Dishes to Cook to Feel Like You Are on Holiday

Our dishes to cook to feel like you are on holiday include recipes for iconic dishes from places we love to travel, including France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Thailand and more. We’ve got recipes for cassoulet from France, ragu Bolognese from Italy, gazpacho from Spain, tagine from Morocco, and guacamole from Mexico…well, you don’t need to cook guacamole, but you get the idea.

If you’ve just returned from vacation and you’re wishing you were still away – or you haven’t been anywhere in a long time and you’re dreaming of a vacay, these are the dishes to cook to feel like you are on holiday – or the recipes to make to remind you of where you’ve just been.

We’ve got something for everyone, whether you’ve just spent a winter holiday in France or Italy and are missing cosy dishes like cassoulet or a warming bowl of ragu Bolognese, or you’re dreaming of a beach break in Southeast Asia and spring rolls in Vietnam, fish amok in Cambodia or mango and sticky rice from Thailand.

Before we tell you all about our dishes to cook to feel like you are on holiday, we have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve used and enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our original, epic, first-of-its-kind Cambodian culinary history and cookbook on Patreon for as little as the price of a mango smoothie or two a month.

You can also support our work by using links on the site to book accommodation, rent a car, purchase travel insurance, or book a tour on Get Your Guide; shopping our Grantourismo online store (we have fun gifts for foodies designed with Terence’s images); or buying something on Amazon, such as these award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, cookbooks for culinary travellers, travel books to inspire wanderlust, and gifts for Asian food lovers. Now let me tell you all about our recipes to cook to feel like you are on holiday.

Dishes to Cook to Feel Like You Are on Holiday – From Bolognese to Cassoulet, Gazpacho to Guacamole

These are the recipes to make to feel like you’re on vacation – the dishes to remind you of a memorable trip to a favourite country and transport you back for a taste of the place.

Fresh Spring Rolls – Vietnam

If you’ve been to Vietnam or anywhere in Southeast Asia you will have delicious memories of munching on fresh spring rolls – and maybe even learning how to make spring rolls in a Vietnamese cooking class.

Our Vietnamese fresh prawn and pork spring rolls recipe makes the classic gỏi cuốn – fresh, fragrant spring rolls that can be served as a light appetiser, part of a shared family-style meal or as finger food for a Vietnamese feast or barbecue.

They’re quick and easy to make and incredibly healthy. If you enjoy these, you’ll find more Vietnamese spring roll recipes here including the slightly more complicated phở cuốn Hà Nội, which requires you to work a little hard to learn how to make the pho noodle sheets (if you can’t buy them locally, that is).

Vietnamese Fresh Prawn and Pork Spring Rolls Recipe for Classic Gỏi Cuốn

Rolled Omelette – Japan

While some dream of sushi in Japan – and some reminisce about that time a fishmonger handed them the most sublime piece of tuna at Tsukiji fish market – some of us dream of the Japanese rolled omelette called tamagoyaki that we ate at a simple worker’s eatery at Tsukiji’s outer market, at a high end omokase restaurant, and in our bento boxes on the bullet train.

Our Japanese rolled omelette recipe for tamagoyaki is one of the best dishes to cook to feel like you are on holidays in Japan. It makes a soft, fluffy, rolled omelette that we love to eat between thick slices of Japanese bread to make a tamago sando or Japanese egg sandwich.

Japanese rolled omelettes are eaten everywhere in Japan, from simple izakayas to swish restaurants, and have a special place in the hearts of Japanese.

This Japanese Rolled Omelette Recipe Makes Tamagoyaki for Your Tamago Sando

Mango Sticky Rice Recipe – Thailand

For many travellers to Thailand, mango sticky rice is one of the most memorable street food dishes they’ll eat on their trip and dream about when they get back home. This Thai mango sticky rice recipe makes the much-loved Thai dessert kao niaw mamuang.

Making chef David Thompson’s Thai mango sticky rice recipe from his Thai Street Food cookbook became my mission a few years ago after the mango rains started here in Siem Reap and we had an abundance of mangoes to use.

Despite the detailed recipe notes in the book, it’s nowhere near as intimidating as it looks and this jasmine scented sweet will take you back to eating on the streets of Thailand.

Thai Mango Sticky Rice Recipe by Chef David Thompson and It’s Not As Intimidating As It Looks

Cassoulet – France

Cassoulet is one of the most quintessential dishes of France, for us; alongside French onion soup and cote de boeuf. Our classic Toulouse cassoulet recipe makes a hearty stew of haricot beans, pork, sausages, and duck confit, and is one of countless versions of cassoulet.

While Castelnaudary, about 180km from Ceret, is the self-proclaimed capital of cassoulet, which is named after the cassole, the earthenware pot it is often cooked in. Some 65km north of Castelnaudary, Toulouse is also a centre for this homely, filling stew.

Cooking and eating cassoulet takes us back to a small Catalan mountain town we stayed at called Ceret, where there was a restaurant specialising in cassoulet, and the city of Perpignan, where we ate memorable plates of cassoulet.

We also cooked the dish for a Toulouse-born local we invited for dinner. This classic Toulouse cassoulet recipe is one of the best dishes to cook to feel like you are on holidays in France.

Classic Toulouse Cassoulet Recipe Made in Ceret in Southern France

Guacamole – Mexico

We’ll never forget the first time we sampled guacamole in Mexico on the terrace of a grand old hotel overlooking the zocalo in Mexico City. It tasted so fresh, as if it had just been made – because of course it had – and so simple, because as we’d quickly learn, authentic guacamole in Mexico doesn’t have a long list of ingredients as it often does outside Mexico.

This authentic Mexican guacamole recipe makes a genuine Mexican guacamole of the kind your Mexican abuela (grandma) might make if you had them – the kind that’s made table-side at good restaurants in Mexico. It’s all about the creamy luscious texture, bright green colour and full flavour of perfectly ripe avocados.

I’ve been making this authentic Mexican guacamole recipe for over 30 years, since our first trip to Mexico and no dish takes me back like guacamole – except this tortilla soup or tacos al pastor or corn on the cobs or…

Authentic Mexican Guacamole Recipe Just Like Your Mexican Abuela Would Make

Gazpacho – Spain

Gazpacho must be one of the best dishes to cook to feel like you are on holidays in Spain – especially southern Spain. While we were making gazpacho long before we went to Spain, there’s still nothing like this chilled tomato soup to remind us of our summer travels on the Mediterranean, especially along the coast, on the Balearic islands, and in Southern Spain.

This gazpacho recipe makes an authentic Andalusian style gazpacho from southern Spain of the kind that you’ll find in cities such as Seville. The recipe results in a vibrant orange gazpacho that tastes like a garden salad in the form of a cold summer soup.

Of the many bowls and glasses of gazpacho we slurped and sipped over a couple of decades or so over travelling to Spain, we reckon this recipe makes the best gazpacho – as long as your memories are of the Andalusian style of gazpacho of course.

Best Gazpacho Recipe for an Authentic Andalusian Style Gazpacho from Southern Spain

Chicken Tagine – Morocco

There are a number of Moroccan specialties I remember most vividly from our first visit to Morocco in the late Nineties. Several of those became my favourite Moroccan dishes, the dishes we’d order for our first Moroccan meal on return trips, and the dishes we’d seek out at Moroccan restaurants around the world, including at our home at the time, the United Arab Emirates.

This Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives is one of the best dishes to cook to feel like you are on holiday in Morocco. It makes what is probably one of Morocco’s most quintessential tagines, alongside lamb tagine with prunes and almonds recipe.

Infused with intense citrus notes, thanks to umami-rich preserved lemons, the comforting Moroccan stew is traditionally eaten with crusty round bread called khobz. It’s also delicious with couscous, just don’t tell your Moroccan friends!

Classic Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives

Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe – Cambodia

If you’ve been to Cambodia, you probably fell in love with fish amok or amok trei in Siem Reap, and you’ll be relieved to know that while it’s time consuming to make, it’s not actually that hard.

‘Amok’ means to steam in banana leaves (although you can use ramekins if you like) while ‘trei’ is simply ‘fish’ and it’s a sumptuous steamed Cambodian fish curry and an ancient dish dating back to the magnificent Khmer Empire.

You’ll need to pound a paste in a mortar and pestle. That’s not as difficult as it sounds, it will give your arms a good work-out, and it will fill your kitchen with wonderful fragrances. And don’t worry, you don’t need to steam it in banana leaves, you can make it in a bowl or ramekin.

Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe for an Authentic Steamed Fish Curry in the Old Style

Ragù alla Bolognese – Italy

We’d been eating ‘spaghetti Bolognese’ for several decades before we tried an authentic ragu alla Bolognese in Italy in its birthplace of Bologna. We’ll never forget the meal, which began with tortellini in brodo, which we thought was unbeatable, until we tasted the best tagliatelli ragu alla Bolognese we’ve ever eaten in our lives.

This ragù alla Bolognese recipe is based on the traditional recipe for the classic meat sauce from Bologna in Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy, which is used for both pasta and lasagne. Follow Terence’s exacting ingredient list and cooking directions and the result will be a perfect ragù alla Bolognese, just like it’s eaten in Bologna.

This ragu alla Bolognese recipe is used for both tagliatelle all Bolognese and lasagne alla Bolognese.