My dear friend Simone from Junglefrog Cooking and Scribbles&Notes and her partner Tom are adopting triplets this week and it is a wonderful reason to celebrate and have a kitty shower!

Yes a kitty shower! Simone and Tom are taking the leap of adopting three kittens at once. Are they crazy? No they have fallen in love with the kittens from a litter belonging to a friend. They have decided to pour all their cat parenting love and experience into offering a home to three little mischief-makers.

I say you are courageous and very special people and I am therefore giving you a kitty shower to celebrate the beginning of a new phase in your lives!

And just so my readers know what cuteness is, here is a picture of the three little kittens that Simone and Tom are welcoming into their home and hearts today!

Since I have known that Simone and Tom are opting for three new family members, I have hummed around the house or in the car or at my desk one of my favorite Mother Goose nursery rhymes, remembered from my childhood and so often read and recited to my own child, my son Jasper soon to turn 16. It is so appropriate to bringing up children and kittens. It goes like this:

The Three Little Kittens

Three little kittens

They lost their mittens,

And they began to cry

Oh, Mother dear,

We sadly fear

Our mittens we have lost.

What! Lost your mittens,

You naughty kittens!

Then you shall have no pie.

Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.

No, you shall have no pie.

The three little kittens

They found their mittens,

And they began to cry,

Oh, Mother dear,

See here, see here,

For we have found our mitten.

Put on your mittens,

You silly kittens,

And you shall have some pie.

Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r,

Oh let us have some pie.

Courtesy of A Treasury of Mother Goose, Illustrated by Hilda Offen, Simone & Schuster 1984

Yes let us have some pie in honor of the kittens and their new parents! They are very lucky kittens indeed!!

Some Strawberry Blueberry Hazelnut Lattice Pie

Whereas the French and the Germans make sweeter crusts to go with fruit, the classic American pie crust is not sweet or flaky but simple and a little salty, maybe even bland but it leaves the leading role to the fruit filling inside.

So for you Simone, Tom and your three little kittens – here is your kitty shower pie!!

Strawberry Blueberry Hazelnut Lattice Pie

Ingredients for the pastry crust for a 9-inch 2 crust pie or lattice top:

• 2.5 cups/350 grams flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup/175 grams of shortening: butter,
  baking margarine which I used or similar
• 6-7 TBSP of cold water
• 1 pinch of cinnamon powder

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 cups/250 grams of strawberries washed, stems removed, quartered
• 2 cups/250 grams of blueberries, washed and stems removed
• ½ cup sugar – more if you like it sweeter or your fruit is sour
• the seeds from 1 vanilla bean scraped out
• 4 grinds of fresh black pepper
• 2 pinches of cinnamon
• 3 TBSP of corn or other baking starch
• ½ cup of whole hazelnuts
• 2 TBSP butter

Putting it all together:

For the crust: mix the flour, salt and cinnamon on your baking board. Cut the butter/margarine into small pieces and sprinkle over the flour. Combine lightly with your fingers until the dough is course and crumbly. Sprinkle 1/3 of the water over the dough and mix and knead adding more water as needed – altogther I used a 1/2 cup of water. The pastry comes together well – knead it gently into a ball and let it rest.

Meanwhile heat your oven to 165°C/325°F and place the hazelnuts on a baking sheet. Roast them carefully until fragrant taking care they do you burn – max 8-10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and pour them onto a fresh dishtowel and cover them to cool.

After 2 minutes roll the nuts in the dishtowel back and forth to remove some of the brown skins. Do this a few more times. Then chop the nuts roughly with a knife into smaller pieces but not meal. Set aside.

Mix the fruit together and place it in a fine mesh sieve over a bowl to remove excess liquid or your pie will get soggy.

Transfer the fruit to a mxing bowl and add the sugar, vanilla, pepper, cinnamon and the cornstarch. Mix well but gently. Now add the chopped hazelnuts and mix again to combine.

Butter or grease your pie dish – I used a 9 inch Pyrex pie dish and preheat the oven to 210°C /425°F.

Take up the dough and cut off and set aside one third. Roll out the two-thirds thinly to cover the pie plate. Use a knife or scissors to cut off the overlapping dough so as to leave a rim of dough that just is slightly larger than the rim of the pie dish.

Knead your dough scraps with the remaining third of dough and roll out into a large circle as thick as the dough in the pie dish. Use a crimped pastry wheel to cut lattice strips.

Put the filling in the pie crust – if the fruit is runny you may want to sieve it again first.

Smooth the filling evenly in the crust.

Now take your lattice strips one at a time and place them over the dough starting on one side and working across spacing evenly – use every second strip. The strips will hang over the rim on either side

Now take the remaining strips one at a time and starting on the one side weaving the strips over and under the other place dough strip – lifting carefully over and under.

Place these strips with the same space in between as the first placed ones.

Now cut the overlapping strips so that they are even with the overlapping dough from the bottom crust and carefully roll and press together to make a crimped rim. If your rim is sloppy, use the leftover dough to crimp a thin strip to go all around the edge of the dough, place it and press lightly to stick.

Take your piece of butter and cut off little slivers of it and place a little sliver in each lattice square.

Bake in the oven at 210°C /425°F for 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 180°C/350°F and bake for a further 30-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
Remove from the oven and cool if you can resist. You can serve the pie “a la mode” with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pie tastes more intensive when cooled.

So Simone, Tom and the three little kittens – enjoy you pie and hip, hip hurrah to a wonderful new family life together – it sure won’t be dull and there will be lots of smiles, laughs and funny photographs!

P.S. I am so happy that this is my 100th yumandmore post!!

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Zita and Ivan are having a baby!!! Hurrah little Adam is almost here – he will be a Taurus child, strong and hearty.

**Flash update: Adorable Adam arrived April 30th with 3850 grams and 56 cms – now that is strong and hearty!!!**

He will love the great outdoors and later enjoy a small garden or animals to care for. As a Taurus child he will experience the world through his senses, discovering the world through the way things taste, feel and sound. As a matter of fact Taurus children love to eat but can sometimes be picky about the ingredients – hmmm why does that sound familiar? Just teasing you!!

A Taurus child will be perfect for Zita and Ivan – a baby that likes to be swaddled and held and made to feel secure. Your love will be his haven! For he is truly the child of your love – long awaited! I am so happy for you!

We, your foodies friends want to celebrate this upcoming event with you by having a virtual baby shower in your honor Zita and Ivan’s and to help prepare for little Adam’s arrival into this life.

We have been plotting and schemeing and cooking and tasting to make just the right kind of vegetarian and healthy food that you prefer.
So welcome to Zita’s Virtual Baby Shower!

But before I speak about food let me tell you one more little thing you should know about your Taurus child that can be very helpful: Taurus children won’t be hurried. They like to take it slow — which you as a parent will need to adjust to in your scheduling. Don’t pack too many activities into a day, and don’t expect your Taurus child to pick up the pace. It’s just not going to happen. They are like Ferdinand the bull in my favorite children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf – the drawings are from Robert Lawson- a very fitting story for a Taurus child – first published in 1936 about a young bull named Ferdinand of course who is happiest when he can “sit just quietly and smell the flowers”, his mother worries that he is lonely since he doesn’t play with the other calves, but he is happy to sit under his favorite tree and smell the flowers.

Ferdinand grows up into a strong bull but he doesn’t like to fight like the other young bulls – he would rather smell the flowers. One day the men come to pick out a new bull for the bullfights in Madrid. Ferdinand sits on a bee and goes wild – the men decide he is the toughest, wildest and bravest so they take him to the arena – but when he sees all the pretty ladies in the arena with flowers in their hair – he just sits down and smells the flowers – he will not fight no matter what they do. So they send him back to his pasture, where he still sits under his favorite cork tree smelling the flowers and he is very happy!

So go slow with your young bull and let him smell the flowers and be happy just like Ferdinand the Bull.

We hope you and Ivan will enjoy what we have put together for you – you can find the links to the other posts and recipes here – each one created and made with you in mind!

Giulia: Scarpaccia 

Regula: Nourishing Stout & Oat Drink 

Beth: Moghrabieh Salad with Preserved Lemon and Coriander Pesto  

Jasmine: Whole Wheat Flour Cocoa Cookies 

Artemis: Kasopita – Cheese Pie from Εpirus 
Sarka: Kiwi Carpaccio with Pecans and Manuka Honey 
Emiko: Ricotta and Dark Chocolate Cake  

Sneige: Pomegranate Curd with Seedy Pine Nut Crust  
Simone: Pistache Raspberry Cakes

I decided on Fresh Pea and Goat Cheese Tarragon Soufflés

I love peas! They are my favorite vegetable. They are so pretty and green, sweet and flavorful and grow so well protected in their pods until they are ready to please the palate and the eye. They arrive in the Spring along with the tender buds and blooms as green as the new grass and the hope of warmer weather.

Peas are also very symbolic to me and remind me of the protected growing of a baby in its mother’s pod until it is also ready to come out and meet the world. Some of the peas I shelled recently to make these soufflés had already germinated in their pods so I collected them and planted them and now they will be growing peas of their own – and on and on the world turns! Bringing joy and new life!

These soufflés are light and tasty – easy to make and pretty on your plate. They are flavored with tarragon – also know as estragon – and  a spoonful of pistachio and estragon mustard.
They are a perfect appetizer or make a light dinner accompanied with a soup or salad and some (whole wheat) baguette.

Fresh Pea and Goat Cheese Tarragon Soufflés

Makes 7 ramekins

Ingredients:

• 250 grams /2 cups of shelled peas about 1 kilo in pods
• 5 grams/1 tsp butter – I use lactose-free
• 3 TBSPs water
• 2 sprigs of fresh tarragon
• 3 eggs separated
• 150 grams/5.3 oz soft goat cheese
• Zest of ½ lemon
• 1 TBSP lemon juice
• 1 tsp tarragon mustard
• 1 tsp pistachio mustard – can be replaced by another tsp of tarragon mustard
• 2 tsp finely chopped spring onion
• Salt & fresh ground pepper
• 70 grams/2.5 oz finely grated young Pecorino or similar non-dairy cheese
• Butter for the moulds – I use lactose-free
• 2 sprigs of fresh tarragon

Putting it all together:

Butter the ramekins and sprinkle them with some of the grated Pecorino, tapping out the excess. Set aside in a cool place.

Place the fresh peas, 3 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon of butter, and 2 washed tarragon sprigs in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat then lower to a soft simmer and cook covered for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the top on. Rest for 5 minutes. Drain and remove ½ cup of peas to a separate bowl – set aside. Discard the tarragon sprigs (or purree them along with the peas for additional flavor).

Place the remaining peas in a mixing bowl and add the goat cheese; purée together. If the mixture is still too hot wait a few more minutes, then add the 3 egg yolks, the 2 mustards, lemon zest, lemon juice, the salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix well. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a separate bowl until stiff. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180° C / 350° F

Add the rest of the grated Pecorino and finely chopped spring onion to the pea and cheese purree, mix well. Now add the ½ cup of whole peas that you had set aside. Mix well.

Incorporate the beaten egg whites into the purree by first adding 1/3 of the white and mixing very well and then adding the rest in 2 portions but do not beat them in only fold them in until just mixed. You want the soufflés to remain airy.

Pour or spoon carefully and quickly into the ramekins.

Bake for 26-28 minutes until done – you can tell if they are done by gently pressing on one and you should some resistance and should not sink into a soft center. Take care not to touch the ramekin or the oven rim or you will burn yourself. If the souffle is watery or too soft bake some more, 4 minutes at a time.

Serve quickly as they will deflate somewhat but if there any are left over they taste delicious cold too!
Especially on baguette as a sandwich for lunch the next day.

 

This is Lamby he is as old as I am and he can still warm baby and adult hearts even if he only has one ear left!
He sends his love to Adam too!

 

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Spring in Northern and Central Europe is not only recognized by the emergence of forsythia, daffodils and tulips but also by the heady smell of garlic floating through the wood in the early springtime. A walk through traditional wooded areas where the ground is moist and the leaves still lay thick from the Fall often causes immediate pangs or hunger or salivation as these deep green wild plants bud and bloom.

Bear’s Garlic (Herba Alii ursini) is also know by several other names such as ramsons or wild garlic but throughout the northern European countries – where it grows in abundance before even the first trees bud – most of its names are associated with bears. In the US it is know as ramps.

This ancient plant, which can be traced back to the Mesolithic settlements in Denmark around 10,000 BC, is believed to have earned its name by feeding the bears waking from hibernation in the spring who dug up the roots and bulbs of the plants that grow on the forest floor and ate them along with the garlic flavored leaves. Today bear’s garlic is also used as fodder and in Switzerland cows are fed with it to create natural slightly garlicky butter.

In Germany, bärlauch, which literally means bear’s leek, has become very popular again in recent years, and is now used in pesto, soups and creams, cut raw into salad, or mixed into the filling of fresh bratwurst.

Bear’s Garlic is also abundant in Central Europe with many traditional recipes and uses in such countries as Bulgaria and Russia.

In the USA, ramps (Allium tri­coccum), a wild plant with more onion-like flavour, is used for similar purposes.

People who want to gather their own should be warned that bärlauch is easily confused with two other poisonous plants: lilly-of-the-valley and autumn crocus and therefore should be bought at the market or green grocers.

I discovered a recipe for Bear Garlic Potato Rolls from Essen&Trinken a well-known German food magazine from their April 2011 issue, that offered an entire collection of bärlauch recipes and decided to give this one a try.
I was pleased with the taste and consistency of the roll and particularly happy that although I do not often succeed with yeast dough (to say the least) this one doubled and rose easily to perfection. It is made with flour and mashed potatoes and it crunchy on the outside but stand up to the butter filling on the inside.

I served these lovely and tasty rolls with some of the leftover bärlauch butter, fresh radishes, a warm zucchini, potato, basil and lemon salad, and a medley of various flavored bratwurst from the grill and a crisp Burgundy rosé.
Dessert was warm caramelized rhubarb with cardamom over vanilla ice cream.

A perfect Spring meal!

The recipe below is translated from the one from Essen & Trinken with minor alterations (I added some fresh basil leaves and some lemon zest) and the most important thing to know is that depending on the starch in your potatoes you will need up to 100 grams of additional flour added little by little since the dough can become very sticky.

This recipe makes 12 rolls, which I baked in a muffin pan lined with silicone muffin cups, the let you easily remove the rolls once they are baked. I made another 6 smaller ones with the leftover dough and uneven ends of the filled dough roll in another mould. These taste great hot and cold and are perfect picnic food too.

Bear Garlic and Pine Nut Filled Potato Rolls
Adapted from Essen&Trinken – 04/2011

Ingredients:

• 250 g / 8 ounces – (1 cup when mashed) – potatoes – I used salad-making potatoes – about 6 medium-small ones
• 300 g / 2.5 cups of flour and up to 100 g / ¾ cup extra
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp sugar
• 20 g/ 3 tsps of fresh yeast – or 7 g / 1.5 tsp dried yeast
• 100 ml / ½ buttermilk – I make my own lactose-free by adding white vinegar or lemon juice to lactose-free milk
• 50 g / 1.8 oz of pine nuts
• 100 g / 5 cups = 1 bunch of bear’s garlic
• 1 handful – 8 leaves of fresh basil
• 1 TBSP of organic lemon zest
• 80 g / 1 cup = 8 oz of soft butter – I used lactose-free
• ½ tsp salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 egg, beaten

Putting it all together:

Thoroughly wash the potatoes and cook them in their skins in boiling water until tender (about 15-20 minutes). When cool enough to handle, peel and place in a mixing bowl. Mash with your potato masher or squeeze them through a potato sieve.

While the potatoes are cooking mix the buttermilk, sugar and yeast.
Set up your mixing machine or your mixer, equipped with a dough hook and a mixing bowl and place the 300 grams of flour and the salt into it.

When the potatoes are mashed and still warm add them and the buttermilk and yeast mixture to the flour and salt.

Beat and mix with the dough hook until a smooth dough ball is made – add flour one tablespoon at a time if your dough is too sticky.

Remove the dough from the bowl, knead it well adding flour little by little if necessary, form a round ball, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set aside to rise.

Remove the stems and wash the bear’s garlic leaves and basil, in cold water and dry the leaves in your salad spinner.

Heat the pine nuts in a non-stick pan until fragrant taking care not to burn them. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In your food processor equipped with the standard blade, add the leaves, the pine nuts, the soft butter, the second salt measuring, the ground pepper and the lemon zest. Pulse the mixture of low speed until it is chopped and combined but still chunky. This can also be done by hand in several steps.

Scrape the bear’s garlic pine nut butter from the food processor into a bowl. Set aside.

Your dough should now be about doubled in size and still slightly warm.

Knead it well and roll it out on floured baking paper or a silicone mat to the size of a baking sheet (rectangular). Use extra flour if you have to and if you have excess dough, cut it off and set aside for later use.

Use a spatula to evenly spread the bear’s garlic and pine nut butter over the dough, saving about a fifth for later use and leaving a 1 inch butter-free rim along all sides.

Now roll up the dough from the long side – using the baking paper and a dough scraper for help. Cut the roll in half and starting from the center of each roll, cut 6 slices each. You will have leftovers. Place the slices one at a time on their side in the silicone muffin cups or the buttered muffin tin. Cover with a towel and let rise again for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180° C

Wash the muffins with the beaten egg and bake for 18 minutes until golden brown on top.

Use the leftover dough for a second half a batch in a separate mould – use some of the leftover butter where needed.

Let rest in the cups for 5 minutes before removing. Serve warm or cold.

Further reference sources: Wikipedia  and Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages 

This post has been entered to Lavender and Lovage’s Herbs on Saturday Challenge for April 2013

and for the Simple and in Season April round-up hosted by Ren Behan

This post is also an entry for:

Spring is in the air – photography and styling challenge April

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Germany is still a divided country! What? The wall has been down since 1989!!

Yes, you’re right, but there is still a deep division running through Germany splitting not the East from the West but the North from the South: the potato salad line!

Every year with the arrival of Spring the BBQ season gets back into swing and the trenches that so deeply divide Germany on Christmas Eve – when 2/3 of the German population traditionally eats potato salad and Frankfurter or Wiener sausages while waiting to open their presents – are reopened.

The all important question here is: with or without? With or without what?

Answers may be chosen from the following: pickles, cucumber, bits of sausage, pieces of apple, peas, bacon, or onions.

But the biggest and most omnipotent and all-dividing question is:
With mayonnaise or with broth, vinegar and oil?

You smile but beware!

We are not just talking ingredients here, we are discussing philosophy, religion or politics. All very tricky subjects on their own but true Germans take their potato salad very seriously!
Swabians (south Germans near Stuttgart) believe that you are either : “schlunzig” = sticky in Swabian or “furztrocke” = dry as a fart (from Northern Germany), when it comes to your potato salad.

Every region, yes every family has their tradition, the North tends towards mayonnaise while the South of Germany would never, ever consider putting mayonnaise or the Godess forbid “Miracle Whip” into their potato salads.

Here in Germany, BBQ invitations, where everyone brings a salad along, can be quite tricky (amusing) when up to 4 potato salad versions appear with each person placing their version of “exactly like Mom made it” on the buffet table and turning up their noses at the “poor relatives’ version” they have strategically moved to the side. I never bring potato salad so I don’t have to straddle the divide.

My family orginally comes from the south of Germany – the schlunzig = sticky potato salad side, while my husband’s family comes from more northerly regions and his Mom made her potato salad with mayonnaise and pickles – the dry kind.

Should potato salad be served hot or cold? Now this is the only point both sides will agree on: no matter which it should never be refrigerator cold.

Here is the version I make with broth, oil, mustard, lemon juice and vinegar – a lovely tasty “sticky” version that goes well with everything BBQ and won’t turn in the sun or upset your stomach on a hot day.

Using a good salad potato type is essential, beware of starchy potatoes since when added to the broth they will turn your salad into mashed potatoes.

And if you like mayonnaise in your potato salad – well then look elsewhere for a “dry as a fart” recipe.

Sticky German Potato Salad

Ingedients:

• 1200 grams/2.6 pounds – salad or waxy potatoes – preferably smaller ones
• 1 tsps caraway seeds
• salt
• 1 cup / 250 ml boiling water

• 1/2 large bouillion cube meat or vegetable
• 1 large tsp Dijon or other strong mustard
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 – 1 TBSP of vinegar – white or herbed
• 1/2 tsp of caraway seeds – slightly crumbled
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 small spring onion peeled and finely chopped – you can also use chopped scallions
• salt
• ground pepper
• 2 TBSPs vegetable oil

Putting it all together:

Scrub the salad potatoes under runnig water. Place them in a pot and cover with water, add 1 tsp of caraway seeds and salt.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer – cook 15-20 minutes checking in between for doneness. The potatoes should be done so that a sharp knife goes in easily but not soft.

While the potatoes are boiling prepare the salad sauce:

Boil the water and dissolve the bouillon cube. When somewhat cooled, transfer the broth into your salad bowl and use a whisk to beat in the mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, rosemary, crumbled caraway seeds, ground pepper. The last addition should be the vegetable oil.

Pour off the water and place the potatoes in a colander to cool them. Being very careful because they are very hot, peel and slice the potatoes adding them into the sauce as you go along. Mix well in between. Continue until all the potatoes are used.

Mix well again, taste and adjust seasoning, cover the bowl with a plate and let sit to blend the flavors.

Taste and adjust the seasoning again adding salt, pepper, vinegar or lemon juice as needed.

Serve warm or cold. If there are leftovers they taste even better the next day. You can also make your salad the day before. Make sure to take it out of the fridge to “warm up” before serving.

Thank you to the Tagespiegel for a little assistance with potato salad history!

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Easter: rabbit, eggs, basket, bonnet, chocolate, chickadees and for me woolly sheep and lambs.
I don’t want to offend anyone but I am not religious and therefore my associations are not religiouseither.

However I do appreciate religious music and “All we like sheep” pops into my head when I think of Easter. Having sung Handel’s Messiah many times, this remains my favorite part and I will joyously sing along, in the car or in the shower.

Glorious pictures of frolicking sheep and lambs bounding through my inner vision.

You can find a splendid version of “All We Like Sheep” in exactly the way I envision it:

Thank you ABakker307 for the youTube inspiration!

So when I was thinking about a special dish for upcoming Easter – I wanted something fluffy and woolly that would remind me of sheep and lambs and then I thought cream puffs!

Originally I wanted to make the sweet kind. Little puffy different colored cream puffs filled like scones with jam and whipped cream. I made a trial batch and they were yum but not what I was looking for exactly.
This year Spring continues i’s undecided and very slow cautious advance – one step forward and two steps back and leaving me craving comfort dishes and not summer cream puffs with whipped cream.

Back to the Internet for inspiration I searched for other forms of cream puffs and the German recipe site “DasKocherezept.de” had a Spicy Cheese Cream Puff that drew my attention. It would be perfect with another German traditional Easter dish – Green Sauce.

I pimped and tweaked the recipe you will find below. These cheese puffs are perfect for Easter brunch or for a lighter evening meal. The dough is a choux pastry made in a pot on the stove and then blended to sticky perfection in a stand mixer.

Make your filling before you make the cheese puffs so that it can thicken in the fridge. You can fill these cheese puffs with any type of vegetarian, cheese or ham filling of your choice and decorate them with red peppers or rocket or even peeled Easter eggs.

Cheese Puffs
Inspired by DasKochRezept.de and preparedpantry.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup / 236 ml water
• ½ cup / 110 grams of butter (I use lactose-free)
• 1 cup / 110  flour
• 1 TBSP corn starch
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup /50 grams of grated Ementaler or other cheese
• Salt & ground pepper
• Paprika

Putting it all together:

Mix the flour and the cornstarch. Break the four eggs into a small bowl.

Place the water and the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter is melted, remove pan from the heat and add the flour and cornstarch all at once. Use a wooden spoon to mix it and return to the heat and stir until the bowl becomes a ball and the flour is incorporated about 1-2 minutes.

Transfer the dough ball to a stand mix and mix on low speed for 2 minutes to cool the dough.

Preheat the oven to 180° C / 350° F convection fan setting if available.

With the mixer running add the eggs all at once and continue mixing for 6 minutes. Open the top and add the grated cheese salt, pepper and paprika. Mix for a further 2 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use 2 soupspoons to spoon 1 large spoon of dough into a large round. Space the dough and continue – you should have 12 mounds of dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes – the puffs should puff up and be golden brown. After 25 minutes I cut one open but saw that they needed another 5 minutes so I returned them to the oven for that time.

Take the puffs out of the oven and cut them open immediately making an incision all the way around with a sharp knife placing tops and bottoms separately to cool.

Fill and enjoy!

Fresh Herb Cream Cheese Filling

Wash all the herbs listed below and remove the stems, then mix all the ingredients in a food processor and refrigerate to thicken before using.

• 3 handfuls arugula/rocket
• 3 handfuls basil leaves
• 1 handful of cilantro – optional*
• 1 scallion washed, peeled and chopped
• zest and juice of 1/2 an organic lemon, washed
• 8 mint leaves
• 2 TBSPs olive oil
• 1 package of cream cheese (I use lactose-free)
• 4 TBSPs plain yoghurt (I use lactose-free)
• ¾ tsp salt
• 4 grounds of black pepper
• 1 tsp of honey mustard

* The cilantro is optional since many people don’t like it – it can be replaced with dill or another preferred green herb

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For me, nothing cures my homesickness for America like a cheesecake! Not the German Käsekuchen kind with curd and a yeast crust, but good old cookie crust with cream cheese filling and the flavor of the season cheesecake.

So I have decided to share a series of seasonal cheesecakes with you in the upcoming weeks and months.

This being the season of citrus as winter wanes and Spring fights for its footing, I will be kicking off my little Cheesecake-aganza! with Blood Orange Cheesecake.

As Spring is being so undecided this year we can all use the extra vitamins that citrus offers and blood oranges are my favorites their colorful flesh and juice bring a smile to my face and make me think of sun and warmth still so lacking in the barely blue skies. Even the word enchants me. As if the blood orange is something archaic from the times of the Crusades or what children now believe was the era of  (Games of) Thrones.

Truth be told blood oranges are a mutation that originated in either China or the Southern Mediterranean, where they have been grown since the 18th century. They are now the primary oranges grown in Italy. There are three types of blood oranges: the Moro, the most colorful with a light raspberry and slightly bitter flavor. The sweetest but least red of the three is the Tarocco which is also the most common in Italy.

The third type is the Sanguinello also called Sanguinelli in the US. It was discovered in Spain in 1929, it has a reddish skin, fewer seeds and sweet tender flesh. The Sanguinello is also the Sicilian ‘late orange’ and is similar to the Moro. It matures in February but can remain on the trees unharvested until April and the fruit can last until the end of May.

It is the anthocyanins (water-soluble vacuolar pigments that may appear red, purple, or blue depending on the pH levels) which give the orange its distinct maroon or blood color both inside and on the ‘blushed’ outer skin. They will only develop if temperatures are low at night which is typical of Mediterranean winter and early Spring.

In Germany we have all three varieties readily available and in untreated organic form which are perfect both for their juice and zesting. Their slight bitterness make them a great marmelade orange too. You can use any of the three types for this cheescake. Make sure to roll the oranges around the counter to release their juices before cutting them – but then you knew that already!

Recipe adapted from Under the Highchair - thank you Aimée for the inspiration!

Blood Orange Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust

Ingredients for the crust:

• 150 grams / 1 ½ cups simple sugar cookies crumbs
• 30 grams / ¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 75 grams / 1/3 cup of butter – melted

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 packages of cream cheese 200 grams / ca. 1 cup each
• ¾ cup / 170 grams of sugar
• 5 M-size eggs – best at room temperature
• 120 grams / 1/2 cup of plain yoghurt
• juice and zest of 2 blood oranges – organic
• zest of 1 lemon – organic

Putting it all together:

Preheat the oven to 350 ° F / 175° C.

Make the crust by combining the cookie crumbs, cocoa powder and melted butter. Press the mixture into a springform pan or a pie dish – 10 inches or 23 cms wide. Press evenly and make a small rim about 1/3 up the sides. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool – don’t worry if the rim shrinks a little.

In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and then add the yoghurt, juice and zests, mixing well to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to combine after each one – don’t over beat.

Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 45 minutes – turn off the oven and let the cake sit another 10 minutes in the oven with the door shut.

Remove the cheesecake and cool completely. Although hard to wait the cake really does taste more intensely of oranges when cold. Oh and by the way this chessecake is also delicious when eaten watching a blood orange sunset!

Coming soon on Cheesecake-aganza:

Blueberry-filled Cheesecake with a Linzer Crust

Key Lime Pie Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake

Information care of Wikipedia.

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So far the weather this year has been fickle. Snow, melt, snow melt, 1 day cold, 1 day warm… even the birds’ chirping has been tentative as if they are unsure if they didn’t return north too soon.

Local produce here in Germany remains decisively wintery except for the wonderful citrus produce from Spain and their loads of zucchini whose prices are finally going down as the crop increases through natural warmth.

The need for hearty dishes to bring comfort against the cold, damp and endlessly grey weather remains. And gratins are always perfect comforters.

I whipped up this little number and it was so tasty I made it again just to be sure. As many comfort foods it was even more delicious the next day – if you can save some!

Potato Zucchini and Pork Sausage Gratin with Herbes de Provence

Ingredients:

• 750 grams / 1.65 pounds potatoes – I used the beautiful and tasty French red ones – perfect for gratins
• 1 large zucchini
• 400 grams / 14 ounces or 4 sausages of raw pork sausages – meat removed from the casings
• 250 ml / 2 cups cream
• 150 grams / 5.3 ounces herb cream cheese
• 50 grams / ½ cup of grated gratin cheese such as Gruyere
• 1 medium-sized onion
• Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Chili flakes
• Dried herbes de Provence

Putting it all together:

Wash the potatoes thoroughly and brush them clean if necessary. Use the slicing side of your grater or a mandolin to make very thin slices. Places them in cold water until ready to use. You can peel the potatoes if you prefer.

Wash the zucchini and cut off the stem. Slice the zucchini in the same way as the potatoes and set aside.

Peel and chop the onion.

Whisk the cream and the herb cream cheese together.

In a frying pan heat some olive oil and stir fry the zucchini and ½ the chopped onion with salt, pepper and a good few dashes of herbes de Provence about four minutes so that it is just softened. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

Put more oil into the pan and fry up the sausage meat and the other half of the onion, adding ground pepper and a pinch or two of chili flakes and herbes de Provence. Break up the sausage meat while frying with a fork so that you get smaller pieces. It takes about 6 minutes or until the sausage is cooked through.

Preheat the oven to 200° C / 400° F

Strain the potato slices.
Rub a gratin dish with olive oil and sprinkle salt over the oil.

Add about ½ of the potato slices so that the bottom of the gratin dish is covered. Now add ½ of the zucchini spreading is over the potato slices. Top with all the pork sausage and then the other ½ of the potato slices. Top this with the rest of the zucchini.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the gratin and top with the grated cheese.

Cover the gratin with aluminum foil and bake 50 minutes in the oven.
Remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes until the top is crunchy.

Serve and enjoy.
If your gratin is still a bit runny use bread to dip up the sauce or just a teaspoon.
The leftovers of this gratin are amazingly tasty the next day.

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With over 4,500 exhibitors, the Ambiente consumer-goods fair offers an unrivalled overview of the world market in terms of breadth and depth. Over a period of 5 days, it attracts around 140,000 trade visitors every year who come to the Ambiente to view the goods and place their orders.

It is the mirror of the Salone de Gusto, displaying every possible shape, material and color of goods to make, prepare, display, set-up, transport and enjoy the produce that the Salone de Gusto so proudly presents – the food and the drink – of every type you could ever dream of. The pots and pans, props, porcelain, cutlery, tableware and every other products for house, home, pleasure and leisure from the spoon to the BBQ grill – it is all there and the flowers, light, lamps, furniture, cutting boards and swirling cocktail glasses to present it all.

Come have an Alice in Wonderland glimpse at the colors and inspiration I found there on my one-day pass courtesy of Kahla Porcelain – and plan to be there next year!

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10 seconds??? Yes this mayonnaise comes together in 10 seconds max!

The 1^st secret is using an immersion blender and the right mixing/blending cup.

The cup should be tall and fit the head of the blender with just a tiny bit of space to spare. Generally there is one included with your blender but I’m sure you can otherwise find one in plastic, metal or even glass to suit the purpose. Mine is from Tupperware and my Mom got it at a Tupperware party in France in 1976. It has served its “mayonnaisy” purpose since then.

Now for the ingredients, you will need:

• 1 egg – take it out of the fridge at least 20 minute before using – but it will work cold if you’re in a hurry
• 1 tsp mustard of choice – depending on the flavor you want your mayonnaise to have tarragon, sweet, spicy, mild
• ¼ -½ tsp salt depending on your tastes
• ground pepper to taste – mine gets 4 grinds
• 1 tsp vinegar of choice – depending on the flavor you want your mayonnaise to have
• juice of ½ a lemon – or more if you want lemony mayonnaise
• ¾ cup good quality vegetable oil – not olive as it is thick

The 2^nd and most important secret lies in the layering – no matter what you later add once you have got the knack of it (garlic, chili, herbs) remember to keep the layering order and it will be foolproof:

Take your container and gently crack the egg into the bottom – keeping the yolk whole.

Next add the salt and then the pepper or other spices you might be using.

Then the mustard followed by the lemon juice and vinegar.

Now carefully and slowly add the oil so that it rests on top of the other ingredients.

Ready!

Now take up your immersion blender – do not yet turn it on but submerge it carefully right down to the bottom – do not back up!!

Once the blender head is at the bottom, turn it on and slowly pull it back up to the top. You will see the mayonnaise form in seconds. To mix well, plunge back down once more and pull up and it is done. 10 seconds total.

Voila c’est tout!  délicieux !! delicious!! lecker!!

You will never be short of delicious mayonnaise again and the combinations are limitless. You can add whatever tickles your mayonnaise fancy. Just make sure you respect the order of ingredients and use the right mixing/blending cup!

Use immediately or chill – you can store it for 2 days in a sterilized glass jar if your eggs are fresh.

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Where do you go to do your introspection? You know, those long drawn-out inner discussions about your life and feelings. Do you go for a walk, a bike ride, play solitaire, or sit in the bath?

I usually play solitaire. The repetitiousness of the game the challenge of the patterns, the rhythmic placing of the cards soothes my nerves and transports me to a trance-like state deep inside my most inner thoughts.

For a year now my life has been changing, every layer of discontent, self-doubt has been peeling away to leave the adult, responsible me.

I can no longer do as I please on a whim or a drop of the hat, being wild and free as if I was still 17 and the world and upcoming excitements and experiences are my oyster, yes my “raison d’être”. I have finally learned to step up to the mound of my adult life.

And you know what? I like it.

How did I get there you ask? How long did it take? Was it a difficult journey?

It took a long long time, almost 40 years! Yes it was difficult, painful, exhausting, exhilarating, depressing and joyous all at the same time. A roll-coaster of a journey with gorgeous shining stars like my child and deep deep wells of darkness.

What was the secret? Many years of professional guidance to teach me introspection and self-value!

And how do I keep myself balanced to do a full-time job plus a part-time job, and be a good Mom, a spouse, a lover, a friend, write 2 blogs, keep up with social media and cook every day?

Introspection.

Long drawn-out honest discussions in my innermost soul.

But now where there was previously only self-doubt and discontentment, there is self-value and encouragement, honesty and congratulation….. and this time there were fava beans to peel.

Fava beans you say??

Yes fava beans. I found that rhythmically slitting the cooked bean skins and squeezing out the cooked bean was very conducive to introspection.

I had a wonderful discussion with myself while peeling lava beans. Up and down the keyboards of the thoughts that entered my mind, following the twists and turns of things I have to do and remember to do, problems in friendships and possible solutions, dreams of vacations I can’t afford, hopes, wishes, hurts and worries.

But magically there was no self-doubt or self-loathing only the calming value of getting things off my mind. Using the virtual broom I learned to use in self-hypnosis last year to sweep all the gunk out, to reach that inner peace I so desperately need to find my happiness and keep my balance.

I have learned that only I can defeat myself if I let me and I try not to any more!

Introspection and fava beans – a sensational combination!

To reward you for having read my musings and maybe given some thought to your own introspection I am leaving you with a recipe for the Fava Bean Patties I made with the results of my “tour de introspection” inspired from a comment posted by “Venus from Australia” on Jamie Oliver’s online forum in 2009.

Fava Bean Patties


Ingredients

• 700 grams / 3 cups dried fava beans
• 2 tsp miso paste, optional
• 4-5 cups of water
• 1 finely-chopped red onion
• ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
• 1 clove of garlic peeled and finely chopped
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 TBSP of olive oil
• 1 tsp ground garam masala
• ¼ tsp chili flakes
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp ground Sumac
• sesame seeds, optional
• olive or peanut oil for frying

Preparation & Putting it all together

Place beans in a bowl and cover with cold water.

I was only able to soak the beans for 4 hours therefore some were still quite firm where as others were perfectly soft, I have also read that this depends on the age oft he beans. Soak overnight if you can and you can soak up to 2 days if you change the soaking water several times.

Rinse the beans and place them in a large pot with 4-5 cups of water – beans should be covered. Add 2 tsp of miso paste if using.

Bring the beans to a boil, then lower the heat to a slow boil and cook for 25 minutes for longer-soaked bean and 35 minutes for shorter-soaked beans.

Pour the beans into a colander and wait a few minute until the beans are cool enough to be handled. The cooler the beans become the more effort needs to be put into removing them from their skins.

Please note: Introspection should start here!

With a sharp paring knife make a slit into the side of the cooked bean shell and squeeze out the bean with your thumb and forefinger. Some will be easy some not. Continue shelling and introspecting until all the beans are peeled.

Place the beans in the food processor and process for about 4-5 minutes until the firmer beans have a „rough sand“ texture. For softer bean pulse until consistently reduced. Open the top and add the salt, 1 TBSP olive oil, the garam masala, Sumac, baking soda, chili flakes, coriander, onion and garlic. Put the top back on and process or pulse depending on the softness of the beans for 3-4 minutes. The grainy sand texture will remain but will now be moist.

Put the mixture into a covered container and let rest at least 30 minutes. Then with wet hands make patties or balls the size of felafel and roll in sesame seeds if desired. Let the patties rest a further 20 minutes.

Fry them in oil in batches turning them to ensure even browning – about 5 minutes altogether. Drain on paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

These patties went very well with a batch of Ilva Beretta from Lucullian Delights’s recipe for Crunchy Polenta Fingers with Herbs & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

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