Tropea Onions homegrown with sour cream in Sweet Potato

Yesterday was harvest day of my Tropea onions I have grown on my balcony. 

It was a long way to get there. Last year I was on a holiday in Calabria, Southern Italy, in the area of Tropea. These red sweet onions were sold everywhere. We even visited an onion farmer to see the work that was needed to grow these. I bought some onion condiments and a small bag of seeds.

The description on the package said to plant the seeds in October to harvest the next year in May. I had some empty planters outside, the tomato season was over, I put out some seeds. The planters were "protected" from the winter weather and in early March green shoots came up.

But in April snails came out like the plague. They ate everything in everyones gardens. The splurched on my onions. No survivors!

In the middle of May I decided to put seeds in two small pots. The seedlings later went in 2 larger ones. But only one of these pots was a success. Now I have the first homegrown Tropea onions.

I finely sliced it and mixed it with sour cream and seasoning and put that mix in a baked sweet potato.

The sweet potato was just pricked with a knife, 5 min at 1000 watts in the microwave, brushed with coconut oil and air fryed at 200 C for 20 min.

Fig Puree with sweet Risotto

A bit of figs are still ripening on my tree. Not so much to do something special with them. Puree is a good way to freeze the figs.

Only a bit of lemon juice snd the juice of two clementines is added to the figs. But you have to take the skin off, that can be a bit fiddlely. The skin is too thick and wont cook to a puree. 

I will use the puree either for dessert or ice cream.

But some of the puree was the finish for my sweet risotto. A creamy risotto is a wonderful dish to cook in the Thermomix. No milk boils over, it does not burn on the bottom of the pot and you do not have to stir. Easy and not time consuming. While it cooks, just do what you like and wait for the sound when it's ready. Add lemon juice and egg yolk and for special fluffiness the beaten egg white.

The fig puree is stirred in on the plate.

Ingredients:

700 g fresh figs

1 lemon, 2 clementines juiced

800 ml whole milk

175 g carneroli risotto rice

40 g butter

50 g sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1/2 lemon juiced

 

Tortelloni Bolognese Soup

Today is raceday in Bahrain. 8 hours watching television. I stood at that racetrack in October 2023.

Cooking needs to be planned ahead. A long cooking Bolognese is a good dish for a day like this. It is a lot of prepwork to do, but it worth it for a great taste. When everything is cooking, 90 minutes can be used for a lot of other things.

The tortelloni are from a package of fresh spinach and cheese filled pasta. They only need 3 minutes in the soup and are ready to eat. Some fresh basil and just grated Parmesan finished the dish.

Recipe:

400 g lean mixed ground meat (pork/beef)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 Roscoe onion, 3 celery stalks, 3 carrots (soffritto)

4 garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper

200 g tomatoes

1 red chili

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp Noilly Prat

200 g homemade defrosted tomato sauce

750 ml homemade meat stock

Salt, pepper

Fresh oregano, majoram, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves

400 g fresh tortelloni (spinach-cheese)

Fresh basil

Parmesan

Start the meat in hot oil, season with salt and pepper. The soffritto follows the moment the meat is completely brown. Add tomato paste and stir well. Deglaze with Noilly Prat.

Tomato sauce, meat stock and all the stalks with the herbs are next. 

Last the tomatoes and the red bell pepper goes in. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat and cook for 90 min. 

The last 5 min, put the tortelloni in and bring back to heat and cook them until ready.

Put basil in and serve and sprinkle with cheese.

 

Air Fryer Chicken Skewers

This is a cooking method I haven't thought about before. But watching a video surprised me.

I love eating chicken wings out of the air fryer and I change the preparations often. I even cooked chicken thighs in it.

But skewers? First I have a round air fryer, the basket size is 20 cm. Not much room for long skewers. But short wooden ones are available too.

Use boneless chicken thighs and remove the skin. Marinate them for 30 minutes and put the chunks piece on piece on the skewer. Best use some kitchen gloves to do so, because there is tumeric in the seasoning mix. It is a pain in the ass to get that stuff off your fingers.

Use a baking paper inside the air fryer and put the skewers on top. I just sprayed a little oil over them. First bake at 200 C for 15 min, then turn and bake 10 min more.

During this time I made some garlic and green onion butter to brush on the skewers later before serving.

I ate the chicken the Korean way, just pieces wrapped in lettuce leaves.

Spareribs with Mole Glaze

Mole is Mexican and these ribs tasted amazing.

 

I used a Mole spiceblend and added some Sambal Olec, Kalamansi Soy Sauce, Honey and Ketchup. This was the glaze on the ribs when they went in the oven.

I always cook the ribs before they go in the oven. I learned that 30 years ago from our friends in Virginia. That gets them tender and leaves me with a meat stock I can use for other dishes.

That is the reason I give the cooking a bit more thought. First the ribs go in and I let them get up to temperature and wait until they boil. The grey protein matter gets scooped out to clear the stock. Then I put in aromatics I have on hand and a little of my homemade veg stock paste. 750 ml of stock are now sitting in my fridge. Cooking time about 25 min.

I do not have barbeque sauce at home. I 've tried several brands over the years, but non has hit the spot. I am using spiceblends that are dissolved in soy sauce and I add stuff to them. That depends on my mood, if it more hot or sweet or even a bit sour. This time hot and sweet was the answer.

Ingredients:

500 g spareribs

850 ml water, 1 tsp veg stock paste, 1 bay leaf, rosemary, oregano, 2 garlic cloves, parsley stalks, 1 celery stick, pepper

3 tsp Mole seasoning

1 tsp sambal olec

1 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp kalamandi soy sauce

2 tsp honey

Brush the cooked spareribs with the glaze and put them in the preheated 180 C fan oven for 15 min, turning them after 10 min.

Vichy Carrots

This is a old classic French side dish from Vichy, a small town in the Auvergne. 

Carrots are cooked with not a lot of effort. They are sitting under a lid and are steaming and the use of some mineral water (there are some mineral springs around Vichy) should give them the special taste.

Which is just BS! I used bottled sparkling water I drink at home daily. It works just as good. Tap water will also work.

Ingredients for 2:

6 medium carrots

1 pink Roscoe onion or 4 shallots

40 g butter

Salt

white pepper

1 tbsp honey

100 ml sparkling water

3 tbsp fresh parsley

I recently bought 3 pink Roscoe onions. They are very mild, but shallots will do too. Peel and finely chop it.

Use a pan with a lid, that is important to steam the carrots later. Melt the butter and saute the onions until they are translucent.

Peel the carrots and slice them in diagonal longer discs. It looks fancier. They should not be thicker than 3 mm. Add them to the onions and stir well. Season with salt and pepper.

Now close the lid and reduce the heat to medium and wait 5 minutes until you open the lid again. Now the carrots will have a little more liquid. Add the honey and let it coat everything and then pour on the water and close the lid again.

Let the carrots cook until they reach the softness you like. That can take 6 to 12 min. Finish with parsley.

 

 

Parsnip Muffins

I am still getting rid of too many veggies and a 350 g bag of parsnips needed a purpose.

In two days we have Halloween. Little muffin wrappers with spooky design fell in my hands when I looked for white ones. But why not.

I only needed 2 parsnips for my muffin recipe I found on SevenCooks.

The other two were peeled in very thin strips and dried on the oven at 140 C for 45 min. They will sit on top of my muffins. To stick them there a bit of lemon glaze should help.

Recipe for 24 mini muffins:

150 g grated parsnip

100 g butter

100 g sugar

1 pck vanilla sugar

Pinch of salt

2 eggs

130 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

Topping:

50 g icing sugar with some drops lemon juice

dried parsnip chips

Use a box grater or a Thermomix to make a fine parsnip base.

Cream butter and sugars together, add salt and egg after egg. Fold in baking powder with flour and do not overmix. Add the parsnip and stir it in.

Fill 1 heaped tsp in each mini muffin cup and bake at 180 C for 12 min.

Mix the icing sugar with a little lemon and make a dot on top the cooled muffin. Stick s piece of dried parsnip on top.