stuffed Zucchini

                          stuffed Zucchini

 Stuffed Zucchini  are a nice change every once in a while. Easy to prepare and then
just put in the oven. No-sweat-dinner. I like those dinners.

This is what you need:

- 2 Zucchini, cut in half

- 1 small onion, diced

-  1/2 lbs ground meat 

- 1 1/2 TBSP Tomato 

- Paprika, salt and Pepper, marjoram 

For the sauce you need:

- 1/2 can Tomato Paste

- 1 cup Broth

- 1 TBSP Flour

- 1 TBSP Butter

- Salt and Pepper

This is how you do it:

Cut the Zucchini in half and steam it for 3 min., remove with a spoon some of the flesh inside after it cooled down a bit. Place the halves it in a Casserole. Cut the Zucchini flesh and the onion and saute it in a pan with some olive oil. Now add the meat and cook it until its brown and season it with Paprika, salt and Pepper and marjoram. Spoon the filling into the Zucchini and top it with some cheese. In a 350 degree oven, bake it for 15 min.. You can also make the meat raw with some egg and breadcrumbs and add it to the zucchini. 

In the meantime, you can make the Sauce. Melt the Butter in a pot and add the flour. Cook it for like 1 min.. Then add the Tomato Paste and the broth and stir well to combine. Once it starts bubbling up, it gets thicker. If it's to thick for you, add more broth. Season with salt and Pepper and serve it with the Zucchini or stuffed Bell peppers (thats where I also have the sauce recipe in) 

You can serve it with rice, mashed potatoes or pasta. 

Guten Appetit

Lamp chops

                             Lamb chops

I found another recipe for Lamb chops. I had a Lamb rack and didn't really know what to do with
it. 

So I cut it into pieces and had some nice Lamb chops. This time I made them on my electric grill.
You might just use a big frying pan. After making this I was like: wow. I love you. LoL.


This is what you need:

- Lamb rack to cut into slices or Lamb chops

- Salt and Pepper

- 1 stack of fresh Rosemary

- 2 Garlic gloves, smashed

- Butter or Ghee 


This is how you do it:

Heat the electric grill or the pan nice and hot. Salt and Pepper the meat from all sides. 
Melt the Butter and add the Rosemary stack and the garlic and let the butter infuse it a bit.
Watch out that you don't burn it. Move it around a lot.

Now place the meat in and sear it from all sides for around 2 min on each side. (I do the same with 
my Beef Steaks btw. amazing) 

I like to serve the drippings as a little sauce and the Garlic with it. My husband isn't to crazy about 
it. Good, more for me ha ha ha. 

Guten Appetit 

Pho - 30 min soup for the quick appetite

                                  Pho

This viatnamese soup is very popular, and, good. But not everyone has a good viatnamese
Restaurant around the corner. Or, the 10 hrs to cook the broth.
I found in one of those thousand recipes a really good and fast one. To satisfy your appetite.
The other ingredients like the Thai Basil, however, is another story. I used regular Basil what is
not the same, but out of desperation. I just couldn't get in my sleepy little town some Thai Basil.

The other ingredients are thin sliced beef (what cooks in the hot broth as soon as it touches
the plate). Soy beans, green onions, Pepperoni (whom likes), rice noodles and lime. Here I am just going to write the recipe for the Broth. The rest is not really something you can do home style.
Just buy it lol.


This is what you need:

- 1 TBSP black peppercorn

- 1 TBSP Coriander seed

- 4 Star anise

- 4 x 2-3 inches spring onion

- 2 inch piece fresh and sliced Ginger

- 4 Cups hot water

- 8 Cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth if you are vegetarian)

- 1/4 cup Fish sauce


This is how you do it:

In a hot large soup pot put in the black peppercorn, Coriander Seed and the star anise and cook it for 2 min.. Then add the sliced Ginger and green onion and cook it for another 2 min. (no oil, no nothing).

Now add the 4 cups hot water and the 8 cups chicken broth and simmer covered for 5 min.. Remove all the solids with a colander and add the Fish sauce. Simmer covered for another 3 min..

Done. 

Told ya, it was quick and easy. And tastes almost as good as from a Restaurant. 

Guten Appetit

German Cheesecake

                     German Cheesecake

I can't believe I have NOT posted a recipe yet from the german cheesecake. Oh boy, I will do now.
It's impossible to keep you guys from this. I mean, it's one of Germany's most popular cakes.
The big difference between an american and a german cheesecake is --- the cheese. Yes, americans use cream cheese. We use Quark. I assume that you don't know what that is. I explained it and how
to make quark in the "Buttermilk" recipe. If you don't want to make Quark for the cheesecake,
a full and plain greek yogurt is a wonderful substitute. But make sure its plain and has at least
10% fat. 


This is what you need:

For the dough:

- 100 gr Sugar

- 200 gr softened unsalted Butter

- 300 gr Flour

- 1 Egg


For the Filling you need:

- 1000 gr (1kg) plain full greek Yogurt or Quark 

- 100 gr Sugar

- 6 Eggs

- 1 pack of Vanilla pudding to cook (or 49 gr Corn starch and 1 TSP Vanilla Extract)

- Lemon Extract or the zest of 1 lemon

- 12 inch spring Form 


This is how you do it:

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees. In a bowl add the sugar, butter, flour and egg for the dough and kneed it with your hands until you have a smooth dough. Put it in the fridge to rest.

In the meantime, you make the filling. In a big mixing bowl add the sugar, eggs and the vanilla pudding (or mix corn starch with Vanilla extract) and mix it well with either a hand blender or
the Kitchen aid. Now add the greek yogurt and the around 1/3- 1/2 TSP Lemon extract and again,
mix it well until you get a smooth but liquidy filling.

Spray or brush the spring form well with oil/butter. Take just enough of the dough to cover the
bottom, pushing it down with your fingers. It should be around 1/4 inch. The rest of the dough,
put in clinch wrap and freeze. You can use it for another batch. Now add the filling in the 
Spring form. 

Place the cake on a baking sheet and in the preheated oven for 90 min.. When it's done, do not
remove the cake from the oven. When you see the top to be a golden color to light brown, it's
done. Turn the oven off and either, leave the door closed with the cake inside or, if your oven is cooling slower, open the door just far enough to put a wooden cooking spoon in. My oven is cooling 
pretty fast. Sometimes I put the spoon in and it's cooling even faster, making the cake fall back into
itself. The cheesecake doesn't like sudden temperature changes. It will fall into itself. It's still going
to be really good though so don't worry

Guten Appetit

Mousse au Chocolat

                      Mousse au Chocolat

This is a classic french dessert. But it is very popular in Germany. I tried it for the first time to 
make it by myself and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I tried the white chocolate 
version but you can also use dark chocolate with no issue. 

This is what you need:

- 150 gr. of white (or dark) chocolate drops

- 3 medium sized eggs

- 1 pinch salt

- 3 pieces of Gelantine (or a half bag of powder) 

- 40 gr Sugar

- 14 gr. Vanilla Sugar (or just add 14 more gr sugar and add 1/2 TSP Vanilla Extract)

- 2 TBSP Rum (or 1/2 TSP Rum Extract)

- 200 ml Heavy Whipping cream

- Cinnamon (for the white version) optional

This is how you do it:

If you have Gelantine letters, soak them for 10 min in cold water. If you have the powder Gelantine, do as the package says) 

Melt the chocolate in a hot water bath. Simply add the chocolate drops in a metal bowl and place this bowl in a bit bigger pot full with hot water. So the Chocolate can melt slowly. 

Seperate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolks with the Sugar and the  Vanilla Sugar until its smooth and color changes to a light yellow. 

Now add the melted chocolate and the Rum to the egg mixture (Rum only in the white chocolate version). Mix it well.

Melt the Gelantine in a small pot on low heat. Then add it to the chocolate mixture and mix well. 

In 2 seperate bowls, whisk the egg white with the pinch of salt until stiff peaks. Whisk the heavy cream until you have whipping cream.

Slowly add the whipping cream into the chocolate mixture. Do it in 2 patches. Repeat the same with the stiff egg white. Be careful not to over whisk this. You want the air bubbles.

Fill the mixture in a bowl and place it in the fridge for a min. of 3 hrs.. There it will set. Don't peak, I know its hard. 

To serve, take 1 or 2 TBSP and form little boats. Enjoy

Guten Appetit

Pork Tenderloin with Pepper cream sauce

                Schweinelende in Pfeffersauce
               Pork Tenderloin in Pepper sauce

Pork Tenderloin is a very good, lean and expensive piece of meat. But people are scared to make
it because they don't know how. In the united states I have seen people making it in a whole. But
actually you can cut them in nice 1 inch pieces and then its a lot faster and you can control how
you want to cook it. In Germany its very common to make a good and exclusive cream sauce with
the expensive meat. I used to love the Instant Maggie Fix for that but its very hard, almost 
impossible to get it here in the united States. So I googled, found 2 recipes I liked, wrote them together and while cooking I adjusted it with some of my herbs. This recipe I came up with and I must say, it is very similar to the Maggie Fix I love so much. Here we go....


This is what you need:

- 20 gr Butter

- 1 small Onion

- 1 TSP dried black and white Pepper corns

- If you find multi colored Pepper corns, go for it

- 6 TBSP White Wine

- 2 TBSP Cognac (Hennessy, Remy Martin)

- 200 ml beef broth

- 200 ml heavy cream

- 2 TBSP dark Balsamic Vinegar

- salt, Pepper

- 1/2 TSP Paprika

- 1/3 TSP ground Piment

- 1/2 TSP smoked Salt

- 1/2 - 1 TSP Vegeta

This is how you do it:

Finely dice the Onion. On low Temperature, melt the Butter and cook the Onions until they are translucent. Add the White Wine and the Cognac and let it reduce for a min.. Then add the Broth and half of the heavy cream and let it simmer for about 10 min.. 

Add the rest of the heavy whip and all the spices. If the sauce is to thin for you, make a slurry with
Water and Corn starch. You also may filter out the onions to get it like a real smooth sauce. In his picture here I didn't but I like it better when the onions are actually out. It's up to you how you prefer it. If you leave the onions in the sauce, you may add the crushed Pepper corns now. For this just put them in a Mortar and crush slightly. Not to fine. If you don't want the Onions in, you might want to filter them out before you add the Pepper corns. 

The Pork Tenderloin I just cut in 1 inch pieces, push them down slightly, salt and pepper them and pan fry them for a couple of min on each side to get them a nice sear. 

Usually we serve Croquettes with this dish and some Vegetables or Salad as a side. You will find the recipe for the Croquettes on my blog. 

Guten Appetit

Italian apple cake

                      Italian Apple Cake

Thanks to a friend in Italy, I got a hold of this delish apple cake. It is the best I have had so far. 
I am not a big fan of the german Yeast dough fruit cakes, including the apple cake. This one is nice 
and moist and has plenty of apple bits for every bite. 


This is what you need:

- 2 big or 3 small eggs

- 10-12 TBSP Sugar 

- 12 TBSP Oil

- 12 TBSP Milk

- 1 TSP Vanilla Extract

- 1 TSP Cinnamon 

- around 12-20 TBSP Flour (dough should be still sort of runny from the spoon)

- 7 gr Baking Powder

- 1 pinch of salt

- 2 apples, diced

- 1 Apple finely sliced

This is how you do it:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celcius)

Add the eggs and the sugar into a bowl and whisk it with the kitchen aid or the hand blender until it's nice and creamy and almost white in color. It also will double in volume (about 5-10 min).

Now add the Oil and the milk and stir it well. Add the Vanilla extract and the pinch of salt. Now take it out of the kitchen aid and fold the Flour and Baking Powder with a Spatula in 2 batches under the dough.

Fold in the Cinnamon and the 2 diced apples with the spatula. 

Lay on the bottom of your round baking sheet a layer of waxed paper. Cut off excesses. Do not butter the sides of the baking sheet. The dough needs to be able to rise up and not slip down. Add the dough into the baking sheet. Now layer in a nice pattern the remaining sliced apples.

Place the cake in the oven and bake for 40-45 min or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Let it cool completely before removing from the sheet and dusting it with powdered sugar.

Enjoy und Guten Appetit

Polpette di Zucchine - Zucchini Balls

         Polpette di Zucchine - Zucchini Balls

I found this recipe somewhere on the internet in italian. I will gladly translate it for you since I made it and its super delish.


This is what you need:

- 800 gr Zucchini (2-3)

- 100 gr fine grated Parmigiano reggiano

- 30 gr (or more) Bread crumbs

- 1 TSP Thyme

- 80 gr Ricotta

- 1 Egg

- Salt and Pepper

- Semolina (Pasta Flour) to coat them

- Oil to fry

- I added to this recipe some red Pepper flakes

This is how you do it:

Cut off the ends of the washed Zucchini and grate them finely. Add some salt and put them in a fine Colander over a bowl, on top, lay a plate and something heavy. Let the Zucchini drain the water for at least 15 min.. After their drained, put them on a clean kitchen towel and squeeze remaining water out of them to get them as dry as possible.

Now to the Zucchini, add the Ricotta. Stir. Then the egg and stir. Then the Parmesan cheese and the bread crumbs. Season with salt, pepper and the Thyme and, if you want, the  red pepper flakes. Since my daughter just got diagnosed with Lactose intolerance, I had to use Lactose free Parmesan cheese. And I couldn't find Lactose free Ricotta, so I blended Cottage cheese until it was smooth. Unfortunately, that was a bit more watery then the original Ricotta. So I had to add a lot more Bread crumbs to get a nice dough.

Form this dough in neat balls and coat them in the Semolina Pasta Flour. If you can't find that in your Grocery Store, just use Flour.

Fry them in a pan with plenty oil to cover them until their golden brown.

Enjoy and Guten Appetit 

Italian Plum streusel Cake

                       

   

                                      Italian Plum Streusel Cake

This is a classic cake in Fall. When we harvest the Plums. Everyone loves it. There are 2 different ways of making this cake. The most traditional is the yeast dough. I am not a big fan of it since I 
think its very dry. I prefer this recipe here, what is a greek yogurt/oil dough. It keeps it a bit more moist. 


This is what you need:

For the botttom dough:

- 125 gr whole milk greek yogurt

- 4 TBSP Oil

- 4 TBSP milk

- 80 gr Sugar

- 7 gr Baking powder

- 200 gr Flour (or until you have a smooth kneading dough)

- 700 gr pitted italian Plums (you can use the other ones too if you can't find the italians)

For the Streusel:

- 125 gr soft unsulted Butter

- 125 gr Sugar

- 200 gr Flour (or until they get nice crumbly) 


This is how you do it:

Preheat the oven to a 400 Fahrenheit (200 Grad Celcius)

Combine all the ingredients of the bottom dough and knead until its a nice and smooth dough. Use a round baking pan and butter it well. Put the dough on the bottom, squeezing with the flat side of your hand until its covering the whole bottom and lift it up on the outside a bit to create a "border wall". 

Now just sit the Plums nicely on top of the dough, pushing them just a tiny bit into the dough. 

In a separate Bowl, mix the softened Butter with the Sugar and Flour and knead until you have little nice doughy crumbles. Spread as much of those crumbles (Streusel) on top of the cake as you like.

Bake the cake for around 20-25 min.. 

Enjoy pure or with some fresh whipped whipping cream.

Guten Appetit

Zwetschgenknoedel -- Plum Potato dumplings

                     Zwetschgenknoedel  
                   Plum Potato dumplings 

It's slightly sweet, but not overwhelming. It can be eaten as a dessert or as a snack in between or as dinner.

This recipe here is not completely complete. I will have to work on the exact measurments.
Be a bit patient with me.


This is what you need:

- 5 small golden Potatoes (around 250 gr)

- 1 Egg

- 2 TBSP Sugar (leave that out when you do the regular side dumplings)

- pinch of salt

- 2 TBSP Potato Starch (or Corn Starch)

- around 250 gr Flour

- Plums, pitted and cut in 4th 

- Bread crumbs, cinnamon, sugar, Butter for the coating




This is how you do it:

Cook the Potatoes without salt and in the skin until soft. (I use a Tupperware microwave safe bowl where I add just a tiny bit water and put them Microwave for 10 min). Them them completely cool off. 


Once the Potatoes are cooled, peel and strain them through a masher to get them fine as for mashed Potatoes. Add the sugar, salt, Potato Starch and the egg. Add spoon by spoon the Flour until you have a nice and smooth dough. It should not stick much any more. 

Roll it out to a sausage and cut them in 2 inch pieces. Take one piece, add the Plum in the middle and then add another piece on top and form it to a ball. Roll it in Flour so they don't stick. 

In a big pot, bring water to a boil and add just a pinch of Salt. Once the water is boiling, add the Potato dumplings and let them sit in the hot but NOT boiling water until they start floating to the top. You might want to stir them once in between so they don't stick to the bottom. That will take roughly 15-20 min.. Just be sure that the water is not boiling while the dumplings are in. 

In a big frying pan, add 2 TBSP Butter. Let it melt slowly. Then remove from the heat and add around 1 cup breadcrumbs, 2 TSP Cinnamon and around 1 TBSP Sugar. You might add a bit more if you think that wouldn't be enough. I made 7 small dumplings. I still had left overs.

Addons: I had the half of the dough left. I put it in the fridge and will use it with more Plums, once I bought more lol.

I like to serve it with Vanilla Sauce. You can also use Plum Marmalade as a side. Or eat them just plain as they are.

Guten Appetit 

asian sweet-sour sauce

                                    Asian sweet-sour sauce

Ever since I found that recipe, I need to make this. It's sooooooo good and addictive. Also, good to prepare for guests. It's also very, very good on fried fish. I liked the Mangrove Snapper my husband brought home from fishing (we are living on the central eastcoast of Florida). Just fry the fish (salted and peppered and dusted in Flour) and once done, just brush on the sweet and sour sauce. Yum


This is what you need:

- 1/2 cup low sodium Soy Sauce

- 1/2 cup white Vinegar

- 1/2 cup Honey

- 2 cloves of Garlic

- a 2 inch piece of fresh Ginger, sliced

- pack of Chicken wings

- Toasted Sesame seeds and scallions for garnish

This is how you do it:

Peel the Garlic and smash it with a knife a bit. Peel and slice the Ginger. Add all liquids in a sauce pan and add the solids. Let simmer for 30 min and remove the solids. Sauce should be nice and thickened. If not, make a slurry with Corn starch and water and add to the sauce until nice thickened. 

In a 475 degree oven, cook the chicken wings (with nothing on. No seasons needed) for about  35 min and until slightly browned. Remove from the oven and toss the wings one after another in the 
sweet-sour sauce. Garnish with Sesame Seeds and the Scallions. 

Enjoy and Guten Appetit 

Tortellini in Ham Cream Sauce

                               Tortellini in Ham Cream Sauce 

Here is my last italian dish I have forgotten about until we traveled to Italy again. It's been
a while since I have had it and even my picky eater (daughter) liked it.
Also an quick and easy made dish. 


This is what you need:

- 200 gr cooked ham, diced

- 100 gr Laughing cow cheese (regular and garlic herb) It's about 6-7 triangles

- 200 ml heavy whip

- 50-100 ml fat free half&half

- 20 gr unsalted Butter

- Oregano, Salt, Pepper

- You can also add frozen Peas to it

- Tortellini 



This is how you do it:

Prepare the Water for the Tortellini. I usually have the once from the fridge section, they just cook around 2 min..

Melt the Butter and fry the Ham in it until a bit crisp. Now add all the other ingredients and let the Laughing Cow cheese melt. Season with Salt, Pepper and if you like, Oregano. 

Add back the Ham, the peas if you like. When the Tortellini are done, toss them into the sauce. 
Serve. 

Enjoy and Guten Appetit

Spaghetti Carbonara

                     Spaghetti Carbonara

So, here is the first italian influenced dish. Spaghetti Carbonara is a quick and easy dish, made 
all over Italy. We were in Lombardy, Tuscany and Lazio and everywhere we found that dish on 
the menu. 
If you want to do it completely authentic and you are able to find Guangiale, please use that. Unfortunately, I could't find it anywhere here in the states. It's cured pork cheek. You can substitute with Pancetta. 

We also learned that Pasta dishes are "Primi Piatti", means basically a second Appetizer. 
The portions are small and not filling. Also, Pasta is not served with meat like chicken. Chicken or meat dishes are "Secondi Piatti", means main dishes. 


This is what you need:

- 5 Egg yolks

- 2-3 cups of shredded Romano cheese or Peccorino Romano (no Parmigiano) 

- Pepper

- 3 slices of Guangiale or 3/4 of a pack of Pancetta 

- 1/2 lbs Spaghetti


This is how you do it:

Set up the water for the Spaghetti like always. Cook Spaghetti 9 -10 min., slightly under "al dente". Mix the egg yolks with the cheese until its a thick
paste.

Cut the Guangiale into small pieces (or use the Pancetta) and fry it in a pan until its nice and crisp. If you use Pancetta, I used Bacon fat I keep when I make breakfast bacon. But you can use a bit pork lard since the Pancetta doesn't has much fat to release. The Guangiale has plenty fat what would now
melt and you can use for the sauce.

When the Pancetta is nice and crisp, remove from the pan but keep the fat inside. Now add to this fat drippings your cooked pasta. DO NOT TOSS THE WATER!!!!! You need it now. 
Stir the Spaghetti within the fat. Now add 1 big ladle full of the Pasta water to the Spaghetti. Stir well and wait a bit until it starts thicken. Then add another ladle full. Repeat around 5 times until you have already a little thickened sauce. 

Now add the yolk-cheese mix and stir quick so you don't get scrambled eggs. The sauce will thicken even more now and get a nice yellow color. Add another 1-2 ladle full of Pasta Water until you get a consistence you like. It shouldn't be too much sauce and too runny. Nice, thick. 

Now add back the Pancetta and pepper. Try to find out, if you might need a bit salt. Usually you don't since the Pancetta is salty and so is the Pasta Water. 

If you have left overs in your pan and after a while they start to thicken a lot, just add a bit more Pasta Water. 

Enjoy and Guten Appetit 

Tiramisu

                                      Tiramisu 

Hello everybody. I am back. Thanks for your patience. We were on vacation. 2 weeks "home" in germany, and 2 weeks in Italy. We visited family and friends everywhere. Including Italy. And that's
why my following recipes are italian lol. I forgot about certain "recipes". Now that I got reminded
again, I had to cook them back home. So don't be mad if the following 3 recipes are now italian
dishes. 

Tiramisu is a typical desert. In this case, influenced from Italy, I made them in a pickling jar. Easy      to store, portions perfect for everybody and it looks cute.


This is what you need:

- 4 Egg yolks

- 5 TBSP Sugar

- 500 gr (2 packs) Mascarpone cheese 

- Amaretto Liquor (or Almond flavor for the "kids" version)

- 2 Cups of strong Espresso (or a strong regular coffee like instant coffee)

- 2 Egg whites with a pinch of salt

- Lady fingers

- Baking Cocoa 


This is how you do it:

First, make the strong coffee. When its done, add as much sugar till it's tasting ok for you. You might also add the Amaretto Liquor, around a shot Glass full or your Almond flavor (until its tasty. It should have a hint of Almond but not to strong) Let it cool slightly so you don't burn your fingers ;-)

Separate the Eggs but keep 2 Egg whites. With the 4 Egg yolk and the sugar, wisk it until its thickened and light yellow. Now add the Amaretto (or Almond Flavor) and the Mascarpone cheese. 

Whisk the egg whites with the pinch of salt until soft pikes (turn it around. Is it not moving, it's perfect). 

Carefully fold the egg white now into the Mascarpone creme. Do not overwhisk it so it stays nice and light. 

Prepare your glasses or the casserole dish you want to use for the Tiramisu. First, take one Lady Finger and dip it shortly on both sides into your coffee and then place it in the dish. For the glasses, I broke them in sizes first and then dipped it in the coffee. Lay in your glass. Then add 1 layer of the Mascarpone creme. For the glasses, I used 1 Tablespoon full. It should cover the Lady Fingers about 1/2 inch. Then use a small colander and powder some of the Cocoa over it. Repeat the next layer exactly like this. Finish with Mascarpone creme and the Cocoa powder. I had 3 layers of Lady Fingers in those glasses. 

I garnished the Tiramisu Glasses with a chocolate coated Coffee Bean. Cover and let chill in the fridge for about 2 hrs..

Enjoy and Guten Appetit 

Chicken Marsala

                          Chicken Marsala

One of my husbands favorites. Not necessarily german, but hey...... I can cook everything.


This is what you need:

- Chicken thighs or Chicken breast (we like the dark meat)

- 1 big box pre-sliced mushrooms

- 1 cup Chicken Broth

- 1 cup Marsala cooking wine (by the Vinegar in the grocery store)

- 1 diced Onion

- 1 clove Garlic, minced

- 1 Tbsp - 1 1/2 Tbsp flour

- Butter or Ghee (clearified Butter) for frying

- Salt and Pepper


This is how you do it:

Salt and Pepper the chicken parts and fry them on each side in the buttered and hot pan until golden on each side. Remove from pan.

Add the diced onions to the pan. You might want to add a bit more butter if necessary. Don't get them to dark. You might just turn down the heat to medium for that. Now add the garlic and the mushrooms and let it darken a bit, 1-2 min.. Now dust the mushrooms with the flour and stir well. Let it sit another min or 2. Now add the chicken broth and the Marsala. Pepper. Be careful with salt at that point. 

Add the chicken back to the pan and cover it. Let it cook for around 10 min.. In the meantime you can prepare your pasta or whatever you want to serve with it. The flour will thicken the sauce. 
At the very end, before you serve, try it and add salt if needed. But it will reduce some that's why I said, be careful ;-) 

That was it. Easy isn't it? Now have fun and.....

Guten Appetit

Granatsplitter - cake bombs

                 
                Granatsplitter - cake bombs

Granatsplitter in Germany was usually a way for bakeries to use pieces of cake or Torte from the day before they couldn't sell. Usually, they just threw all left over cakes together, mixed them up, put them on a piece of waffle or they baked small pie crusts and set them on top of it. Covered in some chocolate and e voila, you had another cake to sell. Now here in the states, you can do that too. Or, you can do it like me and follow this easy steps. I even froze the "cake mix" and reused it later. 
Quick way on preparing something for a spontanous Guest. 

This is what you need:

- really, there is no right or wrong. I usually bake a box chocolate cake

- I usually use either a box Marzipan cake or the Marzipan cake from Aldi. But you can use also
 a nut cake or whatever you just like

- If you don't have Marzipan (what is Almond), but you want to achive that flavor, make a vanilla   cake and just add Almond Extract to it.

- Instant Vanilla pudding

- 2 Sticks butter

- Rum Extract

- your favorite chocolate. I like the bitter chocolate on this (more cocoa then sugar)

- Waffles or you make a quick dough and bake some small round pie crusts

This is what you need for the Pie crust:
You can freeze the rest of the dough before baking or just make half amount.

- 100 gr Sugar

- 200 gr. Butter (softened) 

- 300 gr. Flour

- 1 egg 

This is how you do it:

If you don't have Waffles like in this picture, make the pie crust dough. Roll it out to around 1 inch
and use a cookie cutter to cut out circles. Place them in the preheated 350 Fahrenheit oven and bake them till their golden around 10 min.. Let them cool before further use.

Bake the box cakes like instruction says. Make the Instant Vanilla pudding like Instruction says.
Use half of the box cakes and crumble them up when cooled. Add the 2 sticks of butter to the Vanilla pudding and some Rum extract. Stir in the Vanilla cream with the crumbled cake.

Place little oval balls on the waffles or pie crusts in the size you desire. 

Melt the Chocolate of your choice over a hot water bath. You simple add some hot water in a pan and place another bowl with the chocolate on top of the water. Don't do it in the microwave. Don't use hot cream for it. You don't want a Ganache. It would be to liquid. Now carefully spoon the chocolate over your cake bombs. You best place some wax paper underneath a cookie cooling sheet. So you avoid a huge mess. 

I usually put them on a baking trey and place it in the deep freezer for a couple of min until the chocolate hardens. Then I remove them and store them in the Fridge. 

Guten Appetit

Vegetable season home made

                                          Vegetable season

So, this here is a recipe I found at the ladies page Fix without Fix I like to go back and check on
because she is trying to redo all Instant fix products in germany with fresh ingredients. 
This season here is perfect to add to soups, sauces or wherever you need a little extra kick of flavor.


This is what you need:

- 1 head of Celery Root

- 2 big Carrots

- 3 stalks of Leek

- 4 Onions

- around 6 cloves or Garlic (around 1/2 half Garlic)

- 1 big bundle of fresh Parsley

- 1 bundle of chive

- 1 package of water cress 

- around 150-200 gr Salt

- Food processor

This is how you do it:

Wash and peel all vegetables. Cut them in pieces big enough to put in the Food processor and
cut it really small. As small as possible. If you don't have a food processor, you will have to hand cut every single vegetable as small as possible. That might also tells you its time to get a food processor lol. Do one vegetable at a time and empty it in a biiiig bowl. 

Per 100 gr of vegetable you use 12 gr of Salt. Mix the salt into the vegetables. Best tool for that are your hands ;-) . Let it sit for around 15 min.. It's going to pull water. 

After the 15 min it should be nice watery. Use an Immersion Blender (StabMixer) to mash the Vegetables now as fine as you can. If you don't have this Blender, use the Food processor again.
I can tell you though, an Immersion Blender is worth gold. You can blend sauces and everything with this thing. If you haven't noticed yet, but I use that thing quiet often. 

Now jar the broth season in glasses. They store pretty long. They're also nice little gifts. I got like 3 Sauerkraut jar sizes full with it and gave one to my mom. 

This Vegetable season is not meant to be used as Broth but more like the extra kick of season to a sauce or soup. It really doesn't dissolve in Water good. 

Guten Appetit

Kraeuterrahmsosse -- herb cream sauce

             

                       Kraeuterrahmsosse -- herb cream sauce

There is a Instant fix product in germany, called Kraeuterrahm Schnitzel, and the sauce is just
divine. I have tried several recipes. I found this page where they fix the recipes without the fix
product. I got her recipe for this sauce, but it wasn't quiet the same. Today, I finally found it. 
After starting after the ladies recipe, I finished it up with a couple more herbs and flavors. It's
my daughters second favorite sauce and now, finally, I can make it without the Instant fix product.
Happy happy joy joy. 
By the way, that sauce is going good with almost any meat. Pork, chicken..... but you want to
catch the meat drippings and the sear flavors. 


This is what you need:

- 1 small onion, diced (or 1 TSP onion powder, if you dont want chunks)

- 200 ml Vegetable broth (Vegeta)

- 200 ml Heavy cream or Media Crema (mexican cream, less fat)

- 1/4 TSP  dry Parsley

- 1/4 TSP  dry Tarragon 

- 1 TSP dry Chives

- 1/4 TSP Garlic Powder

- 1/4 TSP ground mustard

- 1/4 TSPMajoram 

- 1/4 TSP Aromat (strengthen the flavor. If you don't have it, it's ok)

- Salt and Pepper

This is how you do it:

Get the herbs measured in a small bowl and grind them smaller with whatever kitchen gadget you have. I used a coffee bean grinder. It will make the sauce more creamy and less chunky.

Salt and Pepper whatever meat you are using. If you have Ghee, use this to fry the meat in a pan. If you don't have Ghee, use Butter. Ghee is just clarified butter without the protein.

Put the pan seared meat in an aluminium foil and keep it warm in the oven. DO NOT CLEAN OUT THE PAN!!!! You want those tiny little flavor bits in your sauce. When you just prepare everything but don't eat yet, just keep the meat on a plate and collect the juice from there.

Add a bit more Ghee or Butter if necessary and on medium heat, fry the diced onion. Skip that step when you use Onion Powder. When it starts to get a bit brownish, add the 1 TSP sugar. Cook it for another minute or so. Now add the cream and the vegetable broth you made out of the Vegeta Bullion. Let it simmer once and then add all the herbs and spices. Be careful with the salt. Let it simmer for a couple of min.. 

If the sauce is to liquidy, use 1 TSP corn starch and some water to make a slurry and thicken the sauce a bit. If it gets to thick, just add some more vegetable broth.

Now add the meat AND the meat drippings back in the pan and let the meat reheat. Now you can put the finishing touch on with the salt.

Today, we had filled chicken breast with cream cheese and bacon to this dish. You can eat with mashed potatoes, Croquettes, Rice.... whatever your heart desire. 

Guten Appetit