Chicken and Buckwheat Soup

Buckwheat as a soup ingredient is uncommon here. I bought the buckwheat at a special store of Eastern Europe foods.

I sometimes use buckwheat flour for galettes or 15 % of buckwheat to wheat flour. It does not have gluten. 

On my grocery shopping trip to France I bought free range chicken drumsticks and a huge bag of Pot au Feu vegetables.

Recipe for 3:

6 drumsticks, 1,2 l chicken stock, 1 tbsp oil

Cabbage, celeriac, leek, carrots, yellow beet, onion

Salt, pepper, dried majoram.

2 servings of buckwheat

Cook the buckwheat separately. After 12 min let them steam out.

Season the drumsticks and fry them in a little oil in a large pot. Chop all veggies and toss them in the pot. Fill up with chicken stock. Cook the soup for 25 min.

Add the buckwheat and check the seasoning. Finish with fresh ground black pepper.

Tandoori Turkey Breast

After many many month I was back grocery shopping in France. I checked up all new products offered and found a couple of items.

In the spice rack some seasoning packages were available. The Tandoori one was the one that fell in the shopping cart.

A pretty easy way to have a Tandoori flavoured dish without the huge clay oven.

The recipe called for chicken breast. I had bought turkey breast slices. Worked fine. 

Ingredients for 2:

350 g turkey breast, 1 Tandoori spice pack

1 tbsp oil, 1 yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves

200 ml double cream, salt and pepper

Cut the meat in 3-4 cm cubes, chop onion and garlic.

Heat up the oil in a pan and toss all 3 ingredients in. Give them 6-8 min to cook through. Add the spice pack and on reduced heat give it 2 min.

Now in with the cream and cook it for 5 more min. Serve with Basmati rice.

 

Angelhair Pasta with Honey Garlic Sauce

A quick dish for a time when cooking is not your favourite during stressful period of day

Not many ingredients are needed. The time the pasta needs is the time the sauce gets done.

It is not a very healthy way to eat pasta. Just serving pasta without meat or seafood does not make it generally speaking healthier. A good amount of butter, lots of honey and some cheese.

The more intense the taste of the honey is, the better will be the sauce. I had some honey from the French island of Corsica.  Dark Maccia Honey.

Recipe for 1:

125 g angelhair pasta

3 cloves of garlic, 40 g butter, dried thyme, Italian dried herbs

3 heaped tsp intense honey, chili salt, pepper

2 tbsp grated Parmesan 

Cook the pasta. Melt the butter and add the chopped garlic. After 4 min add honey and herbs

Use some pasta water to loosen the sauce a bit. Season and transfer the pasta strait from the pot in the pan. 

Mix in some Parmesan.

 

Green Bean Salad Italian style

Cook a lot of fresh green beans and use some for a salad. 

There are so many ways to prepare green beans as a salad. This time I looked outside of Germany and went down South. Instead of fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes are a good choice too. But fresh ones are my favourite.

Fresh tomatoes, olives out of a jar and some cubes of a great cheese is all you will need.

Keep the dressing light and let the ingredients speak for themselves.

This is a good salad to take to a BBQ or to a party. It will stay crisp and keep a while.

Ingredients:

200 g cooked green beans

6 cherry tomatoes, 8 green olives, 30 g Tyrolian Mountain cheese or Cheddar cubed

Dressing:

Fleur de Sel, mixed ground pepper, Italian dried herbs, 2 tbsp pink balsamic vinegar, 4 tbsp olive oil

I had a large jar of black olive rings in the fridge. The jar was just 2 weeks open, but it had already gone off. I had to through it out. I used green olives instead.

Breakfast Egg Tortilla

An open package of soft corn tortillas comes with 8 pieces here. After two filled Tex Mex Tortillas I have to look for ideas to use up the others.

The usual wraps you get here everywhere are something I try not to eat. Cold tortilla with a cold filling reminds me of eating cardboard.  I needed an other way to get rid of my tortillas.

The first idea I found was on Pinterest. Easy to prepare and a great breakfast.

Use a pan more or less the size of the tortilla.

One large egg is enough. Just give it 45 sec in a buttered pan, then drop the tortilla on top. 

Ingredients for 1:

1 corn tortilla, 1 large free range egg, 1 tsp butter, salt and pepper

2 slices American cheddar cheese, 4 small slices salami, 2 romana lettuce leaves

Mousse au "Hot" Chocolate

It is not an error that Hot Chocolate is the name of this dessert.  It can be found as Mousse au Chocolate by Hands Touch on Pinterest.

The quick video is nice and the amount of ingredients is very low. No eggs, no alcohol and no chocolate! But the video does not show the amount of time needed to get go the stage of finishing the dessert. 

The moment I made the base and looked in the pot, I knew that I had a long time to spent at the stove.

Basically, this dessert is a Hot Chocolate and whipped cream.

Ingredients for 4 pots:

500 ml whole milk

25 g Van Houten cocoa - I used Red Cameroon cocoa (that is richer and less sweet)

80 g sugar, 50 g coconut flower sugar

Pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

250 g double cream

In a high pan or a casserole combine sugars, cocoa and salt. Add milk and stir well und bring to a boil on medium high heat. Stir very well and often to prevent burning and keep it from boiling over.

Now the funpart starts: on medium high heat reduce the hot chocolate until it is a thick dark cream. When you hold up a spoon, it falls down in ribbons. Don't forget to stir constantly!

That can take 30 min or more. I transfered the hot chocolate to a wide non stick pan. The bigger the surface area is, the faster the liquid reduces.

Transfer to a bowl and let it cool down completely. Beat the double cream to soft peaks. Pour in the chocolate cream and use an electric hand whisk and beat it until it is mousse like.

Divide in 4 dessert jars and let it set in the fridge for 2 hours. Grate some dark chocolate on top.

Bobotie - South African baked dish

The first bite took me back to my trip to South Africa 5 years ago. I had been to a Braai with the tour group. Bobotie was one of the many dishes served that evening.

But mine is a lot tastier and a bit spicy! This recipe is a win.

The spice blend in this dish shows the diversity of the Rainbow Nation South Africa. 

Recipe for 3:

250 g beef mince, 1 small dinner roll

60 g red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp tumeric, 1/2 tsp cinnamon

30 g sultanines, salt, pepper

2 eggs, 50 ml double cream, 3 bay leaves

Soak the roll in water for 20 min, squeeze the water out.

Preheat the oven 160 C fan.

Chop onion and garlic and soften them in oil

Add to beef, bread  tomato paste, curry, tumeric, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Mix it well together. Now all of it back in the pan and with a spatula make it into a fine crumb until it id brown.

Now add sultanas, Mango chutney and apricot jam and cook for 3 more min.

Butter a baking dish and fill the cooked mux in. Make it even.

Crack the eggs and mix them with the cream. Add salt and pepper. Pour it over the meat and stick the bay leaves on top.

Bake in the oven for 25 min.

Serve with cashew rice.

Banana Bread Fritters from Western Africa -vegan

These shallow fried Banana bread fritters go great with the Peanut soup from Western Africa. It is a regional dish too.

After having it today, I know a new and tasty way to get rid of blackened bananas. Combine them with ingredients that are a staple in my household and without any fuss have a great snack.

I shared some with my neighbor. She loved all kinds of sweet banana breads I shared with her. This saoury kind could be a winner here too.

Recipe for 2:

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 yellow onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 knob of ginger, 1 yellow chilli

6 - 7 tbsp flour, salt, pepper

Oil for shallow frying

Cut onion, garlic, chilli and ginger very fine.

Mix with mashed bananas and add enough flour to make a sticky but creamy batter. Season.

Put enough oil in a wide pan that the bottom is covered. Use 2 tablespoons and drop batter in the hot oil. Cook on both sides until they have a nice color. Drain on kitchen paper.

Eat warm or reheat.

Peanut Soup from Western Africa- vegan

I seldom cook African recipes. After I ate this soup I have to ask myself, why the hell not?

It is vegan! But rich and fullbodied. Reading the recipe from our Organic Supermarket ALNATURA, I thought that the soup would be on the thin side. But absolutely not.

I changed some of the recipe and made it my way. It can be eaten with savoury banana fritters.

Recipe for 3:

200 g roasted unsalted peanuts

1 yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves, 1 red  chili

2 tbsp oil, 1/2 can chopped tomatoes

700 ml veg stock, 250 ml coconut milk

4-5 tbsp peanut butter, 2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 bunch coriander, salt, pepper

Chop the peanuts a bit. Chop onion, garlic and chili. Heat oil in a pot and toss all of it in. Give it 2 min to saute, add tomatoes and veg stock. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 15 min.

Add coconut milk and peanut buttet and lemon juice. Use a stick blender to make a creamy soup.

Check the seasoning and add fresh coriander.

 

Quesadillas with Beef Mince and Jalapeños

This is originally a Gordon Ramsay recipe, but I tweaked it my style.

I cooked Beef, Beans and Rice this week and from the beef mince in the pan was one third left over. The Quesadilla recipe came in the right time to use up the cooked beef.

With the added kidney beans, tomatoes from a can and spices the beef mince had a Tex Mex vibe.

My jar of North Mazedonian hot pickled peppers blew the dish out of the ball park. They are super spicy and sour.

Recipe for 2 tortillas:

2 corn tortillas

180 g beef mince, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, beef stock powder, 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 can chopped tomatoes, 1 small can Kidney beans, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, couple of Tabasco splashes

50 g grated cheddar, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 spring onion, 2 pickled hot peppers, sour cream

Preheat the oven 200 C fan. 

Cook beef mince until brown, add onions snd garlic, stock powder, water and salt and pepper. Cook for 10 min. Add chopped tomatoes, drained beans and seasoning. Set aside.

Place baking paper on a baking sheet. Brush the top of the tortilla with oil and flip over.

Fill one side with cheddar, spring onion and hot pepper chunks and the other side with the beef and bean mix. Fold the cheese side over.

Stick in the oven for 10 min. Serve with sour cream.

Trout Filets in sour marinate

This is a recipe from Austrian Chef Elisabeth Grabmer from Linz.

I love marinated fish. When I was a kid, my Mom often bought whole herrings, cleaned and baked them. They had to rest in a sour marinate with onions and spices for a couple of days. They were served with fresh bread and butter. 

When I read the recipe and saw the ingredients of the marinate, Mom's herring marinate popped up in my head. It had nearly the same ingredients. Only lime was not available.

The downside of the herring cooking process was the heavy smell for one or two days. I was looking forward to the trout.  No smell at all!

Ingredients for 2:

2 trout filets, 1 tbsp rapeseed oil

4 shallots, 1/2 lime, 8 black peppercorns

1 clove, 5 juiniper berries, 1/4 tsp salt

20 g white sugar, 250 ml water, 200 ml white vinegar, 3 sprigs of Thyme, 2 bay leaves

Take all bones out of the trout filets. In oil in a pan, sear them on the skin side for 3 min, turn over 1 min and take out of the pan to cool down.

Cut the shallots in rings.

In a pot heat up the other ingredients, except the lime. Bring it up to a boil and set aside to cool down.

Place the trout in a shallow bowl, cut the lime in slices and add them. Pour the marinate over and let it sit 2 to 3 hours.

Serve with buttered toast.