Potato Blast or Kesselknall

This is one of the forgotten recipes from the Rhineland. It is a filled potato cake served with fresh made apple sauce. But it is not a diet recipe.

This takes a bit of time. I had a busy and stressful workday and needed time to relax. The best way to do that is in the kitchen. I tackled the recipe. It took more than 2 hours, but it was worth the effort. It was amazing.

The recipe is from a time when potatoes, onions and Speck were staples in most regions of Germany. You could feed a lot of people with it just bulking out on the veggies

The amount of bacon and sausage per person was smaller that time.

The combination with freshly cooked applesauce was strange for me at first. But we all love potato pancakes with apple sauce, so why not.

I know Scottish recipes were sliced apples are cooked and served with pork roast.

Recipe for 3:

600 g potatoes, 6 shallots, 1 spring onion

150 g smoked pork belly, 1 Cabanossi, 50 g smoked raw ham, 1 tsp oil

1 egg, 1 tbsp potato starch, 3 tbsp butter

Salt, pepper, nutmeg, caraway seed, majoram

3 apples, 120 ml apple juice, 1 lemon, 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Peel the potatoes and grate them on the rough side of the box grater. Add some salt and let them sit 10 min.

Preheat the oven 180 C.

Peel and chop the onions and the pork belly. Start the pork belly in the pan, add 1 tsp oil and cook it for 5 min. Drain a little of the fat. Add the onions and give it 10 min on medium heat. Let it cool down a bit.

Squeeze out the potatoes and add them to the pan. Pour the water out and leave the starch on the bottom. Scrape that in the pan.

Add seasoning, potato starch and egg and mix well.

Use an oven proof dish and butter it well. Press 1/2 of the potato mix in. It should be smooth and compact. 

Slice the sausage and the raw ham and layer it on the potatoes. Get the rest of the mix on top and press it down. Cover with foil. 

Bake covered for 55 min, take the foil off and spread the rest of the butter on top. Bake for 20 more min without foil.

Let it sit for 5 min. Loosen the rim with a knife and turn it over on a plate.

While the mix bakes. Peel and chop the apples. Cook them in juice and lemon until soft. Use a potato masher to make the apple sauce. Cool down on a wide plate.

 

Green Beans with Tuna Fish and Rice

I wanted to prepare a salad with green beans. I had a special recipe in mind. When I read it, I decided it was too much work for a dinner preparation. I wanted something filling and went for the rice dish. Some of the original ingredients went in to the cooked dish and went well in it.

Put the rice in the rice cooker and start top and tailing the beans. Drain the tuna can and cut some spring onions and garlic.

Bring water to the boil and salt it. Add savoury and the beans and cook them for 8 to 11 min.

Use olive oil and fry the onions and garlic. Toss the tuna fish in and break it up. Add Noilly Prat and juice of 1/2 lemon. 

Get the beans in and mix it well, discard the savoury first. When the rice is cooked, pour it in the pan.

Now you will see that it is a bit dry. Since I am a Hesdian and we love to use Hessian Schmand, that is a type of thick sour cream with about 20% fat.  A couple of spoons full of that delight will give the dish a nice creaminess. 

If you can't get this, just use creme fraiche.

Ingredients for 2:

400 g green small beans, 2 spring onions, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 stalks savoury

1 medium can of tuna fish in olive oil, drained, 3 tbsp Noilly Prat, juice 1/2 lemon

1 cup of long grain rice, 4 tsp heavy sour cream

Salt, pepper, thyme and smoked paprika

Spaghetti in Peanut Sauce

There are so many short videos on Pinterest showing some kind of pasta sauces. I watch sometimes and an idea sticks. But when I think about cooking some of them, I rarely find the videos again. 

I wing it then, but the results are mostly great. In the moment there are a lot of interesting pasta sauces online. All of them are for a very quick meal.

Recipe:

100 g spaghetti, 2 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp sesame oil

1 medium hot chili, 1 spring onion, 1 garlic clove

4 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, 3 ladles starchy pasta water

1 tsp sesame seeds, 3 tsp peanut butter

3 tbsp unsalted roasted peanuts 

Cook the pasta in just a little salted water to get good starchy water for your sauce.

Chop spring onion, garlic and chili. Melt butter and add sesame oil. Fry that first.

Add soy sauce, Mirin, peanut butter and sesame seeds. Let it cook 2 min, then add a bit starchy pasta water to loosen the sauce. Drain the pasta and stir it well in the sauce. Finish with peanuts and some onion greens.

Chicken Breast in Papillote Moroccan style

Ras-el-Hanout and Harissa are the top flavour components of this dish. A bit spicy. Thst works very well with the coucous. That is only cooked in veg stock and a little saffron.

Preparing this dish in a Tagine sounds more like Morocco. But steaming it enclosed in paper does the same job.

The nice thing about this dish are the portions. Each guest gets its own package. Since they are baked in the oven, after the couscous is done you will have a free stove top.

Recipe for 2:

2 free range chicken breasts halves

120 g couscous 180 ml veg stock, pinch of saffron

Chicken seasoning, 3 tsp Harissa paste, 1 tsp Ras el Hanout seasoning

1 lemon, 20 green olives, spring onion green

2 baking paper sheets, something to tye the paper

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Heat up the stock and add the saffron. Get the precooked couscous in and let it boil a second. Kill the heat, leave the lid on and let it sit 5 min. Then use a fork to fluff it. Cool it down.

Flatten the chicken breast pieces. Season with salt and add ras el hanout. Spread harissa on one side.

Use a large piece of baking paper and put 1/2 of the couscous on. Cut the lemon in 8 slices and lay them on top. Now add 1/2 of the olives. On top goes the chicken breast cut into thirds. Lay some onion green on top.

Now close the package on one side with twine. Pour 1/2 of the stock on top and close the other side.

Repeat with the second chicken breast.

Bake at 180C for 30 min.

 

Raspberry Dessert

When you prepare a certain dish, a special ingredient in often needed. You buy it and use the amount for the recipe. Maybe 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon and the leftover stuff in the package goes to the back of your pantry. It will be forgotten.

I am starting to clear out some stuff in the kitchen for the time when the new one comes. I found a pack of freeze dried raspberry powder.  1 tbsp was missing, the rest went hart. But still good and a waste to throw it out. I just used a 1/3 of it. The whole package had the equivalent of 1 kilogramm of fresh raspberries.

Vanilla custard mixed with the fruity powder and double cream mixed with it too. Both combined made a tasty dessert.

 

Scrambled Eggs in 15 seconds by Emmymade

French style super fluffy scrambled eggs for Sunday brekkie.

The usual method takes a long time to cook on very low heat and constant folding. I am too lazy for that in the morning.

Getting the same result in no time is amazing. When you know the hack, everybody can make them.

Recipe for 1:

1 tsp potato starch - no cornstarch

3 tbsp milk, pinch of salt

3 eggs, 2 tbsp butter

Mix potato starch, salt and milk. Add the 3 eggs and whisk them in. 

Use a wide pan and heat it up on high. Drizzle a little water in. When it evaporates, add the butter and let it foam.

Pour in the eggs. Use a spatula and bring the eggs together for 4 seconds, cut off the heat and fold up to 11 seconds. Season with pepper.

Spaghetti Bolognese Ice Cream

Gross, I hear you say!

Not so fast. Spaghetti ice cream is a staple in Italian ice cream shops in Germany since 1969. An Italian ice cream guy in Mannheim created it after the everywhere eaten spaghetti dish.

On a scoop of whipped cream sits vanilla ice cream. Use a cooled potato ricer and press 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream through it on top of the cream.

For the tomato sauce use a strawberry coulis and the Parmesan is made from white chocolate shavings. 

In the last couple of years a variety of spaghetti dishes gave their name for new ice cream creations. You can find spaghetti with pesto - vanilla ice cream with kiwi sauce or spaghetti carbonara - vanilla and hazelnut ice cream with roasted hazelnuts.

This creation with the Bolognese was new to me - vanilla ice cream, raspberry coulis and mixed berries and white chocolate. So good!

My friends had an Amarena cherry cup, a hazelnut chocolate cup and some mixed scoops of ice cream. A great finish of a wonderful day.

 

Low Carb Veggie Beef and Cheese Bake

I am not a huge fan of low carb meals. But I found a recipe with  so many different ingredients that let me forget I had no pasta or rice on the side.

I bought some lean organic beef mince and thought about some kind of Bolo on pasta. Then this ripped out recipe inspired me. All other ingredients were at home.

A lot of veggies bulk out the dish. But the addition of cheeses and eggs makes it lasting longer.

From my friends garden I still have a couple of carrots and plump chili peppers. They are on the hotter side. One of both went into this bake.

Recipe for 4:

400 g lean organic beef mince, 2 onions, 2 spring onions, 4 cloves of garlic

200 g sheep feta, 60 g sliced cheese, 2 eggs, 3 tomatoes

2 bell peppers, 1 carrot, 1 red chili, oil, salt, pepper, fresh majoram, sage, thyme

Preheat the oven 180C fan.

Slice all veggies into strips. Get onions, garlic and carrot in the pan first without oil. After 5 min, add a little oil and the peppers. Fry 3 more min. Season. 

Take the beef and spread it on top if the veggies. When the beef is no longer pink, crumble the feta in the pan.

Use an oven proof dish and put the mix in. Beat two eggs and pour it over. Cut the tomatoes in slices in top the mix with them. Finish with slices of cheese.

Bake for 15 min and let it rest outside the oven for 10 min.

Corn Ribs by Emmymade TIK TOK

The time for fresh sweetcorn here in Germany is very short. About 10 out of 12 month you can get only precooked vacum packed sweetcorn.

I found beautiful ears of corn already shucked at the supermarket. To stay fresh they have to go in the fridge. Cutting them into quarters is a bit of hassle. Even with a strong and sharp knife. Don't cut yourself!

The marinate is a little different from Emmy's original recipe. I used the one from my salmon recipe, just added a little oil to it.

They went into the air fryer for 12 min at 200C.

When they were done, I spread some Kewpie Mayo on the ribs and grated an old Pecorino over. 

Marinate:

50 ml orange juice, 3 tbsp maple syrup, 1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp onion and garlic powder

Salmon with Orange and Maple Syrup Glaze

I made a two in ond glaze. You will see the ingredients for the marinate in an other recipe. Why use two different ones, when the jar filled with marinate lasts in the fridge for a day. Efficency is motto of this day.

During lunch I was looking for a light dish and no carbs. Salmon is one of my favourite kinds of fish.

Marinate:

50 ml orange juice, 3 tbsp maple syrup, 1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp onion and garlic powder

1/2 lime 

olive oil

Make the marinate. Put salt and pepper, smoked paprika on the dry fish. Heat up the pan and add 1 tbsp of oil. Get the dry salmon in on the skin side. Brush the top with marinate. After 3 min, turn the fish and brush the other side. Get some marinate on the sides and get the fish on the sides. The maple syrup will caramelize the salmon.

Serve it with some lime slices.

Quinoa Salad with Nectarines and Duck breast

Leftover duck is on the table. A quick lunch at home during work. Not much to do

Just put some of the prepared duck stock to the use to cook the quinoa in. The taste of the quinoa improves through a good stock. Otherwise it is just too bland. 

After boiling the quiona for 8 minutes, I let it rest with the lid on for 6 more min. I drained the last liquid through a fine mash sieve. Spreading it out on a plate to cool down quickly helps with the texture. Juice of 1/2 lemon, some salt and pepper helps with the taste. Now let it sit and cool down.

Ingredients for 1:

80 g quinoa, 250 ml duck or chicken stock

Juice 1 lemon, 40 ml orange juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper

3 stalks parsley, 3 stalks mint

65 g cooked duck breast, 2 nectarines

Cut up the nectarines, the duck breast and chop the herbs. Make the dressing . Mix everything together with the cold quinoa and enjoy.