Devil's Diner Deluxe Burger with Fries

A long time behind the stearing wheel on a racetrack makes you hungry.

The Green Hell at the Nuerburgring has the famous Devil's Diner where everybody loves to come for a stop. 

This was my second time eating a burger here. The deluxe type of burger was with a slice of bacon and some cabbage. All other ingredients were like the Cheeseburger. 

A burger patty should be juicy. It was a big one, but it was dry as hell. A slab of tough meat between a juicy ketchup and gherkin layer.

The fries were great and having them with mayo is a good choice.

Turkey Breast Strips with Onion Cream Sauce

Here in Germany we call it Geschnetzeltes. That sounds better than Schredded.

Thin strips of turkey breast are available here often. You can get them allready seasoned in different ways, often Gyros style. 

But I prefare to season them the way I like and that gives me the chance to try different flavour profiles.

I went mediteranian too, but with Vermouth and cream for the sauce. Lots of onions and some garlic were a must. That bulks out the meat and adds flavour.

I served it with rice.

Ingredients:

400 g shredded turkey breast

2 larger red onions

3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp olive oil

60 ml Vermouth

120 ml double cream

Smoked hot Spanish paprika 

Sweet paprika

Sea salt

White pepper

fresh oregano, thyme, majoram, rosemary

Marinate the meat with onions and fresh herbs in a little oil and salt.

Heat up the oil and add the turkey breast and onions together. They do not take long. Add seasoning and liquid and reduce the heat. When the turkey is cooked, serve with rice or pasta.

Toast Hawaii 2.0

This is a deluxe version of a very old German classic from 1953.

Now it is mostly forgotten. It was a kind of TV Dinner and people liked it as something exotic. It was presented during a TV show. But there was only 1 channel to watch. Not much to choose from.

My Mom made this sometimes. It was fast and cheap. Especially when used canned pineapple and plastic wrapped American orange colored cheese.

My version is a bit different:

Brioche bread slices

Salted butter from France with salt crystals in

Good quality cooked ham

Fresh pineapple

Bavarian mountain cheese block

Paprika powder

I lightly toasted the brioche and buttered it. A slice of ham and a 3 cm thick slice of fresh pineapple.

From the square block of cheese, 0,5 cm slices were laid side by side on top of the pineapple. Some paprika dusted on top.

Baked at 180 C fan until the cheese is completely melted.

Rice Salad with Pineapple and Curry

Do you have leftover rice? And leftover pineapple?

I did and looked for recipes just tapping in both ingredients. This salad recipe came up. It is always interesting to see what comes up when you just add 2 ingredients in the search line.

It is from "dinkel und beeren.de"

Use canned pineapples if you don't have a fresh one like I did. This is a good party salad too. Sweet and savoury is a good combo with BBQ meats.

I only used a small can of sweetcorn. All other things were fresh. I had some fresh dill and some chives from my balcony. That goes very well with curry powder.

Bring it all together and let it rest. It is very fast and the salad can be eaten over 2 days.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked Basmati

Dill and chives

1 green onion

2 long red peppers

1 small can sweetcorn

200 g fresh pineapple in chunks

Dressing:

1 1/2 curry powder mild

4 tbsp apple juice

4 tbsp full fat Greek yogurt

1 tbsp grapeseed oil

2 tsp mayo

2 tbsp condimento balsamico white

1 tsp agave syrup

Salt, pepper

Coffee Break in Adenau

After a 2 hours drive to the Nuerburgring I like to do a stop at the Coffee Shop at REWE.

I am a huge fan of puff pastry. This is a French style bake called Palmiers. Here in Germany we call them Schweineohren or Pigs Ears.

They are not too sweet, flakey and very crunchy. There is a light sugar crust on the outside.

The big pot of Cappuccino is good anytime I come here. 

Later I will get my groceries there to take to my holiday apartment. This time there is a church holiday on Thursday and I have to stock up a bit more.  I am here for 5 days to do some racetrack driving.

Double Cheese Asparagus Bake

The amount of asparagus recipes is still growing. Here is a very easy to prepare other one.

Important is good quality cheese and ham. Do not skimp on these ingredients. The white asparagus getting a bit less expensive now and I no longer have to pinch my eyes shut when I see the price tag. The next 4 weeks will bring more asparagus to the table.

I peeled the stalks and put them in the steamer for 12 minutes. Then let them cool down.

A bit of oil spray on the bottom of the baking dish. The asparagus first wrapped in Tilsiter cheese, then in ham. Placed in the dish. Chop some dill and sprinkle it over. When all are wrapped, seasoning with salt and pepper. 

A couple of blobs of Pistacchio pesto and slices of Gorgonzola. A drizzle of double cream and a little bit of Panko breadcrumbs.

Bake at 180 C for 15 min.

Ingredients:

500 g white asparagus 

oil spray

Gorgonzola extra

Tilsiter cheese

Cooked ham slices

50 ml double cream

Fresh dill

4 tsp pistacchio pesto

Panko breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

Flan libanais à la fleur d'oranger

Orange flower water infused flan topped with pistacchios, honey and rose petals. 

From my Italian Pastiera Easter cake I had a bottle of orange water sitting around. This dessert gave me the chance to use it.

The flan does not contain any eggs. It is just made with milk, maizena and sugar. When the starch has thickened, to orange flower water goes in and the flan is portioned in jars to cool.

Before serving, a coating of honey on top, some crushed pistacchios and a couple of dry rose petals.

Ingredients for 4:

750 ml whole milk

45 g Maizena cornstarch

45 g sugar

3 tbsp orange flower water

4 tsp crushed pistacchios

4 tsp honey

Some rose petals

Cheese Crumble on Pollock and Potatoes

A French recipe with a very special kind of cheese I picked up last week in France.

The name is Mimolette and the bright orange color is very prominent. It is a hard cheese from the Isigny area of France. Organic and protected origin in Normandy, Department Calvados.

I came across this cheese the first time 2001 during my holiday in Normandy. It is not so easy to get in other parts of France and I was lucky to find it. The cheese cubes do not melt, they blow and transform in some kind of cheesy styroform. Like cheese puffs.

Cooking takes some time and do not leave the kitchen and keep a constant eye on the pot. The potatoes are cooking in milk and and milk likes to boil over. Then the pollock is added and finished in the milk too.

Recipe for 2:

250 g pollock

4 medium potatoes

2 garlic cloves

3 stalks of thyme

1 bay leaf

500 ml milk

Salt, pepper, seafood seasoning

75 g Mimolette cheese

60 g flour

40 g sliced almonds

3 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp herbes de Provence

Butter for the baking dish

Cut the peeled potatoes in 5 mm slices. Put garlic cloves, thyme, bay leaf, salt and milk in a pot and add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and keep an eye on them. Cook for 12 min.

Cut the pollock in bite size chunks and season it with seafood seasoning. Put it on top of the potatoes and close the lid to let it cook for 5 min.

Cut the Mimolette in 1 cm cubes.

Preheat the oven 200 C broil.

Butter the baking dish and use a slotted spoon to get potatoes and fish in the dish. Discard thyme and bay leaf.

Topping:

Flour and herbes de Provence mixed with olive oil and almonds. Season with salt and pepper and add the small cubes of Mimolette. 

Put it on top and spray a little oil over it. Bake it in the oven on the upper shelve until the cheese has inflated and the topping has taken some color.

Pistacchio Pesto with Linguine and Mussels

Pine nuts are usually used in a pesto, but my French recipe asked for pistacchios and lemon juice.

I wanted to give it a try. I have 4 different basil plants in the moment. The pretty basic pots you can buy in any supermarket, and some rarer varieties from the garden center. These are outside on my balcony, the supermarket pot is on the window sill in the kitchen inside.

The recipe called for scallops to top the pasta, but not available in the moment here. Even frozen was not a option. But I had a bag of large shelled frozen mussels in the freezer. I took some out and defrosted them in a bowl of cold water.

My pistacchios needed to be shelled first. It takes a little time and efford. Then they went in my minichopper with the fresh basil, the lemon juice and the chopped Grana Padano. All the other ingredients are in the list below.

The mussels just needed some olive oil and garlic to start. I put seafood seasoning directly in the oil and then added the mussels. In 2 minutes they were ready.

Cook the linguine and fold the pesto through. Keep the leftover pesto in a jar with some olive oil on top in the fridge. Bring everything together and enjoy.

PESTO:

2 hands full basil leaves

50 g pistacchios

1/2 lemon juiced

1 garlic clove

3 tbsp olive oil

30 g Grana Padano

Salt and pepper  

Radish salad - viral

After the viral shaked cucumber salads there is a new kid on the block: Smashed radish salad.

Today I bought a bunch of huge radishes and fresh dill. The tool of the day is the meat tenderizer.

A lot of ingredients are going in the brine. But you can basically mix and match them to your own preference. Keep a bottle of sparkling water in the fridge. The bubbles make the difference.

I used garlic cream because raw garlic is not the thing I like most. Lots of dill, spring onion, lemon juice, sugar and salt and fresh ground pepper are essencial.

I added some soy sauce and a special vinegar based salad sauce too. Some white balsamic too.

Just have a taste and see if you need more or less of something. 

Use the heavy object and smash the radishes and put them in a big jar with a lid. Keep for 2 hours minimum in the fridge. Do not let them sit over night, they will loose their color.

Ingredients:

Bunch of radishes

1/2 bunch of dill

1 spring onion

2 tsp garlic paste

1/2 lemon juiced

4 tbsp clear salad dressing

2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt and pepper

2 tbsp soy sauce 

500 ml sparkling water

Bread Rolls with Spelt, Skyr and Carrots

At the bakery the prices for special bread rolls and bread are rising. These triangular shaped ones go for € 1,10 to 1,25 a piece.

I found a recipe by 'natürlich.ilknur' to bake them at home. 

The only problem I encountered was a non production and delivery of skyr in all supermarkets. There was always a sign pinned at the doors of the fridge, that skyr was not available in the moment.

I remember the time when I was in Iceland on holiday 2016, I ate all different flavours of skyr awailable there. Coming back, only one company produced it and the taste was not like in Iceland. A couple of years later, every Discounter offers different flavours.

Instead I used 0,2 % fat Greek yogurt.

Recipe for 8 pieces:

500 g skyr

300 g spelt flour 630

1/2 tsp salt

300 g grated carrots

1 hand full chopped walnuts

1 tbsp baking powder

Chia seeds 

Bring the ingredients together. First in the bowl, then on floured table. Kneed them for 5 min until the dough is firmer.

Pat the dough in a  circle about 2 cm high. Brush with water and sprinkle with chia seeds.

Cut in 8 pieces and put them on baking paper. Bake for 25 min and rest in the turned off oven for 10 min. 

Price for 1 bread roll is € 0,50.

Puff Pastry with Leek Bacon and Goatcheese

A puff pastry package needed a purpose. It was a week over its expiration day, but the smell test and visual test told me it was good to eat.

I hate to throw ingredients out when they cross over the date. Touch, look and smell always help. 

Now I needed something to put on top. From my Ragoût de Cabillaud I had a huge piece of leek left over. A large green onion  garlic and some bacon slices went on too. 

Thinking about a sauce, the soft creamy Petit Billy Goatcheese looked good. Mixed with egg, some creme fraiche and fresh herbs to top the veggie bacon base.

A little additional cheese is never bad. A good sprinkle of Emmenthal was the last step.

Baking at 200 C fan for 13 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 rectangular puff pastry sheet

1 leek without the green part

1 large green onion

1 large garlic clove

80 g bacon strips

1 tsp oil

Salt and pepper

75 g creamy goatcheese

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tbsp creme fraiche

Mixed fresh herbs