Ich weiß auch, dass ich spätestens im Februar wieder denken werde, dass ich eigentlich auswandern möchte, irgendwohin, wo es nicht 5 Monate hintereinander grau, kalt und nass ist. Wahrscheinlich ist genau das der Grund, im Verhältnis zum Sommer sind Herbst und Winter einfach zu lang. Im Moment freue ich mich richtig über den Herbst, die Natur ist an klaren Tagen wunderschön und man hat abends Hunger auf Braten mit leckerer Soße und anstatt von kühlem Rosé schmeckt der schwere Rotwein wieder gut. Es heißt immer, dass es keine wirklich korrekte englische Übersetzung für das deutsche Wort “Gemütlichkeit” gibt (auch wenn ich persönlich denke, dass “coziness” es ganz gut trifft). Kerzen, Sofa, Wolldecke, Rotwein, Omas gestrickte Socken, Tee, lesen, Kaminfeuer – diese Begriffe verlinkt mein Gehirn direkt mit dem Begriff “Gemütlichkeit”. Ist nicht sonderlich originell – schon klar – aber das muss es gar nicht sein. Wenn ihr zurückdenkt an die allerschönsten glücklichen Momente in der Kindheit, ist nicht immer auch mindestens eines der Szenarien in eurem Kopf, eines, in dem man von draußen reinkommt, nasse Sachen auszieht und von Mama in eine Decke gewickelt wird und Kakao und Kekse serviert bekommt? Kitsch? Keineswegs. Glückliche Kindheitserinnerungen sind das und wir alle, die diese haben, dürfen uns glücklich schätzen.

Keine Überraschung also, dass es bei uns in den letzten 14 Tagen öfter “Essen für die Seele” gab, unsere beiden Favoriten waren der “Schweinebraten mit Biersauce auf Spätzle” und die “Selleriecremesuppe mit Würstchen”. Das Rezept für den Schweinebraten haben wir aus dem wirklich tollen Buch “Schwein & Sohn” von Stéphane Reynaud (Christian Verlag). Dort heißt es “In Bier geschmorter Schweinenacken mit Spätzle” (6 Personen): 1,2 kg Schweinenacken ohne Knochen, 3 Schalotten, 3 Knoblauchzehen, 100g geräucherter durchwachsener Speck (gewürfelt), 500 ml dunkles Bier, 2 Lorbeerblätter, 300 g Spätzle, 50 g Butter, Salz und frisch gemahlener Pfeffer. Den Braten mit Salz und Pfeffer würzen und in einem Schmortopf rundherum braun anbraten. Die Schalotten und den Knoblauch schälen und mit dem Speck dazugeben, den Lorbeer einlegen und zugedeckt auf kleiner Flamme 1 Stunde und 15 Minuten schmoren lassen. Das Fleisch regelmäßig mit dem Schmorsaft übergießen. Den Braten auf einen Rost über den Topf legen und weitere 15 Minuten bei 180°C im Ofen Farbe nehmen lassen. Weiter regelmäßig mit der Schmorflüssigkeit übergießen, damit sich eine schöne Kruste bildet. Die Spätzle in kochendem Wasser garen. Die Butter unter den restlichen Bratensaft schlagen. Den Bratensaft mit den Schalotten, dem Knoblauch und dem Speck unter die Spätzle mengen. Den Braten auf einer Platte anrichten und mit den Spätzle garnieren.   I guess that “summer” will always be my spontaneous answer to the question which of the seasons is my favourite. If I just think it over for a little while I have to admit that I like all of them. I know that in February I’ll check the “how to emigrate” websites again, looking for a place on earth where it’s not cold, grey and wet for five months. That’s the problem – autumn and winter seem to be so much longer than spring and summer. In the moment I’m enjoying the autumnal colours and moments: the dark red wine is so much better than chilly rosé and nothing’s better for dinner than a good roast with a delicious sauce. It’s said that there’s no satisfying translation for the German word “Gemütlichkeit” in English (although I like “coziness”) but certain terms like candles, sofa, woolen blanket, red wine, grandma’s self-knitted socks, tea, reading and open fire my brain directly links with the word “Gemütlichkeit”. I know I’m lucky and blessed because I had a very happy childhood and at least one of the pictures which come to my head as soon as I think of it is when I got inside, my mom gave me dry clothes and a blanket and serviced me hot chocolate on the sofa. Kitsch? No way! Trivial bliss I’d call it.

No surprise that our favourite dinners in the past two weeks were “Roast Pork with Beer Sauce and Spätzle” and “Celery Cream Soup with Sausages”. The pork roast recipe is from the fantastic book “Schwein & Sohn” by Stéphane Reynaud (Christian Verlag). Pork roast in beer sauce with Spaetzle (serves 6): 1.2 kg of boneless pork, 3 shallots, 3 garlic cloves, 100g smoked bacon (cut in cubes), 500 ml dark beer, 2 bay leaves, 300 g of spaetzle, 50 g butter, salt and freshly ground pepper. Season the roast with salt and pepper in a saucepan and fry all around. Peel shallots and garlic and add together with the bacon. Add beer and bay leaves and let cook covered over low heat for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Put the roast on a grill over the pan and leave it another 15 minutes at 180 ° C in the oven to become brown. Give roast juice over the meat regularely in order to build a nice crust. Cook the spaetzle in boiling water. Beat the butter into the remaining gravy. Mix the juice with the shallots, garlic and the bacon and the spaetzle. Serve the roast on a platter and garnish with spaetzle.

potato pizzette

Nicht erschrecken. Und schon gar nicht wegklicken bitte. Wo sind wir denn hier? Na klar, auch in Deutschland. Aber eben nicht nur. Don’t worry. And don’t leave either. As we live in Germany some of our friends complained about the difficulty of reading English language and – most of all – cooking with English recipes. Ich erkläre mal kurz: es gibt ein paar Beschwerden von Besuchern dieser Seite, die es lieber hätten, wenn die Texte auf Deutsch wären. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich auch lieber nach deutschen als englischen Rezepten koche, speziell Begriffe wie “in Butter schwenken” oder “vorsichtig unterheben” können schon zur kleinen Hürde werden, ganz zu schweigen von Speckstreifen, die man “überlappend nebeneinander auf Frischhaltefolie legen” oder “Teig, der in Rauten geschnitten werden” soll. Andererseits haben wir viele Freunde aus dem Ausland, die es toll finden, dass sie an unserem Leben teilhaben können. Tja. Wir hatten jetzt drei Wochen Zeit darüber nachzudenken. Erst waren wir alle nacheinander etwas krank und anschließend waren Thomas und ich an der Côte d’Azur, um dort eine Messe zu besuchen (bei 29°C stellten wir fest, dass es definitiv ungünstigere Orte für eine Messe im Oktober gibt als Cannes). Wir haben uns entschieden, diese Seite so gut wie es geht zweisprachig zu gestalten. Das bedeutet nicht, dass hier alles 1:1 von der deutschen in die englische Sprache übersetzt wird, sondern die Texte werden “frei geschrieben” und inhaltlich in etwa gleich sein. Wir hoffen, dass der Arbeitsaufwand erträglich sein wird, aber wissen werden wir das erst, wenn wir es auch getestet haben.

Gestern haben wir ein Rezept von Cornelia Poletto (www.poletto-restaurant.de) ausprobiert, das sie neulich bei “Lanz kocht” vorgestellt hat: “Kartoffelpizzette mit Pancetta” hieß es bei ihr und weil ich keinen guten Pancetta, aber dafür exzellenten Coppa Schinken bekommen habe, haben wir es kurzerhand in ”Kartoffelpizzette mit Coppa” abgewandelt. Das Schöne war, dass wir – außer Coppa – nichts dafür kaufen mussten. Wir haben immer noch ein paar Kartoffeln aus eigener Ernte, Rosmarin sowieso und diesen herrlichen Knoblauch rosé haben wir uns aus Cannes mitgebracht. Es ist ein tolles Essen, das man in größerer Runde am Tisch (ganz locker, ohne Besteck) essen kann während man sich unterhält und es schmeckt sogar auch kalt. Ich hatte die doppelte Menge Teig gemacht und habe dann noch ein paar Pizzette “klassisch” belegt, mit Kirschtomaten aus der Dose, Kapern, Parmesanspänen. Auf alle Pizzastückchen habe ich zum Schluss ein paar Tropfen bestes Olivenöl gegeben und alle Varianten haben toll geschmeckt.

Zutaten für vier Personen

Teig

30 g Hefe, frisch

300 ml Wasser

500 g Mehl

1 TL Salz

Belag

6 Kartoffeln, klein und fest kochend, à 50 g

3 EL Olivenöl

1 EL Rosmarinnadeln

4 Zehen Knoblauch

8 Scheiben Coppa Schinken

Fleur de Sel

Pfeffer aus der Mühle, schwarz

Zubereitung

Teig

Die Hefe zerbröckeln und mit 200 Milliliter lauwarmen Wasser und 100 Gramm Mehl verrühren. Zugedeckt circa 30 Minuten gehen lassen. Restliche 400 Milliliter Mehl und Salz in eine Schüssel geben. Hefemischung zufügen und mit den Knethaken kurz verkneten, dabei das restliche Wasser einarbeiten.

Den Teig auf eine bemehlte Arbeitsfläche geben und mit bemehlten Händen circa zehn Minuten kräftig durchkneten, bis er schön glatt und geschmeidig ist und nicht mehr klebt. Dabei ab und zu auf die Arbeitsfläche aufschlagen. Den Teig vierteln, die Portionen mit etwas Mehl bestäuben und locker mit Klarsichtfolie zugedeckt circa eineinhalb Stunden gehen lassen, bis sich der Teig verdoppelt hat.

Den Backofen auf 225 Grad vorheizen.

Belag

Kartoffeln schälen und in zwei bis drei Millimeter dünne Scheiben schneiden. Mit Öl und Rosmarin mischen. Leicht salzen und pfeffern. Circa eine Stunde marinieren.

Backblech mit Öl bepinseln. Die Teigportionen vierteln, jede Portion zu einem runden Fladen von circa zehn Zentimeter Durchmesser drücken und jeweils acht kleine Pizzen (Pizzette) auf das Blech legen. Kartoffelscheiben darauf verteilen, salzen und pfeffern. Auf der mittleren Schiene circa zwölf Minuten backen. Knoblauch schälen, in Scheiben schneiden und nach der Hälfte der Garzeit über die Pizzetten geben. Nach Wunsch zum Schluss mit etwas Olivenöl beträufeln und mit den Coppascheiben belegen.

Don’t worry. And don’t leave either. As we live in Germany some of our friends complained about the difficulty of reading English language and – most of all – cooking with English recipes. We had about three weeks time to think it over because first we all got ill (just a cold) and then Thomas and I went to the south of France for a trade fair and I tell you there’s worse places to be in October. We decided to continue with this blog in German and English language and we hope that it won’t take too much time but you only know once you tried. Yesterday we tried a recipe which was introduced recently by Cornelia Poletto in the show “Lanz kocht”. She called it “Potato Pizzette with Pancetta” but as I couldn’t find good pancetta but excellent coppa ham I had to change it into “Potato Pizzette with Coppa”. The best thing was that we still have potatoes and rosemary from our garden and the wonderful violet garlic we bought at the food market in Cannes. This is a great snack, you can sit on a big table with friends, no cutlery needed and you can even eat it cold – perfect. I doubled the amount of dough and put some more traditional toppings like canned cherry tomatoes and capers on the other half. They all finally got sprinkled with good olive oil and were delicious!

Serves 4

Dough

30 g fresh yeast

300 ml water

500 g all-purpose-flour

1 tsp salt

Topping

6 small potatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp rosemary

4 cloves of garlic

8 slices of coppa ham

fleur de sel (or other good salt)

black fresh ground pepper

Preparation

Dough

Mix yeast with 200 ml lukewarm water and 100 g flour, cover and let rest for 30 minutes.Give the remaining 400 g flour, salt and the yeast mix into a bowl and mix with dough hooks, slowly adding the rest of the water. Put the dough on a floured kitchen board and knead with your floured hands for about 10 minutes until it’s elastic and doesn’t stick to your hands anymore. Quarter the dough, sprinkle with some flour and cover it with cling film and let rest for 90 minutes or until it doubled its size. Preheat the oven to 225°C.

Topping

Peel the potatoes, cut them into slices of 2-3 mm and mix them with oil and rosemary and some salt and pepper, leave in the marinade for about 1 hour. Oil the baking sheet. Quarter each portion of dough and press and form each to a little piece of pizza (10cm). Top them with the potatoes and salt and pepper again. Bake for about 6 minutes. Peel the garlic, cut it into thin slices, put it on the pizzette and bake for another 10 minutes (might be even more). When the pizzette and the potatoes are golden brown take them out of the oven, sprinkle with good olive oil and put a slice of coppa ham on each – ready!

pizzette with different toppings

jalapeños from our garden

When I was little and had a cold coming up, my grandma as well as my mother started making a chicken soup as soon as my first sneezer was to hear. They said it’s the best medicine against coughs and sneezes. Some say it’s wishful thinking but I know that they were 100% right.

Why is a picture of jalapeños in this post about chicken soup? Carry on reading my embarrassing story…

Even Wikipedia says: “…Research conducted by Dr. Stephen Rennard, professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine, and his colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha have studied the medicinal activity in chicken soup. They found that some components of the chicken soup inhibit neutrophil migration, which may have an anti-inflammatory effect that could hypothetically lead to temporary ease from symptoms of illness. …” Last week we all got a bald cold, one after the other. I’ve made a big pot of chicken soup and everybody loved it. All you need to do is cook a chicken together with some greens and season with salt, pepper and saffron. We usually cook some rice and add one tbsp of it to the soup plate; don’t ever cook the rice with the soup because then it looks cloudy and it should be all clear. First it makes you sweat but the heat does so good and you feel better straight away. Really, it’s true…once you have a cold you should definitely try to fight it with this soup. You don’t have to be ill to enjoy it though, you can also eat it when you’re alive and kicking. Unfortunately it was all gone when Thomas wanted to take a picture, all we have is an (almost) empty plate.

this was our chicken soup

Okay, it would be unfair to keep quiet here about the culinary accidents. I have to admit that it’s embarrassing to write about how NOT to make jalapeño poppers. I feel even more ashamed because I’ve mixed up the hints of two different recipes.

we filled them with cheese...

One said you should use bread crumbs and fry them, the other said you should cut them in halves lengthwise, fill them with cheese and finally wrap them into tin foil and put in the oven.

..covered them with egg and bread crumbs..

Well…I can tell you that a coat of bread crumbs in tin foil is a crap combination. How could I think this would work?! Mixing up two recipes…I guess it was the upcoming cold.

..here's the pitiful result!

"Pflaumenkuchen" with whipped cream

I’ve learned that beside the normal calendar there is a meteorologic calendar which divides the year into the four seasons. How could I think that beginning of September belongs to summer? I hate wearing socks as much as I like walking barefoot and yesterday I had to make the first compromise. We went out in the evening and it was way to cold for sandals, so I decided to wear my boots without socks because otherwise I would have felt like in winter. I don’t know whether it’s the discovery of the year but wherever I complained about the cold weather some educational voice would answer “The meteorologic calendar says it’s autumn since September 1st”. Does that mean I missed my chance to make a German “Pflaumenkuchen” at the end of this summer? Give me a break!

There are many different recipes for the dough, you can make it with sponge mixture, shortpastry or yeast dough which is my favourite. It also depends on which part of Germany the recipe is from, even the name can be completely different, i.e. in Bavaria it’s called “Zwetschgendatschi”. As ususal we love it the simple way. All you need is 400 g flour, 1 egg, 125 g fine sugar, 1 cube yeast, a pinch of salt, 100 g soft butter, 150 ml lukewarm milk, 2 kilos of plums or damsons (I still don’t know the difference) and whipped cream for the topping. Give the yeast into the lukewarm milk and stir. Give flour, 100 g sugar, egg, salt, butter and yeast-milk into a bowl and mix with the kneading hooks of your kitchen machine. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest in a warm place for 45 minutes. In the meantime wash and pad dry the plums, cut them into halves and remove the stone. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Then knead the dough with your hands (use additional flour for your hands and work surface), roll it out on a baking sheet with baking paper and let it rest for another 20 minutes.  Now arrange the plums evenly on the dough and sprinkle with the remaining 25 g sugar.   Put into the oven for about 30 minutes, depending on the size of your plums and how you like it best. Let it cool and cut into square pieces, you can sprinkle it with cinnamon and more sugar if you like it that way. Serve with enough whipped cream and a good coffee or tea. This is my personal end of summer no matter what the meteorologic calendar says. It seems that supermarkets don’t care about calendars either, I saw the first “Lebkuchen” (gingerbread) and “Spekulatius” (traditional spicy Christmas cookie) in the shelves yesterday – now I know that socks will be inevitable soon.

Quiche with peas and mint

Do you like quiche? I don’t. Or should I say I didn’t? I’ve tried so many of them, usually recommended by friends with an introduction like “Quiches can be so boring, dry and flat. This one isn’t, have a bite, Im sure you’ll love it as much as I do!”. I’ve been raised up with a mother who taught me to be complimentary and diplomatic, above all when friends give gifts to you or invite you for dinner. You wouldn’t believe how many tasteless dusty bites of Quiches ended in my mouth, turning to unswallowable pulp and doubling its size until a combination of a glass of wine  and body control saved me just before I mumbled “Oh, how delicate!”.

Little Quiches in a muffin tin

Some of my friends wouldn’t do it, they’d say that they don’t like them at all. Why can’t I? Well, I could but why do I think that it’s better to be polite and to suffer myself instead of saying the truth? Do you always say what you think regardless other people’s feelings and effort? If yes, did you ever lose friends due to your straightness? Please, let me know. Let’s get back to quiche now. I’ve tried it any style in many different restaurants in France as well as in Germany and not only the name stays the same everywhere, the taste unfortunately, too. Why making them? A look into the fridge and the article in a magazine about what other things you can cook with your muffin tin lead me there. I tried two different fillings: one with peas and mint and the other one with zucchini and bacon.

Surprise surprise…both results were so good that I have to change my opinion on quiches. All of us liked them and I swear that before we used to be the world’s most convinced hardcore group of anti-quiche activists. Now I know how to make 12 little quiches in a muffin tin and I’ll try more fillings because this is a great starter for guests and you can eat them hot and cold. I’ll surely watch my friends’ reactions carefully after my little introduction: “Quiches can be so boring, dry and flat. This one isn’t, have a bite, Im sure you’ll love it as much as I do!”. 

RECIPE:

Quiches with two different fillings

12 pieces each, use a muffin tin

The dough (for 12 pieces):

250 g all-purpose floure (Type 405)

100g soft butter

1 egg yolk

100 g cream cheese

a pinch of salt

Mix together and knead until you have  nice dough. Wrap into cling film and put into the fridge for 50 minutes.

In the meantime you can preheat the oven to 200°C and prepare the fillings.

Filling 1 – peas and mint:

300 g fresh or frozen peas (to be honest, it doesn’t make a big difference here)

one handful of fresh mint leaves

1 onion (finely chopped)

2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)

3 tbsp olive oil

5 eggs

200 ml milk

100 g crème fraîche

2 tsp mustard

salt

pepper

50 g feshly grated Parmesan cheese

Fry the onions and the garlic in a pan with olive oil until translucent. Mix the peas and the mint in a bowl. Whisk eggs, milk, créme fraîche, mustard and salt and pepper in another bowl.

Oil the muffin tin and cut circles of 10-12 cm out of the rolled out dough (I used a dessert bowl), put them on the hollows of the muffin tin and bring each into the shape of a cup. Now fill in the baked onions and garlic first. Then add the peas and the milk/egg mix and finally add the Parmesan cheese. Put into the oven for 30 minutes.

Filling 2 – zucchini and bacon:

400 g zucchini

2 onions

100 g bacon (chopped)

3 tbsp olive oil

5 eggs

fresh thyme leaves

200 ml milk

100 ml cream

1 tsp mustard

salt

pepper

70 g old Gouda cheese (freshly grated)

Fry zucchini, onions and bacon in a pan. Whisk eggs, thyme, milk, cream, mustard, salt and pepper well in a bowl.

Oil the muffin tin and cut circles of 10-12 cm out of the rolled out dough (I used a dessert bowl), put them on the hollows of the muffin tin and bring each into the shape of a cup. Now fill in the baked zucchini/onions/bacon first. Then add the milk/egg mix and finally add the Gouda cheese. Put into the oven for 30 minutes.

waffles with whipped cream and jelly of elderberries

Finally we had our first big potato harvest. It was a beautiful day, sunny and dry, Thomas spent the morning in the garden and proudly presented the fruits of success: about 25 kilos of gorgeous-looking potatoes. He was sweaty and full of dirt but..gee!…he looked so damn happy.

our own potatoes

Now we store them in my dad’s workshop where it’s cold and dark and every time I see them I have to smile. Never ever in my entire life I would have imagined that I could possibly have such strong feelings for comparatively shabby dirty fellas. I always loved eating them though and last week we had them in four variations: mash, salad, simply boiled and potato fritters.

Jamie's potato salad with smoked salmon

The salad is from Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie At Home” book  and you serve it with smoked salmon and horseradish sauce, it really is delicious and one of our all-time favourites http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/potato-salad-with-smoked-salmon-and-hors For the fritters you have to peel and grate 1kg of potatoes, 1 sour apple and 2 onions. Take a dipper and skim the “water” which comes out of the potatoes. Add one big egg and season with salt and pepper. Heat resolidified butter or vegetable oil in a pan and put dough for three fritters into the hot oil and press them with a tablespoon because they’re best when thin and crispy. Bake them about 3-5 minutes on each side and put them on a grid with kitchen paper in order to drain the oil. It really depends on your personal gusto whether you want to eat them with apple sauce or salmon and pumpernickel (a dark brown bread) or sugar beet molasses, these are common combinations. We made a quick sauce which was great for a summer day: put 250g crème fraîche in a midsize bowl, then whip 150g cream in a narrow container and fold slowly into the crème fraîche. Finally add a bunch of chives (freshly chopped) and season with salt and pepper.

potato fritters with creamy crème fraîche

Sometimes it feels like nature’s conspiracy against laziness. After the potatoes there were lots of rhubarb (I don’t think August is “rhubarb time” but we planted it quite late so we’ll probably end up having the last bits for Christmas) and elderberries.

Rhubarb Strawberry Jam

We decided to make rhubarb-strawberry jam and elderflower jelly. Did you ever reap and prepare elderberries?

naughty little things: elderberries

It’s pure torture and I suggest it as an official penalty for white collar criminals, i.e. for those who committed tax evasion big time. All these corrupt politicians and financial managers usually get away so easily by paying high fines which for them aren’t painful. I’m convinced there would be much less repeaters if they had to reap several kilos of elderberries and make jelly out of it. I like the idea and will write a letter to the ministry of justice tomorrow. For those who don’t understand…there are millions of little berries which cling firmly to the petioles. You have to remove them with a fork and seperate the green ones out. Oh, did I mention that their juice lasts longer on your skin than a tattoo? Anyway, the final result is incredibly tasty. And who knows, if the ministry is open for new ideas there should be tons of it in supermarkets soon.

Schliersee

We went to Schliersee in Bavaria the other day in order to pick up Thomas’ daughter from her holidays on a farm. Although the drive was quite long and we only stayed over one night it was a recreation and we enjoyed the Bavarian weather, food and beer. We had breakfast outside together with a cattleherd and in this moment it was impossible to think about anything else than love, peace and harmony. Maybe all heads of state should have their breakfast in the neighborhood of ringing cowbells and the world would be a better place.

breakfast in the mountains

our breakfast "room"

Before you think this post is all about naive philosophies of life let me switch over from chilling in Bavaria to chilis in our backyard.

Red hot chili peppers

German summers are quite rainy and we only have a couple of days with tropical heat, the rest is more like what in other European countries is called spring. When we bought the Jalapeño plant we both weren’t convinced that it will grow in the garden but 1. we love cooking with chili, 2. it wasn’t expensive and 3. we could still bring it inside and put it on the windowsill once it starts looking unhealthy. Thomas got a chili plant (amongst many others like peppers, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, salad etc.) for his birthday and we expected neither of them to survive. Little did we know that soon we’d have almost a hundred chilis and jalapeños. They’re all coming out now and while I was thinking that green chilis turn red if you don’t pick them before I’m wondering why some are already red as fire the moment they see the light. This is when we realize that we’re absolute garden beginners. Somebody said that it’s a myth that the heat is in the seed of the pod. Regardless whether it’s a myth or not, it definitely is milder if you cook it without the seed. Once my entire mouth starts burning and breathing gets almost impossible I’m willing to believe in many myths. I’m still looking for jalapeño recipes and found some good ones on  www.jalapenomadness.com (like grilled jalapeño poppers…mmmhh) but if you have other ideas leave a comment, please. In the meantime I’ll try not to put them into every meal.

Jalapeño

basil lime parfait

Lately we were invited by friends and they surprised us with “a perfect dinner”. We all like watching “Das Perfekte Promi Dinner”, a TV series adapted from the British “Celebrity Come Dine With Me”.  The German version features celebrities whose name in the majority of cases you’ve never heard of and most of them are either athletes decorated with a silver medal for something like hurdle race or so-called actors from soaps running on TV in the afternoon when most people are at work. Anyway, we love to slouch on the couch while watching other people sweating in their kitchen, working on the decoration in order to get a good rating from the guests at the end of the evening. That night at our friends’ house it was lovely weather and we had the aperitif  on the balcony and the four courses (salad, meat dish, dessert and cheese) inside. Everything was very good and each course had its perfectly matching wine, it was a great evening and we had a blast (by all means we had a perfect dinner and rated them 10!). The absolute winner certainly was the dessert: a basil lime parfait.

It was unbelievably good; creamy and velvety, basil kissed lime and cream, the flavor haunted me for the following three days. They were too slow mailing the recipe and when my withdrawal symptoms got unbearable I remembered they found the recipe on the internet. I looked it up myself and found it, originally from Holger Zurbrüggen, a VIP chef with a restaurant called “Balthazar” in Berlin. This is so good and refreshing and you don’t even feel the millions of calories. A couple of fresh strawberries are the best companions (because they’re unbeatbale as a team with basil) but you can serve it with most fresh berries and a little bit of lime juice. “Parfait” is French for “perfect” and now I know why this dessert has got that name.

Basil Lime Parfait

Serves 4:

100ml cream

100g sugar

a good handful of fresh basil

zest of one lime

3 egg yolks

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp mascarpone

100ml whipped cream

Mix the cream with the sugar and add the basil (leaves and shafts) and the zest of (a well washed) lime. Let it steep at ca. 50°C for about 15 minutes, then put into a bowl through a sieve and let it cool down a bit.

Whisk the egg-yolks and the sugar over a hot bain-marie until it’s creamy. Now add the basil/lime cream, the mascarpone  and finally the whipped cream.

Fill into glasses and put into the freezer over night. Best is to get it out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving with a fresh basil leave, strawberries or any other fresh fruit with icing sugar and lime juice.

ravioli

400g all-purpose flour (type 405) or pasta flour (type 00)

4 eggs

3 tbsp olive oil

Put it all into the kitchen machine and knead on low level for about 5 minutes.  Then wrap it in cling film and put into the fridge while you’re preparing your filling. Don’t be scared, make your own mixture of stuff , everything you can imagine as a good combination with pasta. The only important thing is not to make it too liquid. Maybe you’ll try it with a mixture of 200g ricotta cheese and 150g spinache seasoned with sea salt, black ground pepper and nutmeg. Mix everything in the food processor and put it to the side.

Now take the dough out of the fridge, remove the cling film and cut it (the dough not the foil) into pieces of about 200-250g and roll it out on a floured surface. Then cut it into stripes and use your pasta machine, start with the thickest level and reduce the thickness every time until the thinnest level. Put a teaspoon of the filling onto the dough and try what size works best for you. Some use a ravioli board but we haven’t got one and if you like the rough look of the ravioli (like we do) just use your fingers. Especially when you do this together with kids don’t be too perfectionistic, this should be fun! I watered my finger and used it to wet the frame of the ravioli and covered it with the next sheet. When you cover it make sure your hands are dry again otherwise it doesn’t stick well enough to each other. You can use a cookie cutter, a glass with a sharp bezel, a pizza wheel or a simple knife to bring it into the right shape. Put the finished ravioli on a floured tray or kitchen towel until they’re all ready.

ravioli

Bring a big pot of salted water to boil. For the sauce you can simply heat a good knob of butter and then add chopped sage and a pinch of salt. Give the ravioli into the boiling water and let them simmer until they come up to the water surface. Take them out with a skimmer and put them on warm plates before adding the sage butter, some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh pepper.  We love this pasta because it reflects exactly our philosophy of life: simple and wow!

We were so hungry by the time the ravioli were ready to eat that we totally forgot to take a picture of the finished dish, now I’m a little sorry. As we make these from time to time I’ll add another picture next time.

our first potatoes from the garden

It’s very impressive how many potatoes come out of simply putting a single one into the ground. And you don’t have to do anything but water them and protect them from daylight by earthing them up once or twice. In the next 2-6 weeks all of them will be ripe and we’re so much looking forward to it. Here’s one of our favourite recipes for roast potatoes in the oven. Wash and quarter the potatoes (peel if needed) and put them into a bowl with a marinade made of olive oil, sliced garlic, sea salt, black pepper, rosemary and season with dried chili flakes. Mingle everything with your hands and put it on a baking tray into the preheated oven (160°C), about 30-40 minutes and you’ll have lovely crispy potatoes which are great with most meat, fish or a nice yoghurt dip and bread. We had ours for dinner with chicken breast (with home made breadcrumbs) the other day, simple and yummy, that’s how we like it.

crispy oven potatoes with chicken

This Every summer here is so unsettled. What was wrong with July and August being hot, tons of ice-tea for everyone and millions of kids in public pools? Since a couple of years it’s always the same: spring is nice and warm and then everybody’s waiting for summer to come. While you’re still waiting one morning you wake up and it’s September and autumn’s nearly there. This year again, we already had a couple of very hot days which alternate with cold rainy days. Sounds like perfect garden weather but unfortunately both come excessively. Our first carrots died due to dryness (thank god we both have jobs and can’t water them every two hours) and the 2nd generation nearly drowned in a sequence of thunderstorms. Right now everything looks good and after we finished eating our peas and beans we’re getting prepared for tons of courgettes and tomatoes.

green tomatoes

Luckily we discover interesting recipes for both here and there but any hints for preserving them ( maybe with a special kick) are very welcome.