Tepid Pear Salad with Chicken

For the weekend, the saturday, our day, I wanted to create something special again, and set sails for another three-course menu. I wanted it to be light, with a new twist, mixing flavours. This is how we started off:

Appetizer: Tepid Pear Salar with Chicken

This is a somewhat asian-inspired dish. It originally calls for Nashi pears, but I wasn´t able to get any, so I substituted with ordinary pears. And it didn´t hurt at all.
The salad is flavoured with red onions and soy sauce, drizzled with pumpkin seed oil. The sweet pear with the roasted chicken, the spicy onions and the nutty oil go so well together, that I will definitely do this dish again. It´s an instant favourite.


Tomorrow: Main - Scaloppina di Vitello ai Salvia

Recipe for Pear Salad with Roasted Chicken


Ingredients

1 chicken drum stick
butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pear
1 red onion
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon brown sugar
salt
cayenne pepper


Preparation

1. Cook chicken drum stick, best the day before. Let cool completely. Peel flesh off the bones.
2. Heat a pan. Dice red onion. Keep half of the onion for decoration.
3. Sear onion in butter. Add chicken flesh, drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
   
4. Dice pear into small cubes. Mix with brown sugar and soy sauce, let sit for a minute.
5. Add pear to pan. Stir well, let cook on low heat as long as it takes for all ingredients to reach temperature.
6. To serve, put dressing ring on a plate. Stuff with salad. Take off ring. Sprinkle onion cubes on top, and drizzle pumpkin seed oil on top.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

MoMaMi Chocolate Wave

Guess what? I had to drop back into the new Frischwerk place, to explore their listings a bit deeper. And guess again? I came across some really cool stuff. This is the discovery of the day:


La Choco La. By momami. A beautiful piece of chocolate. Or no, three beautiful pieces of chocolate - the bar is wave-shaped and divided into three sections. Two dark ones, rich 54% dark chocolate, infused with ginger and lemon nougat. And one, in the middle, white with cranberry and toasted almonds.

It´s almost too nice to look at to eat it. But then again, now I know where I can buy it - so no regrets there. The taste is wonderful, especially the lemon-nougat (which I wasn´t quite sure of it being a good idea to mix). And the crispy almonds and the sour cranberries in the very sweet white chocolate.

This beauty is as beautiful on the inside than it is on the outside. Gotta try the other kinds they offer soon, so keep looking out for more beauties to come!

BrandNew: Frischwerk

Lunchbreak had a treat for me today, and a very special one: a brand new luncheon that just opened its doors today. And is right around the corner from work. Exciting!
The place is called Frischwerk, and since one of their Corporate Colors is purple, they had some black-dressed man with purple-painted heads hand out their menus, and a 10% savings card, valid from today until the end of septembre. Great, uh?


The company claim is "Supplies for Body and Soul". Which totally represents the items available inside. Because this is not merely a luncheon, but a combo of supermarket, drugstore, winery, chocolate store, salad bar and bakery. You can buy anything from coffee specialties to breads to cake to chocolate to wine to marmelade to cereal to cat food to toilet paper. I am NOT kidding. And the opening hours are just as awesome: weekdays from 7.30 a.m. til 10 p.m., saturdays until 9 p.m., and sundays until 1 p.m. Gotta love that, right?

What I did love, too, were the napkins (right in the picture). They read "After eating, kiss here."
Everything is obviously made with a lot of love and care - only the cassiers were really about to throw a fit. I just hope they get settled in quick, because we waited forever to check out and pay. But hey, it was their first day, so I don´t want to be too strict.

They offer a lunch special, which is a combo of a sandwich, a salad and a drink for 5.80 €. Pretty good in Dusseldorf. And the food really compensated the having to wait earlier. Fresh, tasty, wonderful. Just what we´ve been missing. I had the rice pudding for 1.90 €, and let me tell you - apart from the one I make myself, this was the best rice pudding I´ve had in years. Creamy, but not sticky, with a hint of vanilla and cinnamon. Just great. I´ll definitely return - in hope that they´ve conquered their cash registers by then ;)


Frischwerk
Benrather Straße 9
40213 Dusseldorf
phone +49 211 15 97 46 22

Galettes Bretonique on a Saturday Night Out

This saturday, we finally managed again to spend a saturday night out with friends. The Harbour Festival was on that weekend, and we were really curious to stroll the harbour piers, enjoy the sun and have a glass of Alt (beer) or two.

The location is beautiful, and the harbour has lately become the "in" part of town with lots of good restaurants, and nice places to sit and sip on beer or cocktails. That also found its reflection in the Harbour Festival - not only your usual "sausage and fries" booths, but also some very fine italian restaurant cuisine. And a little french jewel that sold these beautiful Galettes Bretoniques:


Galettes bretonique (breton cookies) are a very special kind of french shortbread. They are always made with a hint of salt, and have a wonderful texture: crunchier than shortbread, a bit like puff pastry, but crunchier than that. Hard to describe, you really ought to try them yourselves. The booth offered all kinds of varieties - I picked the ones that sounded best. From bottom left to right: Almond brittle, ginger, apple, cinnamon, a coconut macaroon, and the round big best and purest with - nothing else added. Pure satisfaction.

Sunny Side Up - Breakfast @ Flurklinik

Sun shining, fridge at home empty - can you think of a better reason to go out and have breakfast? A couple of friends of mine have recently moved - not on purpose, but more by chance - into the same area in Dusseldorf, and keep telling me about the great cafes around. So we decided to go have a look.


We were actually heading for the Erbse in Flingern, but when we drove by the Flurklinik (which is on the same street), we decided spontaneously to prefer them. Why? Because the place looked enchantend: they´ve build up a cast-iron fence on the stone wall you can see in the picture, the sun was covering the whole place in radiant spots, and the old, beautiful building added the rest for the gorgeous atmosphere.

The building was actually a hospital in his original days, which is how the name came together (Flur ist the street, and Klinik is german for hospital). The owners have redecorated inside beautifully, and the little terrace outside is just beautiful: cast iron tables, a couple of benches and wooden tables. Just adorable.

The breakfast menu offers a little bit of everything: from scrambled eggs with tomato and basil (€ 6.90) to Crepes with Chocolate Sauce (€ 5.90) to a Big Breakfast (€ 6.90). Which means this is one of the cheapest places we´ve ever been for breakfast.

I ordered the Honey-Yoghurt with Fruits and Caramellized Nuts (€ 4.00), and A. ordered the Big Breakfast. My bowl was huge, the yoghurt fresh and sweet, the nuts reminding me of the great summer fair - great. A mixture of kiwi, apple, mango, peach, blue- and strawberries on top, and - best! - a base of crunchy cereal on the bottom. Yum!
The Big Breakfast contained assorted breads, a roll, 2 kinds of cheese, salami, chorizo, cream cheese, marmelade, butter, and an egg. Very generous serving, if you ask me.
And tasted good, too. Especially if you consider the price - we usually spend at least 30 bucks on breakfast...

Conclusion: this is definitely a keeper. They just rolled out the lunch menu when we were done - sounded very good, too. We´ll definitely return for dinner.


Check:
1 Latte Macchiato
2 straight coffees
1 big breakfast
1 yoghurt w/fruit and nuts
Total: € 16,60


Flurklinik
Flurstr. 14
40235 Düsseldorf
+49 211 58800 2360

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte - Black Forest Gateau

Time for another German Classic:

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Gateau).

Yes, I do keep my promises (see comments on this post). So here we go.

I bet you´ve heard of this baby before. This is one of the most traditional german cakes or gateaus, famous all around the world. There are lots of recipes out there, some better than others. This is my family´s recipe, and whenever my family (and, as of latest, my significant other´s family) have a reason to celebrate, I am asked to bring this one. No variation, no experiments, THIS ONE. Got it?


The base is a wonderful fluffy, high chocolate sponge cake. You bake one, and divide it into three even layers. That´s a bit tricky, because you have to watch where you are cutting, but practice will ease you in doing it. And I´ve never heard anyone say "but the layers aren´t even, so I am not eating it". The assembly is pretty easy: you cook a cherry compote, you whip up cream, and then you build your cake. The trick: sputter circles of cream on the layers, and fill the spaces in between with the cherry compote. That way, nothing can squirt out the sides, and you will have a wonderful looking gateau.


As for outside decoration - do whatever you like. You can decorate the traditional way with grated chocolate, and cocktail cherries. But you don´t have too. I still like the traditional design - at least you don´t have to explain what you´ve brought when you decorate like that.


If you want to bring an eye-catcher to your next event, and you like cherries and chocolate, this is one for you. And it is far easier than most people think. So go for it!

Recipe for Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Gateau)


Ingredients

6 eggs
200g sugar
100g flour
100g starch
25g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
kirsch
2 glasses sour cherries (720ml each)
2 tablespoons starch
2 packets vanilla sugar
400ml cream
grated chocolate
cocktail cherries


Preparation

1. For the sponge cake, line a 26cm baking pan with parchment paper.
   
2. Preheat oven to 200°C.
3. Separate eggs. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add sugar slowly, until shiny and smooth.
4. Add egg yolks. Stir.
   
5. Combine flour, starch, cocoa and baking powder. Sift and fold into egg-sugar mixture.
6. Pour into baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes.
   
7. Let cool for 15 minutes, remove ring. Turn over, and let cool completely on a rack. Remove parchment paper.
8. Cut sponge cake into three even layers.
9. Drain cherries, preserving the juice. Dissolve starch in 3 tablespoons cherry juice. Bring cherries with rest of juice to a boil. Add dissolved starch, boil for a minute. Add a dash of kirsch, and let cool.
10. Place bottom layer on a plate. Soak with Kirsch.
11. Whip cream with vanilla sugar.
12. Cover bottom layer thinly with cream. Fill half of remaining cream into an icing bag.
13. Sputter three circles on the bottom.
14. Fill spaces with cherry compote.
15. Cover with second layer. Drain with Kirsch.
16. Repeat steps 13-15.
17. Cover the whole thing with remaining cream.
18. Decorate as desired.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Latest Discovery: the Plout

May I introduce? The plout. Never heard of it before? Don´t worry.
This is a brand new "breed" that I discovered on the market. It is a cross between plum and apricot. So the equation goes something like this: plum+apricot=plout.

I had to buy them because - you know that by now, don´t you - I just can´t resist things eadible that I don´t know. Might be the taste of my life, right?
Well, in this case, it wasn´t too special, but not too bad either. But honestly, if I hadn´t know that this was a cross-breed, I would have taken it for a plum. Sure, it is not exactly plum-coloured, but the texture and the taste are much more plum than apricot.


Conclusion: nice try. But if I want plum, I eat plum, and if I want apricot, I eat apricot.
Sometimes, I´m a bit old-fashioned, too.

Diagonal Panna Cotta

Part III - Dessert

Panna Cotta with Strawberry Mousse

This dessert looks phenomenal. And it tastes wonderful, too. Doesn´t get much better than that, right? I saw this first prepared by Cornelia Poletto, a wonderful German female chef. She is married to an Italian, they own a restaurant in Hamburg, and she returned to the kitchen, like, a couple of days after giving birth to her son, and is refreshingly down-to-earth. Whatever she whips ups in the kitchen is definitely worth a try.

So when I saw this stunningly looking dessert, I just had to give it a try. And it is surprisingly easy, once you get into it. Panna Cotta ("cooked cream") is an Italian classic, and gave me a chance to try out my newest recommendation: this vanilla powder, recommended by my dear colleague Mr. D.

This is the perfect substitute for vanilla beans, who happen to be quite expensive around here. Best: this powder actually contains real vanilla beans, ground, and is very intense in flavour. Thanks again, Mr. D., I´m definitely hooked now.

The single components of this dessert are easy as 1-2-3. All it needs is a bit of patience for the assembly - and something to stick your glasses in to create the diagonal look. I used a muffin pan, I guess an egg carton would work as well. Prepare the strawberry mousse first - it doesn´t take as long to harden as the Panna Cotta. Go have some fun until the Mousse is firm, then prepare your Panna Cotta, pour it on top - and wait till it´s firm. That´s all there is to it.
But be sure, this will give you the "uh"s and "ah"s you´ve been waiting for. For sure.

Recipe for Panna Cotta with Strawberry Mousse

Ingredients

200ml cream
50g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla powder (or 1 vanilla bean)
3 leaves of gelatine
200g strawberries
50g sugar
dash of kirsch (optional)
2 leaves of gelatine


Preparation

1. Heat strawberries with sugar and alcohol until sugar is dissolved. Meanwhile, soak gelatine as directed. If you don´t like alcohol, just skip it.
   
2. Drain gelatine, and add to the fruits to dissolve.
   
3. Place dessert glasses in muffin pan (or egg carton) so they are standing diagonally. Fill with strawberry mousse until surface hits top bottom edge.
   
4. Let cool in the fridge until firm - will take at least two hours. Be patient.
   
5. Bring cream, sugar and vanilla powder (or scraped vanilla bean) to a boil. Let cool down a bit. Soak rest of gelatine, and add to dissolve. Let cool down to room temperature.
6. Remove dessert glasses from muffin pan. Fill with cream, same height as strawberry mousse.
7. Let sit in the frigde until firm. Takes at least 3-4 hours!
8. To serve, sprinkle with chocolate shavings or a mint leaf.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Boar Loin with Chanterelles Knoedel and Blueberry Sauce

Part II: The Main Dish

Boar Loin with Chanterelles Knoedel
and Blueberry Sauce

Subsequently, after the Appetizer comes... the Main. This is one of A.s favourites. My original version uses venison, but this is not exactly venison season right now. So I had to go look for an adequate substitute. And I wasn´t disappointed: my eye caught a boar loin. Now THAT sounded interesting. I now my Dad used to prepare boar, but to be honest, I don´t remember what it tasted like. So I grabbed the loin, a grin crouched upon my face (Yes! More experimental stuff!!), and I was even more looking forward to the three-course.

The original recipe is an all-time favourite that I even carried to "Unter Volldampf". And it´s so good that I was the daily winner with it, which lead to me taking home a 1,5l bottle of champagne. I made this for my "second" family in the U.S. for Christmas, and everybody was licking off the plates. You can wake me up in the middle of the night, say "Cook!", and I will whip this up. Great to have such a recipe on hand (respectively in your head).

The boar was interesting, but not convincing. It was tender, yes, and it fit the chanterelles knoedel and the blueberry sauce. But I still favor the venison. Boar tastes like an earthy pork, in case you haven´t tried boar yet. And in case you don´t know what knoedel are: a very traditional german side dish, made from old bread, very tasty.

If you´ve got a special occasion, or want to cook up something fancy for someone you fancy, this is just the recipe to go for. Trust me. I´ve won bottles of champagne with this ; )

Tomorrow: Part III - The Dessert

Recipe for Boar Loin with Chanterelles Knoedel and Blueberry Sauce


Ingredients

1 boar loin
salt and pepper
vanilla bean

12 slices of white bread
100ml milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons ground chanterelles
1 onion
1 tablespoon parsley
salt

300ml wild game stock
200g blueberries
3 tablespoons sugar


Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 150°C, convection.
   
2. Wash and dry boar loin. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Scrape out vanilla bean.
4. Heat a pan. Add neutral oil, a knob of butter, vanilla bean seeds and vanilla bean.
5. Sear boar in vanilla butter. Remove meat from pan, and place in oven on a grid.
6. Roast for 20 minutes.
7. For the knoedel, dice onion. Sear in a pan, add parsley, remove from heat.
8. Heat milk, add ground chanterelles. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Dice white bread. Place in a large bowl. Add onions, milk and the two eggs. Knead into a slightly sticky dough.
10. Take a piece of saran wrap. Place dough in middle, form a sausage.
11. Wrap in aluminium foil twice.
12. Bring water to simmer. Put foil roll inside. Let simmer for at least 20 minutes.
13. Heat half of blueberries with sugar until sugar is dissolved. Quinch with wild game stock, puree. Let reduce a little. Shorty before serving, add rest of blueberries and season to taste with salt and pepper.
14. To serve, cut knoedel into slices. Place on plate. Cut boar into slices, place in spaces between knoedel slices. Drizzle with blueberry sauce.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Wild Herb Salad with Pear Ragout and Cashew Caramel

What goes around comes around. Not necessarily a bad thing, as I learned. I´ve been a slacker in the kitchen lately, mainly because of my pile of workload. So when my significant other, A., said "Don´t you want to cook a menu on Saturday night? You haven´t done that in a while now." , it made me realize two things:

1. I´ve spoiled him.
2. He is finally starting to like experimental cooking and non-ordinary stuff (YEAH!)
3. He´s right about me not cooking, and I feel bad about it.

So I set my mind onto cooking a three-course. Fun! I had almost forgotten how much fun it actually is to play around with ingredients, juggling and combining, food shopping and so on. Thanks, A., for reminding me.

Part 1: The Appetizer

Wild Herb Salad with Pear Ragout,
Cashew Caramel and Balsamico-Honey-Reduction

A. had uttered a wish, the main, Venison with Chanterelles Knoedel and Blueberry Sauce. This isn´t exactly the season for venison, so stay tuned for the sub - I´ll post that tomorrow.

Back on track to the Salad. Since the main was set with wild game, I wanted to keep the "forest" direction. I came across some wonderful herbs, and turned them into a wild herb salad. Accompanied by some juicy pear cubes, a sweet balsamico-honey reduction and, to add some crunch, I made an easy cashew caramel. Gotta love that. The combination of slightly bitter herbs, sweet fruit and crunchy caramel is really a keeper.

Since I was really lacking cooking experimentals, I served the salad in a parmesan punnet - but that was a bit too much, at least in my opinion. Looks nice, sure, but didn´t contribute to the taste - I´ll just skip that next time.

Tomorrow: Part II - The Main Dish

Recipe for Wild Herb Salad with Pear Ragout and Cashew Caramel


Ingredients for 2

mustard herbs
white beet
rocket
beetroot
3 tablespoons balsamico
2 tablespoons honey
1 handfull cashew nuts
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 pear
salt and pepper


Preparation

1. Wash and dry herbs. Cut into bite size pieces.
2. Bring balsamico to a boil. Add honey. Reduce until thick and creamy. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Chop cashews. Roast in a pan. Cover with brown sugar, let caramellize. Pour onto a piece of parchment paper, let cool. Break into pieces.
4. Dice pear. The smaller the cubes, the nicer.
5. Pile up herbs on the plate. Place pear cubes on top. Drizzle with balsamico reduction. Decorate with a couple of wild flowers. Stick caramel on top or serve on the side.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Disappointment of the day

There is a very true, very old german saying that goes something like this: "If you can´t say anything nice, you better shut up." This is very true, and I stick to it most of the times. At least I try. But there are cases when I feel the urgent need to speak up. This IS such a case.

We went grocery shopping, and for reasons of lust and lazyness, decided to have "Pommes und Currywurst" (French Fries and Curry Bratwurst). The "Curry" has been hyped as "THE place" for this specialty for years now. They´ve already expanded to two more business, and are obviously planning on turning this into franchise now. And this is where I need to speak up: what we experienced tonight was disappointment. You see, I am still trying to pick my words wisely.

Short list of failure:
1. The service "forgot" that we were sitting outside.
2. The Currywurst was OK, but nothing special. You can get stuff like that at any Imbissbude for half the money.
3. The fries were AWFUL. Half of my plate was potato waste. You know, the crispy rock-hard ends and shit that nobody wants.

Conclusion: I am NOT going there ever again. This place has lost all of its originality. In their early days, they were awesome - unfortunately, in this case the success doesn´t last. What a pity. Alas - I am retreating to a glass (or rather a bottle?) of wine now. Excuse me.

Mango Vanilla Tartlet

This weekend, I was in the mood for something caky, but not the usual pound cake - the weather has just been awful, very muggy. So I wanted to go for something refreshing and fruity.


And this is what it turned out: a Mango Vanilla Tartlet. No baking necessary, your fridge will do half of the work. Very convenient. I decided to go for a cookie base, the all-time favourite for lazies. Just crumble cookies, melt butter, mix and your done. Next, I wanted something sweet and cooling, so I prepared kinda like a thick vanilla pudding with real vanilla, and placed it on top of the cookie base. To top it off, and to have the fruit kick, I made a mango puree. Et voilá, there´s your summer-cake! Best served straigth out of the fridge.

Recipe for Mango Vanilla Tartlet
(20cm baking pan)

Ingredients

100g butter cookies
50g butter
300ml milk
1 vanilla bean
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon starch
1 mango
2 sheets of gelatine


Preparation

1. Melt butter.
2. Crumble cookies. You can use your blender, or crush them in a freezer bag.
3. Mix cookie crumbles and butter.
4. Line baking pan with parchment paper. Press cookie mixture inside.
5. Let sit in the fridge.
6. Mix 3 tablespoons of milk with starch and egg yolks.
7. Scrape out vanilla bean.
8. Heat rest of the milk with vanilla bean and seeds.
9. When boiling, reduce heat and add milk-starch-egg mixture. Stir constantly until it thickens. Let cool, strain and put on top of your cookie base.
10. Peel and dice mango. Puree with your hand blender.
11. Soak and drain gelatine. Dissolve. Add 3 tablespoons of mango puree to the gelatine, then pour mango-gelatine mix into the rest of the mango puree. Pour on top of the vanilla creme, and let sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Better over night, if you want to be on the safe side.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Mai - Asian Specialties

We just returned from a wonderful dinner at a fairly new diner pretty much around the corner.
It is named after the owning family, "Mai" (which is funny because that has a double meaning in German - could also be the month May). And it offers - as the name might suggest - asian specialties.

We first noticed this one because they were passing out flyers. I was about to toss it away because it looked just like any other asian delivery service, but then I read the text on the back which stated that they also offered some seats, and, more importantly, that in the diner on the weekend, they prepare traditional vietnamese food. Now you see why I had to give that a try, don´t you?

So we took advantage of tonight´s fairly good weather (and a lack of motivation to stand in the kitchen, to be quite honest), and decided to look by. And that was just the right thing to do.
The diner is located on a through road, but in one of the quiter outskirts, so no problem. The place is tiny, but beautifully decorated: only a couple of tables, set nicely with bamboo mats, lined with black cloth, walls with a great matte black wallpaper with ornaments, set against white. Flowers all around, really friendly atmosphere. And a great service. I haven´t seen a friendlier waiter in years. Thanks again, that felt so good!

And then, the food. Hubby ordered the usual Chicken Chop Suey (I think I´ve never seen him order anything else. No matter how hard I try to make, he just won´t.) but I went for the vietnamese specials. You knew that, right? They had soup, spring rolls, fried rice noodles and a hearty crepe with shrimps and chicken on the day´s menu, so I decided to go for the crepe - never had anything like that before. De-li-ci-ous.

It came with a pile of green salad leaves and a bowl of fish sauce with chili and garlic. The waiter explained that traditionally in Vietnam, you take a piece of salad, wrap a piece of crepe inside, dip it into the fish sauce and stuff it into your mouth. So I did - and it tasted wonderful. A cross between crepe and omelette, with shrimp and chicken, very hearty and finger-licking good.

Conclusion: definitely a keeper. If you live in Dusseldorf, this is a must-try. They also deliver, so no excuse this time ;)



Mai
Kölner Landstrasse 195
40591 Düsseldorf
open from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily
phone: +49-211-9754991

German Apple Pie

I just thought I´d let the picture speak for itself for a minute. Apple pie at its best. No explanations necessary.

There are a bizillion ways to make Apple Pie, but for me, this one really is THE ONE. It is fairly easy to prepare, and finger-licking good, trust me.

I use a simple pie dough. The recipe is as easy to remember as 1-2-3: 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour. Add 1 egg, and your done. Doesn´t get much easier in life.
For a 26cm round baking pan, I use 100g sugar, 200g butter and 300g flour. One more hint: the butter needs to be right out of the fridge, otherwise you won´t be able to knead the dough because it will stick to the surface. And your hands. Don´t overknead, because that will result in the same stickiness. Just knead until you see no more butter spots, then wrap in Saran foil and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes. You can use this dough for pretty much anything, from tartelettes to cookies to pies. And you can store it in the fridge for at least a week.

To turn it into an Apple Pie, take two thirds of the dough and roll out to fit your baking pan. Don´t forget the sides, about 2 cms high.

Next key ingredient: the apples. I like to use a combination of a soft, sweet apple, like the Gala, and a firm, not-so-sweet apple like the Braeburn. That way, I achieve a smooth filling, but with a little crunchiness in the bite. Sear your apples in butter, add white wine and sugar, and let simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed. Place on the dough in the baking pan. Cover with remaining dough. I like to cut the dough into stripes, because I like to have a peak on what´s inside. But you can also cover the whole surface - whichever you like better.

If you are a real sweet-tooth, you can coat the whole pie with sugar frosting when it has cooled down - but I like to eat my pie while it´s still a little warm. Vanilla sauce on top, and up to foodie heaven!

Recipe for German Apple Pie


Ingredients for a 26cm baking pan

300g flour
200g butter
100g sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 kg apples
100g sugar
50g butter
125ml white wine


Preparation

1. Mix flour with baking powder. Add butter in knobs and sugar. Knead into one smooth dough. Cover with Saran wrap, and let rest in the frigde for at least 30 minutes.
2. Peel and dice apples. Melt butter in a pan. Sear apples.
   
3. Add sugar and white whine. Cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
4. Roll out two thirds of the dough to fit the inside of your baking pan. Don´t forget to cover the sides!
5. Fill with apples. Cover with remaining dough in desired shape(s).
6. Bake at 180°C for appr. 45 minutes.
7. If desired, let cool and top with sugar frosting. Otherwise, just springle with confectioners´ sugar or serve straight away with vanilla sauce or vanilla icecream. Or just solo.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

A French Classic: Ratatouille Camarguaise

Seems to be a season of classics for me lately. But there is a certain attraction going out from these age-old recipes that draws me in for some reason. And hey, if millions of people of tried it and perfected it, that should be enough of a reason to try it out, too. Like this french classic, the Ratatouille.

The Ratatouille belongs to the french kitchen like pasta to Italy and burgers to the U.S.. There are many imitations, and you really have to get into it to see where the real secret is. It basically consists of egg plant, zucchini, bell pepper, onions, tomatoes and herbs.

In this case, you will find a lot of dishes that have been cooked until you can no longer find out what exactly they are made of. That is the worst case. But, if you happen to be lucky, you will be served the traditional Ratatouille Camarguaise, the original, if you like.

What makes this version of the Ratatouille special is this: every single vegetable is seared separately, and then combined in a pot on medium heat to simmer. Tomatoes and tomato puree are added last, and the whole thing is only cooked for about 5 minutes. This way, all the veggies stay crisp, and the whole thing doesn´t turn soggy.

You can serve it as a main, or (as I did) as a side. I combined it with a seared turkey steak, and served some fresh french baguette. Which is just perfect for scraping up even the last bit of the sugo.

Recipe for Ratatouille Camarguaise


Ingredients

1 eggplant
1 zucchino
1 bell pepper, red
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
10 cherry tomatoes
1 can of tomato puree
olive oil
salt and pepper
sugar
herbs (I used thyme, sage and marjoram)


Preparation

1. Cut all vegetables into equally sized cubes and store in separate bowls.
2. Heat a pan. Add olive oil. Sear the egg plant.
3. Put eggplant into a medium-sized pot on medium heat. Drizzle with olive oil and let simmer.
4. Add olive oil to the pan, sear zucchini. Add to the pot.
5. Add olive oil to the pan, sear onion and garlic. Add to the pot.
   
6. Add olive oil to the pan, sear bell pepper. Add a sip of water. Let condense. Add cherry tomatoes, sprinkle with sugar, let caramellize. Add all to the pot.
7. Add tomato puree. Cover and let simmer for another 5 minutes.
8. Serve with white bread, preferably baguette.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Newest Addiction - Perfect Afternoon

I am usually not very fond of proclaiming certain brands. Why should I do their marketing job, and try to make people buy their stuff? I don´t see any reasonalbe argumentation to this.
But - no rule without exception. This time, I need to take sides because I have fallen for this beauty:

a "Tall Soy Chai Tea Latte". For here. Not to go. Unless I´m in a hurry. Because I love the "third home atmosphere", as the company calls their interior design concept. No hustle, no waiter looking at you with a raised eyebrow when you unpack your book or laptop or whatever. Just sit back, relax, and feel right at home. Chai Tea is actually an indian invention, a tea prepared by pouring hot water over a spice mixture. There are as many mixtures as people who prepare it. Every family has its own recipe. However, most recipes will contain at least cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, cloves and ginger.

Usually, as mentioned before, I don´t take sides for certain products, because most of the times, at least one competitor will have something comparable in his/her repertoire. But not this time. I´ve tried all the other Chai Tea Lattes here in town, too - and on some of the occasions, I was REALLY sorry I did that. Let me tell you. The perfect Chai Tea Latte needs a full body, and just the right milk/chai ratio to make it tickle your taste buds. And for some reason, only the coffeehouse starting with the big S seems to be able to get that straight.

You can have your Chai Tea Latte with "ordinary milk". That tastes just fine. But lately, I´ve become kind of acquainted with one of the Baristas at the Starbucks-Store near work - Bine. And one day, she drew me aside (probably because she was tired of having me order "tall low-fat chai tea latte to go") and whispered: "You should really try this with soy milk. Trust me!"

Those of you who know me will know that I just couldn´t resist the temptation. I NEED to try everything at least once. I kept telling that to my brother-in-law when we were having octopus salad, but he resisted every effort. He just wouldn´t try it, no matter what. I can´t understand that - maybe he´s missing the taste of his life, who knows? I´ll stick to trying whatever crosses my path. And if I should really hate it, I can still spit it out ;)

Back to topic. So I followed Bine´s advice and had the soy version - and it really kicks it up a notch! The spicy chai tea with the smooth, vanilla-scented soy milk is just addictive. Thanks, Bine, for telling me - that´s definitely a keeper!