Fig Energy Balls

So many fresh but small figs sitting in bowls. A hand full went in these balls.

Lots of nourishing ingredients followed. My BFF gave me the recipe idea, but she used dates and mostly hazelnuts. But it is very versatile.

Dates need to soak over night in water. Figs only need 2 to 3 hours because they are fresh.

I chopped the quarted figs in small pieces and mixed them with the other ingredients, except the coconut.

Get the coconut in a small round container ot bowl. Form the small balls and toss each one seperately in the dessicated coconut.

Put the balls in the fridge they will dry out there.

Ingredients:

80 g fresh figs

150 ml apple soda or water

50 g ground almonds

30 g hazelnut brittle chopped

25 g toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp drinking chocolate powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp honey

Enough dessicated coconuts to roll the balls in

Spaghetti with Smoked Salmon and Dill

This is a fast dish that is based on "Henssler's schnelle Nummer".

But not that fast, because I used a bit more ingredients that lengthens the timeframe.

The longest time was cooking the spaghetti. They were double the length and al bronzo. Ba having a rough surface, the sauce clings to them a lot better.

I cooked them in less water to gain a high starch content in the water. That was needed for a good sauce.

Onion and garlic sauteed in a little butter, pasta water added to start the sauce. After 3 min 150 ml double cream were next. Seasoned and more water added. The spaghetti cooked the last 2 minutes in the sauce. 

The smoked salmon just needed to be cut up in small chunks and the dill to be chopped. They were in for the last 2 minutes just to heat up. Some lemon juice as a last thought and the dish was ready to serve.

Ingredients:

150 g spaghetti al bronzo

Salt

1 tbsp butter

1 onion, 2 garlic cloves

150 ml double cream

Pepper, Piment d'Espelette

150 g smoked salmon

Dill bundle

1/2 lemon

Bun with Crumble or Streuselbrötchen

Every time I am coming back to the Nuerburgring in the Eifel I am looking forward to this kind of baked good.

 

But you have to be early to get one. I got lucky yesterday at noon to get the last one.

It is a speciality that originates in the city of Aachen and is only available there and in parts of the Eifel. Outside this area nobody ever heard of it.

In Aachen they even have the "Day of the Streuselbrötchen" on April 29th.

It is a not so sweet heavy yeast dough. The streusel or crumble made with butter is pressed in a thick layer in the dough and piled on top of that.

When I came here 2,5 years ago for the first time and stood at the bakery, I wondered why they call Streuselkuchen a different name. But both bakes are very different. Now I am always looking forward to get a piece, even take some home and share with my neighbor.

Beef Shank leftovers

When there are bits and pieces of two dishes are sitting around in your fridge and taking up space, create something tasty from it.

In the door of my fridge in the jar was beef stock left. A smaller bowl in the fridge had some cubed cooked beef and a plastic bag was filled with cold Japanese short grain rice. 

In my compartment that holds all the condiments a jar of Ayvar paprika paste sat in the first row. 

For garnish I ripped off some green parts of a spring onion and ground lots of black pepper.

Biscoff Cream filled Apricot Dumplings

Served with vanilla sauce.

I've made this Austrian classic before, but in the traditional way. This time I used a shortcut and a very unusual filling of the apricots. The shortcut was the potato dough. 

We have 2 very good producers of ready to roll wet potato dumpling dough. You can choose between different dumpling styles. That makes life a lot easier and the chances that the dumplings fall apart during cooking due to the wrong kind of potatoes goes near 0.

The usual filling of the center of the apricot, after taking out the stone, is a cube of sugar that is sometimes dipped in Bailoni. That is an Austrian apricot liqueur. 

While looking for my sugar cubes in the farest corner of my cupboard, a jar of Biscoff cream fell in my hands. It has just a bit of cream left in it.

Why not change the flavour profile? I am not an Austrian and I like to make recipes my own way. A teaspoon Biscoff cream went in every apricot.

The potato dough wrapped around and formed to a closed ball. Make sure that there are no tiny holes in the ball. The cooking water will get in and the dumpling will split open.

To make sure the dumplings stay closed, a starch slurry is added to the cooking water. Depending on the dumpling size the simmering time will be 20 to 25 min?

While they simmer, I made the toasted breadcrumbs. A good amount of butter to brown them on medium high heat and to finish some cinnamon.

The dumplings get out of the water, shake off some of it and roll them in the breadcrumbs. Now they are ready to serve with custard.

Ingredients:

800 g ready made silk potato dumpling dough

5 apricots

5 tsp Biscoff cream

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp potato starch + 3 tbsp water

150 g breadcrumbs

50 g butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Vanilla custard

 

Asian Meatballs on Vermicelli Salad

Cold mungbean vermicelli to eat in this heat are great. They taste like nothing and invites you to get creative with them. But a little meat helps a lot too.

I went out early in the morning to the butcher to get the famous raw seasoned pork that most of us love to eat on a fresh breadroll with raw onions on top: Mettbrötchen

I used the seasoned pork to season it some more to resemble Asian taste and rolled it in small balls. The airfryer is the best option in this heat to cook them.

Lots of fresh veggies to go with the vermicelli and a good sauce.

Recipe for 2:

300 g sausage meat

1 spring onion

2 tsp garlic-ginger paste

Dried chili

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp Mirin

1 egg

100 g panko breadcrumbs

Parsley

Salad:

100 g mungbean vermicelli

1 carrot

1 red long pepper

1 spring onion

3 radishes

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tbsp Mirin

2 tbsp light soy sauce

3 tsp sesame seeds

Pepper, salt, chives

Airfry the meatballs 15 min at 180 C

Put boiling water over the vermicelli noodles and let them sit 6 to 8 min, then drain.

 

Apricot Crumb Cake or Streusel Cake

It is a 2×1×1  method cake : flour, sugar, butter.

Recipe for s 24 cm round loose bottom cake tin:

300 g flour

150 g sugar

150 g cold unsalted butter

Pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla sugar

8 to 10 apricots

2 tsp runny honey

Cut the cold butter in small slices and put the ingredients down to the vanilla sugar in a bix bowl. 

You could blizz it in a foodprocessor, but I thought I use an old method. 

Since it is very hot here, I used for the combining the stuff together a potato masher, then my hands in the end. With hot hands the dough does not get sandy, but melting. Only the last few minutes it then was good. 

I buttered the baking dish and put 2/3 of the crumbs in and pressed it down and a bit up the sides.

Take the stones out of the apricots and quarter them. Place them skin down on the dough. Drizzle with honey.