urban odds & ends

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.

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.

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! :)

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 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.

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!

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