Radishes Oven baked

Radishes are mostly eaten as a snack or as slices on cold cuts. Other love to pimp their lettuce with it. This is the first time I oven roast them. 

Well, I made a pink soup a while ago and it was tasty. The radish and buttermilk soup from May 2020.

There are so many different kinds of veggies that are the usual ones to bake in the oven, All kinds of radishes like the small red ones or the large white or black ones are not on that list. But that changed today.

I had a bundle left over from my pickling adventure and decided to give an other method a try. You will find different recipes on the Internet.

Preheat the oven to 230 C and use some baking paper.

Wash the radishes and depending on the size cut them once or twice. Put them in a bowl with olive oil and finely chopped garlic, salt and pepper and some dried salad herbs. Toss them and spread them on the baking sheet. 

Bake for 15 min. Press the juice of a large lime into a bowl and add the baked radishes to it. Chop a lot of fresh herbs and add them. Check the seasoning.

400 g radishes, 3 tbsp olive oil, salt, pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, dried salad herbs

juice of 1 large or 2 small limes, fresh parsley, pimpinelle, borage, chives, sage.

Radishes pickled with Coriander seeds

There are so many different kinds of pickled vegetables.  But ones that looks so pretty are rare.

The whole coriander seeds are changing the flavour of  the brine into a citrus aroma. This is unique. Try to get radishes that are almost the same size. That makes for a prettier look in the jar. I found it on a local Bavarian TV channel. Radishes are a must on Bavarian brunch plates. But mostly the long white ones are used - like Daikon. 

Ingredients for 2- 3 jars:

400 - 450 g red radishes

300 ml water, 300 ml apple cider vinegar, 4 tsp brown sugar, 2 tsp salt, 

2 tsp coriander seeds

Quarter the radishes. Get all other ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil once. Put in the radishes and then fill them hot into clean jars. Liquid up to the top.

They should stay in the brine in the dark for 1 day minimum. Unopened jars are good for many weeks. Opened ones keep in the fridge.

Banana Tarte Tatin

A quick fix for the sweet tooth or a way to prevent ripe bananas to go to waste.

The upside down baked tarte tatin is well known. Usually made with apples. Peeling 3 bananas is quicker than peeling 3 apples.

Ingredients for a 23 cm tart tin:

3 bananas, juice 1/2 lemon, 1 1/2 tbsp raisins

3 cl rum, 65 g icing sugar, 35 g butter

Ready made puff pastry, 1 egg yolk, 1 tsp sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 180C

In a pan melt the sugar until it gets amber colored, add the butter. Pour into the tart form.

Mix raisins with rum and heat that in the microwave for 15 sec.

Peel the bananas and cut them lengthwise. Drizzle with lemon juice. Set them open side down into the tin.

Unroll the puff pastry. Fold it over and tuck the edges under. Brush with beaten egg yolk

Bake for 30 min. Let it rest for 10 min.

Use a wire rack and a piece of baking paper and turn the tart upside out. Sprinkle with raisins and sesame seeds. Serve warm.

Asparagus with Bacon and Okonomyaki Sauce

This was a food pairing on YT Tokyo Creative channel. They had different spirits from Suntory. They served the asparagus with a Sakura Gin drink. Very pink and fancy.

The original recipe called for unsalted pork and Teriyaki sauce. But you know me long enough to know that I changed it to my preferance. Or what I had at home at the moment. Prep is very easy.

10 stalks of green asparagus, not too thin

10 slices of bacon, 2 tsp potato starch, oil

4 tbsp Okonomyaki sauce, 2 tbsp water

Break off the taff end of the stalk. Wrap each one in one slice of bacon. Sprinkle potato starch over the bacon.

In a pan wide enough for all stalks side by side heat up the oil and place them in. Let the bacon get color, turn.

Spladh some water in the pan to steam with a lid. Finish with Okonomyaki sauce and let that get brown.

Asparagus Korean Style

This is a side dish in the Korean kitchen. I saw my favourite YT Maangchi make it. It is often served with other veggies and a main meat dish.

I had some roasted pork left over and decided on some asparagus with a hot kick.

Recipe:

350 g green slim asparagus stalks

Dressing: 1 tbsp Gochujang, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar syrup, 1 tsp Oyster sauce, 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, some chopped spring onion greens, 2 tbsp asparagus cooking water

Break off the woody ends of the asparagus and cook it in salted and sugared water for 3 min. Drain.

Make the dressing and mix it well with the asparagus. Let it sit 30 min before serving.

I wanted to eat the leftovers the next day at the office. Which leftovers??

Tuna-Melt Sandwich with Avocado

The day after my first Covid 19 vaccination I have to go a bit slowly. My left arm hurts and I can not raise it above a certain level. That means going easy in the kitchen.

I already saw something like this coming. I planned ahead and bought ingredients for a sandwich. Avocado and tuna are a great combo. They are easily made into a spread with the help of some mayo. A bit of lettuce and some tomato slices as additional bulk are good. Topping everything with a slice of cheese makes it even better.

Ingredients for 2 sandwiches:

1 avocado, few drops of lemon, salt and pepper, 1 tbsp mayo, 1 tbsp butter, 4 toast slices

90 g canned tuna, 4 cherry tomatoes, 1 baby romaine lettuce, 2 slices Emmental cheese

Heat up the oven 160C fan.

Mix tuna, avo, lemon juice, mayo and seasoning in a bowl. Use a potato masher to make a cream. Spread this on two slices of toast. Cut the tomatoes in slices and stick them on the cream. Fold 2 lettuce leaves over and plate the cheese on top. Close with the other toasts.

Heat up the butter in a pan and fry both sandwiches for 2 min on each side. Stick them in the oven on baking paper and bake for 6 min.

Carrot Salad with Japanese Kewpie Mayo

Lunch break and nothing to eat. Just some carrots. A quick salad is a good idea. An apple was sitting on the kitchen counter too

The fastest way is using a strong blender. Toss in the ingredients for the dressing first. Then apple and carrot chunks. Give it a good blizz and the salad is ready to eat.

3 large carrots, 1/3 lemon juiced, 1 tsp agave syrup, salt, pepper, chives, 1 apple

2 tbsp Kewpie mayo, 2 tbsp Greek yogurt, 2 tsp whole grain mustard, 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

Asparagus with Tomato-Vanilla-Hazelnut Topping - vegan

Vanilla and Hazelnuts on asparagus? The moment I read the title of this dish, I thought the taste of Nutella together with veggies sounded exciting. Looking through my blogs I found 42 recipes with asparagus. Some of them had strange combinations, but they tasted amazing. Asparagus with ice cream or asparagus with rhubarb.

This is a dish that can stand on its own. Serve it as a starter or as a vegan dish. 

I prefare to use a steamer to cook the white asparagus. Most people cook it in salted and sugared water. The recipe asked for a vanilla pod. Since I cooked a small amount, I used dried high quality vanilla seeds.

Recipe for 2:

500 g white asparagus, 8 cherry tomatoes, 3 dried tomatoes in oil, 

1 spring onion, 25 g hazelnuts, 2 pinches vanilla seeds, salt and pepper

1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp oil, 3 parsley stalks

Peel the asparagus and cut off the bottom. Put in a steamer and steam for 20 - 25 min depending on the thickness. Set aside.

Chop spring onion, quarter cherry tomatoes and slice dried tomatoes. Chop hazelnuts and cut up the parsley.

In a wide pan heat up the oil and toss in onion and tomatoes. Give them 5 min. Add sugar and nuts. Season with salt, pepper and vanilla.

Now in with the asparagus to heat up again.

Add the parsley and serve. It looks nicer when you put the asparagus on the plate first and use the rest as a topping.

Cordon bleu - vegetarian

This is a way I like well known dishes made the vegetarian way. Just with vegetable - no soy meat or saitan or else. 

The consistency of the kohlrabi is meaty, you have something to chew on. The Swiss raclette cheese and the paprika dressing are a good way to create a decent filling.

Recipe for 1:

1 large kohlrabi, 60 g raclette cheese, 4 tbsp Ayvar

2 eggs, breadcrumbs, flour, herbes de Provence, salt and pepper, oil

Peel the kohlrabi and cut 1 cm thick slices. Salt them on both sides. Spread Ayvar on one side each and put a slice of raclette cheese in the middle

Season the flour with pepper, the egg with salt and the breadcrumbs with herbes de Provence. Push the veggie cordon bleu through flour egg and breadcrumbs.

Heat up the oven to 175C. Heat up a pan with some oil and bake the veggies on each side for 5 min. Then put them on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10 min.

Wiener Sausage Goulash Hungarian Style

This is the second recipe that is from the Hungarian folks here in the part of the city where I live. I prepared the mushroom goulash just a couple of weeks ago. 

The basic recipe is from my friend and she cooks it for a long time. I only added a piece of celery and a small carrot to it. The sauce is creamy and goes great with a short kind of pasta.

When you ask what is Hungarian style, just a good amount of paprika powder. Use sweet and hot and even some smoked paprika.

Recipe for 2:

4 large Wiener sausages, 1 small can sweet corn, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic

1 carrot, 1 celery stalk are optional

150 ml veg stock, 150 ml double cream, 1 tbsp oil

2 tsp potato starch with 2 tbsp water

All kinds of paprika powder you like, about 3 tsp, salt and pepper, chives

Chop onion, garlic, carrot abd celery. Drain the sweet corn. Cut the sausages in 1/2 inch.

Cook the pasta, if it takes up to 10 min. Start pasta with less cooking time a bit later.

In a pot heat up the oil and saute onion, then add garlic and celery and carrot. Cook for 5 min. Add the stock and the sausages and all kinds of paprika. Now in with the sweet corn and the double cream. Heat it through and prep the starch slurry. Bind the sauce and let it cook for a couple of min to thicken. Check the seasoning. Finish with some chives.

Crepes Islandaise - Tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh

I watched a video on YT from former Royal Chef of Balmoral kitchen, Darren Mc Grady.

He talked about HRH Prince Philip and his favourite dessert. On a trip to Iceland he ate these crepes. It took him some time to persuade the hosts to get him the recipe. It was often served when there were guests at Balmoral castle. The plum jam was from the plums grown at the castle grounds. 

These nice crepes are nothing fancy. Not a dessert you expect to see at a royal dinner. But they are heart warming in their simplicity.

Recipe for 6 crepes:

1 cup flour, 2 cups of milk, 3 eggs, 4 tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 /4 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla paste, oil for the pan

150 ml double cream, plum jam, icing sugar

Make the batter and let it rest. Beat the double cream to stiff peaks.

Use a brush and spread some neutral oil in the pan. Let the pan heat up completely or you will wreck you first crepe. Bake them all and let them cool down. 

Fold them in halves and use a 10 cm ring cutter. Spread on one side plum jam and top it with whipped cream. Fold over and serve with a little icing sugar on top.

Dill Pickle Pizza and Swedish Pizza

I watched Beryl again on YT. Dill pickles are a staple in my fridge. But I would have never put them on top of pizza dough. On top of cold cuts or on a burger patty, yes! 

I found some French mini pizza dough at one of the supermarkets. I checked today, no more to buy. They have just snack size. Better try such a pizza combo on a small piece of dough instead of a large one.

The pizza originates from upstate New York, near Rochester. There is no tomato sauce on the bottom. Garlic oil with herbs and some vinegar. Then a layer of cheese and on top slices of dill pickles fresh out of the fridge. They have to be cold to stay crisp in the oven

Bake them at 230 C fan for 6 min. Sprinkle some dill on top, when it comes out of the oven.

The other pizza was a Swedish kind. Base was cream cheese, topped with shredded cooked chicken and ripe bananas and curry powder. Awesome.

 

Vanilla Gnocchi

Potato Gnocchi in a sweet dessert version. Cheese sauce is so yesterday, lol.

Ready made potato gnocchi are available here in Germany in every supermarket. They are easy to use and taste very good. No hassle to find the right potatoes, cook them, mash them, mix them with flour and egg and hope for the best.

I found this recipe in a stack my BFF collected for me. At first I checked the savoury one with smoked salmon and peas, then I turned page and I found this. Since the other halve of the gnocchi package is still in the fridge, I will prepare the savoury recipes as well this week.

It is actually not much work to do. Just take the gnocchi out of the package and separat them. Butter a baking dish and put them in. Cherries from a jar, in with them.

In a bowl mix milk, vanilla pudding powder and the poppy seed baking mix together. Pour over the gnocchi cherries and toss some almond slices on top.

Bake at 180C for 30 min. Let it cool 15min and sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

Ingredients for 2:

150 g cherries from a jar, 250 g gnocchi

300 ml whole milk, 125 g poppy seed baking mix, 20 g Vanilla pudding powder

2 tbsp almond slices