Cheese Cream or Kochkäse

This creamy cheese is a speciality of Hesse State in Germany. Kochkäse or cooked cheese.

When you mention it to people from neighbouring states, just a couple of miles away, it is unknown.
But most like it a lot when they taste it the first time. Many ask for the recipe.
It is a go to recipe for me, when ever I have to bring something to a party or when I celebrate something at the office.

It is best made one or two days in advance. The cheese needs a little rest to develop the flavour. You can keep it for about 10 days in the fridge - theoretically. I never made one that lasted more then 2 days after serving.

In my region of Hesse there are some restaurants that serve the cheese on top of fresh cooked Schnitzel. That is a treat, I assure you.

If you check Kochkäse on Google, you will find many different recipes.

Recipe for 10:
250 g Harzer cheese or sour milk cheese  - very low on fat
80 g butter
200 g cream cheese
300 ml evaporated milk
150 g sour cream
1/4 tsp caraway seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Chop up the cheese. Put everything, except the baking soda in a pot. On low heat start to melt. Stir constantly.
Use a thermometer to check the heat. The cream should not go over 70C.

When everything is melted - takes a while. Put it in a container at least double the size of the liquid.
Add the baking soda and stir well.  Now you will see why you need the bigger container. The stuff rises!

Let it cool down to room temperature, then store it in the fridge.

Serve with crusty bread.

Carrots, Bacon and Potatoes

I haven't made this dish in a very long time. It was one of my Mom's favourite dishes when she had to save money.

Childhood and lots of plain veggie dishes often are at odds. Many children are not so fond of certan kinds of veggies. I was not a huge fan of poatoes, I hated mushy cauliflower and spinach and until today I still do not eat Brussel sprouts. All other veggies and lots more are in my list of favourite ones.

When carrots were cheap to get or from Grandma's garden, this one pot dish was served. The same evening the juicer was in motion and Mom served freshly made carrot and apple juice.

It was funny, when I left home to live on my own, the juicer went in the basement for good. A couple of years later, I was asked what I wanted for my birthday. I wanted a juicer. I got the old one from the basement. It was as old as I was. My parents had bought it when Mom was pregnant with me. It worked almost 10 years in my household. Then I bought a new one from the same company.

Guess, what I've been drinking the last 2 nights. I improved the carrot juice by adding not only apples, but lemon and ginger.

But now back to the veggies in the pot.

Recipe for 3:
600 g carrots
400 g potatoes
3 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp oil
125 g smoked bacon bits
160 ml veg stock
Salt, pepper
Fresh parsley
Fresh marjoram

Peel carrots, potatoes and onions and garlic. Chop in bite size pieces.
Use a pot with a lid and heat up the oil.

Fry off the bacon, add the onion and garlic.
Place the carrots on top. Season with salt and pepper and marjoram.
Put the potatoes on top.
Pour half of the veg stock in and close the lid. DO NOT STIR.

Reduce the heat a little and cook for 5 min.
Now stir the whole pot and add a bit more stock.
Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the veggies are soft.
Add parsley and serve.

Blue Cheese and Pumpkin Soup

This time of year a warm soup is a greater starter to a meal. This is an easy and tasty way to make a pumpkin soup.

Use a fresh pumpkin and uncooked potatoes and you have the actual recipe for 4 people. I was lucky to get a can of cooked pumpkin and I had some leftover potatoes in my fridge.

Blue Cheese is not everybody favourite cheese. You can use a very mild and creamy one, it makes the soup rich, but you wont taste the cheese.
Best is Roquefort or Gorgonzola.
I bought some Auvergne bleu in France.  It can stand on its own against the rest of the soup.

Recipe for 4:
400 g peeled and cleaned pumpkin
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp butter
250 g potatoes
1 l veggie stock
Salt, pepper
Nutmeg
70 g Auvergne bleu
Juice of half lemon
Chives

Peel and chop the onion and garlic and start that in butter. Add pumpkin and potatoes and give them a good stir.
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Pour in the stock and let it cook on medium heat fir 30 min.

Use a stick blender and make a fine mix. Add the cheese and the lemon juice.
Put some chives on the bottom of the bowls and pour the soup over them.

Okra Chicken Rice

Okras are not a vegetable easy to get here. I walked through a different part of the city. All bus driver are on strike since Tuesday and are still not back to work. This is the reason I had to walk from the parking lot and discovered a very small Lebanese shop. The fruit and veggie boxes outside caught my eye. Okra!

On the way back to my car I grabbed a plastic bag and some hands full of okra. Inside the shop was tiny and stuffed up to the ceiling with goods.

I had cooked chicken breast sitting in the fridge, a bell pepper and a whole leek. I wanted to make a one pot rice dish and Cajun cooking came to my mind.

In a cast iron pan I started with the onions, garlic and leek in 2 tbsp of oil. I closed the lid and let them steam and fry. Then I added the tomato paste and gave it a good stir.
Next came the bell pepper and the rice and that needed to get coated well.
Last came the chopped up okra and 2,5 times the amount of chicken stock.

Fresh bay leaves, oregano, marjoram and cayenne pepper, chili ancho and lots of smoked paprika and some salt and pepper.

I closed the lid and reduced the heat again and cooked it for 12 min, checking the rice and placing the chunks of chicken on top. Close the lid again and wait for 3 min to warm up the meat, stir and you are ready to serve.

Ingredients:
2 hands full of okra
1 red bell pepper
1 leek
3 spring onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 cooked chicken breast
1 cup parboiled long grain rice
2,2 cups of chicken stock
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp smoked paprika
chili ancho
cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
2 stalks marjoram
2 stalks oregano
salt and pepper

Tourteau fromager

I found something new in my favourite French supermarket Auchan.

A package of cheese got stuck in the rack and I tried to get it out. That way I pulled a cardboard box with brown bags out of the deep of the refrigerator racks. The cheese went into my shopping cart and I examined the brown bag a bit more.
Regional products are very interesting. I never heard of this Tourteau before.

It is a cake from the region of Poitou.
The only thing I know about Poitou are the large donkies with the big ears and shaggy fur. But that did not help.

There is a discription on the back of the package. It is a soft cake with curd. While the cake bakes in the oven, it gets the black top. That keeps the cake fresh and moist.
The ingredients list shows milk and butter from France!

It can be eaten warm or cold. For breakfast or as a dessert with a red fruit coulis. With a glass of milk, a cup of coffee or tea.

I had it warmed up a little in the microwave with a coffee latte. Srumpcious.

Parsley Pesto, roasted Pepper Pasta

A huge bunch of flatleaf parsley sat in my fridge. I did not want to chop it all to put in the freezer, but what was the next thing to use it up. Pesto.

The definition of Pesto Genovese is very different from what I used. Parsley instead of basil, almonds instead of pine nuts, Gryêre instead of Parmesan

I should not call it pesto. But everyone knows what to look at when they hear the name.

A green bell pepper is not my favourite kind of vegetable. The unripe one is giving me problems. Solution, use a speed peeler and get most of the skin off. Use a very hot pan and a little olive oil and get most of the rest off by scraping the black parts away.

Recipe for 2:
225 g Linguine pasta
large bunch of flatleaf parsley
1 Green bell pepper
35 g whole almonds
2 Cloves of garlic
30 g Gryêre cheese
15 g Pecorino for later
Salt and pepper
Enough olive oil to make a smooth blend

Roast the almonds in a pan without oil.
Roughly chop the parsley and the cheese.
Cook the pasta and drain and keep some pasta water.
Grill the pepper and skin it.
Put all ingredients in a blender and make a pesto.
Mix some pasta water  with the pesto and the pasta.
Grate some Parmesan on top.

Chicken Liver Venetian Style with Celeriac Mash

Eating offal is getting less and less common in the Western world. Most are looking just for the best pieces of the animal. What is done with the rest is nothing they care about.
I love looking at an animal and when it is slaughtered it should be eaten from head to toe or nose to tail.

Eating offal is still common in Asia. There are so many soups and stews that contain one or more organ parts.

When I was in Sicily, I saw street vendors selling bread filled with grilled spleen. A decent meal for the worker in Palermo I was told. There was not enough time to stand in line and get a piece, we had to move to the next attraction.

When I grew up, my Mom used to make beef or pork liver baked with onions and apple ring Berlin style, served with potato mash. I loved it and still eat it some times.

Last Christmas eve was the last time I had chicken liver.

recipe for 4:
400 g chicken liver
3 onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 stems of sage
2 tbsp carified butter
3 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
125 ml red wine
125 ml chicken stock
125 ml double cream
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

mash:
1 head celeriac
4 small potatoes
100 g creme fraiche
3 tbsp butter
nutmeg
salt an pepper
rough chopped parsley

Start with the mash and peel potatoes and celeriac. cut into medium chunks and cook in salted water until soft. Drain and add butter, creme fraiche, nutmeg and seasoning. Use a potato masher and finally add parsley.

While the veggies are cooking, peel the onions and garlic and cut into slices.
Get the leaves off the stems of the sage and chop them fine.
Pat the liver pieces dry and coat it in flour- don´t salt them.
In butterfat cook them for 1  minute on each side and take them out of the pan.
Now onions and garlic with the sage in the pan until a bit soft.
Add red wine and stock and cook down a bit. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper.
finally the liver goes in again, reduce the heat and cook for 3 more min. Last add the vinegar and stir it in.


Serve

Japanese Egg Salad

When you have been to Japan you will have discovered Conbinis or 7/11, FamilyMart or Lawson convienent stores. They are a must for every tourist. You come home and you wish you had something like this in your country.

They not only offer drinks and snacks, but you can buy lots of fresh packaged food there. Rice and pasta dishes that can be warmed in the store microwave. A veriaty of sandwiches and onigiri or rice balls to eat cold. In the colder zime of year, warm soups boil near the cashir, they are called oden and are mostly vegetarian items

I have two favourite sandwiches I buy in a conbini in Japan: egg sandwich -  Tamago Sando- and tuna mayo.

Tabieats recipe YT channel made the egg salad a couple of videos ago. I wanted to do them soon.
Now was the time because I had fresh eggs in abundance. I bought a dozen yesterday but dropped the carton when I loaded my car. It was not clear at short notice if all eggs were cracked, so I bought a fresh one. I put the carton with broken leaking eggs in a seperate bag and checked at home.  From 12 egg 5 were still good.

Recipe:
4 boiled eggs
4 tbsp Kewpie mayo
Sugar
Salt
White pepper

The Kewpie mayo is essential when you want to have the same taste as in Japan.
We have a huge Asian supermarket in the city, it is no problem to get it there. But it is easy to order it online too.

Mash everything together with a fork. Cut off the crust from the white toast.

Goose Sauce and Spaghetti

This is a recipe for the celebration of Saint Martin's s Day.

Here in Germany on November 11th traditional geese are eaten. Roasted whole and shared at the table with family and friends. The sides dishes are potato dumplings and red cabbage.

I asked a couple of people why goose is eaten on that day. Nobody could answer that. I checked the helpful Google and there were 3 different explanations.

The priest Martin was ordered by the people to become a bishop. He did not want to take the offer and went into a geese stable to hide. The geese made such a noise that he was found and he became the bishop. He slaughtered the geese and they all ate them.
Or in the Orthodox church starts the second 40 days of fasting and the last day the geese who got fat in the stables were eaten as the last feast on the day of Saint Martin.
Some other story with fat geese and the need of feathers for pillows and duvets in the start of winter let the farmers slaughter them to honor Saint Martin. The strong feathers were used as writing material and the farmers had room in their stables for other livestock.

Now back to humble spaghetti to honor Saint Martin.
Make some pulled goose.

When you like your oven to stay clean and not get greasy with goose fat use a method that helps.
Putting the meat into an ovenproof roasting bag is a great way to help with a clean oven.

recipe for 4:
2 goose legs
salt and pepper
2 bell peppers yellow and red
1/2 cup of frozen peas
3 cloves of garlic
80 g shallots
2 sprigs rosemary
2 sprigs sage
2 sprigs marjoram
250 ml goose or chicken stock
2 tbsp Sherry
200 ml double cream
500 g spaghetti

Preheat the oven 200 C.
pull the skin off the goose legs and save for later
season with salt and pepper

Stuff them in the roasting bag with 1 clove of garlic and 1 shallot and a bit of water. Close the bag and make two holes in the top of the bag. Bake for 75 min until you see that the meat is off the end of the legs.
Cool down and pour the fat into a container for later.
Pull the meat apart.
This can be done the day before your actual cooking or just hours before.

Peel the rest of the shallots and garlic and cut all into small cubes together with the bell peppers.
Get the herbs off the stems and chop them very fine.
In goose fat brown the meat, take it out. Soften the veggies and add the herbs. Now the broth and the cream and heat that up. Add the defrosted peas and the meat and season. Finish with a bit of Sherry.

Cut the skin in 5x5 cm pieces and put them into the oven to brown as crispy chips.

Cook the spaghetti and serve that together.

Korean Double Fried Chicken Wings

Dakgangjeong

This is the name of the dish.

In many YT videos people rave about the great Korean dish with crispy double fried chicken.
We do not have a Korean restaurant in town or in the neighbourhood. We have lots of Korean business and companies where I work, but Korean food is not available. Maybe these large companies have cafeterias that serve special Korean food. But they are not open to the public.

I like to eat fried chicken sometimes. But the typical KFC is not my favourite. Sometimes I have fried chicken at an Asian buffet restaurant. But crispy is not something I remember.

I follow Maangchi on YT. I love her way to show Korean food. Many things are unknown for me. Some combinations are interesting.

500 g chicken wings
200 g potato starch
Salt and pepper
Oil for frying

Sauce:
1 spring onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp Gouchoujang
1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
1 Dried chili
2 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp mirin or cooking wine
1 tbsp black vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar

Coat the wings after seasoning with lots of starch.
Heat up oil in a large pot 165 C and fry the wings in batches for 5 min. Get them out and drain on kitchen paper.
When all a fried, heat the oil up to 180 C and fry until crispy.
Store in the oven at 80 C until all are cooked.

Make the sauce in a pot and pour over the chicken or put the pieces in the pot snd stir.

Kanelbullar - Swedish Cinnamon Knots

This was on my baking list for a long time. Since all the GBBO´s and German Das Grosse Backen the baking virus has effected me too. I was watching YT travel vlogs from Stockholm. FIKA or the Swedish art of enjoying coffee and baked goods at many times of the day is so nice.
During this cold November Sunday baking makes the whole apartment smell so lovely.

Cardamom and Cinnamon are the spices of these knots.  Here they are the spices for many winter or Christmas bakes. In Sweden you will find them all year round.

When I first checked many different recipes for the size of this bake, I found a couple of methods to form this baked goodies. Many just turn them into rolls, other into balls and this method was the tricky one: knots. One a Swedish recipe site was a good row of pictures to show how it was done.

I am not a huge fan of bakes that are overly sweet. When I checked the recipes, all used a good amount of sugar to mix with the cinnamon and spread on the dough. I think, cinnamon has a kind of sweet taste on its own. I did not use sugar on the inside and it tasted nice.

recipe for 10:
500 g flour
25 g fresh yeast
250 ml whole milk
75 g butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
75 g  sugar

75 g butter
60 g sugar - optional
1 1/2  tbsp cinnamon
1 egg yolk
coarse sugar

Warm 200 ml milk and melt the butter in it. Pour the rest of the cold milk in and check the temperature. It should not be warmer then 40 C.
Make the dough and let it rest for 45 min.

Heat up the oven to 180 C.
On a floured surface, roll it into an rectangular with 1 cm thickness.
Melt the butter and let it cool down a bit. If the butter is too warm, it will run all over the place.
Spread the butter with a brush on top of the dough.
Sprinkle the cinnamon on top.
Now you can add the layer of sugar if you want.

Fold one third of the dough over and shut it with the other third.
Cut in two halves.

Cut each side in 5 equal slices.
Cut each slice 3/4 lengthwise without cutting it completely.
Stretch and twirl each slice and form a knot, tucking the end under.
Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle the coarse sugar on top.
Bake for 20-25 min.

Dumplings with Mushrooms and Bacon

This is a classic German dish you find mostly in Autumn times in many restaurants. Mushrooms are having their peak season. But it is easy to cook this all year round. Mushrooms are available without running through the forest and picking them from the earth.

Cooked potatoes and some potato flour, an egg yolk and seasoning are the dough that forms the dumplings. Best prepare the dough ahead, it should be cold to work with.

recipe for dumpling dough:
1 kg floury potatoes
salt
50 g butter
80 g potato starch/flour
3 egg yolks

recipe for the bacon and mushroom sauce:
250 g button mushrooms
200 g oyster mushrooms
60 g bacon
1 tbsp oil
2 slices of toast
2 tbsp butter
2 small onions
1 spring onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp Pul Biber
salt and pepper
1/2 smoked paprika
200 ml double cream
1 tbsp parsley

Cook the unpeeled potatoes in salted water, peel them and put them in the oven at 160 C for 7 min to dry out a bit more.
Put through a potato ricer and add the other ingredients and let it cool down completely. Be careful with the egg yolks, do not incorporate them too early.

Cut the rind off the toast and make little cubes. In a pan in some butter brown the toast.
Make the dumplings and fill them with a couple of toast pieces.
Cook in salted water for 20-25 min on low heat.

Chop the bacon and the onions and garlic. Start them in a little oil in a large pan.
When the onions are soft, add the chopped mushrooms. They will take a good while to get soft. After 5 min add some salt and season well.
When the mushrooms are done, add the double cream.

Parsnip Hummus

We have a huge drugstore chain here in Germany -DM - and they are selling their own line of organic products. The montly magazine issue boast some "organic" recipes featering their products.

I rarely buy these products there, we have other shops for that. I buy my household cleaning stuff and toiletteries at a drugstore.
But the recipes get checked.

I am a fan of all kinds of mushy dishes called Hummus. Chickpeas are a bit of love and hate items for me. I have problems to digest the waxy skin around the chickpeas. When I prepare them, I peel the skin off. No fun what so ever!

Recipe for a small batch:
250 g  parsnips
2 tbsp maple syrup
80 g cooked chickpeas (skinned)
1 clove of garlic
5 tsp Tahini paste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 lemon juiced
Salt and pepper
5 tbsp olive oil
Parsley

Heat the oven to 200C.
Peel and cut the parsnip into 1 inch pieces. Drizzle with maple syrup and stick in the oven for 25 min. Cool down a bit.

Put all ingredients in a blender and make Hummus!

Vegetable Mash - Stamppot

Everything tastes better with butter!

This is an other recipe from 2 Michelin star Chef Thoru Nakamura. A large bag of vegetables is the main ingredient, the other is butter.

Normally all these vegetables are boiled in salted water. That was my first aim at that dish, before I reread the recipe. I had just stored the peeled potatoes in water and wanted to add all the other veggies. Then I took a second glance at the recipe and started again.

In a pot that is large enough to hold all veggies and makes it easy to stir, melt the butter and bring it up to temperature and let it get lightly brown. Then dump in the onions and garlic first.

ingredients:
650 g potatoes
400 g carrots
1 piece of white leek
3 shallots
3 young garlic cloves
80 g butter
salt and pepper
nutmeg
50 ml water
80 ml milk
3 tbsp creme fraiche
parsley

Next dump in all the other bite size pieces of veggies and season with a good amount of salt, that draws out the moisture and helps with cooking.
Get the heat down to low and stir and cover with a lid.
After 3 min add the water and stir again and cover.
Cook the veggies for 25 min, check that it does not stick to the bottom.
Use the milk to scrape the bits off. Grate in fresh nutmeg. Season with pepper and salt again.
Take a potato masher and add creme fraiche and mash roughly.
Stir in some of the parsley and serve with some parsley on top.

You can eat it purely vegetarian. But with some smoked fish and a bit of side salad it is a whole meal.

Mushroom Cream Sauce with Pasta

I was dusting my huge collection of cookbooks and got sidetracked. I started to leaf through a Gary Rhodes book and got curious. I haven't seen his cooking shows for a long while and checked the Internet. He has 2 restaurants in Dubai.

A recipe caught my eyes. Dried porcini mushrooms in creamy sauce.
I made Linguine with porcini mushrooms and herbs a long while ago. The blog is from 2016.

The cooking process is different in the new recipe. It is very important to reduce the liquids to increase the flavours.

Recipe for 1:
125 g pasta
50 ml white wine
80 ml porcini water
25 g dried porcini
Butter
1 spring onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 lemon
50 ml double cream
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Soak the porcinis for 45 min, squeeze them out and keep the liquid.
Chop spring onion and garlic very fine.
Melt the butter and start with onion and garlic. After 3 min add the white wine. Crank up the heat and reduce the liquid, add the chopped mushrooms.
Cook the pasta.

Next add the soaking liquid through a fine sieve. Reduce the liquid down and add the double cream. Season.
Take the pasta out with tongs and add it directly into the creamy sauce.
Add parsley and a few drops of lemon.

A bowl of lettuce goes great with this dish.