The Palace International

Have you ever had African food? For most people, including me last week, the answer is no. If you have, it may have been Ethiopian or Moroccan. But how about food from a Kenyan? If you live in Durham, you have the opportunity to have authentic African food at The Palace International.


I've heard of ox tails in Hispanic cuisine, but I've never had the gaul to order them. It turns out they are very similar to Korean short-ribs. American-style ribs are cut in between the bones to produce corn-on-the-cob-style eating. Korean-style ribs, on the other hand, are cut through the bone, so you end up eating the meat off of each piece of bone. These ox tails were exactly the same, except they had been slowly simmered in a garlic-ginger-tomato sauce. The tail meat is a little fatty, but that just adds to the delicious, savoriness of chewing the meat off the bone. On the side I had some yellow rice with collards that were sauteed but still fresh and green.


The other entree we ordered was the curried goat, which was outstanding. The meat was amazingly tender. There were some large bones involved, but also some stand-alone pieces of meat too. The curry sauce was great. It was packed with curry and garlic flavors without being overbearing or too spicy. We had this dish with ugali, a cake of solid grits-like-grain that was a little course but still good.


Dessert choices were decidedly un-African, but they sounded too good to pass up nonetheless. We ordered strawberry Tres Leches. Tres leches is a marvelous Latin dessert that is moist but not soggy. The cake is immersed into a mixture of multiple milks and sugar. This tres leches was served with strawberry jam and white chocolate. As it was served, it was topped with a splash of sweet wine which really rounded out the flavors and made this dessert absolutely incredible. The overall feel of this cooking was a mixture of Spanish, Indian and Ethiopian, which is quite intriguing. I will definitely return to The Palace International to try some of the other dishes that I missed.

Fettuccine with Goat Sausage - 10/01/08

Last weekend, when I was determining what I wanted to cook for the week, I decided on this recipe. However, I changed my mind about using turkey sausage when I found a block of goat sausage at the local Farmers' Market. It was flavored with sage and I thought what better opportunity to try something new.


On my trip to Italy, I picked up this fettuccine primavera for all of the wonderful colors. I chose a few of the colors to use in this dish.


While cooking the pasta, cook some chopped onion until it is translucent. Then add the goat sausage, breaking up the meat into bite-size pieces. Cook the meat all the way through and allow to brown on the outside. Add some white wine to deglaze the pan for a couple of minutes. Then add some rinsed cannelini beans and halved grape tomatoes, allowing this mixture to heat through and the tomatoes to soften. Add the sauce to the cooked, drained pasta, tossing to coat. Surprisingly, the goat meat tasted like any other meat with all of the sausage seasonings, but that doesn't mean you should avoid trying it. I like adding to my culinary repertoire whenever possible, if for no other reason but to keep myself interested in food and cooking for myself on a regular basis.