Spaghetti with canned smoked Herring in sauce

Being at home just for one day does not inspire a cooking session. But I was hungry and looking for a quick solution.

Pasta is quick. But without a trip to the grocery store I had to work with a protein I had in stock.

I made this kind of pasta dishes before, but we have such a variety of canned fishes that the endresult is always something new.

I had a very large spring onion in the veggie drawer of my fridge. I sauteed it in oil and added the fish with the sauce to it. I garlic clove did not hurt anybody and went in too. I used two forks to pull the fish apart to heat it through. The spaghetti went in then with a good gluck of pasta water.

Just some fresh ground black pepper and the dish was ready to enjoy.

Sausage Goulash with Pasta

I am in Gera, a city in Eastern Thuringa for the weekend. After more than 4 hours on the Autobahn I was hungry and went inside a Café.

Outside was a board that offered "Pikantes Wurstgulash" as the days special. Cake or waffles were not to my liking today, I went for the savoury dish.

Chopped bologna, colorful peppers and gherkins in a ketchup style sauce. It reminded me a lot of the GDR soup named Soljanka.

Very tasty and the spirelli pasta was not overcooked.

A good start in my time here in Gera.

Figs with Ricotta and Nuts

The second fig season is in full swing. We are on the mid of October and it is mostly warm and wet. The fig tree is hanging full the second time of the year.

Pouring rain yesterday, but I went out to pick the 3 ripe figs I saw from my balcony. Just enough to eat before I am off for my trip.

But standing on the other side of the tree outside, oh no! I had to grab a bag to harvest all ripe figs. 1,6 kg was my treasure.

Since they wont last over the weekend, I had to cook half of it to fig jam. Today I made a dessert.

Ricotta with honey and the fruit out of the figs with hazelnuts and walnuts. Topped with a little chocolate. What's not to like.

Best use a grapefruit spoon with a serrated edge to get the pulp out of the skin. Carefully, not to cut a hole in the skin.

Mix everything together, except the sprinkles and use a teaspoon to fill the figshells. Store in the fridge if you eat them later.

But still more figs to prepare.

Ingredients for 8 to 10 figs:

200 g Ricotta

3 tsp honey

2 tbsp chopped hazelnuts

1 tbsp chopped walnuts

Chocolate sprinkles

Stuffed Bell Peppers

This is an older kind of recipe. My Mom sometimes served stuffed peppers. I have never done it.

But cleaning out the fridge and using up some ingredients before going on a couple of car fun related trips is important. Putting all of these ingredients on the counter, the thinking process started. 

So many possibilities. But then I remembered the stuffed bell peppers my Mom did. To check cooking methods, Pinterest helped. I choose the less time consuming one. Preparing the mayor ingredients before stuffing them in the peppers to reduce the time in the oven. 

I started with cooking the rice. But not cooked as a dry fluffy rice. I cooked it with a good amount more water and added veg stock paste for taste and salt. I drained the rice and kept the liquid. 

I reheated the liquid and added tomato paste, ketchup and more veg stock paste. A little white wine to empty out the bit that still was in the bottle. No waste! That was the liquid needed to cook the peppers in later.

I chopped the green onions and garlic and browned the ground beef first in the pan, then added them. Tomato paste and hot paprika paste came next and needed 2 min to cook. I spooned just a little of red sauce in and seasoned the mix well. Now in with the rice and stirred well. Off the heat.

Preheat the oven 200 C and look for a small baking dish.

Wash the peppers and carefully cut off the top. Take the seeds out and wash them inside. Spoon the warm mix inside and press it in. Set the lid back on and place it in the baking dish. The leftover mix add to the sauce and pour it in.

Bake for 35 to 40 min.

Ingredients for 2:

2 red bell peppers

250 g ground beef

2 tbsp oil

2 green onions, 4 garlic cloves

75 g longgrain rice

450 ml water, 2 tbsp veg stock paste

60 ml white wine

2 tbsp tomato paste, 2 tbsp hot pepper paste

Salt, pepper, paprika, smoked paprika, chopped rosemary, thyme, 

Pumpkin Cheese Sauce with Pasta

I had shredded Hokkaido pumpkin in the fridge, leftover from the pancake recipe.

Vegetables with cheese are great combination for a meat free pasta sauce. Since the pumpkin was already shredded, it did not take long to cook the pasta sauce.

It needs a good amount of seasoning and spice, the pumpkin is rather bland. I used a huge green onion and 4 cloves if garlic as a flavour base. They had a bit of time to get done and then I added the pumpkin. Seasoned with salt and pepper it needed 5 more minutes to soften up. A dash of water and wine helped and some veg stock paste.   

The liquid steamed off quiet fast and I added double cream and all the other seasonings to the pan. The velveeta cheese followed and melted in the sauce.

I cooked the short maccharoni pasta and chopped some fresh herbs. All was mixed in.

Recipe for 2:

1 large green onion, 4 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp sunflower oil

350 g shredded Hokkaido pumpkin

100 ml water, 75 ml white wine, 200 g double cream

Salt, pepper, smoked paprika, chili flakes, herbes de Provence,

Pumpkin and Parmesan Fritters

A Hokkaido pumpkin is the best kind to eat without peeling it. Just wash it.

To make it easier to cut it open, put it in the oven at 180 C fan for 15 min. That softens the pumpkin to be cut a lot easier.

Take out the seeds and either grate chunks on a box grater or do it like I did and put it in the Thermomix. Grate the Parmesan first in it and just pour it in the bowl.

Chop onion and garlic and add flour, eggs, 2 tbsp herbes de Provence to the bowl.

Salt, pepper, smoked paprika and the Parmesan follows. Take a large spoon and mix everything well together.

Use a large frying pan, pour in enough oil to cover the bottom. 

Heat up the oven to 80 C and store a plate inside.

Cook 3 to 4 fritters in one go, store them in the oven until all are made. Mix Greek yogurt with chives, salt and pepper and serve it with the fritters.

Ingredients for 3:

600 g shredded Hokkaido pumpkin

2 eggs

60 g flour

1 onion, 4 garlic cloves

3 -4 tbsp Parmesan

2 tbsp herbes de Provence, salt, pepper, smoked paprika

Oil for frying

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Ensalada Cebolla Paraguayan style

I love onions!

The Onion Episode by YT Beryl Shereshewski showed this very easy recipe. Eaten usually with meat. I will have it with salmon today. 

 

The sweet Vidalia onions are not available here. Instead I bought 3 huge "Gemüsezwiebeln" or vegetable onions. They are less strong and often used in large quantity dishes. 

This salad had just one onion and that was enough for 3 servings. Only add some tomatoes and fresh watercress and make a dressing.

To prevent a strong onion breath, put the fresh sliced onions in ice water for 5 min. Drain and add the dressing.

Putting a salad like this on a table where lots of grilled meats are served is a good alternative to more heavier salads like potato or pasta.

Dressing:

Juice 1 lemon

1 tsp agave syrup

3 tbsp olive oil

Lemon salt

Pepper

Watercress