Dry Rub for ribs Sony's Style
My daughter and I love, love, love the Sony's Dry rub smoked Ribs. I found this dry rub mix and modified it a bit so I think its getting to the original pretty close. Try it out and let me know what you
think. I usually make a lot more of the mix, put them in cute little glasses and hand them out to friends or strangers as a little gift.
This is what you need:
- 1/4 cup smoked Paprika
- 1 TBSP Onion Powder
- 2 TSP Oregano
- 2 TSP Garlic Powder
- 1/2 TSP Cumin
- 1/4 TSP Cayenne
- Salt (or smoked Viking Salt) and Pepper
This is how you do it:
Oil the meat good. Rub the mix into the ribs. Let sit for around 15-30 min.. Then put it in the preheated oven, covered with aluminium foil at 400 degrees for around 40-45 min..
Uncover and let sit for another 5-10 min.. If you have a smoker, you can smoke them now. They will be even more authentic Sony's
We love it with Garlic bread and a fresh Tomato Salad
For the Chicken drums just put them in the oven for around 30 min or until done. Use your
favorite BBQ Sauce, heat it up in a pan and add the chicken wings to it.
Guten Appetit
European Style Cole Slaw
The european Cole Slaw (Krautsalat) is different then to the american version. I am not a big
fan of the heavy american Cole slaw. I like the fresher and lighter version better. Plus, it
can get stored in the fridge for months.
This is what you need:
- 1 green cabbage, cut with the cucumber slicer so you get thin slices
- 1 cup Water
- 6-10 TBSP Vinegar (depends on which one you are using. Apple cider is stronger then white wine)
- Vegetable Bullion
- 4 TBSP Oil
- Salt, Pepper, Sugar
This is how you do it:
Put all the ingredients in a pot and heat it up til cooking. Pour it over the shredded cabbage
and let it sit for a sec.. Then, best with gloves so you don't burn yourself, kneed the cabbage
so it's getting nice and soft.
Now just put a lid on and let it sit and rest.
This cabbage tastes fantastic with Greek dishes, in the Doener Kebab sandwich or with
certain german dishes. (Mostly used cold with a mix of Lettuce greens)
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Lo Mein
We like the fried noodles. Also a great possibility to eat fresh vegetables. And a great use of left
over chicken. Since we don't eat spicy at all, this one is great for us.
This is what you need:
- Chicken breast (cooked in salt water) or left over Rotasserie chicken.
- for 2 people: good 2 handful Philippine Noodles (Asia Stores have them)
- Sesame Oil
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- handful of spring onions
- handful of length sliced carrots
- half a leek, sliced as the carrots
- Soy Sauce
- handful of Soy beans
This is how you do it:
If you use the chicken breasts, you cook them in salt water for at least 10 min.. Then slice them in
mouth size pieces.
Soak the Philippine noodles in hot water in a Bowl for app. 10 min. Drain.
In a wok, heat 1 TBSP of Sesame Oil and fry the 2 beaten eggs. Then add the green onions,
Carrots and Leeks and let it fry for a couple of min.. Add the chicken and the noodles and stir
well. Now you add the Soy beans and soy sauce to taste. Round this up with a TBSP of Sesame Oil
and stir well.
We even tried it with sweet and sour chicken once instead of the chicken in the Lo Mein. You can
supstitude the chicken with fish or even completely without any meat.
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Romanian Apple cake
Prajitura cu mere
This is an apple cake I had in Romania. I loved that you can basically take it in your hand
without a mess and eat as you go. Also, it is not super sweet, juice even though you squeeze
out most of the juice. Something small for in between.
This is what you need:
- 500 gr. Flour (around 4 cups)
- 250 gr soften Butter (around 2 sticks)
- 3 Eggs
- 5 TBSP Sugar
- pinch of salt
- 14 gr Vanilla sugar (or 1 TBSP Vanilla extract)
- 1 pack (14 gr) Baking powder (around 1/2 TSP)
- 6-7 big apples
- sugar and cinnamon
This is how you do it:
Put in a big bowl together the Flour, eggs, butter, sugar, salt, Vanilla and baking powder and kneed
with your hands (I used disposable gloves so it doesn't stick to the fingers) till you have a smooth dough. Let it rest in the fridge.
Peel the apples and remove the seeds. Then shredder them over a cheese cloth and a big bowl.
Wring them out good in the cheese cloth. (The apple juice you can drink and its very delicious).
Add some sugar and cinnamon to the shredded and dry apple and mix it good.
On a baking sheet place some non stick cover. Take half of the dough and a cling wrap to roll it
thin the size of the baking sheet. Then apply the apples over the whole dough.
Take the 2nd piece of dough, place it on the same size baking sheet and lay it on a piece of cling wrap. Then take another piece of cling wrap to roll the dough thinly the size of the sheet again.
You will see that it's nearly impossible to roll the dough without the cling wrap and how easy it is
with it.
Now just lay the layer of dough over the apples as a top. Sprinkle some sugar over it and bake it
in a preheated 305 degrees oven for around 40 min till its golden brown.
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Pofta buna
Schmandtorte
Oma's specialty Cake
This is the cake my Oma use to make all the time for us. We all loved it, still do. But my Oma has
passed already. When I make this cake, I am redirected into my Omas house were we sit on the
Dining table together, having coffee and cake. Even though I am a lot influenced by my Omas
cooking, I dedicate this recipe to her. May she rest in peace.
This is what you need:
for the bottom
- 125 gr soften unsalted Butter
- 250 gr Flour
- 70 gr sugar
- 3 Egg yolks (keep the whites for the topping)
for the filling
- Vanilla pudding, made like instructed
- 500 gr. full greek yogurt
- splash of Lemon juice
for topping
- 3 Egg white
- 125 gr sugar
This is how you do it:
If you have, like me, german vanilla pudding, you need to cook the pudding like instructed. Give it time to cool with stirring in between so you don't get a skin. If you use american pudding, prepare as instructed but because it doesn't need to cool off, you can proceed with the rest of the cake.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Add all the ingredients for the bottom cake in a bowl and knead them well with your hands. Transfer it to a round cake form you have buttered before. Push the dough with your hands in form with making a little ring around the flat bottom.
Add to the vanilla pudding the greek yogurt and lemon juice and mix well. Transfer to the cake form and bake the cake for 40 min..
Beat the egg whites with the sugar till stiff peaks. Put it on top of the cake and proceed baking for another 20 min..
Let cool completely
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German Pork Roast
Schweinebraten
German Pork Roast is another of our typical sunday Lunch dishes. In germany we celebrate the
sundays. Everything is closed, usually you go to church and when you are coming home, you have
a nice big lunch. Traditionally we have tea time then around 4 pm where we have coffee and
cake. Dinner isn't to important on sundays lol.
Here in the states I found the pork butt roast to work best for the Schweinebraten. I usually buy
one when I see them on sale and keep them in my freezer till I decide to make it. Also, I found it's
easier to cut in the fat into diamonds when its still a bit frozen.
This is what you need:
- Pork butt roast
- 2 carrots, cut in 2 inch pieces
- 2 stacks celery, cut in 2 inch pieces
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 2-3 whole gloves of garlic (optional)
- handful of Allspice (optional)
- handful of Juniper Berry (optional)
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 bottle of beer
- Mustard
- salt, pepper, marjoram, paprika, ground caraway seeds
- 750 ml of a mix of Vegetable and Beef Broth
- couple of slices old bread
This is how you do it:
Cut diamonds in your fat part of the roast. Mix the salt, pepper, paprika, marjoram and ground caraway seed in a bowl together and sprinkle it all over the roast so its completely covered. In a
oven dish, place the carrots, Celery, garlic and onions. Also the Allspice, Bay leaves and Juniper Berries. Pan fry the Roast from all sides nice and brown. Transfer it over to the baking pan.
Roast it for 30 min on 400 Degrees until the roast gets a nice crunchy outside and the onions turn a bit brown. Now turn the heat down to 350 Fahrenheit and add the broth. Make sure the bread is covered with Liquid.
Now leave the roast in the oven for 3 3 1/2 hrs or til the roasts internal temperature is around 160 degrees.
Remove the Roast and cut into slices. Remove the Carrots and the Celery and strain the Allspice, Bay Leaves, Garlic and Juniper Berries out. Blend it with a blender. Thanks to the bread it should be nice and creamy already.
Traditionally you serve the roast with potato dumplings. As side you can use Broccoli or Sauerkraut or blue cabbage. We also serve Spaetzle or Egg noodles with it and peas as the side. Whatever you want.
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Spaetzle
Spaetzle is also called tear noodle or tear pasta because of its form. Because it basically tastes
like Pasta, you can eat them to all kind of dishes. From stews over Roasts.......
This is what you need:
- Spaetzle maker
- 500 gr. Flour (around 4 Cups)
- 5 Eggs
- pinch of salt
- around 200 ml water
This is how you do it:
Bring a big pot water with salt to a boil. Have a colander available and maybe some spray oil
or oil so they don't stick.
Mix the flour, the eggs, salt and just enough water together that you have a heavy dough. When
you get a spoon full of dough and let it drop, it should just start to run down in a stream. If its
going down in portions drop by drop, add more water. When it runs down like water, its to
liquid and you might add some more flour.
Once your dough is done and your water is cooking, take the spaetzle maker and fill it up with dough.
Place it over the water and move slowly back and forth and let the dough drop in the hot water till
its empty. Stir the Spaetzle in the Pot and in about 1 min their done cooking. Take them out of the water and put them in the colander. Add a bit oil so they don't stick to each other. Now fill the
Spaetzle maker again with the next batch of dough and repeat till your dough is gone. It usually is
going pretty quick.
Your Spaetzle are done. Now you can do with them whatever you like. We like to layer them with cheese, little bit of butter flakes, salt and french onions. Then I put the Spaetzle Lasagne in the
microwave for 5 min and you have what we call Kaese Spaetzle. (Cheese Spaetzle) and is a whole
meal for itself.
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Griessnockerlsuppe
Semolina dumpling soup
This soup is a traditional soup at a german Restaurant and it's preferred for weddings. My
daughter loves, loves, loves this soup. It takes a moment to prepare it but once its in its cooking
process, you have your hands available for other things.
This is what you need:
- 83,4 gr Semolina Flour (also referred as Pasta Flour)
- 30-35 gr of soft unsalted Butter
- 1 Egg
- pinch of salt and a hint of Lemon Extract
This is how you do it:
Weight your ingredients and combine them thoroughly with a fork. In the meantime you can start
to cook your broth. There it really doesn't matter what broth you like most. Chicken, Beef, Vegetable..... its up to you.
Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to simmer and use the smallest spoon you can find. The
dumplings expend when cooking. Put the spoon in the hot soup to heat it up and start cutting small
oval portions. Let them fall in the soup. Don't stir to much with your hot spoon in the mixture though
so the butter doesn't melt.
Once all the dumplings are in the soup, let it simmer for around 20 min.. When you serve it, you can garnish it with some fresh parsley.
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Ciorba de Varza
romanian sour green cabbage soup
This soup is more like a stew. It takes time to cook it but its worth it. Also it tastes better the more
you have to rewarm it. This dish is a "farmers dish". This is not a recipe you would find in a
Restaurant. Neither in Romania nor elsewhere in the World. This is a dish only Mom or Grandma
is cooking for you. When I was with my ex-husband and I was in Romania with his family, they
cooked it quiet often. I really, really liked this soup. My former mother in law (may she rest in peace)
wrote me the recipe down so I can cook it myself. Fortunately I understand enough romanian to
read her recipe ;-).
Ciorba basically means soup and de Varza means with Cabbage. When you want to cook this
soup, make sure you have everything home and you have time on your hand. You don't want to
rush it. First of all, find Tarragon. Its a herb you can find in good grocery stores pre-packed.
Usually in the vegetable aisle. When you are home, remove the leaves and put them in a glass
with Vinegar. Tarragon is also called Pepper Kraut because of its pepperish taste. This glass can
last forever in your fridge and when you need it, just take it out. It also goes good in regular stews.
This is what you need:
- 1 small head of green cabbage, shredded
- 2 Carrots, chopped
- 1 Bell Pepper, chopped
- 1/4 Celery Root (Celeriac), chopped
- 2 Parsnip, chopped
- 3-4 Oxtail
- 1/2 can Tomato Paste
- vegetable bullion (optional)
- Salt, Vinegar, to taste
- Tarragon
This is how you do it:
Get the biggest Pot you have in the house. Fill it with water and put in the Oxtail. Let it simmer for
at least 1 hrs.. Remove the brown foam every once in a while. In the meantime you can chop your
vegetables.
After the first hrs add the Carrots, Parsnip, Celery Root and the Bell Pepper. Let it simmer for another 1 hrs. at least.
After at least 2 hrs add the Tomato Paste, Salt and Vinegar. The soup should get a nice sour taste. But be warned, when you add the green cabbage you might need to add more salt and vinegar. They soak up a lot. Try your soup. Is it strong enough? If not, you can add a bit vegetable bullion.
Now you can add your green cabbage. The cabbage doesn't need to long to cook. Taste it again. You might have to adjust your salt and vinegar here. At the very last take like a handful of Tarragon,
chop it roughly and ad it to the soup. Therefor you don't need pepper.
Traditionally the soup is served with a splash of sour cream (what gets mixed in) and bread.
Be warned again: it will smell so good that you can't wait till its done and you can have your first
plate.
Guten Appetit
Pofta buna
Lentils Stew
A hearty and filling dish. Good to prepare. Tastes better every time you warm it up.
This is what you need:
- 200 gr brown Lentils
- 300 gr Potatoes (around 3 big)
- 100 gr Carrots (around 1 big)
- 100 gr Celery Root (or 2 Celery stacks)
- 100 gr Leak (optional)
- 500 ml (2 cups) Vegetable Broth
- 500 ml (2 Cups) Beef Broth
- 1 TBSP Butter
- 3 TBSP white Balsamic Vinegar
- Parsley for garnish
This is how you do it:
Wash the Lentils and put them with the 2 cups of Vegetable Broth in a pot and cook it for 30 min covered. Dice all the vegetables in same size piece in the meantime.
Fry the Vegetables in a big pot with the butter for 5 min.. Add the Beef Broth and let simmer for 5 min.. Add the Lentils and stir well. Add the Vinegar and Salt for taste.
You might add some Bacon bites. Fry them in a pan until they nice and crisp. Remove and add the butter to the Bacon grease and fry your Veggies in that.
You might also add some wieners. They make a nice little insert. If you are vegetarian, just leave them all out and you have a nice vegetarian dish.
Garnish with some Parsley
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Spaghetti al forno
This dish here is actually pretty easy and quick and you can make it ahead. If you want to take
this to the next level, make your own Pasta. It's actually pretty easy and fast if you have a Pasta
maker. It can be worth the money if you eat Pasta as much as we do. I don't make it all the time,
but sometimes I just feel like it. Lasagne is even faster to make since you just have one big piece.
This is what you need:
- Spaghetti, cooked after instructions
- 1 lbs ground beef
- 2 mild italian sausages, squeezed out
- 1 can diced Tomatoes
- 1 glass of your preferred marinara sauce. (I use the organic one from Aldi)
- Bechamel Sauce (or, if it really has to go fast, 1 glass of your preferred Alfredo sauce since its actually the same. See me post for this)
- Parmesan cheese
This is how you do it:
Cook the Spaghetti.
Fry in a big stainless steel pan the squeezed out italian sausage and the ground beef till its nice and crumbly. I season it with salt, pepper, oregano, thyme and rosemary a bit so its
not going to bold. Then I add my diced Tomatoes and the marinara sauce. I usually wash the glass
out with a bit of heavy cream. So you get that extra creaminess in it. Bolognese Sauce done.
Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
For the Bechamel Sauce just add some unsalted butter in a sauce pan and add enough flour so its completely soaked. Let it cook for a min.. Then add enough milk that its getting nice and creamy.
Season with salt and nutmeg. Then I added a good handful of shredded Parmesan cheese. If you don't want to make the Bechamel Sauce, you can simple use one of your preferred Alfredo Sauces. For
better instructions, go down my recipes for the Bechamel Sauce recipe (pictures added there).
Once the Spaghetti are cooked, drain and transfer them into the Bechamel Sauce (or Alfredo) and stir well.
Use a baking dish and add from the Marinara sauce (Bolognese) on the bottom. Then add the
Spaghetti on top and finish with the Bolognese sauce on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan and put in the
oven for 5-10 min.
Serve and enjoy. You can add here also vegetables if you like. Mushrooms going good with it.
Guten Appetit
Coconut chicken curry
This is a 5 min dish. I saw that recipe on the cooking channel but gave it my own little twist.
My husband never ate something like that before so I was a bit concerned if he would like it.
Well, we sat down on the table and he tried it and immediately took my plate away lol. So, yeah
he liked it.
This is what you need:
- 2-3 chicken breasts, diced
- the green of a couple of spring onions
- Tomato paste, 1/4 of a can
- 1/2 can coconut milk
- 100 ml heavy cream
- 1 TSP mild curry powder (of if you like it spice, the regular one)
- 1 TSP ground ginger
- 1 TSP smoked Paprika
- 1 TSP ground cumin
- 1 TSP ground mustard
- Salt and Pepper
This is how you do it:
Fry the diced chicken breasts til their nicely brown. Then add the green of the spring onions and
let it fry for a bit. I used coconut oil since I was about to use coconut milk anyway. Then add the
Tomato paste and stir it in well. Add the spices and let it sit for just a min or so. Now you can add the coconut milk and the heavy cream. Stir and you are done. Easy wasn't it?
If you like, you can add all kinds of vegetables your choice to it. You might be even able to add some
pineapple or kiwi for the very exotic flavor. Fruits go very good with curry and ginger.
I served rice with it. Since I use the 5 min rice, I basically start the rice the same time as with the chicken. So their both done at the same time. If you add a little bit curry powder to your rice, you
get the nice yellow color and a hint of curry in your rice.
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Griessbrei - Semolina pudding
This is something we give our babies for dinner when their in the age of starting eating solid
food. My husband and I loved the baby food version. When I made it from scratch the first
time in the united states, my husband didn't even want to try it at first. When I finally convinced
him to try it, he said: it tastes just like the baby food we gave Madison when she was a baby.
Umm, yeah lol. He couldn't stop "steeling" from my bowl ha ha ha.
This is what you need:
- 60 gr. Cream of wheat
- 500 ml (2 cups) milk
- 15 gr. unsalted butter
- 1 Egg (separate)
- 2-3 TBSP sugar
- 14 gr Vanilla sugar (or 1 TSP vanilla extract but then 1 TBSP more sugar)
- 1 pinch of salt
Cook the milk with the salt to a boil, add the cream of wheat immediately and stir constantly.
Turn the heat down, add the sugar and vanilla and let the pudding cook for around 5 min. or until thickens.
Whip the egg white till soft peeks. Add the egg yolk to the pudding and stir well. Now fold
the egg white carefully in the pudding.
Serve with cinnamon or fruits. You can eat warm or cold.
Spanish Potatoes
This dish is good by its own but you can also serve some short fried meat with it like a steak
for example.
This is what you need:
- Potatoes for frying and baking (I calculate 2 per person)
- Bell peppers all colors (that its the same amount with the Potatoes)
- chilly pepper or Poblano pepper, depends on how hot you want it
- 2-3 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
- salt, pepper, caraway seeds
- Sherry cooking wine
This is how you do it:
First boil the potatoes in their skin till their tender. Let them cool. Peel the skin and slice them in
french fries shape.
Wash the bell peppers and slice them in long thin slices.
In a frying pan add some olive oil (2-3 TBSP) and let the potatoes fry for around 20 min. Stir occasionally so they brown nicely. Then you add the sliced bell Peppers and fry another 10 min.. You may add another TBSP or 2 of olive oil
In the meantime chop the garlic finely and slice the chilly pepper of your choice. When the 10 min for the bell Peppers are over, add the chilly and garlic. Let fry for around 5 min..
Now salt and pepper the potatoes and add a hand full of caraway seeds. At the very end, drizzle
Sherry cooking wine over it, that the potatoes are all getting a little wet. Let it sit a little bit longer
so the liquid can evaporate. You don't want it to wet.
(for 2 persons I use 4 potatoes, 2-3 Bell Peppers and around 1/3 cup Cherry cooking wine)
Guten Appetit
Low carb pork loin with Sauce Hollondaise
This is what you need:
- 1 Pork loin, cut in Medallions
- Bacon
- shredded Mozzoralla or the little balls
- Sauce Hollondaise mix
This is how you do it:
Pepper the Medallions and wrap each in a slice of Bacon. (You will not need salt because of the Bacon). Fry them in a non stick pan from each side. Once fried, lay them in a oven dish. Then add
the Sauce Hollondaise (prepare like package says) over the pork. At the end, lay out the Mozzarella balls (or the shredded Mozzarella). When you use the balls be aware that they will water down the
Sauce a lot. I actually liked it like this.
Now put the dish for around 15-20 min in 400 degrees oven till the cheese is nicely melted.
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Coffee Ice Cream
I like creamy ice creams. Gelato, if that is the more common word. I like to experiment with
freezing things. This recipe here is def. a keeper. Easy to make. You just need to have patience
til its frozen solid.
That's what you need:
- 1/2 cup cold black coffee
- 1 12oz can of sweetened condense milk
- 1 TBSP of Baillys Irish Cream (or whatever Brand you like)
- 2 cups of Heavy Whipping cream (yes, I use a lot Heavy whip in my cooking lol)
That's how you do it:
Combine in a bowl the coffee, the Irish cream and the condense milk.
In a separate bowl (one you can froze with), whip the 2 cups of heavy whipping cream til
it stiff peaks.
Now add the coffee mixture to the cream and mix it just quick together. Cover it and freeze
at least 3 hrs..
Enjoy
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