Avocado Toast with poached Egg

A Sunday breakfast supreme.

Easy to prepare if you know how to prepare the perfect poached egg.

In the past I used silicon moulds to help but they did seldom create the perfect egg.
Now I just use a big pot and fresh eggs.

Bring the water to a rolling boil  add some salt and 1 tsp of white vinegar. Shut off the heat and open 2 eggs in carefully. With a slotted spoon get some of the egg white around the yolk. Start cooking the water at medium heat for 3 min. Use the slotted spoon ho get the eggs out and let them drain.

Toast the bread. Smear some cream cheese on top. Peel and destone the avocados and put slices on the bread
Season with salt and pepper and sit the poached egg on top.

Lunch out in the Countryside

I was driving over winding roads through narrow villages to a family owned restaurant. It has a huge outside seating area and we were lucky to see the Frankfurt skyline in the distance.

Talblick in Steigerts is the spot I have been today. A tiny village in the Odenwald. The restaurant sits on a hillside surrounded by an orchard.

A specialty of Hessian is the cooked cheese or Kochkäse. To be found here on one of my blogs. Traditional each Odenwald restaurant makes their own recipe of Kochkaese. It is then sometimes served on top and around a good piece of pork Schnitzel. The more gooy sauce they serve, the better it is. Very important are the french fries on a seperate plate. Otherwise they get limp and soggy.

But the begin of our neal was a soup plate full of fresh seasonal salad.

We sat outside and a little drizzle of rain started. Non of the guests outside went into the restaurant, we all stayed put and the rain stopped. It is so blistering hot this summer here in Germany, we all been grateful for a little water.

A cup of ice cream finished our meal. Hazelnut and chocolate ice cream with nuts and whipped cream.

I am looking forward to the next visit in September.

Yesil Fasulye or Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

A Turkish recipe with lots of varieties.

I bought a bag of green beans and plucked a bowl of fresh tomatoes off my vines. And I needed an idea. So Google helped.

There are lots of recipes for this mix of veggies. Prepare them Indian style or Mediteranian or the Turkish way.  The last one was the easiest and most of the ingredients except the meat were in stock.

When you are ready and have all the mis en place done, the actual cooking is fast and not complicated. Use one big pot and bring everything together one after the other, close the lid and wait until it is done.
I served it with some rice.

Recipe for 4:
500 g green small beans
400 g organic beef mince
3 spring onions
1 white onion
6 cloves of garlic
2 stalks savoury
2 tbsp hot paprika paste
250 g tomatoes
500 ml beef stock
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
parsley

Austrian Paprika Chicken or Paprikahendl

A treat from the time when Austria had deep connections to its Hungarian neighbours. Cooked in a more modern way.
I served it with Water Sparrows - you can find them as a sweet treat here on the blog-. Soft and pillow dumplings that go so well with the sauce. And the sauce is sooo good.

I ate that a long time ago during a trip in Austria. But I had no real memory what was in the dish. Most of the time you will find lots of bell peppers in the dish and that had nothing to do with the old ways. This is a creamy dish that is favoured by children, if you leave out the hot pepper paste and just use tomato paste. They prefer it to the Goulash that is served so often in Austria.

recipe for 3:
6 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
1 spring onion
1 red onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp Hungarian hot pepper paste or regular tomato paste
3 tbsp mild Hungarian ground paprika
2 tsp medium Hungaria ground paprika
1 tsp dried marjoram
600 ml chicken stock
salt and pepper
100 g cream fraiche
30 g flour
1 tbsp clarified butter or ghee

water sparrows:
8 heaped tbsp flour
4 tbsp water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 pinch of nutmeg
Mix in a bowl and let it rest for 30 min. Boil a pot with lots of water and drop tea spoons batter in the boiling water. Cook for 2 min.

The chicken pieces get seasoned with salt and pepper and get browned in some ghee.
Take them out ehen they have some colour

Chop onions and garlic and chuck that in the same pan to fry off. Add paprika paste, cook a bit more and add paprika powder and marjoram. Stir well and cook a bit. Fill with stock. Bring in the chicyken and cook for 20 min on low heat.
Make the flour and creme fraiche mix, it will be a paste.
Fish the chicken out again and bring the sauce back to a boil, stir in the paste and cook it for 5-7 min. The sauce will thicken then and the flour taste disappears.
Back in with the chicken, taste the sauce season again and you are ready to serve with the dumplings.

Chicken and Shrimp Curry

I had no idea what to cook over the weekend. I went to a website that showed the weekly meals of a big canteen. They had the iced cucumber soup to offer and the following recipe.

There are no recipes to get there
I just have to be creative and work with my experiance.

Recipe for 2:
6 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
250 g defrosted shrimps
1 spring onion
1 white onion
5 cloves of garlic
7 cm ginger
2 tbsp Thai red chili paste
200 g coconut milk
100 g Greek yogurt
200 ml veg stock
2 tsp coconut oil
2 tsp green curry powder
1/2 lime
1 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp Java curry powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
1 stalks fresh herbs

Make the paste by chucking onions, garlic, ginger and herbs in a blender. Start it in coconut oil until it gets a bit soft.
Add the spices and let them heat through.
Pour in stock and coconut milk.
Season the chicken pieces and cook them in the liquid.

When they are ready, add shrimps and yogurt and finish with lime juice.

An uncomfortable ending of a Sunday Brunch

Going out on a late Sunday morning mostly means going to a Brunch.
Our favourite spot does not offer brunch during summer.
We looked for an other place and found the Druckwasserwerk on the Main riverside.

This place is frequented by bike riders, people who stroll along the river and ones that reach it by car. There is a nice bike path alongside the Main.

The buffet looked good and was very versatile. Some fish salads caught the eye, a favourite.

We had a good time and enjoyed our brunch. The food was good.

The desserts were good and it took a bit to choose the best.

The bad part started after we left the restaurant.
We walked along the river and about 15 min later, I was sick to the stomach.

A couple of vomits into the Main river, hanging over a rail, made it better. Nice people brought some water and kleenex. My company felt sick too, but had not eaten all the same I had.
Refrigeration of food in 34C is priority.
Wont go to brunch during hot summer days again soon.

Dining in Frankfurt

The riverside of the Main river in downtown Frankfurt offers nice spots to go out on a Saturday night. One spot is famous for its Mediterranean climate. Flowers and bushes can survive the winter in Frankfurt there. They call it Nizza in Frankfurt.

A restaurant is there too, the MainNizza. The building in its form is here since 2004. The park was very often changed, neglected and refitted.
Two German guys are the owners, Uli and Hardy.
It is an upscale spot to dine out.

A drink to start the evening was an Iced Tropez.

The starter a plate with Ceviche from Sea Bass. When you love raw fish, this is the plate you must try. Excellent. It was served with two pieces of polenta.

A typical secondo is a Schnitzel here. This was from veal like the famous Vienna Schnitzel, thin, cross on the outside. Made Frankfurt style. Served with potato salad and cucumber salad.

The best of the evening were the two desserts. Awesome. One was iced Frankfurter Kranz and the other was a raspberry dream. A real dream! Uli got this recipe from an actress.

Later Uli came and talked to all his guests, so nice. Had a nice evening at a nice spot beside the river with a nice friend.  See you soon again Main Nizza.

Truffel Oil Green Pesto with Pasta

At the office canteen a plate of penne with fresh made pesto was served. I am a huge fan of home made pesto and especially when not only basil is used. The more herbs the better.

I was impressed and emptied the whole plate. I wished I had a piece of Baguette to clean out the rest of the sauce on my plate.

I asked our cook what she put into the pesto and I heard that she makes the pesto in the Thermomix.
I am using mine for it too.

recipe:
1 bunch basil
1 bunch parsley
1/2 bunch wild garlic
1/2 bunch dill
1 bunch chives
1 cup pine nuts toasted
sunflower oil
truffel oil
salt and pepper
grana padano cheese

Fig Ice Cream

I am eating against the ripening figs off my tree in front of the house. I looked down from the balcony and saw more ripe ones this morning.

On a hot Sunday some ice cream for coffee time is great.
The first time I had a delicious fig ice cream was in Monreale in Sicily. A corner cafe across the cathedral sells the best fig ice cream I´ve ever had.

I am  not making a custard as a base today. I am making a cheats ice cream. Several cans of Russian sweet condensed milk are in stock. I love that for the Vietnamese coffee.

recipe:
200 g double cream
150 g sweetened condensed milk
6 figs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp Yuzu
2 tbsp Limoncello

For garnish:
Amarena cherries
Grand Marnier

Clean the figs and put them in a sauce pan with limoncello and yuzu and cook them until they are very soft. Mash them a get some fig juice out of it.
Cool it down on a wide cold plate.
Beat the double cream to soft peaks, add the condensed milk, cinnamon and the fig juice.
Put into the compressor ice cream maker for 25 min, add a little more mashed figs and let it set.

Transfer to a cool dish and stir in the rest of the figs.
Freeze.

Iced Cucumber Soup

We are getting a very hot week with temperatures about 35 C. Not our ususal summer temperature.
So I am stocking up on cold soups, to take with me to the office and enjoying them during the day.

Cucumber has a lot of water and is great to eat cold. It is a part of the Spanish Gazpacho too.
My favourit summer herb is fresh dill. You find that in most of the recipes from the northern parts of Europe.

Just a blender and a knife are the utensils you will need for this soup.

recipe for 2:
1 cucumber
1/2 lime juice
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp rose balsamic vinegar
150 g sour cream
100 g Greek yogurt
1/2 bunch fresh dill
green of 1 spring onion
salt and pepper
1 cup ice cubes to cool down

Put everything except the ice into the blender and give it a good mix.
Put 3 ice cubes in the plate and pour the soup over it.
Finish with some dill greens.

Nectarine Crumble

I bought 8 rock hard peaches 3 days ago to use today. I pulled them out of the plastic bag and stored them in a large bowl covered with some kitchen paper.
Yesterday morning I checked and found out 1 has gone bad. Today I just had one left and the rest gone bad.
I am lucky that I bought several hard nectarines yesterday evening.

For this sweet treat I needed 6 peaches/nectarines.  It simply to work for an easy dessert. Make it in the morning and serve it at room temperature later.

Recipe for 4:
6 nectarines
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp vanilla apple liqueur
2 tbsp fine oats

Crumble:
1 tbsp butter for the baking dish
120 g butter
150 g flour
3 tbsp almond flour
40 g sugar
1 egg yolk

Preheat the oven 180 C


Put vanilla sugar and 1 tsp butter in a pan and saute the destoned nectarines to soften them a little. Drizzle with the liqueur.
Brush the oven dish with butter and toss the oasts in, later the nectarines.
Make the crumble by using a kitchen machine.
Put on top of the fruits.
Bake for 30 min.

Chicken in white sauce

It is an easy 20 minute meal when you have cooked or baked chicken breast left over. The amount of other ingredients is not very long. Mostly you will use things you have in stock already.

I used frozen peas and a small can of sweet corn. Let the peas defrost in a small casserole in some boiling water with some salt.
Just for 3 minutes. Drain. Open the can of sweet corn and drain.
Make 300 ml chicken stock.

Recipe for 2:
300 g cooked chicken breast
2 spring onions
1 small can sweet corn
150 g defrosted peas
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
200 ml milk
300 ml chicken stock
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
Fresh chives

Chop the spring onions and cut the chicken into bite size chunks

In a wide pan melt the butter and add the flour
Make a roux. Put a bit of milk in, then more and more to prevent clumps.
Pour in the stock snd bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and add spring onions and chicken.