I am in Frankfurt today to go on a testdrive with the LUCID AIR touring.
Since the store is in the middle of downtown, I used the chance to walk over to the GALERIA and went up to the 7th floor. Sunshine and a great view from here
But I did not come for the view only. I had some warm cheesecake in a jar and a good Latte Macchiato.
The cheesecake was awesome.
Enjoying the view over downtown Frankfurt was a bonus.
My plan was to have meatsauce with pasta.
But checking my fridge drawer a roll of puff pastry caught my eye. Just one week over its expiration date. No problem in my mind, but it needed to go.
Two slices of Raclette cheese were left, a bag of endive looked good, so why not bring it all together.
The ground pork/beef mix with vegetables was prepared first to give it enough time to cool down. Putting hot fillings on puff pastry makes the bottom of the pie soggy. No one likes a soggy bottom.
For an intense flavour I smeared a couple of teaspoons of Dijon mustard on the base. The meat on top.
I thought about chopping up the leaves of the endive (chicory), but went for single leaves on top. The remaining cheese was cut in halves and laid along the row of endive. A bit of fresh ground pepper and chili salt for more taste.
The pastry was folded over, brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Baked at 200 C fan for 25 min.
Ingredients:
1 butter puff pastry rectangular
350 g pork/beef mince
2 green onions
3 garlic cloves
1 celery stick
1 carrot
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, smoked paprika, herbes de Provence
4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 head of endive (chicory)
2 slices Raclette cheese
1 egg
Black sesame seeds
Red long Radishes are a rare sight here. You either get the little red balls or the long white ones. I even found a round huge black one.
Now I was looking for different ways to prepare the 3 large red radishes.
This salad is a combination of crunchy walnuts and sweet orange sliced that went in a pan with butter and honey.
The radish was only washed and then knifecut in battons and discs. They were salted to drain a bit of their sharpness. I put them then in the microwave for 2,5 minutes and then washed the salt off.
1 red radish
50 g walnuts
1 tbsp butter
1 orange fileted
Dressing:
White balsamico vinegar
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Agave syrup
Mixed black pepper, chives
The radish had time to sit in the dressing for 15 min and made it a lovely orange pink color.
Open a page on Insta/ FB/ TikTok you can't escape the new viral cheesecake with 2 ingredients.
Since a half eaten Greek yogurt with 10% fat was sitting in my fridge and a XXL package of Biscoff singles was in my sweets drawer, no better time then now.
Just enough yogurt to fill 3/4 of a ramequin. Pressing the cookies in filled it up to the rim.
5 hours in the fridge were long enough to enjoy it.
A round of applause to the one who came up with this idea.
I found the idea at "Chefkoch".
From my New Years Eve Pigs I had 21 g of fresh yeast left over. I did not want to waste it and looked for a baking recipe. A 250 g package of curd needed to go too. That sounded like a good combination for a fluffy bun.
I have Manitoba flour at home. Usually I use that for Focaccia or other Italian baked goods. But it works great with fresh yeast and has enough gluten for an eleastic dough. But use wheat bread flour as it was used completely in the origional recipe.
I have some enzyme activated bun leverage powder at home. I usually use it for Swabian Seelen. But adding a bit to the dough sounded like a good idea to me.
I used my Thermomix to prepare the dough, but an electric standmixer will do too.
Recipe for 8 buns:
350 g Manitoba flour
150 g bread flour (550 in Germany)
21 g fresh yeast
150 ml handwarm milk
250 g 20% curd
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp runny honey
70 g unsalted soft butter
1 egg
1 tbsp enzyme activated levener
Topping:
Milk
seasame seeds, poppy
Use 100 ml warm milk to soften the yeast. Put all bread ingredients in the maschine and start kneading the dough. In my Thermomix it needs 2,5 min. In a standmixer 7 min.
Lightly oil a bowl and place the formed dough in. Cover with a damp towel and place in a warm spot for 45 min. On a flour dusted surface knead it 2 min. Use a cutter to cut it in 8 pieces. Fold them over and roll them on the surface until closed. Set them on baking paper and cover them to rest for 30 min.
Preheat the oven 200 C.
Brush the buns with milk and sprinkle with seeds. Bake them for 25 to 30 min. They are good to freeze, just reheat them in the airfryer.
I should have made this recipe when it was outside BBQ time. But at -3 C and snowfall starting the electric grill - no chance in hell - I had to use my heavy duty Le Creuset grill pan.
It worked beautifully, but splattered everything including my glasses. Cleaning the kitchen and the pan will take some time.
But it was worth it.
I started my morning with the prepwork. Marinating the pork belly for 4 hours. It is not the first time I had to use some kind of lemon soda as a base. Sprite was the one in the recipe from "Manilaspoon", but any other is fine too.
Adding lots of garlic cloves and covering it up to rest outside on the balcony until it was time to cook it. I call that my EUROFRIDGE method.
As a vegetable I prepped a leek and cut it in strips to sautee in a pan. Just seasoned with salt and pepper and a dash of Noilly Prat.
Marinate:
1 cup Lemon Soda or Sprite
1/4 cup light soy sauce
1 tbsp Worchester sauce
1/2 head garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
Fresh ground pepper
Baste:
Banana Ketchup
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp oil
Ingredients:
Jasmin rice
Vegetable of choice
It should have been finished with Manchego cheese, but I used Grana Padano -sorry Spanish Manchego was not available.
And the Jamon is actually from the Black Forest. But it is the idea that counts! A while ago I watched a travel series about Spain and in a rural area of the North a hearty soup was eaten. Protein was Chorizo and local raw ham and whatever veggies that were on hand. Rice acted as the filler.
Looking through my stash in the fridge and looking out of the window at snowy conditions, driving to a supermarket for fresh ingredients was not an option. I took out two small Chorizo and an opened package of ham. Then I remembered the Spanish rice soup.
In my veggie drawer of my fridge was the basic soup stuff: carrot, celery, leek and spring onions. And I had made 3 jars of vegetable stock paste for the winter. And I am a rice horder with more than 10 different kinds of rice.
Some fresh cherry tomatoes, chili paste and cheese (the wrong one - but who cares?) to use too.
Recipe for 2:
1 tbsp olive oil
50 g Chorizo
30 g raw ham
1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 100 g leek, 1 spring onion, 5 cherry tomatoes
600 ml veg stock from paste
1 rice cooker cup longgrain rice
1 tsp chili paste
Salt, pepper, thyme
50 g Grana Padano
Start the protein in hot olive oil. After 5 min add the hard veggies and let them sear 3 min. Season. Now in with the washed rice and coat it well. Add the stock and the chopped tomatoes and cook for 15 min until the rice is done.
Check seasoning and add chili paste and lots of cheese.
