urban odds & ends

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you enjoy the free days especially with this gorgeous weather as much as I do :) And for this occassion I'd like to share this Hefezopf recipe with you. It's a braided white yeast bread and traditionally eaten around easter time.

Hefezopf (Challah) - one big or two small loaves

1 kg wheat flour (405)
500 ml milk
100 g sugar
42 g fresh yeast (1 cube)
150 g soft butter
3 eggs
1 tbsp lemon zest
salt & sugar

Sift the flour into a big bowl (I used the bowl of my Kitchen Aid). In a medium pot heat up the milk until lukewarm, transfer to a new bowl and add the yeast. By the time the yeast has dissolved, add the lemon zest and two of the three eggs and mix with a beater or mixer until just combined. Pour it all at once into the bowl containing the flour and add the softened butter and a pinch of salt. Knead the dough with your hands on a floured surface or with your Kitchen Aid until elastic and smooth. Let the dough rise until doubled in size (approximately 2 hours ) in a bowl covered with a damp towel. Once doubled knead again and seperate into three same-sized portions. Form three strands and out of it a braid, transfer to a baking tray covered with parchment paper and let it rise for another 30 minutes. Meanwhile heat up the oven to 200°C (395°F).

Beat the remaining egg with a pinch of salt and sugar and brush all over the top of the bread. Bake for 45 minutes.

So make this and enjoy a slice of bread with thick layers of butter and jam or plain with Nutella :)

Kisses* Sabrina

Hey there!

2011-03-29T02:06:00.000-07:00

Heeeello! :) I know its been a long time since my last blogpost and I really hope this time is over. It happened very much in my life lately: I passed my diploma exams (the reason I didn't find the time blogging) and started with my diploma thesis. Back at the laboratory - yay! :)

This broccoli salad is very tasty and don't taste like the normal cooked broccoli I know... even Stephan liked it - and he is by all means no broccoli lover. It looks like much olive oil in the recipe, but the resulting salad is very light with a lovely garlic taste and a little heat. So make this salad and be happy ;)

Chargrilled Broccoli Salad with Garlic and Chilli
serves 2 as main and 4 as starter - adapted from the Ottolenghi cookbook

2 heads of broccoli ~ approx 500g
100ml olive oil
4 garlic gloves, thinly sliced
2 mild red chillis, thinly sliced
coarse sea salt
black pepper

Breakup the broccoli heads into florets and blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes. Keep a bowl of icewater ready. After 2 minutes (and no longer!) drain the florets and transfer immediately into the bowl of icewater to stop the cooking process. Drain again and let it dry completely. Once dry, toss the broccoli with 40ml of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Heat up a large griddle pan to high heat and grill the broccoli in small batches - it should have grill marks all over. In the meantime, heat the remaining olive oil with the garlic and chilli in a small pot on medium heat and cook until the garlic takes on a hint of golden color (be careful, the garlic will cook further even when off heat - burned garlic, meh!). Pour the falvored oil over the broccoli and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Enjoy warm or at room temperature. I prepared it in the evening and ate it at lunchtime the following day - still very yum :)

Butternut Squash Muffins with a Soured Cream Topping

2010-11-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

Butternut Squash Muffins with a Soured Cream Topping serves 12 normal and 24 small muffins

[please use your imagination and try to visualize some yummy looking muffins, thank you - my muffin photos got lost]

400g butternut squash, peeled and finely grated
300g brown sugar
150g plain flour
150g whole wheat flour
175mL oil (I used 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 rapseed oil)
4 large eggs
2 heaped tbsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
a handful of hazelnuts, finely ground

140mL soured cream
zest of 1 lemon and juice of 1/4 lemon
2 heaped tbsp icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). In a large bowl, combine the grated squash and eggs. Then add a pinch of salt, the two different flours, baking powder, hazelnuts, cinnamon and the oil and mix with a wooden spoon or hand mixer until just blended, it's important not to overmix. Fill the dough in a muffin pan lined with paper cases and bake in the preheated oven around 20-25 minutes for regular muffins or 10-12 minutes for small ones or until a wooden skewer comes out clean after sticking right into the middle of a muffin.

To prepare the topping combine the soured cream, zest, juice and icing sugar. It's intended to be on the runny side. Taste and balance sweet and sour by adding more lemon juice or icing sugar. Spoon over the completely cooled muffins. Since it's difficult to transport these muffins with a runny icing, I only topped half of the muffins with icing and left the other half plain - they're in both ways delicious.

Pasta Roll with Squash, Spinach and Ricotta

2010-10-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Gosh, I love this weather! :) It's real indian summer with bright blue sky and almost 25°C (felt). At the end of the week we're packing our bags and heading of to Firenze in Italy. I'm really excited to see the tuscan landscape and enjoying some nice vino with traditional italian food... and maybe some gelato, too... ha!

For this occsasion I'm sharing today a recipe I tried just yesterday. It's a pasta roll filled with butternut squash, ricotta and spinach. The roasted squash is really good and I ate it today on it's own - yum! It's a little on the time-consuming side but give it a try, it's really worth it.

Pastar Roll Filled with Squash, Spinach & Ricotta
serves 4 - adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Italian

1 recipe fresh pasta dough (see recipe below)
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and deseeded - cut into big cubes
800g spinach, fresh or frozen
150g Ricotta
250g butter
50g freshly grated parmesan
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried majoram
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 dried red chilli (I used a whole one, I like it pretty hot)
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
20 fresh sage leaves
olive oil
salt & pepper

After preparing the dough heat up your oven to 220°C (430°F). To make the seasoning for the squash, grind the coriander seeds, fennel seeds, the dried chili with some coarse sea salt and black pepper in a mortar or food processor. Place the squash cubes in a ovenproof baking dish and give it a rub with some olive oil and the prepared seasoning. Cover with some moistened parchment paper and bake in the oven around 30 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes until golden. Meanwhile heat up a pot over medium heat and add the olive oil, garlic, majoram and oregano. When the spices are sizzeling heat up to high heat and add the spinach. Cook until no liquid remains. Season with the nutmeg, salt, pepper and add 1-2 tbsp of butter. Set aside and let cool down a little.

Take your prepared dough and roll with a rolling pin into a rectangle in the size of a clean kitchen towl. Now place it carefully on a kitchen towl and turn so the longer side is facing you. Place the squash in a line on the lower rim. Sprinkle the spinach over the remaining dough, leaving a free space approx. 5cm to the upper rim. Scoop the ricotta over the spinach and sprinkle with parmesan. Brush the upper rim of the dough with water and form a roll starting with the lower side, wrapping the role in the towel and secure both ends with kitchen yarn.
Place in a large pot with boiling salted water and make sure that the whole roll is covered with water. Cook for 25 minutes.

Put the butter in a ovenproof bowl and melt in the oven at 80°C (175°F) around 10-15 minutes. Discard the white flakes on top and spoon the clear butter into a clean bowl. Discard the white remains at the bottom of the bowl. Take 5 tbsp of the clarified butter and heat it to high heat in a small pot. Fry the sage leaves until crisp.

Remove the pasta roll from the pot, unwrap and cut into slices. Arrange on plates, spoon over some sage butter and top with the crispy sage leaves and some more grated parmesan.

Pasta Dough

600g flour (Tipo '00' is recommended, I used 450)
6 eggs

Grab a large bowl and add flour and eggs. Whisk together with a fork, then kneed it with your hand until a silky smooth ball forms. Wrap in cling film and chill at least 30 minutes.

Squash: A Little Guide & Recipes

2010-10-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

Since the temperatures dropped and the trees are emblazing in autumnal colors we find us again in squash season. A warm and slightly spicy pumpkin soup with cocokut milk or Flammkuchen with thinly sliced squash, sweet apple slices and crispy bacon are common guests on our table this time of the year. Some squash varieties are available year-round, but their actual season runs from late summer until mid-winter. Winter squash are fabulous storage vegetables, the sweet orange flesh protected from a thick skin. Most people think of jack-o-lanterns when it comes to pumpkins / squash, not knowing that there are many kinds of squash coming in different shapes and flavors. This little guide and recipe collection of my favourite blogs should help those who are newbies cooking with this vegetable and those who are looking for inspiration (like me).

Heirloom Pumpkins like those used for jack-o-lanterns have dry flavorless flesh. Some varieties like the Blue Hokkaido or Cinderella Pumpkin can be baked or turned into soup, but the majority are best left for carving or decoration.

Sweet Pumpkins, like Sugar-Pie or other small varieties are best filled, roasted or turned into soup or puree.

The dark green Acorn Squash has a moist, sweet tender flesh and is an all-around talent. It can be roasted, stuffed, steamed, sauteed and transformed into soup or puree.

Red Kuri Squash comes in apperance of a small pumpkin with firm flesh with a chestnut-like flavour. It's perfect for a large variete of soups, stews and casseroles. It's also good in breads, muffins or cakes. The often seen quash in germany is a subvariete of it called Hokkaido and it's very easy to prepare since the skin can be eaten as well.

The pear-shaped Butternut Squash is the sweetest winter squash and has only a few seeds and is easy to peel. With its thick and moist flesh it's best roasted since it's done quickly or turned into soup or puree.

This is a funny one: when cooked forms the Spaghetti Squashs' flesh spaghetti-like strands. It can be served like real spaghetti, with tomatoe or a creamy sauce or in a gratin or carresole.

The Turban Squash comes in a nice turban shape and comes in speckled green, yellow and orange colors. Though their apperane they're widely used for decoration, but with their floury texture they can be used for soups, too.

Salads
Warm Butternut Squash & Chickpea Salad
Israeli Couscous with Butternut Squash & Preserved Lemons
Roasted Delicate Squash Salad
Farro & Roasted Butternut Squash
Warm Salad of Roasted Squash, Prosciutto & Pecorino

Savory Tarts & Other Baked Goods
Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onions Galette
Simple Butternut Squash Tart
Hokkaido Squash & Celeriac Tart
Pumpkin Feta Tart
Pumpkin and Feta Muffins

Stews etc
Sweet-Roasted Rosemary Acorn Squash Wedges
Zucca al Forno (Baked Squash)
Butternut Squash & Chickpea Stew with Israeli Couscous
Gratin of Red Kuri Squash
Squash Casserole
Spicy Roasted Squash

Pasta & Risotto
Baked Spaghetti Suqash with Garlic & Butter
Squash, Bacon & Goat Cheese Pasta with Basil
Squash, Chorizo & Hazelnut Pasta
Pumpkin Angolotti
Pumpkin Ravioli
Pumpkin Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sage
Chorizo Arugula Pumpkin Sauce for Pasta
Pumpkin Risotto
Roast Squash Risotto with Sage, Chestnut & Pancetta

Soups
Acorn Squash Soup with Brown Butter & Maple Yoghurt
Curried Pumpkin Soup
Squash & Fennel Soup with Candied Pumpkin Seeds
Buttermilk Squash Soup
Roasted Pumpkin & Majoram Soup
Party Squash Soup

And for the sweet tooth...
Moist Pumpkin Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Five Spice Sweet Rolls
Pumpkin Meringue Tartelettes
Pumpkin Praline Tartelettes with Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Pumpkin Doughnuts

Autumnal Butternut Squash Crumble

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Leche Flan

Sweet Pumpkin Fried Wonton Dessert

Pumpkin Semifreddo

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Pictures by La Tartine Gourmande

Lentils with Sausage and Tomato Salsa

2010-09-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

I recently bought a nice package of Lentilles du Puy, french green lentils ("the caviar of lentils"), in our spanish-italian deli, so this recipe was a must try. It was so delicious, I think it could even be a recurring meal on our table. Despite everything tasted really good on it's own, the combination of the earthy, slightly sour lentils with the sweet rich tomato sauce and the spicy salty sausage was mouthwatering good. Eaten on a friday evening accompanied by a nice glass of semi-dry red wine, perfect for calling it a day :)

Lentils with Sausage and Tomato Salsa serves 4
adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Italy

8 medium sices italian sausages (salsicce)

For the tomato sauce

800g canned whole tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 small stick of cinnamon
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
olive oil

For the lentils

400g Puy lentils
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
fresh parsley, leaves finely chopped & stalks reserved
red wine vinegar
salt & black pepper
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F).

Let's start with the sauce. Heat a pot over medium-low heat, add some olive oil and cook the onions, sliced garlic, cinnamon stick and the chilli for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft and sweet. Now turn the heat up and add the red wine vinegar, be careful not to hang your nose directly over the pot or you're going to cry like a baby ;) Turn the heat back to medium-low and add the tomatoes. Cook for about 30 minutes until the sauce is thick and yummy.

Put the lentils into a pot and cover with plenty of water. Throw in the bay leaf, the whole garlic cloves and the parsley stalks and bring to a simmer.

Now it's sausage time! Toss your sausages in a little olive oil, lay them on a roasting tray or into a deep baking dish and put them in the oven for around 20 minutes until golden and crispy. And I'm going to warn you, the smell that comes out of your oven is so so good, so please don't eat the sausage right away... just maybe a tiny piece - whoops! :)

By the time the lentils are cooked, remove the bay leaf, parsley stalks and garlic and drain well. Put them back into the pot. Mash the garlic a little with a knife and mix well with the lentils. Add the finely chopped parsley. Dress them with olive oil and red wine vinegar and season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and salt.

Remove the sausage from the oven and discard the oil. Remove the cinnamon stick from the tomato salsa and discard it, too. Season the salsa to taste.

Time to assamble :) Tip the lentils onto your serving bowls and spoon over some of the tomato sauce. Place two sausages, whole or sliced - whatever floats your boat - on top. Bon appetit! :)

Hey, It's an ''I'm sorry Tomato Ketchup'' Recipe!

2010-09-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for neglecting my little babble space and you :) So much to work on and still recovering from a little illness...

For now I just want to share a tomato ketchup recipe. It's high season for tomatoes, I bought 7kg last weekend - some to boil down and freeze for tomato sauce and some to try the ketchup recipe I glanced at so often while leafing through my cookbooks. It needs a little prep time but it's definitely worth it. And I thinks it's pretty darn cool to serve homemade ketchup to my friends, announcing that I made it myself and hear them say how kick-ass this is ;)

Homemade Tomato Ketchup makes about 500mL
adapted from Jamie At Home (p 314)

500g plum tomatoes, halved
500g canned plum tomatoes, chopped
200g red wine vinegar
70g brown sugar
1 large red onion, roughly chopped (mine from the farmers market were HUGE!)
1/2 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced
2 gloves garlic, sliced
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked and stalks chopped
2 cloves
salt & pepper
olive oil

Heat a large pot oder saucepan over medium heat, add the oil, all the vegetables and the ginger, garlic, chilli, cloves, coriander seeds and basil stalks. Cook for around 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft. This smells really really good by the way :) Now add all the tomatoes and 350mL water. Bring to boil and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half. Add the basil leaves and puree with a hand blender, then strain it through a sieve twice. Grab yourself a fresh pan or the cleaned old one and add the sauce, the sugar and the vinegar and heat over medium high heat. Let the sauce reduce until you reached your preferred consistency for tomato ketchup. Season to taste with salt and pepper and fill while still hot in sterilized bottles. It should keep for six months.

Enjoy! :)

Eggplant I luv u! ;)

2010-08-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

Eggplant Casserole serves 4
adapted from Mamma Maria! Familenrezepte aus Sizilien by Cettina Vicenzino

4 mid-sized eggplants
3 gloves garlic, cut into thin slices
500g tomatoes, roughly chopped
70g ham, chopped
125g mozzarella, chopped
100g freshly ground parmesan
fresh basil, leaves roughly, stems finely chopped
salt & pepper
oil

Remove the stem from the eggplant, than slice into 1cm thick discs. Using a big bowl, place them in layers, each layer sprinkled generously with salt. This procedure removes excess water and bitters. I used my heavy stone mortar to put some extra weight on top helping the water to drain. This step should take around 1 hour. After an half an hour we can start with the tomato sauce. Heat up a large pan with 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat and throw in the sliced garlic while the pan is still cold. This infuses the oil much better than cooking the garlic right away. When the garlic starts to brown add the basil stems and the chopped tomatoes. Cook until it looks like a thick nice sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat up your oven to 200°C (400°F).

Now back to our main actor: Monsignore Eggplant. Discard the liquid and give the eggplant slices a quick rinse. Take 3 slices in your hands and squeeze as much water as possible out of them. Repeat until all slices are dry. Grab a deep casserole and start with a layer of tomato sauce, followed by a layer of eggplant slices. On top goes some ham, mozzarella, basil and parmesan. Now repeat until all ingredients are used. The last layer should be tomato sauce with plenty of parmesan on top. Bake 30 minutes until the top is golden brown and the sauce nice and bubbly. This dish doesn't need any side dish besides maybe some crusty bread, sprinkled with olive oil and flaky sea salt.

Zucchini Pancakes

2010-08-13T03:58:00.000-07:00

Simple, yet delicious. This is the way I like my meals on weekdays, when I'm learning most of the time and there's no time for time-consuming preparations.

Zucchini Pancakes makes 4 pancakes
adapted from The Wednesday Chef

1 medium zucchini, shredded
100g feta cheese, crumbled
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 large egg
salt & pepper
oil

Mix the shredded zucchini with 1 tbsp salt, place in a colander and drain for about half an hour. Transfer to a clean kitchen towel and squeeze to release as much liquid as possible. In a large bowl combine the zucchini, egg, feta, spring onions and flour. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a large pan on medium high heat with 1-2 tbsp oil. By the time it's hot place the batter with a spoon in the pan making four pancakes and flatten them with a spatula.Fry until golden on each side - for about 7 minutes - until crisp.

I ate it with a simple yoghurt sauce, made with greek yoguhrt, a little lemon juice seasoned with salt and pepper. Yummy!

Impressions: Delicious Macarons

2010-08-06T01:13:00.000-07:00

Oh my... these are long gone but they were unbelievable delicious. Now I understand this whole macarons hype going on for months. Macarons are flavored-buttercream ("ganache") filled almond meringues (from the lips to the hips I would say), a pastry for which Paris is famous for. The best pâtissieres selling les macarons are Laduree and Pierre Hermé. And since I don't have a second residence in Paris I absolutely need to try making macarons by myself, even if they're not easy to make. So if you want to try (read as "...you need to try...") and join me in this adventure ;) I'll include some yummy recipes for you.

Making French Macarons Instructions
Macaron Chronicles 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Chocolat Macarons
Spiced Chai Latte and Salted Caramel Macarons
Rapsberry and Pink Peppercorn Macarons
Powdered Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Macarons
Pistachio and Grapefruit Macarons
Milk Chocolat and Coffee Macarons

Nibbler!

2010-07-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce our new family member... our chatty kitty cat named Nibbler.

We picked him up from Stephan's sister and brought him home after a 4 hour long drive yesterday. After almost one and a half days in his new home, he slowly gets accustomed to us and our apartment.

With his 10 weeks, he sleeps alot (almost 20 hours per day) and in the meantime he wants our full attention, jumping around like a little whirlwind playing with his fishing rod (its feather scrub is in the picture above).

Apart from that, there are no more news. It's very hot right now in Germany (35°C/95°F) and I'm not in the mood cooking complex meals right now. Chilled watermelon is my food of choice. So be patient until the weather cooled down a bit and working in the kitchen is fun again! :)

Meow!

Ravioli with Spinach Ricotta Filling

2010-07-07T01:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, this weekend was hot! The temperatures climbed up to almost 40°C! This makes even normal breathing to a sweaty event. We spent our weekend barbeque-ing with our friends, watching the World Cup (Schland!) and enjoying some boozy drinks (two-finger wide Liquer 43 with milk - yum!).

Today I'd like to share this basic recipe for homemade pasta and a ravioli variation with a tomato sauce. Preparing the dough in the pasta machine is actually kinda relaxing. Maybe I should write a book "Modern Meditation: The Pasta Effect"... sorry, this has to be the heat outside... ;)

Basic Pasta Dough serves 4

330g flour, preferably '00' pasta flour
3 medium eggs
3 tbsp olive oil

In a bowl combine the flour, eggs and olive oil. Knead the dough until it has come together and is smooth with a silky glow, if it's too wet add more flour and the other way round, if it's to crumbly add a little more oil. Divide it into 4 blocks, wrap it into cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).

Dust your work surface with flour and set your pasta machine to the widest setting. Take one piece of the dough and flatten it on the floured surface with a rolling pin. Pass the dough through the pasta machine, fold it one time and repeat at the same setting. Now narrow the setting and repeat. Go on until you get to the lowest setting. When each sheet is rolled, keep it under a moist towel so it won't dry out.

For ravioli it's the best to make the dough as thin as possible, because the filling is the main character. Of course you can shape with this basic pasta dough every other shape you like. For thin spaghetti or tagliatelle I would stop a little earlier (maybe 7 from 9 possible settings).

Ravioli with Spinach Ricotta Filling & Tomato Sauce serves 4

prepared pasta dough
400g tomatoes, canned and whole - pierced with a fork
200g ricotta
200g spinach, frozen
2 handful of grated parmesan
1 handful of basil, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg white, beaten
salt & pepper
oil

Heat a large pan over medium high heat and add the oil and garlic slices of one glove while still cool. So the oil has time to infuse with garlic flavor. Add the frozen spinach and cook until defrosted and the water is fully evaporated for around 10 minutes. Set aside and let it cool down a little. Transfer to a board and chop the spinach roughly. In a separate bowl combine the ricotta, 1 handful of parmesan and spinach, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer the prepared dough to a generously floured work surface. Use a pastry cutter or the rim of a glass (~ 6cm in diameter) to stamp out discs. Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of disc, brush the border with a little egg white and place the other pasta disc on top. Gently press out any air as you seal the edges together firmly, unless the ravioli will burst in the cooking water. As they are made, place the ravioli on a tray or plate sprinkled with plenty of semolina. Leave it to dry for around 15 minutes. The ravioli can be stored covered with cling film up to a day in the fridge.

In the meantime prepare the tomato sauce, see recipe below.

Heat in a large pot salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes or until al dente. Drain and retain some of the cooking water.

Tomato Sauce

Heat a pan over medium heat, add the oil and onions and cook until the onions are translucent. In the last minute add the sliced garlic. Add the tomatoes and let it simmer around 30 minutes until the sauce is rather thick and very aromatic. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining parmesan and the basil. Season to taste, then stir in the cooked ravioli carefully. At this point you can adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding spoon by spoon of the reserved cooking water until preferred sauciness ;) Divide among the plates and serve with plenty of parmesan on top!

Pavlova with Strawberries

2010-07-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

During the jam making session with my friend Lisa I finally prepared this traditional australian dessert. It was about time! I don't know why, but back in december in Australia I didn't had the chance to try it but now, with 5 egg whites waiting in the fridge (leftovers from ice cream making ;) ) I jumped right into the adventure.

Pavolva with Strawberries serves 4

5 egg whites
200g sugar
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp starch
250ml heavy cream
250g strawberries, cleaned and sliced

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F). In a greaseless bowl whisk the egg whites until they begin to thicken. Now add small amounts of sugar while stirring constantly until the sugar is incorporated and the egg whites form stiff peaks. It's perfect if you can turn the bowl around and the egg whites stay in it ;) Add starch and vinegar and whisk for a few seconds. This mass is called meringue should have a silky gloss. Spread the mass onto a greased baking tray - it should be around 3cm thick with a roughly round shape and an even top. Slip it into the oven and decrease immediately the temperature from 180°C (350F) to 100°C (200F). After an hour the meringue has hardened outside with a fluffy inside. For cooling down the pavlova just open the oven door and allow to cool until it has room temperature. Whip the cream and spread carefully on top of the meringue. At least mount the strawberries on top.

My serving tip is to place the pavlova in the middle of your table, give everyone a fork and dig right into "Mount Pavlova"! :)

Chocolat Chip Mint Ice Cream

2010-06-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

If you like mint, please try this ice cream! It was actually so delicious, that I hadn't a chance to make a picture :-D This is the first custard based ice cream I tried and this ice cream is really creamy and smooth - it's definitely worth the extra effort. The mint is really refreshing, I used nana mint, a special mint sort from morocco - quite delicious as tea, too.

picture from David Lebovitz

Chocolat Chip Mint Ice Cream makes ~ 1L
adapted from David Lebovitz

5 large egg yolks
250ml whole milk
500ml heavy cream
150g sugar
80g fresh mint leaves - preferably nana mint
140g chocolate, chopped
salt

In a medium pot heat the milk, half of the heavy cream, sugar, a pinch of salt and mint. Bring to boil, then remove from heat and allow to infuse for around an hour. Remove the mint and squeeze gently to extract as much mint flavor as possible. Discard the mint. Pour the remaining cream in a bowl and set a strainer on top. Rewarm the infused milk. In a seperate bowl, combine egg yolks and whisk them up. Now pour slowly spoon by spoon (approx 5 spoonful is enough) the hot milk into the egg yolks while constantly stirring. This step is called tempering so you're yolks getting heat resistant for our next step. Pour the yolks into the hot milk and stir until the mixture thickens. Immediately strain the mixture into the prepared bowl and stir. Refrigerate the mixture thoroughly. It's recommended to leave it over night in the fridge, but I used it after 4-5 hours and the results were excellent. Freeze the cream with your ice cream maker. Warning!!! Please stop yourself eating the whole nom out of the machine ;) While the mixture is freezing, place a heat proof bowl over a hot water bath to melt the chocolate.

When the ice cream is ready, scrape a little in a container and tickle some of the chocolate in thin lines over it. The chocolate cools immediately. Quickly stir it into the ice cream breaking up the chocolate. Continue layering the ice cream and adding the chocolate. Freeze until firm.

Carrot Salad with Harissa Dressing and Feta

2010-06-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

Finally the soccer World Cup started and our bbq is permanently running again on our weekends. We are really enjoying eating noodle salad as accompaniment, but after some time it's getting boring though. So we introduced this carrot salad in our bbq routine. It's a little bit spicy, a nice salty punch given by the feta and refreshing with a good amount of fresh mint. And as a nice addition you load yourself with beta-carotine, which is good for cell-protection that is important during the summer months.

Carrot Salad with Harissa Dressing and Feta serves 4
adapted from smitten kitchen

500g carrots, coarsly grated

100g feta

2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

For the dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 glove carlic, crushed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground paprika
3/4 tsp harissa, you can add more or less - to your preferences
1/2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice

In a small pan combine oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, harissa and the sugar and cook until fragrant on medium heat. This should take around 1-2 minutes and be careful not to burn it, this happens quite fast. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice and pour over the grated carrots and mix. Now add the herbs and mix again. Let it rest and infuse at least an hour. Finally crumble the feta over the salad and enjoy!

Krakow Part II

2010-06-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is the second part of my Krakow Guide and today I'm going to tell about our visit in a restaurant called Arenda in the Kazimierz district. Kazimierz is located south-eastern from the old town. It was originally occupied mainly by the jewish community and was partly used as a setting in Stephen Spielbergs movie Schindler's List.

It's really nice for having a walk through the narrow streets and enjoying the little artsy shops, cafés and the old houses. We arrived by tram at Stradomska station and walked down the street until Stradomska changed to Krakowska. From there we headed into the narrow streets in direction to Plac Nowy Zydowski (new jewish plaza) with the old slaughterhouse in it's center.

Nowadays, there are little kiosks in it selling the best zapiekanki (polish pizzas) in whole krakow. Beyond that you can buy antiques or visiting the flea market which takes place every sunday. Not far from Plac Nowy you can visit at least five synagogues and the old jewish cemetery.

Around noon we decided for a lunch at restauracja Arenda, just a few meters away from Plac Nowy (see review below). After lunch we continued our tour walking down Estery, looked at the artsy shops, went by Skałka, a small hill and walked around the St. Stanislaus Church.

At least we visited the Ethnographic Museum, which gives an insight into the polish culture and developement through the years. In the ground floor you'll find some replicas of a traditional polish hut and some workplaces of the last century, like an olive press. In the first floor is an exhibition which shows the life from birth do death of polish people in the past. Overall I found it very interesting and there are many parallels to the german rural culture.

Restauracja Café Arenda

Kind of Food: Traditional Polish
Price: 9-25 PLN for starter, 25 - 60 PLN for main and 10 - 16 PLN for dessert
Points on the NOM-scale: **

The interior of Arenda is surprisingly modern in contrast to the building it's located in. The walls were decorated with colorful baroque wallpapers and the restaurant is devided into two rooms, the first you enter is used as a café.

To the left is a second room - the dining area with around 15 tables. Since we were the first guests that day, the service was fast and very kind and we placed our orders shortly. It was a pity that the choosen starter wasn't available, because the chef's had not prepared the pierogie yet.So I had to skip the pierogie filled with wild boar and ordered the grilled vegetables instead. As main I took the salmon with herbed rice. Stephan had an onion soup and as main dish pierogie with cream cheese and butter. The starters approached fast and were presentated nicely. I had a large variety of vegetables: pepper, eggplant, zucchini, artichoke, onions and even some delicious fennel and a halved garlic bulb, grilled until the garlic was creamy. I really liked it though the vegetables could have been covered in a little less olive oil. The mains were okay - my salmon was a little bit underseasoned and on the dry side. The herbed rice was risotto style with cream cheese and plenty of parsley. The homemade lemonade I had there was very refreshing and good. Altogether we had a good lunch in a nice ambience. If you plan to visit Arenda, please try the pierogi with wild boar and let me know if I missed a culinary experiece - thank you ;)

Restauracja Café Arenda

ul. Nowa 3A
31-056 Kraków, Kazimierz
012 430 15 47
e-mail: restauracja@restauracja-arenda.pl

Monday-Saturday: 12.00 to 23.00
Sunday. 12.00 to 22.00

Loves it: Balloonfish Paper Balloon

2010-06-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

These are so cute, aren't they? I found it over at the decor8 blog and the balloons and other japanese papergoods are available on UGiSU (they ship all over the world - yay!).

Krakow Guide Part I

2010-06-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

For Stephan and me it was the second time we visited Krakow. The last time was almost exactly two years ago. Only this time I did actually a little prep work what we want to see and - of course - eat there and I came up with a list containing actually more restaurants than days of our stay - even if we would eat twice a day ;) So here's the first part of my little Krakow guide, which will contain restaurant reviews and things to do / to see. I hope you're going to visit Krakow and enjoy this cute town as much as I did! :)

Dining in Krakow

There are many really good restaurants, everyone on my list was easily approachable within walking distance from our hotel located in the old town. I actually had the feeling that every second restaurant I've gone by had a guide michelin recommandation sticker sticking on the door. I'd like to mention at first, that - besides the hullabaloo with the Euro - the exchange rate was pretty good. We got for 1 Euro about 4 Zloti, so dining in a restaurant was pretty cheap (in comparison to Germany) for food of this quality.

The first restaurant I'd like to show serves traditional polish cuisine. The polish cuisine is rich of simple food, I would say inspired by the rural culture of the country.

Restauracja Wesele

Kind of Food: Traditional Polish
Price: 9-25 PLN for starter, 19 - 60 PLN for main and 10 - 15 PLN for dessert
Points on the NOM-scale: **

The Wesele is located directly on the main market place, Rynek Główny, and serves tradition polish cuisine. The interior is also a polish statement, mainly colored in the colors red and white. Looks a little kitchy but also very welcoming. The service is english speaking and attentive. We visited Wesele right after our arrival in Krakow for lunch. We ordered Mountain sytle grilled sheep cheese served with cranberry jelly and Mushrooms with onions lightly fried in butter and cream, served on fuilette as starter and for the main Pierogie "Ruskie" Russian style dumplings (stuffed with potatoes, cottage cheese and fried onions) and Goose breast on a a bed of golden pears roasted with honey and red wine serves with a side of dwarf apples and cranberries.
I really liked my food, grilled sheep cheese - it was halloumi style cheese - is everytime a winner and a comfort food for me. And since I'm a pierogie lover I really liked them. Stephan also liked his food, but the goose was a little on the dry side - nonetheless it was good. And the sauce reminded me of mullet wine ;)

I would recommend visiting the Wesele since it serves good traditional polish food, but in my opinion it didn't come up to the expectation a guide michelin recommended restaurant has set.

Restauracja Wesele

Rynek Główny 10
31-042 Kraków, Polska
+48 (12) 422 74 60

All week: 12:00 am – 11:00 pm

Asparagus Pizza

2010-06-01T03:56:00.000-07:00

I made this pizza just yesterday and wow(!), this could become one of my favourite pizzas! It tastes and looks like spring and its - beside of preparing the dough - made in almost no time.

Asparagus Pizza makes on big pizza
adapted from smitten kitchen

Pizza dough (see recipe below)
200g asparagus, shaved
1 ball mozarella, cut into cubes
1 handful of grated parmesan
10 leaves fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 garlic glove, finely sliced
salt & pepper
olive oil

First prepare the pizza dough. I'm using an adapted recipe of Jamie Oliver for years and it's still my favourite. You need for one big bizza 150g strong flour (I use 550), 50g finely ground semolina, 110g lukewarm water, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cane sugar, 1 tsp olive oil and 1/3 cube fresh yeast.

In a bowl mix lukewarm water with the yeast and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Let it rest for 10 minutes then pour the olive oil into the yeast-water. In the meantime combine flour, semolina, salt and sugar in a second bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour the yeast-water into it. Now bring the flour gradually from the sides using a fork and swirl into the liquid. Keep going until all flour is incorporated. Put it on a clean, floured surface and kneed well, approximately 10 minutes, until the dough looks silky and smooth. Place the dough in a flour-dusted bowl and cover it with a damp kitchen towl and let it rise on a warm and not drafty place until the dough has doubled in size. This should take at least one hour. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it one more time, around 10 seconds. Then you can roll it out or stretch it in a round or oval shape with prefered thickness - I like mine about 5mm high. It doesn't need to look perfect ;) Cover with the kitchen towl and let it rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven as hot as it gets. For me it's 250°C (480°F).Now we can prepare our asparagus. Hold the asparagus stem in your hand and make slices with a peeler. It works best when you shave in the direction away from your body. It's completely fine if the slices aren't the same size or leght. It gives a bit more texture and it gives the pizza a rustic look.
In a bowl toss the shaved asparagus with oil, salt, pepper and garlic slices. You'll see that there's some time left until the 30 minutes are over... then you can wait or you're like me and assemble the pizza :) At first comes a layer of grated parmesan. I make those things without measurment... I just take my microplane and grate the parmesan directly over the pizza. Next comes the mozarella, I love to use buffalo mozarella - it definately has more depth. Now sprinkle with the oregano and at least the asparagus goes on top. Bake pizza on an oiled tray around 10 - 15 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the asparagus is lightly charred. Enjoy!

Plenty of vegetables

2010-05-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Oh was this a lovely holiday! We came back from Krakow late thursday evening. So we spent a whole week down in Poland attending Jens & Aga's wedding. Beside that, we ate a lot, walked a lot and made many pictures, too ;)

Later this week I hope to show you more of our (foodie) adventures and some restaurant recommandations. Today I'm going to share a really yummy recipe, which comes from a cookbook that arrived just yesterday :) Plenty from Yotam Ottolenghi, whose first cookbook I bought recently, is not only a collection of vegetable recipes which were released in his column 'The New Vegetarian' for the Guardian's Weekend magazine, it also features brand-new recipes. After a first run over the pages I found plenty (haha - sorry ;) ) of eye-catching recipes. I also like its clean and simple style and cover, lovely food photography and a short introductional story to every recipe.

Here I'd like to list you some meals featured in the book which I'm definetly going to cook:

Beetroot, yoghurt and preserved lemon relish
Caramelized garlic tart
Crusted pumpkin wedges with soured cream
Soba noodles with aubergine and mango
Caramelized fennel with goat's curd
Lemon and aubergine risotto

Today I cooked a multi-vegetable paella, which we enhanced with codfish and king prawns.

Multi-vegetable paella serves 2 generously

adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi 'Plenty' p. 80

olive oil

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 small red and 1 small yellow onion, cut into stripes

1/2 fennel bulb, cut into stripes

2 garlic gloves, crushed

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp ground tumeric

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

150g paella rice

100mL sherry

1 tsp saffron threads

450mL chicken stock

200g shelled broad beans

12 mini plum tomatoes, halved

one hand full of coarsly chopped parsley

salt

Heat a large pan over medium heat, add a gulp olive oil and fry the onions for about 5 minutes. Add the peppers and fennel and fry until soft and golden. This should take about 5-6 minutes more. Now add the garlic gloves. After one minute it's time to add the spices. Throw in the bay leaves, paprika, turmeric and cayenne pepper and stir until the vegetables are nicely coated. Surely you can adjust the heat to your taste. Then add the rice and stir continuosly the next 2 minutes, then add the sherry and saffron threads. Boil until the liquid is absorbed and add the stock and a pinch of salt.

Reduce the heat to a barely simmer, don't cover the pan and don't stir the next 20 minutes. In the meantime you can shell the broad beans. If they're frozen or fresh just cover them with plenty of boiling water, leave for a minute and drain well. Shell when they're cooled down. Remove the skin by gently squeeze each bean and discard the skin. Now the 20 minutes shall be over.

Remove from heat, adjust the seasoning to taste without stirring to much and scatter the tomatoes and broad beans over the rice. Cover the pan tightly with foil and leave for another 10 minutes. Take off the foil and add the parsley. In the meantime the paella rested, I fried the codfish and king prawns in a seperate pan with olive oil on high heat. On each side ca. 1 minute, then I cut it into mouth-sized pieces and added the fish along with the parsley to the paella. The traditional recipe also calls for 5 small grilled artichokes (in oil in a jar, drained and quartered) and pitted kalamata olives (15, crushed or halved). If using them, just add the artichokes with the beans and the olives with the parsley. I hope you will enjoy the paella just as I did today!

odzież męski - I'm going to krakow!

2010-05-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

Today we're going to visit Stephan's parents over the weekend and attending the silver wedding of Stephan's godfather and his wife. We will come home monday, then tuesday is washday since we're heading to Krakow on thursday. Jens and Aga, our dear friends we visited back in december, are getting married churchly. I'm really looking forward to being back in Krakow, seeing the lovely old town and to chow down some traditional polish food (hmmm... bigos, pieroggi and barszcz). We're going to stay in the hotel Bracka 6 located in the ul. Bracka near by the market square. I'm curious about it, it's really new and looks pretty stylish.

We already visited Krakow two years ago and have nothing but very good memories about it. We were there during the European Football Championship and watched the game Germany vs. Croatia in a polish pub (we lost btw...) - it was fun since the polish people supported germany ;) This time I hope to experience the local culture, food and the polish way of celebrating even more. Of course I'll try hard to capture everything on pictures and stories!

Cześć! (Bye) :)

Buon Ricardo, Sydney

2010-05-09T00:48:00.000-07:00

from Buon Ricardo

Kind of Food: Italian
Price: 35 AUD starter, 45-55 AUD mains, six course degustations menu 125 AUD per person
Points on the NOM-scale: **** (1/2*)

As a highlight, we visited Buon Ricardo on our last evening in Sydney. Since I've red about it over at The Chubby Hubby I wanted to go to this restaurant. Buon Ricardo is an italian restaurant located in Sydney's suburb Paddington, where head chef and owner Armando Percuoco serves traditional high end italien food. Armando Percuoco, grown up in Naples, came to Australia in 1972 and opened Buon Ricardo in 1987. Buon Ricardo is highly awarded and recognized by almost every australian gourmet magazin. The restaurant, known as one of the best restaurants in Sydney, lays rather hidden and inconspicuous in an old rustical looking neighborhood. The welcome was very kind and we were seated at our table for two. The interior looked charming with an old school italien touch. At the other end of the restaurant, not far away from our table as the dining area is small but not narrowing, was a big crowd of italien people talking and loughing. Through an, in the dining area integrated, window you can catch a glimpse right into the small but very efficient looking kitchen.

from Buon Ricardo

Soon as we were seated the waitress brought us the menus and told us the today's specials. As primi piatti (the starter) I ordered the signature dish of the restaurant, the Fettuccine al tartufovo - Fettuccine with cream and parmesan, topped with a fried truffle egg. I've red before that this dish is an culinary experience and even mind blowing. As second piatti I ordered pesce (fish) with eggplant mousse, shamefully I can't remember the name and the menu changed since we visited Buon Ricardo. After the waitress wrote down our orders the sommerlier arrived and - already knowing what we've ordered - suggested a nice italian white wine accompanying our first course. Since this was the first time visiting such a classy restaurant, I was surprised as the waitress unfolded a cloth napkin and laid it on my lap. I was feeling like a little princess ;). Soon after an amuse gueule our primi piatti arrived and what can I say. The Fettuccine al tartufovo... the smell.. oh my gosh... mind blowing - for real!

from The Chubby Hubby

The waitress placed the plate in front of me and worked with a fork and a knive her way through the fried egg on top - the egg yolk slowly oozing over the pasta and while tossing transforming it into a creamy truffel-infused sauce. Now the parmesan freshly grated on top, tossed on more time. I couldn't even resist to tell her that the pasta smells devine. Oh my, if I had known it before I would have ordered this dish as primi, secondi piatti and dessert! It was really that good.

The secondi piatti arrived, this time accompanied with an australian white wine. Australian wine is good! The fish was perfectly done and the eggplant mousse was delicious. What should I say,
since this moment I'm an eggplant lover ;) Very satisfied I ordered as not being the biggest dessert fan a hot chocolate instead. They brought a cup of fine dark hot chocolate, which I ate with a spoon.
The second surprise was the sweet italian treats in fingerfood size, accompanying our non-dessert choice (for free!).

This visit was really a appropriate finish of our vaccation and I highly recommend a visit in Buon Ricardo if you're in Sydney. It was actually the best italian food I've ever eaten. The price range begins with 30-35 AUD for starters up to 55 AUD for the main course. We reservated one day in advance with a confirmation cal madel by Buon Ricardo on the reservated date.

Ristorante Buon Ricordo

108 Boundary St,
Paddington Sydney
(02) 9360 6729

Friday & Saturday: noon - 2.30pm
Tuesday to Saturday: 6.00 - 10.30 pm

Reservations are highly recommended

Delicious Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream

2010-05-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Strawberry is one of my favorite fruits... slowly the strawberry jam I made last spring is coming to an end and the craving for fresh sweet strawberries, plain with a little sugar and whipped cream or on top of cakes, is hardly to resist. While the first pints of strawberries coming to the market I hesitate... they're still really pricey and not harvested in germany yet. But a few weeks ago Stephan and me couldn't resist and we bought a pint. The same evening we ate a few sliced over the yoghurt lavender ice cream I made. But the majority went into the strawberry yoghurt ice cream the other day. I was out of heavy cream so I made at first a light version. But the next time I used the cream againg, not because of the taste - the light version was really d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s - only the texture was a little less creamy we like.

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Cream yields ~ 500g

250g yoghurt
250ml heavy cream
100g sugar + 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
400g strawberries, stem removed and cleaned
2 tbsp brandy

Heat cream and sugar in a pot over medium high heat until the sugar and vanilla sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool. Mix the strawberries with the cream and blend until smooth. Take a spoon of it and taste... hmmm, delicious, isn't it? Now stop tasting... ha caught ya! ;) Stir the strawberry cream and brandy into the yoghurt until well combined.

Next Step Using Ice Cream Maker

Pour in your ice cream maker and follow the instructions according to your machine. Pour in a container and store in the refrigerator until use.

Next Step Without Ice Cream Maker

Pour in a container and freeze in the refrigerator. Stirring the mixture every hour until completely frozen.

Next time I plan to use some fresh mint to flavor the sugar/cream mixture while simmering a few minutes.

Chickpea Zucchini Salad

2010-05-01T02:00:00.000-07:00

After I red the announcement that my lecture dropped out yesterday, my plan to eat at our cafeteria was messed up. For this reason I raided our pantry with the result of a can of chickpeas. With fresh parsley and a zucchini at hand, I decided to make a salad as I like chickpeas even more cold than warmed up. Combined with a nice yoghurt tahini dressing and some spice adjustments I nourished a really comforting and delicious meal.

Chickpea Zucchini Salad serves 2 as main and 4 as side dish

1 medium zucchini, cut into thin stripes
500g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small bunch parsley, chopped

Dressing

3 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp tahini paste
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp za'tar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
salt & pepper

Heat a large pan over high heat. Add a little oil and add the zucchini stripes and toss until fully coated with oil. Roast until golden brown, it's no problem if there are black burned spots on some points. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine chickpeas with dressing and mix well. When the zucchinis have cooled a little add to the salad and stir until nicely coated with dressing. Adjust seasoning to taste.

I served mine with pita bread and greek yoghurt seasoned with salt and pepper.

If you don't have sumac and za'tar at hand, a good substitution for sumac is a little lemon juice. Za'tar is a blend of arabian thyme, sumac, sesam seeds and salat. Instead I would throw in some common thyme leaves and a little more lemon juice.

Longrain Restaurant & Bar, Sydney

2010-04-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

from smh.com.au

Kind of Food: Chinese / Thai
Price: Mains between 25 - 40 AUD
Points on the NOM-Scale: *** (1/2 *)

Back in january, we spent our last days of our visit in Australia in Sydney. So we celebrated the last 4 days with plenty of good food. We spent our first evening at Longrain. Located in the artsy quarter Surry Hills, Longrain is placed in a 110-year old converted warehouse featuring a bar and a dining area. We only spent the evening in the restaurant, but the cocktails first of all their stick drink with muddled fresh fruit, vodka and ice are known to be pretty decent.

German chef Martin Boetz serves southern chinese and thai inspired food in a place with a puristic and industrial interior left by the old warehouse, but not cold in atmosphere rather warming accompanied by
thoughtful and kind waiters. It was no problem arriving there without reservation as they take only reservations for lunch and the private dining room. There are three communal wooden dinig tables with at least 20 seats each "encouraging asian-style banquet dinig". Usually I don't like being seated with people I don't know, but as part of the Longrain experience I gave it a go and I must admit that even if two ladies were seated right in front of us it was really nice. Longrain is a place known for sharing food with your group mates so that you can experience all four different tastes hot, sour, salty and sweet in different combinations.

We had Caramelised pork hock with five spices & chilli and Red curry of grass fed beef with green peppercorns & thai basil both served with steamed jasmin rice. We chose wine recommended by the waitress, which was a good choice nicely accompanying our food.

The meals were really good, I think it was actually the best asian food I've ever eaten. I liked the pork hock more than the red curry, the combination of the sweet pork with the hot and sour vinegar was a really welcoming sweet and sour combination. The meat was perfectly done inside and nice crisp outside. The curry was really delicious too, but the pork hock left a pretty stunning impression. Since some restaurants aren't able to cook rice properly the jasmin rice was cooked well with a good bite.

I definitely recommend a visit at Longrain and I hope more asian inspired restaurants like this will open in germany soon. The prices in Longrain are reasonably but not an everyday meal. I really liked the interior with the clear design and the service. If I lived in Sydney, I would visit Longrain often.
And for the Melbournians: since 2005 Longrain Melbourne is located in central CBD.

Longrain Bar & Restaurant

Sydney

85 Commonwealth St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
(02) 9280 2888

Melbourne

44 Little Bourke St
VIC 3000
(03) 9671 3151

Lavender Ice Cream

2010-04-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

With plenty of my homemade yoghurt in the fridge and my new ice cream maker smiling at me I combined both incidents to a completely delicious ice cream. It's the first time I made ice cream with a machine and I had never such an amazing creamy result. Whilst heating up the sugar and heavy cream mixture I remembered the lavender which I bought recently, so I threw a spoonful of it in and so the yoghurt lavender ice cream was born. The alcohol is used to enhance the creamy consistency and it gives a nice bang to the ice cream too ;) But it's up to you if you go alcohol-free since there might be children around. And a notice for using lavender: don't use too much since lavender could cause headaches in higher concentrations!

Next time I'm going to substitute orange or lemon zest for the lavender. So an orange liquer like Cointreau or lemon liquer, maybe Limoncello could work very well with it.
Ooooh I see, this will be a nice summer romance with me and the ice cream maker... or a love triangel with me the ice cream maker and our barbecue ;)

Yoghurt Lavender Ice Cream yields ~ 500g ice cream

300g yoghurt
200ml heavy cream
100g sugar
1 tbsp lavender
1 tbsp brandy

Heat heavy cream and sugar on medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved, add the lavender and let it simmer around 5 minutes occasionally stirring and allow to cool completely. You can pour the mixture through a fine mesh sieve and discard the lavender, but I'm a lazy person so I skipped this part. When cooled completely stir the cream with the yoghurt until well combined.

Next Step Using Ice Cream Maker

Pour in your ice cream maker and follow the instructions according to your machine. Pour in a container and store in the refrigerator until use.

Next Step Without Ice Cream Maker

Pour in a container and freeze in the refrigerator. Stirring the mixture every hour until completely frozen.

Homemade Yoghurt

2010-04-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

Since I'm enthusiastic about homemade food, especially of basic food, I was thrilled to find a recipe for homemade yoghurt in my new Moro cookbook . Meanwhile the first batch is almost gone and I'm planning to make the second one with a different style of yoghurt culture. Making your own yoghurt is very easy and satisfying. I ate my yoghurt this week plain, seasoned with cinnamon and diced apples and, with rhubarb in season, a rhubarb compote (see recipe below). Today I made a batch of yoghurt lavender ice cream with my new ice cream maker - absolutely delicious. Of course the recipe will follow as soon I screened the photos ;)

Homemade Yoghurt yields 1kg yoghurt
adapted from The Moro Cookbook

2 litres full-fat milk
300ml double cream
150g live yoghurt

Place the milk in a large pot, making sure there's still a little room upwards. Bring to boil, turn the heat to a simmer and reduce by a third. It's important to stir constantly to prevent the milk sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Remove the pot from heat and transfer the milk to a bowl. Stir in the cream until well combined. Allow to cool until you can hold your finger in the milk and count to ten, then add the yoghurt and stir well. If the milk is too hot the bacteria may be killed. If it is not hot enough it will take a lot longer to set. Cover with clingfilm and leave at room temperature for about 8 hours or over night, until set. The yoghurt will keep in the fridge for seven to ten days.

Rhubarb Compote 2 servings

4 stalks rhubarb, cut in 1cm long pieces
100ml water
2 tbsp sugar

Place all ingredients in a small pot over medium high heat. Let it simmer until the water is almost evaporated and the rhubarb is soft. Allow to cool completely. Put yoghurt in bowls and spoon the rhubarb compote over.

Morrocan Preserved Lemons

2010-04-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

Preserved lemons are one of the most popular Moroccan condiments and they are used in many dishes like tajines, couscous or salads. They are pickled in their own juice with plenty of salt and different spices and only the peel is used.

Moroccan Preserved Lemons 750mL glass jar

6 organic lemons
coarse sea salt
a few coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 red chilli

Clean the lemons under water and dry them. Cut off the round spot where the stem sat and make two large slices in X shape stopping 1 cm from the bottom. Pack the salt into the incisions, about 1 tbsp per lemon. Put the salted lemons in a clean, large glass jar and add the spices.

Press the lemons very firmly to get the juices flowing. Cover and let stand over night. The next 2-3 days repeat pressing until the lemons are completely covered with liquid. If the lemons aren't juicy enough add a little bit extra lemon juice. After one month the preserved lemons are soft and ready to use. Rinse before using to remove excess salt. They'll keep in the fridge at least 6 months.

Recipes using preserved lemons:
Isreaeli Couscous with Butternut Squash & Preserved Lemons
Preserved Lemon & Spring Vegetable Risotto With Grilled Shrimp
Chicken Tajine With Preserved Lemons, Green Olives & Golden Raisins
Hearty Red Lentil & Preserved Lemon Soup

Delicious Veggie Burger

2010-04-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

Monday again... the weekend too short as always. We bought us Final Fantasy XIII on saturday, so we stayed the time after that on our couch in front of the TV (Chocobo is sooo damn cute!) ;) In addition I had to check out two new cookbooks I've ordered at amazon. Both from famous restaurants located in London (.... ooh, I need to spend a weekend there soon ;) ...): Ottolenghi and Moro. Both books feature mediterranean and middle-eastern recipes: tapas, mezze, couscous etc.... the recipes sounds delicious and I hope I can try them soon!

Veggie Burgers yields six big patties
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 1/2 cups chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 hand full of parsley and cilantro
1 onion, chopped
Grated zest of one lemon
1 cup micro sprouts - I used a prepacked mix, chopped
1 cup toasted bread crumbs (I dried a whole wheat bun and made crumbs out of it)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Puree chickpeas, eggs and salt until its very thick and still a little bit chunky. Pour the mixture in a bowl and stir in the herbs, onion, lemon zest and sprouts. Add the breadcrumbs and let it sit for around 5 minutes. So the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. If the mixture is too wet add more bread crumbs. Form the chickpea dough into patties. Take a pan with a fitting lid, add the oil and heat it on middle high heat. Add patties and cook with lid on on both sides for around 8 minutes until nicely browned.

I served them on whole wheat buns topped with hummus, micro sprouts and tomato slices. Grilled vegetables like eggplants and zucchini would be nice too as well as avocado or caramelized onions. The variation of sauces are endless, but the next time I make these burgers I'll try baba ganoush or a mango chutney.

Easter Weekend

2010-04-07T03:23:00.000-07:00

We spent some time at the Luisenpark located in Mannheim Good Friday afternoon. We saw spring flowers, farm animals and many people enjoying their day off. While wandering around I left some prepared dough at home for a loaf of the traditional Hefezopf. It's a sweet bread commonly baked at Easter, but the basis recipe I'll show you below is suitable for raising buns etc. too!

Hefezopf one loaf

500g flour
250mL milk
50g sugar
1/2 cube fresh yeast
75g butter at room temperature
1 egg at room temperature
1egg for coating
1 tbsp salt
almond slivers

Heat the milk until lukewarm, pour in a bowl and add the sugar and the yeast and mix with a spoon until combined, let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then add the egg and whisk it together. Sift the flour in a large bowl and pour in the milk egg mixture, add the soft butter and salt and knead the dough until smooth and glossy. This should take about 10 minutes. At this step you can add raisins and other dried fruit, whatever suits you best. Now grab a clean and moistened towel, cover the bowl and put it on a warm and not drafty place. After 2 hours the dough should have doubled in size. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for another 1-2 minutes. Divide the dough in three equal portions and shape each into long strands and form a nice braid. Transfer on a baking rack lined with parchment paper and let it rise for another 30 minutes with the moisted towel atop. Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). After 30 minutes coat the top with a mixture of egg and a pinch of salt and sugar each. Sprinkle with almond slivers and put it into the oven for about 45 minutes, after 25 minutes reducing the temperature to 180°C (350°F).

An idea for variation is to flavor the milk used in this recipe. I added a good amount of orange zest, but you can substitute the orange zest for lemon zest. Another variation is to substitute the milk for coconut milk.

I discovered that the hefezopf tasted even better one day old. But a warm slice of it topped with clotted cream and some strawberry jam - oh yum!

Springy Green: Broccoli

2010-03-31T11:04:00.000-07:00

Watching the growing flowers with their vibrant springy colors makes me craving for some similar colored fresh food. On the train ride home a broccoli recipe came to my mind whilst thinking about tonights dinner. So it happend that I bought a nice green broccoli head. To make a lighter version of this broccoli slaw recipe and having still some greek yoghurt waiting in the fridge I made a simple yoghurt dressing. This salad tasted pretty good and was thrown together very fast.

Broccoli Salad serves 2

1 large head of broccoli
4 tbsp thinly sliced almonds, toasted
1 small red onion, finely chopped

Dressing

125 g greek yoghurt
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt
pepper

Trim broccoli, seperate the broccoli flowerets and cut into thin slices. Toss the broccoli, the almonds and the onions in a bowl. In a seperate bowl whisk the ingridients for the dressing. Pour the dressing over the broccoli and mix until everything is coated and add salt and pepper to taste.

More broccoli recipes:

Spice and roasted broccoli
Chicken and broccoli
Roquefort roasted broccoli
Broccoli soup
Broccoli calzones
Pasta e broccoli
Mac & Cheese with chicken and broccoli

Spring and Norma

2010-03-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, the recent weeks were pretty stressful. First I had within my second course specialisation in technical chemistry a course called "Plant Design". Beginning with an "omfg two weeks without sleep" I rather enjoyed this course at the end. I've learned much about teamwork and it's amazing what we've developed. By the way: our plant wouldn't be economical ;) The next big thing was my last written exam I had last week, which I passed successfully :) Total relief!

Last week was also the first week with temperatures above 15 °C. I loved it, I even didn't need to wear a jacket! But now, the temperatures are dropping fast and it is rainy again. Hopefully the Easter weekend is going to be nice.

Last week I made Pasta alla Norma, a traditional sicilian dish, which was a long term item on my "to cook" list. It is absolutely easy to make and, like most easy dishes, it is pretty delicious. As I hadn't ricotta salata at hand, I substituted it for the good ol' parmesan.

Pasta alla Norma serves 4
adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Great Italien Escape p. 104

500g Spaghetti, cooked and some cooking water reserved
800g Whole Tomatoes, canned
2 Eggplants
4 Gloves Garlic, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp Oregan, dried
1 Red chilli, finely minced
1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
1 Hand Fresh Basil, stalks chopped and leaves coarsly chopped
1 Hand Freshly Grated Parmesan

Quarter the eggplants lenghtwise and cut it into fingerthick stripes. Heat a large pan with olive oil on medium high heat, add the eggplants and toss until fully coated with oil, sprinkle with oregano and roast until golden brown in two batches. Put all eggplants together and add garlic, chilli and basil stalks. Add the vinegar, tomatoes and a dash of water and simmer for about 30 minutes. Cook the spaghetti in boiling water with a good amount of salt until done. Drain and reserve some of the cooking water.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper until taste and add the parmesan and basil. Now add the cooked spaghetti and 2-3 tbsp of the cooking water to the sauce. Buon appetito!

Easy Peasy Chocolat Pudding

2010-02-10T04:02:00.000-08:00

Picture by ColorMeKate

After craving for something chocolaty without having a chocolat bar at hand respectively the will to go out and buying something, I found a very easy to prepare and delicious recipe for chocolat pudding. Hmmmm.

Easy Peasy Chocolat Pudding serves 2

40g Cornstarch
3 Tbsp Unsweetened cocoa
4 Tbsp Sugar
0.5L Whole milk
Optional: chocolat sprinkles, whippes cream... what you prefer!

Mix the cornstarch and the cocoa with about 200mL of the milk and stir until dissolved. Heat the remaining milk with sugar until it boils. Now add the cornstarch mixture wisking continuously for about a minute. You will notice that the mass thickens after a few seconds. Pour the pudding in, with cold water rinsed, bowls and let cool at least for 2 hours.

I had some oranges at hand, so I flavoured the boiling milk with orange zest and topped the finished pudding with slices of orange. But there are no bounds and you can play around whatever you like: chocolat sprinkles, whipped cream, fruits (hmmm... when starts strawberry season? ;) )...

The photo above is from Katie Solokers lovely blog ColorMeKate, a freelance photographer and street artist living in Brooklyn. Love the colors. :)

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

There's nothing nicer to take a sunday afternoon walk under a bright blue sky and a landscape topped with freshly fallen snow.

That's the winter I love - the winter with snow slush everywhere on the streets and the heavy grey clouds makes me counting the days until spring arrives. Until then, I need to make myself as comfortable as I can at home - for example with this delicious white Chilli.

White Bean Chilli
adapted from from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

2 Chicken thights
1 Medium onion, diced
2 Gloves garlic, finely minced
1 Can green chilies, chopped
2 Red chilis, finely minced
250g Dried white beans, rinsed
1 Litre Chicken broth
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Cup whole milk
1 tbsp cornflour
Cheddar chease, grated
Cilantro, chopped
Salt & pepper to tase
Optional: Sour Cream
Optional: Corn Torillas

In a medium pot cover the chicken with cold water and cook for 20-30 minutes, put it on a plate and let cool a little. Then remove the meat from the bones with your fingers and set aside. In another pot add a little olive oil and cook the onions, red chilis and garlic for about 2 minutes. Add the chopped green chilies and the white beans, add the chicken broth. Season with salt, pepper and cumin and cook with the lid on for about 2 hours or until the beans are done. After 1 hour it's time to add the chicken.
When the beans are done, mix milk with the cornflour and pour into the chili for thickening the sauce. After 10 minutes season to taste and add the cayenne pepper,paprika, cilantro and cheddar cheese while stirring until melted. I served it with warm tortillas. Enjoy!

Long time no see!

2010-01-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

A HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

After some stressful weeks we went to Australia in mid-december and finally came back friday evening. It was really an amazing time, most of it spent with our dear friends Jens & Aga, we made some new friendships, too. I'm missing Australia already: relaxed people and atmosphere, beaches and open
supermarkets on sundays ;). But after weeks spent in midsummer it is nice returning to our snowy home as well. I'm looking forward to show you my "australian adventures" as soon as possible - unitl then a koala bear has to be enough ;)

Lemony Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes

2009-11-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

This is a perfect sunday dinner dish and really easy. But it's not recommendable preparing the dish with hunger, the divine smell coming out of the oven will drive you insane ;)

Lemony Roasted Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes
adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Dinners p. 32

picture by jamieoliver.co.uk

1 chicken, preferable free-range
1kg potatoes, peeled and cut in mouthsized pieces
1 large lemon
5 gloves of garlic, unpeeled
a handful of fresh thyme
a handful of fresh rosemary
4 rashers of smoked bacon
olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven to 190°C. Bring a large pot of water with a good amount of salt to boil and throw in potatoes, lemon and the garlic gloves. After about 12 minutes drain it and allow to steam dry for about 2 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking take the chicken out of the fridge and rub it (yeah!) with salt, pepper and oil. Then take the lemon out of the colander and stab it a few times all over with a sharp knife. Push it with the garlic and thyme in the cavity. Honestly, this step grossed me a little bit out and it costed me quite an effort but it wasn't that bad. I think the chicken won't charge that I invaded its private sphere ;)
Now... put the chicken on a roasting tray and cook it in the oven for 45 minutes. Remove it and put the chicken on a plate and toss the potatoes in the chicken fat. Make a whole in the middle and put the chicken in. Lay the rashers over the chicken breast and cook it for another 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

For serving it is nice to crumble the bacon over the potatoes and smear the garlic, which you can squeeze out of his skin and mash up, over the chicken.

Hannover

2009-11-02T04:04:00.000-08:00

We returned from Hannover where we visited good friends yesterday. It's a pity that we forgot our camera, the lovely fall colors paired with the industrial looking multicultural quarter of Hannover Linden were stunning with its own charm. Located in western Hannover near by the river Leine, between little foreign greengrocers and plenty of kiosks you can find lovely cafés and shops. Sadly I found this helpful page Linden entdecken only now - but I'm looking forward to future visits.

To give a little selection of my impressions I picked some images at flickr:

by picture.element 3&20

Welsh rarebit

2009-10-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is soo delicious! Even more delicious with a nice bottle of beer and it's a very good way to use the chilli-pepper chutney I made recently.

Welsh rarebit (2 hungry persons)
adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie At Home p. 322

4 x 2 cm thick slices good bread (sourdough)
2 large egg yolks
150g crème fraîche
100g freshly grated Cheddar cheese
4 Tbsp. chilli-pepper chutney
Worcestershire sauce
salt & pepper

Preheat your oven on high heat (250°C) and toast your slices of bread on both sides. Whisk the egg yolks with the crème fraîche, stirr in the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Von Cooking

Spread a big tablespoon of the chilli-pepper chutney on each slice, followed by a quarter of the rarebit mixture.

Von Cooking

By spreading it to the edge of the bread you'll avoid a burned crust. Grill it in the oven until melted and bubbling.

Von Cooking

With a knife, criss-cross the topping and drizzle with Worcestershire sauce just for the right kick.

Von Cooking

Break.

2009-10-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

Since friday we are visiting Stephans family, this week is going to be pretty eventful. Stephans uncle, who is only 4 years older than him, is getting married tomorrow and friday is the churchly wedding. Yesterday was the wedding-eve party - I have to admitt that my liver has to work on full speed this week - the family is able to hold one's drink ;)

I spend my time with doing nothing besides relaxing. Reading, fighting the cold weather in the bath tube and watching tv. Occasionally we are lifting our bottoms to go shopping (I was in need of a lipstick fitting to my gown: Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in Dragon - it looks amazing!).

Now I have to draw my attention back to the Champions Legague game FC Bayern München vs. Girondins Bordeaux. Equalizer and red card for Bayern - hilarious ;)

Bye Bye!

Hot Chilli-Pepper Chutney

2009-10-11T09:39:00.000-07:00

Von Cooking

Hello my precious babies, are you ready to heat things up? We have a little chilli overflow at the moment and are forced to use them in almost every dish ;) Today, I made a batch of hot chilli-pepper chutney - lovely!

Chilli-pepper chutney (makes about 500g)

adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie At Home p.321

5 Fresh red chillies, pierced a few times with a sharp knife

8 Red peppers

2 Medium red onions, chopped

A spring of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped

2 Fresh bay leaves

A 5cm piece of cinnamon

75g Brown sugar

150mL Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

And here are the leading actors - Restless Red Rita and Yummy Yellow Yna:

Von Cooking

Place the red peppers and the chillies on an oven rack in the preheated oven at the highest heat possible turning them now and then to blacken them evenly. We want them really dark and blistered, when they look like burned - it's okay, this is were we want to go. But be careful and keep an eye on the chillies, they're much smaller so take them out earlier then the red peppers.

Von Cooking

Lift the hot peppers and chillies in a bowl and cover thightly with clingfilm. As they cool down they will cook in their own steam. By the time they're cool enough to handle, you'll be able to peel the skin off easily. When you've got rid of the skin, stalks and seeds chop them finely and put on side.

Von Cooking

Place a large skillet over medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Throw in the onions, the bay leaves, rosemary and cinnamon and season with a little bit salt and pepper. Cook very slowly without browning for about 20 minutes, until the onions get sweet and sticky. Add the chopped peppers and chillies, sugar and vinegar and keep cooking until the liquid reduced and you're left with a lovely thick sticky chutney. Remove the cinnamon and the bay leaves, season to taste and spoon into sterilized jars or keep in fridge and use it right away (for Welsh rarebit like we did - recipe follows).

Von Cooking

A little advise: open the kitchen window while your cooking, the air gets very "thick" while cooking this hot chillies ;)

Chicken Tikka Masala

2009-10-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hm, this was really delicious!

The last time Stephan visited Heidelberg, he gifted me with something I always appreciate: cooking stuff :) He bought me in my favourite spicemonger a package of garam masala spice - so it was obvious that I have to cook something indian this weekend. After a quick search in my recipe collection I found a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala - yum!

Chicken Tikka Masala (2 persons)

2 Chicken breasts

100g Plain yogurt

100g Creme fraîche

1 Can whole tomatoes

1 Large onion, chopped

2 Gloves garlic, finely minced

1 Thumbsized chunk fresh ginger, finely minced

1 Chili pepper, chopped

1 Tbsp. butter

Garam Masala*

Cumin

Ground Coriander

Fresh Cilantro, chopped

Sugar

Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven on 150°C. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper, cumin and ground coriander and set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and coat the upper side with yogurt. Put it in the oven for about 30 minutes until the chicken ist totally cooked and lightly golden.

Now you can place a large skillet on medium heat and melt the butter. Toss in the onions and cook until transluscent, add the garlic and ginger and a pinch of salt. Do not forget stirring since garlic burns very fast.

Von Cooking

Next you're going to add the garam masala spice and the chili and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Now take a deep breath - smells divine, doesn't it? Add the tomatoes and a pinch of sugar and stirr until the bottom of the pan is deglaced. With a wooden spoon crush the tomatoes and let the mixture simmer lid on for about 25 minutes.

Add the creme fraîche to the Tikka Masala sauce and stir it in. By the time the chicken is ready, chop it up into bitesized chunks and add it to the sauce. Season to taste and add the chopped cilantro.

Von Cooking

As side dish we cooked 2 cups rice with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp. ground turmeric, it gives a nice colour and additional taste.

Von Cooking

* The Garam Masala spice is a mixture of several spices and contains:

1 tbsp. coriander; ground
1 tbsp. cumin; ground
1 tbsp. ground black pepper
1 tbsp. cayenne pepper; ground
1 tbsp. fennel seeds; ground
1 tbsp. ginger; ground
1 tbsp. cardamom; ground
1 tbsp.nutmeg; ground
1 tsp. cloves; ground

Aspirations.

2009-10-08T11:12:00.001-07:00

86/365

Originally uploaded by idle a while

Off time!

2009-09-30T23:57:00.000-07:00

The days are becoming shorter, the colors of nature are changing and the craving for a nice mug of hot chocolate grows. Autumn arrived and I'm glad it finally did. I can't stand the hot weather any longer ;)

Last week I've finished my last exam for this semester and I'm going to enjoy this week without learning or being the whole day in the laboratory until the new semester begins. I will use this time to clean up our apartment, meeting with friends and spending a lot of time with a good book on our couch. Also I hope I'm going to spend more time in the kitchen and try new recipes - the cafeteria food comes out of my ears, why do they deep-fry everything? heeelloooo health *knock knock* can you heeaaaar me? ;)

Pumpkin soup with coconut milk(serves 2 persones)

1/2 hokaido squash, the flesh diced

3-4 middlesized potatoes, peeled and diced

1 onion, chopped

1 glove of garlic, minced

1 thumbsized piece of ginger, chopped

1 chili, chopped

~ 1L broth

~ 150mL coconut milk

salt & pepper

Favourite herbs & spices: parslay, coriander, garam marsala, ras el hanout

In a large pot heat a gulp of olive oil on medium heat and throw the squash, potatoes, onions, ginger, chili and garlic in and cook for some minutes occasionally stirring. Then add the broth, put the lid on and cook under a gentle boil for about 30 minutes. If the squash and the potatoes fell easily of a fork they are done. Now take your hand-held blender or food processor and free your agressions and mix until the soup is smooth. Return the pot to heat and add the coconut milk and season with salt and pepper until it tastes right to you. I like to add parsley, garam marsala and ras el hanout and I think coriander is a winner too.

The right thing for a fall evening

2009-09-13T00:40:00.000-07:00

With seven chili bushes ready for harvest, we thought a Chili is the right dish to start. Minimal effort with maximal yummyliciousness ;)

Chili (serves 2 persones)

4 slices bacon, chopped

250g beef stew meat

1 large onion, roughly chopped

4 gloves garlic, minced

500g canned whole tomatoes

1 can white beans, rinsed and drained

1 can red beans, rinsed and drained

1-2 chilis, halfed

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. oregano, dried

salt & pepper

In a big pot with a gulp olive oil, cook bacon and beef over medium heat until the beef is nicely browned. Reduce heat and add onions and half of the garlic. Cook occasionally stirring until the onion is translucent. Now add the canned tomatoes, beans and chilis. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat to a simmer. After you covered the pot, you have to place yourself on your sofa with a glass of red wine in front of the tv and relax for an hour ;) - but don't forget to stir occasionally.

Then stir in the remaining garlic and add the vinegar. Cook covered for one hour. Check consistency (add water if it's to thick) and season to taste with salt, pepper and oregano.

Oh my, oh my.

2009-09-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

Oh my, it's almost one month gone since I've blogged the last time.

I hope I'll be back chattier by the time I've finished my "Hauptvertiefung" at the DKI in Darmstadt.

Five weeks gone, one remaining - see you soon!

Paris je t'aime

2009-08-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

Today, only one week ago, we came back from our trip from Paris. Four days of sightseeing, photographing and enjoying our time left us a gorgeous impression of Paris. Our hotel, a nice and neat small room in Le Marais, gave us a good starting point near the metro station St. Paul and ca. 10 minutes by feet to the city centre.

Arrival Day I

We arrived at our hotel at 10 o'clock, after a 1h long flight and 30 minutes by RER - without the time buying RER tickets and waiting at the airport - it's the same amount of time which I need for travelling to university ;)

Paris welcomed us with pretty good weather, blue sky and nearly 30°C - in the evening my skin was really sunkissed ;)

Our first activity, after having lunch at a nice bistro at Boulevard Beaumarchais, was a stroll into the city centre. I fell in love with all those lovely buildings, little brasseries and patisseries directly. So we walked, without any plan, coincidently direct to the Ile de la Cité, were we spotted Nôtre Dame. Big. Very big. The facade is pretty impressive. After a little rest we continued our exploration and followed the famous rue Rivoli, it led us directly to the Palais du Louvre, wow, another very big and very impressive building. You have to know... many places in Paris are very impressive. In the middle of the Palais du Louvre, of course, is the famous Pyramide du Louvre. Surrounded by water basins we followed the example of other tourists and take a rest and rewarded our feet with a little bath in the refreshing water. Oh boy... the best! Ever! After my feet found back to their oiriginal size, we walked through the Jardin de Tuileries straight to the Place de la Concorde. From distance loomed the Arc de Triomphe. But for the first day it was enough, so we went back to our hotel with a real parisian baguette , good parisian butter and jambon and feel asleep shortly after our little nom - it was a long day after we got up at 4am.

Day II

As an early bird my first action on this morning was to open up the wooden blinds to see the awakening Paris. The air was a little dusty but the sun was already shining and gave me a nice welcome to the new day. This, paired with the view of the Tour Eiffel, was very lovely - the only thing missing in this picture is a steaming cup of café au lait ;)

So we started our day by visiting Café Angelina for their famous le Chocolat Africain, the best and impossibly thickest hot chocolate I've ever drunk. With a buttery croissant was this the perfect petit déjeuner. Now we were boosted for our next target, across the Champs Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe. A very long walk and I would recommend taking the metro to Charles de Gaulles - Étoiles, because the Champs Elysées - at least by day - isn't that spectacular.

Besides the Arc de Triomphe, I'm impressed by the roundabout... there were no signs on the street and everyone drove like hell! How do they survive?

Next stop: Tour Eiffel. Wow. Very monumental. Many Tour merchandise vendors. After some minutes they made me agressive. Nevermind ;)

After a simple but good meal in the quartier latin, we strolled around and finished our day at the Louvre, which is open until 22h on fridays and it's free for european residents under 26. They have no air condition - bad. And I don't know why everyone makes such a great deal about La Jaconde - the Mona Lisa. It's a really small and boring painting. After 3 hours of culture and with a rather empty feeling in our stomach we said goodbye to the Louvre and went - more unaware - into the quartier japonaise. There we had a pretty big range of japanese restaurants available ;) The decision felt quite easy... for us looked every restaurant the same, so we headed over to Kadoya, were I finished my day with ramen... I love ramen! Good day ;)

Day III

Today, we went to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur which is built in Montmartre, a quarter on a hill overlooking Paris. We had luck and could attend the worship. You know what? It was... impressive! Ha! And the view over Paris is amazing. Now we were at the point where my official "I need to see this amazing building of french history" list was completed. So I obliged Stephan to go with me to the Galeries Lafayette, the parisian answer to Harrods. My favourite level was the basement. Shoes. Many Shoes. Expensive Shoes. Love them. But I liked Harrods more, it seemed more exclusive and charming, with less tourists.

In the evening, we went for dinner to Café Ruc - pricey but very good food. In attempt to eat parisian classics, I chose for entrée the lentils verte and for main dish the croque monsieur. Very good. The wine is good, too. Paris + good food = happy me :)

After sunset we took our DSLR to try some night shots and had our fun while playing with the exposure time and our gorilla pod. Trying to get a good shot of the Arc de Triomphe was a real battle, but a funny one :) We tried to affix our gorilla pod (with camera) on a stoplight standing on a refuge. Very interesting experience ;)

Louvre, Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe... so amazing at night. Really romantic.

Departure Day IV

As a chocolate lover, it was inevitable to visit Café Angelina again. Mmmmmh!

Afterwards we went by metro to the station L'Hotel de Vîlle and took a last stroll through the narrow streets and rested at the Seine, where there is established a quay with deck chairs for everyone. It was a really lovely finale of our Paris visit.

---

So, this is my little Paris diary for you dear readers. I hope I find the time to write a second entry about Paris with some tipps and commendations :)

Bisous!

Stuffed mushrooms

2009-08-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Easy and very delicious!

Stuffed mushrooms (serves 2 persones)

12 midsized white or brown mushrooms, stems removed and finely chopped
1 onion, finely diced
2 gloves garlic, finely minced
125g (4.4 ounces) cream cheese
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup parmesan, grated
1/2 cup white wine
1 hand parsley, chopped
1 hand chives, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

In a small pan, sweat onions and garlic over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped mushroom stems and sauté over high heat, then add the wine (right after you take a gulp out of the bottle ;) ). Cook until the liquid is reduced, season to taste and set aside.

In a midsized bowl, stirr cream cheese, egg yolk, parmesan and herbs. Now include the cooled mushroom mixture and season to taste. Take a little spoon and taste, already deliiiiciiioous!

Transfer the mushrooms on a sheet and give a nice spoonfull of the mixture right into the cavity. Bake at 175°C (350°F) for about 15 Minutes or until the top is slightly golden. Lovely!

As a little advise, I think these little nom noms are a very good and savory covering in a sandwich, too. A tad healhier as a steak ;)

Hell yeah!

2009-07-31T02:09:00.001-07:00

Picture by jovisur

After 1.5 weeks waiting I received the results of my latest exam this morning. And I passed it! I am totally relieved and thrilled that I can attend my last internship in chemical engineering now. Another thing I'm totally excited about is our short trip to Paris next week :)

We will stay in a nice hotel in Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements). And after searching tipps and guides about Paris (thank you Google Reader for the star and search function) I made a little map of everything worth seeing with Google Maps (am I appearing like a Google fangirl *cough* ;) ) and I'll show you once I finished it.

Uuuuh... I have to continue to work now...

Bisous!!! :)

Vera Wang Dress

2009-07-23T06:34:00.000-07:00

For the upcoming weddings of friends and family I'm still searching a nice dress. Lately after I received my weekly Vera Wang Newsletter (love the wedding dresses... dreaming is allowed! ;) ) I saw a pretty lovely dress (actually a bridesmaid dress, but a dress is a dress).

Unfortunately, the dress requires eight weeks delivery and it is not returnable. A fact I really don't like. So sad. Maybe I'm going to find a nice dress during our stay in Paris in two weeks... cela très magnifique ;)

Olivia Bee

2009-07-08T07:24:00.001-07:00

Please enjoy the self-portraits of the talented 15-years old Olivia Bee, whose entire photostream is really lovely.

Originally uploaded by Olivia Bee

Australia!

2009-07-04T05:24:00.001-07:00

Woohoo! Today we booked our flights to Australia. After months of waiting and only talking about visiting our dear friends in Melbourne, the final booking feels like a dream comes true. Totally exciting!

Well... now we are finally able to plan the details of our 3 week long visit. Sydney, Ayers Rock and a trip to the Great Barrier Reef is set and a proper time schedule is in work.

Originally uploaded by john white photos

Tomatoes!

2009-06-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

These are my little babies, four big und two small tomato plants living on our patio...

... in a few weeks they're going to be red and very delicious. Can't wait!

Fennel risotto with ricotta

2009-06-22T04:22:00.000-07:00

In need of a lovely and healty comfort food, I ran over the pages of my cookbooks and found this nice meal. Even if you're not a fennel-lover, this dish is absolutely try-worthy because the fennel is not overwhelming. At first I show you the basic risotto-recipe, which is kick-ass on it's own.

Basic risotto (serves 2 persons)

approx 1 litre stock (chicken, vegetable...)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 glove of garlic, finely chopped

1.5 stacks celery, finely chopped

200g risotto rice

1 glass of dry white wine

1 hand freshly grated Parmesan

1 knob butter

sea salt and black pepper

1) Heat the stock. In a seperate pot heat the olive oil, add the onions, garlic and celery. Sweat on medium heat for about 15 minutes without colouring.

2) Add the rice and turn up the heat. Keep stirring until the rice looks slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring until the rice absorped the whole liquid.

3) Now add the first ladle of stock and a pinch of salt. The heat should be reduced to a slightly simmer, so the rice can cook evenly. Keep stirring until the stock is absorped. You will notice that the rice becomes more oozy with adding stock. This is caused by the release of the starch which the rice contains. Add another ladle and keep going until the rice is soft but with a slightly bite.

4) Remove from heat and add the butter and the grated parmesan. Stir until combined and set with lid on aside for about 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Fennel risotto with ricotta (serves 2 persons)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 glove of garlic, finely sliced

1 bulb of fennel, finely sliced, the herbs chopped

1 basic risotto (see above)

1 small dried chilli, finely chopped

3 tablespoon ricotta

1 lemon, zest and juice

sea salt and black pepper

extra parmesan

1) In a heated pan add the olive oil and sweat the garlic until softened, then add the fennel and the fennel seeds. Add a pinch of salt und pepper and cook for about 20 minutes with lid on.

2) Start with the basic risotto until you used the half stock. Stir in the cooked fennel and keep going until the rice is soft.

3) With the parmesan and butter, add the ricotta, the lemon zest and the half of the chopped chilli. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Set aside with lid on for 2 minutes.

Serve with grated parmesan and chopped fennel herbs on top.