Fennel and smoked Salmon Risotto

I found a small recipe book in my huge stack of others while I looked for something else. It contains only recipes of risotto, pilaw and paella. I thumped through it and stopped at this recipe. I love fennel and smoked salmon, but the reason to try this recipe was something else.

I read a short part of the recipe to get a feel for it and was intrigued. Usually in a risotto the liquids start with wine, then broth and sometimes finish with a little lemon. This was different. Take a pot and add all liquids to it and bring it to a boil then keep it hot and add it to the rice in 3 or 4 increments.

Recipe for 3:

180 g Carneroli rice, 1 bulb fennel, 2 spring onions, 35 g butter

100 ml white wine, juice 1/2 lemon and zest, 200 ml fish stock, 350 ml veg stock, salt and pepper

100 g organic smoked salmon

Mix the liquids and bring to a boil, cook for 3 min, then keep hot.

Melt the butter in a wide pan and add chopped fennel and the light part of the onions and saute for 4 min. Add the rice and coat it well. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in 1/4 th of the hot stock and stir often.

Finish 2- 3 more times. Cut up the salmon and the onion greens and zest the lemon.

Stir all in and serve hot.

Adobo Chicken Liver

The Adobo sauce alone is 10 out of 10 points. This Philippino recipe I have found on YT Beryl Shereshevsky. I added some more veggies since it was a pretty basic recipe.

And the veggies were left over from the weekend cooking. No waste. The cooking time is short. More or less the time the rice needs to get ready. You can prepare the sauce in advance. That makes it even easier. Just pour it in the pan to cook through.

Recipe for 2:

350 g chicken liver, 1 large yellow onion, 2 spring onions, 6-8 cloves of garlic, 60 g baby spinach, 1/2 red bell pepper

3 bay leaves, 1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/4 cup dark soy sauce, 1/4 cup water, 1/3 cup white vinegar, 2 tbsp oil

1 cup Basmati rice

Wash the chicken liver, pat it dry and cut out all the yucky things. Set aside and do not season it. Start the rice.

Chop the veggies. Separate the green from the white of the spring onions. The greens are for the finishing touch. Mix the sauce.

First fry off the sliced garlic for decoration later. Then start with the onions and bell pepper and bay leaves. Season with lots of pepper. When the onions are soft and brown, add spinach and pour in the sauce. Let it cook through, then at last add the liver pieces. They are so tender and will be ready in 3 min. Do not overcook liver!

Finish with onion greens and garlic and serve over rice.

Donuts made from Madeleine batter

I wanted to bake Madeleines. I saw a a YT video from Cupcake Jemma. I found my silicone madeleine baking mat and wondered why I haven't used it only one time before. I remembered baking Matcha madeleines. They are not on the blog because they were damaged too.

I knew I had made Matcha madeleines 4 years ago. Then I checked my blogs and there was nothing. Weird.

The batter recipe is great and made in no time. But the batter has to rest in the fridge or on the cold balcony at least for 45 min. I buttered the silicon moulds and filled in the batter with 2 teaspoons. It is a small size for a baking dish.

Baking time was 7 min at 190C fan.

They looked perfect wgen they came out of the oven. After a short waiting time I trued to pull them or push them out. Now I knew the reason why I haven't used this silicon disaster in a long while. They ripped apart.

For the remaining batter I used the first metal baking dish I could grab out of the cupboard. It was the donut one. 

They came out perfect! My next move was Amazon. I ordered a metal madeleine baking dish. The silicon one went into the recycling bin.

Recipe:

100 g sugar, 2 eggs beaten together

1 1/2 tsp honey, 1/2 heaped tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, pinch of salt

Add that and zest of 1/2 a lemon. 

Sift in 115 g flour and add 115g melted cooled down butter

Bake and drench in lemon drizzle: 2 tbsp icing sugar, juice 1/2 lemon, drop of water

Chicory with Bacon and Parmesan

A recipe from one of the supermarket advertising newsletters. This on is from EDEKA. This time of the year chicory is sold everywhere. We have farmers around here that sell it locally. Getting really fresh produce is no hassle.

Other then as a salad, chicory can be prepared as a cooked vegetable. It keeps its structure while cooking. The slight bitterness gives a distintive flavour.

The combination with bacon is a winner. There are many recipes available for it.

Recipe for 2:

2 big chicorys, 5 medium potatoes, 30 g Parmesan, 1 stalk rosemary

60 g bacon, 2 tbsp oil, salt and pepper

200 ml veg stock, juice of 1/2 lemon, 60 ml double cream, 1 tsp potato starch with 1 tbsp water

I used my air fryer for the potato cubes. But you can deep fry or pan fry them. Season them well afterwards. They were just watered, dried, tossed in oil and herbs and air fried for 20 min at 180C.

When the potatoes cook, chop the bacon and start it in oil for 5 min. Take off the outer leaves of the chicory and cut the thing in the middle in two parts. Set them down in the bacon pan. Add lemon juice. Brown for 2 min, turn and brown the other side. Pour in stock and cream, toss in the rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Cook covered on medium for 5-8 min, depending on the size of the chicory. Uncover and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Bind the sauce with the starch slurry.

Serve with the potato cubes.

Oyster Mushrooms and Mortadella Sauce with Pasta

This is a recipe from 3 star Chef Witzigmann. I had a seasonal problem to get all the ingredients, but nearly made it. A great dish for lunch or dinner.

He cooked the tiny pasta he used like a risotto in the chicken stock. My method was different, but still very delicious.

Recipe for 2:

120 g small pasta, 600 ml chicken stock

1 shallot, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 tdp dried thyme, salt and pepper, some lemon juice

1/2 red bell pepper, 200 g oyster mushrooms, 50 g Italian mortadella, Parmesan, 2 hands full of baby spinach

50 g Edamame beans (broad beans were nowhere to be found), parsley, olive oil, 2 tsp creme fraiche, 40 ml white wine

Cook the pasta in the chicken stock and save some of the liquid for the sauce. 

Chop shallot and garlic and fry it in olive oil. Add the mushrooms and give them a couple of minutes. Season.

Now add the chopped mortadella and the beans. Now in with the wine, the creme fraiche and some pasta water.

Next are the diced bell pepper and spinach. Let it wilt. You may need to add more stock.

Check the seasoning and stir in the pasta.

Finish with some parsley and Parmesan.

Pasta with Hungarian Hot Paprika Sauce

This red Hungarian paprika paste is HOT. There is a mild version of it, but I like the spicy one more. Our city had two partnerships with Cities in Hungary. On many big city festivals or at the Christmas market in town, there are emmisiaries from Szeged or Gyönk in the city and take part in the festivals. A booth with local products draws lots of people.

But you can get this pastes here as well in the supermarkets. I usually use them to spice up some meat sauces. This is the first time I used it as the main component of a pasta sauce. I needed some other ingredients to tone it down a bit, but it was still hot and spicy.

Recipe for 1:

110 g Buccatini pasta, 2 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, 

3 tbsp Hungarian hot paprika paste Piros Arany, salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil, 125 ml veg stock, 2 tsp honey

60 g goat cream cheese, 3 tbsp pasta water, chives,  

shredded Gouda, basil

Cook the pasta. Chop onion and garlic and saute it in oil. Add the paste and stir it for 1 min. Add veg stock and cook it through. Add the rest of the ingredients except the Gouda and basil.

Mix with the pasta and check the heat. 

Maybe 2 tbsp paprika paste are enough :-) 

Flank Steak in Rendang Sauce

At the end of the week I check what is left in the fridge. Sometimes the meal plan for the whole week changes and ingredients are left in the fridge. 

I bought a flank steak and asked the butcher to seal it in a bag. That way it keeps a lot longer. Up to 30 days.  But the recipe I planned for it did not work out. I stood in front of my spice rack and waited for an inspiration. From the Dutch supermarket I found a spice package Rendang. Coconut milk is a staple in my household.

The next stop was the veggie drawer of my fridge. More on the empty side. But still usable stuff.

Ingredients for 1:

175 g flank steak, 2 spring onions, 2 cloves if garlic, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil, 1 red bell pepper, 2 celery stalks, parsley

1 package Rendang paste, 200 ml coconut milk, 100 ml water

Salt and pepper, 1 tbsp rice syrup 1/2 lime

1/2 cup rice

Pat dry the steak after it rested outside the fridge for 45 min. Season with salt and pepper and cut into thin slices.

Chop all the veggies. Start the rice.

Heat up the oil high and put the meat in to sear it on both sides for 3 min. Use a small bowl and scoop the meat in and cover with a plate. That way it rests and stays soft.

Put the seasoning paste in the pan, reduce the heat a bit and add coconut milk and water to loosen it up. Get all the veggies in and cook them until done.  Now in with the steak and the juice to reheat it. Sweeten with syrup and put lime juice in for balance.

Chop the parsley and stir it in. Serve with rice.