Happy Holidays
Wising you and your loved ones happy holidays.
Thank you for your visits and comments in 2010.
You can find all the recipes from my Advent Calendar on the recipe page and the picture in the Advent Calendar gallery.
Karin
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PDFHearty Oxtail Soup – warm soup for cool days
Now that the summer is over in Germany and the Fall is officially here, the sun has been shining bright, the sky is Bavarian blue and the leaves are putting on their beautiful yellow, orange and red coats. A walk in the sunshine is invigorating but as soon as the sun goes down there is a very distinct chill in the air that makes me long for a hearty oxtail soup.
Here is an adaptation of a very “old” oxtail soup blog post that I found per chance and have made many times to YUMMMM raves over the years. Thank you Erik for your inspiration!
I make this in a pressure cooker – but if you have the time – cook it on your stove for 3 hours of more and let your house rejoice in the wonderful aroma that it emits. It is best started the day before since it has 2 cooking and one degreasing step which is easier to do when the soup has cooled overnight. And like any stew, making it the day before greatly improves its flavor.
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Porto – the pearl of Portugal
I have always loved Portugal, the discreet charm and friendliness of their people and the old world patina of the cities and countryside. In the last couple of years through I have been disappointed by the “gentrification” of Lisbon. So I decided to try a new city: Porto and I discovered it is a gem – the pearl of Portugal in my eyes. Wikipedia describes a pearl as: “a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk” – how fitting for Oporto as it is known to English-speakers.
Narrow streets and alleys, wide avenues, tons of churches, white sandstone buildings and lots and lots of traditional shops. Of course there are very ugly concrete buildings in-between all of this old world loveliness. But it is a combination of the old and the new – like the shine and the patina of a pearl – that also gives Porto its charm. Gazing out at the wide Atlantic from the mouth of the river Douro serves to remind one of the important role this “tiny nation” with its mighty history played, first during the Reconquista period on the Iberian peninsula and then throughout the world during the Age of Discovery.
...Rose and Golden Oyster Mushroom Salad with Pears
Trailing through the market on a Saturday not yet ready for the heavy winter vegetables I was undecided what to buy. And then there was a stand in the third row of the market, between a man selling socks on one side and vacuum cleaner bags and parts on the other: mushroom paradise!
A young girl with beautiful cultivated mushrooms of all sorts, shitake, boletus, porcini, chanterelles, even Portobello which you very rarely see in Germany and oyster mushrooms – P. Citrinopileatus – of varying kinds: king trumpet, chestnut and golden and rose ones.
They were beautiful, fragile and fragrant and they were calling to me. My tongue could already feel the taste and texture of these beauties lightly fried in butter and mixed with pears atop a mound of luscious red oak leaf lettuce. Yummmmmm……
yum and more reloaded Bobotie baked in a Pumpkin
Happy Halloween
Halloween has just come and gone here and although not all children living in Germany take part, it has become more popular over the years. The arrival of the costumes and the carving pumpkins is also accompanied by wonderful pumpkins for soups, breads, pies, and for more exotic things like Bobotie baked in a pumpkin.
I first enjoyed this when a South African friend of mind made it over 20 years ago but I had never made it myself until recently. Mrs. van Eeden’s recipe which I have adapted below was a great inspiration. Make sure you choose the right pumpkin so that it isn’t watery. The recipe will feed a Halloween crowd of 6-8 depending on their hunger. A friend halved this recipe and used a large Hokkaido pumpkin for a dinner for 2 with leftovers.
Serve it straight out of the pumpkin, scooping the pretty orange flesh with the meat filling onto saffron, plain or whole rice. This dish is yummy, warming and it looks so pretty on your Halloween table.
BOO! ….I mean yuuummmmm….
Baked Artichokes with Oranges, Figs and Sweet Potatoes
I discovered a new Turkish supermarket this week and was in heaven as it housed not only so many products that I love like 12 types of sheep cheese in brine, numerous amounts of “boerek” phyllo pastry sheets: square, round, rectangular even triangular ones and lots of fresh vegetables that are common to Turkish cuisine such as okra, figs and artichokes – the little long-stemmed ones.
I ended up with a huge box of shopping and have been happily working my way through it – creating new recipes as I go along.
This one is for my vegetarian friends – but also for people who don’t mind using their fingers when they eat – like me – the more it runs down my arms the more I savor it.
OK I’ve outed myself now!
This dish combines the unique taste of artichokes, the juiciness of oranges, the nuttiness of figs and the sweetness of the potatoes. A delight for both your eyes and your taste buds.
Spicy Chocolate Cake with Canberries, Nuts and White Chocolate Glaze
Spicy Chocolate Cake with Cranberries, Nuts and White Chocolate Glaze
Fall is definitely here and the sunny Indian Summer weather has blown off leaving chilly temperatures, icy rain and gray skies. One longs for a couch, a warm blanket, a mug of tea or coffee and some yummy cake.
Well here it is, a chocolate cake crammed full of surprises, moist, flavorful, chewy and crunchy at the same time. A different type of brownie that makes you want to eat one piece after the other and that is hard to resist nibbling every time you go past the platter.
With icing or without, it will warm your tummy and please your palate!
Yuuuummmmm…
Fall lamb köfte and eggplant skewers – no more burgers for me!!
Minced Lamb “Köfte” with Eggplant/Aubergine on a Skewer
Oven-baked Sweet and White Potatoes Chunks
Fall Beet, Apple, Walnut and Goat Cheese Salad
Köfte is a kebab variation which is popular in Turkey and Iran but also can be found in Macedonian, Armenian, and Romanian cuisine.
In good Turkish restaurants in Germany you can find it grilled with eggplant which is my favorite way. in the US, eggplant is the name for this beautiful vegetable; British-speaking people will know it as aubergine. In this recipe the flavoring of the spices and the meat gets soaked up by the eggplant slices and makes the kebab juicy instead of dry when it is grilled.
Here is a simple but yummy alternative to hamburgers on the grill or when you want to make something instead of hotdogs or brats alongside the hamburgers.
Bulgur and Apricot Cake “Simone” with Orange Anis Sauce
Taste Lebanon Monthly Mingle
Ah… the food of Lebanon, now there’s a challenge I will gladly take up since I adore Lebanese food and it is hard to find here in Frankfurt, Germany. Cooking something for the Monthly Mingle is also compensation for not being able to attend the Taste Lebanon Culinary Tour which Beth and Chris lead this past month.
Memories of my stays in Beirut both for work and prolonged for pleasure, quickly filled my head with their wonderful mix of cultures, decay and hope, and of course flavors and fun. Walking, clubbing, dancing, eating – and the great wish to travel on and discover the rest of this exciting country.
The decision between sweet and savory was difficult since all the Lebanese food I usually cook is savory but I wanted something that would reflect the spices I so adore in the Middle East. I paged through books and searched online, and pondered… and then I came across a recipe from EatingWell Magazine from the May/June 2007 issue called “Apricot-Bulgur Pudding Cake with Vanilla Sauce” and decided that I would “doctor” it up and see what happened. And that is what I did and it is a dream come true!
I added cloves, cardamom, pistachios, sesame seeds and chili flakes, and replaced the vanilla sauce with a bittersweet orange anis sauce that is the perfect accompaniment. So here it is all you lovely ladies and gents: my entry for Taste Lebanon monthly mingle.
P.S. The name Simone was given to honor special friends who traveled on one motorcycle named Simone from Saudi Arabia to France this summer and whose pictures also reminded my of my wonderful times in Beirut.
Enjoy Bulgur and Apricot Cake “Simone” with Orange Anis Sauce…..yuuummmmm
A long dinner for dear long lost friends
Imagine you finally get to cook for long-lost dear friends and you only have a one time shot before they “disappear” again for a long-time. Sure you have remained in email and Facebook contact and know what their kids are doing and they know what your vacation was like – but what you can’t share across the Atlantic is the taste, comfort and ecstasy of a great meal together.
So this was my chance and my challenge. My friends needed to eat low fat and with no alcohol for the one. Not a problem since eating lighter would be good for the hosts and hostess too!
It was to start with oysters served with spicy Merguez – the Merguez being a personal twist on the way the France like to eat their oysters with saucisses (brats) in the Bay of Arcachon where most France oysters begin since the babies are grown there for Brittany and other regions in France.
But alas, someone had bought up all the fresh oyster at my fish market. Since I generally plan ahead and it was the day before the meal – I grabbed a frozen rack of New Zealand lamb – giving me the opportunity I had waited for to create my Lamb Lollipops.
The menu would now read:
Appetizer
- Serano Ham with cantaloupe melon
- Mini Tomato and Mozarella sticks
- Radish and Mirabelle Plum Salad
- Lamb Lollipops on Beet Horseradish Mousse with Plum, Fig Sauce
Main course
- Steamed Marinated Salmon Trout – made on the bbq
- Raw Fennel and Celery Salad with fresh Parmesan
- Cubed potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and apples cooked in broth
Desert
- Pear Tarte with ginger accompanied by vanilla sauce
