Berner Sausage with quick Pasta

Cooking at a holiday apartment again. Since I am at this place for the 4th time already, just 3 minutes from the Nuerburgring, I know my way around this kitchen and where everything is.

At the supermarket down in Adenau I got some bacon wrapped Berner sausages and a couple of veggies.

A package of elbow pasta was with a quarter left still in my "kitchen bag". 

Chopping spring onions and slicing cherry tomatoes was easy and they went in olive oil first for a couple of minutes. Then a brushed them to the side of the pan to get the sausages in.

The bacon took some color. Then seasoning and some cream cheese went in together with pasta water.

The drained pasta was stirred in after I took out the sausages.

A light and tasty lunch.

Ingredients:

Berner sausages wrapped in bacon

2 spring onions

7 cherry tomatoes

Salt, pepper

3 tsp creme cheese

One Pan German Asian Fusion

That title sounds a lot better then throwing everything in a pan except the kitchen sink.

I had a raw sausage aka Bratwurst, some green onions, 1 bok choy, 1 boiled potato and found s 40 g pack of Mung bean vermicelli.

How to combine everything for a tasty dish? A nearly empty bottle of Kalamansi Soy sauce helped to put me in the Asian direction. Sesame oil and chili oil helped too.

But I started with the sausage, cutting it in slices and frying it in some oil, roughly chopped spring onions next.

The vermicelli only needed a bowl with boiling water to soak. The other halve of the hot water went on top of the chopped bok choy. I only used the leafy green parts and just a little of the stems.

I peeled the potato and sliced it up. They went in the pan to take color. Then the bok choy.  Everything was seasoned. Then the Kalamansi soy sauce went in together with the noodles.

Finished with a little sesame oil and chili oil.

Ingredients:

125 g sausage /Bratwurst

1 tbsp oil

2 spring onions

1 bok choy

1 cooked cold potato

Salt and pepper

40 g Mung bean vermicelli

50 ml Kalamansi Soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil/ chili oil

Cheese Fondue Swiss style

I am blogging for 11 years now with more than 3400 blogs, but one of Germanys most cherished New Years Eve dishes elouded me.

I grew up having the Swiss Cheese Fondue a couple of times a year, because we had Swiss neighbors for a while. Runny and stinky cheese was one of my favourites growing up.

Later it became the typical go to last day of the year dish.

I opened my fridge and a small block of Swiss Gruyère cheese sat there for a while. Bought for a recipe I have not made yet. But the expiration date was today. Usually no problem with vaccum packed cheese. But some more left over grated cheeses were there too.

Mac n' Cheese? Käsespätzle, Cauliflower cheese? Nothing really spoke to me. Then I thought: What is Gruyère usually used for?

Swiss Cheese Fondue!

For 1 person:

120 ml white wine or rosé

1 sprizz of lemon

1 garlic clove

150 g Gruyère grated

50 g Emmenthal grated

50 g Gouda grated

1 tsp potato starch

2 tbsp kirsch spirit

White pepper

Nutmeg

Baguette

Press the garlic in the wine in a small pot and add lemon. Heat up and toss all the cheeses in.

With a wooden kitchen spoon stir until everything is melted and the cheese bubbles lightly.

Dissolve starch in Kirch and add and thicken up the cheese. Season with white pepper and nutmeg.

Keep the cheese fondue on a hot plate or rechaux to stay creamy.

Break the baguette in small chunks and dig in.

Icelandic TV Cake or Sjónvarpskaka

My BFF spend 10 days in Icland this month and this cake way on some buffets during the trip. She asked about it and heard that in many families on the island it is baked regularly and often eaten while watching TV.

This is a recipe from "Salt Kitchen". But I had to change it a little, because the coconut butter from the recipe is not available here. But I think my substitute works fine.

You will need a sheetcake baking dish 24 cm x 36 cm. Spray it and paper it completely, otherwise the "caramel" will stuck everywhere. Use a stand kitchen machine. That makes it easier to beat the sugar and eggs to a super fluffy volume.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl. Melt the butter first, then add vanilla extract and milk in the other bowl. Bring it together on slow speed, but make sure that there are no pockets of flour left. Pour it in the sheetcake dish and spread it out.

In a small pot bring the ingredients for the topping to a boil, stirring constantly. When it is golden, take it off the heat.

Preheat the oven 190 C fan and bake for 20 min. Take it out and pour the coconut mix on top and bake for 10 more minutes. 

Cut in squares, it freezes well.

Ingredients for 25 pieces:

4 large free range eggs

240 g sugar

200 g flour

Pinch of salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

50 g melted unsalted butter

20 ml milk

Topping:

100 g unsalted butter

110 g coconut - almond butter

40 g dessicated coconuts

210 g brown sugar

1/2 cup double cream

100 g unsalted butt

110 g coconut - amon

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Watermelon Coconut Water Drink

At 105 F a cold drink to hydrate myself.

I am watching CrowdStrike 24 hours of Spa and non alcoholic drinks over a long time are the best.

Watermelon has a lot of water content. The coconut water brings electrolytes to the drink. I added a bit Botanical tonic to the drink too.

Pour it over ice or just enjoy it fridgecold. A sprig of mint makes it look more fancy.

250 g watermelon

125 ml coconut water

50 ml tonic water

Mint

Sweet Potato Vermicelli in Cold Beef Soup

This heatwave is brutal. A cold soup as the solution.

But cooking time in the kitchen was needed. The beef broth had to be made. The vermicelli had to be cooked in salted and soy sauce water.

But the same cooking water was used for the bok choy. Then everything went in the fridge.

I have an electric egg cooker and used them for the medium soft eggs.

Then the veggie and fruit part started. This soup gets assembled quickly.

Ingredients for 2 bowls:

1,5 l beef broth

180 g sweet potato vermicelli

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 green onions

4 little meatballs

60 g pork tongue

3 medium potatoes

2 hardboiled eggs

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp Gochugaru

1/2 cucumber

1 ripe pear

4 red radishes

 

Air Fryer Mini Meatballs and Meatloaf

Over 103 F and no fun using a frying pan. Instead I used my air fryer. Great idea.

The mixed pork and beef mince with my day old soaked poppy seed bread roll, mustard, egg and lots of seasoning was quickly prepared.

I rolled ping ping ball sized meatballs and thrown them between my hands a couple of times to get the air out. They wont fall apart now that easy.

Half of the mince mix were balls, but only that much can cook in my air fryer. The other part went in a shallow air fryer baking dish to be baked as a meatloaf.

The cooking time was 16 minutes at 180 C.

Ingredients:

400 g mixed ground pork and beef

1 red onion

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 poppy seed breakfast rolls

1 egg

Salt, pepper, hot paprika, thyme

Pork Tongue Rice Soup

It is 38 C 102 G outside and most people eat cold food and lots of salads.

But I am not a rabbit and I crave hot food. Interestingly in many countries with hot climates, people eat 2 or 3 hot meals a day.

This evening I looked through my fridge and found ready to eat pork tongue. I bought that in France and it was good until next week to eat.

A hearty soup with tongue and rice sounded good. Some veggies are always in my veggie drawer of the fridge. They had the head start in the pot. Then the washed rice was added and beef stock. The chopped up tongue went in last. It only needed to reheat again. 

Enough time to chop some parsley.  The soup was ready to eat in under 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

120 g cooked pork tongue

1/2 rice cooker cup Jasmine rice

1 beef stock cube

350 ml hot water

1 small carrot, 1 spring onion, 1 celery stalk, 3 rounds of leek

Fresh parsley

Ground pepper

1 tbsp oil

 

Cold Spaghetti in Yogurt Sauce

At 39 C /102 F it is brutally hot today and no cold weather in sight.

I decided just to cook some spaghetti and place them after draining in cold water.

Yogurt sauces can be found in many countries around the Mediteranian sea.

The sauce is easy and you can versatile it to your own preferences.

I used a mix of Greek yogurt and creme fraiche, lemon zest, garlic paste, dried mint and fresh dill. Seasoned only with salt and pepper.

A very refreshing spaghetti dish - but all other kinds of pasta work too.

Sauce:

3 tbsp Greek yogurt

2 tbsp creme fraiche

Zest of 1/2 lemon

3 tsp garlic paste

1 mint tea bag

1 tbsp fresh chopped dill

Salt and pepper

For dessert I had strawberry pudding with fresh ones on top.

 

TT Potato Chips/Crisps with garlic prawns and fried eggs

This trend was shown on T

IKTOK and the guys from SortedFood did it. 

I took their recipe and just added a freshly picked small cucumber from my balcony. The potato chips/crisps were from the Netherlands. A very special kind for the foodball world cup. 

Ever heard of beer flavoured chips with 0,00 alc? I read the lable and thought Wtf? But the couriosity won me over and I picked up a bag.

Tastewise: very crunchy rustic style chips with salt flavour. After eating 4 or 5 I discovered a slight bitter aftertaste. Like hops has! 

The topping were garlic marinated prawns and 2 fried eggs. I harvested a small cucumber. That gave more crunch to this topping.

 

 

 

Beef Rendang Indonesian Spice Blend Package

The short grocery trip to the Netherlands gave me lots of spiceblends, sauces and foods to try.

I've made Rendang before. Even without the help of a premade package, but with a lot of solo spices and ingredients.

Now I had a thick paste that needed water to become a cooking liquid. Just onions and garlic as a base were needed, then the spiceblend and the cut up beef.

No searing of the beef chunks before putting them in the pot. The long cooking time made them perfectly tender. Cooking time on low as 2 hours.

I used steamed broccoli and green beans as a tasty side salad to serve beside the beef and the rice.

Ingredients:

2 onions +4 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 Rendang spiceblend

600 ml water

500 g broccoli

200 g green beans

3 tbsp creme fraiche + 4 tbsp picant hot sauce

Sajoer Boontjes or Green Beans with Rice

These are green beans cooked in the style of Java, Indonesia.

Usually only served with hot rice.

I was intrigued to see a lot of spice paste in a container to serve with 500 g of green beans. Here I used the local fresh Bobby beans. But I think the long snake like beans of South East Asia would be a better choice.

The cooking instructions started with cook the rice first.

For the sauce a medium onion is sauted first in some oil, then water and the paste is added. It needs to dissolve completely and cook for 2 minutes.

The beans need to be blanched in salted boiling water for 5 to  8 minutes, depending on the kinds of beans you use. Drain them and put them in cold water for a bit so they keep their color.

The sauce is tangy and sweet and has a little kick to it. Put the beans in and stir well. No other seasoning needed.

I had some of my rotissery chicken meat leftover from the day before and ate it together with the beans and rice.