It was Jacques Houdek who once said, ‘Dare to dream, make a meal’ – ok yes, that wasn’t quite the lyric, but with this year’s slogan ‘Dare to Dream’ why not make a few adaptations! With this year’s contest quickly approaching, it’s time to start planning your Eurovision parties. With the help of Eurovision Union, you can plan out the ultimate Eurovision party for you and your friends!
Over the last month, we’ve gathered some of the tastiest and most intriguing dishes from across the participating nations and we have put our aprons on to test out these recipes! We selected a diverse range of food, as well as both savoury and sweet dishes, so if you are hosting a Eurovision party this year, you can take inspiration from our cooking adventures across Europe and recreate these dishes for you and your friends!
Fritule (Croatia)
Every culture seems to have their take on donuts, but really, everyone loves donuts so why not include it in your Eurovision Party menu! Fritule are the Croatian version of small donut balls which are usually flavoured with rum and citrus zest, and can contain raisins.
Fritule are an easy dessert snack which are sweet, but not too sweet and although traditionally they are topped with powdered sugar, we decided to drizzle our Fritule with dark and white chocolate. You could dust the Fritule with sugar to keep them simple, but you can always have dipping pots of chocolate for your guests, if that suits your tastes.
Here is a recipe for Fritule (credit: Jamie Oliver):
Makes: 20
Ingredients:
500g plain flour
1 tsp dried yeast
60g golden caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla powder (or extract)
45ml brandy
200ml luke warm milk
60g raisins
500ml rapeseed oil for frying
powdered sugar – for coating/dusting
Instructions:
Mix together the plain flour, yeast and sugar. Add the beaten egg, lemon zest, vanilla and brandy. Stir together well with a wooden spoon and then gradually add the milk. A thick batter should start to form, but you can use a whisk to mix the dough to make sure everything is well combined and that there are no lumps. Add in the raisins, stir again and leave to stand for 30 minutes. You should have a batter with has a dropping consistency, if it is a little thick, add a splash more milk.
In a large pan, heat the oil until a cube of bread browns within 20 seconds) then quickly drop teaspoonfuls of the batter to the pan – until you have around 8-10 cooking. Fry the mini doughnuts on all sides, until they are golden brown – 1-2 minutes in total.
Carefully take the doughnuts out using a slotted spoon and drain in a bowl lined with kitchen paper.
Here is what we started with:
And here is our finished product!
Beer List
Our resident beer expert has done research (and a whole lot of tasting) to come up with some of the must-try beers of the nation. For each nation there are three suggestions:
- The National Treasure – this is a beer that is recognisable and accessible to buy
- The Party Starter – this is a nicer alternative, but still fairly accessible to buy
- The Show Stopper – this is for the beer enthusiasts or those with a sense of adventure, but may not be as easy to purchase outside of that nation
Croatia
The National Treasure – Ožujsko Pivo (Pale Lager – 5.0%)
The Party Starter – Zmajska Pivovara Pozoj IPA (American IPA – 7.3%)
The Show Stopper – LAB Barba Imperial IPA (Imperial IPA – 8.0%)
Listen to our Dare to Dream, Make a Meal playlist below: