Mussels with Mauritian Grilled Masala

 The first mussels in this fall season. 

A broth with veg stock and a bit of lime juice and just some carrot and leek. When yoh do not want to use wine to cook the mussels, this method is good too. After the mussels have opened I added the Masala powder and the sour cream. The broth was hot and it dissolved completely. Do not cook the mussles too long, they will get rubbery. Just wait until they are all open, or most of them. The ones which stay closed have to be discarded.

1 kg of fresh mussels

1/2 carrot

60 g leek

2 cloves of garlic

350 ml veg stock, 3 tbsp sour cream, juice of 1 lime

2 tsp Grilled Masala

Salt and pepper

Cauliflower Cheddar Sauce with Spaghetti and herby Breadcrumbs

The idea is a recipe from Jamie Oliver. I saw a clip on the internet, but did not write anything down. I just remembered the basic ingredients and the steps. I used my Thermomix. That made it easy with all the blitzed up pieces. I added different spices to spruce up the sauce. Only salt and pepper seamed a bit boring.

This is a vegetarian dish and I did not miss any meat in the sauce. The breadcrumb topping with its good amount of garlic is the winner of this dish. I will put that in my list for food to add to lots of dishes.

It is a good meal to prepare for a larger group of people. Take a whole head of cauliflower and enough Cheddar cheese and everybody will be stuffed.

Recipe for 2:

200 g spaghetti

350 g cauliflower, 1 red onion, 400 ml whole milk

Nutmeg, dried wild garlic leaves, smoked paprika, Shimishi Togarashi, pepper, smoked sea salt, a couple of drops of Chipotle Tabasco

100 g Cheddar  Cheese

1 egg

4 small slices of sourdough bread, 1 Chinese single bulb of garlic, green leaves of cauliflower, 3 stalks of parsley, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp butter, salt and pepper

Blend everything for the breadcrumbs and toss it in a pan with oil and butter. Brown on medium high heat up to 10 min. Set aside to cool down.

Blitz cauliflower and onion and pour into the boiling milk. Cook until the veggies are soft.

Use a heat proof blender and shred the cheese. Pour the milk mix over it and blend.

Add the seasonings and the egg and blend again.

Cook the pasta. Mix the pasta with the cheese sauce and add the breadcrumbs on top.

Pasta Ferrari

The name is synonymous for a very fast pasta dish with tomato sauce. I even made it with a whole bunch of ripened own tomatoes. Tomato Red as the car and quick to cook.

I often have Panzini pasta at home. They sell "3 minute pasta" in different shapes. Ok, after 3 min the pasta is still very al dente :-)  I cook it for 4 to 5 min and the pasta is perfect.

Lots of different small tomatoes are still ripening in the dark at home. They are the rest of my last harvest. They taste good, but no so strong as sun ripened ones. Putting them in a sauce is the best way to eat them. With the help of a good squeeze of concentrated tomato paste and all the other ingredients for a tasty sauce, I was good to go.

250 g fresh tomatoes, 2 tbsp tomato paste

2 shallots, 2 spring onions, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 red chili

1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 3 tbsp vodka,

100 ml chicken stock, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt

Pepper, chili flakes, herbes de Provence, thyme

Fast cooking pasta

Parmesan and basil

Hawaiian Pork Loin in a Slow Cooker

Whole pigs are often cooked the old fashioned way in an earthen pit during a Luau. 

I don't have a whole pig and my front garden is too small to dug a pit to roast a pig in. My neighbors would not like it either. But a good piece of pork loin cooked in a slow cooker does the trick for me.

Pork loin tends to get dry when it is braised in liquid for a while. The cut I bought was on the lean side. It would have happened, if I had cooked it in a pot. I still remember the family Sunday lunches with dry meat. Using a slow coooker on low for 5 hours solves that problem. Juicy meat to the table. 

Recipe for 6:

1,35 kg pork loin

2 stalks celery, 1 large carrot, 2 onions, 

2 cloves of garlic, 

450 ml can of pineapple chunks

150 ml dark Soy sauce, 150 ml chicken stock

150 ml water

Rub:

Smoked paprika, pork loin seasoning, salt

Pepper, ground ginger

Oil

Starch slurry

Prepare the rub and coat the meat with it. Heat up the oil and sear the meat on all sides. Chop the veggies, drain the juice of the pineapple into a bowl and mix with the other wet stuff.

Pour half of the chunks of pineapple into the slow cooker and place the meat on top. Add veggies and fruit and pour in the liquid.

Close the lid, set on low and cook for 5 hours.

Drain liquid in a pot, heat up and use the starch slurry to bind the sauce.

Butter Cookies

The recipe for these year round cookies is from the mother of my best friend. Usually baked before christmas. But with so many different motives of cookie cutters to choose from, she bakes these cookies all year round.

 

Her husband and some of his friends ride motorcycles, she bakes some. She has found 3 different motorcycle cookie cutters.  Then she has others like household items, gardening stuff, all kinds of flowers and animals, letters and numbers. 

The ones I have a pretty basic. But she gave me a box set of 10 different start cutters to create christmas trees. Bake lots and lots of stars in various sizes and stack them on each other with icing. That box was sitting around now for 2 seasons without even beeing opened. Now we are back in lockdown and not encouraged to meet people, I have time to bake.

Recipe:

500 g AP flour, 250 g cold unsalted butter, 250 g sugar

2 eggs, 1/4 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 

Some vanilla, rum or butter aroma (optional) I did not use any

Egg wash

The cookie dough needs to rest over night. Prepare it the evening before you will bake, it is no problem to store it for 2 days.

On a good floured surface roll out a third of the dough in 3 - 5 mm thickness.

Tranfer to a baking paper lined baking tray. Brush with egg wash.

At 175 C bake them 10- 13 min, depending on the thickness. Let them cool down on a rack for several hours, then store in an airtight container. 

Stacked up they wont make a forest of christmas trees. Bake an other batch.

 

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Burrata on Kaki and Pear Carpaccio with Mango Dressing

 So tasty! A light dinner to enjoy.

Burrata is often served with tomatoes and with pasta.  Since it is a creamier cousin of mozzarella, that makes sense. I was not in the mood for this kind of dish. Fruit and cheese always works together and so I gave that a try. I looked for some nuts to give a bit of texture to the plate, but I was out of nuts. Instead my new package of brown linssed caught my eye. I love to put that in breads or smoothies. Why not with my new dish.

The pot with the orange verbena is still going strong on the balcony. The leaves have a wonderful taste. My bush basil with the strong and a little bitter taste has enough stalks for me to use. As long as we don't get freezing temperatures, I still can harvest.

1 Kaki, 1/2 lime

1 pear

1 burrata (100g)

1 tbsp linseed

Orange verbena Leaves

Basil

Mango balsamic vinegar, olive oil

Smoked sea salt, pepper

Banana Pudding Louisiana Style

 Just awesome!

Since reading books about Louisiana I've got hooked on the stories about the comfort food. One of these foods is Banana Pudding.

 

Usually made with thin wafers. But they are not available here. I checked a lot of different recipes and found soft thin cookies. They are made from the same dough as ladyfingers. They worked very well in that recipe.

I wanted to take some to friend on the same day and made a small bowl for her. The larger amount went into a loaf pan. I baked the merengue under the grill in the oven. It is important to prepare this dessert in a heat proof container.

We have Dr. Oetker here in Germany. They produce very good quality pudding powder. No hassle to work with eggs and starch. Just cook it as told on the package. It gets evev better, when you stir in the leftover egg yolks in after the pudding is cooked.

Beat the egg white to soft peaks and add cream of tartar and salt to the sugar and slowly let it run into the beating egg white. It will take a couple of min to get glossy and stiff.

Heat up the grill in your oven. Layer cookies first, then banana slices, hot pudding and finish with merengue. Stick under the grill for 3 min or use a torch.

Serve it while it is still warm or at room temperature.