Coleslaw my style

I bought a head of Jaroma cabbage.
One carrot was leftover from my beef noodle soup. Shredded cabbage can be found in many countries. Not only the Krauts as many people call us Germans eat it.

I needed cabbage for the Monday lunch, when I will cook some Japanese pork that is sitting on shredded cabbage. Wait and see.

Recipe:
6 outer cabbage leaves
2 spring onions
1 carrot
1 stalk parsley
2 sorrel leaves
2 horseraddish leaves
1 tsp agave syrup
4 tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp rose coloured balsamic vinegar
2 tsp mustard
Salt and pepper

Shred the cabbage fine. Fine cubed carrots.
Blanched 30 seconds spring onions.
Make the dressing and enjoy.

Spaghetti booster after a stormy bycicle tour

A e-bike tour around the north of the island of Sylt on a day with 55 to 85 km wind and a bit of rain is not my favourite way to spent a day. But all in all we had a great informative time and went to a couple of nature projects.
When we finally came back to our holiday apartment, we were both very hungry.

Tomato sauce and Spaghetti and organic hart cheese from Germany's most northern organic shop were the solution to it.

A good tomato sauce needs a bit of time. I prepared the sauce and simmered it for nearly an hour. During that time we had enough to do to get rid of the grit and salt of the day.

With just the few ingredients and long cooking time you get a very decent sauce.
No need to fall back to the well known and loved by many children MIRACULI.

Last cooked dinner on Sylt

Our fishmonger was open today again after one day of closing. We got some fillets of rose fish today for our last dinner at the holiday apartment on Sylt.
Rice and courgette to go with it.

It is always a challenge to use up all the things you have in the fridge before you leave. I planned a fish dinner ahead and saved a bit of the lime, the last stalk of parsley and 2 tbsp of creme fraiche.
I had some shallots and garlic brought over from home, I used most of them too.

Since we only have one standart pan, I had to prepare the courgette ahead and reheated it before serving in the microwave.
I cut the courgette into slices and seasoned them well before they went into a pan where 2 cloves of garlic fried up to flavour the oil.

We had an whole meal flour roll left from yesterday, I cut it open last night to dry out and grated it into breadcrumbs to coat the fish later. The fish was seasoned, floured and put through beaten egg and fresh grated bread. It went into oil and was finished with lime juice and creme fraiche.

When I prepared the rice I used beef stock, onion and a but of parsley.

Recipe for 2:
320 g rose fish fillets
1/2 lemon
3 tsp creme fraiche
Salt and pepper
Breadcrumbs
1 egg
3 tbsp flour
3/4 cup jasmin rice
Shallot
Parsley
0,5 beef stock cube
1 medium courgette
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Seasoning

North Sea Shrimps with scrambled eggs

Tiny shrimps are so tasty. As long as I do not have to shell them, I am o k with eating them. Our fishmonger had some fresh north sea shrimps and we bought some during our lunch break and stuffed them into the fridge for later.

    

After a whole day of excursions and birdwatching we were finally home.
I discovered that we had no non stick pan in the kitchen, just a regular one.

My plans for making omlette went out of the window. My fall back was scrambled eggs.

Recipe for 2:
100 g fresh north sea shrimps
3 tsp creme fraiche
1 tsp dried dill
1 stalk fresh parsley
Pepper
A pinch of salt
4 eggs
3 tbsp milk
Seasoning
1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups beef broth
1 shallot
5 cherry tomatoes
Olive oil

Start with the rice first.
Chop the onion and saute it in oil. Add rice and let get coated in the oil. Dump the broth in and the tomatoes and season.
Bring to boil, reduce the heat an simmer until done.
Run a knife through 80 g of shrimps and mix them with dill, parsley and creme fraiche.
Short before the rice is finished scramble the eggs. Put the bowl with the shrimp mix into the microwave for 1 min at 600 watts.
Stir them into the eggs and serve.
Top with the last whole shrimps and a parsley leaf.

Pollock and Spaghetti

I used our apartment kitchen again.

We are lucky to have a great fishmonger in town here. You can eat inside or buy super tasty fish bread rolls. Either with fresh fried fish and mustard mayo, or rolls with salted herring. They offer shrimps stuffed ones too

Yesterday on our way back, we stepped inside and I bought a side of Pollock. Enough for the 2 of us.

Recipe for 2:
150 g spaghetti
450 g Pollock
2 stalks parsley
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp wine
2 tbsp flour
Salt. Pepper. Paprika.
1/2 lemon

Season the fish with salt and pepper on both sides. Add paprika to the flour and coat the fish with it.
Heat up salted water and cook the spaghetti. Drain.
Heat the oil and on medium cook the fish.
After 4 min on each side pour some wine and lemon juice in. Close the lid for 3 min.

Take the fish out and toss in the spaghetti to coat in the sauce and finish with parsley. Put a slice of lemon on each plate.

Eating out on the island of Sylt

I am on a special trip for one week on the northern most island of Germany, on Sylt.

This week we here and see firsthand the results of tourism and construction on the island. The ecological problems when there are a lot of new buildings in the dunes. Erosion is such a major part you can see here.

After a long day of travelling and the start of out course we went to dinner together.

Kap Horn is the name of the place. A wooden structure directly on the beach.

Sylt is known for its high prices. But the southern tip where we stay should have been lets expensive. Sorry. No longer.

I started with a shrimp soup. It sadly lacked in flavour. It was mostly a tomato soup with some shrimp paste and some North Sea shrimp.

The second course was Plaice in Finkenwerder style. That means served with bacon.

It tasted good. But the ratio of bacon to fish was not balanced. Too much bacon for my taste.

Squished tomatoes and pasta

Medium sized oven roasted tomatoes are a great base for a tasty pasta.

I have different kinds still in the bowl. Ripe and very juicy. So many can be used up.

The oven roast time is 30 min. You do not want to dry them, just concentrate the juice to enhance the flavour.

Recipe:
8 medium size tomatoes
3 spring onions
1 clove of garlic
Thyme
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
200 g spaghetti
Peccorino cheese

Lunch at a Business Event

Feeding more then 3000 people in a little more then an hour is a logistic nightmare. I was a participant of such an event on Wednesday and admired the caterers team. They did a lot of work to keep so many people fed and watered.

It started around 9 in the morning with lots of coffee and tea stations and buttered pretzel sticks. Huge fridges held all kinds of water and juice drinks. But no soft drinks. They wanted to keep everyone healthy.

These fridges were scattered all over the huge event hall on both floors in 15 m distances. It was easy even with so many people to get something to drink. Great on a hot day with 30 C and no AC in the hall.
When we got our tickets, the lunch stands were already with numbers on each ticket. When the break started, the run began.

It was all packed in recyclable containers and held organic and locally sourced food. The three variations were for carnivores, vegetarians, vegans or people with special allergy needs.

I know huge events. So when the bell sounded for lunch I took a quick tour to the designated food stand and got my box. I had looked for the numbered stand during a quick break earlier and knew where to go. Short after that more then 100 people stood in line to get their food.

They served the meat eaters corn fed organic chicken breast basked in Frankfurt green herbs. It was sitting on a potato salad with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms. Good quality, but it was under seasoned.
It lacked in salt and pepper.
3 tbsp of Ebly wheat, the sun wheat of France, was made into a salad. Sadly it was sitting on its own too long and had soaked up any kind of dressing that should have been around it. Dry and not so
tasty. I wished for some olive oil and vinegar.
Next to it laid a wrap. My colleges thought it was the dessert. Something dark red was sticking out. I saw immediately that it was beetroot and some green asparagus - so no way that was a dessert. The wrap was whole meal flour and that piece of food was the tastiest of the lunch.

Tomato Broccoli Bread Salad

I have lots of fresh tomatoes still in bowls sitting on my kitchen table.

I do not eat lots of them raw to prevent further health problems. But I can not help myself, I have to eat some fresh ones.

I combined them with cooked broccoli and added pan fried garlic and onion seasoned bread.

The 30 min in the oven took out some of the moisture without making them too dry. The olive oil and seasoning added a great flavour.

recipe:
3 slices of days old bread
2 spring onions
1 clove of garlic
fresh thyme
salt and pepper
1/2 head of broccoli
250 g medium tomatoes
lots of fresh herbs
olive oil, balsamic vinegar


Pull the broccoli apart into small florets and peel the whole stem and cut that into slices. In a pot with boiling salted water cook them al dente, add 1 of the spring onions to get some cooking time and drain and toss them into ice cold water, drain again.

Cut up the tomatoes into bite size chunks and put them into the salad bowl.


Put the bread in a pan with some spring onions and garlic in olive oil and cook it until browned.

Make the dressing with lots of fresh herbs, oil and black vinegar and season the dressing well.
Bring all together and enjoy.

You can eat it as side dish with some chicken as I did.

Eating Greek Food in Frankfurt

A nice and good quality Greek restaurant is not found on every corner in Frankfurt. But in the heart of Frankfurt this one can be found. This is Ariston Restaurant. They serve lunch and dinner.

It is good to reach with puplic transport. Use the Frankfurt U-Bahn (Metro). Hopp off on Konstabler Wache and walk for a couple of minutes.
When you go to lunch at the restaurant on Thursday or Saturday, you can visit the huge Farmers Market on Konstabler on you way back and buy everything to prepare a feast the next day yourself.

We've been at the restaurant for lunch, but on the wrong day.

It started with a platter of brown lentil salad with a smoked salmon topping. I stayed with fish and had Sea Bass with lemon potatoes.

When the dessert was served, I was no longer thinking about taking pictures. I just enjoyed the creamy dessert.

My company had a platter with grilled veggies, meat and grilled Haloumi cheese.
Bread with dips are for all of us.

This restaurant is a place to feel welcome in. Nice ambiente and great service.

Parsnips with Baharat Yogurt Dip

I bought half a kilo of parsnips. They were meant to go into a mash together with potatoes.

But sometimes my planning changes and I had a bag of parsnips left over.
Someone said: "Things were going according to plan, but the plan was wrong!"

I thought about making them into a soup, but at nearly 31 C that day soup did not sound so good. I cut them up, found two carrots, four small potatoes and some spring onions and tossed that all on a baking dish with lots of fresh thyme, garlic and olive oil. The oven in the kitchen did not make the room any warmer, so it was ok.
Greek yogurt is a steady guest in my fridge and great to use for any kind of dip. Fresh herbs are still in abundance on my balcony and a loaded tsp of Baharat seasoning gave the right kick to the dish.

The only work was the peeling of parsnips, carrots, potatoes and garlic. At 180 C fan for 35 min, giving them a stir after 20 min.

I had the rest of this meal the next day at the office- with a bit complaining from my coworker about the roasted garlic smell.

Oricchete with caramelized lemon and broccoli

Little ears is the kind of pasta called. They are very small and good for many different vegetable sauces. But they have one downside, they take an awful long time to cook.

This is a recipe you will find in the south of Italy, were lemons and almonds and pistacchios grow. I had something like that during my trip to the Amalfitana. The caramelized lemon adds a distinct tarteness to the dish and a lot of flavour. I even bought a lemon grown in Italy, but not the kind I saw on every market stand or grocer down there. These lemons are larger and knobblier then the standart ones they sell here. I know, that the taste of a dish like this in Italy is a lot richer.


recipe:
200 g oricchette pasta
250 g broccoli
50 g arugula
3 spring onions
5 tbsp butter
4 tbsp ground almonds
30 g whole pistacchios
1 lemon
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Clean the broccoli florets and cut them into bite size chunks, chop the spring onions and cut the lemon into slices.In a big pot with heavy salted water cook the broccoli for 4 min, drain with a slotted spoon and put into cold water, drain.

In the same boiling water cook the pasta. That will take about 15 min.
In a wide pan in1 tbsp butter colour the lemons and give the onions a few minutes. Sprinkle some sugar on to the lemons and caramelize them more. Take both out of the pan.
Add more butter, the broccoli and the almonds and pistacchios, season well. Coat them well in the almonds.
Add the drained pasta and some cooking water, put the lemons and onions back in and give it a good toss.
Wash the arugula /rocket/ and cut of the long stems. Place them on the bottom of the plate and ladle the pasta on top.

Djuvec Rice and Pljeskavica

A classic dish from the Balkans. The Djuvec rice is even the national dish of Serbia.

Nowadays you can´t find Balkan restaurants everywhere. They were all over every town until about 15 years ago.  Now they are a very rare commodity. The food there was high on garlic and great platters of meat were high  on the menu.

I miss a good Croatian restaurant. I have fond memories to a good one here in the City. But it was closed long ago. When I travelled around in Germany and was looking for a place to eat, a Balkan restaurant was mostly the place of choice.

recipe for Djuvec rice:
2 heaped tbsp lard with onions
1 large onion
1 carrot
3 cloves of garlic
500 ml chicken stock
225 g long rice
1 cup defrosted peas
2 red bell peppers
5 tbsp Ajvar
10 cm leek
150 g tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp sweet paprika powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper
fresh parsley

recipe for Pljeskavica:
500 g mixed beef and pork mince
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 bread roll soaked in milk
1 egg
125 g sheep feta
1 tsp herbes de Provence
salt and pepper
chili pepper
30 ml chicken stock

The meat has to rest in the fridge for 30 min minimum, so give the mix a headstart and put it in the fridge to chill down.
The rice will take up to 50 minutes to get ready, so start the prep work. Everything has to be cut into fine cubes -Brunoise-.

Cooking the rice starts with the onion lard that has to melt in the pot. In goes onions, garlic, leek and carrot. They will need about 10 min to soften a bit. Get the paprika powders in and sweat them 3  min.
Then comes the rice, the ajvar and the chicken broth.

Stir often, like you would cook a risotto and make sure it does not stick to the bottem.
After 10 min, add the bell pepper, tomatoes and leek and after 10 more  min the defrosted peas.
Maybe you need a bit more water or stock. Keep stirring. When the rice is nearly done, take it off the heat and close the lid and let it sit for 15 min. Sprinkle some parsley on.

Pljeskavica.
Take the rested meat mix out of the fridge and form thin patties. In between each 2 place a piece of feta and close the top around it.
I used a burger press for my patties, that worked well.
Brown them on high heat on both sides, then reduce the heat, close the lid and le them cook through. Turn halfway.

Serve with some additional ajvar and some cheese.

Tomato Banana Soup with Ginger and Mango

Some say "what grows together, goes together" - but this can not be said about this combination.

Tomatos and Bananas and Mangos are not growing together, at least in my back yard. The tomatoes are home grown, the rest is from the supermarket.

A watched a recorded foodshow and a Michelin star chef, Christian Henze, served that for his guests.
I looked around the table and saw a ripe mango, a brown banana sitting on top of some green tomatoes to help them ripe. Knowing that I had enough red ones sitting around too and ginger and onions in store, I was ready to cook.

The ginger is the important part in this soup, so do not skimp on it. It balances out the sweetness with some heat.

Lets make some crazy soup!

recipe for 2:
1 ripe banana
1/2 ripe mango
2 knobs of ginger
200 g cherry tomatoes
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
500 ml veg stock
salt and pepper
1 tbsp rapeseed oil

Chop onion, ginger and garlic and halve the tomatoes. Peel the banana and cut it into slices.
Start the oil with onions, garlic and ginger and give it 4 min to soften.

One side of the mango is enough, so add all that to the pot and pour the veggie stock on top.
It needs a good bit of salt and pepper.
When it is cooked for 10 min, use a stick blender and make a creamy soup.

Salmon and Prawn Dish

I splurged today and treated myself to some wild catch Scottish salmon and wild fresh water tiger prawns. No Aqua culture this time.

I shelled the prawns and skinned the salmon and used the discards to make a fresh stock for the dish. During that the prawns and the salmon had some time to marinate in shichimi togaraschi and pepper.
After 20 minutes the stock was ready and I started to cook the dish.

The veggie part of this meal are leek, spring onion and tomato. They are giving it a fresh taste and I had a chance to get rid of more tomatoes.
I put them through the blender to make a coarse mix.

recipe for the stock:
6 shells of the prawns
skin of the salmon - it should not have any scales on it
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
7 cm green top of the leek
1 carrot
2 bay leaves
4 lovage leaves
3 celery leaves
pepper and salt
750 ml water

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 min, let it sit 10 more min then pour through a fine sieve.

recipe for 2:
375 g wild catch salmon cut into fingers
6 raw tiger prawns with shells
2 cloves of garlic
white of 1 leek
1 spring onion
120 g tomatoes, blended
40 ml Pastis
300 ml stock
salt and pepper
shichimi togarashi
sancho pepper
prawn seasoning
rapeseed oil
parsley

In a wide pan start with oil and leek, onion and garlic. Give that 4 min. Add the broth and the blended tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat.
The large prawns and the salmon fingers go in at the same time.  Add the Pastis.
Cook for 3 min and you are done, sprinkle with parsley.

You can serve it with Baguette, pasta or rice.

Pasta Cacio e Pepe

This is a classic pasta dish from Rome!

It is not so common outside of the city. I have never seen it on any menu in other parts of Italy and it is mostly unknown here in Germany. But I do not know why. It is so easy to prepare and just so tasty. With only 4 ingredients it is not a challenge for any kind of cook.
It is made with the Roman Peccorino cheese, a hard cheese made from sheepsmilk. But this Peccorino is sold around here as well. I even prefer it to Parmigiano Reggiano.

The cheese has a strong flavour and this is balanced out through a lot of fresh ground black pepper.

recipe for 1:
100 g spaghetti
30 g Peccorino cheese and some to grate over later
20 g butter
2 tsp salt
lots of black pepper

Cook the spaghetti in heavy salted water! You will need about 1/2 cup later. Take it out before you
drain the pasta.
Pour the salted water in a wide pan and toss in the butter.
Ground a good amount of black pepper in (1/2 tsp)
Toss in the pasta and stir well.
Get the grated Peccorino cheese in the pan and stir until it is well combined.
Pour on a plate and grate more cheese on top. You never can have enough cheese!
The parsley is just for photo purposes, but tastes good with the pasta.
 





Give it a try if you love cheese and pepper!