No Cedric Grolets viral Fruits

These are not the ones made famous by Cedric Grolet, but a very good affordable alternative. They are made in Turkey.

Paying €4,99 a piece at KAUFLAND supermarket is a good start.

For the real stuff you pay €18 to €20 a piece.

The freezer part at Kaufland was almost empty where the fruits were. Only 3 varieties were left. I took 2, the 3rd one was Cocoa.

A pity no Mango. But Pistacchio and Raspberry were left on the shelf.

They need to defrost first and then rest at roomtemperature for 15 min. Since I took them on a 20 minute car journey without cooling, I only had to give them the time to get up to roomtemp.

The raspberry weighs 80 g and the pistacchio 90 g. I have no idea about the size of the French ones. 

The raspberry is too sweet for me. No tartness as you would expect from a raspberry. 

The pistacchio is great, a good combination of pistacchio cream, crunch and shell. 

I hope I will find a mango soon.

Fregola Di Pesce

I love the tiny toasted pasta balls that are named Fregola Sarda.

I found this Italian recipe in my food magazine issue from Istambul, named Deniz Mahsullü Fregola Makarnası

Today I bought frozen mixed seafood and used up the prawns I bought in France on Saturday. The tiny pasta balls are a staple in my household.

I had done a translation of the ingredients already and just needed a look if I gathered everything.

Defrosting the frutti di mare and shelling the prawns too the longest. The cooking itself was fast.

The fregola was cooked like pasta in salted water for 7 minutes, then drained and set aside. I used cold water to defrost the seafood and it took me 10 minutes to get the prawns ready.

In a wide pan the butter and oil heated up and onion and garlic went in. After 3 min the paprika paste and after a little more cooking the tomato passata. Since the sauce needed more water, vegetable stock was added. 

Just seasoned with salt, pepper, green paprika and smoked paprika.

The cooked fregola was next and the defrosted seafood. The cooked prawns followed and it finished with parsley.

Ingredients for 2:

90 g Fregola sarda

125 g frutti di mare

100 g peeled prawns

1 large green onion

3 garlic cloves

2 tsp paprika paste

200 ml tomato passata

100 ml veg stock from paste

2 tbsp fresh parsley

Puff Pastry with Mushrooms and Bacon

My food haul in France brought back lots of goodies. Some of them I bought without knowing what to do with them.

A punnet of button mushrooms and some bacon are the star of this bake. 

Important for working with puff pastry is the temperature of the filling. The butter dough does not love a hot filling on top. The dough gets soggy and wont rise and get flakey.

I prepared the filling an hour before and it had time to cool completely.

Recipe for 4 pieces:

230 g ready made rectangular puff pastry

1 tsp butter

75 g bacon bits

2 spring onions

250 g white button mushrooms

2 tbsp parsley

2 eggs

35 ml double cream

Salt, pepper, nutmeg, smoked paprika

Cream for brushing

Keep the pastry in the fridge until you finally need it. In a wide pan melt the butter and add bacon and onions first to give them a 3 min headstart, then add the sliced mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika.

In a bowl crack the eggs and stir in the cream, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. You can add some cheese if you like. But that takes away the mushroom taste. 

Stir in the egg mix and let it cook until it thickens. Chop parsley as finish. Cool down.

Preheat the oven 200 C fan.

Unroll the pastry and cut it in 4 pieces. Set the filling on top and fold the sides up to make an open top. Brush with cream.

Bake for 25 min.

Amore del Piemonti cestini

I was grocery shopping in the Alsace region again. It is always fun to look for goodies that I have never seen before.

In the bakery area of the supermarket stood a table with stacks of plastic packed little pralines with different fillings.

I have never seen these before and at home I looked up the history. A French company is producing them to show the rich flavours of the Italian province of Piemont. There haselnuts and chocolate products are playing a major role.

Cestini in Italian means little basket. A shortcrust round tartelette is baked and filled with a cream with or without nuts. 

I bought Pistacchio cestini, because since the Dubai chocolate hype everything pistacchio sells. When I find them again, I will try the other ones too.

Meatballs with Sage and Bulgour with Vermicelli

This is an other Turkish recipe from my Istambul food magazine issue.

The original recipe used Şehriye Pilavı (they look like larger Kritharaki). But I had some Bulgour with added browned vermicelli at home.

What intrigued me was adding fresh sage leaves as herbs to the meat. I rarely use it for beef dishes, more with duck or goose. The distinct flavour of the sage is coming through. Adding some leaves to the chickenstock for the pilaw was a good idea too.

Ingredients for 3:

500 g ground beef

15 sage leaves

1 yellow onion

3 garlic cloves

Zest of 1 lemon

1 breadroll soaked and squeezed

2 tbsp yogurt

2 tsp adanana köfte seasoning

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

Side:

120 g bulgour with vermicelli

450 ml chickenstock

5 sage leaves

1 tbsp oil

 

Bring the meat mixture together and form patties with your hands. In a hot pan with some oil cook them first on high heat on both sides for 3 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook the meatballs for 15 minutes more.

Turn them every 5 minutes.

The bulgour needs a little oil in a small pot and then must be stirred often to get covered. Hot chickenstock with sage goes in. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Pizza with Blue Cheese Medlar and Pear

This are not the only ingredients, but the dominant ones.

Walnuts, leek, more cheese and a base of creme fraiche mixed with pesto are part of the pizza topping too.

Yesterday afternoon I still had no idea what to cook on the Sunday. I had not bought stuff especially for it.

I took the Biscoff ice cream out of my freezer and behind it I found a frozen ball - pizza dough.

It went down in the fridge to defrosted until the next morning. Then I took the bag out to let it come back to roomtemperature and get soft.

I sprayed a sheetpan with olive oil and rolled out the dough later. A bit uneven, but who cares.

The leek needed a good wash because it was pretty sandy. Wet as the discs were, they went in a microwave tupperware for 3 min at 800 watts to get a bit soft. I let them sit in the closed tupperware afterwards for a couple of minutes more outside. 

Preheat the oven 240 C.

Mix creme fraiche and pesto and spread on top. Add fresh ground pepper. Layer the other ingredients and finish with the grated Emmenthal.

Bake for 10 to 12 min.

Recipe for 1 pie:

Homemade dough, about 320 g

3 tbsp creme fraiche + 1 tbsp pesto

100 g leek

1 pear

1 medlar

60 g blue cheese soft

8 walnuts

50 g Emmenthal cheese grated

Arnavut Cigeri or Turkish Chicken Liver

It is a recipe from the Bosporus area of Turkey. The recipe is from "Merceile".

A very fast dish to serve. The short pickled onions with the parsley are often found in dishes where kebap meat is on the menu. The meat is the star, not all kinds of sauces and lots of different veggies you will find in a German Döner Kebap.

Recipe for 2:

300 g chicken liver

2 heaped tbsp flour

1/4 tsp each of paparika, smoked paprika and green paprika

Salt and pepper

4 tbsp oil

1 red onion, 3 shallots

Salt, pepper, lemon juice

Lots of fresh parsley

I served mine with mashed potatoes, but piede or pilaw will do too.

Peel the onions and cut them in rings. Put in a bowl with salt and lemon juice and let them pickle for 20 min. Chop the parsley and add it.

Put flour in a freezer bag and all the paprikas and salt and pepper and drop the liver pieces in. Shake until they are coated.

Heat up the oil in a wide pan and place the livet in. Shake off excess flour before that. Cook 2,5 min on each side.

DO NOT OVERCOOK the liver. It should be pink in the middle.

Serve with the onion salad on top.