Cabbage oven baked with Parmesan and Cream

From my Menchi Katsu recipe was a head of pointy cabbage left over. I needed something without a lot of hassle, because I wanted to sharpen all my kitchen knifes on the stone again. This is a task I seldom do. Usually I use a steel to sharpen them. But the knifes get rough around and so I had to sharpen them.

I used the time to prep the cabbage to take care of my knifes.

Cut the pointy cabbage in 4 quarters. Wash them. Get most of the core out. Set them on a plate cut side up and sprinkle them with salt to get soft. Wait 30 min.

Use an oven proof dish and oil it. Set the cabbage quarters in, sprinkle some Café de Paris seasoning on top, put aluminium foil over the dish and stick it in the oven.

Bake at 200C fan for 20 min.

Prep sauce:

200 g double cream, 125 ml milk, 2 tsp sour cream, 1 tsp Café de Paris seasoning, 1/2 tsp caraway seeds, 1/4 tsp Sumac, salt and white pepper, 40 g Parmesan cheese grated

Take off the foil, pour the sauce over and stick back into the oven for 20 min. No foil this time.

Gnocchi with Pea Sauce and smoked Salmon

This is a fast dish for a lunch break when working from home. Use ready made gnocchi from the supermarket and frozen peas. Buy some smoked salmon.

Cook the gnocchi in salted boiling water for 3 min and drain them. You can make this a obe pot dish, just cook the gnocchi first and clean the pot and start again with butter, shallots and garlic.

Add the stock and the peas and cook for 10 min. Take one third of the cooked peas out of the pot. Use a stick blender and blend the rest in the pot. Add the whole peas and the two cheeses and stir well. Let the cheese melt.

Now in with the gnocchi and the herbs. Season and serve with fresh cuts of smoked salmon.

Ingredients for 2:

250 g gnocchi, 2 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic 

160 ml veg stock, 150 g defrosted peas, 1 tbsp oil

2 tbsp goat cream cheese, 2 tbsp parmesan

Mixed parsley, dill, chives, salt and pepper

100 g smoked salmon

  

Clown Salad or Ensalada de Payaso

I saw this on YT by Beryl Shereshewsky. It originates from Colombia.

The color of this salad reminded me of our long time family recipe for Herring Salad. But the moment I tasted it, I knew it was different. A vegetable salad with cooked and raw ingredients. I exchanged halve of the mayo with Greek yogurt and used Vietnamese coriander and other herbs, instead of only cilantro. 

The combination of cooked vegetables with tomatoes and onion is great. Grandma's  Summer Salad, blog 21.01.2020, with cooked and raw veggies is like this combo. But with different veggies and no mayo.

Recipe for 3:

2 red beets, 2 medium potatoes, 1 large carrot, 1 yellow onion, 2 tomatoes

3 tbsp mayo, 3 tbsp Greek yogurt, salt and pepper

1 1/2 limes, Cilantro or Vietnamese Coriander, parsley, basil

1/2  to 1 boiled egg per person.

Cook beets, potatoes and carrot. Cool down and cut into bite size pieces. Chop onion and cut up the tomatoes. Chop the herbs.

Mix mayo, yogurt, lime juice with salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well. It will get a lovely shade of pink.

Top with eggs.

Hollandaise with Asparagus

Finally, it is German white asparagus season.

Due to the cold temperatures the last couple of weeks the season started late and the prices are high. About €17 per kilo

But on Easter monday holiday I craved the first batch of the white gold.

In most households here white asparagus is eaten with Hollandaise sauce and potatoes. Some eat cooked or raw ham and boiled eggs, or Schnitzel with it.

But the times that a Hollandaise sauce is made by hand are over. All big food Companies like Nestlé, Unilever, Maggi and Knorr are packaging the easy way out. You will find palm oil, sunflower oil or rapeseed oil but no butter in these sauces. 

When you hear people say at many restaurants that it tastes like they are used to, you know that a convienience product was used.

I usually eat asparagus with either butter or a herb and egg vinaigrette. When I crave hollandaise, I use my Thermomix to do the job.

125 g butter

35 g white wine, 25 g asparagus cooking water, 2 egg yolk, 1/2 tsp salt, pinch white pepper

Some lemon juice

Put the butter in the mixing pot and dial 4 min/70 C/ speed 2. Fill the melted butter in a cup.

Put in the butterfly. Get the other ingredients in, except the lemon juice and dial 4min/70C/ speed 3,5. After 1 min let the butter drip through the stopper on the top slowly.

Finish with lemon.

 

Spring Onion Seafood Pancake - Haemul-Pajeon

Korean Pancake - what else!

This country loves its pancakes. My Korean gets better every time :-) Haemul means seafood and jeon means pancake. I have an other type of Korean seafood pancake already on the blog.

I love spring onions or green onions or scallions. They are a staple in my household. One German Chef once said on TV that these onions keep a lot better when you put them with a little water in a mug. The greens even grow a little.

One of my favourite Korean YT Maangchi made this pancake. Since I still have some frozen Frutti di Mare in stock, I decided to use some of my spring onions and prepard this dish. 

Ingredients for 1 pancake:

8-12 green onions (depending on their size), 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg

110 g defrosted Frutti di Mare

1/2 cup flour, 1 tbsp corn starch, 3/4 cup veg stock (or chicken or fish stock), pepper, salt

Dipping sauce:

2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp Gochugaru hot pepper flakes, the green part of some spring onion, 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Choose a large pan. Take messurement with the onions and take off from the green top as needed. Use a bit for the dipping sauce. The rest goes into the pan later as well.

Make the thin batter: combine stock, flour and starch and season it. Beat the egg in a separat bowl. Heat up 2/3 of the oil to medium heat in the pan.

Pull the onions through the batter and place them in the pan. Just turn some 180 degrees. Put the cut off green tops through the batter and get them on top. Now place the seafood in the batter and sprinkle it on top. Use the remaining batter and pour that over.  Now spread the egg over everything. Cook for 6 min, then turn and cook gor 4 min more.

Crank up the heat and turn again to make the other side crispy.  Serve with the dipping sauce.

Advocaat Cookie Trifle

When you love Advocaat you will love this dessert. My Mom made this creamy egg liqueur often at home during Easter time and sometimes around Christmas. It was a favourite in our household. She loved to pour it over vanilla ice cream.

But there are more great treats to prepare with it. Like this dessert. Take your time and taste the Advoccat before you start with the dessert to make sure it is good, lol! 

For 4 jars you will need:

10 cookies with chocolate cream filling, 160 g Mascarpone, 150 g Greek yogurt

Zest of 1/2 lemon, 1 tbsp vanilla sugar, 200 g double cream, 1 package cream stabilizer

12 tbsp Advocaat.

Put the cookies in a bag and beat them into crumbs. Use 6 tbsp Advocaat with the crumbs and fill them into the individual jars.  

Mix Mascarpone, yogurt, zest and vanilla sugar.

Beat double cream with the stabilizer to stiff peaks. Fill 60 g cream into a piping bag and mix the rest with the mascarpone cream. Pour the rest of the Advocaat over the cream filled jars.

Pipe cream on top and use leftover crumbs to decorate on top. Rest in the fridge for 2 hours.

Corn Ribs - Tik Tok

This "meat substitut" is a vegetarian delight for me. No fake meat out of some kind of protein and lots of processed fillers and aromas. These ribs were the "real" deal. Great to prepare in the Air fryer.

I saw this Tik Tok trend and knew I had to make these. Getting my fingers dirty and getting the charred tasty cernels off the stem. It is a bit of a hassle to cut the corn cob into quarters. A very sharp knife and some muscle strength in needed.

2 precooked corn on the cob

2 tbsp olive oil, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, salt, white pepper, Herbes de Provence

1 knob of butter

Make the marinate and brush the corn ribs with it. Spray some oil on the bottom of the air fryer, place the corn inside and close.

Bake at 200C for 10 min. Brush with some butter and enjoy.