Carrot Juice Float with Rosewater or Ab-Haveej Bastani

Ice cream Iranian style.

The heatwave with 40 C hit us today. What's better then a cup of something cold. Dinking enough water or tea is good, but fridge cold carrot juice sounded a lot better.

I saw this on Pinterest and wanted to try it. The ingredients were bought last Saturday, but rosewater and pistacchios were already here. These are recipes I am always looking out for. Trying dishes from other countries gives me a window in to their food culture.

To get everything pretty cold and not melting instantly, I put two doublewalled tea mugs in the fridge for a couple of hours. 

I needed to get the amount of rosewater right. I did not want the float taste like bath soap or cheep perfume. 

Ingredients for 2 floats:

4 scoups of vanilla ice cream (buy the good stuff)

500 ml carrot juice

4 cl rosewater

1 tsp chopped pistacchios

Risotto Rice sweet and cinnamony

Eat it as a dessert or as a comfy main course. 

I just wanted something lightly sweet without a lot of work in the kitchen. The bulk of the work did my Thermomix. No boiling over, no constant stirring by hand needed. Put everything in, that just takes about 3 min prep time and set the timer for 25 min.

When you hear the bell, add egg and lemon juice and the rice is ready. Use as much cinnamon on top as you like.

Leftover BBQ Sausage 2.0

Having lots of sausages on the BBQ and not enough hungry people, some of the sausages are sitting in the fridge and nobody wants them. Well, not the way they are. I was invited and on my way home I had a small Tupperware container with some veggies and 3 Bratwursts.

Normally I would eat them the other day either cold with some mustard on a piece of bread or microwaved hot again as a Curry Wurst. That is one of Germany´s favourite street foods.

But I wanted them to shine again and went and checked Pinterest. I found some interesting recipes to make a decent meal out of cold cooked sausages.

The veggies I had in my Tupperware container were sliced red bell peppers and tomatoes. They went with some stuff from my fridge in to the dish.

recipe for 2:

3 cooked sausages

1 spring onion, 2 celery stalks, 1 red bell pepper, green chili

2 tomatoes, 1 tbsp hot paprika paste, 3 tbsp Ayvar mild, salt and pepper, parsley or other fresh herbs

1 tbsp olive oil,  60 g sliced cheese - I used some Turkish yellow cheese that did not have a lot of taste on its own

Preheat the oven 180 C fan.

Chop the 3 veggie and place them in an oven proof dish that is oiled.

Use a Mini chopper  and add the tomatoes, parsley and pastes to it, season and blizz up. Pour over the veggies. Place the sausages on top and then the cheese slices.

Bake for 20 min.

Gamja Jorim or Korean Gouchujang Potatoes

Served with Kimchi.

I watched YT aaron & claire again. 4 reasons to use the Gochujang paste sitting in the fridge. I love the paste, but I do not use it so often. It is sitting in the fridge and sitting...

I wanted a meatfree day. After BBQ sausages, drumsticks and roastbeef this week. And repurposing the day old bratwursts.

This vegetarian dish can easily be turned into a side dish and served with meat of fish. Just keep in mind that it is spicy and the main dish has to compete with it.

Recipe for 2:

4 large potatoes, 2 spring onions, 6 cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp oil

8 green peppers- I can't find the Korean ones here, but using Spanish padron peppers is good too.

Sauce:

1 tbsp Gochujang paste, 1 tbsp Gochugaru hot pepper flakes, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp corn syrup, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, ground black pepper

Sesame seeds toasted, 1 tsp sesame oil

Peel and cut the potatoes in 1/2 inch chunks. Put them in a bowl of water until you are ready with the other ingredients. Peel and quarter the garlic. Finely chop the spring onions. Top the peppers and cut them in the middle.

Hest up the wok and add oil. Toss in the garlic and the white of the onions. Give them 3 min. Drain the potatoes and add them. Give them 5 min to get a little color.

Mix the sauce and pour it over and toss it well. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, put a lid on and cook 7-10 min. Add the peppers and green onions and cook 3 more min. Finish with sesame oil and seeds.

 

Drumsticks with Cornflakes and Panko Coating

I used my trusty Air Fryer. I am a huge fan of this kitchen gadget. The drumsticks get super crunchy without a lot of fat.

I made chicken fingers with cornflakes coating last week and took the leftovers together with the honey mustard sauce over to a friend. She told me both was awesome.

I did not have enough cornflakes. Adding 1/4 panko breadcrumbs to the mix was a good idea. Eating them with my fingers did not leave grease behind. 

Chicken pieces need a dipping sauce. Nothing fancy. Just 2 parts mayo and 4 parts sweet chili sauce.

Recipe for 6 drumsticks:

2 cups cornflakes, 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

3/4 cup flour, 2 eggs

Chicken seasoning

Take a sharp knife and make 2 or 3 cuts in each drumstick. They cook faster this way. Season them and season flour and eggs too.

Ground the cornflakes medium fine with larger bits and mix with the panko.

Coat the drumsticks in flour, egg and mix and spray with a little oil. Put in the air fryer at 200 C for 16 min. Shake the basket twice.

Check if they are done.

Pasta with Spinach and Bacon

Dinner food that is tasty and easy to cook.

No need to run to the grocery store, just take all bits and pieces you can find and feel like a composer who writes a song. Often only inspiration brings the best results.

This is the kind of recipe. I had a bag of baby spinach that was planned to go in a vegan spinach soup with tahini swirl on top. But I had vegan recipes two days on a row and wanted a bit of meat. One of the best kinds is bacon. The bacon package was sitting in the fridge. 

Some chunk of red bell pepper, some spring onions and a single garlic were available. While checking my fridge, some older and now harder slices of cheese caught my eye. My jar of veg stock paste comes in handy for recipes like this. It adds flavour. I needed a bit of sauce, not only pasta water. On my counter top a bottle of Noilly Prat has its place. A good gluck helped with the sauce. The washed spinach goes in the pan and wilts.

Talk about seasoning. Not much salt is needed. The bacon, the cheese and the veg stock are salty. Lots of freshly ground pepper is the answer. You can use a little creme fraiche if you want it a bit creamier. Some fresh herbs are welcome too.

Cook the pasta al dente and finish it in the sauce. That is the best result.

Sweet Potato Wedges with Dip

One long sweet potato makes a full dinner when a dip is added.

My trusty air fryer did the cooking. Easy with no hassle. Keep the wedges mostly the same size. They will cook more evenly. Coated with some oil, seasoning, herbs and a light coating of semolina. This helped with the texture of the wedges.

Just use some oil, garlic and onion powder, dried herbs, smoked sea salt and pepper and 2 tsp of semolina duro. Toss it in the bowl and dump it in the air fryer. I do not preheat mine. 

I started at 180 C for 14 min, added them 2 more min and was done. The wedges are creamy and tasty. But if you wish for crunch, this is not the right method. I loved them the way they were. For the dip I only used Greek yogurt, fresh herbs from my balcony and seasoning and a little agave syrup.