Chicken Wings in Asian sauce

Today is the 17th of Februar and Happy Chinese New Year, the Year of the Horse.

A plate of chicken wings can be spiced in all different kinds around the globe. Chinese or Asian style is pretty easy.

Air Fryer wings in their basic form are my go to. Just seasoned and coated with potato starch and baking soda and some spritz of oil.

This works fine every time. The sauce gives the direction then for the wings.

I used ketchup, ketchup manis, soy sauce with yuzu, tamari and a gluck of water. Adding the white of a spring onion and sesame seeds. That went in the microwave for 60 sec ond 800 W.

Poured over the wings and tossed with the greens from the onions.

Finger licking good.

Sauce:

3 tbsp ketchup

2 tbsp ketchup manis

2 tbsp soy with yuzu

1 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp water

1 green onion

Sesame seeds

 

Yum Yum Salad

Yum Yum Instant Noodles are the reason this salad has got its name.

I went out in the morning to pick up some Yum Yum package with Chicken flavour. But I only found Chicken Ramen flavour.

Many prepare the salad with Napa cabbage, I had some chicory/endive in the fridge. Over the finely chopped chicory goes the crushed up noodles. The seasoning package is added to the dressing. If there is a small oil package inside, just throw it in the trash.

The noodles will give some crunch to the salad, but that is not enough. Dry toast sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds for the final touch.

Recipe:

1 Yum Yum Chicken Ramen Instant Noodles

1 head Chicory

3 tbsp sunflower seeds

2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

2 tbsp sweet vinegar

1 tsp agave syrup

Pepper

1 spring onion

2 tbsp fresh dill

Chop the salad and crush the noodles in the package. Combine the ingredients for the dressing and pour them over the salad.

Mix well and let it sit 20 to 30 min for the noodles to soften. Add onion and dill and the toasted seeds.

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina or Buckwheat Noodles

My BFF was in Northern Italy on a short trip from Switzerland and bought these special  buckwheat noodles.

In the valley of Valtellina in the Lombardy buckwheat is grown since the 1600s. It is usually eaten with some kind of cabbage and potatoes. To enrich it, cheese and butter are added.

I used Savoy cabbage for this dish. The recipe is from Tavolamia and I found it on Pinterest. The buckwheat noodles are very dense and they need a long time to cook. But be careful, they are very hard a long time and then from one moment to the other they are soft.

Butter and a little garlic is in the recipe, I used more butter and three times the amount of garlic. But that was my interpretation of the recipe and I loved it.

Recipe for 2:

145 g Pizzoccheri

240 g Savoy cabbage

3 small potatoes

6 garlic cloves

75 g butter

3 tbsp fresh dill, 2 tbsp fresh parsley, 1 tsp fresh basil

125 g cheese like Fontina or Taleggio ( I used Kraxler, a semihard aromatic mountain cheese) look for Valtellina cheese.

Salt and pepper

In a large pot with salted water start the cubed potatoes in cold water. Cook them 3 minutes and add the shredded cabbage. Cook 2 minutes and add the Pizzoccheri. Cook fir 12 to 15 min, check the noodles. Drain in a colander.

While this cooks, put an empty baking dish in the oven at 100 C to warm through.

In a small pan melt the butter and add the chopped garlic. Cook it on medium to get soft, but not burn. Cube the cheese in smaller pieces and chop the herbs. 

Take the baking dish out of the oven and start layering so that the cheese has the chance to melt. Butter with garlic helps. Add pepper and a little salt. Stir in the herbs and fold everything. Serve hot, cheese pull is included.

Japanese Crab Spaghetti Sauce

Served with Spaghetti.

For nearly 12 years I ordered my Japanese shortgrain rice in a Japan shop in Hamburg. Always getting additional stuff at the same time. I ran out of rice and wanted to order a new 5 kg / 11pound bag. But the shop did no longer exist.

I needed a new onlineshop. In Germany the largest Japanese comunity can be found in Düsseldorf. Little Tokyo has lots of shops and restaurants. I found a new shop there.

But only ordering rice is boring. I had to scroll through the complete onlineshop and found more things. A 10 kg package came yesterday. Two kinds of Spaghetti Sauce came, one with crab and the other with mentaiko or cod fisheggs.

The squischy bag contained a liquid. But there were no chunks to feel. I bought some Surimi or false crabmeat to bulk out the sauce and used a small green onion too. Both sauteed in a little oil and the microwaved sauce went on top. That was a tasty spaghetti dish. Just some parsley for color.

Valentine Hearts savoury

Puff Pastry is so versatile. Why not bake some hearts.

The idea for it I found at "s-küche", but changed it to my own preferences.

Most would fill these hearts with a sweet jam or pudding, but savoury works fine too. At the Eastern European supermarket I bought a jar of mild Ayvar that had a very thick consistency. 

That is needed to prevent the hearts from being too soggy. And the flavour of the aubergine tomato sauce was very intense.

On top went freshly toasted pine nuts that were crushed in a pestel and mortar then. A good amount of fresh chopped herbs and grated Parmesan and fresh ground pepper.

The ayvar is spread on the puff pastry, then pine nuts, herbs and cheese and pepper went on top. Rolled up from both sides to the middle and wrapped in the baking sheet to spend 45 min in the fridge to get firm again.

Cut in 3,5 cm pieces and spaced on baking paper. Use a chopstick and pull the underside out and pinch it together. Try to seperate the tops of the hearts a little.

Bake at 200 C fan for 15 min.

Ingredients:

1 roll of butter puff pastry rectangular

Jar of mild Ayvar - about half of it

35 g pine nuts

50 g Parmesan

6 tbsp dill, basil 

Black pepper

Potato Bake with Leftovers

An oven dish is a nice way to get rid of bits and bobs from your fridge.

I cooked a pot of potatoes yesterday and they stayed in the fridge over night. I had some meatloaf left, a bit of leek and a package of thin sliced bacon.

Since I am watching the Asian Le Mans Series during lunchtime, I wanted something quick to prepare and just stuff in the oven.

In a pan the leek, onions, bacon and meatloaf went in. After 5 min it was done. The potatoes were sliced and dumped in the dish. Both combined. 

The only two things missing were a sauce and cheeses.

The dish went in the oven at 180 C fan for 30 min

Ingredients:

Oil

500 g cooked cold peeled potatoes

1 red onion, 2 spring onions

75 g thin bacon bits

50 g leek

100 g baked cold meatloaf

Sauce:

200 g double cream

100 ml milk

3 tsp mustard with veggies

1 egg

Pepper

25 g Grana Padani chips

Topping:

50 g grated Mozzarella

Berliner or Donut savoury filled.

Berliner or Pfannkuchen are not the name of this deep fried goodness here in Hesse, we call them Krebbel.

Now the time is the high time of these things. You will get them with the craziest sweet fillings until the start of lent on Ash Wednesday.

Nutella, Vanilla, Bailys Cream or Pistacchios are the runnners at all the bakeries.

But I well remember sometimes a single one was filled with mustard. A nasty surprise when all friends tuck in in a moutain of Berliners.

But now it got out of hand. Some bakeries started to sell the sugar covered Berliners with raw pork with raw onions, curry sausage, döner meat and strong cheese creams like Obatzta.

I bought an unfilled sugary goodness this morning and headed to the butcher to buy raw but seasoned ground pork (Mett). A German breakfast favourite.

Red onion slices and pork on a sweet pastry - not such a bad idea. The combination was strange the first bite, but then the brain worked it out positiv.

But the sweet filled Berliners or Krebbel will be my go to still. This one was filled with Mocca cream.