Lens and Lentils

Koenigsberger Klopse. Not for capers haters.

2011-04-02T09:00:00.149+02:00

This is a real granny dish. My grandma cooked it, telling me it reminded her of her own childhood - and I also found similar recipes in my oldest cook book, which dates form 1926. Seems it's named after the town of Königsberg, which is now in Russia and called Kaliningrad. Quite a bit of history, ain't it?

Anyway, basically you make meat balls, cook them in a savory broth and serve them in a Béchamel sauce with capers. Tons of capers. So please, do not make this for anyone who hates them.

And the secret ingredient is - if you like to call it like that - anchovies. I know, they're gross. I mean, really. And this might seem totally unreal coming from me, who absolutely despises every food that comes out of the ocean: you MUST put in anchovies! Otherwise it just won't taste good. Trust me, you won't taste any fishiness, instead this small amount of fish acts as a flavor enhancer (unless, of course, you are allergic to fish protein. Then leave it out, for heavens sake!). And why are sardine packagings always so pretty?

OK, let's travel back in time:

KOENIGSBERGER KLOPSE
for 4, adapted from "Basic Cooking"

MEAT BALLS
1 day-old bread roll or 3 slices toast, cut into cubes
125 ml / 1/2 cup milk, hot
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
4 anchovy fillets (OR 1 sardine OR 1-2 tablespoons anchovy paste)
2 shallots, very finely chopped
1 teaspoon butter
peel of 1/2 lemon, very finely grated
5 sprigs parsley, chopped
500 g ground veal (OR beef)
salt and pepper
nutmeg, freshly ground

SAUCE
1 liter / 4 cups beef broth
2 bay leaves
1 small onion, very finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
250 g / 1 generous cup cream
100 g / 3.5 oz capers

Soak the day-old bread cubes in the hot milk, then mix in the egg, mustard and the chopped anchovies. I know, it looks and smells disgusting, but bear with me...

Also, sweat the chopped shallot in a little bit of butter, just until they are getting soft.

Mix the bread mixture into the ground meat and season everything with salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg (thank you, inventors of the Microplane grater!), lemon peel (again, Microplane grater) and chopped parsley.

Do not worry if you can't see the parsley, I simply forgot to buy some. So, not a crucial ingredient, but parsley is always nice.

If you don't like tasting raw meat (or just aren't allowed to), here's a trick: just take a tablespoon of the meat mixture, roll it into a ball and fry it in butter in your smallest pan or pot. So you can taste the finished meat balls without realizing too late there's salt missing.

Time to form the meat balls. You want them as uniformly as possible, that's why I use a #16 disher. You could of course eyeball it or - if you're really OCD, use a scale.

To roll the meat balls, always moisten your hands after each one, so that they will all be nice and smooth.

Bring the broth to boil and add the bay leaves and some pepper corns - the wider the pot, the better. Then reduce the heat to low, gently put in the meat balls and let them simmer for 10-15 min.

Then fish out the meat balls with a slotted spoon and let them rest on a plate. Also fish out the bay leaves and peppercorns and throw them away. And do keep the cooking liquid, it's the base for our sauce.

Grab a new pot and start your basic Béchamel: sweat the onion in some butter until they're soft, then add the flour.

Stir with a whisk and let it all cook until it looks light golden, then add your meat ball cooking liquid (about 2-3 cups of it) and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes - while stirring every minute or so.

You should now have a very delicious sauce, which you will make even more delicious by stirring in a cup of cream. Give it a taste, maybe a little bit more salt or lemon juice?

Gently put the meatballs into the sauce and make sure they are all submerged. Add the drained capers and let it simmer for a couple of minutes until you are sure everything is hot.

Serve with buttered rice and lots of sauce.

In the very unlikely event you should have leftovers: freeze them in a muffin tin (works best with silicon), one meatball per cup and distribute the sauce evenly. Once everything is set hard, plop them out of the muffin tin and put 2 each in labeled bags. Homemade convenience food!

Bread Pudding. What a delicious mess.

2011-03-09T09:00:00.000+01:00

Two weeks ago, I was in the Dominican Republic on vacation. Apart from the fact that sitting on a beach in February felt like real luxury, the food in the hotel was great. Made-to-order omelets for breakfast, wide range of salads, vegetables, meats and fish for lunch, à la carte for dinner. The dessert buffet was always a sight, so many cakes, flans, and creams that made it impossible to decide. And there was always bread pudding to find, though it looked more like sweet Semmelknödel than bread pudding to me.

Back home, I tried to make it myself, it is really easy and the results were delicious. I personally prefer this version, where you still can see the bread cubes in the finished dish. The whiskey cream sauce makes it really perfect, much better than versions with fruit or raisins...

BREAD PUDDING
makes 4 dessert portions, adapted from Pioneer Woman

BREAD PUDDING
2 cups sourdough bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or citrus sugar
1 cup / 250 ml milk
1 cup / 225 g sugar
3 tablespoons pecans or walnuts, chopped finely

WHISKEY CREAM SAUCE
1/4 cup / 50 g sugar
1/2 stick / 50 g butter
1/4 cup / 60 ml cream
1/8 cup / 30 ml whiskey (bourbon or a mild Scotch)

First of all, preheat oven to 325°F / 160°C. Cut the bread into rather large cubes and pack them tightly into a round baking dish (or several small ones, I also used 3-inch / 10 cm square ones).

Melt the butter (just use a measuring cup on your stove), then mix together with eggs, vanilla, sugar and milk. This will seem an awful lot of sugar, but trust me - it's just right. Though you may want to reduce the sugar if you're using white bread, not sourdough...

By the way, you can make your own vanilla (or citrus) sugar - just take an old jam jar, fill in sugar and put in used and dried vanilla pods (or citrus peels).

Pour the milk/egg-mixture over the bread cubes, making sure that every bit is soaked. You could also use the back of a spoon or a small spatula to press the cubes gently down, so that they are submerged.

Sprinkle over the chopped nuts and bake for about 1 hour, but don't let it get too brown.

While the bread pudding is baking, make the sauce. Just combine all ingredients in a saucepan, stir and bring it to a boil over low heat. Incredibly simple, but very tasty.

Serve the bread pudding either hot or (on the next day) straight out of the fridge. Pour over some sauce and sigh.

Burgers. It's a celebration!

2011-02-05T09:00:00.078+01:00

This blog now exists for 2 years - amazing how time goes by. And what had started as experiment and more of a recipe catalog for myself, now has lots of regular readers and over 100 facebook fans. Thank you so much!

My life is about to change drastically: I have quit my job (which I had for 11 years) and will now be a student again. I will be concentrating on web design, so don't be surprised if appearances or features of this blog change once in a while. Please don't be afraid to tell me what you like - and maybe don't like.

Real burgers have become some kind of celebratory meal for me, so while most of you watch the Superbowl, I will celebrate this blog's second anniversary and the changes that lie ahead.

BURGERS
makes 4

500 g / 1 pound beef, freshly ground
salt and pepper
4 burger rolls
8 slices bacon
1 large onion, cut into strips
4 thick slices Gruyère
mayonnaise (homemade)
ketchup
Dijon mustard
4 cornichons / gherkins

Since you never really know what stuff goes into store-bought ground meat, I like to process it myself. I simply buy stewing meat, cut it into strips and freeze them alongside the meat grinder for 30 minutes. Then process the meat, this makes it much easier.

Season the ground meat with salt and pepper, stir it all around and divide into 4 equal parts.

I like to shape the burgers by hand and then get them as flat as possible by squeezing them with something flat (like a cutting board) between layers of plastic wrap. Then let them rest in the fridge, as long as you're preparing the rest.

Cut the hamburger rolls in half and toast them in the dry and medium-hot pan. These were getting a bit darker than usual, but I like toasted bread. I basically toast every kind of bread.

Once all rolls are toasted, in goes the bacon. Lay out the strips and let them get nice and crunchy, then get them out of the pan and let them rest on some paper towels.

Uh, this is the part I like most: crank up the heat and brown the onions in the bacon fat. They should get soft and caramelized, but I like when they still have a little bit of bite in them.

Once you're done with all the preparations, very gently place the burgers in the hot pan and leave them completely alone until you see the edges browning and the juices coming out on top. Flip them over and immediately lay on a slice of cheese. Once the patty is also browned on the underside, assemble your burger. Serve with a nice cold beer and some rock'n'roll.

Paella. Bringing some summer into your kitchen.

2011-01-24T09:00:00.001+01:00

Winter really is harsh this year - it has now been snowing for at least 24 consecutive hours and it doesn't seem to stop. I haven't seen the sun in a while, and if, it's so bitter cold outside, it feels like the cold is cutting into the skin. Hence the yearning for some summer vibes, easily delivered by a Paella.

Similar to Risotto and Djuvec, Paella is a Mediterranean rice dish. They all have in common that you first fry the rice in some oil and only then add water to cook the rice. For me, Paella absolutely tastes like summer, reminding me of some very nice days in Bilbao. So whenever I come to Spain, I buy some smoked paprika powder, some saffron and of course, Paella rice:

Paella rice is a small grain rice, very similar to risotto or Abrioro rice. So don't worry if you can't find special Paella rice in your supermarket - I have also made very tasty Paellas with risotto rice, even milk pudding rice. Hell, in my opinion, better make a Paella with long grain rice than no Paella at all!

PAELLA
for 4

4 chicken thighs
8 large scampi, fresh or frozen
(200 g / 7 oz chorizo, cut into thick rounds)
(2 bell peppers, seeds removed and diced)
2 tomatoes or 2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 cup risotto or paella rice
3-4 cups chicken or beef broth
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon (smoked) paprika powder
a pinch of saffron

Somehow, I always start with chopping onions and garlic. In this case, also the carrots. Set them aside, you will need them a little later.

This would be the right time for your Paella pan. But of course, almost nobody has a special Paella pan. Doesn't matter, just use the biggest pan you have, in my case a cast iron Le Creuset.

Heat it up to medium, pour in some oil and gently fry the chicken legs until they are golden brown. No need to cook them through, we'll deal with that later.

If you like, you can also fry the scampi one minute on each side, just so that they get a nice red color.

I simply forgot about the chorizo, it's an integral part of this dish. Nevermind, just cut it into thick slices and also fry it for a bit. Set it all aside.

Speaking of nice red color: dissolve the saffron in a little bit of hot water. Smell the divine fragrance.

After getting the scampi out of the pan, start frying the carrots, onions and garlic. Not too much color, they should just get a bit soft. Then add the rice.

Stir it around in the hot pan until the kernels start to get translucent. You don't want brown, you don't want them fried, just a nicely coated by the oil.

Then add the broth and the dissolved saffron.

By the way, this was homemade vegetable broth. And frozen in a silicon muffin tin. Even if you are not a fan of silicon baking ware, think about getting a muffin sheet just for freezing things. Frozen stuff is very easy to extract from the silicon - just plop it out - and 2 muffin cups are one serving in most cases.

Add the rest of the spices and the peas, then arrange the chicken parts and the scampi on top. Let it simmer on the stove or in the hot oven for 30 minutes or until the rice is done - do not stir!
Serve piping hot with lemon and tomato wedges.

Pork Wellington. Another tribute to Alton Brown.

2011-01-12T09:00:00.000+01:00

Guess you already know that I really like watching Alton Brown's show "Good Eats". Since I had access to Food Network in New Zealand, I'm hooked. And when he made a modernized (and affordable) version of Beef Wellington, I was totally smitten. Apart from one thing: he uses dried apples.

Apples are pure poison to me. Since I was diagnosed with fructose malabsorption, I have cut out nearly all fruit, except bananas, citrus and papaya from my shopping list. You don't want to be near me when I have eaten apples. Honestly. Right now, I'm carefully testing various berries and to my great delight, I found that cranberries are totally compatible to my digestive system.

So I changed the fruit, took Bayonne ham instead of prosciutto and Dijon mustard instead of the coarse variety. Not because I am a manic individualist, just because I happened to have those things at home. Be creative and don't follow recipes to the letter!

PORK WELLINGTON
for 3-4 persons, adapted from Alton Brown

1 whole pork tenderloin, approximately 450 g / 1 pound
6 large slices Parma, Bayonne or Schwarzwald ham, thinly sliced
30 g / 1 ounce dried cranberries
1 packet (450 g / 1 pound) puff pastry, thawed completely
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon milk

Take a nice pork tenderloin, place it on your cutting board and remove all the white stuff. Then half it lengthwise and flip one side over. This is to even out the thickness so the meat will be cooked at the same time.

And I should finally buy a bigger cutting board...

Measure the cranberries - I have a very handy scale that can switch between ounces and grams. Then chop them coarsely.

Place the ham slices with a bit of overlap on some kind of parchment paper (I used baking paper) and give it a few passes with the rolling pin - this is to glue the the overlap together.

Then place the tenderloin on top and sprinkle the dried cranberries between the two halves.

Use the paper to roll it all up very tightly. Then set it to the side - you'll need a bit of room for the next step.

Roll out the puff pastry into a big rectangle. It should be wider than the tenderloin is long and large enough to cover it completely.

Smear on the mustard, while leaving a 1 inch / 3 cm margin and sprinkle on some salt and freshly ground pepper.

Place the tenderloin on top and roll it all up. Then squeeze the edges shut.

Mix the egg (or just an egg yolk) with a little bit of milk. You will not need all of it - give the rest to your cat, he will be very grateful and purr for you.

Place the rolled up meat onto a baking sheet and brush with the egg wash. Then bake at 200°C / 400°F for 30 minutes. Then, let it rest for 10 minutes and cut into thick slices. Serve with a little salad on the side, or some sauteed vegetables.

Plum Pudding. Christmas classic.

2010-12-12T09:00:00.053+01:00

When I lived in New Zealand, you could find puddings in every supermarket. And I don't mean the milk-and-starch-based kind. But the English kind which more resembles a cake, either chocolate, caramel or passion fruit. They came in little plastic pots, you would heat them up in the microwave, turn them over on a little plate and the sauce would very slowly run down the sides. Especially the chocolate kind was devine. And around Christmas, you could find plum pudding and mince pies.

Original Christmas Puddings are made with suet, which is kinda hard to find where I live - so I used butter. And I don't have a pudding mold for steaming, so I googled and found a method to steam in the oven.

And those puddings need a lot of time, first for soaking and baking, then for resting so that the flavors can develop.

PLUM PUDDING

3 1/2 cups dried and chopped fruit, eg:
* 3/4 cup prunes, chopped
* 3/4 cup dates, chopped
* 3/4 cup raisins
* 1/2 cup dried figs, chopped
* 1/2 cup dried cranberries
* 1/4 cup orange peel, diced
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, fresh
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup rum

3 cups breadcrumbs
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100 g / 1 stick butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (optional, I used it only for color)

Soak dried fruit, spices and rum for several hours. Overnight is even better, but then make sure to cover it so the alcohol won't dissipate.

Mix breadcrumbs, flour and brown sugar with fruit, let them soak over night.

The next day, mix melted butter with eggs and milk, then whisk in almonds, cocoa and baking powder. Stir that into the fruit-breadcrumb mixture. It will be kinda crumbly, not much like the most doughs.

Butter enough cake pans or oven-proof bowls, then fill in the dough. Make an even surface with the back of a spoon, then cover with aluminum foil. Place all bowls and cake pans in your largest roasting pan, fill to 3/4 with boiling water, cover the whole thing with aluminum foil and bake at 140°C / 280°F for 2 hours.

Let it rest for ca. 2 weeks, then reheat it using the steaming method above. Serve hot, flambé it with rum and serve with brandy butter. That's just butter, powdered sugar and a tablespoon of brandy whisked together.

Rouladen. German classic, nothing more to say.

2010-11-27T09:00:00.078+01:00

According to the wikipedia, Rouladen are "bacon, onions, mustard and pickles wrapped in thinly sliced beef which is then cooked". This is basically correct, but tells you nothing about the taste and texture. Let alone the sauce. And of course, there are millions of recipes - almost every German hausfrau has their own. I, for example, like to keep the onions in the sauce, not in the rolls. And the sauce is based on red wine, which I happen to like very much and have known since childhood.

My mother-in-law on the other hand, makes the sauce with tons of mustard. And my grandmother used to make a simple brown sauce. Over the years, I have developed quite a mixture of all of those recipes. Serve it with any starch you like, but I prefer either mashed potatoes or spaetzle.

ROULADEN
for 4-5 people

9 very flat pieces beef, from the round
9 tablespoons Dijon mustard
9 slices bacon
9 cornichons or small gherkins
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bottle red wine
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup cream

This is really easy: lay out the meat slices and smear on the mustard. Not too thick, but you want to use quite a bit. Then lay on 2-3 slices of bacon and some gherkins.

I know, all my cooking boards are too small. Well, sometimes it gets messy.

Then just roll it up like a spring roll and secure the end some way or another. There are tons of ways of doing this, but I like to simply use a wooden skewer. But you could also go for butcher's twine, metal skewers or those special Rouladen clamps they sell in every German household store. But those look more than torture devices than actual useful cooking items.

Then heat up your favorite large pot on medium-high, drizzle in some oil and sear the rolls nice and brown from all sides. No need to get the meat done, it will be cooked long enough later. Get them out on a plate and set it aside.

Chop up the onions and carrots roughly and brown them in the same pot you just seared the meat.

Drop in the tomato paste and let it bubble up for a minute or so. This is to caramelize some sugars. And caramel is always good.

Then deglaze with a glass of wine or so. Deglazing means: pour in the wine and let it bubble up. Then scrape around the bottom of the pot until you have loosened all the brown stuff. The brown stuff makes the sauce yummy. That's the whole secret.

OK, fill in the rest of the red wine - and remember: never cook with anything that you wouldn't drink. No need to to go for the expensive stuff. But if you don't like the wine, you'll probably won't like the sauce.

Then park the meat rolls in the sauce and add the rest of the mustard as well as salt, pepper and bay leaves. Let it cook/simmer on low for around 2 hours.

The meat should be tender and slightly fall apart. Get it out of the pot - again! - but this time on a heated platter.

Time for the cream and the immersion blender. Well, first get the bay leaves out and throw them away, they have given all they got. Then hit it with the blender and make a nice and creamy sauce. Give it a taste, maybe some more salt? Some drops of lemon juice? A bit more red wine?

Tastes good? Then serve the Rouladen with LOTS of sauce. And perhaps a glass of wine. You remembered to buy a second bottle? Right?

Grilled cheese and tomato salad. Dinner for one.

2010-11-20T09:00:00.020+01:00

Cheese and tomatoes have always been a great combination in my eyes. And a grilled cheese sandwich is some of the easiest soul food I know. Here's a little secret: put some drops of Kirsch (Kirschwasser) on the bread slices and it will taste just like cheese fondue.

GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH AND TOMATO SALAD
for 1 person

4 slices toast
butter
some drops of Kirsch, optional
4 slices cheddar cheese
cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
pepper

Take the toast slices out of the package and butter them all on one side. I like to keep toast packages in the freezer and I don't bother thawing the slices - they will be heated enough later.

Now this is key - turn 2 slices over so that the butter is facing down. If you want to, you can now drizzle some drops of Kirschwasser onto the bread, then lay on some slices of cheese. Make sure they don't go until the edge of the bread. Or you'll have a big mess to clean up.

Lay on the other slices so that all buttered sides are facing outward.

Preheat your sandwich toaster and put them in for 2-4 min., depending how dark you like them.

While the sandwiches are toasting, let's make a quick tomato salad. Just slice some cherry tomatoes in half.

And the super quick dressing: just 1 part balsamic vinegar, 1 part soy sauce, 2-3 parts olive oil. Done. OK, maybe a little bit of fresh ground pepper.

Mix in the tomatoes and you're ready. Dinner for one in 5 minutes. Who could ask for more?

Chili. Hot stuff for cold days.

2010-10-30T09:00:00.094+02:00

Chili. I guess there is not much to say. Of course, there are different beliefs: beans or no beans, ground meat or pieces, vegetables or no vegetables. This may sound totally crazy, but I like all kinds of chili. But depending on my mood, I sometimes prefer one variation over the other.

What's really much more important: the spices and liquids you add. And in my case, it's whiskey (with a nice amount of peat), red wine and dark ale. Fresh and dried chilies are a must.

CHILI

1 kg / 2 pounds beef (from the round)
100 g / 3,5 oz bacon
1/4 cup lard or olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped (2 cups)
3 carrots, diced (2 cups)
100 g / 3.5 oz tomato paste
1/4 cup whiskey
1 cup red wine
1 cup dark ale
1 can peeled tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1-5 fresh chilies, eg 1 habanero, 1 jalapeno, 1 Thai chili
3 tablespoons chili tequila
1 teaspoon dried chili
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs
1 can kidney beans, drained (optional)
1 lemon, just the juice, to taste

To serve:
cheddar cheese, shredded
spring onions, cut into thin slices
sour cream
bread

Cut the meat into the size you like for a chili - anything between 1-inch cubes and mincing it. Then peel and cut the onions and carrots into large dice.

I like to start with the bacon, getting it brown and rendering the fat. When it is nice and crunchy, get it out and put it into a bowl.

Then add the lard or oil, let it get hot and start sauteing the onions and carrots. When the edges start to get brown, also get them out into a bowl.

Get your stove to medium-high and let it get really hot for some minutes. Don't dump all the meat in - better start with just a few handfuls. Just let it brown for a couple of minutes, then start stirring it around. When all the sides of the meat are brown, add the next few handfuls. And so on until all the meat is in the pot and browned nicely.

OK, now the bacon and the vegetables go back in, and also the tomato paste. Add the whiskey, stir and scrape the bottom until nearly all is evaporated. Then add the wine and the beer - and top it off with water (or even some coffee you have still standing around).

Next add the can of tomatoes. Don't worry if it looks like too much liquid, most of it will cook off anyway.

Time for some heat: Add the chilies - either whole or cut into pieces. I like to buy big bunches of fresh chilies and preserve them in alcohol.

Just cut away the green stuff, fill them in a glass jar and top it off with your favorite 40%-spirit. I like to use either Sherry, Cognac or Tequila. Keeps nearly endlessly and is a great addition for all kinds of tomato-based meals.

Add the rest of the spices and let it cook on very low for around 2 hours. Or longer, if you have the time.

Serve with spring onions, shredded cheese, crème fraîche and a nice toasty bread. Not to forget: a nice glass of cold beer to kill the heat.

Hot pumpkin soup. Getting ready for Halloween.

2010-10-23T09:00:00.051+02:00

Here in Germany, some people started to celebrate Halloween - nowadays, you can even go to parties. But 15 years ago, living in a small town, my friends started the tradition of cooking American food, preferably something hot and watching horror movies. Over the years, we made tons of different things - chili, homemade burgers, spaghetti with meat balls. But one thing remained consistent over the years: pumpkin soup as a starter.

This one is creamy, meaty and bacon-y and of course: hot. But let me assure you: except for the crème fraîche I used for serving, it's vegan!

HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN SOUP

1 Hokkaido pumpkin, about 1 kg / 2 pounds
1/4 muscat pumpkin, about 1 kg / 2 pounds
1 large onion, diced
4 red potatoes, peeled and diced
2 fresh chilies, cut into rings
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika powder
1 tablespoon vegetable broth powder
1 can peeled tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
chili sauce
lemon juice
crème fraîche for serving

Preheat your oven to 200°C / 400°F and search your kitchen for some kind of ovenproof vessel you pumpkin will fit in. In my case, a 9x13 inch pyrex form.

Cut the Hokkaido pumpkin in half and scoop out the innards - personally, I think an ice cream scoop is the best tool for the job. Then place the pumpkin halves in the form, sprinkle with oil, salt, sugar and maybe a little bit paprika powder.

Place the in the oven for about half an hour. Or until the flesh is soft and you have a nice brown crust.

OK, now we can concentrate on the soup itself:

Remove the seeds and peel from the muscat pumpkin, then dice it coarsely. Peel and dice the rest of the vegetables and slice the chilies.

Heat up a big pot, then pour in the oil and start browning the vegetables. Stir often; you'll want some brown bits for taste.

When the vegetables are starting to get soft, sprinkle with curry and smoked paprika powder.

Look out for this stuff - I bought it in Spain during my vacation, but I'm sure you will find it elsewhere, too.

I don't like the expression, but this is the "secret ingredient" to the soup. Basically, it gives kind of a subtle bacon flavor.

Next, pour in the peeled tomatoes and enough water to cover and let it cook for around 20 minutes or until you can just mash the vegetables with the back of a spoon.

When it looks like this, puree it with your favorite method - mine being a stick blender. But a stand mixer or food processor will also work fine.

Give it a taste and add salt, pepper, chili sauce and lemon juice accordingly.

To serve, get the pumpkin halves out of the oven and each into a bowl. Fill the soup into the pumpkin bowl and (if you're not vegan), garnish with a healthy spoonful of crème fraîche.

Djuvec. Rice and chicken the Croatian way.

2010-10-02T09:00:00.062+02:00

Djuvec.
First of all, how do you spell that? I'd say something like "jouwetch".

Secondly, what is it? Very, very roughly said: It's like a paella, but from the Eastern part of the Mediterranean. In Germany, you will get it most likely in Croatian restaurants, but I got this recipe from an Armenian colleague, Gemille.

Third, why should I bother? It's incredibly tasty, it's totally versatile and can even be made only with pantry items - or vegetarian if you leave out the chicken. And the best thing: it practically makes itself.

DJUVEC RICE AND CHICKEN

1 cup rice
1 cup peas
1 cup corn kernels
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup bell peppers, diced
1 cup onions, diced
4 tablespoons tomato paste
5 garlic gloves, crushed
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon paprika powder
3 tablespoons Vegeta (or vegetable broth powder)
1 cup cream
500 g / 1 pound chicken (your favorite parts or a whole chicken)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon paprika powder
2 tablespoons Vegeta (or vegetable broth powder)

Vegeta is the allround spice and salt for Croatians. In Germany, you can find it in every supermarket - but keep a lookout in the international isle. If you can't find it, just use regular vegetable broth powder.

Preheat your oven to 200°C / 400°F. Then take your biggest pan or - if you only have pans with a plasic handle - use a rectangular baking dish. Fill in the rice, the vegetables, tomato paste, oil, paprika and Vegeta and mix them together.

Flatten the mixture a bit, put the pan or baking dish into the oven and only then fill in enough water to cover it all by 2 cm / 1 inch. That way, if you're clumsy, you will only spill water and not have lots of oily vegetable bits floating in your kitchen.

Bake for 30-45 min and do not touch or stir. Just try after half an hour if the rice is getting done.

In the meantime, cover the chicken bits with oil and season with more paprika powder and Vegeta. I like chicken breast in rather thin slices. But if you prefer drumsticks or a whole chicken, you should cook it first in water to get the meat done. Then toss in oil and spices.

When the rice is almost done, pour the cup of cream over it - no need to stir it in, it will dissipate by itself. Distribute the chicken parts on top and give it another 10-15 min. until it all looks golden brown and delicious. Bring the whole pan to the table and serve with a really big spoon.

Jerry's chocolate ice cream with brownies. Intense.

2010-09-25T09:00:00.086+02:00

Funny, I've never been a big fan of chocolate ice cream. Or milk chocolate, while we're at it. There even was a time when I thought I didn't like chocolate at all until I found the 70% and 80% varieties. Seems I just didn't like the diluted flavor, I want to be blown away. Same with chocolate ice cream, simply not enough bang for the buck.

But then I found Jerry's chocolate ice cream with 2 kinds of unsweetened chocolate in it and this really gives you a kick. Add a cup of diced brownies, and you're in chocolate heaven.

JERRY'S CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

70 g / 2.5 oz 80% chocolate, chopped
(original recipe 55 g / 2 oz unsweetened chocolate)
50 g / 1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate powder, sifted
375 ml / 1 1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs
small pinch of salt
200 g / 1 cup sugar
200 g / 1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 generous cup diced brownies

Chop the chocolate and melt it over very low heat in a double boiler. Make sure that the water does not touch the bowl and not a single drop of water gets into the chocolate. It will most likely be ruined.

Add the cocoa powder to the molten chocolate and start slowly stirring it in. Do yourself a favor and sift it before you add it - I had a lot of trouble getting the lumps out.

When you have mixed the two chocolates together, you will have a very thick mass. I found it very tiresome to stir with a spoon, so I got out my hand mixer.

Whisk in a little milk at a time, mixing over the heat until all is dissolved. Set it aside and let it cool.

Start beating the eggs with a little bit of salt until they look white and fluffy. Let the machine run and very slowly sprinkle in the sugar. Go on beating until most of the sugar has dissolved, then pour in the cream and the vanilla.

Pour the chocolate into the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Then put it into your refrigerator until it is really cold - minimum 2 hours, overnight would be even better.

Start your ice cream maker and pour in the ice cream base into the running machine. Then just let it do its thing. I also put the empty container for the ice cream into the freezer, so the ice won't melt on the edges.

Fill the ice cream into the cold bowl, then quickly stir in the brownie cubes. Store it in your freezer for minimum 2 hours.

Serve yourself a big bowl and don't try to suppress the groans. It's only natural.

Strammer Max. Dinner for one.

2010-09-18T09:00:00.009+02:00

As Flo is often working the late shift in the last weeks, I spend many evenings alone. Which is absolutely fine by me, if it weren't for the fact that cooking and eating alone is not really fun. At least for me. So most times, I stick to something quick and simple to make. And in the best case it's filling, too.

Strammer Max is one of those simple dishes - it's more of an open-faced sandwich with ham and fried egg. Ready to eat in minutes and giving you that warm, fuzzy feeling, even if you have to defend it against the cats.

STRAMMER MAX
open-faced ham and egg sandwich

2 slices of bread, toasted
butter
Dijon mustard
2 slices ham
2 eggs
salt and pepper

First, fry yourself some eggs. I like to use butter on medium heat and salt only the whites. The salt helps denaturing the proteins. Which is good, as I like the yolks runny, but the whites firm.

While the eggs are frying, toast yourself some bread. I only had toast, but use any kind of bread you like. Rye also tastes great with ham and egg.

Butter the bread and then smear on some Dijon mustard. Just for kicks.

Lay the ham on the bread and put it all on a nice, big plate. Just because you're eating alone, doesn't mean you can't do it with style.

Arrange the fried eggs over the ham and sprinkle one a generous amount of pepper. Eat at once.

Carrot dip. The mean brother of baby food.

2010-09-11T09:00:00.034+02:00

This looks so innocent, doesn't it? I really reminds you a bit of baby food, if it weren't for the olives, right? Go ahead, take a bite. At first, you think: "What is she talking about? Just regular carrots. A bit on the sweet side." And then it will hit you: the tartness of the lemon juice. The slight bitterness of the olive oil. The complexity of the spices. And last, but not least: the slight burn of chili in your throat.

This is a great dip and it goes very well with all those other oriental-inspired dips, hummus, baba ghanoush and tzatziki. Just serve them all with some pita bread and olives and you have a simple, but very satisfying dinner.

CARROT DIP

250 g / 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and diced
salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon ras-el-hanout (or ground cumin)
1 tablespoon harissa
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus some for garnishing
olives

Around here, you always get carrots in 1 kilo / 2 pound packages. Minimum. So most times, I take the rest of the package I did not use and eyeball the amount of the rest of the other ingredients.

Peel the carrots, cut them into finger-thick slices and cook them in very salty water for about 20 minutes. They should be soft, but not falling to bits.

In the meantime, mix together lemon juice, crushed garlic, ras-el-hanout and olive oil. Hold the salt, there will be already enough in the carrots.

I like to use my immersion blender for this, so I start in a rather high and narrow mixing bowl. But feel free to use a food processor if you happen to own one.

Drain the carrots and put them over the harissa-mixture. Then puree them as fine as you want them. Personally, I like some bits left, otherwise it reminds me too much of baby food...

Serve in a nice bowl when it is cooled down, garnish with some olives and olive oil. Then dig right in.

Superfudge Brownies. Where's the ice cream?

2010-09-04T09:00:00.004+02:00

Sometimes, it's not that easy adapting foreign recipes. This one for example: all weight measures are given in ounces, so I first need to consult some kind of converter to get it in grams. And what am I supposed to do with "1/2 cup of butter"? In Germany - and many other parts of Europe - butter is only sold in 250 g / 1/2 pound blocks. Thanks to the internet, I didn't have to mess around with softened butter and a measuring cup.

And then there's the problem of finding the right ingredients. I looked almost everywhere for unsweetened chocolate, but it was nowhere to be found. The highest cocoa proportion I could find was 80%, so I had to break out the calculator again - assuming that the other 20% were sugar.

BUT: it was so worth the trouble! These brownies are very chocolaty, quite fudgy, but not too dense and with a nice and crisp top. And in the very unlikely case you couldn't eat them as long as they were fresh: chopped up, they make a very nice addition to chocolate ice cream.

SUPERFUDGE BROWNIES
adapted from Ben&Jerry

140 g / 5 oz 80% chocolate
(original recipe: 115 g / 4 oz unsweetened chocolate)
115 g / 4 oz / 1 stick butter
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
400 g / 1 3/4 cups sugar
(original recipe: 450 g / 2 cups sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
115 g / 1 cup flour

Turn on your oven and set it to 180°C / 350°F. Search through your kitchen - armed with a measuring tape - to find a 9x13 baking pan. Luckily, I found my 25x35 cm glass lasagna dish. Or use the deep baking sheet your oven was delivered with.

To make it non-stick, butter and flour it very thoroughly.

Chop up the chocolate, the finer the better. As I'm lazy sometimes and cutting chocolate is not really fun, I like to smash the unopened chocolate bar several times against the edge of the kitchen counter. Instant stress relief. And much more fun.

Recipes always tell you: melt the chocolate in a double boiler. This is my double boiler: a saucière or small pot, filled with 1,5 cm / 1/2 inch water, topped with a medium-sized bowl. The important thing to remember is: only melt the chocolate with the heat of the steam, never in direct contact with water - or it will seize up and be ruined.

Also, I like to melt the butter first, as it has a higher melting point than chocolate. Then throw in the chocolate bits and melt them, too.

Stir until you have a homogeneous and glossy mixture, then set it aside to cool.

Meanwhile, start beating the eggs with the salt until they are almost white in color and almost fluffy. Then add the sugar and vanilla very slowly and continue beating until the sugar crystals are dissolved.

Now grab your favorite spatula or wooden spoon and fold in the chocolate-butter-mixture by hand. Stir very gently, you'll want to preserve as much of the fluffiness as possible.

Same for the flour: fold it in very gently.

Pour the batter into the baking pan and put it in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

This is the hardest part: letting it cool completely before cutting. I prefer to cut 12 pieces, they will be almost square in shape and look very nice when topped with a scoop of your favorite ice cream.

Coq au vin. The chicken version of Beuf Bourguignon.

2010-08-28T09:00:00.006+02:00

Ever since the movie "Julie & Julia" came out, everyone seems to be crazy about Julia Child's version of Beuf Bourguignon. I know, Beuf Bourguignon is a great dish, but sometimes you just can't find the right beef in the supermarket or at your butcher's. Or you just don't want to spend the money. On the other hand, 4 chicken thighs only cost around 2 Euro. Seemed like a deal to me.

Oh, and there's a simple rule about cooking with wine: don't use anything that you wouldn't drink. But you don't have to use the most expensive one; a simple wine in a real bottle will do fine. Real French gourmet food for a couple of bucks. Perfect.

COQ AU VIN

2-3 small onions, peeled and diced (1 cup)
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced (1 cup)
2-3 celery sticks, peeled and diced (1 cup)
6 thick slices of bacon, cut into strips
6-8 chicken thighs
flour
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 bottle red wine, shiraz or pinot noir
3 bay leaves
6 juniper berries
8 button mushrooms
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon corn starch

This is the great triumvirate of French cooking: onion, carrot and celery. The base of all kinds of meat dish with. Just cut them into 1 cm / 1/4 inch cubes. While you're at it, also cut the bacon into strips.

Preheat your oven to 165°C / 325°F.

Mix some salt and pepper into the flour, then dredge the chicken thighs in the flour. They should be covered on all sides.

Heat up a big pan on medium, pour in the vegetable oil and start frying the chicken thighs. Just don't overcrowd the pan, 4 at a time are more than enough. They will need around 5 minutes on each side, you want them golden brown - but no need to cook them through, we'll get to that later.

Stack them into a large pot, I like my cast iron Dutch oven for that.

When you're done frying the chicken, put the vegetables into the pan and cook them until they are softened but not too brown. That should take about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Put all the vegetables into the pot with the chicken parts.

Then fry the bacon first and then the mushrooms - put the bacon into the pot and set the mushrooms aside.

Should look a bit like this - a pot full of chicken, vegetables and bacon. Already smells like heaven.

Don't forget about the pan, because there is still all the good brown stuff at the bottom and you definitively don't want to throw that away. Instead, pour in about a cup of the red wine and start scraping the bottom with a spatula. Loosen all the bits from the bottom and let it cook for a minute, then pour it into the Dutch oven.

Top it off with the rest of the wine and maybe a little bit of water. Add some salt, the bay leaves and the juniper berries.

Then put on the lid and place it in the oven for about 2 hours. Or you could prepare it until this point and cook it the next day, then it will be even more tender and flavorful.

When the 2 hours in the oven are over, check if the chicken is tender - you should be able to part the meat with a fork.

Carefully get out the meat and put the thighs on a platter. Fish out all the vegetables and spices using a strainer or a slotted spoon. Mix in the cream and if you want to, thicken the sauce with a slurry made of corn starch and water. Just mix those two together, pour it into the sauce and let it cook for a minute. As a last thing, add the mushrooms to the sauce and give it a taste - and season to your taste. I almost always need more salt.

Serve the chicken parts with the sauce, the mushrooms and your favorite side, mine being simple oven-roasted potatoes. Makes sense since the oven is hot anyway.

Picadillo. With cinnamon and raisins.

2010-08-21T09:00:00.015+02:00

Picadillo is one of the most versatile ragús in South American cooking. You can simply eat it with rice, preferably accompanied by a fried banana. Or use it as a filling for empanadas or pastel de papas - which is best described as the Argentine version of Shepard's Pie. But more on that in another post, first we are going to make the Picadillo.

PICADILLO

1 cup carrots, finely diced (2-3 carrots)
1 cup onions, finely diced (2-3 onions)
1 cup bell peppers, finely diced (1-2 small peppers)
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
750 g / 1.5 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine (or Martini rosso)
2-3 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 tablespoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon coriander
salt and pepper
1 cup green olives, chopped
1/2 cup raisins

Dice up all the vegetables, I like 5 mm / 1/4 inch cubes. No need to measure them exactly, just make sure you have roughly the same amount of onions, carrots and peppers.

Heat up a big pan (or heavy pot), then pour in some oil and start frying the ground beef.

Don't dump in everything at once or the pan will cool down instantly and you'll be cooking the meat instead of frying it. Which is not good, as many of the juices will come out, making the meat tough and the water will prevent browning. And in my opinion, the brown stuff is what makes the sauces taste so good. Seems I'm not alone, as there's even a scientific name for it: Maillard reaction, meaning the caramelization of of sugars and proteins by high heat.

So just put in a quarter to a third, wait till it is all cooked through and then add the next batch. Then let that cook together and add the last third...

Once the meat is cooked through and has some nice browned spots, add the vegetables and let them fry together.

Let it cook for some minutes more, depending how much time you have and how patient you are. Just make sure there are some browned bits. That may sound a bit obsessive... I admit it, I'm obsessed with Maillard reaction.

Make a little room in the middle and add the tomato paste, let that also fry for a bit. Again, sugars will caramelize and add some subtle flavors. Then add the wine and scrape all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. The will dissolve and make everything very tasty. Then add some water, just short of covering it.

Now add all the spices: oregano, chilies, paprika, salt and pepper. And yes, you heard right: cinnamon and ground coriander. At first, it seems very weird to add cinnamon to a savory dish, but believe me it will blend perfectly with the other spices...

Then add the olives and the raisins and let it all cook on low for 30 minutes minimum. Why yes, raisins. They're traditional. No point in arguing about that.

Give it a taste, maybe add some lemon juice and more salt and serve.

Jalapeño poppers. Some like it hot.

2010-08-14T09:00:00.001+02:00

Funny how people react to different kinds of hot. Some people don't mind hotness at all, even search the kick of new levels of hotness. Others flinch at even the slightest amount - I once knew someone who broke into tears and sweat because of a couple of drops of Tabasco someone sneaked into his burger. I guess I'm in the middle: liking the hotness of chilies, unless it totally overwhelms the taste of your food.

This recipe is a work of genius. So incredibly simple, you don't even think about measuring the ingredients. Delicious beyond description. The chilies are reasonably hot, the cream cheese will even that out a bit. And bacon can never be a bad thing, can it?

JALAPEÑO POPPERS
(adapted from Pioneer Woman)

fresh jalapeños
cream cheese
salt and pepper
bacon
latex gloves, optional

Before you start anything, put on the latex gloves. Trying to get our your contact lenses with capsaicin-stained fingers is no fun. Let alone touching other - ahem - sensitive areas. So do yourself a favor and wear protection.

Cut the chilies in half lengthwise, then use a spoon, a melon baller or a measuring teaspoon to scoop out the the white stuff and the seeds. The white stuff is where the most of the capsaicin lies.

Then simply take the cream cheese and smear it into the jalapeños, filling them to the brim. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper, if you like.

Cut the bacon slices in half and wrap them around the filled chilies. Either put them on the BBQ or - if you happen to live somewhere downtown like I do - bake them in the oven at 180°C / 350°F for 20-25 minutes.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the finished jalapeños, they were so good the were simply gone too fast!

Steak au poivre. Even purists will love it.

2010-08-07T09:00:00.048+02:00

When it comes to steak, I'm a purist. Salt, pepper, maybe a tad of herb butter and I'm happy. No crazy marinades, no BBQ sauce, no oysters, thank you. Oh, and medium rare, please.

But sometimes you may need a tiny bit more, maybe a little sauce to make the fries go down easier. And this is where Alton Brown comes in. In his show "Good Eats" he did not only present how to manage to get steaks out of a whole fillet, he also made a very minimalistic sauce. Just cream, cognac and pepper. It's a dream, it goes perfectly well with a steak without totally smothering its taste. Just what I like.

FILET AU POIVRE
adapted from Alton Brown

2 tenderloin steaks, 4 cm / 1.5 inches thick
coarse salt
1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
80 ml / 1/3 cup Armagnac or Cognac, plus 1 teaspoon
250 ml / 1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon veal fond, powdered
1 teaspoon maple syrup
a dash of lemon juice
small packet of (frozen) fries

First, the steaks. Marvelously marbled, aren't they? Make sure you have steaks at least 1 inch / 2.5 cm thick, but if you like them medium rare (the only way to go, really) have them cut 1.5 inch / 4 cm thick.

Get them out 30 to 60 minutes before you start cooking as you want to get them to room temperature. I think it's horrible if a steak is nearly burned on the outside and almost frozen in the middle...

Crush the pepper quite coarsely, either with pestle and mortar or the biggest setting on your pepper mill.

Sprinkle the steaks with salt and cover them with the coarse pepper. Press it on lightly with your fingers, but no need to worry if some pepper corns fall off.

Meanwhile, start making the fries with your preferred method.

Heat up your pan (I prefer cast iron) on medium-high, melt the butter and add the olive oil. Nobody knows why, but a bit of oil prevents butter from going brown so quickly.

Put in the steaks and set the timer for 4 minutes. 4 cm and 4 minutes results in medium rare. Genius! Turn them over and give them another 4 minutes.

Then get them out on a warmed plate and cover them lightly with aluminum foil. Takes quite a bit of patience, but if you were to cut into the steaks right away, all the good juices would run out and leave you with a dry bit of meat. Not good.

Pour in the Cognac or Armagnac, then start scraping on the bottom of the pan to remove all the pepper corns and delicious crusts.
DO NOT SET TO FIRE! 80 ml is quite an amount of alcohol and I would nearly have set my kitchen to fire. Instead, let it cook down slowly until it's nearly gone.

Pour in the cream, dissolve the fond powder and let it cook for 5 minutes until the consistency is slightly thicker than regular cream.

Give it a taste and add salt, maple syrup and lemon juice if you like, then serve.

Serve the steak, the fries and the sauce on a nice plate and pour in a nice glass of red wine. Or beer.

Iced Tea. Thirst quencher for hot days.

2010-07-24T09:00:00.055+02:00

There are few things more refreshing than iced tea on a hot summer day. And I don't mean those over-sweetened soft drinks laced with artificial flavors, preservatives and other stuff you don't really want to know about. Better make it yourself, it's ready in 5 minutes. Go ahead and time it, I'm not exaggerating. And another thing: it helps against those mean headaches.

ICED TEA

1 liter / 4 cups water, boiling
1/2 kg / 1 pound ice cubes
6 teabags or 6 teaspoons black tea
0-4 tablespoons sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Take 6 teabags or 6 heaping teaspoons of loose black tea. Bring the water to boil and when it's really bubbling, pour it over the tea.

Let it steep for exactly 4 minutes. Then the tea will be strong, but not too bitter. Take out the tea bags or strain the tea if you used loose tea. Then dissolve the sugar in the hot tea - the amount depends on your taste.

Weight out the ice in a big pitcher. You need half the amount by weight as you have tea.

Slowly pour the hot, sweetened tea over the ice cubes. Then add the lemon juice - also according to your taste - and you're done! Grab a big glass, maybe a straw and sit outside in the sun with your feet up.

Tuna salad filled tomatoes. Hello from the Fifties.

2010-07-17T09:00:00.005+02:00

A friend gave me a cookbook from the Fifties as a birthday present a couple of years ago. It is two inches thick and full of wonderful recipes, helpful hints on using leftovers - and even more delightful tips on shaping your food aerodynamically to make it more appetizing. There, I found great classics like meat loaf (in a dozen of variations), upside down pineapple and carrot cakes as well as tomatoes filled with different mayo-based salads, eg egg, chicken or tuna.

My mom used to make the tuna version as appetizer for guests: it's quick and easy, filling but not too much and enjoyed by everyone, whether they like fish or not. Including me and my dad, who virtually despise everything that comes out of the ocean.

TOMATOES FILLED WITH TUNA SALAD

1 can tuna, drained
1 small onion, chopped very finely
1/4 cup peas
1/4 cup corn kernels, optional
1/4 - 1/2 cup mayonnaise, homemade
paprika powder
some drops of hot sauce
salt and pepper
4-6 tomatoes

Drain one can of tuna - doesn't matter if you bought the one in oil or brine.

Take a small onion and dice it very finely - onions and tuna are a match made in heaven. And add the peas, I only had frozen (and blanched) ones. But you can take fresh or canned ones if you like.

OK, let's spice it up a bit. Add some paprika powder for taste and color and maybe some drops of chili sauce, if you happen to like it hot.

Add some tablespoons of mayonnaise and start stirring. Just add enough to make it just come together. Not too much mayo or it will become slushy.

If you like you can cut open some tomatoes, scoop out the kernels with a spoon and fill in the tuna salad. Simple, ready in minutes and impresses you guests.

Obazda. Bavarian beergarden cheese spread.

2010-07-10T09:00:00.000+02:00

My god, there she comes again with some funky Bavarian stuff... First that strange sausage salad, and now this... And it even comes with tons of butter...

Obazda means - roughly translated - hodge podge, and basically that's what it is. Legend has it, a Bavarian innkeeper was standing in his empty (post-war) kitchen, with VIP guests sitting in the pub and waiting for something to eat. He thought he couldn't serve a half-eaten cheese to those people, so he decided to mix it together with butter, onions and paprika powder. And like many of those dishes born in desperation, it was an instant success.

You can find it nowadays in every beer garden in Bavaria. There are of course a million recipes, but I think this is the most basic and original one: 1 part butter, 2 parts cheese, onion and some spices. Simple and delicious.

This is perfect for that rest of Camembert that has gotten too pungent to eat. But you can use any intense and soft cheese, in some regions of Germany they use Romadour, Limburger or even Harzer. And stretch it with cream cheese if you find the taste too strong.

OBAZDA

150 g / 5 oz overripe Camembert cheese
75 g / 2.5 oz butter, softened
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon paprika powder
1 small onion, very finely diced
2 tablespoons beer
1 teaspoon caraway seeds, optional
salt and pepper
chives, for garnishing
pretzels, either soft or hard ones

Start by weighing the cheese - as this is meant for leftover cheese, this should be your base measure. Then you measure half the amount of butter, by weight of course.

Check the cheese rind: if the edges are very hard and dry, maybe even getting some funky colors (red and yellow being the most common), you could cut some of it away. Leave most of the rind on, just remove anything that doesn't look too good anymore.

Cut the cheese and the butter into cubes, this makes the mixing progress much easier.

Add the cream and start mixing together the Camembert and the butter into a rather sticky mass. Either take a fork or use your food processor - or even the mixer with a paddle attachment - depending on the quantities you are making.

See, some bits are still left, especially some rind bits: that is wonderful. But it still looks a bit bland, doesn't it?

Not to worry, just add onions and lots of paprika powder. It will seem too much at the beginning, but once you mixed it in, the spread will have a wonderful color.

Still doesn't taste right? Add a bit of salt and pepper - and the secret ingredient: beer! You have to try it to believe it, but the beer gives some taste nuances that are very hard to describe.

Cover it and leave it in your fridge for a couple of hours, so that the flavors have time to mingle (but serve on the same day, or the onions will become unbearable). Serve sprinkled with some caraway seeds and lots of chives. Depends on what you like and what is available in your region - both hard and soft pretzels are traditional around here. And of course, don't forget to serve with an adequate amount of beer!

Note for lactose intolerance sufferers: overripe Camembert contains a very low amount of lactose, as the fungi on the cheese break it down. But test for yourself if you can handle it or not.

Cinnamon macarons with ganache. Not perfect.

2010-07-03T09:00:00.023+02:00

About a year ago, I made macarons for the first time. Though I still can't manage to produce those beautiful, smooth caps, I still enjoy making them. And the combination of chocolate ganache and the smooth, almond-y taste of the macarons is still unbeaten.

Don't be afraid - the ganache is terribly easy to make, just chop up the chocolate, pour over the boiling cream and stir slowly until you have a shiny and glossy cream. Just follow these instructions in one of my older posts. Because the ganache needs quite a long time to cool, it is best to make it one day ahead.

CINNAMON MACARONS WITH DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

MACARONS
250 g / 8.8 oz ground almonds
250 g / 8.8 oz powdered sugar
125 g / 4.4 oz / 4 egg whites
50 g / 1.8 oz sugar
vanilla extract
cinnamon

GANACHE (see here for instructions)
100 g / 3.5 oz semi-sweet chocolate (50%)
100 g / 3.5 oz cream
1 tablespoon rum, eg Negrita

In Germany, powdered sugar is often sold in 250 g packs. So I thought I'd base the recipe on this measurement, because weighing powdered sugar is always such a mess. And I couldn't find ground almonds in my supermarket, so I bought slivered ones.

Mix the almonds and the powdered sugar together and pulse them in your food processor, yes, even if you bought ground almonds. Sieve it all through a fine mesh and pulverize the rests that stay behind until all is evenly and finely ground. And yeah, you really need to do this step!

Weigh the regular sugar and put the following things in reach: a rubber spatula, a piping bag with a big round nozzle, several sheets of baking paper. If you are feeling especially pedantic (or you are piping for the first time in your life), draw regular circles with a pencil and then turn the sheet over. Nobody really wants to eat pencil shavings...

And if your oven is kinda slow, preheat now to 165°C / 325°F.

Beat the egg whites until they are fairly stiff, then slowly add the regular sugar and continue beating until all the sugar crystals have dissolved. Also add the vanilla - see the little black flecks? They come from the real vanilla sugar. Or add color or other flavors you like.

Dump all the beaten egg whites in a bowl together with the ground almonds.

Forget everything you heard about handling beaten egg whites, simply stir until everything is combined and then a bit more.

You need to find the exact right consistency which everyone describes as "flowing like lava". I don't know about you, but I have never seen lava flow and I'm just guessing that you haven't either. So let me put it in other words: the French call it "flowing into a ribbon" and I'm thinking this is just the way honey does. The mixture you see above could have used some more stirs, it was still too dense.

Fill everything into your piping bag. I found out that a giant freezer bag clip helps you immensely handling the bag as you don't have to be afraid anymore that the dough will come out the wrong end.

Start piping into your pre-drawn circles, these were 5 cm / 2 inch in diameter (I used a glass for drawing them). And don't pipe the circumference of the circles, simply place the nozzle in the middle, just a little bit above the baking paper and start squeezing gently. Stop squeezing when the dough has reached your circle outline, then lift the nozzle with a quick motion. You can press down the peaks with a slightly moistened finger afterward.

If you like, you can now sprinkle on some cinnamon or anything else you like.

Let it all sit there for half an hour - that helps that the surface will get dry and hard, so that they will rise and have those crumpled little feet.

See, the have risen quite a bit - too much, actually. That is why I should have stirred the mixture a bit more. Let them cool completely before you try to remove them. If you're too impatient, you'll end up with the innards sticking to the paper and a hollow shell in your hand.

Fill with the cooled ganache (or your favorite jam, butter cream or lemon curd) and then let them sit overnight. That's right, you'll have to wait until the next day until you can eat them. Of course, you could eat them right away, but they will be much better the next day - which makes it the perfect gift / bring-along for your colleagues.

Chickpea salad. Great for summer.

2010-06-26T09:00:00.013+02:00

Do you know those people who can eat anything at any time? Like pork roast and sauerkraut in summer or gazpacho when it's snowing. I can't. I am one of those who can't eat warm and heavy stuff when it's hot outside. I like to have a light lunch in the summer heat. But a normal green salad is never enough for me - I always end up hungry half an hour later. So this number here is a great compromise: It tastes fresh like a salad, but the chickpeas bring along some carbs and proteins, just the right amount to make you feel satisfied but not stuffed... And it's ready in minutes - literally - so you'll have more time to go outside and catch some rays.

CHICKPEA SALAD

1 can chickpeas
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, finely diced
1 garlic glove, crushed
1 lemon, juice only
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano
parsley

Open a can of chickpeas and drain them well. I even like to give them a quick rinse with cold water, but that's just because the brine has a distinctive smell I don't like.

Dice the onions and crush the garlic, then mix with the chickpeas in a bowl.

Cut the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, then add lemon juice, salt, pepper and spices. I only had dried ones, but please use fresh if you have.

Somehow no plant survives my care more than a few weeks. Except orchids. Those are growing one flower after the other. Since December.

Give it all a stir and a taste. You should have about the same amount of tomatoes as chickpeas and some crunchy onions. When it tastes good, go out on the balcony, sit in the sun and eat straight out of the bowl.

Apricot rolls. Like cinnamon rolls, but different.

2010-06-19T09:00:00.001+02:00

These rolls are a bit like cinnamon rolls, but filled with apricot jam and some other yummy things. My mom found this recipe in a German baking magazine ages ago and it's a regular in our recipe repertoire since the first time we tried it out. I was still a kid and soon I started making this on my own. Mind you - yeast dough! Don't be afraid, it's so easy a kid can do it!

Follow me and I show you how it works.

APRICOT ROLLS

DOUGH
1 packet or cube of yeast
125 ml / 1/2 cup milk, warmed (water also works)
500 g / 18 oz / 4 1/2 cups flour
50 g / 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
150 g / 1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt

FILLING
200 g / 7 oz / 2/3 cup apricot jam
100 g / 3.5 oz / 1/2 cup sugar
100 g / 3.5 oz / 1 cup chopped almonds
100 g / 3.5 oz / 3/4 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons rum

GLAZE
6 tablespoons powdered sugar
some drops of lemon juice

Behold!!! The mighty yeast. Alton Brown would say something like that. I say: Don't worry, it's just yeast. Only costs cents in the supermarket. I also always have dried yeast packages in my pantry, but I like the original stuff better. Maybe because you can feel and smell it.

Bring half a cup of milk to body temperature. I kicked out my microwave - it took too much space - so a measuring cup on the stove works great. The milk should be just as warm as your finger.

Umm, yes. The stove is dirty and has some cracks. I do not have a perfect kitchen.

Put the flour in a mixing bowl (no need to sift) and push it to the sides. Crumble in the yeast (hmm, smells good) and sprinkle in the sugar. Pour over the warm milk and let it all sit for 15 minutes.

Oh my god! It's alive! Well, the yeast becomes active with sugar, water and warmth.

It starts eating the sugar and digesting it into carbon dioxide, which results into those teeny tiny bubbles that make the dough fluffy. And alcohol, but here are only trace amounts. Leave the dough sit for 3 days and you will taste the alcohol. It's the same yeast the use for beer brewing.

Crack in the eggs and add the butter cubes, then start mixing on low with a dough hook.

Keep mixing on medium-low until all the butter pieces are gone and the dough is not sticking to the bowl any more. At first, things will be very sticky, so keep the machine running until you see it coming off and basically could take out the dough and have clean bowl. Rather clean bowl, the bottom will always stick a little.

Cover with a tea towel and place the bowl in a warm space for around 30 minutes, if you're impatient. Or just leave it where it is for an hour or two. And if you really have time on your hands, put it in the fridge overnight. The slower and colder the process, the finer the taste and texture of the dough.

Key is, the dough should double in size. Sometimes it even triples in size. See the fluffy texture? Just like a pillow.

In the meantime, mix together all the ingredients for the filling. Nothing special about that.

Get the dough out of the bowl and onto your favorite rolling surface. I like my extra big silicon mat.

Press the big air bubbles out and knead it a bit. No need to get aggressive (but do, if you feel like it!), just work it through to redistribute the butter and the yeast.

That day, I decided to bake only half of it and freeze the rest. Works wonderfully. And the flatter you press the dough the faster it will freeze. And unfreeze, which can be really important...

Now, roll out the dough patiently and gently. Try to get it as thin as possible, this was about 3 mm. Just don't go too thin or it will tear. Then trim the edges so that you will have roughly a rectangle.

Spread on the yummy apricot mixture and start rolling it up. It's up to you if you start from the long or the short edge, depending if you like thinner or thicker rolls.

Cut this dough roll into 1 inch / 2.5 cm slices, this works best if you froze it for half an hour or use a really sharp knife. Place them in a pie pan or directly on a baking sheet. Be patient and let them sit there for another half an hour.

Depending on the time your oven needs, preheat to 200°C / 400°F.

Bake for 12-15 min, until golden brown and delicious. They're great just like that, but even better with a glaze.

And this is really simple - just mix the powdered sugar with some drops of lemon juice until you have the consistency of honey.

Spread it on the rolls, lick your fingers and spoon clean of the glaze and then take a blissful first bite.