A German Classic - Bratkartoffeln

Today, it´s time for a German all-time classic: Bratkartoffeln. Home fried potatoes. My dad used to be the world´s best Bratkartoffel-chef EVER. I vividly remember a fierce argument of my aunt with her husband years ago because he had stated that my dad´s Bratkartoffeln were WAY better than hers. Boy, that was a round-up, let me tell you!


The secret to some stunningly good Bratkartoffeln is as easy as hard to follow - at least for people with short temper like me. You need:

1. a heavy-duty cast iron pan (and I mean HEAVY duty!)
2. potatoes cooked WITH the peel the day before (otherwise they will fall apart)
3. butter oil (butter and olive oil will burn, and veggie oil doesn´t taste at all)
4. and - MOST IMPORTANT - but also most difficult - you need PATIENCE.

Yes, I know, this is the hard part. For me, too, if that consoles you. You need to heat up the pan on high, then reduce heat to medium. Melt your butter oil, cut your potatoes into slices (evenly, please) and SLOWLY sear them. Do NOT turn often. You want your potatoes to develop a crisp outside, and a tender inside. Which will only happen if you give your potatoes a break and don´t throw them around every other minute. Be patient. You will be rewarded.

My significant other, A., INSISTS that onions have to be added. I don´t agree, but opinions on this point are numerous. Some people like their Bratkartoffeln plain (I do). Some people insist on onions (like A.). If you want to add them, make sure you add them late - otherwise they will burn. Some other people will insist on adding onions AND speck (german bacon), cut into cubes.
Luckily, there´s no accounting for taste. So try them all, and decide for yourself.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Stuffed Wolffish with Cauliflower-Coconut-Puree

Have I already told you that we´ve finally managed to book our yearly vacation? No? Jeees. Probably because I already can´t wait until we´re going. We will travel to Thailand this year, 15 days in Decembre, covering Xmas and returning shortly before Change of Years. Woohoo! Street kitchens, be warned, I am coming - and I am willing to try whatever you got on hand. OK, except for roasted duck beak, maybe. But we´ll see. We´ll be spending the first couple of days in Bangkok, then moving on to Koh Samui for the relaxing part of the vacation - so if you´ve got any inside tips on where to go or what to see, please let me know in the comments or via info[at]cookinette[dot]net.

Thinking about the vacation, I was in the mood for more experimental cooking tonight. Asian-style. Of course. I managed to come across a beautiful piece of wolffish. I love this fish because of its compact flesh - and because of its funny german name: "Steinbeißer" (stone biter).


I wasn´t in the mood for pure fish fillet, so I stuffed the wolffish with a peanut creme: peanut butter, kaffir lime leaves, chili and garlic all mixed up with the hand blender. Spread on to half of the fish, folded the other half on top, and pan-seared the whole thing.

To accompany, I made a cauliflower puree - which works just like your plain old mashed potatoes: boil cauliflower and a single potato (for binding), puree with coconut milk, et voilá.
The combo of nutty fish and smooth, creamy puree was great - and even people who usually don´t like cauliflower will eat this puree, trust me.

I have to admit, I should have brought in a bit more color - looking at it now, it does look kind of blank. Next time, I´ll have some broccoli or snow peas on the side.

Recipe for Stuffed Wolffish with Cauliflower-Coconut-Puree


Ingredients

1 fillet of wolffish
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 chili
1 clove of garlic
3 kaffir lime leaves

1 cauliflower
1 potato
250ml coconut milk
salt and pepper
chili powder


Preparation

1. For the cauliflower puree, clean cauliflower and break into roses. Peel potato and cut into cubes. Bring a large pot with water to a boil. Salt. Add cauliflower and potato, and cook until tender (appr. 20 minutes).
2. Meanwhile, rinse and dry fish. Cut into equally sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
3. For the peanut creme, mince garlic. Grind kaffir lime leaves. Combine peanut butter, chili, garlic and kaffir lime leaves. Spread onto half of the fish. Fold remaining half on top. If necessary, bind with kitchen thread.
   
4. Heat a pan with butter oil. Sear fish on each side for two minutes, then reduce heat to medium and cook until tender (appr. 8 minutes).
5. Drain cauliflower and potato. Keep some small neat cauliflower roses for decoration.
6. Heat coconut milk. Puree veggies with coconut milk. Season to taste with salt, pepper and chili powder. Don´t be too cautious with salt and chili, the coconut milk really absorbs a lot of the spices.
7. To serve, dress puree in the middle of the plate, top with wolffish and decorate with the remaining cauliflower roses.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Big Birthday Bang

Birthdays are always fun. Especially when it is a "round" birthday (as we say in German when someone completes another decade). On top: a family get-together with the parents-in-law meeting for the first time EVER. Wooohooo. Exciting.

A. and I have been together for more than 8 eight years now - gosh, can´t believe it´s already been THAT long - but somehow, we never managed to get the parents-in-law together. Yes, shame on us, I know. Can´t really tell you why either. Sorry. But this time, signs were good, and I did manage to get everyone (excepts for A.´s bigger sister) to agree on the same date. Which usually is the hardest part - all of you out there with big families know what I´m talking about.

We had spotted a nice restaurant in Neuss, where the sisters with the smaller kids live, an found that good enough to give it a shot.


The feel of this place is really mediterranean - lots of terracotta, a nice large "Biergarten". It is family-owned, and immediately upon walking in, the famous greek hospitality is poured upon you. Great. Convenience is a big point on the checking list, too - and the owners were really nice and courteous. I had asked to be let in before opening so I could decorate the table -and they had no problem w/ stowing away my birthday cake in the cooling either. So I prepped the invitations and send them out as little card boards:

While browsing the city for table decoration, I came across sunflowers made out of bast. I liked them on the spot, giving me a warm summery feeling. So I bought a lot of them, and some orange fake glass stones to pull it off. The table looked really inviting and welcoming:

The name cards showed a little yawning lion cub because the birthday boy´s sign is Leo. And the birthday boy liked his birthday party, too - equipped with a "Glücksschwein", the german equivalent to a rabbit´s foot, nothing could have gone wrong, don´t you think?

Everyone arrived on time, and we ordered cold and warm "meses", greek starters, for everyone to nibble: zaziki, feta dip, octopus salad, grilled bell peppers, red feta-stuffed peppers, zucchini fritters, ciabatta. The octopus salad was a challenge to most - people still are very reluctant when they see suction cups on food. Wonder why that is ; )

Then, everyone ordered their mains from the menu - I know the families. Most are picky eaters, and whatever I would have chosen, at least two would have said "But you KNOW I don´t eat that!" *sigh* So I went for the easy way. The food was good, however, we waited quite long - but oh well, with a full house AND our 11 different dishes, you really coulnd´t expect anything else.

Then, as "Finale furioso" (grand finale), I brought the birthday cake to the table: two-storied, a simple pound cake with chocolate pieces and a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (black forest cherry gateau) on top. The Schwarzwälder was gone within seconds, literally - couldn´t ask for a bigger compliment, right?

We sat, ate, talked, drank, ate a little more, drank, talked, and did it over. A great birthday party, and everyone left full and satisfied. Again: best birthday wishes to my significant other, A. - we´ve come a long way together. I wish you all the best in the world, especially all that money can´t buy. Looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays together!


In case you want to check out the restaurant we went to, try their website: Kolossos

P.S.: and just in case you wondered - the parents-in-law got along just fine! ; )

Go Asia - Peanut Banana Chutney & Lemongrass Chicken Skewers

Time for another asian dish! Classical, but with a new twist. Just how I like it ;)

The other day, I was flicking through Kim Sohyi´s cookbook "Kim". I met her at the taping of the Kuechenschlacht this March in Hamburg, and was really impressed by her kindness and cooking skills. My eye was caught by a recipe for a peanut banana chutney. I´ve only known the combination of peanut and bananas in Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwiches (just like Elvis Presley), and I really like the taste, so this sounded just perfect to give it a shot.


The recipe serves the chutney with lemongrass scallop skewers and fruity sushi rice, but I wasn´t in the mood for seafood - and I absolutely adore the classical Saté - chicken skewers with peanut sauce. So I figured the chicken would do just as well, and I was right (uuuuh, how I like that :) ).

The preping of this dish is so easy - and the dish itself is finger-licking good. Trust me. I´ve hidden the leftovers of the chutney in the darkest, most far away corner of the fridge in the hope of having it all for myself.

Recipe for Peanut Banana Chutney & Lemongrass Chicken Skewers


Ingredients for 2

300g chicken breast
2 sticks lemongrass
salt and pepper

3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 banana
knob of butter
1/2 teaspoon chopped chili
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon balsamico
1 clove of garlic
100ml coconut milk


Preparation

1. For the chutney, heat butter in a pan. Cut bananas into cubes, mince garlic. Add all ingredients to the butter, cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. For the skewers, cut lemongrass into equally long pieces, and sharpen the tip.
   
3. Spike cubed chicken onto lemongrass. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Heat butter in another pan. Sear skewers until golden brown.
5. Serve chutney in a small glass or dish, together with skewers.
   

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Mesdames et Monsieurs - la Tarte Tatin!

Une excursion brève a la France. A short trip to France - at least foodwise. We had sat down in the Shennong Tea Lounge the other day, and my significant other, A., had ordered a Tarte Tatin, the legendary french apple pie. It tasted wonderful, which was enough inspiration for me to put it onto the "gotta try that out at home" list.

And opportunity struck, in form of a sunday morning being home alone. I had visited a sports class around midday, and was really feeling like I deserved a special treat. And A. had been on nightshift, so he deserved a special treat, too.

I had found a recipe that sounded way too easy to be true: cube and dice fruit, stew in honeybutter, cover with puff pastry and you´re done. Sounds fantastic, right? So I gave it a shot. And it turned out to be the easiest, but tastiest apple pie. As I´ve told you, I was in the mood for a SPECIAL treat, so I served the Tarte with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs´ Vanilla Caramel Brownie icecream. Et voilá:


And yes, it tasted as good as it looks. Especially when you wipe up the melted ice cream with a piece of honeybutter-soaked puff pastry...

Recipe for Tarte Tatin


Ingredients for 2-3

1 apple
1 pear
50g butter
50g honey
puff pastry


Preparation

1. Peel and dice apple and pear.
   
2. In a pan, melt butter.
3. Add honey and fruit cubes.
4. Steam until most of the honey butter has been soaked up by the fruit.
5. Place in a fireproof bowl.
6. Roll out puff pastry to fit your bowl.
   
7. Cover fruit with puff pastry. You can stuff excess inside the bowl on the sides, or cut it off. However you like.
8. Bake at 200°C for appr. 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
9. Dump onto a plate.
10. Serve with powdered sugar or ice cream.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Hot ´n Cold - Avocado Lime Pasta w/ Ajvar Meatballs

Flicking through a german women´s magazine, an article about "Cooking without cooking" caught my eye. Bottom line: light, refreshing food that works hot as good as cold and is really easy to whip up - no more than 20 minutes needed. The recipes can be found here.

Since I had another avocado sitting on the counter, I decided to try the Pasta with Avocado-Lime-Sauce. But, since it was a rather cold day today, I wanted to spice it up a bit, and try it hot rather than cold. And that proved to be a really good idea.


Sorry for the undefinable picture - now I know why in the magazine, they picture the single components rather than the readily mixed up dish... but oh well. Next time, I´ll know better.

The recipe is really quick: mix avocado, lime juice, sour cream and spices, mix with pasta. Tada.
I wanted to kick it up a notch, and I had ground beef sitting in the fridge, and a glass of Ajvar, a turkish bell pepper paste. So I combined the beef with a shallot, a clove of garlic and the ajvar, formed little meat balls and seared them in a pan. Added them to the pasta, et voilá.

You can also serve this as a pasta salad - just let cool, pack tightly and take on the road for your next picnic!

Recipe for Pasta with Avocado and Lime w/ Ajvar Meatballs


Ingredients for 2-3

200g pasta
100g sour cream
1 avocado, ripe
1 lime
salt, pepper,
chili
1 tablespoon brown sugar

250g ground beef
salt, pepper
3 tablespoons ajvar



Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil. Add salt and pasta, cook as directed.
2. Meanwhile, half avocado and scrape out flesh. Add lime juice and sour cream and puree with your hand blender. Season to taste with salt, pepper, chili and brown sugar.
3. Mix ground beef with ajvar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Form small meatballs.
4. Heat a pan and sear meatballs on high. Reduce heat and cook for a couple more minutes.
5. Place an kitchen towel to soak up excessive fat.
6. In a large bowl, combine pasta, avocado sauce and meatballs. Stir and either serve straight away or let cool completely and serve cold.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Chai Tea - Day Escape

Whenever I am at home and need a moment for myself, I like to indulge in a wonderful Chai Tea Latte. I got to know this at Starbucks, and I´ve been addicted ever since. Whether with low fat milk or soy milk, the spices just blend greatly, and leave you feeling nice and warm. If it´s really hot, try your Chai Tea on Ice!

But, all my tests with composing my own chai tea mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves etc. never quite matched the original that I was aiming for. But this weekend, I made a wonderful discovery at a relatively new, huge supermarket that is specialising in Fine Foods: Chai Tea from
David Rio. They originate from the San Francisco area, and during my last visit to the U.S., I was lucky enough to come across their products. But unfortunately, their stuff is really hard to find here in Europe. So when I saw their stuff, I HAD to buy a package of the Elephant Vanilla Chai.


And boy, it was just a good as I remembered. This really is a wonderful day escape - whip up your chai, sit back and relax. And it´s good for your conscience, too - they use organic ingredients and support local farmes wherever possible. Gotta love that, right?
Their product range covers chai teas, loose-leaf teas and many more. So if you´re looking for a treat for you or a special someone, you might find it right there.

Thai Red Curry w/ Chicken and Cashews

Remember the recipe for Red Beef Curry that I shared w/ you a while ago? And how I kept talking about the versatility of this dish? Well, here we go again.


This time, I had set my mind on using chicken. A bundle of green Thai asparagus wanted to be used, too, so I threw that in as well. Limes were also ready to be used, so I added the juice of one to the curry as well. I figured that bamboo shoots would fit well, so half a can of these went in.

To kick it up a notch, I seared some minced ginger with the red curry paste in the beginning. I love the flavor, and the mild sharpness that it comes with.

Last but not least, I was in a kind of crunchy mood - so I topped the dish with some roasted cashews. I guess that proves that this curry really IS versatile - so get creative with this one!

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Cooking Cup 2009 - The Story

After a good night´s sleep, I´ve sorted through my thoughts and the pictures taken, and sure want to keep my promise of giving you the inside scoop, so here we go.

I started at home at 8.30 a.m. to drive the 300k to Hannover. The night before, I bought my share of ingredients, and my co-cooker did, too. So when we met, we had enough time to prepare the Rosenberger Garnelen we had bought. Funny things, their legs are so long! They are kinda like "scampi XXL" - they can be up to 25cm long. Ours were medium-sized, perfect to top the fillet of beef in our Surf&Turf dish. Meet one of our funny friends here:

When we were done preparing and checking over and over again whether we hadn´t forgotten anything, we started the 60k drive to Braunschweig were the preliminals were held. We were first to arrive, and instantly started sneaking around the test kitchen we were supposed to cook in:

Since the Cooking Cup is sponsored by Siemens, the preliminals are held in certified Siemens Live Cooking Schools all across the country. Brandnew, induction cooking - which turned out to be the first problem: the pan I brought from home was not compatible with the stove top. Bummer. But oh well, life is full of surprises...

The other two teams arrived shortly afterwards: two female friends, 40-something, and an old man with a female friend, 70-something. The dishes sounded interesting: "Sole roll with cocoa pasta, coconut sauce and mango compote" (Team 70), and "Meat wedding Fish" (Team 40).

We were up first for cooking, so we went for it. Everything went well, we got along great, and kept the time limit. But, unfortunately, my co-cooker forgot to put the sauce on the plates. That really sucked, especially because the Jury said that in the end that could have made the difference. But - nothing you can do about it when it´s over, except for learning from it for the future! This is what our dish looked like in the end:


Next up was Team 70. Boy, had they trouble with their pasta dough - it was way too dry and kept falling apart. But they, too, made their dish in time:

Unfortunately, it sounded much better than it tasted, so they came in 3rd place.

Last but not least, Team 40: they have already taken part in the Cooking Cup several times, but never made it to the semi-final yet. Their dish was the greatest surprise because of the non-telling name "Meat wedding Fish". They made a veal roll, pastry stars, orange sauce, salad w/balsamic dressing, seared scallops and crumb-coated green and red tomatoes.


The Jury liked the joint of californian and mediterranean cuisines. So Congratulations to Christine and Martina - I wish you all the best for the semi-final on September 11th!

There is a slight chance for us of moving up to the semi-finals as well - the best second runner-ups will be nominated subsequently when all the preliminals are over. I´ll keep in touch regarding this point :)
To sooth away the losing pain, we were spoiled with some nice goodies: a Porsche design toaster, a collection of Gallo wines, and Seeberger is sending us a basket filled with dried fruits and nuts.
That really makes you feel better, let me tell you. So if you live in Germany, you might want to look out for next year´s competition - it is really a great experience.

Cooking Cup 2009 - Results

Hey guys, just a short notice to let you know:

we came in second place last night, was a very close decision between first and second so we might actually move up to the semi final as one of the best runner-up teams.


I will share all the details later, and show you some pictures, too - just gotta sort all the stuff first before I throw it over to you.

Cross your fingers! NOW!!!

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I´m off to the 2009 Cooking Cup preliminals in Braunschweig. We will be cooking up against two other teams of 2, and the lucky winner (which I seriously want to be US) will go to the semi-finals in Septembre, so please cross all thumbs available for us!


Competition starts at 3.30 p.m., and will last until evening. I will let you know via my Twitter-Account instantly if we´ve made it, and post here as soon as possible.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported us, from first sketches of the dish to the test cooking to the arrangement of components on the plate. We will do all we can to make you proud of us!

Mission: Prep Cooking - Accomplished

Yes! Yes! YES! Prep-cooking for the 2009 Cooking Cup Preliminals this upcoming Wednesday just went smooth as can be. Just hope that everything runs like that on Wednesday, too.
This is what we will use as reference for decorating the plates:


Thanks againt to everybody who has been sharing their thoughts, giving advice, or just eating the same stuff over and over again (special thanks to my significant other, A., who´s had just about ENOUGH of this dish). Appreciate your support.

Only three more days to go - Braunschweig, I´m coming!

P.S.: I can´t tell you exactly what you are seeing and how I´ve made that until after the competition since I don´t want to be expelled before we´ve even started. But don´t worry, you´ll get all the grip on it by the end of this week. Until then: happy guessing ;)

Saturday Morning Shopping or my Miracle Bag

One of my favourite things to do is stroll the market on a Saturday morning, preferably when the sun is shining. I wasn´t that lucky today, it kept raining, but that is not enough to ruin my day. This weekend is the last weekend before our preliminals for the Cooking Cup 2009, which means I will once more practice our Surf&Turf dish, just to make sure that everything comes out perfect. No second chances on Wednesday - and I really want to make it to the semi-finals! So please keep your fingers crossed this Wednesday, Juli 15th!

Anyways, back to this mornings´shopping spree. I grabbed my "miracle bag" (you wouldn´t believe how much stuff you can fit into this baby!), and went for the market. I just love the atmosphere. All the booths and people, a little chit-chat here, another chit-chat there, and before you know it, you´ve spent more than an hour where you only wanted to quickly buy "a little this and a little that". I kept packing things into my miracle bag, and by the time I was done, it seemed like I had bought stones somewhere. One of the guys from the fruit stand I was last actually offered me their buggy to carry it home ;) Of course, I refused, but in the back of my head a voice kept saying "take it!". But I made it home without any utilities. This is what my bag looked like:


Not too intimidating, and not yet looking like it is holding more than usual inside? Then check out what I actually carried inside:

From avocado to green asparagus, from chorizo to peaches, from ginger to dried dates, from king prawns to freshly baked bread to orange juice to lobster broth. Pretty nice assortment, huh?

I am seriously looking forward to practicing tonight - just hoping that everything turns out just as we need it to on Wednesday.

All-time Favourite: Tagliatelle with Ham and Mushrooms

Today, I´d like to share a very easy, basic recipe with you that might become one of your favourites ,too. People often think that cooking is really complicated, and takes a lot of time preparing stuff - this recipe sure proofs them wrong. My schedule has been packed the last couple of days, and this is what I fall back on in these times: Tagliatelle with Ham and Mushrooms.


From Start to Finish, this dish takes AT MOST 25 minutes. And, it uses ingredients that you will most likely keep in your fridge or have in stock anyhow: pasta of any kind, cream, veggie broth, ham and - if on hand - mushrooms. I like to swap the mushrooms for canned green peas - tastes equally good. And a can of peas should really be in your cupboard - whether for a quick pea soup or this wonderful pasta dish.

Recipe for Tagliatelle with Ham and Mushrooms

Ingredients for 2

250g Tagliatelle (or any other kind of pasta you like)
100ml cream
100ml veggie broth
2 slices of ham
200g mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
butter oil
salt and pepper
ground nutmeg
dash of lime juice


Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil. Salt. Add pasta and cook as directed.
2. Meanwhile, cut ham into cubes and mushrooms into slices. Mince garlic.
3. Heat a pan. In butter oil, sear ham. Add mushrooms, and cook until no more liquid is coming out of them. Add minced garlic along the way.
4. Quinch with veggie broth and cream. Season with salt, pepper, ground nutmeg and a dash of lime (or lemon) juice.
5. Let cook for a while, until sauce begins to thicken.
6. Drain pasta, and add to the sauce.
7. Serve with freshly ground black pepper sprinkled around.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Tagliatelle Verde with Salmon and Lime

The weather has been really hideous the last couple of days -as if the weather fairy couldn´t make up her mind between sun and rain. I just hope it will get better again soon -would be a bummer if summer was already over after having just begun.

To cling to the summer feeling, and seeing a beautiful norwegian fillet of salmon at the fish stand, I decided to whip up a lovely pasta dish tonight: Tagliatelle Verde with Salmon and Lime.


This not only looks, but also tastes like a day at an Italian coast, holidays, summer, fun. I used Tagliatelle verdi, noodles that have been died with spinach. That gives them the green color. They don´t taste like spinach, just in case you wondered. I just love this kind of pasta, and its little sister, the Tagliatelle Nero (black) which are died with sepia ink.

Both go well with fish - the green better with fillets, the black with prawns and the like. So it was time for green this time. The dish is really easy to make, and so tasty. You only need a couple of basic ingredients - which is what I like so much about the artisan italian cuisine - and it only takes about 25 minutes to put this on the table and take the bows for it.

Even my significant other, A., who really isn´t into fish usually, sunk his cutlery into this one. Conclusion: don´t ask before you prepare stuff - just make your loved ones try it. And should somedone dare to complain, tell them: "You don´t like it? You cook!"

Recipe for Tagliatelle Verde with Salmon and Lime

Ingredients for 2

300g salmon
250g tagliatelle verde (spinach pasta)
100ml cream
150ml veggie broth
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1 lime (juice of)
butter
salt and pepper
pink berry pepper


Preparation

1. Cut salmon in 2x2cm cubes. Salt and pour over lime juice, marinating it shortly.
2. Meanwhile, cook the Tagliatelle as directed.
3. Dab the salmon. Keep a bit of the lime juice marinade.
4. Heat butter in a pan on medium heat. Sear salmon, remove from the pan and keep warm.
5. Pour cream and broth into the pan, let cook for a while until it slightly thickens. Add cream cheese and let melt.
   
6. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a dash of the lime juice from the marinade.
7. Drain tagliatelle, combine with the sauce.
8. Arrange on plates, topping off with the salmon cubes.
9. Sprinkle with freshly ground pink berry pepper and serve immediately.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Time for Change!

Tatatataaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Same blog, new look. Hope you like it. I certainly do.

As you might have noticed by now, I love change. In fact, it is the essence of life, if you ask me. How boring would life be without new experiences, places to go, things to learn?
So I figured it was time to do something. Don´t ask me why, I just feel like that sometimes ;)

Enjoy the new site - and let me know how you like it. Either here in the comments section, or drop me a line: info[at]cookinette[dot]net

Red Beef Curry

After almost burning down the kitchen yesterday, I decided to re-enter the kitchen for cooking purposes as to avoid bringing a trauma upon me. Just like with horses - if you get thrown off, you gotta get right back on - otherwise you might never ride again. At least that´s what my parents kept telling me when I was younger, and I´ve stuck to this principle ever since. Don´t let things (horses, people, whatever crosses your way) throw you off your path. They can only subdue you with your own permission, and I am not ready yet to hand that over ; )

So I decided to keep it low and cook one of my favourite, fool-prove dishes: a Red Beef Curry.


This is classic Thai cuisine, and very variable - you can use any kind of meat or fish, and any kind of veggies. A great way to get rid of anything excess you have on hand, still creating something really tasty. The recipe calls for thai basil which is kind of hard to get sometimes - it is usually sold only in asian stores. But, if you come across it, buy it and freeze it, it will taste equally good. If you can´t get any, don´t substitute. Thai basil is one of the rare things that - at least imho - cannot be substituted. Better omit it. Palm sugar, on the contrary, can easily be substituted with brown cane sugar. Thai cuisine is very spontaneous and light-hearted, so just jump right into it, use whatever you´ve got on hand - and you´ll be surprised what a yummy dish you will create!

Recipe for Red Beef Curry


Ingredients for 2

250g beef, cut into stripes
1 tablespoon red curry paste
150ml water
400ml coconut milk
veggies as desired or on hand
(I used sprouts and green beans this time)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar (or cane sugar)
2 chilis, minced
6 leaves of thai basilikum (if available)
2 tablespoons peanut oil


Preparation

1. Heat a Wok. If you don´t own one, don´t worry, use a deep pan instead.
2. Pour in peanut oil. Sautée red curry paste.
3. Quinch with water. Add coconut milk slowly, stirring well.
4. Cut meat (or fish, feel free to use whatever you like) into bite-sized stripes and add to the wok.
5. Let simmer for about 5 minutes until tender. If you use fish, it will need less time.
6. Add veggies, bring to a short boil. Cook until ready. Veggies should stay crisp and keep their color.
7. Season with fish sauce, light soy sauce and palm sugar.
8. Add thai basil and chili, let cook for a minute.
9. Serve with rice or bread.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Hell´s Kitchen. Burn, baby!

Life is such a bitch sometimes. Sorry for the strong language. But it´s true. The last couple of hours of today were just SUCH AN ACCUMULATION of DESASTER, I wouldn´t believe ANYBODY who told me. But I swear to God, all you will read below is TRUE.

I wanted to practice our dish for the Cooking Cup (see this post) tonight.
First desaster: no store carried green asparagus today. But hey, we are spontaneous, I thought I´d just substitute with green beans. So far, so good.

Second desaster: I have one old pot. Don´t ask me why I kept this after buying the Fissler Set. I DON´T KNOW. So I had the Risotto on one hob, steak in a pan on the other, beens on the third. Set up the old pot (what the hell was I thinking?! *sigh*) on the fourth, and turned up the heat to MAX. Grabbed the bottle of neutral oil, and with a great drive, poured the oil in - KABOOM! Flames, Fire, HELL´S KITCHEN. Again, I swear to God I´ve never ever had such an adrenalin rush before. Luckily, I am a woman of action. Grabbed the next best lid, covered the pot and screamed for help ; ) It actually looked quite interesting (glas lid), the big old grey swaths of burn inside...
So please, don´t do anything like that in the future. Better do some bungee jumping or the like.
This is what the pot looked like afterwards:


Great, eh? Guess no magician could do a better show than me. I would have thrown it out of the window if we weren´t living on the first floor. So I´ve just thrown it right into the garbage bin. Bye-bye, hell´s pot!

But that wasn´t all. No. You wouldn´t have thought so, right? It´s like always - bad things seem to occur ONLY in crowds. Wouldn´t be any fun otherwise, I guess. So what happened when I tried to dress the Avocado Espuma onto the plates? The damn thing just exploded. Proof picture here:


As I´ve said earlier - life is just such a bitch sometimes. But at least the rest of the food tasted good. To put it in a nutshell:

Devastated kitchen utensils: one pot.
Devastated clothes: one shirt, one pair of white shorts (what else?!)
Devastated others: spots of green avocado mousse ALL OVER the white (!) wall paper, and on pretty much EVERYTHING on the counter

Conclusion: this is what Hell´s Kitchen has to be like. I´m not cooking any time soon - at least until tomorrow. And now, I´m off to cleaning up the mess I´ve brought upon myself. Thanks for reading - at least I feel better now : )

Spain meets Brazil - Penne with Chorizo, Lime and Brown Sugar

Fusion Cuisine is one of my favourites. Which comes in kind of naturaly, I have to admit, because I love to be creative with whatever I have on hand. And that is most of the times a big old cross-over mixture. This time, I was looking at some Thai green asparagus, and a couple of beautiful Chorizo sausages, both "left over" from my experiments for the Cooking Cup. Also, I had bought a dozen limes (not on purpose - I wanted a single one, but they only sold bulk at the METRO this time *sigh*). Time was spare, so this is what I whipped up:


A wonderful combo of hearty chorizo, crisp asparagus, sour lime and sweet brown sugar. Hey, I see that eyebrow arching over "sugar and chorizo?! Now she´s gone nuts." But trust me, this really kicks it. Just give it a try, you won´t be disappointed.

Recipe for Pasta with Chorizo, Asparagus and Lime


Ingredients for 2

200g pasta
2 chorizo sausages, 50g each
handful of green Thai asparagus
1 lime, zest and juice
1 tablespoon brown sugar
salt


Preparation

1. Bring water to a boil. Add salt, then pasta and cook until directed.
2. Cut asparagus into handy pieces. Add to the pasta 3 minutes before it is done.
3. Cut chorizo into slices. Heat pan. No extra oil needed! Sear chorizo.
4. After a minute or two, add lime zest and lime juice.
5. Drain pasta, and toss into the pan. Pasta can be dripping wet, no need to worry.
6. Toss everything well. Sprinkle with the brown sugar, let caramellize (takes only a minute).

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Spinach Salad with Smoked Tofu and Nectarines @ Schwan Dusseldorf

Lately the weather has been exceptionally good, and we´ve been trying to spend as much time outside enjoying the sun as possible - which is, quite frankly, more less than often because of work these days. But hey, gotta make the best of it, right?
So, looking at the wonderful weather, sun shining, about 27°C outside, we decided spontaneously to spend the evening outside, eating out and simply enjoying ourselves. And guess what? As promised, I had my camera on hand. Which means pictures this time.

We strolled down the harbour in Dusseldorf, and decided to sit down at the Schwan (the Swan). This is a nice, down-to-earth bistro that has a couple of depandances (stores), yet we had never been to this particular one before.

The menu offers every-day cuisine from Baked Potatoes to Wiener Schnitzel to Salad with Chicken and Mushrooms, but also a seasonal menu of the month that features seasonal veggies and dishes that are a bit more interesting than your usual burger w/ fries. Although pretty much everyone around us seemed to be ordering just that. So did my significant other - I just didn´t think it was worth the picture ; )

I ordered the Spinach Salad with Smoked Tofu, Nectarines and Sesame-Balsamic Dressing, that sounded interesting enough for me:

And it proved to be a good choice. Not a perfect one, but a good one. The mild spinach and the hearty tofu were a bit of a contrast. The nectarines were a little disappointing - not fully ripe, and raw. I wish they would have seared them - that would have made it perfect.
The dressing was really good, honey very prominently tasting, but made a great combo with the sesame seeds that were sprinkled on top.

I have to admit though that I will not become a fan of tofu. It tasted like ham wrapped in bacon. Very salty, very meaty. Weird, to say the least. But hey, can´t argue about taste. I´ll just leave the tofu to all of you who like it better than me, at least the smoked kind.



Schwan am Medienhafen
Hammer Str. 38
40219 Düsseldorf
phone +49-211-39 31 13