Peach Apricot Vervain Jam

I took a couple of peaches off my friends hand to make it easier for her to eat the others. The peaches were sitting on my kitchen counter just 24 hrs and I could see mould starting to grow on one. 

Now or never. Make jam or the peaches are goning to the waste bin. I had some apricots sitting in the fruit basket. They were ready to be eaten too and went into the jam as well.

When I am preparing any kind of jam or jelly I always try to incorporate some alcohol. Over the years that showed me, the jars had a better shelve life.

This time I used an apricot liqueur from Alto Adige in Italy. 

Paring fruits and herbs in jams is my speciality. I love doing it. I went outside on my balcony to check the pots for a worthy green. I choose Orange Verveine. It smells and tastes lovely and rounds the flavour of my jam.

2 jars at 250 ml:

600 g peach and aoricot mixed

1 stalk orange vervain, 1/2 lemon, 50 ml apricot liqueur, 230 g 3:1 jam sugar

 

Chorizo Date and Pork Skewers

Most of our Supermarket chaines have glossy magazines packed full of advertizing but also recipes. They all call for their special name brands. But the ideas are good.

I found one with skewered meat and dates. The mix of sweet and savoury talks to me.

Today I wanted ro prepare the skewers, but only 2 of the 3 items were available at the supermarket. When I returned home I decided to drive downtown to our city centre and talj a look at the high end supermarket in the basement if one of our department stores. That was a great idea. Not only the missing item was found, but I bought fresh young herring for the dish tomorrow. No prepackaged stuff this time.

The skewers are wooden. I had to soak them in water for 15 min.

Recipe for 3 skewers:

1 marinated pork neck steak, 1 spring onion, 150 g chorizo, 10 dates without stones

Cut up the steak and the sausage. Cut the spring onion into 1 inch pieces. Put that on the skewers. Heat up your BBQ and let them cook 10 min. Turning in between.

Pizza with Salami and Ham

The pizza crust was made first. Since it contained yeast the resting time was not up to what I am used to. But we were hungry and made it work. We both cut up the topping together and I grated a hunk of cheese on a microblade stick.

While the dough was resting and the topping waited, I started the batter for the chocolate cake and the peach crumble. The oven timing had to be precise to get everything ready after each other. 

Pizza dough:

250 g pizza flour, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt,

1 tsp dry yeast, 125 ml warm water

Resting time covered 30 min (better cold in the fridge for 18 hrs)

Topping:

100 g salami, 100 g cooked ham, 3 tbsp black olives, 4 pickled pepperoni, 1 1/2 red bell pepper, 2 shallots, 2 tsp garden herbs dried, pepper, 200 g Emmenthal cheese grated 

Bake at 230C for 8- 10 min

Chocolate Cake

Cooking and baking in a foreign kitchen is always a bit of a challenge. New equipment needs a bit of time to get used to. Missing utensils, the ones you have at home, forcing me to be creative. But baking a cake out of the blue is no longer something I get worried about. And the cake went well.

My friend has a Kitchenaid with lots of screw on equipment. I had to get the hang of it as a Thermomix girl. But with her help I managed.

Recipe:

3 eggs, 250 g sugar, vanilla sugar, pinch salt

125 ml oil, 180 ml milk, 3 heaped tbsp cocoa, vanilla paste, 250 g flour, 2 tsp baking powder

In the standmixer put oil, sugar, vanilla, eggs in and beat it until foamy.

Add the dry ingredients and mix again. Loosen with milk and the very liquid batter is done.

Spray a bundt cake tin with baking spray and fill the batter in.

Bake at 170 C for 55 min 

Let it rest 5 min and then take it out of the tin onto a plate. Let it cool down slightly.

We used chocolate icing out of a microwavable container. We spread it on the warm cake and enjoyed it shortly afterwards.

No problem at all. The only downside is to take some chunk of cake home. Wrapping a warm cake with wet chocolate cover in aluminium foil is not the best way to transport it. Having fun unwrapping it.

Mushroom Cream Sauce with Turkey Breast

A creamy sauce with lots of big slices of mushrooms is a treat. This goes well with slices of meat. I went for turkey. 

Here in Germany pork Schnitzel are the go to when you go to a German restaurant. On most menus there is at least one Schnitzel to find. Either plain or often with a sauce on top. Traditional mushrooms as in Hunter Schnitzel.

I went for the turkey breast kind. But not covered in breadcrumbs but in flour with paparika powder. When it comes out of the pan, the turkey breast has a nice color.

Recipe for 2:

350 g turkey breast, salt and pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 4 tbsp flour, oil. 

2 shallots, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp veggie stock puree, 150 ml double cream, 400 g brown button mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper

1 cup Jasmine rice

Start with the mushrooms. Clean them with kitchen towel and cut them into thick slices.

Peel and chop onions and garlic. Start them in a hot pan with some oil and fry them without seasoning until they take color and loose structure. Add onions and garlic and season now. The mushrooms will now loose some water. Add veg stock paste and cream and thyme and cook that on low heat for 5 min.

While you cook the mushrooms, start the rice.

Season the turkey steaks and mix flour and paprika. Turn the steaks in the flour mix until they are covered completely. Bake in oil on each side 3- 5 min depeding on the thickness.

Bring everything together on a plate.

Peach crumble vegan

I love a good cake with a thick buttery crumble on top. I have to say the same about a crumble.  

Today I cooked and baked at my friends house. After work we met there and I started with a pizza dough for lunch later. She wanted me to bake a chocolate cake.  Not a huge problem for me. But this cake should not contain butter. She is lactose intolerant and does not eat butter. I used vegetable oil instead.

She bought a whole lot of large fresh peaches. Way too much to eat for one person in a short amount of time. I was asked to use some of them for a dessert. I am a huge fan of peach crumble. After I came up with the idea, I realized still no butter in the fridge. She showed me the vegan soy margerine she is using instead. Still a bit solid and it looked as if it would work.  

My friend hates cinnamon. She does not have any at home. But I found a bottle with a tiny bit of liqueur left on her counter. The label said Cinnamon and Gold Leave liqueur. I dumped it into the pot with the peaches. But a crumble without a bit of spice is boring. A huge tea rack with lots of different tea sachets caught my eyes. Orange and Ginger sounded good. I used the finely ground tea to season my crumble.

CRUMBLE

120 g vegan soy margerine, 40 g oats, 90 g flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp orange ginger tea leaves, 120 g sugar, pinch of salt

FRUITS

6 peaches, 5 tbsp peach juice, 3 tbsp cinnamon gold liqueur, 1 tsp corn starch 1 tbsp water

Preheat the oven 180C.

Peel the peaches and cut them into bit size chunks. In a small pot heat up the peach juice and the liqueur with the peaches and let them cook until softened. Make a starch slurry and bind the liquid. Put on a plate to cool a bit, then pour into an oven proof dish.

Use a food processor and make the crumble. Pop some small chunks all over the peaches.

Put in the oven for 30 min.

My friend liked it a lot. It was her first crumble. I thought that the peaches were tasty.

The crumble looked good and you would not have guessed that it was a vegan dish.

BUT I was no fan of the crumble topping. The soy taste was too dominant for me and the texture was too soft. I prefer the butter version.

Cod in Coconut Curry Sauce

I had an open can of good quality coconut milk and I did not want to throw the milk away. A quick solution was needed.

A short trip to the supermarket after work brought me to the fish section. Cod was available. Thick pieces each about 100 g.

Base for many curries are shallots, garlic, chili, ginger and tomatoes for a sauce. No problem, all these ingredients are usually in stock. My favourite Grilled Masala jar from Mauritius is still a quarter full.

I wanted some side to eat the fish with. Just a 40 g package of mung bean vermicelli was at home. 

Recipe for 2:

300 g cod loin, 2 shallots, 1 chili, ginger, 2 garlic cloves, salt, pepper, sugar, lemon juice

Coconut oil, 2 tsp Masala, 200 ml coconut milk, 80 ml veg stock, 250 g tomatoes

Season the cod with salt and pepper

Take the wet middle bit out of the tomatoes and chop the roughly. Cut 2 slices of ginger and chop onion and garlic.

Heat up coconut oil in a cast iron pan that haa a lid. Fry off onion, garlic, ginger and chili. Add the tomatoes and give them 2 min too.  Now is the time for 1/2 tsp of sugar. 

Add a little more oil and put the Masala in. Let it get some heat and then pour in coconut milk and veg stock. Cook that for 5 min.

Now set the cod in and close the lid and reduce the heat. Cook for 5 to 7 min depending on the size of the fish pieces. Turn half way. Boil some water and pour it over the vermicelli. Aftet 2 to 3 min drain them.

Rip some Asian basil and press in some lemon juice. Mix in the noodles.

The leftovers went in a freezer bag and I took them to my friend to enjoy the next day.

Egg Omelet Toast - Korean Street Food with Asparagus

I saw different versions on YT. Barry Lewis made it a couple of days ago, Aaron and Clare had it as breakfast ideas.

The veggies are a bit different in my recipe. I made a German Korean fusion. Some asparagus stalks were waiting to be cooked. This week is St. John's Day and the harvest season ends for asparagus. Instead of cabbage and carrot I used a spring onion, cooked asparagus and Asian mixed herbs from my balcony. This year I have a great lot to choose from.

This recipe is moorish. Thinking that people in Korea choose that as street food is amazing. After eating a bit of it, getting full is easy. Best to share a toast. 

There is even a sprinkle of sugar on the omelet. Sounds weird, but it complements the taste. Many savoury dishes contain sugar there. And a lot of butter is used.

Ingredients for 1:

2 eggs, 150 g asparagus, 1 spring onion, 1 hand full fresh Asian herbs, butter

2 slices of toast, salt and pepper, 1 large slice of cooked ham, 2 slices of cheese, kewpie mayo, ketchup 

In a wide pan melt butter until foaming. Brown both slices of toast. Set aside. Cook asparagus and chop it. Chop herbs and spring onion. Mix all three with the eggs and season. Pour in the buttered pan and try to make a compact omelet in the middle. Turn when it is done on the underside. Take it out and cut to the size of toast. Put on one slice and sprinkle with sugar.

Butter the pan and cook the bacon on one side, turn and set cheese on top. Put a lid on and melt the cheese. Place on top of the eggs. Spread Kewpie and ketchup on top. Finalize with the toast slice. Cut in halves and enjoy a cheese pull.

Gado Gado - Salad from Indonesia

On a hot Sunday like today a salad for lunch sounds great. School of Wok abd Beryl both made videos around the same time about this salad. The dressing is peanut based. Both made a bit different versions. 

I checked the Gado Gado on German food channels and found different ingredients too. 

And aside from that, tofu and tempe are often used to bulk out the salad. Since I hate both, I just ate hard boiled eggs with the salad. The salad was filling enough. 

These kinds of mixed cooked and raw veggies together are common around the world. I made the Clown Salad from Colombia last month, my Grandma's Summer Salad is the same mix.

Sauce:

3 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts and 3 tbsp cashews, 2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp fish sauce, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp ketchup manis

2 shallots, 1 garlic clove, 1 dried red chili, 100 ml coconut milk, 1 tbsp coconut flower syrup, salt and pepper

Veggies:

Potatoes, green beans, white asparagus

Tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions

2 eggs

Cook the upper 3 veggies and the eggs. Chop the raw veggies. Looking amazing means to show off all veggies separat on a plate. 

Put all dressing ingredients in a pestel and mortar and bash. Or use a food processor.

Chocolate Apricot Cheesecake Muffins

On Monday I will see my coworker in person again. Last time we have been together was in the end of Sepember on our 3 days trip to Sankt Peter-Ording. Since that time we only talked over the phone. Due to the Pandemic we are not allowed to share an office. She will come and booked herself a free office space.

I told her - to celebrate I will bake something. At 26 C at 9 AM it is "great" to heat up the oven. But what is a little sweat to give someone a good greeting.

I bought some apricots yesterday and decided to pimp the cheesecake filling a little. But I did not want to stick some apricot chunks into the muffin. I put the destoned apricots into the microwave for 2 min and took off the skin and used only the fruity mash to add to the chessecake cream.

Recipe for 16 muffins:

dark mix:

50 g 72 % chocolate + 100 g Valhrona milk chocolate , 30 g butter

200 g flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, pinch salt, 2 tbsp red Cameroon cocoa

100 g sugar, 2 eggs, 200 g buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla extract 

cheesecake mix:

3 apricots

250 g cream cheese, 1 egg, 30 g sugar,

zest of 1 lemon, 30 g corn starch, 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven 180 C fan.

Melt chocolate and butter together. Add the dry ingredients. Mix and add eggs and buttermilk and vanilla. Pour into paper cups in a muffin tin up to the middle.

Mix cream cheese and all other ingredients and use a tablespoon and top the muffins with the batter.

Stick in the oven and bake for 20 min.

I took the muffins to the office today. At 10AM they were gone!

Bami Goreng

This is the last spice pack I bought in the Netherlands. The Nasi Goreng was done a couple of month ago.

The spice packs are very good quality. Since you use fresh ingredients for the rest of the dish, it turns out not as Fast Food, but as a decent meal. It is a pity, that I only can buy them in the supermarket in the Netherlands. I´ve tried to get the sauces on the Internet.

I had a bunch of frozen veggies, some chili and garlic prawns on hand. 

 Eggs and cooked spaghetti had to go into the dish as well.

The defrosted veggies needed 5 min in the pan. I cooked the spaghetti first and cooled them down in water. 

To the pan, I added the spice blend and cooked it for 2 min. The flavours get deeper that way. I mixed the cooked pasta in and pushed that to a side in the pan to add the precooked marinated prawns. They just need 3 min to get ready. I mixed them in and made a well in the middle to add the beaten eggs. I let them cook a bit and poured in Ketchap Manis and Soy Sauce. A good mix and everything was ready to go.

I sprinkled some Pul Biber on top (Chili flakes) and added Sambal Olek at the table.

Ingredints:

250 g spaghetti, Bami Goreng spice paste, 2 shallots, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tbsp sesame oil

400 g defrosted veggies (sweet corn, carrots, parsnips, peas), 2 eggs, 200 g chili garlic prawns

2 tbsp Ketchup Manis, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, chili flakes, Sambal olek