Tagliatelle With Creamy Herb Sauce and Walnuts

I just realised that you can't even see the noodles on this picture, buried under slices of eggplant, sauce and walnuts - lol

Anyway, there are noodles underneath. I swear!

Basically this was a rather weird dish but I'll post it nevertheless.

I grilled the eggplant slices first.

In a pan, I melted cream cheese and creamy goat cheese, added salt, pepper, olive oil, herbs and cream. Cooked the noodles, and served with the sauce, the eggplant and the walnuts.

...I'm still not sure whether I should consider it good or just rate it "ok". XD but it wasn't bad!

Asian Potato Soup

I've been looking for a special potato soup, and came across this. This is a delicious way to make potato soup less boring. I alternated the recipe just a tiny bit since I just can't eat garlic. (As you may have noticed, or will notice in my further recipes, I never ever cook with garlic or onions but let me tell you something: meals don't need to have those ingredients in order to be delicious!! trust me, there are other ways to add great flavours)

Now, since the recipe provided by this site is in German only, I will give you my version (which is really very similar) in English :)

What you need:

* potatoes
* vegetable stock
* salt, pepper
* ginger
* 1 red hot chili pepper (tehe...coincidence, I swear! x))
* sesame oil or rapeseed oil
* coconut milk
* ground coriander

Peel and cook the potatoes until they're soft. Remove the water and mash them.
Peel the ginger and cut into cubes. Cut the chili open, remove the insides and cut into small pieces.
Heat a bit of oil in a cooking pot and add the ginger and chili. Let them fry shortly, then add the mashed potatoes and the vegetable stock. (Depending on how much potatoes you have, the amount of vegetable stock varies. I used approx. 7 small potatoes with +/-500ml vegetable stock)
I suggest you pour only as much vegetable stock in the pot until it covers the potatoes, then use the blender to get a smooth porridge, and add the rest later.
Season the soup with salt, pepper and ground coriander and add some coconut milk.
Enjoy :)

~Vail~



♪ XOVER - 言霊 ♪

Tonkatsu

This week is Japanese food week! (...or so it seems)

Today I made Veal "katsu"-style! I admit, naming the entry "tonkatsu" isn't 100% accurate, but I don't want to make the title sound stupid just because I took a different kind of meat.

Anyway, I will give you the recipe for the real tonkatsu, so no complaints ;D


What you need:

* porc cutlet
* 1 egg
* panko (japanese breadcrumbs)
* salt, pepper
* flour
* tonkatsu sauce (picture; you can buy it in asia shops)

Make sure your cutlet isn't too thick, then season it with salt and pepper. Coat it with a little bit of flour first, then comes the egg and the panko (you know, the usual procedure). Press to make the panko stick better to your meat. In a pan, heat oil, then fry the cutlet from both sides. Serve with the sauce, japanese rice and cabbage (usually tonkatsu is served with raw white cabbage but I used chinese cabbage which I cooked in a pan)

Enjoy :)

~Vail~

Cherry Pankcakes

This is also a recipe from my mother which kinda reminds me of my childhood :) It differs a little from the normal pancakes but they taste best with either cherries or apples inside.









What you need:

* 500g flour
* yeast
* 375ml milk
* 3 eggs
* salt
* 1 tbsp sugar
* 60g butter
* morello cherries

Blend the flour with the yeast powder in a bowl, add the eggs and the milk and stir well. Melt the butter and add it to the batter, together with the salt and sugar. Let it rest for about an hour, then bake them in a pan. Don't use full heat or otherwise your pancakes will be black on the outside and still raw on the inside.
Serve hot with sugar and enjoy :)

~Vail~

Miso Soup

Miso soup is one of my favourite soups. It's inexpensive, easy to prepare and very tasty - unless you're one of those people who hate the taste of dashi. XD
I'll show you how to prepare miso soup in a few easy steps.

What you need:

* miso paste (red or white, it doesn't matter)
* dashi
* silk tofu
* wakame
* water

In case you're not familiar with the ingredients, I shall give a short explanation.

* Miso: Miso is a paste of fermented soy beans which has a salty taste and is used for soups or other dishes. There are different kinds of miso pastes which variate a little in taste. I used red miso paste for my soup.
* Dashi: Dashi is a kind of fish stock which is used for soups and sauces. You can find it in a lot of japanese dishes, providing the "typical" japanese taste.
* Silk Tofu: This kind of tofu is very soft and perfect for soups. You should not buy firm tofu or it will ruin your soup, believe me!
* Wakame: Wakame is dried seaweed which looks a little like dried tealeaves.

Now, on to the recipe!

Pour 1L of water in a pot and add the dashi powder. Heat it until it boils, then add 1 1/2 tbsp of wakame. (Don't let your eyes fool you when you think that it's not enough, because the tiny dried pieces will grow a lot once in contact with water!)
Cut the tofu into cubes.
In a small bowl, blend 3 tbsp of miso paste with a little bit of boiling water and stir well until it has dissolved completely. Reduce heat, then add the miso and the tofu.

The water shouldn't boil anymore when you add the miso and tofu. In case you think it doesn't taste strong enough, add more miso.
Enjoy!

There are actually many ways of doing miso soup with different ingredients, such as small sea shells, green onions etc. I've tried so many different miso soups while being in Japan, so really, it's up to you what you use. :)

~Vail~

Mediterranean Potato Stew

This may be plain fare but sometimes this kind of food tastes best. :)

Peel the potatoes, cut into pieces and cook them in salted water. Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the potatoes. Add red pepper (it's best to cook them first) and black or green olives. Season with salt, black pepper, oregano and paprika.

In a small bowl, mix goat cheese with crème frâiche or greek yoghurt, a little bit of olive oil, salt, black pepper, oregano and paprika.

Serve hot with the dip and enjoy :)

~Vail~

Hazelnut Chicken With Lime-Mustard Sauce

Yes, yes, I admit: this wonderful sauce was made by my mom (so therefore no recipe!) and though it's fairly easy to make, I took the leftovers with me. (You should never waste food, aye?!) However, I decided to create another dish (shouldn't waste your creativity by simply copying either, right?) with chicken instead of rabbit.

I coated the chicken with a little bit of honey before covering it with breadcrumbs and ground hazelnuts. Honey is a nice alternative to eggs if a. the meat allows a certain sweetness and b. you don't have any eggs left.

The apples were an experiment; not a very necessary one to be honest, but not the worst either. Since I'm not going to provide the recipe for the sauce, I will at least reveal some of the ingredients: mustard, lime juice, white wine and rosemary.



~Vail~

Kuchemännercher

Kuchemännercher; a traditional luxembourgish pastry, that usually appears around December. It's slightly sweet, soft and can be eaten with butter and jam - just like bread, but much better of course. People usually associate it with winter and also -yes- christmas, but it doesn't really have a distinct christmas taste so why not bake them in late September?

I admit, my men rather remind me of little aliens (and that bulky thing doesn't really look like a fish anymore) but I don't consider myself a baking artist!


What you need:

* 500g flour
* 1 package of dry yeast
* 75g butter, melted
* 1 egg
* 60g sugar
* salt
* 250ml lukewarm milk

Mix the flour with the yeast. Add the butter, sugar, egg, salt and a little bit of milk and stir. Add the rest of the milk bit by bit, then knead well. Cover the batter and store it in a warm place. Let it rest for at least 1 hour and let the yeast do its work.
After 1 hour, knead once more, cut the dough into equal pieces and roll them out (not too much!). With a knife, make a few cuts for the head, arms and legs. Preheat oven (180°C).
Your men should be in that bloody hell for about 15-20 minutes until they're ready. 8D
Enjoy!


~Vail~

Chicken In Puff Pastry

The idea for this easy dish originally came from my sister and the good thing about it, is that it's quite variable. You can use all kinds of spices, make chinese, mexican or indian variations or simply season with salt and pepper. As a side dish, I suggest simply vegetables or rice e.g.





Since I'm lazy to make the puff pastry myself (if you ever googled, you know that it's a hell lot of work!), I simply buy it from the supermarket.

I'm not a big fan of convenience food, as I probably already mentioned, but there are just a few products, I can't be bothered to make myself.

Anyway, in case you feel like having chicken in puff pastry, enjoy :)


~Vail~

Hazelnut Soup

The idea for this soup came to my mind while I was watching Tangled (don't get any wrong ideas, the movie was cute...) and I wondered what it must taste like, cause I'd never heard of hazelnut soup before!






I ended up googling and found a few recipes but none of them seemed satisfying for me so I tried to think of anything that would go with hazelnuts and I found the answer: potatoes.

After frying, cooking, seasoning and adding LOTS of water my soup was ready. So I filled my bowl and brought the first spoon to my mouth. As expected, the soup tasted very much like hazelnuts and I was quite content with the result. Until I had eaten half of my bowl.

Now the soup is ready for the toilet.

Conclusion: it is a nice soup, but even after pouring a few glasses of water to make it thinner, it was still too thick. Furthermore, it's really heavy. I suggest, if you ever wanna try, make just a little bit and serve in small glasses. As an appetiser it would be fine, but a whole pot of this soup is simply too much.

~Vail~

Apple Pie

It's apple pie time! (Alright, right, I know I sound like I'm doing nothing else beside cooking and baking XD) but hey! I do what I do best ;)

Now that autumn is right behind my door, I enjoy buying seasonal vegetables and fruits even more! This recipe is from my mom and since I haven't eaten it for a long while, I was longing for it. I only made half of the recipe and still I got 2 tarts!
The dough is awesome; it's coming a little close to puff pastry while at the same time being something completely different. (Now that sounds confusing but I guess you must taste first to understand what I mean - haha ^^;)
It is made of flour, butter and something I know does not exist in several countries: Quark. (therefore I dunno about English translation...)
The amount is the same for every ingredient; I took 125g of everything (and as you can see you will get a lot!)

What you need:

* 125g flour
* 125g butter
* 125g quark
* 2 eggs
* 2 tablespoons of sugar
* 150ml cream (low-fat cream is fine too)
* 3 sour apples

Cut the butter into cubes and make sure it is soft, but not melted. Add it to the flour and mix it with a fork. Add the quark and knead it well, add more flour if necessary. Put it away in the fridge for 2 hours.
Roll out the dough and put it into a flat, buttered baking mould. (You should use one that's designed for tarts!)
Peel the apples, remove the insides (bwaha, that sounds bloody!) and cut it into thin slices. Fill the still empty tart logically! with all the slices.
With a whisk, blend the eggs, the sugar and the cream, then pour it over the apples.
Bake 40-50 minutes. The oven should be hot (200°C).

















You better worship my mom's recipe! 8D


~Vail~

Salmon Thai Style

When I was first introduced to Thai-curry, I was very suspicious about it, mainly because of the coconut milk. I'm not a big fan of coconut products altogether, so I wasn't as excited as the others about trying the sauce. And my suspicion was justified! I didn't like it at all, hence I tried to avoid everything containing coconut milk.

Until one day, I had the courage to try it again at my favourite Thai restaurant. And I was amazed how delicious it suddenly tasted. That's when I decided that I would try cooking with coconut milk myself.

To cut a long story short: Today's meal is a variation of Thai-curry.
I used fresh salmon because it tastes better than the frozen, packaged one.
The sauce is made of red Thai-curry paste (I only used 1/2 teaspoon, because the paste I have is really really hot!) tomato puree, ginger and coconut milk. The amounts which you wanna use of every product depends on your paste and your liking. This time I used less paste because last time I took 3 teaspoons and I felt like my insides were on fire, I can tell! However, if your paste isn't as strong as mine, go on and use more. :)
The ginger isn't absolutely necessary but it adds a nice taste. (Which reminds me of the times when I hated ginger lol)

First, season and fry the salmon, then take it out and put the mini cubes of ginger into the pan. Mix the paste with some tomato puree and 1 tablespoon of coconut milk, then add it to the ginger. Use more tomato puree+coconut milk until you feel it suits you.
Cook the red pepper in the microwave (I swear it's so much faster, takes only 2 minutes!) and add them to the sauce, but make sure the leftover water stays out. Put the fish back into the sauce to keep it warm.

Basmati rice or any other asian rice with long! grains is the best side dish for this meal. Add a little bit of butter after cooking it, season it with whatever you like.
Unfortunately, I had to take simple Uncle Benz rice, because I ran out of Basmati rice and I was too stupid to check whether there was still some in my cupboard, when I left for the supermarket today...

Anyway, enjoy!

~Vail~

Pumpkin Soup With Ginger

By the end of summer, or rather the so-called rainy season, I always long for autumn to come. Autumn still is my favourite season and it's pumpkin time! I was excited to finally be able to cook pumpkin soup again, but this time I tried to experiment a little.

And here's the result: Pumpkin soup with ginger, curry and cinnamon!

A nice yet hot combination :)



What you need:

* pumpkin (I use the normal pumpkin, called "potiron" in french, because I like it much better than the famous Hokkaido pumpkin)
* water
* vegetable stock
* tomato puree
* fresh ginger
* salt
* pepper
* curry spice
* cinnamon

Remove the shell and cut the flesh into pieces. Do the same with a little bit of ginger (don't take too much as it has quite a strong taste) Put everything in a pot, pour water over it until it covers the pieces and add the vegetable stock in powder form as well as some tomato puree. Let it boil, then reduce the heat and wait till the pumpkin is soft. (shouldn't take too long)
Mix everything until you have a nice texture, then season it with hot curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper.
If you like, you can also add a bit of cream.
Enjoy~ :)


PS: In case you wondered what is in the soup on the picture: it's the leftover eggplant slices from my lunch. ;)

~Vail~

Moroccan Lamb With Couscous

The idea for this recipe came to my mind when I found this product in the supermarket. Jamie Oliver's moroccan herb crust.

Since lamb is my favourite meat, I decided to use the crust with this kind of meat.
Ok I have to admit, that I spent a little more time in the kitchen for this dish but it was definitely worth it! The sauce that goes along with it isn't absolutely necessary because the meat is already nice and juicy but if you prefer having sauces in general, you can give it a try. It actually is an experiment that I came up with spontaneously after checking my fridge and cupboard but I liked how it turned out.

Anyway, on to the recipe!

What you need:

* lamb filet
* Jamie Oliver's moroccan herb crust
* salt
* pepper
* honey
* olive oil
* 1 eggplant
* tomato puree
* crème frâiche
* cinnamon
* paprika (spice)
* vegetable stock
* couscous

Start with the eggplant. Cut it into thin! slices, put those onto a baking tray, coat them with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Put them in the oven and turn on the grill function. Depending on your oven, they take +-10-15 minutes.

Cut the meat into palm-size pieces, then season it with salt and pepper. Coat it with fluid honey (if you only have honey that's firm, heat it a few seconds in the microwave), then coat it with the herb crust. Heat olive oil in the pan and take care that the pan isn't too hot. Fry the meat on each side for about 5 minutes.

For the sauce, heat a little water and dissolve the vegetable stock powder. Add a little paprika and cinnamon, tomato puree, honey and black pepper. Use 1-2 tablespoons of crème frâiche or normal cream (I used crème frâiche because I still had some leftovers in my fridge). To make it a little sour, use a bit of lemon juice.

The sauce turned out quite thick so if you're not a big fan of creamy sauces, add more water. I know that different people have different opinions about this issue (I've had several discussions with my mother whether the sauce was too thick or too thin) so you better decide for yourself.

If you don't know how to prepare couscous, check the suggestions on the package. (Or boil the same amount of water than couscous with salt in a pan, add the couscous and take away from heat, wait a few minutes, then loosen the grains with a fork.) Add a little butter, season a little with salt, then serve everything together.

New York Cheesecake

So~ today I finally tried New York Cheesecake! Ever since I saw that guy on TV making this cake, I wanted to try it out. I found a recipe while googling which seemed suitable for me and only did a few alterations.

I usually have my own recipe for cheesecake, which is our family secret and therefore I will not post it in here. I have to admit: no other recipe can beat it! :)

Anyway, this cheesecake has to be really cold to reveal its taste while my version can be enjoyed hot as well.



This one also is neither creamy nor fluffy, it is quite firm. It also contains more calories, which wouldn't be a bad thing, if I wasn't able to actually taste it. I mean, not the calories itself, but the taste of "fat" of the cream cheese that I used. That might sound ridiculous to some or many people but this is just how I feel about it.

The slightly salty cookie bottom turned out nice though, but still I prefer a real dough.

Next time I make my cheesecake version, I will post a few pictures as well.

Have a good night :)

~Vail~

Potato Blinis With Creamy Apples

Today's recipe is a mixture of spicy and sweet, a wonderful combination in my opinion.

Until today, I never tried making blinis with potatoes, so this was new for me as well. But since I enjoyed this combination so much, I would like to share.

You should buy sour apples for the sauce, or it will turn out too sweet. I avoid using sugar and add crème frâiche instead, but if you feel that it's too sour for you, you can still add a bit of sugar.


What you need:

* 4-5 potatoes
* milk
* 2 eggs
* flour
* 1-2 chili
* crème frâiche
* 2-3 sour apples
* salt
* pepper
* butter




In a pot, heat 1 table spoon of butter but make sure to watch it so that it doesn't get burned. Peel the apples and cut them into small pieces. Remove the pits of the chili and cut it into pieces. As soon as the butter has melted, add the chili and apples and let them fry a little. Add a little water so that it covers the apples. Reduce heat.

Peel the potatoes, cut them into pieces and cook them in salty water until they're soft. Mash them in a bowl, add salt, pepper, the two eggs, some milk, 2 table spoons of crème frâiche and the flour until you have a nice batter, which shouldn't be too thin neither too thick.

Get back to the apples and check if they're soft, then mash them in the pot after having removed some of the water, or the sauce will be too thin. Add a little pepper and 2 table spoons of crème frâiche into the apple mixture and reduce heat to the minimum. Cover the pot.

Heat a little butter in a pan, then put 1 table spoon of the batter for each blini in the pan. Let them fry on each side until they're brown.

Serve the blinis with the apple sauce and enjoy. :)


~Vail~

Haddock In A Breadcrumb Coat With Mustard Sauce

Today's recipe is an easy one and it is a dish that doesn't need much time.

Everyone knows and likes breaded fish with ketchup but why not make a few alterations?

To get started, it is not unimportant what fish you choose. As for me, I prefer using haddock, but you can choose any other white fish. It shouldn't have a taste that's too strong and it should be quite flat.

This time I chose zucchini and spaetzle as side dishes.

Against my decision, not to make this a recipe blog, I now decided to include the recipes nevertheless.

What you need:

* haddock
* 1 egg
* a little bit of flour
* breadcrumbs
* salt
* pepper
* vegetable stock
* mustard (I suggest you take Dijon mustard)
* cream (or the low-fat substitute)
* crème frâiche
* 1 zucchini
* spaetzle
* olive oil, rapeseed oil or sunflower oil, butter

Make sure the fish isn't too wet, cut it in half, season it with salt and pepper and coat it with a little flour. Make sure to season it well or it will have only a faint taste (but don't overdo it). Dip it into the whisked egg and into the breadcrumbs. (You can do it twice to have a thicker breadcrumb coat)

Heat rapeseed or sunflower oil in a pan.

In the meanwhile, cut the zucchini into thin slices and heat another pan with a bit of olive oil.
Put the fish into the first pan and let it fry well on both sides. Be careful that the pan isn't too hot or your breadcrumbs will be burned while the fish is still raw! Keep it warm.

Fry the zucchini slices in the olive oil.
In another pan, heat some butter and just a little oil, then fry the spaetzle until they're slightly brown.

For the sauce, heat 1/2 cup of water and add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable stock. Reduce the heat after a short while and add 2-3 table spoons of cream and 1/2 tablespoon of mustard. Season with pepper and add 1-1+1/2 table spoons of crème frâiche.

(Please note that the amount of ingredients I used is for 1 person only.)

Enjoy :)

~Vail~

Zucchini Soup With Olive Oil

Tonight I want to introduce one of my favourite soups which is zucchini soup.

Soups are easy to make and they fill your stomach without containing too many calouries, while being healthy at the same time so this is my perfect dinner.

Zucchini is a vegetable, that will be found on my plate pretty often as it is tasty and rather neutral and it goes along well with most dishes, especially fish.



To avoid that the soup is too neutral, though, I add tomatoes since they add a fresh and slightly sourish taste to the soup. But what makes this soup so appealing is the addition of olive oil and black pepper. Pepper should not be bought ground as it will lose its flavour too quickly. It is better to crush it yourself. You will notice the difference, I promise. :)

AfternoonTea

I usually rather skip the afternoon tea with something sweet to eat but occasionally I can't resist.

Anyway, I did some grocery shopping as my fridge was empty and I really needed to fill up my cupboard as well.
Once again I realised, how much different shopping in Germany is from shopping in Luxembourg.

First of all, the assortment of food is partly completely different, but also some products lack quality, especially fresh meat. Fresh fish is impossible to get, they only sell frozen fish and if you're lucky, they have what you need. Usually I just have to switch to something different which actually ruins my plans of a meal.

Therefore I decided to buy meat and fish in Luxembourg and brought it here. My freezer is quite big, so it allows me to store enough meat and fish for quite some time.

The difference in prices however is also quite striking. My shopping cart today was quite full but I only had to pay 45€ for 45 items. Wow, that makes an average of 1€ per item!
Healthy food is extremely important for me so I try to avoid convenience food as much as possible and always buy fresh vegetables and fruits.

Anyway, to get back to my afternoon tea: I bought this fresh apple turnover at the bakery because, as I said before, I just couldn't resist.
The combination of the pastry with the sweet sugar coat and the apple filling is a nice afternoon treat in autumn.

Talking about apple turnovers: I don't know how many different doughs, fillings and forms there are in the world, but both in Germany and in Luxembourg, there are two and it's always a subject for discussion in my house as my parents and I seem to have completely different opinions about this. As for me, I prefer the sugar coated flat ones.

I found this green Chai for Chai Latte in a random store the other day. The taste is awesome, though I wish that it didn't contain any sugar, because it is a little too sweet for my liking. Nevertheless, I enjoy having a cup of this Chai Latte every now and then.


Stay tuned, dear readers, more will follow!

Introduction

Good afternoon, dear readers.

I decided to start this blog after my dear friend Stel asked me to do so. This blog will be all about food, and every post shall be related to food and nothing else.

I do have a personal blog, so if you wanna check that out, here's the URL: Voices In The Night

I will update with many pictures of the meals that I cook, or the awesomeness of products that I buy, but I probably will not provide the recipes, unless someone explicitly asks for it.

On a further note, this blog will be in English only.

With that said, I will end this short introductory post.

~Vail~



PS: The person on the picture is me.