Dining out at a local Restaurant Dolce Amore

Getting a new kitchen set up needs time and helping hands. All boxes started to terrify me when I looked at them. Two friends came over to lend a helping hand. In 3 hours I had a better looking place without so many boxes. And an Amazon order for additional stuff. This Monday I have to drive to one of our many builders markets to get extra shelving and build myself some racks for one cupboard to store all my baking sheets later.

As a treat we went out to a local restaurant Dolce Amore or Sweet Love. It is just 3 min by car. I had made a reservation and we've got a nice table in a back room.

They are well known around here for their pizza. But we all wanted some pasta.

A Brushetta with tomatoes came as a greeting from the kitchen warm and garlicky.

We ordered two small salads as starters. Crunchy and refreshing.

The main course was pasta Combinatione al Forno with bolognese and cream sauce. Topped with lots of cheese and piping hot.

We finished with a Grappa.

Lamb Meatballs with Sour Cherry Sauce Aleppo Style

Yesterday my new kitchen was installed. All new appliances are looking great. A huge stack of  user manuals are still waiting to be read. The only thing I checked was the dishwasher manual. I was looking for the on button.

How to use the induction hob should not be a problem, so I thought. Well, I was able to make Espresso with my Bialetti on one side in the morning. Now I used the flex side for my cooking. How to use both sides together, I will figure out soon. Or I will check the user manual, finally.

My BFF was at a Lebanese cooking course several years ago. She brought back a recipe of meatballs in cherry sauce. That were meatballs made from beef mince and a jar of regular cherries. But I still remember that it was a nice dish. 

I watched the second meatball YT video from Beryl Shereshewsky. She made a Syrian recipe from Aleppo.

Meatballs:

400 g lamb mince

2 tbsp breadcrumbs, 2 quail eggs, 4 tbsp water, 5 tbsp chopped parsley

1 small red onion chopped and in a little oil fried, 3 cloves of garlic, oil

1 tsp ground cumin and coriander, 1/2 tsp garam masala, salt and pepper

Sour Cherry Sauce:

200 g sour cherries with juice from a jar

4 tbsp pomegranete syrup

Pinch salt, pepper and cinnamon

Mix the meat together and knead it a couple of minutes. Let it rest 30 min in the fridge.

Form golf ball size meatballs. In a little oil let them get a great brown color.

Dump the sour cherries with juice in a pot. Add the pomegranate syrup and reduce the liquid by half. Season. Use a potato masher and smash the cherries.

I served the meatballs with Turkish bread and a stick of endive.  

Domino's Pizza Day

Getting an empty room back into shape needs a lot of work. Not only grime were the kitchen cupboards were but a lot of silicon on the backsplash.

During my cleaning I realised that cooking was not an option that day.

The solution was Pizza. The Domino's joint is just a 5 min drive away.

They have 10 inch small ones for lunch. The prices are reasonable with € 5,95 each.

I ordered two to have some leftovers later. One was a veggie option with red onions and mushrooms. The other was beef mince and lots of sweet corn.

Both were tasty. After ordering it took about 35 min to be delivered.

Instant Noodle Pot 2.0

My old kitchen is history. The room is empty and awaits a good cleaning. Every place around me is covered with kitchen tools and ingredients. Since it is cold outside, I use my balcony as European fridge. Noting will spoil outside.

My single induction plate is working just fine on the dining room table. 

I had some frozen veggies to defrost. There was not enough room in the other freezer. That was the base of a Chicken Ramen Instant package.

It took 10 minutes to cook in some soup stock the defrosted veggies. I dropped in the instant ramen noodles and the soup package.

A bunch of defrosted parsley went in too. The soup was made more rich by adding an egg.

Ibgredients:

Chicken stock Ramen noodles

1 veg stock cube. 250 g mixed veggies

Parsley and 1 egg

Chicken Wings Sweet and Spicy

A go to meal when I do not have time to cook a full dish are chicken wings. They are so versatile.

Since I have my air fryer they are often found during midweeks. I even marinated some ahead of time and just stuffed them in the air fryer and started it just right in time for my lunch break while working from home.

This is my basic way to prepare the wings. This time the sauce is the star of the show

The wings are seasoned with chicken seasoning, potato starch and baking soda.

The combination of Chinese plum sauce, Balsamic vinegar, oyster sauce, sesame seedd and Gochugaro hot pepper flakes and soy sauce.

Use as much as you like. More sweet or more spicy or more sour.

Veal Cutlet with Mustard and Port Wine Sauce

This is a French recipe. I served it with pappardelle.

The rich and creamy sauce has chopped gherkins and capers in it. The pan was deglazed with red Port wine. French whole grain mustard enriches the flavour.

I bought a single veal cutlet at my local butcher. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and with 2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil on high heat, seared it in the pan. 3 min on each side. It went in the oven at 140 C for 14 min. Rested outside for 4 min.

The sauce is made in 3 steps. Pour out the fat from the pan in a small container. Pour 50 ml Port wine in the pan and deglaze it. Pour that in a second container for later.

Chop the 2 shallots and in some of the butter fat saute them. Chop 1 tbsp capers and 2 gherkins and add them. Add 2 tbsp of whole grain French mustard. 

Now back in with the Port wine reduction. Season with a bit pepper and finish with 80 g creme fraiche.

Drain the pappardelle and toss them with the sauce.

 

Natchos - loaded

The largest part of my kitchen is packed up. I have to cook with what is left.

I wanted some loaded natchos for a while. Today I bought all the ingredients. A little bit of work is the beef mince. This is the first to do. It will be reheated in the oven later.

Next work is the guac. I love it pretty basic. I want to taste the avocado.

Recipe for 1:

200 g beef mince, 2x 40 g tortilla chips different flavours

1 small head of baby gem lettuce, 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 spring onions, 1 avocado

1/2 lemon, 5 tbsp curry ketchup, 1 tbsp oil, 60 g grated gouda

Onion powder, garlic powder, chili, thyme, salt and pepper, creme fraiche.

Preheat the oven to 170 C.

Heat up the oil and break the beef mince apart. Let it get brown in the pan. After 4 min add the green onions and season. When the beef is done, add the ketchup to make it a bit creamy. Set aside.

In a oven proof dish layer some tortilla chips and sprinkle them with gouda. Bake for 4 min until the cheese has melted. Put a second layer of tortilla chips on top. Next the beef mince and the halved tomatoes. Now more cheese and bake it for 8 to 10 min.

Mash the avocado, add lemon juice and salt and pepper and a little chili. Cut the salad in some bite size chunks.

Bring everything together. Top with guac and creme fraiche.