Asparagus Oven baked on Burrata

This is a great lunch dish!

Preheat the oven 180 C fan.

The oven does most of the work. Just break off the bottoms of the green asparagus and toss the asparagus on a baking sheet. 

Salt and pepper and 2 tsp of Gochugaru hot pepper flakes and a good spritz of olive oil.

Bake for 18 minutes. During this time, just drain the liquid from the Burrata and place it on a plate and rip it apart and smear all over it.

A bit of pepper helps and then get the hot asparagus on top. A bit of fresh dill and a good drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Ingredients:

500 g green asparagus

1 Burrata

Olive oil spray

Salt, pepper

Gochugaru

Dark balsamic glaze

Fresh dill

Cod Oven baked in Curry Cream

Gratin de Cabillaud à la Crème au Curry.

Sounds tasty and it is. The prepartion is very fast. I used frozen pieces of cod. Just thawed them and patted them dry and seasoned the cod with lemon salt and pepper.

Onion and garlic was chopped and softened in butter. The creme fraiche was mixed with the potato starch. It takes a bit until it dissolves in the creme.  When the onions are soft, add double cream and milk and bring to a boil. Now it is time to stir in the potato starch mix. Beware of lumps and stir unstantly until it is combined. Now on medium heat, let it thicken.

In goes curry powder and lemon juice and some of the dill. Season now with salt and pepper. Now finish with the Parmesan.

Pour a little bit of it on the bottom of an oven proof dish and set the cod on top. The sauce goes on top to cover the cod completely. 

Put it in the oven at 170 C fan for 25 min. I served it with mashed potatoes.

Recipe:

475 g cod defrosted

1 small yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp butter

200 ml double cream

150 ml whole milk

50 g creme fraiche + 4 tsp potato starch

1 1/2 tsp curry powder

35 g grated Parmesan

1/2 bunch dill

Salt, pepper

White Asparagus Salad with Advocaat Dressing

This dressing sounds so strange - but tastes so good.

Foodboom on Insta made it yesterday and started his recipe with drinking a shotglass of Advocaat Egg Liqueur. I thought: ???

Then he peeled the white asparagus and cut them in 1 cm pieces. Next an onion in strips.

Most of his recipes he starts with a knob of butter in a pan or pot. This time too. Then onion and asparagus pieces went in. Seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked until done.

The dressing then was the interesting part: zest and juice of a lemon, chives, salt and pepper and a good amount of egg liqueur.

The cooled asparagus onion mix went in and was stirred through.

Ingredients:

500 g white asparagus

1 red onion

1 tbsp butter

Salt, pepper

Zest + juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp fresh chives

50 ml Advocaat egg liqueur

 

Tuna Fish with Mashed Potatoes

This is known as a quick meal that kids love. I never had this as a kid, I even did not know about it.

But better late then never.

I had half a jar of high quality chunks of tuna standing in oil in the fridge. The potato mash needed just a grocery trip to buy some potatoes and cooking them in the Thermomix.

The potato mash in this machine is always a treat, smooth and never slimy. The leftovers will go as a side to an other dish.

Adding the broken down chunks of tuna on top of the freshly made mash and some dill was all what was needed.

It tasted good, but that is not a go to dish for me.

Asparagus Cream Soup old fashioned

This is the kind of soup my Mom often made during asparagus season not to waste any part of the white gold. I only made some adjustments to the recipe, times have changed.  

I bought a kilo of thick white asparagus. They were super fresh. I used a speed peeler and carefully removed the outer layers. A huge amount of peel and bottom ends were in front of me. Throwing them out seamed like a waste to me. The peeled asparagus went in the steamer to cook and I gave the peels a quick wash.

Putting them in water with a bit of salt and sugar was easy, they cooked for 30 min. I put the cooking water through a sieve in a mesuring cup to get an idea how much liquid was there for a soup.

Melt the butter and add the flour and cook it a bit, in with the milk and stir. No worry the lumps will get done with the asparagus stock. Cook until it thickens. For flavour add wine and lemon juice, veg stock paste, salt and pepper.

The soup gets more richness by adding creme fraiche. Pull it from the heat and add an egg yolk and fresh dill. Some bite size chunks of cooked asparagus zu finish.

Ingredients:

Peel and offcuts from 1 kg white asparagus

750 ml water, 1 tsp salt + 1 tsp sugar

50 g butter + 50 g flour

150 ml milk

650 ml asparagus stock

2 tsp veg stock paste

2 tbsp white wine+ 1 tsp lemon juice

3 tbsp creme fraiche

Pepper, salt

1 egg yolk

Fresh dill

Chunks of cooked asparagus

Chicken Thighs in Garlic Parmesan Sauce

I found this idea on Pinterest by Nonnafood, but made my own version of it.

This is a very easy chicken recipe and leaves room for adapations. Serving it with pasta, rice, bread or even mashed potatoes shows how versatile it is.

The preparation is fast, just season the chicken thighs to your liking and heat up oil in the pan and sear it on both sides for 4 min each. Take it out of the pan for later. 

While the chicken is in the pan, cut the garlic in even slices and grate the parmesan.

When there is too much fat in the pan, pour some of it out in a bowl and toss the garlic in. Lower the heat that the garlic wont burn. Pour in the wine to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Season wuth pepper and a little salt. The let wine nearly evaporate, then add the double cream. When that comes up to temperature, get the cheese in to melt.

Now back in with the chicken thighs, skinside up. Add Italian seasoning. Put a lid on, reduce the temperature and cook for 20 min. Some chopped parsley to finish.

Recipe for 4:

4 chicken thighs

2 tbsp oil

Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning

6 cloves of garlic

150 ml white wine

200 ml double cream

80 g grated Parmesan

Parsley

Violetta Asparagus raw Salad

Our asparagus season is finally in full swing. The huts are everywhere selling asparagus and fresh strawberries (grown in plastic tunnels).

Today I found a new hut with a different asparagus farmer from the area and pulled the car over.

Bundles of green and purple asparagus caught my eyes first, but the white gold was important to me too.

1,5 kg later I was on my way. But the Violetta one snuck in the basket too.

Problems with this dark colored asparagus is, cooking or steaming it makes it green again. The same problem when you cook purple beans.

I went on search for recipes for the purple asparagus and found this salad. No problems with changing colors, the asparagus is eaten raw.

Wash it and use speed peeler and start making strips. Dressing on top and some peeled Pecorino shaves on top.

Dressing:

2 tbsp olive oil

Zest 1/2 lemon + juice

1 tsp agave syrup

1 tsp whole grain mustard

Salt, pepper

3000th Blog Post: Rhubarb Strawberry Dessert

I was invited for Easter Lunch and should bring a dessert.

Rhubarb season is in full swing and the strawberries grown under huge plastic domes are popping up. I made the compote with both ingredients a while ago and it is on this blog.

To carry dessert in a car, the way of splash free transportation is important. My trusty glass jars with sealable lid are the best for that purpose.

But one dessert was for my neighbor, this one was looking more pretty.

Ingredients:

French chocolate vanilla madeleines

500 g Bibbleskäs or curd mixed with creme fraiche

200 g rhubarb strawberry compote

1 tbsp Campari

Blend the compote with the dairy and the Campari, stack it with broken madeleines in the jars. Set it in the fridge.

Green Asparagus with Roquefort Cream

My Thermomix Varoma is back in business, it is asparagus season.

I broke off the lower parts of the asparagus stems and put them in the varoma for 12 minutes.

A green onion, a bit of oil, later a bit of milk and 75 g of Roquefort. For some creaminess two teaspoons of goat cream cheese.

The sauce gets very rich. If it is a bit to runny, just make a potato starch slurry and thicken the sauce. That helps sticking it to the asparagus stalks later.

Ingredients:

400 g cleaned green asparagus

1 green onion

1 tbsp oil

70 ml milk

75 g Roquefort

2 tsp goat cream cheese

Pepper

1 tsp potato starch + 2 tbsp water

Easter Chicken

Many supermarkets have bakery chains in house. On a trip to the garden center I went to an other supermarket nearby to get a couple of things.

On the way out I walked by the bakery. No chain name to see and a name I did not recognize. 

I took a closer look at the baked goods on display and stopped at a display of yellow chicks.

I asked what these chicks were made off to prevent an unpleasant surprise: Marzipan.

The dough was a soft one made with curd and very delicious.

Casa Algarve - eating out

A Portugese restaurant in a neighboring city. It is the place the local soccor and tennis club calls their own.

It was a mess to get a parking space- just a 5 minute walk away. 

My BFF had hot Tapas, her husband ordered bread, olives and aioli as a starter and a paella as a main dish. 

I choose a fried fish platter and think I had the best choice of the three of us. It was good quality seafood with rice and a salad.

The paella was swimming in oil and the pieces of chicken were a few. The tapas with shrimp crocettes and dried fish crocettes tastes like insulation foam.

I don't think we will go there a second time.

Pastiera - Neapolitan Easter Cake

Pizziaolo Luigi made an other YT video and showed his favourite Easter cake from his family.

The special ingredients are cooked wheat (Grana cotto) and a flower scent water (Millefiore).

It is a labour of love to make the cake. It takes a while until it finally comes out of the oven.

My recipe was for a lot bigger baking pan that I had, the leftovers went in a smaller one and made a second cake. 

Recipe for a 26 cm dish:

Shortcrust pastry:

500 g AP flour

Pinch of salt

200 g cubed cold butter

1 small egg

50 ml water

FILLING:

500 g Grana cotto jar

300 ml whole milk

50 g butter

700 g Ricotta

430 g sugar

6 medium eggs

3 egg yolks

1 small bottle Millafiore Aroma

Start with the grana cotto and use a bigger pot with butter and milk. When the butter has melted, add the jars content. Stir often and cook on medium heat, later on low until you have a porridge consistency. Take it off the heat to cool down.

Make the shortcrust pastry. Either with your hands or with a kitchen mashine. Bring it together without kneading it a lot and wrap it in clingfilm and stick it in the fridge for 45 to 60 min.

Preheat the oven 180 C.

Beat Ricotta and sugar together until  you have a smooth mix. Add eggs and egg yolks and stir well. Add the grana cotto and the Aroma.

Butter the cake pan and cut the dough in 2. On a floured surface roll it out 1/2 cm thick. Transfer to the pan. Get it up the edges.

Fill the grana cotto mix in. Roll out the other dough and cut strips to lay over or discs like I did.

Put it in the oven for 55 min. Then shut the oven off and stick a towel or something else in the door to keep it open. Let the cake rest for 1 hour in the oven.

When it is allmost cool, grab a plate and set it on top, turn the pan and lift it off. Take a second plate and turn it again. 

When the cake is cold, set it sonewhere cool until the next day.

French Easter Chocolates

Chocolate Bunnies in all kinds of colorful packagings and seating or standing positions can be fund here in Germany.

A couple of years ago, I discovered other chocolate forms in France for Easter. They were mostly chickens. Sometimes chocolate baskets with colorful eggs in.

This month on my trip to France to do my grocery haul, I was fully surprised about the creativness of French chocolatiers.

Not only hens and baskets, but dinos, elephants, storks and teddies were there to be sold. Some with additional mini eggs or mini forms of them as Easter eggs.

I could not withstand and bought a couple of gifts.