Burrata Mango Croissant Sandwich

This is weird, but very tasty.

I went to the local bakery in the morning to pick up 2 croissants. When I checked the price of one, I thought about the month I bought the last one there, December 2022. I payed €1,20 then ( still a lot higher than before). Today I payed €1,60 = € 3,20 for 2. 

The combination with caramelized mango and creamy burrata is awesome.

First you have to flatten the croissants. A great idea when you just cleaned the kitchen floor before.

Use a mango that is not too ripe. It has to survive the caramelizing in the pan without disintegrating.

Ingredients:

2 croissants

1 Burrata

1/2 mango

1 tbsp honey

Some basil, butter, olive oil, balsamic cream, salt, pepper

Flatten the croissants and expect lots of flaky crumbs all over the place. Heat up some butter in a wide pan and sear the croissants on both sides. Keep flattening them in the pan too. Get them out and set aside.

Cut off one side of the mango and peel it. Shape it a bit round with a knife and flat on the top side. Get honey in the pan and caramelize the mango. Season with salt and pepper.

Build the sandwich: 1 croissant, mango, ripped open Burrata, fresh basil, salt and pepper. Sprizz some olive oil and a balsamic vinegar cream on top and set the second croissant over it.

Laksa Base Package from Singapore

Not only jars of Kaya jam are now in my cupboards, but 2 nice looking packages of Laksa.

The first one was opened today. Clear recipe in English on the back with all the ingredients and measures. Only one ingredient was not in house. I exchanged it. For an other one, I only needed to run down to the basement and grab my Japanese fish cake stick. I buy these randomly at the Asia Go supermarket and throw them in my freezer.

At the fishmonger I bought 10 large precooked prawns and a piece of salmon skewert on a lemongrass stick. The salmon hopped in the pan just to sear on both sides for 3 min. It finished in the hot stock.

The fish cake was defrosted in the microwave. Then cooked in the broth.

The Mungbean noodles softened in hot water and went in the broth last. 

The Laksa package contained the Laksa sauce and the coconut milk powder.

Kaya Toast

A good friend of mine made a business trip to Singapore. Before she left, she asked me what I wanted from there.

Kaya Jam was my first choice and Laksa paste my second.

I have seen many videos from Hawker stalls offering Kaya Toast with a runny egg as a breakfast item. That made me curious.

Kaya is coconut jam, either pure or with Pandan extract. I tried a couple of times to order some online, but it was nowhere available. But now I have both varieties.

Making some toast and spreading butter on top was the first thing I did. I only opened the jar with the original version. The eggs were very soft boiled and the combination was just great.

Meringues - easy peasy

I needed 2 egg yolks for the cream sauce with ham, now 2 egg whites are sitting in my fridge.

Desserts are a good way to get rid of these. And 2 egg whites are just enough to make a decent amount of meringues.

I tried to get a bit more taste and color in them. But the sprinkle with Dragonfruit Macha powder was not enough to get one or both of them. In the end it was more important for me to have real blobs of baked goodies for further use done.

Meringues take a long timd to dry, but stay a bit soft in the middle. There are so many baking options depending on time or temperature. This time I took the route: Long and Slow.

Recipe for 10:

2 large egg whites

100 g sugar

Pinch of salt

a few drops of lemon juice

Dragenfruit powder

Preheat the oven 90 C fan.

Use a bit of the lemon first to wipe out your bowl and the whisks. No fat particles allowed in the bowl.

Beat the egg whites with salt to soft peaks. Add the sugar, fruit powder and lemon juice and beat until glossy.

Either use a piping bag or two spoons and baking paper.

Bake for 2 hours, open the oven 10 cm and let the Meringues cool down inside. Store in an airtight container.

Summer Garden Food at Goethe University Frankfurt

I helped a good friend for her project day at the University. The Goethe Uni is Germany's 6th largest Uni with 45 000 students.

After we finished work, she invited me to join her in the Summer Garden Bistro on Campus. This is smack in the middle of the huge Universities Western Campus. Sitting under old trees is a wonderful thing at 32 C in the late afternoon.

The prices are reasonable and it was a busy time there.

To check the quality of the food, we ordered 3 different things from the menu and sat down with our drinks and a pacer. It took about 10 minutes and the food was ready.

The burger had a bread roll baked on Campus, no soft sweet bun. But that went very well with the robust mountain cheese slice and the well seasoned beef patty. Very tasty.

A half hen (chicken) from the turning grill stick is a must on any outdoor venue. The food trucks with these are seen on various locations all over the country. The same built in grill was used here stationary. Absolutely like old times, when I went out during lunch break at different offices on different days of the week to get a half grilled chicken.

The third dish was an Enchilada (or what the Bistro thought it was) stuffed with a hot TexMex beef, corn and beans mix. Topped with a Mayo kind sour cream. The stuffing tasted good, but there is room for improvement.

Pasta with creamy Ham sauce

Who does not love a cream sauce with ham combined with some short pasta?

It is no Alfredo sauce, it is no Carbonara!

The combination is pretty simple. Just use cooked ham, some greenery, cream, eggs and cheese.

The right cooking method is the way to a perfect dish.

Recipe for 2:

225 g short elbow pasta- eggless

100 g cooked ham, 2 egg yolks, 65 g Grana Padano, 200 ml double cream

1 green onion, 2 young garlic cloves, 1 tbsp butter

Pepper, parsley, smoked paprika

Grate the cheese, separate the eggs and use only the yolks.

Cook the pasta in salted water. Chop onion and garlic and saute them in butter for 4 min. Cut the ham slices in smaller chunks. Add them to the pan.

After 3 more min dump in the cream and season with pepper and paprika.

Mix the yolks with 2/3 of the cheese and add 1/4 cup of pasta water to it. Loosen it up.

Drain the pasta, put in the pan and get that off the heat. Dump all the egg and cheese mix over it and stir until you have a creamy sauce. Finish with parsley.

Chicken and Ginger Soup Taiwanese style

I am fighting a fever for 2 days now. Chicken soup is the helper in many countries for the sick. The large amount of ginger should help too.

I watch YT SCHOOL OF WOK from Covent Garden for a while now. They came up with this Taiwanese soup recipe. Since I had bought 2 chicken legs for an other recipe, but had all other ingredients at home, it was easy to switch to this soup.

Recipe for 2:

2 chicken legs, 

60 g ginger, 2 large spring onions

250 ml rice wine (Sake), 600 ml chicken stock

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp cooking oil, 1 tsp dark toasted sesame oil

Wide rice noodles (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 C fan. Season the chicken legs and put them in the oven for 25 min.

Cut the ginger in slices and the green from the spring onion in 4 cm parts, chop the whites. Saute both in oil for 5 min.

Add the rice wine and let it cook 5 min to get rid of the alcohol. Pour in the stock and cook on low until the chicken can be transfered to the pot. Cook for 3 more min and season with some pepper and sesame oil.

Add the noodles to the soup.

I can say that the soup really helped me to feel better.

 

Raspberry Yogurt Cake

I found this recipe in Austrian's first Food Magazin: GUSTO.

A Summer cake to take away to meet a good friend and enjoy the hot afternoon sun. The recipe is basically for a biscuit cake with added fresh seasonal fruits. Now is the best time for raspberries.

The method is easy. I only had to use Lactose free dairy products, because my friend is lactose intolerant. But the supermarkets now have lots of these products. Buying butter, milk and Greek yogurt lactose free was no problem.

One problem I always have, finding the right size baking dish. They recommended a 30x12x6 cm sized loaf tin. It took some shuffling around to find one that mostly fitted the recipe. I have so many different ones, but never the ones I need. But having so many round, large, square shaped ones, does never solve the problem. Now I make do with what I own and do not buy any more. 

Recipe for cake with 12 portions:

150 g soft unsalted butter

200 g sugar

2 large free range eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste

1 tsp organic lemon peel

200 g ap flour

1tsp baking powder

120 g Greek yogurt

4 tbsp whole milk

300 g raspberries

Extra butter and breadcrumbs for the baking dish, extra flour

Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Cream butter and sugar together for 5 min. Add the eggs, one after the other, mixing in between.  Add all other ingredients except the raspberries.

Put 250 g rasperries in a bowl and use a tea sieve to coat them with some flour. Use a spatula and carefully fold them in the batter.

Coat the loaf tin with butter and then with breadcrumbs. Fill the batter in and bake for 50 min.

Cool down in the loaf tin for 20 min and then topple out on a wire rack to cool down. Put the other raspberries on top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

  

Noodle Soup Asian style

The noodles I used were Somen. 

Even on a hot day a hot and salty soup is something I sometimes crave. Like a hot tea or coffee during these days.

I used up some leftovers and created a rich creamy soup with adding Miso and Tahini to a homemade chicken stock.

The soups remind me of Japanese soups, but not Ramen.

Ingredients:

130 g Somen

125 g cooked ground beef/pork with onions and pepperoni paste

450 ml chicken stock

2 tsp Tahini, 2 tsp white Miso, 2 tbsp Soy sauce, 1 tbsp Mirin

Sencho pepper, toasted sesame seeds

2 red radishes, 1 spring onion, 4 tbsp parsley

1 soft boiled egg

Cook the Somen first and wash them under cold water. Heat up the stock, add Miso and Tahini and melt that. 

Add other ingredients and cook for 2 min. Place the Somen in a bowl, add the soup and the egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Sausage filled Puff Pastry

The idea for this bake comes from TIK TOK.

But it really was only the idea. I wanted to up the game and use better quality ingredients.

What I saw was just ketchup, grated Mozzarella and Hot Dogs wrapped in puff pastry.

Put the puff pastry on a oven wire rack with the baking paper still on it and press down some indentations. That makes the room for the filling.

Germany is well known to be something like the sausage world champion. I went to the butcher and bought some very tasty Wiener sausages.

Ketchup was not an option. I used some Brushetta paste for the bottom and layered it with Allgäu mountain cheese. Some Italian dried herbs on top and then I placed a Wiener on it. An other layer of Brushetta paste? No way! Now a layer of Ayvar, the Balkan paprika paste. More cheese and seasoning and a good amount of freshly ground pepper.

The other part of the puff pastry went on top, brushed with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame seeds white and black.

Baked at 200 C fan for 12 min.

Cucumber and Radish Salad

Hot and humid days are calling for fridge cold salads.

What's better then to use the fresh in the morning picked cucumbers from my plant behind the house.

The mandoline was still sitting on the kitchen counter and a couple of red round radishes were sitting in the fridge.

I bought a bundle of fresh dill and flat leave parsley today at the Turkish supermarket. The bundles are huge and the prices are still low there.

Salad dressing:

3 tbsp creme fraiche, 1tsp olive oil

2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp agave syrup

Lemon salt, pepper, Italian dried herbs

Fresh parsley and lots of fresh dill

Rest in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.

Tropea Onion and Gorgonzola Pizza

The last 2 onions from my trip to Calabria are going in some dishes in the next days, I thought on Sunday. 

I decided to go for pizza. Some leftover pizza flour (just 85 g) and regular AP flour went in my Thermomix with the other ingredients to make a dough. In a covered bowl it rested about 90 min in the livingroom. Outside temp is high today and it is warm inside too.

The base done, I needed some inspiration what to put on the pizza with the Tropea onion. A chunk of Gorgonzola sitting in the fridge was a great second ingredient.

I did not use a tomato sauce base. Instead I mixed creme fraiche with Calabrien hot Peperoncini paste. Very spicy! That left a beautiful pink color on the pizza and gave it a light hot taste.

Ingredients:

230 g flour (pizza flour and AP flour)

200 ml warm water, 1 tsp dry yeast, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp olive oil

1 large red mild onion (tropea onion)

50 g Gorgonzola, parsley

2 heaped tsp creme fraiche, 1/3 tsp hot peperoni paste

Salt, pepper, Italian herbs

Bake at 250 C for 12 min.