Apfeltaschen
Apple Puff Pastry
In Germany, you can find filled Puff Pastry with Apples everywhere. We love them. It's like a
mini apple pie to go.
This recipe I found at Lorraine. She is from England and she did that one on her show. She added
Ginger in her Original recipe. I didn't. You may want to, if you like. Just give it your own little
twist.
This is what you need:
- 1 sheet of Puff Pastry
- 2 big apples or 4 small ones, cut in little cubes
- Cinnamon
- 2-3 TBSP Butter
- Handful brown sugar
- Egg wash
This is how you do it:
It's actually really simple and fast. Just peel your apples, cut them in little cubes and put them in
a frying pan along with the Butter. Let them fry just for a little bit. Then you add the cinnamon and Sugar (and ginger if you like) and stir and let it softly cook till the apple is nice soft.
Cool completely
Take the Puff Pastry out of the box. Let it thaw just for a bit so you can work it. Roll it a bit thinner
and cut in 6 even pieces.
Brush Egg wash all over the 4 sides. (Egg wash is just a scrambled up egg with a bit water)
Fill the Puff Pastry with the cooled Apples but don't overfill. Fold them together and use a fork
to squeeze around the edges. Just like Ravioli.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake the apple bags for 20-25 min till their nice golden brown.
Let them cool before you dust them with powdered sugar. Enjoy
Guten Appetit
Cauliflower Casserole
with Bacon
This recipe comes from my all time favorite, Giada de Laurentiis. This one is really, really good
and you can use all kinds of vegetables with the same Base.
This is what you need:
- Cauliflower, taken apart and cooked in salt water for around 10 min
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- Gruyere Cheese, grated
- 1 TSP flour
- around 5 slices of Bacon, diced
- fresh made Breadcrumbs ( I used 5 slices of Toast)
- Salt/Pepper
This is how you do it:
Cook the Cauliflower in saltwater for like 10 min.. Set aside.
Fry the diced Bacon crispy. Set aside
Put the 5 slices of Toast into a food processor. Don't cut it too small. You want bigger chunks.
Saute the Breadcrumbs in lots of Butter and the Bacon drippings till its nice and crispy. Set aside
In a bowl, mix the heavy cream, 1 TS{ flour, half of the Gruyere cheese and the salt and pepper
together. (Be careful with the salt. Just a pinch is enough). Now add the cauliflower in the mix and
stir evenly. Also add the Bacon and stir it.
Pour the cauliflower into a oven dish. Now sprinkle the Breadcrumbs on top of it and at the very
last, add the rest of the Gruyere cheese.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave the Casserole in for 40-45 min.. If the top is
getting to brown, cover it halfway with Aluminium foil
Add from me: I mixed the Gruyere Cheese with Parmigiano. I also used smoked Gruyere.
Guten Appetit
Buon appetito
Paglia e Fieno
(Straw and Hay Pasta)
As you might already know, I love to watch cooking shows. I like to try to cook after the recipes
I see on TV. This one is from Ina Garden. But I used a bit different things then she did. Anyway,
this is an amazing dish and a keeper.
This is what you need:
- around 10 slices of Bacon (or Pancetta) When you use the thick cut, just around 5, diced
- 1 cup diced Onion, chopped
- 3 gloves of Garlic, chopped
- 1 TBSP Butter
- 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream (or 1 cup cream, 1/2 cup milk like I did)
- 4 ounces of good Gorgonzola cheese (also known as Blue Cheese)
- 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano (grated)
- 1 TSP Salt/Pepper (she used 1 1/2 TSP. It was a bit to salty for us)
- Frozen peas. around 1 cup or more if you like
- handful fresh Basil, roughly cut
- good, fresh Pasta if you can find. You should half the needed amount with green Pasta
Keep some of the Pasta water
This is how you do it:
Fry the sliced Bacon/Pancetta in the pan till its nice and crisp. Put it aside but keep the Bacon
drippings. To them, add 1 TBSP Butter and the onions and fry on medium high till their nice
glassy and soft but not burned. Takes around 5 min.. Then add the chopped Garlic and let sit
for another 30 sec.. Now add your heavy cream (mixed with milk or without) and get it back to
a soft simmer. Cut the Gorgonzola into pieces so its easier for it to melt in the hot sauce. Stir
softly. When the Gorgonzola is melted, add the Parmigiano and let it melt in the sauce. Salt and
Pepper it.
Cook the Pasta like it states on the package al dente. Once its cooked, add right away in
the sauce and stir. Remain some of the Pasta water for the case that the sauce is getting to thick.
Now you add the frozen/thaw Peas and the Basil and the fried Bacon pieces and stir everything
evenly. Serve immediately.
Buon appetito
Fried egg cake
Spiegeleikuchen
So, this is a cake traditionally baked around eastern. But hey, who says you can't bake it in between also??? There are no rules right?
Well, this is what you need for the bottom:
- 250 gr. soft unsalted butter
- 250 gr sugar
- 300 gr. flour
- 3 Eggs
- 9 gr baking powder
- 14 gr Vanilla sugar
This is what you need for the filling:
- 1 1/2 packs of vanilla powder to cook
- 1/2 liter (2 cups) milk
- 4 TBSP sugar
- 450 gr greek yogurt
- maybe a bit more extra sugar
This is what you need for the topping:
- 2 glasses of Apricots
- 2 packs Glaze clear
This is how you do it:
Combine the ingredients for the bottom with your hands. Put it in foil and let it rest in the fridge
for around 30 min..
Cook the pudding like it says on the pack but with the 1 1/2 packs. Let it cool and then add the greek
yogurt and stir thoroughly. Add a bit sugar if you like it sweeter.
Open the Apricots and drain them, catching the juice in a bowl.
Use a clean oven trey and spray butter on it and coat it with some flour. Now add the dough and squeeze it with your hands till you have the whole trey covered. Bake it for 15-20 min at 350 degrees.
Remove the cake and add the filling. Spread evenly. Add the Apricot upside down so they look like
egg yolks. Bake it for another 15-20 min.. Don't let it get brown.
Let the cake cool off before you add the glaze. For the Glaze, use 2 cups of the Apricot juice (you might have to fill it up a bit with water to reach the 2 cups) Add sugar and glaze mix to the juice
and stir well. Heat it up till it cooks and let simmer for 1 min.. Let cool off for 1 min then spread
evenly over the whole cake.
Let cool completely. You might want to start a day ahead you actually want to serve the cake.
Guten Appetit
Korean BBQ (Bulgogi)
Since friends of us took me out to a Korean Restaurant, I fell in love with Bulgogi. I mean, whom
doesn't like that sweet/savory steak bites?
Since you guys probably already figured, I like it as authentic as possible. I made this recipe
and I think this is pretty authentic. Well, at least how I had it in the restaurant. I also watched
the Korean chef on TV doing it once and I believe it was the same ingredients. Well, anyway......
here we go.......
This is what you need:
- 1 Ribeye Steak, cut in thin slices
For the marinade:
- 1/2 onion
- 1 scallion
- 1/2 pear (peeled)
- 80 ml Soy Sauce
- 3 gloves of garlic
- 3 TBSP brown sugar
- 3 TBSP sesame oil
This is how you do it:
Beside the steak, throw everything in the food processor or blender and blend it really really well. Then put the marinade over the sliced steaks and another half, thinly sliced onion and mix it well.
Let chill for around 30 min..
When ready to do it, just pour everything in a hot pan and fry it till nicely brown. Decorate it
with white sesame and some cut scallion greens.
Enjoy
Guten Appetit
Deer or Buck stew
(Hirschgulasch)
I love wild meat. I mean, I love, love, love deer or buck or wild boar meat. Stew or roast it
doesn't matter. It's just that lean but intense flavor I like so much. For the ones of you whom
like chicken a lot, it might not be for you. It's really pretty flavorful comparing to chicken.
For the ones of you whom get that meat every once in a while and don't know how to cook it,
here is one way of recipe I got from my mom (so its german) and I just love it because its actually pretty easy. Don't kill the good flavor of the meat with more layers of flavor. Keep it simple.
This is what you need:
- 1 lbs of buck stew meat
- 1 big carrot, quartered and then sliced
- 1 yellow onion (or 1/2 of a big one) coursley minced
- 2 cloves of garlic, coursley minced
- 1 - 1/2 cups of red wine
- 1 cup of water for 1 pack of brown gravy
- fresh thyme, salt, pepper and Paprika
This is how you do it:
Take the meat and best use a heavy pot or dutch oven and fry them on high heat till their nice brown.
You might want to do that in 2-3 batches. Remove the water to not "boil" them in their own juice.
Remove them from the pan and reduce the heat. Add a bit more fat or oil and saute the onion and carrot for a couple of minutes. At the end add the garlic to not burn it. Then add the Thyme, salt, Pepper, Paprika and stir. Then clean the pot with the red wine and add the meat back to it.
Now just put in the water and the brown gravy, stir and cover and let simmer on low for 1-2 hrs.
(depends on how big the pieces of meat are).
Traditionelly we serve Spaetzle with it or Potato dumbling and blue cabbage. Also add a spoon
of Lingonberry jam or cranberry jam with it. The tarty sweet is going very good with the special
wild flavor of the deer meat (or any wild meat)
(For the Spaetzle recipe go back into my already existing recipes)
Guten Appetit
Fruit Salad
What a nice snack for in between. For the fruit salad, I can't give you a "recipe".
You just cut any fruits you like into a bowl. We like apples, Bananas and strawberries. For
season you can add pineapple, grapes, cherries, Raspberries. The list goes on and on.
But now, here is my twist to it. I add a bit of sugar. Nothing new. I also add a bit of either
apple or Orange juice (sometimes pineapple juice). Nothing new as well. But now, here is my
twist: Heavy whipping cream!!! Just a nice splash of it into the mixture and stir it well.
Its going to coat the fruits nicely and makes the juice stick better. And it is soooooo yummy.
Try it
Guten Appetit
