Frikadellen with Curried Tomato Risotto

Ladies and Gentlemen. Please give a random round of applause to... my significant other, A., featured on this food blog for the very first time! *clapclapclapclap* And to the dish he is 50% of liable for creating: German Frikadellen (A.) with Curried Tomato Risotto (me).


Joint Cooking (ad)ventures don´t take place too often in our kitchen - much to my disappointment. I love cooking together with people. So hopefully, this wasn´t the last time we´ve cooked together. To be continued at its best.

Frikadelle is the german version of a meatball, just that it is not round, but more oval-shaped. Made from mixed ground beef this time, half pork and half beef (note to self: only beef next time). A. adds some water-soaked whole wheat toast to create a fluffier texture. And onions are a must for him. I like to add some mustard, too, but that´s the fancy version then.

I decided to go for a tomato risotto as side, actually merely because I was out of potatoes and I didn´t have any basmati rice on hand either. BUT, I still had some risotto rice, so there we go.
I kicked it up with a tablespoon of yellow curry powder, and skipped the parmesan risotto usually calls for. Turned out great - definitely a keeper. Just like A. as sous chef.

Recipe for Frikadellen with Curried Tomato Risotto


Ingredients

500g ground beef
salt and pepper
2 slices of whole wheat toast, soaked in water
1 onion, diced
1 egg
250g risotto rice
1 onion, diced
knob of butter
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 litre of veggie broth
2 tablespoons paprika powder
1 tablespoons yellow curry powder
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice


Preparation

1. Drain slices of toast.
2. In a big bowl, mix ground beef, toast, salt, pepper, egg and diced onion. Knead well.
3. Form oval patties, and set aside.
4. In a wide pot, melt butter. Add onions.
5. When onions are golden, add tomato puree and risotto rice.
6. Quench with veggie broth, adding only so much broth that the rice is barely covered. Repeat any time the liquid is almost gone, until rice is done (takes about 20 minutes).
7. Add sugar, curry and paprika powder and lemon juice in the middle of the process.
   
8. Meanwhile, heat a pan with neutral oil, and fry the meat patties. First harsh on both sides for a minute each, then turn down the heat and cook until done (about 8 more minutes).
9. To serve, pile risotto in the middle, top with Frikadelle and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Oreo Cheesecake

Big news ahead - my brother is going to be married! So we had to drive by his place yesterday afternoon for cake & congrats. I decided to go for an Oreo Cheesecake - something funky for the rural folks.


I love Oreos, and I love cheesecake - the combo of both those things is just adorable. Plus, the base is made of cookie crumbs and butter - no baking necessary. And the filling doesn´t call for flour (especially great for gluten sensible people). The cake is crunchy, sweet, but not overly, and the filling is moist and dense, but not too heavy. A great cake for any occasion.



Recipe for Oreo Cheesecake

Ingredients

16+4 Oreo cookies
50g butter
750g quark
300g cream cheese
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
110g sugar


Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.
   
2. Crush cookies in your blender.
3. Melt butter. Mix with cookie crumbs.
4. Press into round baking pan (26cm diameter).
5. Mix quark, cream cheese, and sugars well.
   
6. Add eggs, one at a time.
7. Pour on top of cookie crumb base.
8. Decorate with halfed Oreo cookies (if you like).
9. Bake on second rack from bottom for about 45 minutes.
10. Let cool at room temperature for an hour.
11. Place in the fridge and cool for another 5 hours before serving.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Impressions from Foodie Meeting

Just returned from my first Chefkoch Foodie Meeting in Ratingen. We had a grand time, prepping and chatting and cooking, picking and nibbling and laughing. Thanks again to Tina and Thomas for being such great hosts - very looking forward to our next meeting!

Cracker with creamed smoked trout

Hamburger Schlemmerschnitte - Pumpernickel bread
with beef tartare, caviar and pickles

Cracker with creamed smoked trout and
horseradish - potatoe & salmon patties

Laab Moo - spicy thai-style pork

Summer rolls - vietnames rice-paper wraps
with chicken

Pearl balls - steamed beef and sticky rice balls

Crepes with chocolate cream
and fresh fruit on skewers

Not pictured: cinnamon apricots with goat cheese filling.

Risotto di Spumante with Salmon

In for a special treat? How about a risotto with spumante, the italian sparkling wine? Topped with a nice cut of salmon, marinated in red pepper and peanut oil?


Thought you´d like that. I loved it, too. This is actually really a quick meal - takes 30 minutes all in all. But you have to remain by the oven the whole time, stirring the risotto. Because if you leave it unattended, it has a tendency to burn. Immediately. Trust me, I´ve tried. But if you keep a close eye on it, everything will be fine.

I marinated the salmon with freshly ground red pepper, salt and coriander, blended with peanut oil. Just throw everything into a zip bag, knead it well, and let sit in the fridge for a while. The longer, the better, but if you´re short of time, 30 minutes will do.

The risotto is flavoured with sparkling wine and lemon - great combo. I used a semi-sweet sparkling wine to balance flavours. The snap peas are more for looks than for taste. I wanted something green to get more colour into the dish. So I just quickly boiled them (about 2 minutes), and tossed them in a little melted butter. A great recipe if you want to impress people. Or your taste buds. Or both.

Recipe for Risotto di Spumante with Salmon

Ingredients

2 fillets of salmon
coarse salt
red pepper corns
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
250g arborio rice
500ml spumante (sparkling wine)
500ml veggie broth
20g parmesan
knob of butter
1 shallot
1/2 lemon, juice and zest
100g snap peas


Preparation

1. In a morser, grind salt, red pepper and coriander seeds. Pour into zip bag. Add peanut oil.
   
2. Wash and dry salmon. Place in the prepped zip bag, and let sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
3. Dice shallot. Heat butter in a pot. Sear shallot.
   
4. Add arborio rice, and stir well. Quench with spumante until rice is just merely covered. Wait until the liquid has been soaked up, and add spumante and broth alternatingly, until the rice is done (takes about 20 minutes). Stir constantly, otherwise your risotto will burn.
5. About 7 minutes before the risotto is done, heat a pan. Sear the salmon on high heat, 1 minute on each side. Reduce the heat to low, and cook salmon until done.
   
6. When the risotto is al dente, remove from heat, add lemon juice and peel and parmesan. Stir well. Cover with a lid and let sit for 2-3 minutes.
7. Serve with some quickly boiled snap peas, tossed in butter.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Literary Culinary

Really good books are just as rare as Wagyu Beef. Especially if you are looking for food book that is neither written by Anthony Bourdain nor your traditional recipe collection.
Which is why I HAVE to tell you about this little literary jewel: Monsieur, der Hummer und ich (Monsieur, the lobster and I), written by Stevan Paul.


Stevan Paul was born in 1969 and lives in Hamburg. The trained chef worked in leading establishment of german gastronomy from 1988 until 1995 and is nowadays working as foodstylist and Autor for magazines, advertising agencies and publishing houses. You might know him as Herr Paulsen - his alias for his foodblog NutriCulinary.

The book is a collection of culinary episodes. Too precious to read them all at once, more like very good pralinés - you eat them one by one, endulging in the moment. I like!