Bicol Express Filipino style

This recipe is from YT Beryl Shereshewski episode about spicy food.

One ingredient is Baboong - a fermented shrimp paste from the Philipines. But not availabe here. But the Thai fermented shrimp paste is a funky and strong as the one used in the video.

I took a couple of my own mini birdeye chilis for the sauce, this years harvest was plentiful. The green ones are spicy Turkish ones. I work with what I can get around here.

The additional kick came from red chili paste. The funk from the shrimp paste. And yes, that funk was to smell the whole afternoon in my kitchen.

Recipe for 2:

350 g pork belly, skin off

400 ml coconut cream 

2 medium yellow onions

5 garlic cloves

3 green chilis

7 red birdseye chili

1 tsp chili paste

Salt, pepper

2 tsp Thai fermented shrimp paste

1 tsp potato starch + 2 tbsp water

Jasmine rice

Cut the pork belly in small bite size chunks. Peel and chop onions and garlic.

Clean the green chilis anf get the seeds out. Use the little red ones whole.

Start the Jasmine rice.

Without oil start the pork belly and give it 3 minutes to render some fat. Add onions and garlic. 3 more minutes to cook.

Now in with the chilis. Let them take heat. Now salt and pepper to the pan. Next the coconut cream

Cook a lot longer and taste the sauce. If it is not spicy enough, some red chili paste helps.

Too much liquid? Make a slurry with starch and bind the sauce. Serve on rice.

 

 

 

 

 

Combinazione al Forno

Pistenklause, Nürburg Part 3!

Today was the final day of Tourist Drives and it ended with a parade around the Nordschleife with good 400 cars. Hazard lights on, honking and greeting Marshalls and Photographs around the entire track. It blew me away! Even the next day I was still flashed.

But the last lap of the season 2025 was breathtaking and very emotional for me. In a short time I came a long way and this last drive showed it to me.

Beeing out in the cold from 8:45 AM until 5 PM took its toll. Temperatures from 3C to 6 C not the most pleasant.

A hot plate of pasta al forno with a thick layer of cheese on top was what I needed. And it was steaming hot.

I pulled the cheese to the edge to get steam out. The combinazione was mostly tortellini, spaghetti and short rigatoni in bolognese sauce.

I could not finish it, the amount of tortellini killed my appetite.

Coco Panna Cotta with Kaki

There is no dairy in this cooked cream, the name leads you in a wrong direction.

It is the first panna cotta without double cream and gelatine

I used a very rich and thick coconut cream and a little bit of it to dissolve the cornstarch in it. A small amount of sugar substitut and some dessicated coconut. I filled it in 3 dessert bowls, it needed 2 hours to get solid.

The kakis were cooked in lemon juice, Bailoni Apricot liqueur and a bit of lemon soda. They needed 15 minutes to get mushy. But a stickblender helped too.

It needed to cool down as well.  Some chopped pistacchios as a final topping are great.

Ingredients for 3:

500 ml coconut cream

3 tbsp cornstarch

3 g More vanilla sweetener

4 tbsp dessicated coconut

2 ripe kaki

1 lemon juiced

75 ml Bailoni

50 ml lemon soda

3 tsp chopped pistacchios

 

 

Puff Pastry filled with Chicken, Spinach and Mozzarella

My main Thanksgiving dish was a log of puff pastry.

From the Deli counter wafer thin cooked chicken breast, defrosted spinach leaves, pumpkin seeds and mozzarella.

Each layer was seasoned individually to round the taste. Pepper on the chicken, salt and nutmeg on the spinach and Italian seasoning on the mozzarella.

I used a fold over strip method to close the pastry. But if you want it simple, just fold the sides over.

Brush it with egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Bake at 200 C for 20 to 25 min.

Ingredients:

1 rectangular butter puff pastry

200 g cooked Deli chicken breast 

300 g defrosted and squeezed out spinach

30 g pumpkin seeds

125 g mozzarella ball

Salt, pepper, nutmeg, Italian seasoning

1 egg yolk

2 tsp black sesame seeds

Kaki wrapped in Bacon

A simple starter for todays Thanksgiving Dinner. Sweet and savoury goes well together.

I used the riper ones for this starter. Just washed them and cut the top off. Set them bottom up on a cutting board and you will see the 4 lines. Cut along them.

Use freshly ground pepper to season the kaki. No salt needed, the bacon is already salty. Wrap a slice around the quarter and place it on a baking sheet. Put a little rosemary in top and drizzle honey on it.

Preheat the oven 160 C fan and bake for 12 min.

Ingredients for 2:

2 kaki

100 g smoked bacon

1 twig rosemary

2 tsp honey

Black pepper

Pizza at Pistenklause Nürburg

Second evening at the Green Hell. It was a cold, wet and very slippery day on track.

In the afternoon I was freezing and went back to the hotel to defrost.

The restaurant is in the basement and no more running around in the cold.

The Italian restaurant is there since 1996 and they have a lot of pizza choices.

Mine was Pizza Quattro Stagioni.

After that I was looking for a dessert and went for Zabaglione with ice cream.

Birthday Dinner at Pistenklause Nürburg

The racetrack Green Hell will be open the last time this year on the weekend. I decided to drive up on Friday and enjoy a good dinner. The restaurant is part of the Hotel am Tiergarten, where I am staying over the weekend.

I reserved a table at the hotel desk last week and told the lady that it was my birthday dinner.

I orderd Saltimbocca Romanese with French fries. It came with a side salad and rolls.  The saltimbocca was very thin pork schnitzel with sage and Parma ham on top in a smooth sauce. A mountain of fries on the side. I only ate half of them.

I had a digestive AVERNA on ice with lemon and was astonished as the waiter more or less talked me in to order a dessert. I choose ice cream.

That plate came with a Sparkler sticking out of the ice cream. Nice.

Lemons deep fried with Greek Yogurt and Za'taar

I found a bag of organic seedless lemons in the supermarket. And I knew I had a piece of paper with a written recipe somewhere in my recipe box.

Then I saw the note on the top of the paper: BERYL. I looked up the YT video about lemons again.

Pretty easy and using the mandoline was the best advice. That keeps the slices in the same thickness and they look good after frying.

The batter is simple, just flour, semolina and buttermilk. Season it with white pepper and a bit of lemon salt.

The dip contains Greek yogurt, Za'taar, lemon juice, agave syrup, salt and pepper.

Just toss the lemon slices in the thick batter and fry it until it takes some color. Put the slices in a rack.

Batter:

1/3 cup flour

4 tbsp semolina

Buttermilk to make a thicker batter

White pepper

 

Brussel Sprouts masked

My Winter challenge today are Brussel Sprouts, a vegetable I hate as long as I can remember.

Every year I try new recipes that make me enjoy the only vegetable I do not like. 

Masking the sprouts with other dominant flavours is a way to make this vegetable edible for me. But I know one thing from the many times I made them, I can not reheat them. 

Then the mask is off! I saw my neighbor in the morning, she likes Brussel Sprouts and took the leftovers to prevent them going in the organic waste bin.

Recipe:

500 g Brussel Sprouts

Olive oil

Smoked Salt and Pepper

5 tiny red chili

2 garlic cloves

1 organic lemon zest and juice

4 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp grated Grana Padano

Fresh parsley

Cut off the bottom off the sprouts and peel off the outer layers and dark parts. Cut through the middle and run them under a water faucet.

Use a very wide pan with olive oil covering the bottom. Place all sprouts middle down in the pan at medium high heat. Salt and cook them for 4 min. Turn every single piece to cook the other side.

Now add chili, chopped garlic, grate the zest on top and squeeze the juice in. Add pepper.

Now the vinegar and the cheese. Finish with fresh chopped parsley

Enjoy it hot.

Bubble Waffles with Kaba

I had an idea how to get rid of more Kaba - Waffles.

My Bubble Waffle iron was sitting around and had no work to do in a long time. 

I looked at my recipes here on the blogs and used the standart one for three waffles. The only change was the tiny amount of sugar to Kaba. Since the chocolate drink is basically sugary, it went in instead.

Now the waffles are not overly sweet and a bit of icing sugar on top is good. I only served them with some whipped cream.

Recipe for 3 waffles:

125 g flour

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

25 g Kaba

10 g sugar

2 eggs

60 g melted unsalted butter

110 ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing sugar

Get the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add vanilla and eggs. Use a whisk. Add milk and at last the butter. Let the batter rest for 20 min.

Use baking spray or oil for the iron. Bake 3 waffled

 

One Pot Pollo con Patate e Piselli

YT Pizziaolo Luigi prepared an other dish from Naples, Italy. It's chicken with peas on a bed of potatoes and onions.

All recipes I have cooked from him made me smile. I always change little bits to my taste, but all over the recipe stands.

This is so easy and only peeling potatoes, onion and garlic isn't too much work. I added garlic cloves and some of my tiny red chilis.

Recipe for 3:

3 chicken legs

6 medium large potatoes

1 stalk fresh rosemary

1 tsp herbes de Provence

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

5 mini chili

150 ml white wine

200 g defrosted peas

Salt and pepper

Fresh parsley

Preheat the oven 200 C.

Cut the potatoes in wedges, season with rosemary and herbes de Provence, add salt and pepper and olive oil. Add to s baking dish. 

Pat the chicken legs dry and season them with salt and pepper. Put on top of the potatoes. Cut the onion in wider strips and pull them apart. Spread around. Add peeled garlic and chili.

Pour the wine over and scrape out the remains of the olive oil from the potatoes over.

Bake for 30 min, then turn the chicken legs and get the temp down to 180 C fan for 15 min.

Now add the peas and turn the chicken legd again. Bake for 15 more min. Add parsley and serve.

 

Doner Meat homemade - viral trend

Doner and Curry Wurst - the two most iconic Fastfoods here in Germany.

The prices for a Doner are constantly rising since the last 4 years. Around 10 Euro now in most places, but more expensive in other places.

I do not know who came up with the homemade version of seasoned meat spread on baking paper and folded up and baked in the oven. But that person is a genius.

Get the ground meat you like: beef or lamb or chicken. Add Turkish yogurt, an onion and lots of seasoning and mash it with your hands.

Between 2 sheets of baking paper with a rolling pin spread it out as thin as possible. Peel off the upper layer of baking paper and fold it up from one side, about 1 inch wide. 

Make as many rolled papers as you have meat. Preheat your oven 200 C. 

Put the used upper paper on the baking sheet and lay the rolled papers on top. Bake for 20 minutes. Then unroll and rip apart the meat.

Prepare a yogurt dip with or without garlic and add salad, tomato and onion to the bread.

Ingredients:

340 g ground beef 

3 tbsp Turkish yogurt

1 /2 lemon juiced

1 small onion, grated

1 /2 tsp ground cumin, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, pul biber, salt and pepper, sumac