Raclette Cheese and Bacon topped smashed Potatoes

4 larger potatoes were sitting in my potato hamper waiting to be cooked. And some slices of raw smoked ham were in the fridge from the green bean recipe.

Raclette Cheese was from my last trip to get groceries in France. It keeps for a long time in the fridge.

Peeling and cooking the potatoes came first. A baking sheet with baking paper and the potatoes were smashed. Salt and pepper and a good splash of olive oil.

Preheat the oven to 180 C fan and bake them for 25 min until the edges get crispy. Now top them with ham and cheese and back in the oven until the cheese has melted all over.

Ingredients:

4 larger potatoes

8 slices of raw smoked ham

4 thick slices Raclette cheese

Olive oil

Salt and pepper 

Chocolate Risotto Rice with Peaches

Lots of fresh peaches and they are all ready to eat. I needed a quick idea to use some of them for a sweet treat.

A sweet risotto came up. And it should have a bit of chocolate added to it. That goes nice together with fresh peaches.

I used my Thermomix to cook the sweet risotto. No boiling over, no sticking to the bottom and not constantly watching a pot. I only needed to get the trimmings together and wait for the Thermi to beep.

5 minutes before the end of the cooking time the chocolate went in to melt. In the last minute the egg yolk.

I've put thr chopped peaches with lemon juice in a big bowl and poured the hot rice on top and carefully stirred the stiff eggwhite in.

Ready to enjoy and to eat leftovers the next day.

Ingredients for 3:

180 g risotto rice - Carneroli

800 ml whole milk

45 g sugar

Pinch of salt

30 g butter

Vanilla essence

50 g milk chocolate

1 egg

3 peaches

1/2 juiced lemon

Coat the rice in the butter for 2 min at speed 2/100 C. Pour in milk, sugar, salt and vanilla essence. Cook for 35 min at speed 2 left/ 90 C.

Drop in chocolate at 30 min and egg yolk at 34 min. Chop the peaches and add lemon juice. Beat the egg white. Bring everything together.

Yoğurtlu Çükündür or Beets with Yogurt

This OMEGA heat dome over Europe asks for recipes that are refreshing.

No AC and no ceiling fans lets everybody sweat.

I saw this recipe by :"Türkisch kochen für Anfänger". Then looked it up on the Internet and added a couple of more things. 

The precooked red beets are available in every supermarket and are prepared very easily.

Greek yogurt or Turkish yogurt are sold here too. But take the high fat one, the other waters down everything.

The garlic was sauteed in olive oil. Others use it raw. But I like the first way more.

Fresh parsley and salt and pepper came next. I had a little bit of dill still in my veggie drawer in the fridge and it went in too.

Pomegranate syrup is often used in Turkey. I have some at home. A few drops for more taste.

Served with Turkish flatbread.

Ingredients:

200 g cooked beets

200 g Turkish yogurt

3 large young garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp pomegranate syrup

Salt and pepper

Dill and parsley

Chakchouka printanière aux Jambon

Spring Shakshouka with ham. The French sounds definitely better.

Green beans as a spring treat are good. This combination was new to me. But it is an easy side dish to serve or eaten on its own as well.

The raw smoked ham gives a salty and intense flavour to the beans. The eggs give the richness.

Keep the beans on the crunchy side. Soft and overcooked beans are the death of this dish.

After taking the tops and bottoms off the beans and washed them, I 've put them in the steamer basket of my Thermomix with some savoury herbs and steamed them for 5 minutes.

Spring onions and garlic chopped and sauteed in some olive oil for a couple of minutes. Then the beans went in without the herbs and needed 3 minutes. Everything was seasoned with salt and pepper.

Sliced ham and chopped parsley went in next. 4 openings in the pan and the eggs went in and cooked covered 3 minutes.

Time to serve.

Ingredients for 2:

400 g green small beans

2 stalks savoury herbs

2 spring onions

1 young garlic clove

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

50 g raw smoked ham

4 eggs

Parsley

 

Chanterelle Mushrooms with Tagliatelle

I was out meeting my BFF halve way to her home. Both of us only had 1 hour to drive.

We met in a tiny village that only had one road going in and then you had to turn around the same way out.

In the middle of the forest is a nice restaurant. You can sit on the opposit side directly under huge trees or on a terrace. But we both prefared inside, because of all the insects and wasps.

I had Tagliatelle with cream sauce and chanterelle mushrooms and a side salad.

My BFF had a "Children Menu" with Bratwurst and fries.

We both had dessert. I had vanilla ice cream with dark berries and Creme de Cassis. She had a flour free cake with different nuts and chocolate.

Some place to come back to again.

Buta Shogayaki or Ginger Pork

I was looking for simple and fast to prepare Japanese food. And I had bought a piece of pork neck steak from the butcher.

The fridge cold pork was easy to cut with a sharp knife in strips about 0.6 cm thick. Seasoned with salt and pepper.

Then I prepared the sauce with a bit of potato starch to bind it. Since I used irganic fresh ginger, I just gave it a good wash and grated it on the rougher side of my microplane.

The other ingredients went on top, were stirred in and set aside.

The Japanese shortgrain rice went in the rice cooker first. It needed a headstart. After half of the cooking time I started the pork.

A tablespoon of oil in the pan and heated up to high, the pork slices went in. Since they are so thin, they do not take a lot of time to get color. The sauce went on top and thickened immediately. 100 ml of water was added to loosen that up.

Served over the rice.

Finished with some sesame seeds and greens from a spring onion.

As a side I served a kohlrabi salad with lots of parsley.

Ingredients:

200 g pork neck steak

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp oil

Sauce:

2 tsp grated ginger

2 tbsp Sake

2 tbsp Mirin

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tsp agave syrup or sugar

1 tsp potato starch

80 - 100 ml water

Finish:

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp spring onion greens

Sides:

Shirtgrain rice

kohlrabi

Banana Kiwi Jam

Bright yellow bananas are not very fond of long car trips stored in a bag with other stuff.

I only needed 2 bananas this weekend to get me going around the racetrack. But they only came in bundles of 5. No lonesome singles in sight.

I baked a cake the last time. But I wanted to use them in an other way. My BFF suggested this jam. She cooked it around Halloween last year.

I found huge soft kiwis at the supermarket, only when I peeled them I saw that one way a golden kiwi and the other one was a green one.

A big red Grapefruit joined the fruits. But only about 40% of it. I took away all the skin and seeds and only used the flesh for additional liquid. More liquid came from Triple sec liqueur.

Ingredients;

3 large bananas  =320g peeled

1 big golden kiwi

1 big green kiwi

1/2 red grapefruit

40 ml Triple sec liqueur

280 g 3:1 pectine sugar

The amount of fruit was 760 g. I filled it up to 800 g with the Triple sec

800 g :3 = 267 g =  280 g sugar mix