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 snow fall. 

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

 

Button Mushroom Soup

This is a less heavy soup. The traditional mushroom cream soup has a lots of calories more. The base is different, no roux in sight.

But the soup is still creamy, but leaving the  mushroom halves intact and not blending them gives you something to chew. Not only a texture thing.

I bought big white button mushrooms and started them the way I discovered a while ago. Just sitting them in a dry pan cut side down on high heat. That way they steam and the taste intensifies. When they take color I turn them and then added a bit of butter, the onions and garlic. Seasoning them with salt, pepper and herbes de Provence.

A mushroom soup deserves creaminess. A little double cream, Noilly Prat and 3 tsp veg stock paste went in and enough boiling water from a kettle to make it a soup.

That just cooked 3 min. To get some of the consistency of a roux, I used soft wheat semolina. I just sprinkled it over the soup and stirred it in. It helps to thicken the so

Ingredients for 1 hungry person:

400 g button mushrooms

2 spring onions, 3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp butter

50 ml double cream

1 tbsp Noilly Prat

2 tbsp homemade beg stock paste, 350 ml boiling water

3 tbsp soft wheat semolina

Herbes de Provence, salt, pepper

Lemon and Cottage Cheese with Linguine

The original recipe called for Ricotta. 

Before I go on holiday next week, I have to clean out my fridge. There was just one tablespoon of Mascarpone in the package and I added 65 g of cottage cheese.

I wanted to start the pan with my homemade wild garlic butter, but rememered the recipe. Just use some starchy pasta water, no fat!

The lemon skin and the juice went in to the cream. I grated very hard Grana Padana and added some to the bowl. Seasoning with salt and pepper was the only thing needed.

The linguine went in the pan to cook until finished. Some fresh parsley and chives to make it look nice.

Ingredients:

90 g Lingine pasta

Salt and pepper

1 1/2 organic lemon, zest and juice

65g Cottage cheese half fat

1 tbsp Mascarpone

Parsley and chives

Puff Pastry filled with Ladyfingers and Apples

Lots of Gin-Strawberry Jam too!

My friend gave me a jar of her homemade strawberry jam with added pink Gin. Delicious, even if you get first Gin and then strawberries. I am not complaining :-)

I have found this filled puff pastry on FB and took some notes. I still have Ladyfingers sitting around from my Tiramisu Truffles. The buttery puff pastry was from France. 

This is a very quick to prepare kind of dessert. It just takes some time to peel the apple and cut in thin slices. Keep them in lemon juice while you prep the other stuff and preheat the oven to 220 C.  

Unroll the puff pastry and spread the jam in a long strip down the middle. Put the Ladyfingers on top. Lay the apple slices in a row and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Fold one side of the pastry over and spread jam on top. Fold the other side over and close. Put some apple slices for decoration on top and brush with egg yolk.

Bake for 15 min.

Ingredients:

1 round butter puff pastry

8 Ladyfingers

2 apples, juice 1/2 lemon

Cinnamon

4 tbsp strawberry jam