Kimchi Pancake

When you find a blown up package of kimchi in your fridge, that is the best time for Kimchi pancakes.

Do not use fresh kimchi. It has to be well fermented. Cut it up in a glass or metal bowl, do not cut it on your wooden chopping board or use a plastic bowl. You will ruin it.

My small 200 g Kimchi bag was sitting in the basement fridge and I saw it two days ago. Very well blown up but still not at the expiration date. I went on YT for the video from Aaron &Clare and checked the recipe. I had to downsize it a bit. I had not enough Kimchi.

Frying it in a well oiled pan was no big deal. I only had to make sure I used the right cooking temperature to prevent the pancake from burning, but give it enough heat to cook through.

Recipe:

200 g well fermented Kimchi chopped

1 green chili, 1/2 red bell pepper, 2 spring onions

1 1/4 cup Korean pancake mix, 1 tbsp Kimchi juice, 1 dash of vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp gochugaru hot pepper flakes, 1 tsp granulated veg stock powder

1 cup cold water, 2 tbsp rapeseed oil per pancake

Cut the Kimchi and chop onion and peppers

Add the pancake mix and the cold water. Stir carefully to prevent the gluten from rising.

Heat up a good amount of oil in a pan and pour in and spread pancake batter. Take care that you have oil beneath the pancake to swirl it around. That way it gets crispy. Reduce the heat a little and let it get color. Flip and fry the other side. Repeat the dame with the other pancake.

Sweet Corn Saffron Soup

The soup does not look like much, but flavourwise it's a bomb.

This is a Thoru Nakamura recipe. It needs 12 hours to start the preparation. I wanted to cook it yesterday. But I had only read the ingredients list and not the cooking method.

I started reading and only made step one and the decided to cook the soup today.

Very important, have a fine metal strainer on hand.

Ingredients for 2:

50 ml Noilly Prat, 10 saffron pieces

2 sweet corn cobbs- I used precooked. 

3 shallots, 50 g butter, 100 ml double cream, 150 ml whole milk, 250 ml chicken stock

Smoked sea salt, pepper

The day before you cook the soup. In a small jar with a lid steep the saffron in Noilly Prat.

Cut the sweet corn kernels off the cobbs. Chop them roughly. Peel the shallots and cut them in rings. Melt the butter in a pot and toss the sweet corn in. Let it roast 5 min, add the shallots. Give them 3 more minutes and then add the saffron Vermouth. Cook it down a bit.

Now in with rest of the liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, put a lid on and reduce the heat. Cook for 20 min. Put in a blender and mix. Clean the pot and put the metal strainer on top. Pour the mix through. Discard all the skins of the sweet corn.

Heat the soup up again and use a stick blender to make some foam. Enjoy!

Lime Jello Pineapple and Cottage Cheese Salad

I was looking for some Thanksgiving food and stumbled over this salad. For a German like me, it sounded sooo strange. A package of lemon jello was already at home from the Turkish supermarket. Most of the other ingredients in the cupboard and the others fresh from the store. 

I looked through many different versions of the same recipe. Some use cool whip, not available here, others use Mayonaise, urgh. I used just a little of it and switched to Greek yogurt instead.

Ingredients:

1 package lime jello, green food coloring

1 can pineapple chunks (use 1/2 can of fruit)

1 1/2 cup pineapple juice topped off with water

200 g cottage cheese

2 tbsp Mayo

120 g Greek yogurt

1 hand full Marshmallows

4 tbsp chopped pecans

Drain the pineapple juice in a measuring cup. Add enough water up to 1 1/2 cup. Put in a pot and bring to a boil. Take off the heat and stir in the Lime Jello.

The Turkish one was only light colored. 2 drops of green food coloring helped. Let it set.

Crush the pineapples and mix them with cottage cheese, Mayo, Greek yogurt and marshmellows. Cover it and store it in the fridge. 

Whisk the jello and stir in the cottage cheese mix. Chop some pecans and add them. Cool for a couple of hours.

I was surprised that this salad is not so sweet and very refreshing to eat.

Entrecôte with Mushroom Potato Side

I seldom prepare beef steaks. So many people love their beef rare or medium rare. 

That is not the way I like my steak. I prefare well done, or 58 C central meat temperature.

Entrecôte was on "sale" at my local butcher. 

I ate it with a mushroom potato side dish and a Port wine glaze sauce.

280 g Entrecôte, salt, pepper, canola oil, 1 tbsp butter

6 button mushrooms, 2 king oyster mushrooms, 2 medium potatoes, salt, pepper, parsley, 1 tsp honey, oil

75 ml red Port wine, 2 tsp ketchup manis, 2 cloves of garlic

Heat up the oven to 180 C.

Peel the potatoes and cook them until done. Drain. Clean and chop the mushrooms.

Get the beef out of the fridge 1 hour before you start cooking. Season with salt before  you put it in the pan on high heat for 2 min on each side. Add a tbsp of butter on top an put it in the oven for 8 min. Get it out, turn the heat off, leave the oven door open for 3 min. Let the beef rest in the open oven for 5 min.

Use the pan from the Entrecôte and add a little more oil and toss in the mushrooms. Give them 5 min. Season and add the potato slices. After 3 more min, add the parsley and drizzle the honey over.

In a small pot press in the garlic. Add Port and Ketchup manid and reduce down to a syrup

 Take off the heat and add cold butter chunks.

Squid Rings

I wanted to eat a very light seafood lunch.

Soft and tasty!  No Bicycle Tube chewiness. That is something I hate, when I order squid rings on a menu and get some tough ones.

I had some green beans in the fridge ready to be coojed. They were left over from my Tater Tots Casserole. But since they were very fresh when I bought them and good quality, I was able to use the second batch as a salad.

The squid was defrosted and ready to prepare. I only washed the tubes and patted them dry. Using a very sharp knife I cut them in 1 cm rings. Seasoned with salt and pepper. 

1 used 1 Chinese garlic bulb and 1 green chili to flavour the olive oil.

When it is on high and the garlic turned to a bit of color, toss in the squid rings. 45 seconds on each side. A total of 90 -120 seconds and they are done. 

Chicory Lentil Soup

A vegetarian soup for a cold October evening. It is the evening of the end of summer time.

I was looking for an easy soup that warmed me up and used up some of my chicory in the veggie drawer of my fridge. Lentils are a great kind of protein to make the  chicory a little more substancial.

I choose pink organic Gascogne lentils. They are nutty and taste good on their own. The cooking time is a bit longer, but they keep their shape.

The chicory needs a good amount of seasoning in the soup. Otherwise the soup stays bland.  

Recipe for 2:

250 g chicory, 1 tbsp butter, 1/ 2 tsp sugar, 30 ml white wine

300 ml veg stock, 100 ml double cream, 4 tbsp orange juice

salt, black and white pepper, cayenne pepprr 1/2 tsp ground coriander

75 g pink organic Gascogne lentils

Cook the lentils in unsalted water for 30 min, drain.

In a pot melt the butter and add the chopped chicory. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 min and add the sugar.  After 2 more minutes add the white wine and let it simmer down. Now comes the veg stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cover the pot and cook for 10 min. Add cayenne and black pepper. 

Use a stick blender and make a fine soup. Add cream and orange juice and ground coriander and reheat the soup. Serve with the lentils heaped up in the middle. 

Pad Thai with Prawns

Eating some Thai food was on my go to list for this week. A bowl of Pad Thai with the basic ingredients like sauce, flat rice noodles and some peanut dust was easy. I found a package at the new supermarket this Monday.

Bulking it out with green chili, bok choy and bean sprouts was easy. Prawns are a staple in my freezer.

When the mis-en-place is done and the flat rice noodles are drained, the actual cooking process is fast. It does not take longer than 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

80 g flat rice noodles, 80 g Pad Thai sauce, 1 tbsp ground toasted peanuts

6 large defrosted black tiger prawns, 1 egg

1 bok choy, 1 green chili, 1 spring onion, 60 g mung bean sprouts blanched in hit water

Salt and pepper, veg oil, 

Heat up the oil, chop bok choy and spring onion and toss it in. After 3 min, add the sauce and cook it trough. Now in with the prawns. After 2 min on each side, add noodlrs and sprouts. Mix well and make a free spot in the middle of the pan and crack the egg in. When it sets a bit, stir all together and finish with peanuts and some spring onion greens