Pierogi

I was in Poland two years ago. I came across this filled dumplings at various occations.

Soft dough without much taste to it, filled with a vegetarian or a meat filling. I even had them as dessert filled with blueberries and curd.

They are a lot of work to do yourself and I was surprised to find a package at Lidl last week. The Pierogi were filled with potato mash and cream cheese. They had a Polish week special at Lidl. Lots of other item were sold there. But since I did not shop during the special offer time, I only got some of the leftover stuff.

Corona times changed my way of grocery shopping. Since I was not able to drive to France for 3 Month now due to closed borders, I am doing the large haul once a week on Saturdays at 7 AM. A discount chain is not the place for it. Just a second stop during the middle of the week for some fresh produce.  Before Corona I checked the offers for week specials and went in several different shops. 

The Pierogi are eaten in Poland either with some Smetana or sour cream or are served with a bit of bacon topping. Large amounts of any kind of sauce are not common. The dish is more on the dry side.

I chopped some onions and added 125 g of bacon bits to a pan. With a little white wine and a bit of water I created my kind of dressing.

The pierogi were just like the ones I ate in Poland. I was really surprised how good they were.      

Lemon Chicken with Rice

This is a Donal Skean recipe - Lemon Chicken Francese.

I only added some more garlic and some spring onions to the mix. 
When you love the tangy taste of lemon, this is a great dish to try. It is fast to prepare as well. 

Fresh organic lemons are a staple in my household. The only problem reaccuring often is them going green and molding. I have sometimes the issue that I buy a bag of them and it seems that on the way from the store one of the lemons start to get bad. You can smell this citrus mold quite easy. Often I throw one of them out the next day or the day after that. Now when I come from grocery shopping I wash the lemons first before storing them. Does not help all the time.

The cover around the chicken breast reminds me of Piccata Milanese. 

recipe for 2:
400 g chicken breast
1/ 2 cup flour
salt, pepper, smoked paprika 
2 eggs
2 lemons
40 g grated Parmesan
3 cloves of garlic
2 spring onions
2 tbsp butter
oil
50 ml white wine
60 ml chicken stock
3 tbsp double cream
parsley

Cut each breast filet into 2 thin slices. Season with salt and pepper.
Mix flour with salt and pepper and smoked paprika on a deep plate.
On a second one mix 2 eggs, Parmesan and grated lemon zest.
Coat he chickn in flour and coat in the egg mix.

Heat up a large pan with enough sunflower oil to cover the bottom completely and drop the chicken in. On medium high heat shallow fry on both sides until golden brown.
Take out of the pan and set aside. Pour the hot oil into a bowl for an other use.

Cut the other lemon in very fine slices. Heat 1 tbsp butter in the pan and cook the lemon slices. When done, add them to the chicken.
Heat up the rest of the butter and fry off garlic and spring onion. Add wine, Stock, lemon juice and cream and bring to a boil to reduce a little. Add the chicken and the lemon slices to the pan to reheat.,
Finish with some parsley and eat with some rice.    

Mushrooms and beef mince one pot dish

I found huge wonderful white mushrooms of great quality. I had a lot of ideas to prepare them, but no time to do any of them.

In the middle of remodeling I only wanted something warm and comforting and with less hassle.
All ingredients sitting in one pot sounded good.

The mushrooms should stay whole during cooking and I had an idea.
Beef mince and rice on the bottom of the pot and the mushrooms sitting on top.

Recipe for 3:
400 g beef mince
500 g huge white button mushrooms
1 cup long grain rice
3 spring onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 Yellow bell pepper
1 bay leaf
1 stalk of lovage
Parsley
1 tbsp oil
2 cups of beef stock
1/4 cup sangrita picante or spicy tomato juice
Salt and pepper
Piment d' Espelette

In the oil start the beef mince, add onions and garlic and season.
Put in herbs and bay leaf.
Set the mushrooms on top, open side down.
Pour over stock and sangrita.
Bring up to boil, reduce the heat and cover with a lid.

Cook for 12 min, turn the mushroom over and finish cooking until the rice is done.

Nasi Lemak Fusion cooking

The fat rice or coconut rice of Malysia and Singapore is a staple there. Often eaten for breakfast with some veggies, greens and egg or an other kind of protein and a chili sauce.

I cooked the rice and added grilled yellow long peppers to it my kind of protein was Norwegian smoked salmon.

My friend gave me a small jar of homemade Shattar - pickled chilis.

A bunch of Vietnamese coriander finished the dish.

That was a bit of food, that helped me during the renovation process of my apartment.

Peel the bell pepper, it makes it more digestable. Use a cast iron griddle pan and give the peppers some hot love.

Coconut cream and a bit of Nasi lemak seasoning added to the water creates a bit of a problem in the rice cooker. Open it twice during the cooking process and stir it well.

Polenta Fries

Polenta is a side dish I am not so fond of. Mostly it tastes bland and uninspiring.

I prepared a bit with lots of chicken stock, dried lovage and pinent d'Esplette.
It was good and the rest did not go into the bin as usual.
I spread it on a plate about 1,5 cm thick and cooled it in the fridge over night.

When it was solid, I cut it French Fry style.

Now a garlic and oregano olive oil was spread on the sticks.

Since this is a new airfryer recipe, I sprayed some oil into the basket and put the fries in.

It takes 20 min at 200 C to make them crispy on the outside and still soft in the middle. Shake it 2 times while cooking so that the fries do not stick to the bottom.

I ate them with a dip of 2 tbsp mayo, 1 tbsp ketchup, 1 tsp light rose colored balsamic vinegar and a dash of Jim Beam.

Finally a way to enjoy more polenta.


60 g polenta
3 times the volume of the polenta in good seasoned chicken stock

1/2 tsp dried lovage
1/2 tsp dried garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil

200C in the airfryer for 20 min

Lentil Pot with Pasta

I needed a dish without asparagus.

Lentils are a good source of protein and two links of smoked sausages as well.

Lentils need a bit of umpf to get them out of the boring corner.
Here in Germany a pot of lentils with some bacon and/or sausages is comfort food. Served in extra large pots to be eaten at outdoor activities and even festivals.

The sausages are of the raw smoked kind.

Recipe for 2:
160 g light brown lentils - I used French lentil blonde
2 spring onion
2 Cloves of garlic
1 Bay leaf
1 Sprig of lovage
50 g smoked bacon bits
4 Small potatoes
1 Small courgette
4 cherry tomatoes
600 ml beef stock
1 tbsp oil
200 g Spaetzle pasta
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Chop onion, garlic and courgette, halve the tomatoes and peel and cube the potatoes.

Use s medium size pot and heat up the oil. Fry off onions, bacon and garlic and add courgette and potatoes. Now pour the hot stock over and add lentils and all the spices.
Bring to a boil and stick the sausages in with the tomatoes.
Reduce the heat and cook until the lentils are done.
Take the sausages out and cut them up.
During that time cook the Spaetzle.
Add them with the vinegar to the pot and enjoy.

Prawns with Garlic Spaghetti

During social distancing and a 2 week vacation with no chance to go on my booked holiday in Croatia I started a renovation project. Not much fun sitting in a lot of mess.

Cooking something to get away from it is a good course of action. But many things are packed away. It had to be something easy.

A pasta dish is a saviour. A bag of chili prawns is a great addition to it.

I first thought about Spaghetti olio e alio. But my prawns needed to be cooked too. Best solution: mix both together.

In les then 15 minutes I cooked the spaghetti, chopped the garlic and flavoured the oil with it.
The prawns are marinated in chili oil- that is a bit red but not spicy. They are sold at LIDL for a reasonable price and are tasty.

recipe for 1:
120 g spaghetti
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
black pepper and salt
150 g chili prawns
fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Piment d´Espelette