Back!

I know I 've been gone for a long time but it's not like if anyone was waiting for my return, huh? I don't really know what happened... hmmm, let's see... did I cook less? Probably yes, especially over the past 4 weeks but I'll try to keep up with posting at least 1 recipe per month.

Spring is here... so no need for soups and warm, heavy food... BBQ and salad season is open. :) However, today was one of those rainy, grey sundays. My couch needed affection and was very persuasive. So after watching a movie 'Agora', catching up with House MD I had a sudden craving for pancakes. I put my latest music purchase 'Echo Mountain' from K's Choice on and I headed for a pancake session.

No, pancakes weren't the only thing i ate today. As I'm sitting here typing these lines, trying to feel less guilty about not keeping up with New Year's resolutions and pretending that I have a large audience following my blog, waiting impatiently for my posts, I'm enjoying the smell of marinated beef filet simmering in the oven :)


Oven-grilled beef

200 g beef filet
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp ras-el-hanout (Moroccan spice mix)
1 tsp oil
salt & pepper

Marinate the beef in spices over night and place in an oven dish. Pour over oil, cover with foil and cook in a preheated over (180°C) for about 20 minutes)

Serve with rice, steamed vegetables and a salad.

Composition of Ras el Hanout: cardamon, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground chili peppers, coriander, cumin, ginger (plus other spices...)
Literal translation would mean: head of the spice-shop. Ras el Hanout is the main ingredient in some tagine recipes such as 'Mrouzia' (a typical moroccan sweet-salty lamb & almonds tagine). Only grannies, and downtown spice-sellers know what's really in this mix. Its composition is kept secret which makes the meals made with ras el hanout even more delicious :)

Better than chocolate?

That's an absurdity! There's nothing better than chocolate! Come on!
Yes, there is... the other replied: chocolate and fruit is :)

Think, think, think...

The argument can continue... without me though and I stick to the fact that I can't think of anything better than a flat that smells like chocolate cake! mmm.... close you eyes, focus on this thought and smile!

Today, I made a cake for a friend's birthday... upside down chocolate cake! It smells SO nice and I can't wait for tomorrow to finally be able to taste it


Upside-down Chocolate&Fruit Cake


3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
100g dark chocolate
1/3 cup sugar
5 Tbsp butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 tsp vanilla sugar

1 large pear (sliced)
1 large banana (sliced)
1 Tbsp softened butter
1 Tbsp brown sugar

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, stir in milk until homogeneous. In a bowl combine eggs, sugar and butter and mix until obtaining a foamy mixture. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla sugar and stir. Add the chocolate+milk and continue stirring. Texture should be creamy and thick.

Butter a cake pan (30x20cm), overlay brown sugar and top with sliced fruits (be creative). Pour the batter over and cook for about 20 min in a pre-heated over at 180°C.

Serve the cake in a plate as soon as it's done and get ready for your self-indulgence :)

Fish, sea food and ...

I bought a record 2 weeks ago and I'm still listening to it almost non-stop! How sick is it?!
I don't care... music is good and so are the lyrics... and if you're wondering what I'm talking about or are one of the few that I didn't bore with my new addiction, it's a band called Mumford & Sons which I discovered while looking for a CD to buy in Saturn.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KCg_QEHtkY)

The weather has been awesome the past week, sunny, no negative temperatures and today... well today was warm, 13°C! You could almost think that it's Spring and believe it is! But I don't and I won't. Winter is lurking... besides, Spring doesn't start before March 22nd, right?! :)

This WE I felt like having a gourmet dinner and on Friday evening I was looking for inspiration. It came when I went out for a walk with a friend and that we decided to have fish for dinner. We went to the Viktualienmarkt and there scallops and trout called for our attention.

Here it goes for tonight:


Walnut-crusted trout
(recipe taken from www.epicurious.com and slightly modified)

• 1 large rainbow trout, skin left intact (cut open in 2)
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tsp grated garlic
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  
• 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 egg white, beaten to blend
• 1 Tbsp argan oil

Combine walnuts 1 tablespoon flour in processor. Grind walnuts finely; transfer to plate. Place remaining flour on another plate. Sprinkle fish with garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Chill for 2 hours. Bring out of fridge, dip into flour to coat; shake off excess. Using pastry brush, brush flesh side with egg white. Place fillet, egg white side down, onto walnuts; press to coat with nuts. Transfer to waxed paper-lined baking sheet, nut side up. Pour over argan oil in a thin filet. Cover with baking sheet in a papillote style and cook in a pre-heated over (180°C) for 15 minutes. Remove cover, turn grill on and roast for about 5 min until nuts turn golden.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pecan-Crusted-Trout-with-Orange-Rosemary-Butter-Sauce-1663#ixzz0gqopbLAp

Coquilles St Jacques in cream

1 3/4 cups water

3/4 cup dry white wine

1 small onion, chopped

Bouquet garni (see Mom's Tip)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 pound very fresh scallops

8 ounces mushrooms, washed and chopped

6 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coquilles-St-Jacques-109410#ixzz0grOaihwh

1 3/4 cups water

3/4 cup dry white wine

1 small onion, chopped

Bouquet garni (see Mom's Tip)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 pound very fresh scallops

8 ounces mushrooms, washed and chopped

6 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coquilles-St-Jacques-109410#ixzz0grOaihwh

(adapted from epicurious.com)

• 1 cups water
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp thyme + 1 tsp oregano
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 pound very fresh scallops
• 8 ounces mushrooms, washed and chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat the water, wine, onion, herbs, and lemon juice to a boil in a saucepan. Add the scallops, cover, and simmer on very low heat until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove the scallops with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the mushrooms to the scallop poaching liquid and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Strain, discarding the onion and reserving the liquid and mushrooms separately.

Cut the scallops into 1/2-inch-thick slices. If too long, cut in half horizontally.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and whisk in the flour. Do not let it get dark. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of the scallop liquid and mix until blended. Over very low heat, blend the flour mixture into the scallop liquid. Add the cream and simmer and stir until blended and thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the scallops and mushrooms, and stir.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Coquilles-St-Jacques-109410#ixzz0grPfsFwR

The desert and pictures will follow soon :)

Crèpes time!!!!

I'm really lame at keeping this blog freshly updated! Hmmm... Will I be forgiven if I share my crèpes recipe. I should rather say 'galette' as tonight I've made salty ones. Thanks to my friend Lulu who inspired me actually... Merci Lulu ;-)

As I left work, I decided to head to the supermarket. My mental shopping list consisted of:
- Milk
- Cheese
- Mushrooms
and OF COURSE Nutella!

The plan was to make galettes as well as crèpes but when I arrived home I realized that Nutella wasn't in my shopping bag and therefore decided to make only galettes! I could have used melted Milka squares but for some reason I didn't! And no, I'm not on diet! I love food so much that I can't go on diet!

The funny thing with crèpes and galettes is that you can be very creative when it comes to filling or spreading them. Here's how mine turned out:


Crèpes (salty dough):
(makes 12 medium crèpes)

- 2 eggs
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup flour
- 1 Tbsp crème fraîche
my personal touch consists of adding:
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp oregano
- Salt

In a bowl, mix together eggs, milk and spiced until homogeneous then incorporate flour while mixing until smooth.
Let rest for 30 minutes before pan-cooking.

Fillings:
- Tiger shrimps
- Grilled vegetables: bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms
- Quark with herbs
- Cream cheese or any spreadable cheese you fancy
- Grated Gouda cheese
- Camembert and/or goat cheese

These are the ingredients I used tonight but you are free to use other stuff. I personally combined two of these each time which I spread or lay over my crèpe before rolling it. Once rolled, I placed the crèpes in an oven-dish. I poured a tomato-ricotta sauce over half of the crèpes, the second half nakes and then covered all with grated cheese in order to gratinate the crèpes in a 210°C pre-heated oven.

Enjoy alone or with friends! I have mine alone... snif, but my friends on the Island gathered to enjoy theirs and we spent nearly 1h speaking over the phone about our crèpes :)

Yummy soup!

It's really hard to post on a regular basis! I didn't think it would be this hard actually, 2 weeks ago when I decided to start! Hmmm... no, i'm not giving up.

I'd love to post the dinner menu of last Saturday, but I won't.. at least not tonight! And why? well, because it took me a bit more than 3 hours to get it ready, so that also means it'll take me auite some time before I finish typing everything, but also because it's 21:51 and that I'd like to go to bed early... for once! But... mmmm... it was SO good! And yes, I have the intention to keep the suspense going on! ;)

So instead of posting the recipes of that so yummy dinner, I'll share with you the one of the delicious soup that I have made tonight:
Carrot & Shrimp Soup

3 carrots
1 potato
1 celery stick
80g fresh shrimps
1 tbsp cream cheese
1 cup milk
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dill
Salt

Peel and cut the vegetable. Place in a pot, cover up with salted water and cook.
Mix the vegetables in 1/2 cup of their cooking water, add cream cheese, milk, ginger, pepper and dill. Mix until smooth and velvety!
Add shrimps and bring to simmering point for not more than 5 minutes over a low heat stove.
Serve warm with fresh bread.

Potato and fish again! yay!!!

Me again! who am I speaking to? Well, guess to myself! Well here's a funny fact: when you live on your own for a long time, you start talking to yourself... not in your head, but out loud! Your mental notes, and thought bubbles find their way through your lips and become voice! Uhum!
Why I am mentioning this? Who knows... guess I'm just tired!

'Earlier' this evening (less than 2 hours ago) I said to friend: It's crazy what you can do during an evening especially when you get back home (from work) at past 8! and yes it is crazy!
Well, checked my mails, my facebook account, watched CNN for 10 minutes (and hurray for the cold snap on Germany!) and then it was time for dinner:

Pesto Salmon served with Roasted Potatoes
Sorry, it's again potatoes and salmon (quite boring huh... but this one tastes REALLY good!)
Anyway.. here it goes

Salmon filet (2 pieces)
1 tsp pesto sauce
2 potatoes, cut in quarters (unpeeled)
1/2 tsp dill
1 tsp estragon mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1tsb lemon juice
Salt & pepper

Place the fish in an over dish, spread over with pesto then pour lemon juice on top. cover with a foil and place in a heated oven (200°C) for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, boil the potatoes in water until cooked. In a pan, combine the reste of the ingrediens and heat until you hear that sweet sizzling of tho oil. Pour in the potatoes and stir-fry until surface is golden and crusty.

Tip: goes perfectly well with a safran rice

1/2 cup basmati
1 cup boiled water
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch safran
Salt

In a pot, heat oil and add rice. Stir until it starts roasting. Add water, safran and salt if desired). Cook over very low heat for about 15 minutes (water should be all soaked up and rice soft but not mashy or gluey)./


I guess that if I tell you what I was listening to tonight you'd be scared! Machine Head's 2007 album 'The Blackening' that is. Don't worry, I'm fine ;) it's just the dark and twisted part of me coming back to the surface!

(P.S.: sorry, no pictures tonight! I was so hungry that I only thought about pictures when I was half way through my dinner)

Back...

I'm back... After over a week absence... but not a week without eating, thank god! Brazilian, Moroccan and Italian and most often with friends. Cooking together is really a blessing.

Cold and short days, or I'd rather say short evenings, so short that all you feel like doing is to go to bed as soon you come back from work.

Tonight's recipe is a dish I prepared on Friday evening:


Potato and Salmon gratin
4 potatoes
100 grams smoked salmon
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp olive oil

for the sauce:
100g Greek yogurt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dill

Salt & pepper
and as much cheese as you want ;)

Pre-heat over at 180°C.
Wash the potatoes and cut in quarters. Boil in water until cooked. Pour oil in a pan and stir in the mushrooms and onions until onions are transparent and browning. Stir in potatoes (unpeeled), herbs, salt and pepper until potato peel is roasted.

In a food processor, combine yogurt, olive oil, dill and salt & pepper and mix until homogeneous.

Place vegetables in an over plate, overlay with salmon and pour over the yogurt sauce.
Cover with grated cheese.

Cook for 20 minutes and then grill until cheese is gratinated.

Tip: Keeping potatoes unpeeled adds a crunch to the gratin.

Enjoy, alone or wityh friends!

Song recommendation : "Until my Dying Day" by Brandi Carlile (Give up the Ghost)

Cooking with friends is so much fun!

Weather is still VERY cold, days short and the craving for sunlight is ever growing!
It's a common fact that sunlight and depression are negatively correlated but the good things of life are there to cheer us up, and I'm referring to high-carb diets ;) but also to being surrounded by people you appreciate and care for.

Yesterday a friend came over and we cooked dinner together! We've discussed the menu the evening before and it consisted or 'Moroccan Meat Balls', warm pepper/tomato salad (chekchouka) and... a banana bread or most properly Bananenbrot plus mini-Daim's! ;)


Moroccan Meat Balls
400 g ground beef
50 cl tomato juice
1 ground clove of gralic
1 tbsp parlsey
1 tsp cumin (+ 1 tsp for the beef)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp grated onion
a pinch of safran
Sal & pepper

Combine beef with cumin + onion + safran and let rest.
In a sauce pan, combine tomato sauce, oil and spices. Let simmer for 15 minutes under a moderate. In the meantime, make 2cm-diameter meat ball and add them to the sauce. Let cook for 10 more minutes and serve.


Pepper and Tomato Warm Salad
2 bell peppers (green and red)
2 medium tomatoes cut in cubes
1 grated clove of garlic
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Place the peppers in a heated over (200°C) for 15 minutes. Take out of the over and place in a zip-lock plastic back for 5 to 10 minutes. This will allow the peel to be removed easily. Cut the peeled peppers in small squares (1cm). Place in a sauce pan together with the tomatoes, garlic spices and oil. Let cook under moderate heat for about 15 minutes and serve.


Bananenbrot
http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/436051135187994/Schnelles-Bananenbrot-kuchen.html
70 g butter or margarine
150 g sugar
1 lemon zest
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 mashed ripe bananas
250 g all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar

Mix together butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest briefly with the mixer. Add the eggs and mashed bananas and mix. Add flour mixed with baking powder, stir only briefly.
Pour batter into a rectangular mold (25 cm) bake for about 45-50 minutes. The bread (cake) tastes best warm, served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream :) and to indulge while watching 'Fiding Nemo'.

My personal touch: place 8 Milka squares evenly on top of the dough as you place the mold in the over. This is what i actually did today! It tastes like heaven! mmm

Music suggestion: KT Tunstall: Eye To The Telescope ((c) 2004, Virgin Recods Ltd.)

Monday, Monday :)

First day of the week... usually a the most difficult one to get through but it was ok. Wheater is still torturing everyone and everything, temperatures settled around -4°C and it snowed non-stop all day long. Under these conditions, what else would you ask for apart from something really warm! And no I'm not thinking of Vodka! Soup it is! WARM, HOT soup! But before I started cooking a yummy soup (it has to be yummy!), I had the smart idea to take a bath, and the not so smart one to listen to Massive Attack while being in the water! I don't know if it's the combination of steam MA's beats but it got me stoned and light-headed (and again, no, it's not about Vodka!).

Anyway, I decided to get the Massive Attack melodies out of my head and listened to Liquid Tension Experimet's* 'Acid Rain' and 'Paradigm Shift' (two true masterpieces) and here's what my Monday dinner tasted like:


Tomato-Feta Salad

A handful of cherry tomatoes
Feta (as much as you want)
Vinaigrette:
1 tsp Estragon mustard
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Argan oil (or olive oil)
Salt & pepper

Keep tomatoes whole or halve them, cut Feta in small cubes and season with vinaigrette. Argan oil brings a nice nutty flavor to the vinaigrette but it work well with olive oil as well.


Salmon rice noodle soup

100g Salmon filet
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 tsp dill
1 tsp chopped parsley
4 chopped chestnut mushroom
1/2 tsp garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp finely chopped jalepenos
1 portion rice noodles


Cut salmon into 1cm side cubes. Pour oil in sauce pan and heat under medium heat. Add in spices, mushrooms, jalepenos and soy sauce until salmon turns white-ish.

In the mean time, boil 3/4 water, cook the noodles for 3 minutes and pour in the fish preparation. Let simmer for 1 more minutes and it's ready to be enjoyed.


I did take pictures which are still on my camera and which I'll upload tomorrow.

Don't forget to feedback! :)

Tschüss

*: Liquid Tension Experient is Dream Theater's instrumental side project http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqcJ8ECPPK4

Saturday evening meal

Yesterday was a normal Saturday, if you consider -5°C normal ;) Anyway, I went shopping for food but also got myself warm socks to fight the next double-digit-negative temperature days. I was back at my flat at 6 p.m. and wondered what I could do apart from watching another movie. But while I was putting my errands in the fridge and/or cupboard it suddenly hit me! Why not cook something that I haven't had before. In front of me i layed:
Camembert, ground beef (I'm not a big meat lover but I've been craving for read meat since 3 days!), bell peppers, and loads of fruits. 1h later, i was seated having a great time appreciating every mouthful of what I had cooked (doesn't sound modest, does it?). Believe it or not, it's easy to make and you don't need to spend 2 hours in the kitchen.

Ingredients for 2 persons

Starter: Oven Camembert with caramelized fruits

1 Camembert
6 died apricots
6 dried figs
2 crushed walnuts
1 tsp of Argan oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 dash cinnamon
1 dash ginger
1 tbsp Wild Honey for serving

Pre-cook the dried fruits in 100ml water for 5 minutes, add sugar, cinnamon and ginger and let it simmer over moderate heat untill the water has a honey-like texture.
Cut open the Camembert in 2 as you would cut a bun to make a sandwich, stuff it with walnuts and close it back again. Lay is on a 20x20 cm Ali foil. Place the caramelised fruits on top it. Pour Argan oil around the cheese and close the foil in a papillote style.
Place in a pre-heated oven (200°C) 15 minutes before serving. Serve on individual plates with a thin 'filet' of honey.


Main dish: Stuffed bell peppers with tzatziki
(Inspired from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lamb-and-Orzo-Stuffed-Pepper-with-Chunky-Tomato-Sauce-230752)

2 Bell peppers (1 green and 1 red or as you wish ;) )
250g of ground beef
1/2 cup basmati rice
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped courgette
2 tomatoes
1 crushed garlic clove
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp dill
salt, pepper

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 220°C. Oil a 22-cm glass or ceramic pie plate with 1 teaspoon oil.

Cook onion with salt in remaining tablespoon oil in a pan over moderate heat, stirring mushrooms and courgette, until softened and beginning to brown, 7 to 9 minutes.

While onion is cooking, cook orzo in a 2-quart pot boiling salted water until aldente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, then drain the rice a sieve.

Spread half of onion/mushroom/courgette in pie plate. Add ground beef to remaining skillet in pan and cook, breaking up large clumps with a fork, until meat turns brown. Remove from heat and stir in rice, reserved cooking water, parsley, dill, and then salt and pepper to taste.

Stir tomatoes into onion in pie plate and season with salt and pepper. Nestle bell pepper halves, cut sides up, in tomato and onion mixture and season with salt and pepper. Divide meat between bell pepper halves, then cover pie plate with a sheet of oiled foil (oiled side down) and bake until pepper is tender when pierced with a fork, 25 to 30 minutes.

For tzatziki you'll need:
1 cucumber
250g greek-style yogurt
1 clove of crushed garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
4 leaves of mint
Salt & pepper


Place everything in a food processor and mix

Dessert: Fruit salad
1 apple
1 orange
1 kiwi
1 banana
1 tsp cinnamon
2 chopped mint leaves
1 tsp orange blossom water

Peel and cut the fruits in small cubes. Stir in the rest of ingredients and let rest in fridge.

Eating on your own?

This is my first post but before my mental note-bubbles take shape into words and paragraphs in this space I would just like to mention that this 'project' started out of the blue. So here it goes: wintery days, negative temperatures, and outside everything is white. Something Brandi Carlile described well in her song "Before it breaks" (Give up the Ghost, 2009 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT).

I've often heard friends, single friends, say that they don't cook because it's not fun nor motivating to cook for yourself, that meals are meant to be shared a that frozen pizzas and read to eat meals are much more convenient. I do agree about the part that says that meals should be shared but what happens if you just can't share them? Will you just skip them, eat whatever is out there to avoid hearing your guts scream? Ah, come on!!! What about the indulgent part of your meal? What about rewarding yourself after a difficult day at work? Or what about simply feeding yourself!

Now here's my theory: cooking is a me-time, it's this bubble where you interact with ingredients, combine textures and tastes and ultimately confront your taste buds with the result and hear them scream for more.

Think about Hollywood blockbusters Ratatouille or Julie & Julia, think about that nice holiday your spent in the foreign country, or keep it more personal and remember those days when your mom or grandma were cooking for you.

Follow your instincts, get inspired and open the doors for your sensory gateaway!