We did Monaco out of alphabetical order because it helped us complete another challenge: a branch of my family has a bi-weekly cooking challenge over zoom, and this week’s theme for that challenge was “royal food.” So, we looked ahead on our alphabetical list for the next country with a royal family, and landed on Monaco, which jumps 5 places ahead to become #111.
Monaco’s Prince Albert II was a guest on a French cooking TV show called “Petits Plats en Équilibre” last summer, in which he made his favorite dish, jardinière à la monégasque. It was loaded with vegetables that are currently in season, so we made the meal around that.
For Monaco night, we made:
jardinière à la monégasque, braised vegetables;
socca, a flatbread of chickpea flour with caramelized onions; and
barbajuan, a fried, stuffed fritter of leeks, chard, and ricotta.
