Eggplant - marinated and oven baked

Decent! For all people who love eggplant  or Aubergine and spiced toppings.

The recipe was posted in a German newspaper and is from Munich. The pastry chef of a 2 star restaurant had to prepare the staff lunch one day. It was so good, that the famous chef Thoru Nakamura posted it.

Just give the marinate its time. 12 hours minimum in the fridge. Then you get the best result. Even people who are not so fond of eggplant like it. The seasoning helps a lot there. I changed the recipe a bit.

recipe for 4:
4 eggplants or aubergines
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of chives
100 ml olive oil
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tsp brown sugar
2/3 tsp fennel seeds
2/3 tsp cumin seeds
2/3 tsp Piment d´Espelette
2/3 tsp Baharat seasoning
salt and pepper
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic

Wash the eggplant, cut off the stem and halve it lengthwise.
Take a knife and cut the flesh open crosswise.

In a blender add all the other ingredients and make a paste.
Brush on top of the eggplants and set them in a container in the fridge to rest.

Preheat the oven 180 C.

Use a baking dish and bake the eggplants for 30-40 min depending on the thickness.
Eat with some short grain rice.

Cabbage and Tuna Salad

I saw this on YT at Ochikeron´s Channel. Her kids helped to prepare the salad.

The ingredients are pretty basic and only the cabbage needed to be bought fresh. With the tuna and the Kewpie mayo as a dressing it is a filling salad. But after 2 hours I was hungry for some carbs.
Next time I will serve this in a soft tortilla wrap. That may be fusion cuisine, but makes me a lot less hungry.

Bringing this salad to a party here would raise eyebrows. The package of instant dashi powder makes a prominent kind of seafood taste that only a few people here would know. I used nearly the whole head of Napa cabbage (450 g) and when I had the leaves cut down into bite size chunks, it looked like a whole lot to eat.

The method to prepare the salad is kind of weird. Put the chopped salad in a microwavable container with a lid or use a bowl with micro clingfilm and stash that at 600 Watts for 4 min in.
I added a medium size spring onion before I put it in.

When it comes out, use 1/2 tsp of salt to season it and stir. Let it sit for 5 min and then pour the water out. Use kitchen paper in double or triple layer and put 1/3 of the salad in. Squeeze out all the water. Make the 2 other batches. You will be astonished how much liquid is in this salad.

Now drain a small tin of tuna  and add it to the salad. 3/4 of a dashi stock package, some Sancho pepper and 3 - 4 tbsp Kewpie mayo. Use other mayo if you like.
Stir well.

I cut some Noori sheet into small strips and used it for decoration.

Restaurant Pier 18

About 50 km east from here is Aschaffenburg. The city is at the Main river. That is the same river that runs through Frankfurt.
Ar the banks of the river in an old raft harbour is the Pier 18. A very modern pavillion with lots of glass walls. During the summer month you can sit outside and enjoy the direct contact above the river.
Well, not in Feburary, even when it is much too warm for the season.

The interior of the restaurant is modern and nice. The staff is friendly and competent.

My friend started with a smoked bell pepper soup.
It was tasty and eaten before I could take a photo. A starter was made into a full course, because my friend did not want to eat a main course from the menu. No problems at all to acommodade her wish.
She had a panko crusted prawn taco with pico de gallo salsa, corn tortilla and Asia slaw.

An other of our group went for the Beef Burger with Onion Jam and homemade ketchup. Two had the pork loin in a bacon wrap with dried plums, apple sauce and savoy cabbage and homemade small potato dumplings.

Dessert was lovely.
Almond Friand with a pear sorbet and

Cheesecake with salted caramel on pretzel base.

All food was consumed and the overall feeling was great. We will come again, best in the warmer season to sit outside.

Barley Stew with Walnut Gremolata

We have the third storm weekend in a row. It is raining a lot and the weather is ugly. Now is the best time to cook stew. It warms the belly and the heart.

I love barley in a soup. Many people think that it is soo slimy.

recipe for 4:
180 g onions
2 cloves of garlic
150 g leek
1 carrot
100 g pearl barley
200 g tomatoes
125 g bacon
2 tbsp sunflower oil
3 bay leaves
150 g tomato passata
1 l veg stock
400 smoked sausages
8 stalks of parsley
50 g walnuts
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tbsp walnut oil
6 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Chop the onions and carrot in 1 cm cubes, half the leek and cut it in fine rings. Cube the bacon and the tomatoes. Chop the stalks from the parsley very fine. Save the leaves for later.
In some olive oil start bacon, onions, garlic, leek for 5 min. Add the washed barley and the bay leaves and parsley stalks. Cook that 3 more min. Season.
Now in with the tomatoes and passata and the veg stock. Bring it to a boil and add the sausages.
Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 40 min.

Leaves of the parsley get mixed with the walnuts in some walnut oil. Season with salt and pepper and add some olive oil. Serve on top of the stew on each plate.

Chicken Schnitzel

Go for good quality chicken breast. Free range or organic chicken are the best.

This is the only advice I can give you.

Preparations for a good Schnitzel are always the same. Essential is the seasoning. Unseasoned meat results in a bad piece on your plate. Not only salt and pepper, paprika and some dried herbs are good.

Do not forget to season the egg and breadcrumbs. I used some smoked paprika for the breadcrumbs- very delish.

The breast pieces were thick on one side and flat on the other side. To get an even cooked piece of chicken breast, I opened the inner filet out and put clingfilm on top and flattened the breast piece into a large surface. Season it and put it through flour, egg and a mix of breadcrumbs.

Use a large pan and fill 1 cm high with canola oil or any other oil that can be heated up high. Do not use olive oil. Do not overheat the oil, just a medium high temperature.

Bake the chicken on both sides until done and crispy.

I had halve of a head of broccoli sitting in the veggie drawer of my fridge. I took the florets and cubed the stem and put it in a microwave dish with a little water and cooked it on 800 W for 5 min. Then I added seasoning and 3 tsp of creme fraiche and cooked it 2 min more.

Bread Sushi

I watched TabiEats Recipes yesterday. Satoshi made bread sushi ?!?

I was instantly hooked to the idea and wanted to try it soon. Since Saturday is my main grocery shopping day, I went for the basic ingredients. And I bought a stack of Sandwich toast slices.

This is the first difference to the Japanese sandwich slices. Japanese bread is super soft and fluffy. Our bread is more on the stronger side. That means it is a bit more difficult to roll. Take off the crust.

I prepared a Japanese Tamagoyaki Omelet first, with some dashi stock powder, Ao Noori, Mirin and sugar mixed into the eggs. In a square pan it is pretty easy. It has to cool down completely.

Sushi rice needs Sushi Su, the vinegar, salt and sugar mix to make it tasty. But it is not a great idea to pour the liquid on top of the bread. You need something else to make the bread into something tasty.
There are 2 different options: mustard and mayo - but in a upgraded version.

Use a Sushi mat to roll and some clingfilm to store the sushi for 10 min in the fridge.

As in all kinds of sushi, the prep time is essential.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
Ao Noori
1/4 dashi powder
2 tbsp mirin
Oil
1/2 carrot
1/6 cucumber
4 surimi sticks
2 slices pork roast
Radish sprouts
3 tbsp kewpie mayo
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 1/2  tsp sugar
2 tbsp whole grain mustard
2 tsp sugar
Noori sheets
Sandwich toast slices
soy sauce
wasabi

Cut cucumber and carrot into match sticks. Quarter the tamagoyaki and halve the surimi pieces.
Make the mustard sauce by adding sugar. Make the mayo sauce by adding vinegar and sugar.
Halve the Noori sheets.

Put a piece of bread 1 cm up on the Noori and spread one of the sauces on top. Layer with colorful ingredients and some sprouts.
Spread some sauce on the top part of the Noori and on the 1 cm below to make it stick.
Use the mat and roll it tight. Put into clingfilm and store in the fridge for 10 min.
Cut in to sushi pieces.
Serve with soy sauce and wasabi.

Sucuk Feta Ayvar Pasta

The cooking starts with sticking the head in the fridge. This is one of the recipes that develops while cooking. I had my monthly fridge check to look for forgotten ingredients. Do they still look and smell good even if they reached the expiration date? That date does not say anything about the quality, just rely on your senses. Many things are still good enough to eat. Do not throw them in the waste bin.

This time I wanted it to go with spaghetti. I sometimes use rice, potatoes, legumes or tortillas as a base and throw everything together. A fresh pastry sheet does work well too. If you are a lover of one pot dishes or soups or stews, this is the method for you.

From my Sucuk Burger I had one sausage left. Just 2 in the package is the minimum at Turkish supermarkets. Bigger packages are sold the most there. One was sitting alone in its plastic wrap in the back of the fridge. I had some feta with the eggplant pastasotto, from the 200 g package were just
80 g left. I found one lonesome slice of hard cheese, a bit dry around the edges and a package of Mozzarella strips for pasta. In the fridge door stood the leftover wine from the last weekend. And I found an open 2/ 3 empty jar of Avyar.

Sucuk has a nice and strong cumin flavour. Take the peel off and cut the sausage in 1 cm cubes.
Onions and garlic are the key ingredients to any kind of sauce. Use some of them, they are part in most households.

recipe for 1:
1 sucuk sausage
120 g spaghetti
2 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp Ayvar
100 ml wine
80 g feta
1 slice hard cheese
50 g grated mozzarella
parsley

When the sausage is in the pan start the pasta. You will need a good amount of salted pasta water soon for your sauce.
After 4 min, add onions and garlic and give that 3 more minutes. Now in with the ayvar. When it catches at the bottom, add wine.
Now spoon in 1 ladle boiling pasta water and cook the sauce.
Break the feta in small cubes and add it to the sauce. Rip the hard cheese slice apart and toss it in.
Season to taste, but not so much is needed because a lot of the ingredients are already salty.

Finish with the cooked pasta and mix it in. Mozzarella and some parsley on top is great.

Pea Soup with Parmesan - Puja

This is an other Hans Gerlach recipe.

Puja - a simple soup with dried green peas, some potatoes and onions.
Food from the old times out of the Italian region of Liguria. This region has more of these simple and filling recipes to offer.

Recipe for 4:
2 onions
3 cloves of garlic
250 g floury potatoes
150 g green split peas
2 tbsp olive oil
Rind of a piece of parmesan
1,2 l veg stock

50 g grated parmesan
30 g chopped parsley
Butter browned bread croutons
Pepper

Brown onions and garlic in olive oil for 3 min, add potatoes and cook 3 more min.
Add stock, peas and the rind of the parmesan and cook for 1 hour on medium heat.
Get the rind out and use a stick blender and make a fine soup. Add pepper, no salt.

Serve with parmesan, parsley and croutons

Eggplant Greek Pastasotto

This is a fast risotto but with pasta. Instead of the usual Parmesan cheese this recipe contains Greek cheese from goats and sheep milk. It melts into the pastasotto.

The eggplant cubes and pasta works good together. When you have the Greek rice like pasta it looks like a large kernel of rice.

recipe:
750 ml veg or chicken stock
250 g Kritharaki pasta or Orso
4 tbsp white wine
2 spring onions
1 medium eggplant
3 tbsp butter
100 g Greek sheep cheese (Feta)
Salt and pepper

Cut the eggplant in half inch cubes and the spring onion in fine rings.
Melt the butter in a pan (with a lid) and saute both veg for 4 min. Season.
Add the pasta and stir well.

Next wine and 600 ml stock and bay leaf.
Bring to a simmer and close the lid.
Cook until pasta is soft. Stir every 5 min to prevent from sticking
Add more stock, if needed.

When it is done, cut off the heat and sprinkle fine chopped feta on top. Season. And stir the feta in.

Rainbow Trout with Broccoli Bake

I have two rainbow trout filets from our fishmonger. The fish is from our region. When I can get something like that, I buy this instead of something from far away.
The filets are not thick enough to put in a bake. The long time in the oven would overbake them.

That is the reason for a separat bake of broccoli and two potatoes in the oven. The trout will just see the pan.


I cooked the potatoes nearly to the state of done. Then I took them out of tge water to steam off. Usually you cut the potatoes with the knife when you put them into an oven proof dish. But yesterday on television I saw a woman on the island of Ibiza pulling the cooked potatoes apart with a fork. That created a rougher surface and that took up the sauce a lot better.

recipe for 2:
2 rainbow trout filets
1 tbsp flour
2 large potatoes
250 g broccoli
butter
2 spring onions
1 clove of garlic
1 egg
150 ml double cream
mozzarella cheese
salt, pepper and nutmeg

I cut up the onions and garlic and had them in a pan with a little butter. Then I added the broccoli florets. I gave them 3 min and then seasoned zhem with salt, peffer and nutmeg. A good splash of water helped to steam the broccoli.

Heat up the oven to 170 C fan.
Butter the dish. Mix the potatoes with the broccoli onion mix.
In a bowl mix cream, egg and seasoning and pour it over. Add the cheese on top .
Put it in the oven for 15 min.

Season the trout with salt and pepper - after you removed the fish bones.
Flour the skin side.

In a bit of oil and butter sear the trout on the skinside. Then flip and cook for 2 min,
It is ready to serve now.

Ambrosia Salad

I have a subscription to the American Country magazine for many years now. I always look for the Needle in the Haystack, a sewing needle photoshopped into one of the wonderful photos in each issue. Reading about farms and their owners, about seasonal trips to National Parks and funny stories is nice. In some issues there are even recipes.

One of them was a Potluck recipe and I thought that the ingredients list was weird. Then I forgot about it. Last Saturday I bought a bag of Marshmallows. I wanted to use some of them to prepare a coffee walnut dessert ( blog vom 19.11.16). I was checking Google what else to do with it. The Ambrosia Salad came up.

Most ingredients lists contains Cool Whip. That is not available here in Germany - and I am happy about it. I do not like this stuff. Why not use a good quality cream instead? I choose 10 % Turkish yogurt. It is unsweetened and has the typical yogurt sourness. That balances the sweet fruits very well and the weird component in the salad - Marshmallows.

Since I bought large marxhmallows I had to cut them up with a pair of scissors into 5 smaller chunks. Buy small ones, that makes it easier.

Recipe for 6 portions:
1 can 175 g Mandarine Oranges drained
1 can 175 g Pineapple chunks  drained
3 tbsp pineapple juice from the can
4  halves of canned pear, chopped
250 g Greek yogurt 10 %
60 g marshmallows
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Stir it all together and the dessert is done.
Some add nuts to it. But some people are allergic, so better leave them out, when you bring this salad to a party.