Alsace Curd Sauce with Pea Pasta

My handmade pea pasta was a lot, I had a bag of cold pasta leftover.

I wanted a quick lunch for today and went on Google to look for "Spätzle mit Soss" (little sparrows with sauce). 

Most sauces are either with tomatoes, brown sauce or cheese sauce. But that did not suit me. I found a sauce from France. Alsace is on the other side of the Rhine river beside Germany. Their cuisine is often overlapping with our kitchen from Baden-Wuertemberg.

Recipe for 2:

200 g cooked handmade pea pasta

1 liter chicken stock

2 tbsp butter

1 large red onion

50 ml milk

250 g curd with herbs

Fresh herbs like sorrel, parsley, chives, blood dock

Salt, pepper, Italian herbd

1/2 tsp Vegeta

Reheat the pea pasta in chickenstock. In a pan melt the butter and sautee the onionstrips.

Add pasta water and milk and season. Chop the herbs and dump the curd in the pan. Stir it well and get the herbs in.

Transfer the pasta in the sauce.

Pork Steak Onion Bake

There are a couple more ingredients as listed above in this dish.

But the amount of prepwork is amazingly simple, if you have no problem peeling and cutting onions.

They are the base of this recipe. I saw a video, but it had no recipe or wasn't properly made, but the idea stuck. I made an effort to elevate it a bit.

I had 3 good quality pork neck steaks. They were 450 g together. The same amount of mixed onions went in the oven proof dish first.

I seasoned the onions with Vegeta and pepper. The pork on one side with salt and put them on top of the onions. The upper side was seasoned with a pork dry rub.

Then the unusual ingredient of this bake: Cornichons from a brine. Cut up in slices and placed all over the steaks.

Then Edamer cheese and Parmesan on top. This went in the oven at 180 C fan for 30 minutes. I had some potatoes with it.

Ingredients:

450 g pork neck steaks

450 g yellow, red, green onions

4 garlic cloves

Knob of butter for the dish

1 tsp Vegeta, salt, pepper, pork dry rub

80 g Cornichons

75 g Edamer cheese

25 g Parmesan

 

Rice Noodles with Asian style Chicken Thighs

I had a half package of rice noodles sitting in my storage box. They needed to go.

The vegetables I used were not exactly Asian, but they could be found in many dishes you can buy from an Asian place.

I used red long pepper, celery, green onion and some mushrooms. They were in my vegetable drawer in my fridge. A bunch of garlic cloves for more taste and some chili paste.

The wide rice noodles only need a bowl and a kettle with boiling water. Press them down and let them soak 15 min. Drain.

The Asian style was build with the different sauces. Some Mirin, soy sauce, oyster sauce and chicken stock.

Season the chicken thighs and brown them in a wok on both sides for 5 min. Take them out. Get the chopped veggies in the pan, season them with salt and pepper and cook them 5 min.

Add the chicken stock and the Asian sauces. Put the chicken pieces back in. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Cook for 18 min.

Now add the rice noodles and cook for 2 more minutes.

Ingredients:

200 g wide rice noodles

6 chicken thighs

1 tbsp oil

1 red long pepper

6 large button mushrooms

1 green onion

1 celery stalk

5 cloves of garlic

200 ml chicken stock

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp Mirin

2 tbsp Oyster sauce

1 tsp chili paste

Pastry filled with Chocolate Foam Kisses

Schaumküsse is the exact name of the Marshmallow Fluff like filled treats. 

I grew up with these treats and they were named Negerkuss, since they are chocolate covered. But today that is no longer political correct.

Watching several content creators baking this treat, I decided the next time I find the regional Schaumküsse from Köhler factory I will give this bake a try.

The first reel I saw showed the use of an enriched yeasty dough that was filled. Others used puff pastry. 

But the use of an enriched dough is the right choice. There are often available in larger supermarkets when making and proofing a yeasty dough is too much work. I bought a very good one that used butter.

Recipe for 4 pastries:

1 rectangular sweet yeast dough with butter

4 to 7 chocolate covered marshmallow foam treats 

1 egg

Unroll the dough and preheat the oven 180 C.

Cut off the bottom wafers from the treats and eat them. Since Shrinkflation has happend here in the box too, it will take a lot more of the smaller ones to spread around.

Measure the middle of the dough and draw a line with a pizza cutter.

Use a pallet knife and crush and spread the marshmallow chocolatd paste all over one side. Fold the dough over and pat the edges down. Use the pizza cutter and make 4 strips. Roll them up and place on a baking sheet. Brush with egg wash.

Bake for 30 to 35 min.

 

 

Pea Pasta for St.Patrick's Day

Usually for a sissors cut dough most people use spinach. But I did not have any.

But a big bag of frozen peas. I defrosted the amount I needed for the dough, added salt, water, egg and olive oil together with the peas to a blender. 

Manitoba flour and the green stuff with a tiny bit of more water kneaded to a dough ball. Wrapped in clingfilm to rest for 30 minutes.

In a huge pot of boiling salted water the pasta is cut in. Cooking time when they are swimming on top is 3 minutes. Cut and boil them in two batches, otherwise they will stick in the pot.

The sauce is with more peas. Bacon, onion, chicken stock and peas. Some seasoning and some chili paste. Done. 

The stracciatella di Burrata and the Parmesan chunks as a finish. Lovely cheese pull.

Pasta:

300 g Manitoba flour

1 egg

130 g defrosted peas

1/2 tsp salt

Nutmeg

1 tbsp olive oil

40 - 60 ml water

Sauce:

100 g bacon bits

2 green onions

200 g peas

100 ml chicken stock

Salt, pepper, herbes de Provence

Chili paste

Topping:

Stracciatella di Burrata, Parmesan

Skrei with Jaroma Cabbage

Norwegian Skrei is in season now. But it is a very expensive type of fish.

But worth its price. I bought 250 g for 12€. Luckily less you do with it, more its special flavour and structure comes out to play.

I only seasoned it and cooked it in a pan with butter and garlic. 

I bought a jar of Organic fish stock at the fishmonger. I used the stock to cook the jaroma cabbage in. Then drained it and saved the stock for a roue.

As a side I microwaved some small potatoes and the garlic butter from the pan went over them.

Ingredients:

250 g Skrei

Fish seasoning

4 tbsp butter

3 cloves of garlic

400 ml organic fish stock

250 g Jaroma cabbage

1 tbsp flour

75 ml milk

2 tsp mustard cream

2 tsp horseradish

3 tbsp creme fraiche

Salt and pepper

Chives, dill

4 potatoes

Cut the cabbage in 1 cm strips. Heat up the stock and put it in to cook 3 to 4 min. Drain and keep the stock.

Use the same pot and melt 2 tbsp butter and add the flour. Stir very well and add milk, stir to prevent lumps. Add stock - about 250 ml.

Then put in mustard, horseradish and creme fraiche. Put the cabbage back in with some fresh chives and dill.

Cut the Skrei in 1 inch pieces and removing it from the skin. Season with fish seasoning.  Heat up a pan with the butter and fry the garlic, then put the fish in and let it get color 3 min on each side.

Serve with butter garlic potatoes.

Banana Chocolate Pancake

This pancake recipe I found on FB by HasanElifTas - Turkish cooking.

The ingredients list is easy and it only take some minutes to stir it together. But you will need patience to cook it in a covered pan.

Recipe for 1 pancake:

1 very ripe banana

2 eggs

2 tbsp Nutella

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

Tiny pinch of salt

Chocolate chips to sprinkle on top

1 knob of butter and a little oil for the pan

In a bowl mash the banana. Crack the eggs in and mix well. Add the dry ingredients snd mix well. The Nutella goes in last. Mix well.

Heat up butter and oil in a nonstick pan. Pour the batter in. Get as much chocolate chips on top as you like. Set the heat on medium low and cover and start to cook it. I started with 4,5 out of 9, then went on 5,5 out of 9 heat. Bake for around 20 min.

Pasta with Tuna, Celery and Sweet Corn

Tuna fish from a can is so versatile. 

I had some celery and spring onion in my fridge that needed to go. A can of tuna is the protein source here, together with some cream cheese and sour cream.

A good amount of seasoning and lots of starchy pasta water made that a great pasta sauce. Don't be shy to season. Add a lot more than you think you need and that will turn out right.

I did not need much salt, pasta water was heavily salted. I used long wavey Mafaldine pasta.

Ingredients:

175 g Mafaldine pasta

1 medium can tuna fish

1 tbsp oil

1 green onion

3 cloves of garlic

2 celery stalks

1 small can sweet corn

100 g cream cheese

50 g sour cream

Parmesan

Smoked paprika, salt, pepper, Piment d'Espelette, Italian herbs, dried chives

Start with the pasta, you will need the water for the sauce.

Chop onion, garlic and celery. Heat up the oil and sautee that. Drain the tuna and add it. Season. Next follows the sweet corn and 1 ladle of pasta water. Let it cook 2 min.

Cream cheese and sour cream next and more pasta water.

Drain the pasta ( keep some water) and add it to the pan. Stir well and check for more seasoning.

I topped it with some Parmesan. That makes 2 good portions.