Celeriac and Chestnut soup

 What you need

• Ca 200g of chestnuts
• A celeriac root
• 2 medium onions
• 1 carrot
• Butter
• Apple juice ca 100ml
• Chicken or vegetable stock ca 400ml
• Salt, pepper
• Ca 150ml cream
• Thyme

Equipment

• Sauce pan
• Blender

How you do it

Prepare the chestnuts

• Put the chestnuts into a bowl and soak in water for ca 1 hour
• With a knife, cut each nut on the flat side
• Preheat the oven to 200C
• Put the nuts into an oven tray and bake for 30min
• Afterwards: let the nuts cool down by removing them from the oven tray.
• Peel the nuts and put aside

Prepare the soup

• Peel the onions, the carrot and the celeriac root and cut it all into small chunks
• In the sauce pan take ca 50g of butter and heat it up. Add the thyme
• When the butter is molten add the onions first and sauté until translucent 
• Then add the carrot and mix well for ca 2 min
• Add the celeriac root and chestnuts
• If necessary add a little butter
• Mix for ca 2 min and add some pepper and salt
• Add the 400ml stock
• When it boils reduce the heat to a simmer, put the lid on and let it cook for ca 30min, stirring occasionally
• Add the apple juice. Bring to the boil and let it cook for 5min.
• Take off the cooker and let it cool down for ca 10min.
• With a handheld blender blend the soup really well so that it is entirely smooth
• Put back on the cooker and heat up until it boils
• Add the cream and cook for another 5min

Mustard Cream sauce, sautéed carrots

 What you need

• Butter, 2x50g (for carrots and for the sauce)
• 3-4 carrots
• 1 table spoon Dijon mustard, 1 table spoon whole grain mustard
• 1 small onion or shallot, 1 garlic clove
• 100ml white wine
• 1 pot of single cream, ca 200ml
• 1 tablespoon of Parmesan (grated)
• Salt, pepper
• Brown sugar (for the carrots)

Equipment

1. 2 pots/sauce pans
2. Whisker
3. Sieve

How you do it

Sauce

• Peel the shallot/onion and garlic and cut thinly
• Put the butter into the sauce pan and turn on the heat.
• When the butter is getting hot (not brown) put the chopped onion/garlic in 
• Add salt, pepper and stir until onions are translucent
• Add the wine and cook/stir until the amount is reduced by about a half
• Add the mustards and stir well
• Add the cream and Parmesan and stir well
• Cook until the sauce starts to thicken - continue to stir

Carrots

• Peel and cut the carrots into ca 2 inch long chunks. Cut them again longways so that you stripes of carrots
• Put the carrots into the pot and cover with water
• Bring to the boil for ca 5-6 minutes
• Remove the carrots and excess water using a sieve. 
• Dry the pot and add the butter and put on the cooker on low heat
• Add a little salt (some people recommend brown sugar) and melt the butter
• Add the cooked carrot stripes and mix well with the molten butter for ca 2 minutes 

Risotto with Peas

 What you need

• 1 cup of arborio rice (or 150g)
• 300g fresh peas
• 200ml fresh chicken stock or 1 cube of chicken stock
• 1 onion, 1 garlic clove 
• Salt, pepper
• 1 medium block of feta cheese, ca 150g
• Water
• Oil
• 150ml or a cup of wine. I also took gin once, which worked nicely.
• Pumpkin seeds for decorating

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Chopping block
• Blender
• Jar/bowl for blending

How you do it

• Peel the onion and garlic and cut them 
• Cut the feta cheese into little cubes
• In a jar, take 1/3 of the peas and a bit of water and purée it with a kitchen blender. Set aside
• Put 3 table spoons of oil in a medium to large sized sauce pan and heat up.
• When the oil is hot add the onions first. Fry them until they are just about to turn brown, then add the garlic for 1 min
• Add the rice and stir for a few minutes, ca 3-4min. 
• Add the wine (or alcohol) and let it evaporate
• Add the chicken stock, or hot water with chicken cube
• Cooking the risotto rice should take ca 20min. During that time, stir frequently and add a little hot water to it each time the liquid in the sauce pan has almost evaporated
• In the last 5min add the chopped feta cheese
• Continue stirring
• After 20min add the rest of the peas and cook for another 3-4 min, continue stirring
• Serve on a plate and you might want to sprinkle some pumpkin seeds over it (or almond slices).

Kohlrabi Slaw

 What you need

• 1 kohlrabi
• 2 carrots 
• 1 leek, 1 onion
• Small pot of double cream and of sour cream/crème fraiche
• 2 teaspoons of mustard
• Salt, pepper

Equipment

• Grater
• Bowl
• Small bowl

How you do it

• Peel the kohlrabi and cut in quarters
• Peel onion and cut it either into rings or into small pieces
• Peel leek and cut into rings
• Peel the carrot
• Use the grater to grate the kohlrabi into the bowl, then the carrots
• Add the sliced/onions and leek
• In a small bowl pour in the double and sour cream. Add the mustard, salt and pepper. 
• Stir well and add to the bowl with the vegetables
• Mix well, cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving

Instead of sour cream, yoghurt might also work. Some recipes recommend mayonnaise,  but I always find it too heavy and fat.

Carrot Cake-Loaf

 Left-over carrots? Why not use them to make a carrot cake.

What you need

• ca 300g carrots
• 200g sugar or brown sugar
• 180g plain flour
• 2 large or 3 medium eggs
• 140ml vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of baking powder
• pinch of salt
• ground cinnamon
• freshly grated nutmeg
• cardamon powder
• vanilla extract

For the icing I simply use 

• lemon juice
• icing sugar

Equipment

• mixer/blender
• kitchen bowl and mixer
• baking form
• grater
• baking/grease-proof paper

How you do it

• pre-heat the oven to ca 150C
• grease the baking form with butter or oil. Insert the grease-proof/baking foil. It should stick against the form
• peel and grate the carrots, put aside
• put the eggs and sugar in the bowl. If you have a mixer, use a whisker and whip up the eggs/sugar until it gets to a creamy consistency
• add all the other ingredients and continue mixing. The dough may well be a bit liquid, but that's ok.
• pour the content into the baking form. Et voilà put it into the oven.
• Bake for 1h15min (75min)
• take the form out of the oven. you should be able to lift the cake out of the form by lifting the baking paper. transfer the cake to a plate
• in a bowl, sift in the icing sugar. Add the lemon juice. And then whisk it (with an electric/handheld device) to make sure that no lumps are left. You might need to add icing sugar to ensure a thick consistency.
• pour the icing slowly over the cake. You may have to do this in stages, otherwise the whole icing runs off. 

Hareng mariné

 What you need

• 5 filets of herring, failing that mackerel will do nicely as well. Make sure you get the filets from a fishmonger rather than the stuff (smoked and spiced) you buy in supermarkets. The filets should be deboned. 
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 1 clove
• A couple of thyme twigs - or take dried thyme
• 2 laurel leaves
• 1 lemon
• 75mg white wine (I actually took gin - don’t know how that works yet)
• 75mg white wine vinegar 
• Salt, peppercorns
• Oil

For serving

• 4 potatoes (cooking ones, not the baking potatoes)
• Spring onions
• Parsley leaves for decoration 

Equipment

• Pate tin
• Saucepan

How you do it

• Peel onions and carrots
• Slice onions into thin rings chop the carrots
• Wash and slice a lemon into thin rings
• Wash and dry the mackerel filets. With a sharp knife, cut the filets into 2 halves alongside. Then cut diagonally into chunks of ca 1 inch (2.5cm) wide
• Put the mackerel chunks into the tin. When the surface is covered slightly salt and pepper them and add half of the lemon rings on top.
• Continue until all of the mackerel/lemon is in the tin
• Add wine/vinegar, onions, carrots, laurel leaves, clove, thyme, peppercorns and salt into the pot and bring to the boil with the lid closed for 10min
• When 10min are over pour the content over the mackerel/lemon chunks in the tin. I usually pour in some oil to make sure all of the fish is covered in the marinade
• Let it cool down after which cover the tin well (the smell) and put in the fridge. It should marinate for at least 3 days. A week apparently is ok, too.

How to serve

• Remove the marinated fish from the fridge. Take the portion you need out of it and put aside. It should get to room temperature
• You need potatoes. Peel them and cut them into 1cm thick rings. You can also use some spring onions for decoration
• Put them into a pot with cold water and a bit of salt
• Bring to the boil and cook for 20min, including the time it takes to boil the water . The potatoes should be soft but not disintegrate.
• Remove the potatoes from the hot water and put on a plate. Immediately, put some of the marinated mackerel with onion rings and carrots over the hot potatoes and add the marinade as per taste.

Key Lime Pie

 There are many different versions of this American classic. Here is one that works for me.

What you need

Filling

• A pot of condensed milk. They usually come in sizes of between 350-400g
• 5 medium or 4 large eggs
• Juice of 4-5 limes

Crust

• 14-15 digestive biscuits
• Ca 140g butter
• Ca 45-50g granulated sugar

Equipment

• Quiche baking form
• Mixer
• Bowl

How you do it

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Separate the egg yolk from the whites of the eggs and put the yolks into a bowl and set aside (you can use the egg white for something else - it won’t be needed for this cake though)
• Get the juice from the limes and put into a glass
• Grease the baking form
• Crumble the biscuits and add them to a mixer bowl. Add sugar and butter and start mixing until it becomes a dough that you can put into the baking form.
• Make sure the dough covers the baking form evenly. Put into the oven and bake for 10-15min. It should get slightly brown.
• Remove the form from the oven and let it cool down.

Now start preparing the filling:

• With a handheld whisker (electric if available) start whisking the egg yolk in the bowl.
• When it starts changing colour and consistency gradually pour in the condensed milk
• While keep whisking add the lime juice
• Pour the content onto the pre-baked dough in the baking form
• Put into the oven for ca 15-20min. It should not get too brown,
• Remove from oven and let cool down
• When cold enough put into the fridge for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

It can be served with whipped cream or Swedish cream

Apricot Fool

 Picked up from one of Martin Walker’s Bruno books.

What you need

• 8 apricots
• 2 juicy oranges
• Ca 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3-4 table spoons of honey
• 1 litre of yoghurt

Equipment

• Sauce pan
• Bowl

How you do it

• Press the oranges and pour the juice into the sauce pan
• Wash, de-stone and quarter the apricots and add to the sauce pan
• Add the honey and cinnamon sticks
• Bring to the boil and then gently cook it for ca 20min. Stir ever now and then
• Take off the heat and let it cool down.
• Remove the cinnamon sticks
• Pour the content into a bowl
• Then add the yoghurt to it and gently mix
• Put the fool into a container and then refrigerate 

Celery Purée

 What you need

• 1 medium/large Celeriac root
• 200ml whole milk
• 2 Smoked garlic cloves
• 1 small onion
• Salt, pepper
• Ca 10g butter
• Optional 
• Bit of lemon juice
• Chopped parsley for deco

Equipment 

• Large Saucepan
• Small milk pan
• Kitchen blender

How you do it

• Peel and chop the onion
• Peel the garlic cloves and quarter them
• Peel the celeriac and cut them into thumb sized chunks
• Heat up the saucepan with the butter
• Add the onions and stir until they start to get translucent
• Add the chopped celeriac and garlic. Stir well to cover them in butter. Add salt, pepper, stir again
• Put the lid on and cook for 5 min
• In the meantime heat up the milk
• After the 5 min, add the warm and hot milk, stir and close the lid again. Cook for 10 min. Stir occasionally.
• After 10min, take the pan from the cooker. Use a blender carefully to turn the cooked celeriac into a smooth paste. 
• You might add a bit of lemon juice acc to taste.
• Put on a plate and sprinkle with a bit of parsley

Chicken Paprika

 My mum used to make 'Paprika Schnitzel' which I loved. Here is a variation on the theme - with chicken.

What you need

• salt, pepper a bit of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of oil/olive oil
• 1 red pepper
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons or more of sweet paprika
• 4 chicken fillets or legs
• 1 onion, 1 clove garlic
• flat parsley
• 1 litre water/chicken stock
• 50mg flour
• 1 cup of milk

Equipment

• casserole pot
• plate
• 1 cup

How you do it

• wash and dry the chicken pieces with a paper/kitchen towel. Then salt and pepper the chicken fillets/legs.
• chop the onion, garlic and red pepper 
• put the oil in the pot and heat until the oil is really hot (it will steam a little bit)
• put the chicken pieces in and cook until brown on all sides
• lift the meat out of the pot and put on a plate
• add the chopped onion first and fry until just brown
• add garlic and red pepper as well as the red paprika, salt, pepper and sugar
• stir and cook for ca 2 min. Then add the tomatoes from the can including the juice
• stir and cook for ca 2min then add the water/stock
• bring to the boil, and then put the chicken fillets/legs back into the pot. At this stage the meat should just be covered by the liquid
• Cook for 40min on medium heat with the lid on. Stir occasionally to avoid burning
• In the meantime, 
• chop the parsley. 
• add the salt and pepper
• Put the flour in a cup and slowly add the milk. Stir, e.g. with a fork until you get a smooth liquid/paste.
• When the 40min are over, gradually pour the milk/flour mix into the pot - and stir while doing so. The sauce should thicken a bit.
• Add more red paprika/salt/pepper/sugar acc to taste
• Then add the parsley and cook for another 5 min.

This dish goes well with plain rice or small elbow shaped noodles (think of classical macaroni)