Homemade Pesto on Spaghetti is wonderful. Pushing it up a notch for Halloween makes it even better.
I bought a bunch large basil leaves. The ones on my windowsill were not enough. The usual pine nuts, Parmesan and garlic went in with olive oil. After seasoning it I added 3 drops of Pandan extract to boost the green color.
The hoot were the eyes. Just use mini mozzarella balls and put a slice of black olive on top.
It is the time of the year to get creative with a little horror in the kitchen.
A couple of years ago I hosted Halloween Haunted House parties every year. We had an American theater near by and they rented out costumes. I went there in October each year to look for a fun or "horrible" outfit. My guests and the kids ringing the door bell loved it.
A Haunted House without the spooky food is a No Go. We had to come up with certain ideas every year. My Mom came up with it lots of years ago and she prepared it for our party.
Recipe:
500 ml whole milk, 40 g sugar,
1 Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding powder
1 can Lychees, 20 blue grapes seedless
1 tbsp black cherry jam
Prepare the pudding, stuff the lychees with grapes. Put some jam as tears on top.
I watched the newest Cupcake Jemma video on YT today.
A can of about 300 g of pumpkin puree was leftover from my pumpkin waffles and I needed an idea to use it up. After watching the video, I went in the kitchen and started the bread.
Since I started packing up parts of my kitchen waiting for the new one, my big loaf tin is in the bottom box of a stack of moving boxes down in the basement. No way I am unpacking it. I went for 2 smaller ones, still available.
The recipe is simple and just 2 bowls are needed. One for the wet ingredients and one for the dry stuff.
Ingredients:
310 g pumpkin puree, 2 eggs, 120 ml canola oil, 1 tsp vanilla extract
100 g caster sugar, 150 g light brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 215 g flour
2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, a good fresh ground nutmeg
50 g chopped and 30 g halved walnuts, 30 g milk chocolate chips, butter for the loaf tin
Heat up the oven to 170 C. I used two smaller loaf tins. One with 18 cm and one with 22 cm. Use baking paper to get the bread out later easier. Mix the sugars first into the wet mix, then the flour mix. Add chocolate chips and chopped walnuts and fill both tins. Place walnut halves on top.
Bake for 40 min. When you use a large 2 pound loaf tin, bake for 55- 70 min.
It is called Schwarzwälder Schinkenzopf here in Germany. Black Forest Ham baked in to a Braid. A savoury snack.
My friend baked 2 of them yesterday and brought me one today. Still very fresh and good to eat with a spread containing more Black Forest Ham.
The yeasty dough is made with the addition of an intense tasting olive oil. But use what ever olive oil you have at home. Cut the rosemary needles very fine. That helps to distribute the flavour in the braid.
Recipe for 2 braided loafs:
300 g AP flour, 100 g spelt flour
30 g olive oil, 20 g fresh yeast or one sachet dry yeast
1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp rosemary
220 ml tepid water
12 halved slices of Black Forest Ham (raw smoked ham)
Chop the ham in tiny bits. Put all other ingredients together and in a standmixer with a dough hook attachment give ot 10 minutes. Form in a ball, over and let rest for 1 hour covered with a damp cloth.
Knead it on a work surface on a little flour and mix in the ham. You will have now about 660g of dough. Cut it on 2 parts. Then each part in 3 pieces and roll them into 3 sausages about 3 cm thick and 22 cm long. Press them together at one end and start braiding.
Let them rest covered for 20 min and preheat the oven to 200 C.
Brush the braids with water and bake them 20 -30 min.
Black Forest Spread:
100 g cream cheese, 1 tsp tomato paste, 55 g Black Forest Ham
I love the big heads of celeriac. Mine had 1, 2 kg. Many people just use the veg to enhance the flavour in soups or stews. It is much more versatile.
This is a idea I found on Pintetest. Yotam Ottolenghi came up with it. There is not much of a recipe. Prep time is 5 min. But it takes 3 hours in the oven.
I ate my celeriac with labneh. That is a rich yogurt style thick cream. I added fresh herbs, green onion, lime zest and garlic flakes to it. A little smoked sea salt and some white pepper.
The oven needs 170c fan.
Wash and brush the celeriac. Get off any dirt. Cut off the wriggly bit and place that down on baking paper. Brush the celeriac with olive oil and salt it. I added a little more seasoning from Trader Joe's
LIDL started American week this Thursday. The advertising leaflet had Tater Tots as one of the items on sale.
We have Kroketten here in Germany. They are bigger and without added cheese or chili. They are served as a side dish with all kinds of meat dishes that have a good amount of sauce.
I saw several YT videos and they served this kind of casserole on pot lucks, church events and parties. Preparing a large casserole serves a lot of people.
The recipe called for Campbell Cream of Mushroom Soup. That is not available here in supermarkets. I checked the isle of canned food and found two different mushroom soups. One was a cream soup with Chanterelle mushrooms, the other had Porccini mushrooms as the base flavor. I went for the Chanterelles.
And I used fresh green beans. I am no fan of canned green beans. And I added some leftover King Oyster mushrooms and a long green Turkish hot pepper to the beef.
Recipe for 2:
400 g beef mince, 1 white onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp oil, salt and pepper, thyme
150 g King Oyster mushrooms, 1 hot green pepper, 200 g green beans
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup, 70 g Cheddar grated, 400 g frozen Tater Tots
Top and tail the beans and cook them until just softened, drain in ice water.
Chop onion, garlic, green pepper and mushrooms.
Start the beef mince in a little oil in the pan. When it starts to get color, add the onion. After a couple of minutes, add the other veggies, season and cook for 10 - 15 min. Beef schould be brown.
Preaheat the oven 180 C fan.
Use a oven proof casserole and put the beef mix on the bottom. Pour 1/2 can of soup over. Add the green beans on top. Now sprinkle with cheese. The tater tots go on last. Press them a little in the mix.
Bake for 35 min.
This is an APRON recipe I found on YT.
The other thing I found was a can of pumpkin puree in my storage. I bought that last year to make pumpkin pie, but never done it.
These waffles are a step up from pie for me. During my many visits in America, I tried different slices of pumpkin pie and was seldom liking them much. Either too sweet, over spiced or soggy, they did not speak to my palate.
Recipe for 8 waffles, Belgian style:
120 g flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/8 tsp salt
70 g melted butter, 30 g sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 240 ml whole milk, 2 large eggs
Allspice, mixed spice, cinnamon 1/4 tsp each - or use what you like
Make the waffle batter and let it rest 30 min
Use a deep Belgian waffle iron and bake them 3 to 4 min.
Serve with Maple syrup
Not only are potato chunks embedded in the sausage, potatoes are part of the braised kale. Bratwurst with chunks of potatoes are sometimes found at a local butcher. The sausage part is spiced pork. The sausages are often a bit smoked.
Smoked pork is a key ingredient for braised kale. Lots and lots of it. In Germany's North there are special sausages made everywhere for the winter kale. The need for a clear high proof spirit is given. Even more then one.
I reduced the fat content by a good amount. I wont do as a honorary Northerner.
Recipe for 2:
350 g blanched kale, 1 large potato
1 onion, 75 g smoked bacon, 2 sausages with potato chunks, 1 tsp oil
150 ml veg stock, nutmeg, salt and pepper
Chop the blanched kale, the onion and cut the potato in bite size chunks.
In oil start the bacon. When it has a little color, add onion and kale. Let it cook 5 min, add potato chunks and season with nutmeg and pepper. Add tge veg stock and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 20 min. When the sausage is baked the day before, just cut it up and throw it in the pot after 15 min to heat through.
Check salt and seasoning and enjoy.
Stremel type salmon is hot smoked salmon. The fish is fully cooked. It is often used in salads and on lunch platters. It has a milder taste than the cold smoked salmon.
This is a quick lunch dish. It takes less then 30 minutes and you just need a pot and a pan.
Recipe for 2:
140 g spaghetti, 50 g frozen peas, 50 g sweet corn
1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 10 green pitted olives, 25 g butter
100 g Stremel salmon, 60 g cream cheese, 50 ml veg stock, salt and pepper, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika.
Chop onion, garlic and olives and put them in the pan with butter. Season and let the onions get translucent. Add stock, cream cheese and sweet corn.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water. 3 min before they are done, add the frozen peas.
Flake the salmon and add it to warm through. Mix in the peas and spaghetti
And Sweet Corn!
My BFF brought me a stalk of kale from her own garden. Calling it a stalk is the wrong word for it. A piece of a palm tree describes it better. It took a bit of work to get the dirt and the green maggots out. I needed to wash the greens a lot. 2 pieces went into a bag to eat raw, the bigger amount was cut off the stems and blanched in salted water for 4 min. An ice bath helped with keeping the leaves green.
There are traditional ways to cook it. They all come from the north of Germany. They are very hearty and often eaten with a lot of beer and clear Schnapps. Pork meat and sausages are cooked with the kale there.
I wanted Kale a lot less fatty and took one raw piece and cut it with a knife in thin strips. I boiled 2 potatoes and placed them with sweet corn out of a can in a bowl. A bit of Cheddar cheese went in too.
The salad dressing was rich and creamy.
Recipe for 1 as a main meal or 2 as a side:
1 piece of kale stalk, 1 spring onion, 2 medium potatoes cooked, 1 small can of sweet corn, 40 g shredded Cheddar cheese
dressing:
1 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tsp creme fraiche, 2 tbsp sunflower oil, 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp water,
Smoked sea salt, pepper, dried salad herbs, a dash agave syrup.
The slow cooker was still on my work top from lamb shank dish. Before taking it back into storage in the basement, it was used once again.
Since I had Congee for the first time at the Dubai Airport restaurant, I wanted to make it the proper way. That means with lots of time. Best way for that method is my trusty slow cooker. And I wanted to start my day with a breakfast congee.
In the evening I put all essential ingredients in the slow cooker and closed the lid. The smell that started during the night was awesome and I was looking forward for my breakfast in the morning.
Ingredients for 4:
3 chicken legs- whole with skin and bones
200 g Jasmine rice - 3 times washed
5 slices of fresh ginger, smashed, 1 bay leaf, 1 1/2 tsp salt
700 ml water
topping:
2 hard boiled eggs, spring onions, parsley, light soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds
Place the ingredients in the slow cooker, close the lid and turn it on low for 9 hours. Get the chicken legs out and strip off the meat and fish all the bones out. If the congee is a bit too thick for your taste, use hot veg or chicken stock to loosen it a bit.
Pour a portion in a bowl and garnish it with 2 quarters of egg, greens and sesame seeds and a little bit of soy sauce. Enjoy.
Coco Curry is a Chain Restaurant you can find all over Japan. That was the place where I fell in love with Japanese Curry or Kare Raisu.
I made curry rice before. But this is the first time I used chicken breast. I had only a sweet potato and carrot and some green pieces of leek. Using what you have at home is the way to go in this dish. There is no rule against it. Later the whole dish will be brought together by the Japanese curry roux.
I used medium hot Golden Curry. The thickness of the curry sauce comes from the roux. On the package 4 blocks of roux equal 800 ml stock. I used 3,5 blocks on 900 ml stock. I hate Curry that is too gloopy for my taste.
Recipe for 3:
450 g chicken breast, vegetable oil
1 sweet potato, 2 carrots, 100 g leek greens, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, pepper, salt
500 ml chicken stock, 400 ml dashi stock, 4 blocks of Japanese curry roux.
1 tbsp Worchestet Sauce, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Cut the breast in bite size pieces. Cut the onion in strips. In a bigger pot hest kp the okl and give both a couple of minutes. Chop the other veggies and toss them in.
Use granulated dashi stock and chicken stock cubes for the two stocks. Season with a little salt and pepper. Cook for 20 min.
Chop the roux blocks into small slithers. Take a ladle or a small strainer and put some pices in. Hold them in the hot liquid and dissolve them. Do the same with the others. Heat up the curry again to let the roux thicken. When it has the right consistency, pull it off the heat and add Worchester sauce and soy sauce.
Serve with rice.
