Lemon Sago Cream

This is a dessert I tried to recreate. I only remember the taste and the looks of it.

It was a winter dessert my Mom sometimes made when she bought to many lemons. And she used sago as a thickener. These are the only 2 ingredients I remember.
But not only that, when she was in a good mood the balance between tart and sweet was amazing, but never the look of the dessert. It always looked like a bowl of wallpaper paste with yellow specks in it.
Many times when she was stressed or in a bad mood, the dessert tended to be on the really sour side. I still can remember Dad`s face, even when he ate his dessert completely. I always complained.

Now I wanted to make a lemon dessert and bought the sago pearls today. The description on the side of the box made it easier to get the balance of liquid to starch. I looked around for inspiration and saw my bottle of apple juice on the counter.

recipe:
150 ml apple juice
50 ml water
100 ml lemon juice (2 large lemons)
zest of 2 lemons
4 heaped tbsp coconut flower sugar (makes a nice colour and gives some taste)
70 ml sweetend condensed milk
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
75 g sago pearls
75 g double cream

Use a saucepan.
Put both lemons into the microwave for 12 sec to get more juice.
Zest both lemons.

Press out the juice and pour it into a measuring cup. Fill up to 300 ml with apple juice and water.
Add sugar and vanilla sugar and heat up short before boiling.

Get the sago in and stir, bring up to a boil and cook for 30 minutes on a very very low heat - stir very often, the sago  likes to stick to the bottom of the pot!
It will thicken the liquid.
Pour it into a bowl and stir it until it cools down a bit.
After 5 minutes, fold in some double cream and let it sit in the fridge for 1 hour.

Hey, I am happy to say I nailed the taste - but it looks a lot prettier then the lemon sago cream I remember- thanks Mom!

Rice and Pasta Pilaw Turkish Style

I saw a Turkish chef use a combination of rice and angel hair pasta cooked in some red sauce. It was just at a moments notice but the idea stuck.

I had a jar roasted bell peppers in my dry store and thought about the one pan wonder. Not much washing up to do. I added a few other ingredients and I am sure to make this dish again. It is a vegetarian dish that goes great with other dishes on a brunch table. A bit of Yogurt on the side is good to balance out some of the spiciness.

recipe:
1 large onion
3 spring onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of parsley
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
4 tbsp salca (Turkish paprika paste)
2/3 cup Basmati rice
1/3 cup angel hair pasta
2 1/2 cups veg stock
1 large jar of roasted red peppers
1 small can sweet corn
4 tbsp Yogurt with some dried salad herbs

Chop the onions and garlic and in some oil start them until they get soft, add the Salca and start to stir it, add the stock and loosen the paste.

Chuck in the pasta and the rice and add bay leaves and seasoning. Lower the heat and let it cook until the rice is al dente.

Cut the peppers into cubes and drain the sweet corn, chop the parsley. Short before the rice is soft, add the veggies and let them warm through. Add parsley.

Put some yogurt in a bowl with some dried salad herbs and serve beside the dish.

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara

I bought a yellow and orange striped squash last week, it is a Spaghetti Squash. I never used one and had to check different methods on the internet. I stumbled over a Carbonara recipe and since I love this kind of Spaghetti carbonara, I wanted to give it a try with the veggie version.
And I am fully excited about it, it tasted amazing.
It is easy and quick to prepare, if you use a microwave to soften the veg.

recipe:
1,2  kg spaghetti squash
2 eggs
100 g raw ham or smoked bacon
1 large clove of garlic
1 spring onion
1 tsp oil
100 g sour cream
50 g cream cheese
30 ml milk
2 tbsp parsley
30 g Parmesan cheese
50 g Emmenthal cheese
a good dose of smoked paprika, italian herbs, arrabiata seasoning
salt and pepper and some Tabasco

Half the squash lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and fill the middle with some water. Put it into the microwave in a covered dish for 10-12 minutes.
Preheat the oven 200 C

Use a fork and pull out most of the flesh and cut it into long strips.
In a small pan heat up a bit of oil and add chopped ham and then onion and garlic. Brown a bit and cool it down.

In a bowl mix sour cream, cream cheese and 2 eggs with some milk, season heavily. Add the scraped out veg and the bacon mix and half of the Parmesan.
Pour it back into the halfs of the squash.

Sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan and the Emmenthal cheese and put it into the oven for 20 minutes. When it is done, let it rest for 10 minutes before tucking in to it.

Pileci Paprikas`

This is a recipe of my good friends mother, they lived in the western part of Croatia until the late 50, then came to Germany because they were of German decent. His mother loved this recipe and today he showed us how to make it.
The best thing is, except the chicken and the paprika sausage  all other ingredients came from their own garden.

It is a very slow cooked dish, the chicken breast stays very moist and all the flavours come together so lovely.

recipe for 6:
3 chicken breasts
200 g dried white beans
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
500 ml homemade tomato and paprika sauce
250 ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
5 stalks of thyme
2 tbsp olive oil

200 g paprika sausage or Chorizo
4 potatoes in small cubes
2 orange bell peppers
100 g sour cream
1/2 cup defrosted peas (optional)

The night before soak the beans in water, in the morning drain and cook in fresh water without salt!
Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces
Chop onion and garlic and saute them in oil, add the chicken and just let that get colour, but do not cook it through.

Use a big pot with a lid.
Get the chicken stock hot, add the chicken pieces with the onions, the beans, the tomato sauce, bay leaves and thyme and on very low heat - do not bring it to a boil!!! - let it sit for 2 hours.
In a  wide pan in some oil roast the raw potato cubes until done- set aside.
In the same pan, saute the bell pepper pieces - add to the chicken when done.
In the same pan,on medium heat give the paprika sausage a couple of minutes to drain some fat. Add the sausage to the chicken.

Serve in a deep dish either with rice or with bread and a good dollop of sour cream and sprinkle over the potato cubes.

Cornish Fairings

With a bit of German Lebkuchen spice or gingerbread spice to make it a bit like Xmas cookies. I needed something for the office tomorrow.

I got a new baking book:  British Baking - Paul Hollywood
Since I am a fan of the Great British Bakeoff, I wanted to learn what the Artisan baker Hollywood has to offer. And my many tours through Britain showed me different sweet and savoury titbits, some of them I already bake for a while now.
It is a very quick recipe without any resting time for the dough.

recipe:
200 g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp gingerbread spice
100 g cold unsalted butter, diced 
100 g caster sugar  
4 tbsp golden syrup
4 tbsp milk instead of 1
some candied ginger for deco

Preheat the oven 180 C 
Use a blender and add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices and cold butter to it. Give it a quick blitz to make fine breadcrumbs.
Pour it into a large bowl and add the sugar.
Dissolve the syrup in the milk and pour it into the bowl, with your hands make a dough ball.
Use 2 baking sheets covered with baking paper and make small dough balls and roll them and set them with space apart from each other on the baking sheet.
Cut slices from the candied ginger and press a piece of it into the middle if you like.

Bake for 10 minutes and keep an eye on them, they will brown quickly. Leave to set on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

Fonghetti - Cheese Fondue Spaghetti

This is my kind of portmanteaus dish. I am a huge fan of Swiss cheese fondue and I love a good pasta dish.

I rummaged through my fridge and found some cheeses that needed to be eaten and I was hungry for pasta. I had Emmenthal cheese, some Gryére and cream cheese in stock, so I grated the first two and
chopped a bit of onion and voila:  Taste of Fondue and a plate of spaghetti.

recipe:
100 g Emmenthal cheese
30 g Gryére cheese
60 g cream cheese
125 g creme double
1 shallot
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp butter
40 ml whole milk
30 ml Noilly Prat
1 tsp chicken stock powder
1 tsp Piment d´ Espelette
3-4 drops of Tabasco
some pepper

Cook the spaghetti al dente and save a bit of the water.
In a wide pan melt the butter and saute onion and garlic, add the milk, stock and the Noilly Prat and chuck in the cheeses. On low heat start to melt them.
Season and add the creme double and bring everything together.

Beef Cheeks with Pumpkin Gnocchi

I made a dish that is good for autum and winter days. It is hearty and satisfying.
This is a dish that needs a lot of time to braise, best to start the day before. The meat needs a night to rest. Simmer it the first day about 3 hours on very low heat. The next day it needs about 30- 60 minutes. Lots of soup veggies are needed to give it a great taste.

It is difficult to buy beef cheeks here. You have to get to your local butcher and order it way ahead of the day you want to cook it.

recipe:
1,2 kg beef cheeks
3 onions
3 cloves of garlic
1 red chili
3 bay leaves
3 carrots
1 leek
1/4 celeriac
2 parsley roots
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 stalk rosemary
3 stalks of thyme
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
salt and pepper
5 anchovis filets
4 pieces of dark chocolate
400 ml intense beef stock
800 ml water
100 ml Noilly

Use a very big pot and heat up a bit of oil, season the meat with a good amount of salt - no pepper for the start, it will burn and taste bitter - use pepper later.
Sear the meat in the hot oil until it has a good colour all over, now add the pepper, the tomato paste and then the flour. Cook it for 2 minutes then add the whole veggies and seasoning. Add the liquid you may have to adjust it so that the meat is nearly covered.
Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and place the lid on top and cook it, after every 45 min just turn the meat. Now simmer and simmer and simmer until the meat just falls apart. Best stop after 3 hours and let the meat cool over night and just reheat it for a bit (30 min).
Then take the biggest part of the veggies out and use a stick blender to make a smooth sauce with the rest of the veggies.

Pumpkin Gnocchi
500 g floury potatoes steamed
500 g Hokkaido pumpkin steamed
2 egg yolks
potato starch
nutmeg
smoked paprika
salt and pepper
dried thyme

Make the dough and check in boiling water if the small dumplings stay together by just cooking one or two of them. When they float they are ready.