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!

Cinnamon and Chocolate Almond Roll Cake

Yesterday was Valentine´s Day. I am not such a firm believer in proclaimed holidays like this, but I sure like to take them as "apology" for disappearing in the kitchen, and whipping up something special. Like this "half and half" cake - half filled with cinnamon, half with chocolate cream and ground almonds.


The little ones are so cute - and totally unplanned. A mere product of coincidence. Aren´t those the best? Actually, they are the cut-offs of the actual dough used for their big brothers:


The base for this Rosenkuchen ("rose cake" as we call it in Germany) is an easy yeast dough. And you can substitute the filling with whatever you like - from pudding to raisins to chocolate to jam and so on.

The yeast dough is absolutely wonderful - and hasslefree. Some simple hints for all of you who shudder in fear when they hear "yeast dough":

1. Use fresh yeast. I have made the weirdest experiences with the dry kind.
2. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm liquid (half water, half milk). If the liquid is too hot, the yeast will die. Literally. Easy test: stick your finger in the liquid. If it feels comfortable, you´re good.
3. Knead everything together. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour. Don´t stick to the recipe - it depends on the flour and humidity how much you need. Sometimes, I need way more than the recipe calls for.
4. When the dough comes off the walls of your bowl easily, you´re done. Dust with flour, cover with a clean kitchen towel and stick into a warm place until it has risen to double size. If you are not sure about what a warm place is: preheat your oven to 50°C, turn it off, keep the light on and stick your bowl in. 100% safe solution.
5. When the dough has risen, knead again and work into whatever baked good you want to produce.

You can use this yeast dough for any sweet baking, bread as well as pastry. In my case, I welled out the dough, and spread it with the two fillings. Why two fillings, you might ask? Well, because I LOVE cinnamon, and my significant other, A., HATES it. Didn´t want to take the ego road on valentine´s day ; )
The dough was absolutely wonderful, and the whole cake didn´t last a full two days. Go try it yourself - it is one of my most favourite recipes.

Recipe for Cinnamon Chocolate Almond Roll Cake


Ingredients

For the dough:
1 cube fresh yeast (42g)
120ml water, lukewarm
120ml milk, lukewarm
50g margarine
60g sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
480g flour

For the cinnamon filling:
2 teaspoons cinnamon
40g sugar, brown
butter, melted

For the chocolate almond filling:
chocolate spread
50g ground almonds

For the icing:
120g confectioner´s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk


Preparation

1. Mix water and milk in a glass. Add 10g of the sugar for dough. Break yeast into pieces and dissolve in the liquid.
2. In a big bowl, combine all other ingredients, forming a dent in the middle.
3. Pour the dissolved yeast-mixture into the dent, and knead everything into a dough until it comes off the walls of your bowl. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour - if it is too dry, add more milk or water.
4. Cover the dough with a clean and dry towel, and stick into a warm place until the dough has risen to double size. Trick: since my appartment is usually rather cold, I preheat my oven to 50°C, turn it off, and then stick the dough in. Works wonderful.
5. When the dough has risen (should take about 40-60 minutes), knead again and roll out square (about 76x46cm). Cut into half.
6. Brush one half with the melted butter, and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar.
7. Coat the other half with chocolate spread, and sprinkle with ground almonds.
8. Roll up the dough from the longer side. Cut into equal-sized pieces.
9. Grease a baking pan. Preheat oven to 175°C.
10. Put your dough pieces inside the baking pan. Don´t sqeeze them in - they will rise and spread.
    
11. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
12. Meanwhile, prep the icing: mix confectioner´s sugar and vanilla extract, and add milk. Stir well.
    
13. Remove cake from oven. While still hot, pour over the icing.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!

Off-Topic: Thai Massage in Dusseldorf

I know, this is a Food Blog. As such, you will expect me to write about food stuff. But I have to take a side step on this one. Just because I believe that food is well-being, and on top of that, I think that there are a few more things that are just wonderful for your soul and your body - just like food treats.

One of those is a really well-done thai massage. It is exceptionally hard to find a skilled masseur/masseuse outside of thailand, and believe me, I´ve tried. But finally, I have found my second heaven - Chang Noi.

Piya is the heart and soul of the place, and is thai (regardless of her european sounding name - Piya is short for Piyarak). The place itself is rather hidden in a side street in one of the outer parts of Dusseldorf. But once you arrive, you feel right at home - greeted friendly, and let directly into one of the two massage rooms.
The head-to-toe thai massage is just wonderful, and you truly leave the place like a new person.

Call ahead for an appointment - the word has already spread that Pia is surely one of the best!



Chang Noi
Liebfrauenstr. 41
40591 Dusseldorf
phone: +49 211 139 527 71
mobile +49 176 451 625 11
info@chang-noi-massage.de

Dinner @ Modigliani, Dusseldorf

This weekend, our dear friends A.&M. asked us to join them for a dinner at Café Modigliani, a place just around the corner of their living room. Since I am always in when it comes to seeing new places, this was a must-say-yes, of course.

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was an Italian artist who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form. He died in Paris of tubercular meningitis, exacerbated by poverty, overwork, and addiction to alcohol and narcotics. Sounds like he had one hell of a life, if you ask me.


Which makes the place even more sympathic. When you enter it, you are seriously transported back in time - the whole place is dark, cozy, lit by century-old chandeliers, and every centimeter of the walls and ceilings is plastered with old cinema posters, postcards and paintings. Wooden chairs and tables. Low ceiling, as few windows as possible. Great place to forget time and date.
Especially because not only do they offer drinks, but some decent food, too.

Baguette with Feta Cheese - 3,90€

Spinach Omelette - 5,90€

I was a bit disappointed by the Omelette - not because it wasn´t good, it was indeed, but I expected an egg omelette, and this was more of a savoury pancake. Tasty nonetheless, just not exactly what I had expected. The plates are huge, and you can easily share a meal - looking at the people around, that is a pretty common thing in this place. They offer pretty much everything, from the baguettes to salads to pasta to classic german cuisine like pork chops with home fries and creamed mushrooms.

Definitely a cozy place, a bit hidden, a bit strange, but perfect to get lost for an hour or two. Or three.


Café Modigliani
Wissmannstr. 6
40219 Dusseldorf
phone: +49 211 3983494
no website

Café Modigliani is smoke-free, but offers a separate smoking room.

Perfect Sunday Morning

Sunday Morning Brunch

Recipe for a Perfect Sunday Morning

Ingredients

1 sunday
enough time to sleep in
no appointments
1 pair of cozy sports clothes, not to be taken off the whole day
lots of coffee
1 full fridge



Preparation

1. Sleep as long as you possibly can. If you wake up early, turn around and ignore it.
2. When you´ve slept long enough, and start feeling guilty, get up and prep your brunch.
3. Fling rolls into the oven, and treat yourself to some scrambled eggs and fresh pineapple. Nothing too fancy, remember, we are in "lazy mode".
4. Brew some really nice coffee.
   
5. Set everything on the kitchen counter, and declare the buffet open. Self-service for everyone participating, of course (see point 3).

Iced Lemon Balm Tartlet

Lemon balm is somewhat like arsen - it depends on the dosage whether you love it or you hate it. This dessert is really somewhat special. It is a combination of a lemon balm parfait with a chocolate sponge cake base, and works best with some caramel sauce drizzled atop.


The up side about this dessert is that you can very well make it in advance. It is a bit elaborate, especially if you use homemade chocolate sponge cake. But "in case of emergency", you can also use store-bought sponge cake. Or skip the chocolate base part and make only the lemon balm parfait. However you like.

Interesting option: try the same recipe with basil instead of lemon grass. And don´t tell anybody until they´ve tried it - chances are you will be passing copies of the recipe to EVERYBODY.

Recipe for Iced Lemon Balm Tartlet

Ingredients for 6 ramekins

60g lemon balm (about 2 handfuls)
1 lemon, juice and zest
4 tablespoons sugar
chocolate sponge cake
4 egg yolks
5 tablespoons honey, liquid
150g mascarpone
200g cream
caramel syrup


Preparation

1. Wash and dry lemon balm. Tear of leaves and blend with lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the sugar.
2. Use the ramekins to cut out matching pieces of the chocolate sponge cake. You will want to use them as cover.
3. On a hot water bath, beat egg yolks with honey and remaining sugar until creamy.
4. On an ice cold water bath, beat until cool.
5. Add lemon balm puree, lemon zest and mascarpone.
6. Whip cream and fold in.
7. Fill into ramekins (muffin tray will work just as well).
8. Cover with the chocolate sponge cake rounds.
9. Cover with Saran wrap, and freeze for at least 2 hours.
10. To serve, remove ramekins from freezer about 15 minutes prior. Dump onto a plate, chocolate sponge cake first. Drizzle with caramel syrup.

Guten Appetit! Enjoy your meal! Bon Appétit!