Bolognese topped with Meatballs

A double whammie.

I bought two packages of organic pork and beef minced meat. I planned a huge pan of meatballs to eat with spaghetti. Marinara sauce is served regularly with mearballs. But a Bolognese sauce is so tasty and a great sauce to use for other dishes. And it freezes so well.

One evening I prepared the Bolognese sauce. But not on the stove, but in my kitchen helper. No need to chop onions, garlic, leek and courgette. Just toss all ingredients in chunks in the machine and blitz it.
Saute for a couple of minutes with some oil and add the other ingredients, except the meat. Cook for 6 minutes and then let chunks of meat fall through the lid on to the moving knife.
Cook on left turn for 35 min.
Put the sauce into an airtight container and store it in the fridge after cooling down.

Ingredients:
375 g pork and beef mince
1 red onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp veg stock powder
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp white wine
1 jar passata

Prepare the Meatballs:
375 g pork and beef mince
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp mustard
Salt, pepper
1 egg
1 dinner roll soaked in milk
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Thyme
Paprika
Herbes de Provence

Chicken Pad Thai

This was a cooking kit I found at my local supermarket. AROY-D is a well known brand.

I love Asian food, but I seldom cook Thai food. We have a food truck near the office, where I sometimes get some lunch. What I ate today reminded me a lot of the Pad Thai with chicken there.
For a ready made sauce, rice noodles and ground peanuts it was good. But even less spicy then from the food truck. The sauce was on the sweet side.

I used a bit of leek and courgette to bulk out the dish. From the BBQ yesterday I had chicken legs left and I used the meat of those. That was a quick dish today.
Just one egg and a bit of coconut oil made it rich.

Cook the rice noodles first and give them a rinse under cold water.
In coconut oil fry the veggies and then break the egg in the middle of the pan and start of cook it, then mix it with the veggies.
Add the sauce package and the noodles and the cooked chicken.

Some fresh spring onion and ground peanuts finishes the dish.      

Green Bean Salad

Summer time is the time for locally grown green beans.

This is a simple salad that goes great with BBQ.  For some color use some red onion instead of the usual yellow one. A bit of fresh parsley gives it a nice taste.

I grow a pot of savoury on my balcony. Here in Germany it is called Bohnenkraut as in beans herb.
Cooking the beans with a couple of twigs of savoury makes them even better. 
Do you like your beans on the squeaky side or more on the cooked side?

I prefare them on the cooked side. But I put them into cold water to stop the beans from getting grey after cooking.

salad dressing:
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pink balsamic vinegar
1 red onion
parsley
a pinch of smoked sea salt
a pinch of fleur de sel
black pepper

When I chop my onions I start the kettle to get a bit of boiling water to soak the onions in for 1 minute. 

Pasta Salad Chinese Style

It has not much to do with real Chinese cooking. The original recipe was from the early 70s. That time buying Chinese ingredients was nearly impossible in Germany. But one spice producer offered "China Spice". It is still available today.

I pulled the recipe into the time now. The basic ingredients are available everywhere and do not sound very Chinese. The sauce makes it into a Asian salad.

I haven´t made that salad in a long time. It was often a party favourite and it was even good to eat a day or two days later. It can be made in huge batches.

recipe for 4:
225 g cappellini or spaghetti
100 g farmer ham
4 medium tomatoes
3 hard boiled eggs
20 cm green of a leek

dressing:
200 g sour cream
150 ml water
2 tsp roasted sesame oil
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp black chinese vinegar
1tsp agave syrup
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tsp China Spice 

Cook the pasta and the eggs and let them get cold.
Cut up the tomatoes and get rid of the wet middle bit
Cut the leek in fine rings and give it a good wash
Cut thre ham slices in bite size pieces.

Bring it all together and prepare the dressing. The salad should rest in the fridge for 3-4 hours minimum to develop the right flavour.

Ramen Noodles in Noori Cream Sauce with Prawns

I got the idea from a YT video.
Runnyrunny999 cooked Japanese Genovese pasta.

A basil pesto is the Genovese style. A bunch of ripped up Noori sheet in water and cream with spaghetti was his version.

It hooked me the moment I saw the video, but I wanted to change it into my style.

I have two packages of Ramen from my Asian Supermarket and a whole bunch of Norri sheets. Cooked prawns were in sale last week and so already in the fridge. This is a 8-10 minute dish.
But when you buy prawns in the shell, it takes a lot longer and makes stinky fingers.

I cooked the Ramen and drained them. I like them a bit more firm, so my cooking time was one min less.

I ripped up the noori very roughly, the pieces were a lot bigger then the ones showed in the video.
Boiling some water in a pan and tossing the noori in. Cooking just for 3 min and adding the cream.
Some senjo pepper and togarashi chili pepper and the sauce was done.
Adding the ramen and the prawns just to heat through.

The dish was great and I shared it later with a good friend, whose husband did not like the smell of fish and seaweed.

recipe for 2:
2 packages ready made Ramen
2 sheets of Noori
80 ml double cream
senjo pepper
togarashi chili
200 g prawns
 

Bell Pepper Fennel Frittata with Burrata

Burrata is a lovely kind of cheese with a soft creamy centre.

This recipe calls for a two way use of this cheese. Split it open and take out the smooth creamy centre and mix that with the sauce.
Put the outer shell on top of the dish.

Frittata is very versatile. It is a staple in Italian households. Great to feed lots of people and use up all the veggies from your own garden.
Since I do not have a garden, I used up all the stuff in the veggie drawer. That can be very convienant in my household.

This time 2 red bell peppers and a bulb of fennel needed attention.
Eggs are a staple too.

It is important to make the right choice of frying pan. You want a thick slice of frittata and not a veggie pancake. The amount of veggies will cook down and that makes choosing a smaller pan a lot better. Take one without a plastic handle. It has to go in the oven for 15 -20 min at 180 C.

Recipe:
2 red bell peppers
1 fennel bulb
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Chili
4 eggs
1 burrata
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 stalk Japanese spinach

Chop the veggies and saute them until they are softened. Season.
In a bowl mix the inner part of the burrata, the cream cheese and the eggs with the seasoning.
Pour over the veggies and let them cook 2 min on the stove.
Adf the skin of the burrata on top and the spinach leaves.

Put in the oven and finish.
Let it rest outside for 15 min

Black Berry Clafoutis

Black Berry Season started and I found some locally grown.

As a Sunday dessert, some clafoutis sounded great. It needs just a very small amout of batter and the cooking time was very reasonable.
Best serve it when it is still a bit warm.

recipe for 2:
125 g black berries
1 egg
35 g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
80 ml double cream
30 g butter
30 g flour

some granola for a bit of crunch

Heat up the oven 180 C.
Butter the oven proof dish and sprinkle it lightly with sugar.
Place the washed black berries in.

Use a small pan and melt the butter and let it get brown - noisette. In a bowl mix the other ingredients ( NOT THE GRANOLA) and add the butter:
Pour over the berries and toss some granola on top.
Bake for 20 min, turn off the heat and let it sit in the oven for 5 more min.

Take it out and let it cool down.

Fregola Sarda with Scallops

Fregola Sarda is a form of pasta, it looks weird. When you see the package with the little balls, it looks like some kind of cereal.

Cooking it Risotto style takes about 40 minutes until these little balls are al dente. And they leave a lot of starch in the sauce, that binds all the liquid.
And you will need a lot of liquid. More then 4 times liquid then pasta.

When you use some vcegetable to cook with the pasta, use some that can take a longer cooking time.

Scallops are the kind of seaffood I often turn too, when I need something that cooks with no hassle. This time I marinated the scallops in organic fish seasoning - just a lot of fine ground herbs. I only added a little salt. I let them sit 25 minutes.

recipe for 2:
200 g large Fregola Sarda
100 ml white wine
500 ml fish stock
250 ml veg stock
2 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 knob of butter
olive oil
25 g Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Scallops as much as you like- organic fish seasoning herbs

Chop spring onions and garlic fine and saute it in some oil until translucent.
Add the fregola and coat it well for 2 min.
Add the wine and let it cook down completely.
Peel the bell pepper with a speed peeler and cut it in small cubes. Add it now.
Heat up the stock and keep it on low the whole time.
Add 150 ml of stock each time and let it cook down.

Check the fregola after 30 min and adjust the liquid. Season. When it is cooked, add butter and cheese and you are ready to throw the scallops in a searing hot pan with some oil.
1,5 min on one side, 1 min on the other side and then check them.
  

Panna Cotta with Rosewater

I wanted to prepare this dessert with home made woodruff syrup. But I checked the bottle and saw something floating on top. It had gone bad.

Since cream,milk, sugar been in the pot to heat up and the gelatine was already soaking in cold water, I needed a quick idea what to add to it.

I have two bottles in my pantry, one containing rosewater and the other orange blossom water.
I went the rosewater way. To make it a little more obvious, I added a timy amount of pink food color.

How would it taste? A bit too much rosewater and you have a soapy taste. Not enough, and the typical flavour is not coming out. When it was hot, it tasted good. Now I am waiting for the gelatine to set in the fridge.

recipe:
300 ml double cream
200 ml whole milk
3 gelatine leaves
45 g sugar
2 tbsp rosewater
pink food color

Grenadine syrup


Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5 min, squeeze it out.

Heat up milk and cram with the sugar. Add the rosewater and take it off the heat.
Dissolve the gelatine in and pour it in small containers.
Let it set in the fridge for 3 hours minimum.   

Serve it with some grenadine syrup, that matches well with the rosewater flavour.

Salmon Tatar on Potato Mash with Apple-Horseradish sauce

Made with Canadian wild salmon -Sachimi quality    -  a feast for the eyes, but horror at the check out counter!

This is a recipe from Austrian Chef Elisabeth Grabmer. But I changed a few things.
She used fresh char. That is not available here to eat raw. She used some high end kitchen gadget to juice 40 g of cucumber, a bit of apple and 10 g of chives. I just chopped it.

The base of the tatar is a smoth potato mash. I made some last night and stored the rest in the fridge.
I am lucky that I had that part of the recipe already done, otherwise the prep time would have gone on for ever. The 4 components of the dish take some time.

recipe for 3:
220 g salmon -sachimi quality
1 shallot
bunch of chives
12 cm cucumber
1 red apple
2 tbsp horseradish
1 Lime
1 tsp olive oil
pinch of sugar

mash:
200 g floury potatoes
salt
macis ground
nutmeg grated
milk
butter
 

vinaigrette: 
30 ml chicken stock
20 ml  cider vinegar
Piment d`Espelette
spritz lime juice
some zest
chopped cucumber
chopped chives
salt and pepper
50 ml rapeseed oil 

Prepare the mash first. It can only be used as the base for the tatar when it is just luke warm. Otherwise it will cook the fish.

Take the skin off the salmon and finely cut it with a sharp knife.
Peel the cucumber piece and cut it into quarters. Take the seeds out completely. Cut it into match sticks and then into tiny cubes. Half of them to the salmon, the other in a bowl as a part of the vinaigrette.
Cut the chives very fine and do split it too between both bowls.
Peel and chop the shallot, put it in a fine sieve and place it in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it sit 30 seconds, then drain and cool down. Add to the salmon.
Grate halve of the zest of the lime into the salmon bowl, the other in the vinaigrette bowl.

Finish the tatar with a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper and olive oil. Let it rest for a while.

Make the apple-horseradish cream:
grate the apple on a box grater, add lime juice and horseradish and salt and pepper.

Finish the vinaigrette with cider vinegar, a dash of lime juice, Piment d´Espelette, salt and pepper and rapeseed oil.

Use 3 serving rings on 3 plates and start with the potato mash.
Add the salmon tatar.
Put a dollop of apple-horseradish on top.
Get the ring off.
Drizzle with vinaigrette.      
  

Kohlrabi with Prawn topping

When you are looking for a vegetarian dish, do not use the topping!

The prawns make it a bit more interesting. For a simple didh like this the preparation time is long. You will need at least an hour, but only if you are able to touch hot food. Otherwise it will take a bit longer. But you know the quote: people who can't touch hot - can't make hot love.

Recipe for 2 as a starter:

1 large head of kohlrabi
1 large potato
Small bunch of chives
4 leaves of kohlrabi
1 egg
Salt, pepper
Caraway. Curry
700 ml veg stock
100 g small prawns -cooked
olive oil

Peel Kohlrabi and potato. Heat up the stock. Cut kohlrabi in half and the potato in smaller chunks-
Cook in the stock for minimum 20 min. When the kohlrabi is on the tougher side, just cook it 10 more minutes. Use a slotted spoon and get the kohlrabi out to cool a bit.

Preheat the oven 180 C fan.
Get the potatoes in a separate bowl and mash them with a fork or a masher.
Chop the chives and the kohlrabi leaves and add them to the mash.
Season and add the egg.
If the mash is too thick add some of the cooking stock.

Take a Parisian spoon and hollow out the kohlrabi.
Stuff it with the filling.
Put in the oven for 15 min, add the small prawns and a little oil and grill for min.