Welsh Rarebit

I made a round trip through Wales and visited lots of castle cities. I arrived in the North of Wales in Llandudno. I stayed there on a long weekend when there was a festival of steam engines. I arrived at the early afternoon and after checking into my B&B I went out to look for some food. Lunch time was over and it was too early for dinner. I found a cafe that served sweet and savoury stuff.  

What caught my eye was Welsh Rarebit. I thought it was a toast with rabbit meat and was very surprised to find a toasted cheese bread. Since I had ordered a beer, it worked well. I asked my server about that dish. When I was back home, I gave it a try. But that is a while ago.

I shopped Lea&Perrins Worchester sauce and had a block of cheddar at home. That was the best way to use it. 

Recipe:

50 g butter, 50 g flour, 220 ml beer, 150 g grated Cheddar

1 tsp English mustard powder, 2 tbsp Lea&Perrins, 1 egg yolk

Melt butter and cook out the flour. Pour in beer in 3 stages. Stir well in between. Melt the cheddar in the sauce.

Add mustard powder and worchester sauce. Take off the heat and add the egg yolk.

Spread on bread and put under the grill for 6- 8 min until it bubbles and get a bit brown.

Do not burn it.

Chicken saffron Pilaw Moroccan Style

In my rice cookbook are some pilaw recipes.

 

This one does not take a lot of preptime and is cooked in the oven. I haven't had Moroccan food in a while. It is a very long time ago that I was on a round trip in that country. But I still remember the smell of the food and of the open markets there. I came back with lots of bags of spices. They are long gone. 

This pilaw is made with Basnmati rice. I am not sure if that is the traditional type of rice used there.

Recipe for 2:

500 g boneless chicken thighs, 350 ml chicken stock, 1/2 tsp saffron

1 large onion, 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil, 1 large yellow bell pepper, 1 tomato

Zest of 1/2 lemon, 60 g destoned olives, 1/2 bunch of parsley

1/2 tsp ground cumin and coriander, 1 tsp Ras el Hanut, chili flakes, salt and pepper

130 g Basmati rice

In 3 tbsp hot water steep the saffron for 10 min.

Preheat the oven 180C.

Season the chicken thighs and in a little oil let them get some color on both sides for 2 min each. Best use a skillet that has a lid and is oven proof. Take out the chicken.

Toss in the onion first, later the garlic and give that a headstart. Add bell pepper and tomato chunks and stir well. Now in with the rice and stir well. Add the spices. Zest a little lemon, the rest for later.

Pour in the hot chicken stock and place the chicken pieces back in. Close the lid and stick the pan in the oven for 45 min.

Check if chicken and rice are done, add olives and parsley and more zest.

Seafood with Spaghetti alla Chitarra

The last time I ate a great seafood pasta dish like that was in Ochrid in North Macedonia. This one came very close to it. The only things missing were the view of the Ochrid Lake and the beautiful weather.

I bought a frozen bag of Frutti di Mare yesterday. The Spaghetti alla Chitarra package contained still some pasta and I wanted to use it up.

The sauce is tomato based with paste and fresh tomatoes. Very easy to prepare and very tasty.

recipe:

150 g Spaghetti alla chitarra, 225 g Frutti di Mare defrosted

150 g tomatoes, 2 shallots, 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil

2 tbsp tomato paste, 120 ml veg stock, 2 tbsp Noilly Prat

parsley, salt, pepper, Piment d´Espelette, 1 tsp agave syrup

The spaghetti need about 12 min. This is the time to prepare the sauce.

Chop onions and garlic and start that in a wide pan in olive oil. Add the tomato paste and cook it for 2 min. In with the veg stock to make the sauce. Now in with the chopped tomatoes. Season well and add a little syrup to balance the tomatoes.

Short before the pasta is ready, add the seafood. When it is precooked, it wont take long to heat through. Add the pasta with tongs directly from the pasta pot to get some starchy water into to the sauce.

Finish with parsley.

Wool Roll Bread

Yesterday I found APRON! A Youtuber with great baking videos. 

The one I watched first was the wool roll bread. It got me hooked. Today on a very cold but sunny Sunday. I had time in the morning to be creative. The first drawback was that I did not have the right size of a baking dish with 20 cm diameter. I have lots of 18/24/26 cm loose bottom baking dishes. Finally I decided to use a 19 cm pasta baking dish. No loose bottom and I hoped for the best.

This recipe takes a lot of time due to the proofing time of the dough. 2 hours 15 min in total. It is not a bake to do after you get home from work. APRON filled her bread with chopped cranberries. I did not have any. While I went through my cupboards and baking storage I found a package of milled poppy seeds with sugar and seasoning added. The only thing it needed were several tablespoons of milk. The rest of it will go into an other bake soon. 

In made the dough in my Kenwood stand mixer. And it rested for 1 hours to proof afterwards.

recipe for a 20 cm dish:

300 g flour, 30 g sugar, 5 g salt, 3 g dry yeast, 80 ml lukewarm milk, 100 ml double cream, 1 egg

70 g poppy seed paste, butter for the baking dish

Depending on the type of yeast you use, either put it into the warm milk to bloom or toss it into the flour directly. Put the ingredients of the 1 row into the stand mixer and make a smooth dough.

Form it into a ball, put it  back into the mixing bowl, cover and place it in a warm place to rest for 1 hour.

Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour and put the dough on top. Smooth it out a little and take a  dough cutter and make 5 equal portions. Roll them into balls and cover them to rest for 15 min.

Take one out and with a rolling pin make a 25cm rectangular piece. Use the dough cutter and from the center of the dough cut in paralell lines small strips.

Use a tablespoon of poppy seed paste on the other side and fold the sides over and the end and start rolling it up to the strips. 

Place it in a buttered and bottom papered and buttered bakind dish. Make all 5 balls. I was only able to place 4 and a half pieces into my baking dish.

Cover again and let it proof for 1 hour again. Brush with a little milk.

Bake at 170 C fan for 17-20 min until golden.

Matcha Bubble Waffles

This my 1600th blog. Due to the pandemic I mostly cook and that makes it interesting. I do not let food get boring. Eating myself around the world when I have no chance to get there in the near future.

The bubble waffles originated in Hongkong. You do not see them here often. I took one to my neighbor to try it. She has never seen anything like them and Matcha was new to her too.

Recipe for 3 waffles:

125 g flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp Matcha, pinch of salt, 1 tbsp vanilla sugar,

35 g sugar, 60 g butter softened, 2 eggs, 110 ml milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat sugar and softened butter. Add dry ingredients. Then eggs and milk and vanilla extract. Let the waffle batter sit for 20 min. The additional tablespoon of vanilla sugar is needed to balance out the bitter Matcha flavour.

Bake in the greased bubble waffle iron and serve hot.

Sweet Potato with Tahini Butter

A large sweet potato waited on the kitchen counter for a purpose. I needed something quick. I checked the internet and found an intriguing recipe. Like eating a baked potato with creamy topping.

I did not use the oven. The sweet potato went into the steam pot of my Thermomix. 

The butter is quick to prepare. Just make sure the butter has room temperature.

Ingredients:

1 large sweet potato

30 g butter, 2 heaped tsp Tahini

1 tbsp supreme dark soy sauce

Fleur de Sel, pepper

1/2 lime juice, 

2 lime quarters, sesame seeds 1tsp + 1 tbsp

Mix butter, soy, tahini, 1 tsp sesame seeds, salt and pepper and lime juice and set aside.

Wash the sweet potato. Slice it lengthwise and put both halves into the steamer. You can use the metal baskets and a pot.

When the potatoes are done. Let them cool a little to handle them. Take a fork an loosen the flesh. Smear the butter on top.

Sprinkle with more sesame seeds and add lime wedges. The juice cuts through the richness.

Steam for 25 to 30 min.

 

Potato salad with Lentils and Sausage

In my Provence cookbook I found a recipe cutout from a magazine. My note on the top was "tasty  - Marseillan Plage, France" a holiday home for 3 weeks.

When I went on holidays and had a kitchen I often took a couple of recipes from home with me to finally cook them. The recipe was originated in Lyon. The sausage used is called here in Germany "Lyoner". It is a fine Bologna sausage.

The combination with lentils cooked in broth with vegetables and potatoes works well. If you eat vegetarian food, just skip the sausage and it will be fine. For meat lovers a little sausage always helps.

Recipe for 4:

800 g potatoes cooked and sliced, 1 white onion, 2 spring onion

200 g Lyoner or Bologna sausage, 1 bunch parsley, 1 small can of lentils with veggies

2 tbsp Dijon mustard, 2 tsp sweet Bavarian mustard, 100 ml water, 100 ml olive oil, 6 tbsp white balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. 

In a small pot mix water, oil, vinegar and mustard and bring to a boil. Add chopped onions and cook for 1 min. Pour over the sliced potatoes and let it rest for 30 min. Drain the lentils and add to the potatoes. Cut the sausage lengthwise, then into 3 strips each. Then cut them into cubes.

Mix well and finish with the greens of the onions and the parsley. Keep at room temperature for serving.