Loaded Tex-mex Potato

                                   Loaded Tex-Mex Potato

This is the Potato Taco Option 2 recipe just like mentioned in Option 1, Taco Skillet.

This is what you need:

- 1 very large Potato, 1 for each

- Taco package of your liking

- 1 lbs ground meat

- green onions

- Taco cheese

- Guacamole (garnish)

- Sour cream (garnish)

This is how you do it:

Wash the Potato but leave the skin on. Poke all around the Potato with a fork. Oil it and salt it. Put it in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for at least 1 hrs or until fork soft. Meaning, you should be able to poke a fork into the Potato easily because its soft. 

In the meantime, pan fry the ground meat and add the Taco seasoning according to the Package. Add the cheese so it can melt. 

When the Potato is done, take it out and let sit for some min until its cool enough for you to handle. Do not turn off the oven. Cut the Potato carefully length wise but leave some edge so you can scrape out the most of the soft Potato. Add the scraped out Potato into the meat-cheese mixture and stir well. Now add the mixture back into the Potato and cover with more cheese. Put it back in the oven for around 15 min to heat it back up and to melt the cheese. Its basically cooked already at this point. 

Serve it loaded with Guacamole, green onions and Sour cream. It's super delicious 

Guten Appetit 

Potato Taco Skillet

                                          Potato Taco Skillet 

If you love Taco just as much as we do, I have 2 options for you. This is option 1. I will post option 2 right after this one. You can do this as a vegetarian dish or you can add the ground meat to it. That's up to you. 

This is what you need:

- hard boil Potatoes, depending on how many in your family. I usually count 2 per person

- 1/2 lbs ground meat (optional)

- 1 -2 Packs of Taco seasoning to your liking

- green onions

- Tomato salsa

- Guacamole

- Corn chips

- Sour cream

- Cheese to your liking. I like the Taco cheese for this one

This is how you do it: 

Clean and cut the Potatoes into 1 inch cubes. I usually boil them for like 5 min so they get a head start. Pan fry them in oil in a big skillet until crispy and brown. You also may fry the meat in a separate skillet so you can remove the water. When meat and potatoes and browned, mix them together, add the water like stated on the Taco package and add the Seasoning to it. Stir good and reduce the liquid like stated. 

I got me those cute little skillets from Amazon for everyone to add whatever they like. My daughter isn't crazy about most of the ingredients so I can leave them out better for her plus it looks professional and cute. I add the potato-meat mixture onto the skillet and add the cheese on top. Put them in the microwave for just 30 sec or until the cheese is melted. Serve having all ingredients on the table for everyone to load themselves. I like all of it so that's what I put on mine. 

Guten Appetit

Adobo Chicken

                                      Adobo Chicken

This is a Philipino dish. We really like this one after finding this recipe online. I am sharing this with you so you don't have to find a good one. 

I know it's been a while since I posted a recipe. I am sorry about that but I was very sick. I hope you try this recipe once and fall in love with it just as we did. 

This is what you need: 

Marinade (for at least 20 min or over night)

- 1.5 lbs of chicken thighs or chicken quarter. Best boneless but I also use with bones

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

- 1/3 cup soy sauce

-1/3 cup and 2 TBSP white vinegar

- 3 dried Bay leaves

for cooking

- 2 TBSP Oil, seperated

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

- 1 small brown onion, diced

- 1 1/2 cups water

- 2 TBSP brown sugar

- 1 TBSP whole black Pepper (optional since we don't like to pick them out)

- green onions for serving

This is how you do it:

Combine the chicken and Marinade in a ziplock bag or big bowl. Leave at least 20 min or over night. 

Heat 1 TBSP oil in a big skillet over high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade but keep the marinade. Sear chicken on both sides in the pan until browned, around 1 min on each side. Remove chicken from the pan. Heat the remaining oil in the pan and cook the garlic and the onion for about 1 1/2 min..

Add the reserved marinade, water, sugar and black pepper (again, optional). Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to medium and cook for about 5 min..

Add the chicken smooth side down back in the pan. Simmer uncovered for about 20-25 min. and turn the chicken around after about 15 min.. Do not stir and let the sauce reduce to a jam like consistency. 

If the sauce isn't thick enough, remove the chicken onto a plate and let the sauce simmer a bit longer. When thick enough, put the chicken back into the sauce so it can glace it.

Serve with the green onions and sticky rice or whatever your heart desire. We love, love, love sticky rice. 

Guten Appetit  

Vegetarian Ravioli-Vegetable pan fry

           Vegetarian Ravioli-Vegetable pan fry

This is a dish from Hello Fresh Germany, my brother ordered for a while so he can learn new and vegetarian dishes. I love his approach of trying to cut out meat and diary as much as possible to send a message to our overcrowded market to reduce stress on our environment. Factory farming and cruel handling of animals should concern us all. There was a time where we bought what was season. When we butchered for the season. Now we are so spoiled to get what we want, when we want it and where we want it. This dish (and at least 1 more) is here to remind us how spoiled we are and how fortunate.  

This is what you need:

- 2 red Onions

- 2 Carrots

- 200 gr Mushrooms

- 200 gr Oyster mushrooms

- 1 pack of  fresh Ravioli

- 400 ml heavy whip (or crema media for less fat)

- 16 ml Worcester sauce

- 2 spring onions

- Salt, Pepper and Paprika to taste

- 100 ml Water

This is how you do it:

Cut all the vegetables and store separately. The onion half and then slice it. The Carrot cut in thin rounds or half moons. The mushrooms quarter, the Oyster mushrooms just rip in smaller pieces of 1 cm, the spring onions cut the white and store separately from the green.

In a large pan, add 1 TBSP oil and fry the red onions with a pinch of salt until nice brown and soft. Take them out and put aside.

Same pan, add another TBSP oil and the fresh Ravioli, Carrots, Mushrooms and white part of the spring onions for 5-6 min until the Ravioli are a bit colored. In the meantime, mix 100 ml Water and the Worcester sauce, heavy cream and Paprika and stir it together. Add the mixture over the Ravioli-Vegetables, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2-3 min until slightly thickened. Salt and Pepper to taste. 

For garnish, serve the meal in deep dishes and top it with the red onions and garnish with the green part of the spring onions. 

Guten Appetit 

Fish and chips or Backfisch

                                  Fish and chips or Backfisch

Achtung, jetzt gibt's Backfisch!!!! That is a phrase on every Fair in the south what makes northern style fried fish. Also, I have heard it on the market in Hamburg before. Backfisch is the german version of fried fish. Or fish sticks. However you want to call it. This specific recipe now is a copy cat and direct translation from star chef Stefan Henssler and his "schnelle Nummer". He also sells that combination at his Ahoi Restaurants in Hamburg as street food. I tried it there 2 weeks ago and was like OMG!!!! I would have never thought about that combo. Plus, his Remoulade sauce worked perfect yesterday with our grilled spanish Mackerel. The longer it sits, the better it tastes. I will write both dips here with the fried fish recipe. For the french fries or "chips" I trust you to find your own lol. 

This is what you need:

For the Remoulade sauce:

- 2 Egg yolk

- 1 TSP mustard

- Juice of 1/2 Lemon

- 200 ml Oil

- 1 TBSP Capers, diced 

- 1 hardboiled egg, diced

- 1 Pickle, diced

- 1/2 bunch of italian Parsley, cut finely

- 1 TBSP Sour Cream

- Salt, Pepper

For the Garlic sauce or Aioli:

- 1 Egg

- 1 spritz Lemon juice

- 1 TSP mustard

- 100 ml Oil

- salt, pepper

- 1 Garlic glove finely chopped or crushed

For the fish batter:

- 2 pieces a 150 gr Cod (or flounder is good too)

- Fish seasoning

- 200 gr Flour

- 1 TSP Salt

- 300 ml Seltzer Water (with bubbles) 

- 2 TBSP Vinegar

- 10 gr. Baking powder

This is how you do it:

In a tall but narrow glass, just enough space to fit your emergent Blender, add the stuff for the Remoulade: egg yolk, mustard, salt, Lemon juice and oil. Blend it until it gets thick. Remove into a bigger bowl. Now whisk in the sour cream and all the ingredients you chopped finely. Let it sit in the fridge. It will get thicker there, promise. 

In the same tall glass, add now the ingredients for the garlic sauce: egg, lemon juice, Oil, mustard and salt. This will get a lot thinner since its actually an Aioli. Now crush the garlic in to it and let it sit in the fridge as well. 

For the fish batter, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, vinegar and water. It will foam. It will make a nice, crunchy but light crust. Cut the fish into nice size of sticks. Heat enough oil in a large pan or fryer for the fish to cover. Add a thermometer to control heat. should be not more then 175 degrees celcius or 350 Fahrenheit. Coat the fish nicely and thoroughly with the batter and immediately put in the hot oil. Don't overcrowd the pan. Fry on each side for 2,5 min or until golden brown and then turn to the other side. When done, let it drip on Paper towels for excessive oil. 

I also made fresh french fries with it in the oven so it was done at the same time. I coated the fresh potato wedges in oil, salt and Paprika. Perfect combo.

Stefan Henssler now is adding HIS personal note to this dish with a mix of red Onion, Peperoni and Cilantro. I cut them all up into slices and added some salt, Pepper and Lemon juice and let it sit for a moment. 

To serve this dish, put the French fries on a plate, 1-2 pieces of fish, the Aioli around on the side, the Remoulade on top of the fries and the onion/chili/cilantro mix on top of the fish. It is an explosion of flavors in your mouth. Trust me. 

If you ever going to make this recipe or even just some of it, I would love to hear back from you. Leave me a comment on here.

with this:

Guten Appetit and AHOI  

Lemon Chicken

                            Lemon Chicken

We love Lemons. We love chicken. We love garlic and Rosemary. So it was a no brainer that we love Lemon Chicken. But, like mostly, I didn't like 1 specific recipe so I threw 2 recipes together - again. 

Well, you benefit from my experiments lol. Here it goes.

This is what you need:

For the Marinade:

- Chicken parts

- 2 gloves of Garlic, small diced

- 1 zest of a Lemon and 8 TBSP of Lemon juice

- 6 TBSP Olive Oil

- 3 TBSP Rosemary

- Salt and Pepper

For the cooking part:

- 100 gr Bacon, diced

- 1 Onion, diced

- 125 ml white wine

- 125 ml chicken broth

- 100 gr Sour cream

- Juice of 1/2 Lemon

- 100 gr sour cream mixed with 1 TSP sugar for the very end

This is how you do it:

If you have a whole chicken, divide it into pieces. If you just use chicken pieces, just add them into a big ziplock bag. To the chicken add the Lemon zest and juice, Olive oil, garlic, Rosemary and salt and pepper. Let it sit in the fridge. The longer the better.

Take the chicken out of the marinade. In a big pan, fry the Bacon until crispy. Remove. Add the Onion and on medium high until Onion and translucent. Remove from pan. Now pan fry on hot with the Bacon drippings the chicken parts, until chicken is slightly browned. Add the Bacon and the Onions back to the chicken. 

Pour over the chicken now the white wine and the chicken broth and the 100 gr of sour cream. Stir and cover and simmer for about 30 min.. 

Once the chicken is cooked, add the rest of the sour cream with the TSP sugar and the Lemon juice to the sauce. Adjust the Salt if necessary. We love to eat garlic bread with it. Also, some vegetables like Broccoli are good but you can also just serve a green lettuce. 

Guten Appetit

Belgian (german) Waffles

                  Belgian (german) Waffles

I know in the United States these are called Belgian Waffles. We do them in Germany too but we ain't call them "Belgian" lol. Well, anyway, this is how we do it

This is what you need:

- 100 gr of soft unsalted Butter (or Oil)

- 50 gr Sugar

- 7 gr. Vanilla sugar (or a bit Vanilla extract)

- 3 Eggs

- Lemon extract or the zest of a Lemon. You can even use the zest of an Orange

- pinch of Salt

- 200 gr Flour

- 1 TSP Backing Powder

- 125 ml Milk

This is how you do it:

Add everything but the flour, Baking powder and milk to a bowl and whisk it until its foaming and turn pale yellow. Now alternate the flour and milk to the dough (meaning a bit flour, then milk, then flour, then milk) 

Heat up your waffle maker and spray it with oil. Now add 1-2 ladle of the dough into the center of the waffle maker and spread it a bit to the side. Close and let it bake for around 1 min.. When nicely browned, take it out and add some powdered sugar. Repeat until the dough is gone.

Enjoy and Guten Appetit