Baked Beans with Veggies and Chicken

Working from home is still the way to do it most of the time. Social distancing helps, but it creates certain challenges. One of this is having lunchbreak and getting a bit of "fresh food" on the table in a short amount of time.

A while ago I bought a can of baked beans barbaque style. It was sitting in my pantry and I had no idea what to do with it. But I had leftover chicken thights from the Airfryer and a yellow bell pepper in the fridge.
Pimp the beans and serve it with rice - that was the answer. And it was a good one.

1 can baked beans barbarque
1 spring onion
1 bell pepper
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 grilled chicken thighs
Pepper
Parsley
Basmati rice

Cook the rice.
Saute onion and bell pepper for a couple of min. Add the beans and season with pepper.
Strip the chicken off the bones and add it to heat through. Add parsley and serve.

Coconut French Toast

I bought a bag of Brioche slices on my last trip to France. I was a bit in a hurry and saw it on a board with toast slices and thought I bought these. When I took them out of one of my large shopping bags, they were kind of squished. Toast does not do that. I looked on the lable, ét voila, I bought Brioche.

I had some slices still in the bag. French toast sounded great for Sunday breakfast. Coconut cream was still in the fridge, open. I only had a few spoons of whole milk left from my morning coffee. Why not do it a different way as usual?

Recipe for 8 slices or 2 people:
Brioche bread
250 ml coconut cream
4 tbsp milk
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp coconut flower sugar
Cinnamon
Hand full dessicated coconut
Butter
Alba oil
Jam

Mix eggs, coconut milk, milk, sugar, salt and cinnamon together.
Dunk the bread in.
Use a large pan and heat up butter and oil.
Transfer the bread into the pan and sprinkle on top with dessicated coconut.
Turn and sprinkle the other side, turn again.

Serve with some jam.

Carrot Mango Cucumber Salad

Refreshing, Tangy, Crunchy and Sweet. And a texture thing.

During the long times spent at home, I watched many Chefs working from home too and letting the audience watch their work. So many interesting tips and tricks on YT.

One Chef used different cutting techniques when he prepared salads or veggie combos. He said these different cuts helps the people who eat it to have a deeper feel for the food. First I thought it does not matter if you cut everything into strips or cubes. The taste of the products and how they worked together was more important.

But I gave his method a try a couple times and it worked.

Recipe for 1:
2 medium carrots
1/2 red onion
1/2 nearly ripe mango
12 cm cucumber

Dressing
Olive oil con limon
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tbsp rose balsamic vinegar
Fleur de sel
Asian pepper
Pinch shimigi togarashi
1 tsp agave syrup
2 tsp black toasted sesame seeds
Pinch dried salad herbs

Use a speedpeeler and make long thin carrot strips. Cut the mango into cubes.
Cut the onion in fine strips and put them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Drain after 60 sec and get them under cold water. Loosen the strips with your fingers.
Cut the cucumber lengthwise, cut each side into 3-4 battonets and take the seeds out. Cut the diagonal into 1 cm pieces.

Make the dressing.

Artichoke Bread Dumplings

This is a recipe from Chef Maria Luisa Scolastra, Foligno near Perugia, Italy. She writes recipes for Süddeutsche Zeitung with the other Chefs Jürgens, Nakamura and Grabmer.

I am an huge fan of all kinds of dumplings. Dumplings were the reason to start my blog 4, 5 years ago.
Bread dumplings are well known in the South of Germany. A great way to use up some leftover bread. The method in this recipe from Italy is nearly the same.

The recipe calls for fresh artichokes. No problem to get them at the supermarket in France. But here in Germany they are mostly not available. Even if you find some, the stalks are so dry and brittle and the arthichokes are dried out. 

I used a jar of artichoke hearts. Less hassle and good quality.

recipe for 4:
1 jar artichoke hearts
60 g Guanciale
zest of half a lemon
150 ml tepid milk
250 g Italian wheat bread
2 eggs
100 g onion
2 cloves of garlic
small bunch of thyme
6 mint leaves
10 g parsley
1 stalk of sage
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
50 g Parmesan
grated nutmeg
salt and pepper
1-2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp potato starch

Cut the bread into small cubes and pour the milk over them.

Chop onions and garlic and in 50 g butter and 1 tbsp olive oil start them. Add chopped thyme and mint and the pieces of Italian Speck. Let it saute for 7 min, add the drained and chopped artichoke hearts. Season with salt and pepper.
Por that over the bread and stir.
Grate nutmeg and Parmesan in and break two eggs in. Use you hand to squish it all around a couple of times. You will feel if you will need a bit of flour.
Stick the bowl in the fridge for 20 min to set.

Bring salted water with some potato starch to the boil. Use an oiled spoon and form dumplings. They will need 15 min in simmering not boiling water.
Drain and make a sage butter and serve the dumplings with some mor Parmesan   
 

Celeriac in horseradish wasabi coconut cream - vegan

Last Saturday I bought a soccer ball size head of celeriac in France.

I am looking forward to a classic Waldorf Salad this weekend. But there is so much of this veggie. I took some inspiration from a vegan recipe, but it looked a bit bland in my mind when I read it. It needed a bit of work to make it tasty.

This vegan recipe is tasty! But only if you like celeriac :-)

It is important to cut the veg into larger cubes. That size of the cubes brings out a kind of texture that is a bit meat like. But be careful not to over cook it.

Recipe for 2:
350 g celeriac
1 spring onion only the white part
1 tbsp Alba oil
3 heaped tsp horseraddish
1 heaped tsp wasabi
1 tbsp veg stock powder
4 tbsp water
80 ml coconut cream
Pepper
Celery leaves for garnish

Chuck chopped onion and celeriac into the heated oil and stir, put a lid on and stir a couple of times in between. After 8 min, add stock powder, horseraddish, wasabi and coconut cream and water.  Stir and put the lid on.

Everytime you stir, let the water from the lid run into the pot. Cook for 10 min. Make sure the sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
Check a celeriac cube. When it is al dente, season with pepper and toss im some chopped leaves.

Serve with some cooked Basmati rice

Salmon with Onion Mustard Sauce

Served with steamed broccoli.

I love spring onions and bought a huge bunch on Saturday in France. Sweated down in some oil and cooked in some wine made the base of my mustard sauce. It just takes a while to reduce the white wine, add the two different kinds of mustard and a good heap of creme fraiche.
Some salt and pepper and as a secret ingredient just a splash of agave syrup.

Clean the broccoli first and put it in a steamer. Nothing more to do, just wait until the hot water did its job.

Chop the onions and saute tem in oil, place a lid on top of the pan to make it quicker. When the sauce is ready, get it into a bowl and clean the pan.
Season the salmon with salt and pepper and bake it in some oil. It needs to be very flaky and not over cooked inside.

Recipe for the sauce:
3 spring onions
1 tbsp oil
60 ml white wine
1 1/2 tbsp whole grain mustard
2 tsp sweet and spicy mustard
3 tbsp creme fraiche
Salt and pepper
1 tsp agave syrup

Far Breton with dried Plums

This is a breakfast speciality from Brittony. I had it one morning in an B&B near the Phare d`Eckmühl in Penmarche.
Penmarche is a town with a large fish industry. Canned fish is sold directly at the plant there.
A little bit of problem is the smell of the industry. We arrived on a Saturday and it was lovely, Monday morning a fresh kind of fishy smell greeted us, when we opened the window. Like someone was cooking a large batch of fish.  

I wanted to prepare that for so many years. Today was the day.

Yesterday at the supermarket in France I bought the Best of Goumand newest edition and leafed through it this morning. The recipe cought my eye and all ingredients were in stock.

You will need dried plums of the recipe. I added a couple of dried apricots too.

recipe:
300 g dried plums
3 eggs
125 g flour
250 ml whole milk
pinch of salt
70 g sugar
1 vanilla pod
10 g butter for the baking dish

Preheat the oven 180 C
In a bowl mix flour, salt and sugar, add the eggs in the middle, stir well and add the milk.
Make it lump free. Add the vanilla seeds and let the batter rest covered for 1 hour.
Soak the plums in tepid water for 30 min. Drain and dry them with kitchen paper.
Butter the dish and pour 2/3 of the batter in.
Cut the plums in chunks and throw them in the batter. Cover with the rest.
Bake for 40-45 min.

 

 

Air Fryer Fries

I love my new kitchen helper.

I bought some large potatoes, just the right size for fries. I have only used the air fryer for shop bought fries yet and was curious how the fresh ones would come out.

I made them rough, just washed the 2 potatoes and cut them into thick batons.

It it good to water them a bit to get the starch out. I put htem in cold water for 10 min. Drained them and put them in cold water again for an other 10 min.

In a kitchen towl to dry completely.

I used some olive oil, smoked paprika and Herbes de Provence and tossed the batons in.

The air fryer basket was just filled to 1/3. At 180 C for 25 min, shaking the basket 3 times during cooking.

Recipe for a dip:
4 tbsp Smetana or sour cream
3 tbsp sweet and spicy mustard
1 tbsp Sriracha
chives       

Squid Rings with Sweet Corn Rice

After 4 month I was able to drive to France again to go grocery shopping. On last Monday, the 15th, the borders finally were opened up. Fortified with face mask, plastic face shield and desinfectant I went on my way.

First stop was the fish monger. Such a better offer on seafood then here at home. I bought a good helping of squid rings and some salmon. That one is for tomorrow.

Lots of other stuff like strong smelly cheeses went into the shopping cart. There were so many new things on display and some of them on "promo" that I bought enough stuff to last me a good while.
Thank goodness I have a second fridge/freezer combo in the basement. I wrote a list with the prime ingredients and expiration dates and in which fridge to find them, so nothing is going to waste. It is sticking on my fridge door in the kitchen.

After the long drive and shopping spree I needed something quick to eat. Squid rings are very quick to prepare. It just to a bit of time to prepare the rice.

recipe:
1 cup longgrain rice
1vegetable stock cube
1small can of sweet corn
2 spring onions
1 clove of garlic
1 knob of butter
150 ml tomato juice
basil
salt and pepper

250 g squid rings
olive oil
salt and pepper

Chop onions and garlic and saute in butter. Add the washed rice and give it a good coating.
Heat some water (1 1/2cup) and dissolve the stock cube. Add to the rice and pour in the tomato juice.
Stir often and reduce the heat. The rice tends to stick to the bottom of the pot.
In the last 5 min, add the drained sweet corn.
Rip the basil and test the rice for seasoning, add salt and pepper.

Wash and dry the squid rings very good. Heat up a pan with oil on high heat and toss the rings in, 1 minute on each side, season and cut off the heat. Serve.

Apple Streusel Cake

Baking without any kind of recipe is an adventure.

I cleaned out my pantry and found a jar of apple compote from Poland.
Jabłka praźone - translates  Roasted Apples

It was a gift from a Polish lady working in a spa. She told me to bake with it, but did not give me a recipe.  When I had my next appointment she wanted to give me the exact method of cooking, but I never saw her again because she went very ill and stopped working. Since last year the jar of apple compote was sitting on a shelve.

I bought a package of ready made shortcrust pastry a while ago for a recipe I did not do later. Before it reached the expiration date, I wanted to bake with it.

Two ingredients down. That sounded a bit meager for a cake. And not enough zo fill the baking dish.
A small package of curd and some Dr.Oetcker pudding powder was an idea.

I filled all mixtures into the cake tin and discovered that it did no reach the rim of the pastry.

To fill it up, I whipped up some streusel the same way my Mom did always do it. 2:1:1/2 with a little salt and cinnamon. No recipe needed.

I baked the cake for 1 hour at 180 C.


Recipe for a 18x18 cm or 7 in tin:

1 ready made shortcrust pastry
250 g curd 20%
1 egg
1 pudding powder package
2 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
Pinch Vanilla bean pod ground
850 g Jabłka praźone

Streusel:
100 g flour
20 g almond flour
60 g butter
30 g sugar
Pinch salt
Cinnamon

When the shortcrust pastry is sitting in the baking tin add the mixed curd batter.
With a spoon dollop the apples on top.

Make the streusel and place them on top

Pierogi

I was in Poland two years ago. I came across this filled dumplings at various occations.

Soft dough without much taste to it, filled with a vegetarian or a meat filling. I even had them as dessert filled with blueberries and curd.

They are a lot of work to do yourself and I was surprised to find a package at Lidl last week. The Pierogi were filled with potato mash and cream cheese. They had a Polish week special at Lidl. Lots of other item were sold there. But since I did not shop during the special offer time, I only got some of the leftover stuff.

Corona times changed my way of grocery shopping. Since I was not able to drive to France for 3 Month now due to closed borders, I am doing the large haul once a week on Saturdays at 7 AM. A discount chain is not the place for it. Just a second stop during the middle of the week for some fresh produce.  Before Corona I checked the offers for week specials and went in several different shops. 

The Pierogi are eaten in Poland either with some Smetana or sour cream or are served with a bit of bacon topping. Large amounts of any kind of sauce are not common. The dish is more on the dry side.

I chopped some onions and added 125 g of bacon bits to a pan. With a little white wine and a bit of water I created my kind of dressing.

The pierogi were just like the ones I ate in Poland. I was really surprised how good they were.      

Lemon Chicken with Rice

This is a Donal Skean recipe - Lemon Chicken Francese.

I only added some more garlic and some spring onions to the mix. 
When you love the tangy taste of lemon, this is a great dish to try. It is fast to prepare as well. 

Fresh organic lemons are a staple in my household. The only problem reaccuring often is them going green and molding. I have sometimes the issue that I buy a bag of them and it seems that on the way from the store one of the lemons start to get bad. You can smell this citrus mold quite easy. Often I throw one of them out the next day or the day after that. Now when I come from grocery shopping I wash the lemons first before storing them. Does not help all the time.

The cover around the chicken breast reminds me of Piccata Milanese. 

recipe for 2:
400 g chicken breast
1/ 2 cup flour
salt, pepper, smoked paprika 
2 eggs
2 lemons
40 g grated Parmesan
3 cloves of garlic
2 spring onions
2 tbsp butter
oil
50 ml white wine
60 ml chicken stock
3 tbsp double cream
parsley

Cut each breast filet into 2 thin slices. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix flour with salt and pepper and smoked paprika on a deep plate.
On a second one mix 2 eggs, Parmesan and grated lemon zest.
Coat he chickn in flour and coat in the egg mix.

Heat up a large pan with enough sunflower oil to cover the bottom completely and drop the chicken in. On medium high heat shallow fry on both sides until golden brown.
Take out of the pan and set aside. Pour the hot oil into a bowl for an other use.

Cut the other lemon in very fine slices. Heat 1 tbsp butter in the pan and cook the lemon slices. When done, add them to the chicken.
Heat up the rest of the butter and fry off garlic and spring onion. Add wine, Stock, lemon juice and cream and bring to a boil to reduce a little. Add the chicken and the lemon slices to the pan to reheat.,
Finish with some parsley and eat with some rice.