oven and the next day was softer to eat. My mum is coeliac, so this was great for her because it is completely gluten-free.
The blinis were also eaten by everyone, although my daughter was less willing to try them. We didn't tell them what caviar is. I didn't dare! It was my first taste of caviar and I actually quite enjoyed it!
Winner: Brazil
Everyone enjoyed these and we will definitely make them again. The blinis were nice, but a bit fiddly to make. The recipe may well come out again at Christmas time!
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Japan vs Switzerland
We went with sushi for Japan and fondue for Switzerland. I was really quite impressed with the children for trying the sushi and they both really enjoyed it, which surprised me. I was amazed at how easy it is to make as well. It's one of my favourite foods so will become a regular dish in the future.
The fondue took a while to make but was an instant hit with the children. We got bread sticks and bruchetta to dip into the fondue. I used quite strong cheese but my children are both huge cheese fans and it didn't deter them.
Winner: Japan
Purely because my husband and I love sushi and it was so easy to make.
England vs USA
I made Ploughmans finger sandwiches with ham slow cooked in Coca Cola, mature cheddar and pickle to represent England. For the USA I made hot dogs with sweetcorn.
Both children loved the sandwiches. The ham was so soft and tasted amazing. I expected that it would taste sweet, but it just tasted delicious and you honestly couldn't taste the Coca Cola in it.
I had forgotten that I don't like hot dogs, so I was disappointed with them. The children ate the bread (a rare treat as they don't usually get white bread) and the sweetcorn, but ignored the sausage part. I didn't blame them!
Winner: England
This wasn't much of a contest, I'll be honest.
Nigeria vs Australia
I made a coke float to represent Nigeria. Sorry. It was my only cheat, but after some serious research into Iranian, Argentinian, Chilean and Nigerian food, I found nothing easy to make, so I made it up. It's representing Nigeria because of the green straw, there is no other link at all! My husband and I loved these, but the children weren't so keen. They're not quite into fizzy things yet, although they loved the ice cream.
Australia is represented by fairy bread. I had never, ever heard of fairy bread, but it seems to be somewhat of an Australian speciality. It is simply amazing. Whoever invented it is a genius. Seriously. I had to have it taken away from me before I ate the plateful! Obviously the children loved it. Sprinkles on bread. What's not to love?
Winner: Australia
If you haven't ever eaten fairy bread then you should. End of!
So the teams who made it to the quarter finals of our FIFA World Cup snack-off are: Brazil, Japan, England and Australia. I would recommend all the snacks that we made though. Some take longer than others, but they were all enjoyable.
Here are all the recipes for our snacks to eat during Brazil 2014.
Brazilian Cheese Bread
What you need (to make around 8 rolls)
1/2 cup olive oil or butter
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk or soy milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups tapioca flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 beaten eggs
Directions
Preheat oven to 190 degrees C
Pour the olive oil, water, milk, and salt into a large saucepan, and place over high heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove from heat immediately, and stir in tapioca flour and garlic until smooth. At this point it looks rather like it has curdled, but that is how it should look.
Set aside and leave to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Then stir the cheese and egg into the tapioca mixture until well combined, the mixture will be chunky like cottage cheese. Drop rounded, 1/4 cup-sized balls of the mixture onto an ungreased baking sheet. You can do this straight from the cup so your hands don't get messy.
Bake in preheated oven until the tops are lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
Blinis with sour cream, smoked salmon and caviar
What you need
150ml milk
70g buckwheat flour
70g strong white flour
1 tsp salt
2 free-range eggs, separated
4g dried yeast
100g sour cream
25g butter
Smoked salmon
Caviar
Sour Cream
Directions
Heat the milk in a small pan. As it heats, put the flours and the salt in a large bowl and separate the eggs.
When the milk begins to boil, take it off the heat and stir in the yeast, followed by the egg yolks and the sour cream. Every time you add something you need to stir it vigorously.
Pour the contents of the pan slowly into the bowl of flour, stirring as you do so. When you have a smooth paste, cover and leave in a warm place for an hour (whilst the yeast gets to work). It expands slightly and should have some bubbles on the surface when ready.
Next whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then very gently fold them into the mixture using a rubber spatula or metal spoon. Once thoroughly mixed, cover, and leave for another 2 hours.
When ready to cook, melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium high heat, then add the batter in teaspoonfuls to the pan and cook until bubbles rise to the top, then flip them over and cook for another minute or so on the other side, until golden brown (just like mini pancakes). You'll probably need to do this in batches. This makes around 40 blinis.
Sushi
What you need
250g sushi rice
30ml sushi vinegar
sushi rolling mat
Soy sauce
2 Nori sheets
Tuna
Mayonnaise
Smoked salmon
1 yellow pepper
cucumber
3 tsp wasabi paste
to serve
light soy sauce
Japanese pickled ginger
30ml sushi vinegar
sushi rolling mat
Soy sauce
2 Nori sheets
Tuna
Mayonnaise
Smoked salmon
1 yellow pepper
cucumber
3 tsp wasabi paste
to serve
light soy sauce
Japanese pickled ginger
Directions
Cook the sushi rice for 11-12 minutes. Once cooked, drain and then put back in the pan with the lid on and leave for 25 - 30 minutes.
Pour the rice vinegar over the rice.
Place a sheet of nori onto the rolling mat and spread half of the cooked rice as evenly as possible over the nori. Leave a 1cm gap at the top and bottom as you will need to seal the roll.
Lay the filling (salmon, tuna mayonnaise, pepper or cucumber) over the rice. Do not put too much filling as it will be hard to roll.
Start rolling the nori carefully. Press firmly and roll away from you. When the roll is complete, press down firmly to compress the roll slightly.
Remove the sushi and place onto a dry chopping board.
Using a very sharp knife cut the roll into sushi-sized pieces.
Pour the rice vinegar over the rice.
Place a sheet of nori onto the rolling mat and spread half of the cooked rice as evenly as possible over the nori. Leave a 1cm gap at the top and bottom as you will need to seal the roll.
Lay the filling (salmon, tuna mayonnaise, pepper or cucumber) over the rice. Do not put too much filling as it will be hard to roll.
Start rolling the nori carefully. Press firmly and roll away from you. When the roll is complete, press down firmly to compress the roll slightly.
Remove the sushi and place onto a dry chopping board.
Using a very sharp knife cut the roll into sushi-sized pieces.
Fondue
What you need
1 clove garlic, halved
290ml/½ pint white wine
1 tsp lemon juice
225g/8oz emmental cheese grated
225g/8oz gruyère cheese grated
cubed bread pieces or bread sticks, for dipping
Directions
Rub the inside of the slow cooker with the halves of garlic.
Turn the slow cooker on to medium.
Put the wine and lemon juice in a pan and heat until boiling.
Pour the wine into the slow cooker and gradually stir in the cheeses until melted, stirring all the time.
Using the fondue prongs, dip the bread cubes into the cheese and serve.
Ploughman Finger sandwiches with ham cooked in Coca Cola
What you need
2kg ham/gammon
1.5l Coca Cola
Whole cloves
1tbsp Black Treacle
Bread
Mature cheddar cheese
Pickle/chutney
Butter/margarine
This is one which really needs to be prepared the day before.
Turn the slow cooker on to low and empty the bottle of Coca Cola into the pot.
Cover the ham with one tablespoon of black treacle and then pierce it and add around five cloves into the holes.
Place in the slow cooker and cook for about eight hours.
Remove from the slow cooker and leave to cool.
Obviously you could eat it at this point for your tea and use the leftovers the next day.
To make your finger sandwiches, cut the crusts off the bread, spread with margarine and then put a layer of mature cheddar, a layer of ham and a layer of pickle or cheddar. Cut the sandwiches into finger size slithers and serve.
Hot dogs with sweetcorn
What you need
Hot dogs
Buns
Ketchup
Onions (if you want them)
Sweetcorn
Cook your hot dogs (I boiled them but you can also fry them if you prefer)
Cut the hot dog buns down the top
Place the hot dog in the bun and add as much ketchup as you like.
Serve with corn on the cob (boiled for around 10 mins or put under the grill for 15 mins)
Fairy Bread
What you need
Bread
Sprinkles
Butter/margarine
Directions
Cut the crusts off your bread
Spread with butter or margarine
Cover with sprinkles and then cut into shapes
Coca Cola Float
What you need
Coca Cola
Vanilla ice cream
Directions
Pour the coca cola into a glass.
Add a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream.
Serve with a straw
