Spaghett all'assassina

 A recipe I got through Radio France's host of 'On Va Deguster' François-Régis Gaudry

What you need

• 300-320g spaghetti 
• 400-500g passata (made from tomatoes - you can do it yourself or buy a decent one ready made)
• Harissa (table-spoon) or chili powder (depending on how spicy/hot you want it to be - after all it's not called assassina for nothing)
• a teaspoon of sugar
• a good amount of olive oil - ca 100ml
• 3 cloves of garlic
• I also use some raw tomatoes. cherry tomatoes work well, as they have a bit more taste
• salt/pepper

Equipment

• a big sauce pan
• a small sauce pan

How you do it

• take about 3/4 of the passata, add 1L water and put it in the small sauce pan. Mix and bring to a boil, then let it simmer
• peel and chop the garlic
• quarter the tomatoes (or half in case of cherry tomatoes)
• in the big pan, add the olive oil and heat it up to medium/high temperature. 
• add the chopped garlic and let it simmer for a minute or two
• add the harissa/chili powder, salt, pepper and mix with garlic
• then add the remaining 1/4 of the passata and the tomatoes
• mix well, and stir until the tomatoes go a bit soft
• then add the sugar and mix again. give it a minute or two until the sugar starts to caramelise 
• then add the spaghetti. I spread them over the pan like a fan. They won't probably fit in at first. But once the soften, you can gently push them into the pan. 
• Let this cook for a bit. Before the spaghetti (and the reduced paste) burn, try and turn the spaghetti gently. 
• After about 2min or so add a ladle of the tomato soup from the small pan. Let it cook until it thickens and the spaghetti have time to absorb some of the liquid. 
• Repeat the process (ladle with soup) 2-3 more times. In total this should take ca 8-10min. The spaghetti should be cooked by then.
• Serve immediately. 

Here the French original text

Au cas où vous l’auriez manqué, François-Régis Gaudry présente les spaghettis all’assassina, l’une de ses recettes de pastas préférées qu'il a découverte dans les Pouilles et qu'il tient de son amie Alessandra Pierini. Attention, c'est une vraie tuerie !

Ingrédients (pour 3 à 4 personnes) :

320 g de spaghetti

400 g de purée de tomate (passata)

2 à 3 cuillères à soupe de concentré de tomates bio

Harissa ou piment en paillettes

1 cuillère à café de sucre

10 cl d'huile d'olive

3 gousses d'ail

Sel

Déroulé :

Dans une casserole, verser 1 litre d'eau, 300 g de passata, le concentré bio.

Faire frémir jusqu'à obtenir un bouillon de tomate léger. Chauffer la poêle à feu vif.

Verser l'huile d'olive, ajouter 3 gousses d'ail écrasées et la harissa. Laisser blondir l'ail. Ajouter 100 g de passata. A feu moyen, recouvrir le fond de la poêle de spaghetti. Laisser frire sans remuer, certaines pâtes doivent caraméliser et former une croûte, sans brûler.

Dès qu'elles commencent à accrocher par endroits, retourner délicatement en ramenant au-dessus les spaghetti déjà brunis. 

Ajouter deux louches de bouillon de tomate, laisser s'évaporer, puis recommencer. 

Poursuivre l’opération ainsi 8 à 9 minutes, en alternant caramélisation et ajout de sauce, jusqu'à ce que les spaghetti soient rouge-bruns, tendres, croustillants par endroits, et qu'ils aient absorbé la sauce. Servir immédiatement.

Grühnkohl mit Pinkel (Kale and meat)

 A very northern German winter dish, this. Cooked kale with sausages and meats. I found this recipe on the Spiegel.de website. 

What you need

• 2 tablespoons of goose fat
• 150g onions
• 1.5kg kale
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• buckwheat ca 100-150g
• allspice
• salt, pepper and sugar
• for the meats
• Polish sausages that can/should be cooked are good
• Cured/smoked pork cut, in German Kassler, could take pork belly

Equipment

• large pot
• sieve
• board and knives

How to do it

• chop the onions into small bits
• fill the large pot with ca 2L of water and bring to the boil. Add salt
• when the water boils add the kale and cook for ca 2-3 min. You might want to add a teaspoon of bicarbonate to it to help and keep it green
• remove the kale from the water and let it cool down.
• when cool chop/cut the kale into small pieces 
• dry the pot and add the goose fat.
• add the chopped onions and cook it until they are translucent 
• add the kale and add a little water (maybe 250mL) and cook for 30min at low heat with the lid on
• put the pork belly/Kassler on top. Cook for 30min with the lid on.
• pierce the sausages and lay them on top, together with the buckwheat.
• add another 250mL of water and let it cook for another 30min, again with the lid on. 
• remove the meats
• add a teaspoon of mustard and mix that with the cooked buckwheat under the kale
• finally add salt, pepper, Allspice acc to taste
• add the meats on top and close the lid.

This dish lends itself to be cooked a day in advance. Keep it outside overnight (or put into the fridge, once it's cooled down). 

Diced Chicken Cream-Curry (Hähnchen Geschnetzeltes)

 Geschnetzeltes (or diced in English) is a common dish in German everyday cuisine. And I picked up this recipe from this site

https://www.einfachmalene.de/curry-geschnetzeltes-kochen/

What you need

• 2 chicken breasts
• salt, pepper
• garlic clove
• one chilli
• coriander or parsley
• 3-4 strips of bacon
• 1-2 cups of cream
• 1 cup of stock (veggie/chicken)
• 2 tbsp of curry powder
• 1/2 cup of creme Fraiche 
• knob of butter

Optional: a cup of peas or beans (cut)

Equipment

• large sauce pan

How you do it

• clean and dice the chicken breasts
• cut the bacon strips into small chunks
• peal and cut the onion, chilli and garlic
• heat up the pan with a knob of butter
• put in the diced onions and chilli before the butter turns brown. Cook for a few minutes
• add the bacon until all sides are cooked
• then add the garlic and chicken. cook the chicken until all sides look white/cooked
• add the cup of stock and cook for a couple of minutes
• add the curry powder, mix well so you don't get any clumps
• then add the cream/creme Fraiche and cook for about 15minutes - or until the cream turns the sauce a bit thick
• I'd like to add some peas or beans, but that's up to the individual cook. 
• finally, add the coriander

Coronation Chicken (finally)

 One of my favourite dishes, but not easy to find (as it has fallen out of fashion). Here is a recipe from the "Hairy Bikers" which I tried (with some variations

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/coronation_chicken_30402

What you need

• 2 chicken breasts, skin removed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice
• knob of butter
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 tsp madras curry powder
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine
• 100ml/3½fl oz chicken stock
• 1 tbsp apricot jam
• 150ml/5fl oz mayonnaise
• 75ml/3fl oz crème fraîche
• 1 large mango, peeled, stone removed, flesh diced
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
• dash Tabasco sauce
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• green salad leaves, to serve
• 50g/2oz flaked almonds (toasted lightly dry frying pan), to serve

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• measuring cups

How you do it

• Cut the chicken into little cubes/pieces
• in a bowl put oil and lemon juice/zest and mix with the chicken pieces. Add a bit of salt and pepper 
• Heat up some butter in the frying pan and when hot, add the chicken cubes with the marinade and cook until brown. Put aside and let cool down
• Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the shallot and chilli and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cook for 2–3 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a further minute. Add the wine and simmer until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half.
• Stir in the jam and stock, and simmer until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half. Set aside to cool.
• Mix the mayonnaise and the crème fraîche together in a bowl, then stir in the curry dressing. Fold in the mango, spring onions, lemon juice and coriander.
• Fold the chicken cubes into the curry dressing, finish with seasoning it with salt and pepper (if needed). Add almond flakes

Instead of a mango, I have seen people take raisins or mixed dried fruits.

Blueberry Cake with Crumbles

 This is a translation of the recipe from the following web-site: https://www.waseigenes.com/2021/08/22/blaubeerkuchen-mit-mandeln-und-streusel/

What you need

• 500g blueberries
• 450g flour
• 300g butter (salted or add a pinch of salt)
• 200g ground almonds
• 160g sugar
• 2 eggs
• baking powder

Dough

• 210g soft or melted butter (preferably salted butter - otherwise add a pinch of salt)
• 70g sugar
• 2 egg yolks (keep the egg white!)
• 300g white flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• a pinch of salt - unless you take salted butter (see above)

Almond paste

• 2 egg white (see above)
• 30g sugar
• 200g ground almonds

Crumble

• 150g white flour
• 90g cold butter
• 60g sugar

Equipment

• kitchen mixer
• bowls
• spring form for the cake

How you do it

• preheat the oven to 180C
• grease the baking form and sprinkle with a bit of seminole and flour
• separate the egg whites from the yolk and keep both in separate bowls/containers

Dough

• melt the butter for the dough (210g) and put into a bowl together with the sugar
• whisk until it gets creamy and then add the egg yolk
• keep whisking until it gets creamy again then carefully add the flour and baking powder
• mix (e.g. with a kneading hook) until it becomes a smooth paste
• roll out the paste onto the spring baking form making sure that you put the dough up around the edges
• put aside

Almond paste

• whip the egg white and sugar until the egg white turns stiff.
• add the ground almonds carefully (at low speed) and mix until it becomes a smooth paste
• spread the paste evenly over the dough in the form

Blueberries and crumble

• wash the blueberries and put them into the form - evenly spread
• put the cold butter, flour and sugar into a form and knead until the crumbles start to form.
• add the crumbles on top of the blueberries

Finally

• put the form into the preheated oven and bake for 45min

Seabass on Potatoes with spinach

 What you need

• 500g potatoes - the firm cooking kind or salad potatoes
• olives
• a whole sea bass (already gutted)
• 1 medium to large onion
• 1 lemon
• 1 carrot
• a bundle of tarragon
• butter ca 100g
• salt, pepper
• two cloves of garlic

Equipment

• sauce pan large
• baking tin or baking pan - so the sea bass can fit in as a whole
• a sieve

How you do it

• wash the spinach
• peel the onions and carrots and slice them
• wash/rinse the tarragon
• prepare the fish
• wash, rinse and dry with paper kitchen towels
• salt/pepper on the in and outside
• stuff the fish (if possible) with some of the tarragon, a slice of lemon and onions
• peel the potatoes and cook for 15-18min in salty water
• rinse and let dry/cool for another 15min - maybe smash them a little bit in the pot
• while waiting, melt the butter with a bit of tarragon and a slice of lemon
• preheat the over to 200C
• put the potatoes into the baking pan 
• melt the butter with a bit of lemon zest or a slice of lemon and some of the tarragon.
• pour over the potatoes 
• sprinkle the potatoes with salt and pepper (preferably rock salt or crystalline salt)
• bake for 30min until golden brown
• remove the pan from the oven and let it cool down for a few minutes
• turn the heat up to max e.g. 250C

• if the sea bass needs more seasoning, do it now. 
• add the olives, bay leaves and lemon slices to the pan
• Then place the sea bass (skin up if it's filets) over the potatoes and return the pan into the oven for another 10min or so

For the spinach

• in the sauce pan melt butter and put the sliced/cut onions into it until they become translucent
• slice the garlic and add it to the mix
• then add the spinach and cook the whole this for ca 10min. The spinach will "collapse"

Velouté de champignons

 

Ingrédients pour 4 personnes

• 2 échalotes
• 2 noix de beurre
• 500 g de champignons de Paris
• 1 l de bouillon de légumes
• 15 cl de crème fraîche (optionnel)
• ½ c. à c. de thym effeuillé
• 1 gousse d’ail pelée
• sel
• poivre

La préparation

Peler et émincer les échalotes. Faire revenir à feu doux dans une casserole avec beurre, thym et ail. Nettoyer les champignons à sec avec un pinceau, les couper grossièrement. Réserver les pieds pour les ajouter au bouillon de légumes.

Ajouter les champignons aux échalotes, faire revenir quelques minutes puis ajouter le bouillon chaud. Couvrir et cuire à feu moyen pendant 15 minutes. Passer au mixeur plongeur. Ajouter la crème, puis mixer à nouveau.

Servir bien chaud, avec, selon l’envie, des croûtons de pain, des lardons et/ou des herbes ciselées.

Caesar's Salad

 This Caesar salad recipe comes to us from co-founder Justin’s father, who would make it from scratch as a side to barbecued rib-eye steak. Justin tweaked the classic recipe by adding homemade croutons spiced with rosemary and garlic, which play well with the strong, punchy dressing.

Ingredients

For the Salad & Croutons:

2 hearts Romaine lettuce (younger, lighter-coloured leaves are best)
1/4-1/2 loaf sourdough bread (enough to make around 3 cups of croutons) 
2 tbsp olive oil 
1 tsp garlic salt 
1 tsp dried rosemary leaves 
30g Parmesan, freshly grated 

For the Dressing: 

4-6 fillets of anchovies (tinned is best) 
2 cloves garlic, any green cores removed 
2 egg yolks 
2 tsp Dijon mustard 
1 tbsp red wine vinegar 
Juice of half of a lemon 
1/4 cup olive oil 
1/4 tsp Worcester sauce 
1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce

Serves 4-6

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Cut lettuce into 5cm chunks, rinse in a colander, and pat dry. Wrap in a tea towel and put in the crisping drawer of the fridge.
2. With a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder, grind the dried rosemary leaves. Cut bread into 2cm cubes and toss with olive oil, garlic salt and ground rosemary. Spread croutons out on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden brown (about 10-15 minutes), turning the baking sheet halfway through.
3. Meanwhile, blend dressing ingredients together with a hand blender, starting with 4 anchovies and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar. Taste and add more to adjust flavour to your liking.
4. Add lettuce to a large (ideally wooden) bowl, pour in the dressing and half the Parmesan cheese. Toss well and add croutons. Season with fresh, coarse black pepper. Serve the remaining Parmesan on the side.

BK Tips

• You can make the croutons in advance, or make extra to use for later. It keeps well in a sealed container for up to 4 weeks.

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)

Fig and Honey Spread

 Could be useful for, say, baking a duck.

What you need

• 8 figs
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of water
• tablespoon of butter
• cinnamon

Equipment

• small sauce pan
• blender

How you do it

• wash the figs and cut off the stem and bottom bit. 
• Quarter the figs and put them into the pan
• add the honey, water and cinnamon to the pan and heat it up. Small, medium heat
• cook for 30min
• take the pan from the stove and add the butter. Let it cool down a bit
• use the kitchen blender to produce a smooth paste/liquid
• let it cool down completely
• put it into an airtight container and then into the fridge

Orzo with Shrimp

 What you need

• 1 cup orzo pasta
• salt, pepper
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• a handful of green beans - or petit poids 
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• parmesan cheese
• a good 20 shrimps, raw
• parsley

Equipment

• saute pan

How you do it

• peel the leek, garlic and onion
• wash leek/green beans and parsley
• chop the onions and leek, cut the beans into halves, chop the parsley. Slice the garlic cloves
• rinse and wash the shrimp
• in the saute pan cover the bottom with a thin layer of olive oil. Heat up.
• When hot, add the orzo, chopped/sliced onion, garlic and leek
• stir and cook ca 3-4 min until the onions start getting translucent
• add the wine and stir for a few minutes. Most of the alcohol should evaporate
• add the chicken stock and cook all for ca 10min
• add the green beans and shrimps and cook for 5-6 min
• add the grated parmesan and parsley and stir well
• service immediately