Friday 30 September 2016

Cauliflower Potato Curry- vegetarian

I wanted to have a vegetarian dish to share and I had a cauliflower head sitting in the veggie basket.
Some Potatoes - not longer looking so fresh and some other things to go around.


I thought about the cooking method while I peeled the potatoes and looked at my Thermomix and knew how, get most of everything going in there without so many pots.

recipe:
1 small head cauliflower
350 g potatoes
100 g frozen peas
3 small tomatoes
1 tbsp Madras curry
3 red onions
5 cloves of garlic
1 red chili
5 cm ginger
3 limequats
5 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tsp dried chili
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
7 cardamom pods
1 tsp black sesame seeds
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil


I stuck the potatoes into the inner basket and put the steamer on top and filled that with cauliflower, icy peas, some tomatoes and a good sprinkle of mild Madras Curry Powder. One liter of salted hot water and I was cooking. 35 minutes later, a good result.
Make rhe paste with chili onions and ginger.


I just needed a pan and got my whole spices in some coconut oil going, added the fresh onion, garlic, ginger and chili paste and cooked it for a while, 5 tbsp of creme fraiche and a bit of water. Seasoned with salt and pepper. I juiced 3 limequats on top.
That was the sauce to go over the veggies. Done.

Thursday 29 September 2016

Pain d´Amour

Or black bread!

A slab of black bread with 3 different coloured cocktail tomatoes pressed into the dough is a great sight on every table.
The commentary from the guests were hilarious: is that a piece of concrete? Has the bread fallen into a bucket of dust?

Rest easy, it is just a tiny package of sepia ink from an Italian grocery store.

Making it not round or rectangular but a loopsided, it resembles a slab of stone, brush it with some olive oil- maybe forget a corner or two- that looks even more authentic and press the tomato slices in. Press them in the dough deep enough, otherwise they come up during baking and will fall off.


recipe:
350 g flour
150 g semolina duro
10 g fresh yeast
12 g salt
12 g olive oil
300 ml  water or whey mixed in with the package of sepia ink.

1 hand full of different coloured cocktail tomatoes

Knead it and let it proof over night in the fridge.

Just shape it by hand,  decorate it and bake it at 230 C for 20 min.


Tuesday 27 September 2016

Sweet Dumpling with Raz el Hanout

When you have leftover Brioche or Raisin Breads which are a bit stale, do not throw them away. Here comes an alternative to a standard bread pudding. Very tasty and better looking on a plate.


The specialty of this bread pudding is the combination with tiny tomatoes stored in a sweet syrup and a spiceblend you would not expect in a dessert, Ras al Hanout from Morocco.

recipe:
120 g raisin bread
100 ml warm milk
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
1/2 tsp Raz el Hanout
40 g tiny tomatoes
40 g sugar syrup

sauce:
Greek yogurt mixed with
honey
yellow tomato jelly

bring bread with milk and egg and seasoning together and let it rest for 30 min.
Prick some holes into the tiny tomatoes and stick them into the sugar syup and let them sit 30 min.

Bring everything together and use plastic wrap and make a sausage in the middle, close the wrap and pull it thight, wrap it in tin foil and close that thight too.
In a pot bring water to a simmer -slow boil- and place the sausage in and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Rest for 10 min, unwrap it and slice it and serve it with some sauce and a few fresh tomatoes on a bit of yogurt and jelly.


Sunday 25 September 2016

Linseed Whey Bread

When you have lots of whey from making goatcheese- do not throw it away use it for baking bread.
But you have to do this in a 24 hour time radius, otherwise the whey goes bad because it was from fresh milk of the non supermarkt variety.


I love linseed and this time I used the golden kind. For this recipe you will need a bread proofing basket.

recipe:
500 ml whey or water
120 g golden linseed
250 g whole wheat flour
250 g flour t.405
40 g fresh yeast
2 tsp salt
1 tsp honey
10 g baking malt

One hour before baking heat up the liquid short before boiling and dump in the linseed, take off the hob and cover with a lid and let it stand 60 minutes.
Put that into a kitchen machine and add the rest of the ingredients and knead a soft dough. Rest in the bowl covered with a tea towel for 30 minutes.


Use a bread proofing basket and flour that very well, get a good flour on the sides too.
Dump in the dough, do not press it down, cover with the tea towel and let it sit 30 minutes.


Preheat the oven at 200 C  us a baking sheet or a baking stone.
Turn over the baket onto the baking sheet and bake 60 minutes or until the bottom sounds hollow.


Making my own Goatcheese

A good friend is making cheese at home for some time. Now I´ve got curious and after my Ricotta cheese making I was hooked and wanted to do it. So we worked on this project together.


The first thing that is neccessary to know, you need time and space to do it. The process needs 48 hours and is a very strict science.

You will need rennet (Kälberlab), calcium chloride, and a sour starter. Use a siringe


3 l of goatsmilk  just make about 5 small cheeses and you will have a huge amount of whey. Which is great for baking btw. Each of us started the dough for a bread after we had about 1,3 l of whey after filling the sieves to drip.

recipe:
3 l fresh goatsmilk warmed up to 33 C
add 1 knifepoint of sour starter
and 0,9 ml calcium chloride

just take 2 tbsp off the milk in a small cup and set aside

now you have to wait 45 Minutes!

the stir the milk good and 
add 7,8 ml  rennet to the cup  and pour that into the milk-  bring the milk to a stop.
Cover with a lid and a thick bathtowel  and let it stand without touching or moving it for 1 hour.


Then look out for a solid white under some liquid and take a knife and cut it into pieces.


Let it sit for 5 minutes, use a bigger spoon and skim some whey into a bowl.  Use a spoon a stir a bit.

Let it sit for 5 min,.....

Let it sit for 5 min ......

Let it sit for 5 min......

Take small sieve containers and strain with a slotted spoon some of the cheese curds into the containers, set them on a grid  over a deep dish. Let them rest over night.

The next morning you put the curds into cheese moulds. This is the time when you can fill some of the cheeses. Just build a layer of curds, then a layer of filling and top if off with more curds. Let them sit on the grid even more- about 3 more hours.


Then  you start to rub them with salt on both sides. This gives taste to the cheese and
draws out more moisture and gives it a shelf life of 7 days in the fridge.
Repeat the process after 1 hour. Let the cheeses sit covered outside until the evening and pour the rest of the whey away.



Saturday 24 September 2016

French Blueberry Tarte

I was looking for an rectangular tarte form in all our household and kitchen stores and the big supermarkets. But I had no luck. I know these forms from my many trips to France and was bored of the round ones.
When I checked Amazon, I found it and ordered it online.


Last weekend I was in kind of a baking frenzy and besides many different breads made a shortcrust pastry apple tarte. Half of the dough was leftover and sitting in my fridge.

The day after I received the tarte form I was curious how it would work out and wanted to get rid of the dough, so I put the dough into the crust and with baking paper and creamic beans I prebaked it for 10 minutes. Get the beans with the paper out and bake for 10 min more - all on 180 C

recipe for 2 tartes:
300 g flour
125 g  cold butter
40 g sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 pinch salt
1 egg
2 tbsp water


Use cold hands or as I did a kitchen machine. Divide the dough and put it into plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for 30 min. Take it out 10 min before you start to roll the dough.



Cook a vanilla pudding or make a French creme patissiere- I cooked the pud!
Set the blueberries on top and use a bit of fresh mint and some icing sugar.

Friday 23 September 2016

Yogurt Lime Sorbet and Apple Pine Nut Tarte

This was the final course of our Sunday feast. Between baking all the different white and red bread things, a shortcrust pastry was made, rested and blind baked, then filled and baked again.
And the sorbet was the refreshment on this day.
It was an kitchen equipment day today.


The sorbet with its fresh and a bit sour taste goes so good with the sweetness of the apples and nuts.

reipe for the sorbet:
400 g Greek yogurt
30 g icing sugar
1 pinch Vanilla seeds
1 lime zest and juice
1 egg white
1 sheet of gelatine

Put the gelatine sheet in some cold water and let it soak for 5 min.
Beat the egg white just a bit, but not into peaks.
Mix all the other ingredients together, squeeze out the gelatine and in a little water on the stove dissolve it and add it to the mixture.
Last the egg white.
Put it into a compressor ice machine and let it freeze.


recipe for the tarte:
300 g flour
125 g butter
40 g sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt
1 egg
2 tbsp water

4 apples
40 ml apple vanilla liqueur
4 tbsp quince jam
3 tbsp pine nuts
3 twigs fresh thyme

Make the shortcrust pastry and do not overwork it. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 min.

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Musubi - No Spam, Rice and Noori

Spam is a "delicacy" which is questionable for me and this dish is found from Hawaii to Okinawa.
Spam is a processed meat product packed in a can and as such was great part of military rations during the WWII. It tastes very salty and not really of meat but of MSG.


It is not available in supermarkets here in Germany, which is a blessing. I had some during one of my many stays in the US and I wont eat it again.

But here in Germany we have a very tasty alternative. It is called Fleischkäse or Leberkäse. It is seasoned pork and beef meat, which is grounded into a very fine paste, shaped into a loaf and put in a loaftin and baked in the oven. Cooled down, it is served as cold cuts on bread, or thicker slices can be baked in a pan in some butter. Many love them on a fresh roll from the bakery as a lunch snack.
This is sold in a couple of different flavours (like onion or pizza).


I saw Musubi been made on YT by Emmymadeinjapan and though what a quick snack for the evening.


Tuesday 20 September 2016

Lime Risotto with Seafood

The Entre of todays meal was a light risotto topped with delicious seadfood.


Lime Risotto with its fresh and a bit sour taste is a great base for fresh seafood. It is even better to go with raw fish or cevice. But I had people over who don´t do raw fish.

recipe for 3:
1 cup Carneroli Risotto rice
3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
4 tbsp butter
150 ml white wine
600 ml chicken stock
60 g pecorino
2 tbsp parsley
salt and pepper
2 limes zest and juice

Start the butter with onions, garlic and washed rice and give it a good 3 minutes to coat. Add the wine and let it cook down, add a cup of chicken stock and stir until the stock is gone, and so on.
Add grated lime zest and juice, parmesan and butter and a little parsley.

Per Person 2 king prawns, 2 scallops, 60 g chard, 60 g rainbow trout
some cress.
Marinade the king prawns in their skin in some caribean spice, season the scallops and fish with salt and pepper, bake in some butter and dress over with the butter to cook the top of the fish.

Monday 19 September 2016

White Pizza

When in doubt what to eat- make pizza.


When you have frozen dough stored it is pretty easy to have a nice one. I had some spelt flour dough balls and lots of leftover homemade ricotta that had to find a new purpose.
The bowl of mixed tomatoes was sitting on the counter too and before I harvested more, I had to get rid of some. A bit of Bratwurst, already grilled and leftover was the meat part on the pizza. Herbs, oil and seasoning and even some grated cheese were perfect.

Recipe:
120g pizza dough
50 g ricotta cheese
25 g Emmenthaler
1/2 cooked Bratwurst
8 cherry tomatoes
1/2 tsp Italian herbs
a pinch salt and pepper
a drizzle of olive oil


Preheat the oven 230C  and bake for 15 minutes.

Sunday 18 September 2016

Building Windmills and braiding Bread


I made to bowls of dough yesterday and had the idea to use the juice from some red beets to colour one of the doughs. I never thought it would work out so well.
The coloured dough was a bit tougher to the touch but worked out the same way as the regular one.

And combining both kinds was fun.

Windmills are easy, just roll two fat sausages, pinch in the middle turn one side at the middle and use a chopstick to make an indentation legthwise, and form them like kiddie windmills. Take a little bit of dough from the other colour and make a little ball. Tap some water on the middle point and set the ball on top. Let it sit and rest for 20 minutes. Brush with water and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Bake on a baking stone at 230 C for 20 minutes or until the bottom sounds hollow when you knock at  it.


Braided bread is a bit trickier. Make 3 long sausage, they will need time to stay at their length. The dough shrunks in between rolling times. Pinch the  end of the 3 together and start braiding. Have fun! Pinch the end together and let it rest 20 minutes. Brush with water and get some seeds on.



Bake at 230 C for 20 minutes.
recipe for the red dough:
400 g flour type 405
100 g semolina duro
12 g salt
12 g yeast
12 g olive oil
200 ml red beet juice
120 ml water

Thursday 15 September 2016

Matsaman Udon Noodles with Peanutbutter sauce - vegetarian

I found a package of Curry Paste in my spice rack. It was sitting there for a while and I had no idea what to cook with it. As always Google helped. And peanutbutter helped even better. It is a dish from Malaysia.


The Matsaman Curry Paste is great to eat with beef and potatoes but I wanted something vegetarian.
It is easy to prepare and with the amount of fresh chili you can play with the heat.
The fresh side of the dish are cucumber, bean sprouts and lime and coriander.



recipe for 2:
1 package Matsaman Curry Paste 50 g
150 g dried Udon noodles
2-3 tbsp peanutbutter
400 ml coconut milk
2 cloves of garlic
1 red chili
1 bunch fresh coriander
1 lime zest and juice
60 g mungbean sprouts
1/2 cucumber
40 g roasted peanuts
salt and pepper
2 tbsp rapeseed oil


Cook the dried Udon noodles in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, drain and wash in cold water so that the starch gets out.
The beansprouts need a jug of boiling water and cover them for 30 seconds.
Chop garlic, peanuts, chili, coriander (keep some leaves for garnish).
Zest and juice the lime.

In oil start with garlic and chili for 2 minutes, add the Matsaman paste and cook a bit. Add the coconut milk and get the paste smooth.
Add peanutbutter - as much as you like -  and the chopped coriander.
Get Udon in and warm them up again, with cucumber, beansprouts, peanuts, limezest and juice it is finished. Place the last coriander leaves on top.






Tuesday 13 September 2016

Purple Sweet potato Parsnip mash with Bloodpudding

Today I was surprised.


I wanted to prepare the one sweet potato that I bought 10 days ago at my local supermarket. It was a big one and I thought about making it 3 ways. Orange always looks good on a plate and 3 different ways should have been great.

I took my big knife and cut into it, it got stuck and I thought that the sweet potato was old. Finally I`ve got the knife out and the blade was purple ??? I halved it and surprise, it was dark purple.
3 ways was out of the window and I planned something else.

I had some parsnips and a single carrot in the veggie drawer of my fridge and got everything into the pot and cooked it, the water turned dark purple.

recipe:
one large purple sweet potato
2 parsnips
1 carrot
2 white onions
2 cloves of garlic
50 g creme fraiche
2 tbsp milk
salt and pepper
30 g butter
200 g bloodpudding
2 tbsp flour
200 ml frying oil

Peel and chunk the potato , parsnips and carrot and put it in cold salted water and bring it to a boil.
Peel and slice the onions and the garlic and use a shallow pan with some oil and fry it until it turns brown.

Cut the bloodpudding into some chunks and flour it, when the onions are done, fry the bloodpudding.
Drain the veggies and and mix with creme fraiche, butter and milk and season.