Red Cabbage and Chestnut Soup

I was not sure if red cabbage was good to make a soup of. It is usually used here in Germany as a side dish with roasted beef or goose. I had some as a salad this week and needed the rest to cook and not to waste it.

Looking for a recipe with less hassle was my aim. That means, I look for something to cook in my Thermomix.

After checking several option and the ingredients in my pantry, I went for the soup. The can of cooked chestnuts had just reached its expiration date.

recipe for 3:

650 g red cabbage, 1 red onion, 3 cloves of garlic

1 red apple, 180 g chestnuts,

500 ml veggie stock

Salt, pepper, caraway seeds

10 g oil, 150 g creme fraiche

30 g butter

2 slices of bread, 1/2 lemon

Parsley

Shred the chestnuts into a coarse mix. Peel onion and garlic and core the apple. No need to peel it. Cut the cabbage into wide slices, or thin strips when you cook it the traditional way.

In oil saute onions and garlic, add the apple and blend. Now in with the cabbage and at speed 5, 10 sec give it a good whirl.

Season and add stock.

Cook at 100C for 18 min.

Add lemon juice and cream fraiche and carefully mix again.

In a pan with butter roast the bread chunks and the ground chestnuts together and top the soup. Add parsley.

Crostini with Pumpkin and Pears

Leftover pumpkin needed a purpose. An other curry was not on my agenda. 

Who new that a bland pumpkin could be changed into a very tasty spread to put on roasted bread. I had Hokkaido pumpkin to work with. This kind does not need peeling. It is the kind mostly used here in Germany. It may take a bit longer to get soft when the skin stays on. But that is worth the wait.

The recipe is from the same garden magazine issue then the pear tart recipe.

One pear was in the fruit basket. It was now on the riper side and perfect to put on bread

.

Recipe for 6 slices of bread :

400 g bite size pieces of Hokkaido pumpkin

3 spring onion, 200 ml water, juice of 1 /2 lemon

4 tbsp Greek yogurt

3 + 1 tbsp butter, salt and pepper

1 pear,  peeled and cored

Chop pumpkin and onion and saute them in butter. Season. After 8 min add water with lemon juice and cook until the pumpkin is soft. Use a potato masher and make it softer.

Add the yogurt and season to taste.

Butter the bread and stick it under a grill or in a pan to brown. Spread the pumpkin on top.

Slice the pear and saute it in some butter. Season with salt and pepper too. Place on top of the pumpkin. Use some herb to garnish.

 

Salmon with Peanut topping on Red Cabbage Salad

Peanuts as a topping on rich salmon sounded awesome. I used roasted but unsalted peanuts.

Just a raw marinated red cabbage and carrot salad on a bed of iceberg lettuce. Who needs more on a Sunday lunch. Especially when a fresh baked pear and almond tart is waiting for later.

I bought a whole middle piece of salmon, around 440 g on the skin. No fishbones to pull out. Great! The salmon stayed in a marinate for 20 min.

Since the salad needs a couple of hours to rest, minimum 2, it is a good idea to start it early. Use kitchen gloves. Your hands will thank you.

Salad:

350 g red cabbage, 1 large carrot

1 organic orange - zest and juice

Salt and pepper, caraway seed, thyme, 

3 tbsp dark balsamic vinegar

4 tbsp rapeseed oil

Iceberg lettuce

Fish:

440 g salmon in 2 or 3 pieces

50 g roasted unsalted peanuts

40 ml soy sauce, 30 g runny honey, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1/4 tsp Piment d'Espelette, pinch Quartre Epice

Cut the cabbage with a knife in thin strips, grate the carrot. Put a good amount of salt in the bowl and with your hand squeeze it until it gets softer.

Add carrots, zest and juice and seasoning. Now in with balsamic vinegar and oil. Put in the fridge for 2 hours.

Marinate the salmon pieces for 20 min. In the last 5 min, add 1 tbsp of crushed peanuts

Use a hot pan and heat up the grill in your oven at 180C fan.

Put the fish in skin side down, no extra oil needed in the pan. Get a lot of peanuts on top and drizzle some marinate on top.

Stick in the oven for 4-5.min

Dress a plate with iceberg lettuce, season.

Put red cabbage salad on top. Place the salmon in the middle.

 

Pumpkin Curry vegan with dried Mango and Raisins

When I first read the original recipe in a newsletter from our largest drugstore chain DM I thought, nice try to boost the sale of their organic food products. But I came back to it, because on my last shopping there I bought some of the needed ingredients there.

Since we have pumpkin season and all other needed stuff are basic larder components, I gave it a try today. Not expecting too much if it. I added some and increased the amount of seasoning. 

Recipe for 2:

1/2 butternut squash

1/3 Hokkaido pumpkin

3 tsp Grilled Masala or mild Curry

2 potatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 knob ginger

2 tbsp coconut oil

500 ml organic veg stock

60 g dried Mango

60 g raisins

60 g freshly roasted pumpkin seeds

Salt and pepper, squeeze of lemon

Peel and cube the pumpkins, potatoes, onion, garlic and ginger.

Cut the dried mangoes in strips.

Melt coconut oil in a wide pan and start with onion, garlic and ginger. After 4 min, add the Masala and let it get some heat. 

Stock in and all the veggies, mango strips and raisins. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook for 20 min on medium heat covered with a lid.

Check the sesaoning and finish with the roasted pumpkin seeds.

Saffron Pear and Almond Tart

I have a subscription to a garden magazine for many years. Sometimes they include seasonal recipes in the middle of the issue. This time it was pumpkin and pear recipes.

Since I work more or less from home since march and my coworkers are coming to the office often on other days due to single use of our rooms, it is not easy to feed cake to them.

That is the reason I do not make more. And I am loosing my touch.

Now I had to get back in the game.

Saffron Pears:

500 ml white wine, 100 g sugar, 1/2 package saffron, 3 not too ripe pears

Short crust pastry:

75 g ice cold butter, 1 tsp ice cold water, pinch of salt

135 g flour, 25 g sugar

Filling:

30 g soft butter, 50 g light brown sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, 110 g ground almonds, pinch of salt

Heat up the wine with sugar and saffron. Peel and core the pears and cook them on low for 20-30 min. Cool in the wine completely.

Make the shortcrust pastry in a kitchen machine and rest for 30 min. Roll out into a small long tart form, poke holes in and put back in the fridge.

Cream butter and sugar together, add vanilla and one egg at a time. When combine use a spatula and add almonds and salt.

Fill in the pastry bottom.

Cut through the pears, but only down to the middle and set them on top.

Bake at 200C for 30 min.

Chicken Salad

Everything but the kitchen sink. 

I checked my fridge and had leftovers from a whole roasted chicken there. I took out one piece of chicken breast and thought about a salad for dinner. Now checking my cupboards, fridge and tables, I collected a lot of stuff. Some as ingredients to go with the chicken, but a lot more to go with the sauce.

On my recent trip to the Netherland I bought a small jar of sweet mustard with dill. That was the first one for the sauce. Next came granulated onions and everything but bagels spice blend. Mayo and Greek yogurt, lemon juice.

It is fun to be creative with food. All the stuff for the sauce was random and mixed together without any recipe. Then I stirred it to create the sauce and licked the spoon. Amazing! No need to change anything or add something.

Ingredients for 1:

1 side of a roasted chicken breast without skin, cut into bite size chunks

2 tbsp canned sweet corn, 4 cherry tomatoes

1 medium ripe kaki or persimmon

1 large leaf of iceberg lettuce

1 tbsp olive oil,  1 tsp white balsamic vinegar 

Sauce:

1 heaped tsp sweet mustard & dill sauce

2 tbsp mayo, 5 tsp Greek yogurt

Good pinch of smoked sea salt, ground pepper, smoked paprika

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Chop the ingredients for the salad and drain the sweet corn. Mix it together and add oil and vinegar. Then make the dressing and finish the salad.

You can eat the salad on its own. Or have it with some baguette.

Apple Punch

Cold October evenings call for something warm to drink on the couch. A tiny touch of alcohol makes it even better.

I bought apple juice, but not the clear stuff. I had the choice between mild apple juice and one more tart one. Buying both bottles saved me the trouble. 

The spices are the same in both kinds of juices. The tart one just needed a bit of honey.

Spiced warm wines were common here in the old times. Central heating was non existing. Spiced fruit juices also. Many people had their own apple orchards and pressing apples into juice, maybe making wine from the juice was common.

The spices are dried and could be stored over a long time without loosing their flavour.

1 warmed apple punch:

1 stick cinnamon, 1 clove, 1 black peppercorn, 1 juiniper berry crushed a bit and obe piece broken off a star anise

All added to 250 ml of apple juice.

2 min in the microwave at 800 Watts. It should not boil, just heat up nicely.

If you feel like it, add 2 tbsp of booze. I added apricot brandy.

Chorizo Tomato Risotto with Kraken

I have precooked octopus / kraken arms in the fridge. They are lasting a long time, but I wanted them out. I went through many different recipes and in the end choose between an octopus salad and a risotto topped with it. Since we have only 4 C outside a cold salad was not my dish to go to

Chorizo- the Spanish sausage with lots of paprika spices releases a nice oil when it is cooked. Using this to fry off the onions and the garlic is great. No other oil is needed.

Combining seafood and meat is tasty. So why not chorizo and kraken. 

I have ripened 250 g of mixed tomatoes from my stash this week. I stopped sbacking on them a coupke of days ago to get the needed amount together. But use canned tomatoes if you like.

Today is Sunday and I am lazy. Risotto needs a lot of stirring to release the starch that makes it creamy. I am using my Theromix today. It stirs the risotto for me. No need of chopping anything either.

Recipe for 2:

140 g carneroli rice

40 g Gouda + 250 g mixed tomatoes

85 g chorizo mild

50 g shallots + 2 cloves of garlic+ 1 red chili

1 tbsp tomato paste + 40 g green olives

300 ml veg stock + 100 ml rose wine

20 g cold butter + pepper+ smoked paprika

Chives

250 g cooked octopus/kraken arms

The method to cook in a Thermomix is a little different from cooking in a pot. There is a bit more work with chopping and stirring to do.

But first, just grate the cheese and clean the TM. In with the Tomatoes and 6 sec speed 6 and pour them through a fine mash sieve to get the pulp from the juice.

Next throw in olives, shallots, garlic, chili, tomato paste and chorizo. 5 sec speed 6. Shove it down and cook it on 100C 3.min speed 1 left turn

Next in with the tomato pulp. 100C 3.min speed 1 left turn.

Now in with the unwashed risotto rice 100 C 2 min left turn.

Combine tomato juice with wine and stock in a bowl and heat it up in the microwave.

Pour in the TM and on 90C speed 2 18 min cook the risotto.

When it is done add the cold butter and a bit of cheese and chives.

The ready made Kraken toss in a pan in some olive oil for 2 min and serve on top of the risotto.

Munster Cheese with Potatoes and Ham

Munster Cheese is an cheese of origin in the mountains of the Haut Vogese en Grand Est de France. The valley of Munster produces the creamy red cheese.

I liked this cheese since I was a teen. Travelling with my parents to the south west of Germany near the border to France, we liked to make stops in small towns and buy wine. I remember well my trip in my first car on a hot weekend. After a long drive south we stopped for a snack. There was a cheese shop and just a good piece of cheese and a roll sounded great. We decided on 3 pieces of ripe Munster cheese. Dad and I munched all of the cheese and bread back to my car. My Mom only ate the roll and a bit of the cheese. She put the rest in a bag in the trunk. At 33 C NOT A GOOD IDEA! 

After an hour we had to stop. This piece of cheese stank to high heaven. We had to discard it and drive with open windows for a longer time, remember I had no AC in my car.

This cheese in cream has to sit in a cool place but no fridge over night and until lunch time. Since it is a cold October, I put the tupperware outside in the hallway. 

I used 180 g Munster cheese and 4 large potatoes and black forest ham.

The sauce:

250 g creme fraiche with herbs + 30 ml milk

2 spring onions + 12 stalks of chive

Smoked paprika, salt and pepper

Bucatini with Basil Oil and Pecorino

Quick food on a day working from home. I still have pots of basil on the balcony. Night temperatures are down to single C and during the day they don't rise over 12C. Best time to get rid of the plants before they give out.

I have a basil bush that has long shoots with tiny purple flowers. Even they have a fine basil taste. The leaves are shorter and sturdier and the basil aroma is sharper.

Just throw enough leaves into a chopper with just some tiny chunks of pecorino, some lemon zest, 1 clove of garlic and a couple of Timut pepper corns. Good olive oil is important. Give it a good mix, add more oil for the right consistency.

The Bucatini pasta are thicker then spaghetti and have a hole in the middle. They aren't as wide as Maccaroni. Grate more cheese and serve it with the dish.

Pindar Soup

I bought 3 packages of ready made soup while I was shopping in the Dutch supermarket. This peanut soup is of Indonesian origin and is served as a vegetarian soup. It is eaten with white Basmati rice.

Beside peanuts, some red peppers and bell peppers have been cut up for the soup. It made for around taste and something to bite on. But the soup had no heat from the red peppers. I added a bit of chili to the plate.

For a full meal you will really need to eat it with rice.

I have two more soup packages for later use. One is Harissa and the other is Dal.

Blueberry Upside Down Cake

I haven't bake some cake in a while. Buying a large package of blueberries made me creative. I only new pineapple upside down cakes until now. But that intrigued me. I left some of the sugar out of the recipe because here in Germany, we do not like our cakes too sweet.

Ingredients for a 24 cm round loose bottom dish:

300 g fresh blueberries, washed

1/3 cup of light brown sugar and 2 tbsp butter

2 eggs separated in yolks and egg white

1 /2 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

120 g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

Heat up the oven to 175C.

Use a lighter brown sugar to make the caramel. The original recipe asked for dark brown sugar. Melting that into a caramel is not so easy because it melts unevenly and some part already burns while the rest still needs to melt. I tossed that part in the trash after it cooled down and started with light brown sugar again. When it was melted, I added the 2 tbsp butter. 

Use some cake spray for the baking dish. Pour the caramel in. Now wash the blueberries, dry them a bit on kitchen paper and place them on top of the caramel. Do not use frozen or canned ones.

Make the batter and start with separating the eggs. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with a tiny pinch of salt. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks, vanilla extract and salt. Mix baking powder with flour. Add it in two parts with the milk to the mix. It is rather a thick batter.

Loosen it with the stiff egg white. First 1/3, then the rest. Pour it on top the blueberries.

Bake 50-55 min.

Take it out and let it sit 15 min. Turn it upside down on a plate. Let it rest 10 min.

Now unmold the dish.

Couregette and Baguette Bake

This is a great way to get rid of day old baguette. A scrumptious vegetarian dish with a creamy cheese sauce and grated Dutch cheese on top. 

I found this recipe leaflet that are on the counter of  some of our  traditional bakeries.  And the recipe asked directly for a traditional crafted baguette. I went to one of our old bakeries, family owned since 1913.

Courgette is easy to combine in that dish. It needs a bit of seasoning up front to make it a bit tastier. I adjusted the recipe as always.

Preheat the oven 180 C fan.

A bake for 2:

8-10 slices of day old baguette

3tbsp olive oil and 4 cloves of chopped garlic and some pepper

250 g courgette

30 g butter, 30 g flour, 300 ml milk, 80 g velveeta cheese typ Gouda 

nutmeg, salt and pepper

30 g grated Dutch Gouda

Butter a baking dish, cut the courgette in 1/4 inch slices and season

Cut the bread in 1 inch slices, mix oil and garlic and pepper and spread on top of the bread.

Bake the bread for 8 min.

Stack bread and courgette slices in the baking dish.

In a small pot melt butter and add flour. Make a roux. Add milk, nutmeg and seasoning.

Melt the velveeta cheese in the sauce. Pour on top of the bread courgette stack and grate Gouda on top.

Bake for 25 - 30  min.