Merguez, Lentils and Mash

Some days you need just something quick to eat.

North African Sausages, better known as Merguez are sold in all French supermarkets. Here in Germany they are not so common.
The sausage meat was 50:50 beef and mutton. A good amount of paprika and other spices seasoned it.

I used brown lentils from a can that contained some goose fat. The broth is a lot richer and creamier that way. Just a good amount of pepper and some fresh herbs and they are good to eat.

The only real cooking was the potato mash. I do not use the powdered stuff- I used that the last time about 15 years ago. Some kind of additive must be inside that prevents lumps, this is making me sneeze a lot. Some kind of weird allergic reaction to premade mash.

The combination of these 3 components made for a tasty and fast dinner. There is even a second portion to take to the office next week.

Spaghetti Squash à la Burrata

My newest French cooking magazine issue showed a recipe with butternut squash, burrata and nuts.
Not very fanciful, but it caught my eye.

The method was a little time consuming for dinner after a long day of work, but who cares. I exchanged the butternut for a spaghetti marrow or squash and use whole hazelnuts and some Thai basil to give the dish some body.

Most of the ingredients, including the Burrata, are on the bland side. It is necessary to give the dish a basic flavour. I seasoned it with my homemade pepper mix which contains a good amount of Szechuan pepper, some smoked paprika and a flavoured salt.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Wash the squash and roll it ín Aluminium foil and place it in a baking dish and put it in the oven for at least 60 to 75 min, depending on the size of the squash.
Pull it out and unwrap it and let it cool down a bit to handle it.
Cut it lengthwise with a big knife and take the seeds out.

Since it is a spaghetti squash, you can lift off some of the flesh in strands. Get the rest loose.
Season it with salt and pepper and spread the teaspoon  of butter around.
Cut the cheese in halves and with your fingers rip it into shreds and place it on the squash.
Put the whole hazelnuts in a freezer bag and bash them a bit. Put 25 g on top of each halve of squash.
Sprinkle smoked paprika on top.
Bake again for 10 min.
Place a good amount of Thai basil on each one.

ingredients:
1 squash
2 tsp butter
1 Burrata cheese
50 g hazelnuts
salt and pepper
smoked paprika
Thai basil

Kaki or Persimmon baked in the oven with Risotto

The kaki fruit is found around this time of year. When you get some that are not too ripe but a bit firm, use them for a savoury dish.
Last year when I was in Japan, persimmon trees were full of fruits everywhere and some were sold at farm stands on attraction sides.

I found a recipe from the Süddeutsche Zeitung from Hans Gerlach.
The dish is good on its own with just some fresh bread, or serve it with a risotto as I did.
But with fish or chicken it works too.

Cut the kakis up into slices and put them on baking paper. Preheat the oven at 220 C fan.

ingredients:
2 kakis
4 twigs thyme
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
4 tbsp green olives
1 bunch of salad leaves
1 tsp lemon juice

While you get your oven up to temperature, start with the risotto first. It needs some time to get ready.
While it is cooking, you slice the Kaki with the skin into 12 pieces.
Get fresh thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil in a bowl and put the kaki in. Get them coated in the garlic mix.
Pour them on baking paper and spread them out, toss the olives on top and stick it in the oven for 10 min.
Now your risotto should be ready to finish with a knob of butter and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Cut the salad leaves up and with lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning it is a light salad on the side.

Chicken Breast with Plums

Fall season is plum season.

There are so many different kinds of fruits in the plum family. Some have different names here in Germany and are not specified as plums. But when you find them in supermarkets in France, they are named plums.

The green ones are named Renekloden or Reineclauden here in Germany. My grandparents had a tree in the garden and I loved eating these fruits, when they were a little on the unripe state. The name is familiar to me since childhood. Nobody told me until recently, that these fruits are just plums in other countries.

I bought some high grade corn fed chicken breast yesterday and wanted to make it with some creamy and fruity sauce. Often you can find these recipes with green or blue grapes. I had a dish like this a couple of years ago in the fall at a restaurant in the vinyard´s of the Moselle river. I liked the combination.
But today is plum time.

recipe for 2:
2 chicken breasts
225 g plums
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
3 twigs of thyme
a bit of parsley
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
125 ml white wine
350 ml chicken stock
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp potato starch in water
50 ml creme fraiche
salt and pepper

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and put them in flour. Shake off the excess flour.
Melt butter in a pan and bake the meat for 5 min on one side, then turn and bake an other 2 min. Take it out of the pan.

Give onion cubes and garlic a head start, then add mustard, thyme, wine and stock and the plums in chunks. Bring to a boil, add the chicken breast and set on low heat and cook covered for 15 min, then open for 10. If the sauce is still runny, use some starch to bind it.
Finish with cream and parsley and check if the chicken breasts are done.

Serve with pasta, rice or bread.

Soup with Pork and Mung Bean Noodles

I had a couple of leftover pieces of cooked salted pork in the fridge. I needed the space for my groceries I bought in France today. And after a 350 km round trip I was hungry for a quick meal.

On cold and rainy October days, one pot dishes or soups are always a good choice. I had a some fresh veggies from last week, some cooked meat and some beef broth in the fridge.
These dishes are the best, the outcome is often a surprise. While cooking, I add some of this or that. Then I change from classic German to Asian cooking by adding just a few other ingredients.
The whole dish did just take 15 minutes to come together.

ingredients:
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 carrot
10 cm white of a leek
3 spring onions
200 g cooked cured pork meat
80 g mung bean noodles
500 g beef stock
3 tbsp Japanese soup stock shoyu
3 Romano salad leaves
pinch of Togarashi pepper
salt
1 tbsp black sesame seeds

Chop carrots finely and leek and onions. Fry them in sesame oil for 3 min. Add the beef stock and let it cook 5 min. Season.
Boil water and put the dry noodles in a bowl and pour the boiling water on top. Drain after 2 min.
Chop up the meat and reheat it in the soup.
Cut the salad into strips.
In a large bowl, put the noodles in, add salad and sesame seeds.
Pour the soup over it and add the Japanese soup stock. Stir and enjoy.

It is a good advice to cut up the noodles before you put them in the soup!

Poached Pears

I was serving some deer goulash today. Here in Germany it is traditional served with a halved pear filled with Preiselbeer Jam, something like the European kind of cranberry.
The pears I bought this week were on the very firm side. No way I could have used them as they were.

I made a poaching liquid and in 15 minutes, they had a lovely consistency.

What to do with the liquid? Toss it out? No way.

I reduced the liquid by half and took the spices out. Then I put some soaked and squeezed Gelatine leaves in.

ingredients:
300 ml white wine
300 ml water
1 lemon
50g Golden Syrup
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp Mirabelle syrup
4 tbsp orange blossom water
4 Gelatine leaves

After ohne night in the fridge, the pears sat in tasty jelly.

Deer Goulash

I haven´t eaten deer in a long time. I seldom cook that kind of meat.
A couple of years ago I knew a hunter and had sometimes access to fresh shot game meat. But that source is no longer available. This kind of meat is seldom sold at Supermarkets. You can find frozen deer meat from New Zealand in some stores. But that is not meat I like to eat.

I found some  fresh meat from a farm in Luxembourg and that looked good. The meat is very lean, so I added a bit of Spanish Iberico ham to it. Having some meat that is cooking on a low temperature on the hob for more then 90 minutes, the tender pieces of deer are something I am looking forward to.
When the days are getting colder, that is comfort food for me.

The meat was just 400 g and I bulked it out with a lot of veggies. They are giving a lot of taste to the sauce.

recipe for 2:
400 g deer meat
100 g Spanish Iberico ham
2 red onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 twig rosemary
3 stalks of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp tomato paste
500 ml beef stock
300 ml red wine
2 tbsp flour
2 carrots
1 10 cm white of leek
60 g celeriac
parsley stalks
6 juniper berries
salt and pepper
2 tbsp ghee

Cut the meat into bite size pieces and season it with salt and pepper. In a wide pot with some heated ghee brown the meat on all sides, get the tomato paste in and the onions. Now sprinkle the flour on top and stir well.
Add the rest of the veggies and the seasoning and berries and toss in wine and broth.
Bring to a boil, scrape off the bits on the bottom of the pot and reduce the heat to low, close the lid and let it simmer for 90 min or more.
If the sauce is too runny, use some potato starch in water to bind it.

You can serve it with pasta, dumplings, rice or potatoes. Very versatile.
Eat it with red cabbage or salad or the kind of veggies you like.
Do not forget the poached pear filled the the cranberry jam.
Eat it with red cabbage or some salad.