Cheese Platter

A 90th Birthday is a date to celebrate.

My coworkers Mom turned 90 yesterday and my coworker was over her head because 25 to 30 people wanted to come. I offered to help her and take off some of her workload. 

A large cheeseboard was a good idea to place on one of the tables so people can pick their own. We worked together a lot, setting plates, offering drinks and later coffee. With so many people a lot of dirty dishes were stacked everywhere. Loading and unloading the dishwasher and kepping track of miscillainous things was one of my purposes.

The cheeseboard was covered in Arugula to make the surface more appealling. I had a variety of French cheeses and sliced hard cheeses from different German regions. Combined with cherry tomatoes and quail eggs the platter looked fine.

It was a busy day, but all went well.

 

 

Victoria Perch on Peppers and Leek

Poached fish on fresh veggies.

I was lucky to find a large piece of fish at the local supermarket. Fish is expensive and getting a good deal is important to keep the costs down.

Now I needed a way to cook it. The easiest way is poached in some liquid. The temperature should be on medium low, way below boiling point. That way the fish wont get dry. I used a third of a Court Bouillon cube for that special flavour known with poached fish. The Victoria perch itself sat full on a bed of veggies to prevent it from touching the bottom of the hot pan.

Ingredients for 2:

750 g Victoria Perch

Fish seasoning

1 large red bell pepper, 1 leek

Salt and pepper

1 tsp olive oil

250 ml water, 1/3 court bouillon stock cube

Remoulade

Wash the fish and pat it dry. Season on both sides.

Chop pepper and leek and saute thrm in oil for 2 min, season with salt and pepper. Pour in the stock and set the fish on top of the veggies. Bring to a boil, reduce the temp to low and close the lid. After 5 min turn the fish over and cook 2 to 4 min more, depending on the thickness.

Serve with some Remoulade.

Croque Madame with Egg

I saw a YT video yesterday by Felicitas Then as a breakfast option. She was the first winner of the TV cooking show The Taste. Her videos recipes are easy to follow and I like them.

Today is a grey and cold  Sunday and a special breakfast sounded good. The ingredients were in stock.

I used the Air fryer as the second step. I was too lazy to heat up the oven for 2 pieces of stacked bread. It worked just as good.

Ingredients for 1:

2 slices of a Bloomer loaf

2 tsp Dijon mustard

3 slices of cooked ham (about 100 g)

1 hand full of grated Emmenthal cheese or any other you have on hand

Pepper

1 knob of butter

1 egg sunny side up

Cut two slices of bread, about 1 inch thick and spread mustard on one of each sides. Stack on the ham and close.

Melt butter in a pan and brown the bread on both sides. Take it out on an oven proof dish or put it in the Air fryer basket. Heap cheese on top, season with pepper and bake at 180 C until the cheese has melted.

During that time fry an egg in the pan to set on top later.

Cauliflower Salad with Ssamjang and Sour Cream Dressing

I have quiet a bit cauliflower leftover from my fritters recipe. 

A salad sounded good to me. To spice it up a little I looked in my fridge door and saw the Ssamjang paste sticking out of a shelf. This fermented paste is best with all kinds if veggies. 

Why not with cauliflower? When I usually prepare cauliflower as a salad, the dressing always contents sour cream or creme fraiche. It tones down the kraut taste. 

I steamed the head of cauliflower in my Thermomix. I hate mushy cauliflower since childhood. I like to keep it on the "al dente" side.

Dressing:

1 large green onion, 1 bunch fresh parsley

1 tbsp Ssamjang, 2 tbsp sour cream,

2 tsp Agave syrup, light balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil

Lemon salt, pepper, Italian herbs

Cima de Rapa with Frutti di Mare

Someone once told me that Advertising is the Right to choose.

The last couple of days I had ads from a Turkish supermarket here in the city on my smartphone. I deleted them. But yesterday I found out that they sell fresh seafood from Thursday to Saturday every week. The next good fishmonger is all across the city with lots of red stoplights in between.

I wanted to give the advertising supermarket a chance. Only 5 stoplights later I parked in front of the supermarket.

In the fruit and veg section I realized that the prices have gone up a lot in Turkish supermarkets too. Then I stood in front of a crate with lots of stalks topped with green leaves: Rapa, yeah!

Very rare! Even the cashir asked me if that was Rapa later. They seldom see it in that supermarket. 

I came for the seafood and bought freshly made mixed seafood salad and some other stuff. 

The Cima de Rapa needs to be cooked or blanched before eating. It has a bitter taste, but I like it. I sauted it with shallot and garlic in olive oil and a little veg stock for 6 min. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Cooled it down for 10 min and topped it off with the seafood salad

Cauliflower Fritters Palestinian style - Mshat Zahra

This was a Reel on TIK TOK. I took a piece of paper and wrote the main ingredients down.

It took me nearly 3 weeks to get hold of a head of cauliflower. Due to bad and cold weather their was no import of cauliflower possible and the large supermarket chaines did not buy any. Now the cauliflower drought is over. But they aren't cheap any longer.

This vegetarian dish is easy to prepare and the fritters can be eaten cold as well or taken as a snack. 

The cauliflower florets must he cooked for 7 min only. They need to be only 2/3 cooked. Mushy cauliflower does not work in fritters. I drained them and had them in cold water for a bit, then drained again and teared in shreds. Keep the pieces in a decent size.

Prepare the mix and add the cauliflower. How much water to add must be done with care. The cauliflower itself has moisture. It should be a thick batter.  Heat up enough oil in a pan that the bottom is covered. Ladle 3 to 4 spoons in and let them vake. Then turn. Rest on kitchen paper to soak up some oil.

Ingredients:

450 g cauliflower, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp cumin seeds  cook for 7 min

Batter:

1 /2 bunch parsley, 1 red onion, 3 garlic cloves

3 eggs, 1/4 to 1/2 cup water

1 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, salt, pepper, 1/ 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 /2 tsp ground ginger, 1 /2 tsp oriental seasoning

Dip:

Greek yogurt with Oriental paste seasoning

The moment I turned the first three fritters over in the pan, I thought of differently seasoned veggie fritters I made before. Indian style and Korean style. Change the seasoning and maybe some of the veggies and enjoy the taste of an other country.

    

Burrata with Grapefruit and Orange Salad

Creamy cheese and fruits go so well together. 

You can mix everything in a bowl and it is tasty. But when you make a little more effort and plate the ingredients separately, the picture gets better.

The citrus works so good with the Burrata. I only added some rose balsamic vinegar, olive oil with lemon and salt and pepper. But I forgot the red onion. Slicing it in very thin rings and dropping it in boiling water for 30 seconds. Then draing it and adding salt, sugar,a little vinegar and the squeezed out juice of the ends of the grapefruit. That sat for 15 min to marinate. The color was getting better by the minute.

Then I toasted some pine nuts and cut down some fresh basil from my still existing spring plant on the window sill in the kitchen. I bought that last year as a small pot and put it in a larger one and it was on my balcony until November. I hope it gets through the next two month. I will get it in some fresh soil and back on the balcony to last an other season, hopefully!

Ingredients:

1 Burrata

1 grapefruit, 1 orange, 1 red onion

2 tbsp pine nuts, basil leaves

Apple cider vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/ 4 tsp sugar, grapefruit juice as pickling liquid

Dressing:

Rose colored balsamic vinegar, olio con lemon, salt, pepper