Mozzarella in Carrozza

A very classic Italian dish from the region of Campania, the area of Naples.

It is a very humble dish, you can even use stale toast. And the cheese pull later is awesome.

The grilled cheese sandwich elevated.

I used Fiore di Latte Mozzarella, but any other fresh mozzarella will do. Do not use the dry stuff

I used the large sandwich toast slices, but you can use smaller ones or even cut up ones.

At first mix eggs with Parmesan cheese and season it with a little salt, pepper and some herbs. Do not add too much Parmesan, otherwise the egg mix wont work.

Pat the mozzarella dry and slice it in 0,5 cm discs. Put them on the bread and season with salt and pepper and Italian seasoning. Press the second bread on top.

Heat up olive oil in the pan an place the bread in the egg/cheese mix. Coat it on both sides.

Fry in medium hot oil until golden and enjoy the cheese pull.

You can place the fried bread on paper towel first to soak up some oil.

Ingredients:

125 g Fiore di Latte Mozzarella

4 toast slices

2 eggs

2 tbsp Grana Padano

Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning

Olive oil

Tarte Rustique aux Pommes de Terre et Chèvre frais

I brought back a new Gourmand magazine issue from my last grocery haul in France. I opened it in the middle and the first recipe was this tart.

Since 1 week it is laying open on my living room table to remind me of it. The ingredients were shopped in France without knowing this recipe.

Peel the potatoes. Use a Mandoline on 1,5 mm setting to get slices if potato the same thickness.

Mix the goatcheese cream first, then prick the pastry with a fork. Use an offset spatula to smear the cream on top. Leave a 2,5 cm rim free.

Place the potatotes in a round layer overlapping each other. Sprinkle thyme, salt and pepper on top. Use a knife to cut the edge every 10 cm around and fold them on the outside of the potatoes.

Brush with egg/cheese wash.

Bake at 180 C fan for 30 - 35 min.

Ingredients:

200 g potatoes

Fresh thyme

1 egg/ 1 tsp Grana Padano

1 shortcrust pastry

125 g goat cream cheese

Salt pepper

1 tsp mustard

1/2 tsp piment d'Espelette

1 1/2 tbsp fried onions

Beef Goulash with Mole Sauce

I went through my spice mixes and a tin of Mole fell in my hands. A good idea for something with a little body.

I bought a pound of beef goulash chunks, some carrots and a leek. At least half the amount of beef are the onions. Some garlic and homegrown birdseye chilis.

I opened a bottle of red wine and prepared 500 ml of beef stock from a cube.

This acutally looked and tasted like a common goulash. But  I cooked it for 2 hours and then added 4 tsp Mole to the amount of still existing liquid and 3 pieces of 70 % chocolate.

That cooked for an other 20 minutes. The beef was falling apart and the sauce was rich and thick.

Served with some short doughy pasta - Knöpfle- was great to pick up the sauce.

Ingredients:

500 g beef for goulash

250 g onions, 4 garlic cloves, 3 chilis

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

2 tbsp flour

2 carrots, 125 g leek

200 ml red wine

500 ml beef stock

-------------'

4 tsp Mole seasoning

3 pieces 70 % chocolate

Pasta

 

Lemon Balm Cake

I have a huge pot of lemon balm on my balcony. I did not plant it, it seeded itself in a pot were the artichoke was in.

Short before it gets too cold I needed an idea to use the plant. Usually I drink tea, but how many gallons of it should I drink?

A recipe on Pinterest was a solution (Christine Gschaider).

This is a Thermomix recipe, but a good blender will do the job too.

Recipe for a 21 cm Kugelhopf Tin ot 26 cm Radon Tin:

30 g fresh leaves lemon balm

1 lemon zest and juice

130 g sugar

3 eggs

200 g flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

100 g Schmand or full fat Greek yogurt

80 g vegetable oil

Pinch of salt

Glaze:

Lemon juice and icing sugar

Preheat oven 180 C

Dump washed and dried leaves with lemon juice and zest and sugar in the Thermomix. 

10 sec/speed 10

Push the sides down and 4 sec/speed 10

Add eggs  30 sec/speed 3

All other ingredients 1 Min/ speed 5

Butter the baking tin and use flour or breadcrumbs to sprinkle it. Pour in the batter and bake for 32 to 40 min.

When the cake is cool, prepare the glaze.

Pumpkin spiced Pudding to eat with a Fork

#puddingmitgabel

Eating Pudding with a fork started as some kind of gathering in Karlsruhe, Germany. Young People get together, chill and sit outside somewhere and have store bought pudding or homemade and instead of the usual spoon they bring a fork.  

This was posted online and the trend got a kick start. All over Germany you can find people sitting on park benches or in parks on the ground eating pudding with a fork. You tap on the lid a couple of times, then someone starts a countdown from 10 to 0 and all open the pudding and starting to eat.

This trend spred over to Austria, Switzerland and now even in London and Dublin you can find it. The Fins, Swedes and Danes went on this trend too. How about your country?

I bought the seasonal agave syrup with pumpkin spice flavouring at the DM drugstore. They have it in special shelves starting in October. But only for 3 month if you are lucky.

 

Using a Dr.Oetker pudding powder vanilla as a base, I swapped out the 40 g of sugar to 40 g of pumpkin spiced agave syrup. Added cinnamon and a little of my spiceblend of coriander nutmeg and cumin to it too.

The pudding got a nice Autum vibe and a bit darker color from the ingredients. I put it outside to cool.

Eating it with a fork is strange in the beginning, but it works.

Ingredients:

500 ml whole milk

1 package vanilla pudding powder

40 g agave syrup pumpkin spiced

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of cumin, coriander, nutmeg

Lunch at Mercedes Benz Driving Event

The Mercedes Benz Driving Event was at the Bilster Berg, a racetrack famous or infamous for its Mousetrap 23% downward corner then up steep over a blind crest.

The famous Corksrew of Laguna Seca is less downward.

After registration a coffee greeting was served. Later we hit lunch. A Foodtruck offered Burger and Risotto with Prawns. The Caterer had small dishes as starters prepared. 

The quality of the offered food was very good. Something you expect when being on a Mercedes Benz Event.

Later a coffee break with lemon cake was a good way to regain some power for racetrack driving.

China Palace Dinner

Not very far from the Hotel, just drive down a steep hill.

The 4.5 star review I checked sounded good. The buffet style serving sounded promising to get a lot of different tasty treats.

The restaurant opened at 5:30 PM and it filled up quickly.

Sorry to say, I haven't had that badly offered Chinese food in a very long time.

Fried chicken or fish or squid rings were soaked in oil and the panneing was soggy. Prawn in shell were like rubber, the fried noodles were swimming in soy sauce and haven't seen any frying. The fried rice was cooked and mixed with peas and carrots. Just a bit of soy sauce.

The best of the dinner buffet was the red and green Jell-O and the canned fruit.

Going there the other night was just no option.