Baked Goods, Tea and Ice Cream

This weekend the "Country Living" Market is in the city. Or better said, at the outskirts of the city at a large horsefarm. Sellers have all kinds of stuff, from plants and gardening tooly to handcrafted stuff and lots and lots of food items.

Buy 15 different kinds of pestos, mustards, preserves and baked goods. Several foodtrucks offered a variety of sweet and savoury stuff for the visitors. The sellers came from all over Germany and many of them do this as their main business. But others came from cities in a 60 km radius.

I could not resist a hot mint tea with Levante baked goodies. It was a bit cold this morning and hot tea sounded great. I had it with a date filled with ground pistacchios and a coconut baiser. Both were very tasty.

Later my BFF had a custard filled pie and I ate a delicous ice cream with salted caramel and a second scoop of nougat. 

We shopped a bit and looked at many different handcrafted items. I bought some chestnut mustard and sheepwool pellets as longtime fertilizer for my next tomato crop.

Mpougatsa or Greek Semolina Bake

This is a breakfast dish from Greece. But I ate it for lunch.

A bunch of filo pastry sheets was left over from my asparagus, feta bake. It is a pity to let them get brittle and to throw them in the waste can. 

Most recipes I found were Feta cheese based. But I wanted something else. Then I remembered a kind of cake I had in Thessaloniki for breakfast. But I had no idea what it was or how it was called.

It took me some time to trundle through Pinterest looking for sweet filo pastries. Then I found this one: Mpougatsa.

Recipe for 2:

450 ml whole milk, 

60 g soft wheat semolina, 1 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

70 g sugar

1 egg, 1 egg yolk

200 g filo dough

25 g butter, 1 tbsp grapeseed oil

Cinnamon, icing sugar

Prepare the filling:

Heat up the milk in the microwave. In a pot melt the butter and add the semolina. Coat well in the butter and pour the hot milk over it. Add the sugar and stir well and cook until the semolina pudding is thickened. That will take a bit of time.

Cool down enough not to scramble the eggs. Get them in and the vanilla extract and stir to have a smooth pudding. Cool completely.

Preheat the oven 200 C.

Melt butter in the microwave and add oil. Use a square oven proof dish and brush with the butter mix. Layer the lower 3 filo sheets in, brush every single one with the butter. Layer the first part of pudding on top. Now the next sheet of filo. Brush again and layer pudding on it, next layer until the pudding is gone. Finish with a sheet of filo on top. Brush again.

Take it out and let it cool for 15 min. Sprinkle icing sugar and cinnamon on top. Eat now or cold later. It freezes well.

Rhubarb Red Cabbage Salad

Spring kisses Winter! A recipe from 2** Chef Tanja Grandits. 

This is a typical 2** Chef dish. You need a lot of planning ahead and at least one day prior the cooking to prepare the Pink Pickled Ginger. A second helper in the kitchen (Sous Chef) would be nice too.

But I worked alone and did a bake on the side too. 

The combination of the winter veg red cabbage and the early spring rhubarb is very new to me. But it works just fine with all the added elements.

Recipe for 3:

Dressing:

75 ml raspberry vinegar, 3 tbsp maple syrup, 

1/4 tsp salt, 1 small cinnamon stick, 1 tsp coriander seeds

Salad:

1 red onion, 40 g dried cranberries, 350 g red cabbage, 1/2 tsp salt, 350 g rhubarb, 2 tbsp raspberry vinegar, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 3 tbsp grapeseed oil, 1/4 bunch cilantro leaves, 40 g toasted pecans

4 tsp Pink pickled Ginger ( see last blog)

To prepare the dressing, put all the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil. Cut the heat. Cover and let it sit 10 min.

Peel the red onion and slice it in fine strips. Put in a small bowl, add the cranberries and pour the dressing through a fine mash sieve over them.

Cut the red cabbage in fine strips, discard the hard part. Add the salt and knead with your hands for 5 min. Let it sit for 15 min.

Clean the rhubarb and cut it in 3 cm chunks. Put it in a pot with raspberry vinegar and maple syrup. Cook for 3 to 5 min, but not too soft.

Use a big bowl and bring together the cabbage, rhubarb, onions with dressing. In a dry pan toast the pecans and roughly chop them. Pick the leaves off the cilantro.

Spoon the pink pickled ginger on top.

This is a crazy but very tasty salad and it is worth the time you spend in the kitchen.

 

Pink Ginger Pickles

This is a recipe from Tanja Grandits, 2 ** Chef. She is famous for her vegetable kitchen.

I am preparing a red cabbage salad tomorrow from one of her recipes. This pickled ginger is a small part of it and needs some time to get pink.

Peeling and cutting everything in tiny brunoise is a very meditativ work. You have to see it this way, otherwise you will think it is too much work to do.

There is a longer list of ingredients, but luckily except the ginger and the raspberry vinegar, everything was already in the kitchen. Even the dried hibiscus tea flowers. They came with me fresh from Oman.

Recipe:

300 g peeled and finely cubed ginger

100 ml Mirin, 100 ml Sake

100 ml raspberry vinegar

60 g brown sugar, 30 g salt

1 tbsp red pepper berries, crushed

2 tbsp hibiscus flowerd

Prepare the ginger. Put all other ingredients in a small pot and bring them to a boil. Cut off the heat and cover and let it sit for 10 min. Bring to a boil again.

Put the ginger in 2 jars and take a fine mash sieve and pour the hot liquid over it. Cool down and store in the fridge. You can use it for many different dishes.

Filo Pastry filled with Asparagus

Filo pastry without Feta cheese is nearly impossible. I added a good amount of it together with a teaspoon full of homemade wild garlic pesto.

Sooo goood!

The preparation is very simple. The only tedious work is peeling and steaming the asparagus. But when you did it in advance and use the leftovers from the day before, you are on a fast lane.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Cut off a couple of layers of filo dough. Take on on a board and brush it with melted butter, fold it in half and take some scissors to cut it in 2 pieces. Brush the tops again with butter.

The Feta needs to be cut too in small long strips. Try not to break it.

Lay 2 asparagus stalks (about 12- 15 cm long) beside 1 Feta piece and add 2 tsp wild garlic pesto. Fold the filo sheet over and roll it up. Set on baking paper on a baking sheet.

When all are finished, brush the tops with butter and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top.

Bake for 30 min.

I served it on top of purple endive salad with some more crumbled Feta.

Ingredients:

400 g white asparagus, steamed

40 g melted butter

Filo pastry

200 g Feta

Wild garlic pesto

Black sesame seedd

Arancini from a Deli

I went to an Sicilian Deli in a small town about 28 km from home. They have sweet and savoury treats and the arancini are presented in the middle of the large window. 

You can get them warmed up and eat inside or you take them with you and put in the microwave or oven. They should only be warm, not boiling hot.

All tables in the small Deli were occupied. We were longing for a good Espresso, but went for it a couple of doors down the street to the Portugese Deli.

I bought 3 different kinds of arancini. The triangular one was filled with sugo and peas, the round one was with Mozzarella and the last one was vegetarian with eggplant.

This was my least favourite one. It was nearly unseasoned and tasted bland. The other two were good, but they did not reach the ones I ate in Palermo.

Wild Garlic Dumplings

I started this blog nearly 9 years ago because I wanted to show my love for dumplings. Over the years lots of dumpling recipes were collected here.

This is a new one. My BFF made them and brought me a bag of frozen ones. Wild garlic in spring is so synominous for this time of year. When it starts to become available, the asparagus season starts too.

You can serve this dumplings with a creamy cheese sauce and honey carrots, but I ate mine with the red pepper sauce from the last recipe. That worked fine too. 

This dumpling dough needs a bit of resting time. The breadcrumbs and flour needing time to soak up the liquid and gets softer. Only then it is possible to mold them in dumpling shape.

Recipe for 4:

300 g breadcrumbs

300 g blended wild garlic (puree)

200 g flour

3 eggs

150 g grated Parmesan

Some fine soft wheat semonina for the worksurface.

Butter and oil for the pan to fry them or veg stock to cook them. They are easy to freeze and versatile to serve either as a main or side dish.

Bring all ingredients together to a smooth dough. Let that sit covered in the fridge for 1 hour. Sprinkle the semolina on your table and roll the dough in a sausage. Cut off slices and roll them dumpling style.

Heat up salted water and simmer them until they float at the top. Drain and fry them in some butter or oil.

Or just simmer them in veg stock and serve them with a rich sauce.

Asparagus with red Pepper Sauce

I was out in a small wine producing city about 28 km from home and met my BFF there. Our goal was to get some wine, and Portugese and Italian food specialities. There are couple of small shops that sell delicacies in this city.

There is a huge Portugese community there. In the early to mid 1960's lots of workers for 2 large local companies were needed. They hired men from northern Portugal, out of small villages north of Porto. There wives and children came later and the community grew.

After a couple of stops to buy goodies it was time to hit the supermarket there. Fresh white asparagus from a shed in front, lots of red bell peppers and cream cheese later, I was ready to drive home to cook.

The asparagus peeling is a Zen kind of labour for me. I do not mind to peal huge amounts. Since the peeler was still in my hand, I took off the skin off the red peppers too. Better to digest.

The asparagus went in the Thermomix steamer first for 22 minutes. Then I emptied the water and thrown green onion and young garlic in. After a short blast, I added 1 tsp of oil and 1 tbsp of wild garlic butter. Sauteed for 2 min. 

The roughly cut chunks of red pepper followed and got blasted into bits. I added 100 ml veg stock from paste and 3 tbsp of cream cheese. I cooked it 5 min. The seasoning was salt, pepper, herbes de Provence and Italian herbs.

1 tbsp creme fraiche to finish last. That went with the asparagus on the plate. I had some green dumplings, wild garlic pesto and a bifteki with it.

Ingredients:

500 g white asparagus

4 red peppers

4 cloves of young garlic, 1 large green onion

1 tsp oil, 1 tbsp wild garlic butter

100 ml veg stock, 3 tbsp cream cheese

Salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, Italian herbs

Creme fraiche

Holiday Home Foods

When I only stay 3 days in a holiday home, cooking is not the primary thing on my list. 

The kitchen was very good equipped and had a dish washer, but carring all the ingredients and spices with you is troublesome.

I just brought salt, pepper, Italian herbs and some Toscana blend seasoning. Enough to get through 3 days. A tiny bottle of olive oil and some balsamic white vinegar.

The first evening I went out to a restautant, waiting out the snow that came down in mid April. No need to use the kitchen.

The second evening I went for a very easy pasta dinner. I cooked the pasta in some chicken stock from a cube and used some of the pasta water to warm up some tuna fish from a can. 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and all my spices went in too. Combined with the pasta in a bowl it was good to go.

But a couple of cherry tomatoes were still sitting on the kitchen counter. Best way to eat them, just throw them in the pasta bowl.

The 3rd day dinner was easy. The local supermarket had heirloom long peppers, very crunchy and sweet. In store made pumpkin and chickpea hummus. Dipping the peppers in the hummus was all I needed to do.

 

Eating out at Cloister Maria Laach

Snow and rain greeted me this late April morning in the Eifel mountains. The best way to spend the day is visiting a museum and a cloister in the area.

The pouring rain washed me inside a restaurant to wait for a dry spell and I ordered some food. On the day's menu was Herring in cream and onion sauce with potatoes and salad.

A huge plate with a mountain of salad arrived. My least favourite kind - arugula or rocket - was a big part of it. I ate some of it but picked out the bigger ones.

Herring with sauce topping and potatoes were great.

Btw: the museum I visited was the Lava Dome in Mendig. A museum about the vulcanic area here in the Eifel.

Panino Lucia

I am back at the Green Hell, the longest and most dangerous racetrack of the world:

Nürburgring Nordschleife

I arrived in the sunshine today, but the weather deteriorated to storm, rain and later snow. That after 2 weekends with 23 C.

After one lap with my car around the Green Hell, the track got closed due to snowfall. 

That made me rethink my evening plans and I went out to the Lucia restaurant in Nürburg. They only serve organic chicken dishes.

I had a Lucia Gin Cocktail to celebrate the drive and then decided on Toast Lucia.

Chicken breast, grilled aubergine, sundried tomatoes and a fried egg. Their homefries are awesome, so I ordered some too.

The meal started with fresh bread and a herby cheese dip.

Turkey Breast in Gyudon style

A Gyudon Rice Bowl means a Beef dish, but I changed the meat from beef to turkey.

Japanese Beef is very thinly sliced, that is not available in our supermarkets. Very lean meat is turkey breast, ready available here.

But I wanted the flavours of Japan for my dish. The only compromise was the kibd of meat. I used the typical flavours for the sauce and onions to combine with the meat.

Onions are the only veggie part here. Thinly sliced and sauteed for a longer time in the pan to get soft. The turkey breast was chopped in small pieces and easy to brown in the same pan as the onions. I just pushed the onions to one side and added the turkey breast. Stirring it after a couple of minutes with the onions and then adding the sauce. 

It takes only a short time to finish and cook down the sauce. Fresh greens from a spring onions, a soft boiled egg and some sesame seeds finished the dish.

Recipe for 2:

400 g turkey breast

2 onions, 1 green onion

2 tbsp neutral oil

Sauce:

1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp instant Dashi powder, 2 tsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp water, white pepper

Sesame seeds

2 soft boiled eggs

 

Cucumber Pancakes - Kakadiche Dkirde GF

These are Indian spicy pancakes. This is a Gluten Free recipe.

YouTuber Beryl Shereshewsky showed her favourite dishes. This pancake recipe made me curious. 

Grated fresh cucumber I usually use in Tsaziki, but I never thought about putting it in a pancake.

A whole green chili is giving the kick here. Lots of tumeric and ground cumin, salt and pepper for seasoning.

The original recipe called for cilantro, I could not buy some yesterday. But the herbs on my balcony are thriving and I used a lot of them. 

The use of rice flour is rare for me. But I have this flour in stock.

Some curd as a dip is fine.

Recipe for 1:

2/3 fresh cucumber

1 green chili

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp ginger paste

1 handfull mixed fresh herbs (vietnamese coriander, parsley, spicy mustard greens, spicy oregano)

3 tsp tumeric, 1 tsp cumin, salt, pepper

5 tbsp rice flour

5 tbsp water

Oil for the pan

Curd