Tocana de cartofi - Potato stew

                
                          Tocana de cartofi
                               Potato stew

This is a romanian dish. It's simple and good for cold days to fill you up.

This is what you need:

- 1 kg of soft boiling potatos (like you use for mashed potatos) diced

- 1 1/2 l of broth (chicken, beef, vegetable. Doesn't really matter and go after your taste)

- 1 Bell pepper, diced

- 1 onion, diced

- fresh Parsley, diced

- smoked pork lion or smoked sausage or smoked pork belly

- 50 gr Tomato Paste

- salt, pepper, paprika, Thyme




This is how you do it:

Dice everything. In a big pot heat up some oil. Fry the Onions and the Bell pepper until their soft.

Add the diced Potatoes and fry them for a couple of min with them. Now add the Tomato Paste and
stir well. Fill it up with the broth and season it to your taste. Add the fresh Parsley too.
Let it simmer for 30 min.. 

Now add the diced meat and let it simmer for another 10 min.. If its not creamy enough from the
Potato's, you may add a slurry of milk and corn starch until its a nice creamy stew.

Serve it with a pickle or enjoy it just like that.

Guten Appetit

gefuellter Blumenkohl - filled Cauliflower

                   Gefuellter Blumenkohl
                      filled Cauliflower

This is a very fast dish and easy to prepare. 


This is what you need:

- 1 head of Cauliflower (cooked until tender around 10 min in salt water)

- Bell pepper

- Onion

- 3 Slices of Ham

- 3 Slices of Harvati

- Butter and Flour and milk for the Bechamel

- grated cheese ( I used smoked Gruyere)


This is how you do it:

Once the Cauliflower is cooked until tender, let it cool down a bit. Cut the bell pepper and onion
into slices. Lay down the ham and add the harvati and roll it up. Cut it in half so you have 6 pieces
of ham/cheese.

Cook the Bechamel. Add 2 TBSP of Butter in a pot and let it melt. Add 2 TBSP of Flour and mix it
well. Let it cook for around 2 min.. Then add milk ( I used 1% Milk) around 250 ml. If its still to 
thick once it bubbled up, add more milk. Should be nice and creamy. Salt it and add Nutmeg to your taste.

Place the cauliflower on a baking sheet. Now stick it with the bell peppers, onions and ham/cheese rolls. Cover the cauliflower with the Bechamel. Now sprinkle the grated Gruyere on it.

Pup in the pre-heated oven of 375 degrees and let it bake for around 20 -25 min.. 

Guten Appetit

Zuericher Geschnetzeltes - veal Zuerich style

                   Zuericher Geschnetzeltes
                        Veal Zuerich style

Veal is not one of the cheapest meats. And you usually get them as scallions. Thats totally fine.
So you just have to slice them. Their lean in fat, soft and fast to cook. 


This is what you need:

- Veal meat (whole pack) sliced 

- 1 pack of mushrooms

- 2 TBSP Flour

- 3 TBSP Oil

- Salt, Pepper

- 100 ml beef broth (or 50 ml broth and 50 ml white wine)

- 150 ml heavy whipping cream (50 ml for the cooking, 100 ml you whip up to whipping cream)

- handful fresh cut chives


This is how you do it:

First slice the meat. Take it long side down and just cut them in thin stripes. Coat them with Flour and fry them brown in the oil. Salt and pepper them then remove them from the pan.

Add more oil and fry the mushrooms till they're nice and brown. Add the broth (or the broth and wine mix) and 50 ml of the heavy whip cream. Let it slowly simmer for a bit until its getting a nice 
creamy consistence. Then you add the meat back to the sauce. 

Whip up the 100 ml of the heavy cream without anything. Add it to the sauce. Its getting now a really
nice creamy and foamy consistence and makes it feel really light. Salt and pepper the sauce to your taste and add the fresh chives.

This dish goes good with Tater Tots, Croquettes, potato pancakes. 

Guten Appetit 

oven roasted Peaches with Greek Yogurt

                  Oven roasted Peaches  
                     with Greek Yogurt

I am not a big fan of Peaches to be honest. I think they're kind of boring. But this one here is a
keeper for sure. You can play a bit with flavors. But for me, this works.

This is what you need:

- Peaches, halfed and rock removed

- honey

- melted unsalted Butter

- cinnamon 

For the Yogurt:

- Greek Yogurt

- Heavy Whipping cream

- Vanilla Sugar (or vanilla and regular sugar)

This is how you do it:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the halfed Peaches on a baking sheet. Melt the Butter 
and add Cinnamon and Honey to your taste. Use a brush and brush generously the Peaches
with the mixture. Place the tray in the oven and roast around 20-30 min or until their soft.

In the meantime you can prepare the Yogurt. Use a Greek yogurt with a bit Fat. I know, its
nothing for the figure. But hey, it tastes great. 
In a separate bowl add the Heavy whipping cream, Vanilla flavor and beat it till it starts to
double in amount. Then add sugar until its sweet enough for you. You can go really sweet since
you will mix in the Greek Yogurt too and it has no flavor. Once the whipping cream is ready and
stiff peak, mix in the same amount of Greek Yogurt and stir well. 

When the Peaches are done, add a spoonful of the Yogurt mix on the plate. 
BTW..... this Yogurt is going really good all by itself!!!!! My daughter loooooves it. You can
also mix in fresh Blueberries or Strawberries or whatever you have and like. Yes, even
Pineapples. I love it this way. 

Fuer meine deutschen Followers:

Ihr braucht:
- halbierte Pfirsiche, Stein entfernt

- geschmolzene Butter

- Zimt

- Honig

Fuer den Yogurt:

Greek Yogurt ist in Deutschland Magerquark. Da wir keinen Sahneyogurt haben, muss ich mir den mit frisch geschlagener Sahne und eben diesem Greek Yogurt selber machen. Ihr koennt aber ohne
schwierigkeit einen Vanille-Sahnejogurt verwenden. Duerft aber natuerlich mit Magerquark und frisch geschlagener Sahne mit Vanillezucker auch gerne den mix selber herstellen.

Die Pfirsiche werden mit einem mix aus geschmolzener Butter, Zimt und Honig bepinselt und auf
einem Bleck plaziert. Diese im vorgeheizten Ofen auf ca. 200 Grad 20-30 min weich backen. 

Mit dem Yogurt servieren.

Enjoy and Guten Appetit

Spagetthi Sauce Miraculi

  
                  Spagetthi Sauce Miraculi

This is a Brand name in Germany. From Kraft. But for those of us whom don't have access to
this item no more, here it is. P.s. my oh so picky girl, whom tried several of mommy's homemade
Spagetthi Sauces already, this is the first one she likes. So you might want to give it a try. It is very important that you will get this corned vegetable broth for the seasoning. If you cant find it at an international store, you will find it at Amazon. 

For my german speaking followers, whom don't speak english, here it is:

1 Dose (400 g) gehackte Tomaten
150 g Tomatenmark (Tube)
1-2 Stangen Sellerie*
3 TL Oregano, getrocknet
2-3 TL Gemüsebrühe (Pulver) Vegeta
1 kl. Zwiebel
1 Knoblauchzehe
ca. 100 ml Wasser
Salz, Pfeffer
2 El Olivenöl
Nach Belieben: Parmesan oder anderen Käse

Zubereitung:

1. Die Zwiebeln und die Selleriestange(n) sehr fein hacken, den Knoblauch ebenfalls fein hacken oder durch eine Knoblauchpresse geben. Alles zusammen im Olivenöl weich dünsten (ca. 5 Minuten, nicht zu heiß werden lassen, damit das Olivenöl nicht verbrennt).

2. Nun die gehackten Tomaten und das Tomatenmark hinzugeben und gut umrühren. Wasser hinzugeben, bis euch die Konsistenz gefällt (bei mir sind das ca. 100 ml). Das Ganze unter rühren aufkochen lassen.

3. Die Masse mit einem Pürierstab fein pürieren. Dieser Schritt MUSS nicht unbedingt für den Geschmack sein, aber nur so fühlt sich die Soße hinterher an wie das Original. Wer es stückiger mag, lässt diesen Schritt weg.

4. Oregano, Gemüsebrühe (Vegeta ausm Balkanladen) sowie Salz und Pfeffer nach Geschmack hinzugeben. Nochmal aufkochen lassen und bei wenig Hitze ein paar Minuten leise köcheln lassen. Fertig!

This is what you need:

- 1 can diced Tomatoes (400 gr)

- 150 gr. Tomatopaste (almost a whole small can)

- 1-2 Stacks of Celery 

- 3 TSP Oregano

- 2-3 TSP corned Vegetable Broth (dry) Vegeta

- 1 small Onion, diced

- 1 clove of Garlic, diced

- around 100 ml Water

- salt, pepper and Olive Oil for the pan

This is how you do it:

Roast the diced Celery, Onion and Garlic in Olive Oil in the pan for roughly 5 min or till they're nice and 

smooth. Be careful to not burn it. Then add the Tomato paste and the can Tomatoes to it and around a 

100 ml water (or until you like the consistency). Let it simmer for a couple of min.. Now use a hand blender/chopper to get the sauce really creamy. It's not necessary for the taste but for the original feeling. 

Now you can add the Oregano, corned broth, salt and pepper. Be careful with the salt. I first overdid because

the Broth is salted too. Let it simmer for a couple more min.. Serve it to Spagetthi or to whatever Pasta-Dish

you want. You can prepare it and can it too.

Guten Appetit  

Jungle Puree - Ein Maedchen in Florida

                          Jungle Puree

                    Ein Maedchen in Florida 

I want to start a new theme here. I started this blog here first and foremost for my almost
10 year old daughter. She was still born in Germany, but is growing up now in the United
States. We settled after my husband left the Army in Florida. My daughter was and is a 
picky eater. I wrote recipes, she doesn't even like yet on my blog. I hope that one day she will
like them though lol. Anyway, I have some german friends following me on here so I started
to write those "fancy" recipes as well. 

Paprikasch is a favorite of my daughter though. She also loves the Schnitzel (plain). 
Liver dumpling soup is also a favorite along with the Sour Pork Kidneys. She also likes the
romanian white bean soup. I should have all recipes already on my blog. 

But now I want to add a side, what now became a like from her after years of trying. Everyone
knows and loves mashed Potatoes. But when you have a picky vegetable eater like me, 
you have to get creative. The Jungle Purree came out of a kids hits cookbook I bought in 
Germany 9 years ago. I want to share it with you.

This is what you need:

- Potatoes

- same amount Broccoli

- Butter

- Milk 

- salt

This is how you do it:

Cook the potatoes in salt water like you would do for regular mashed Potatoes. (Peeled) 
Since Broccoli is cooking pretty fast, add the Broccoli in the last 10 min of the Potato-cooktime.

Mash the Potatoes and the Broccoli. I had to use the blender for the Broccoli to get it really
fine.

Now add Butter, milk and salt to taste and consistency you like. Enjoy it with Schnitzel or steak
or even chicken.

GUTEN APPETIT

Pavlova

 

                          Pavlova

Pavlova is created in honor of the dancer Anna Pavlova in New Zealand or Australia after 
or during a tour of the dancer in the 1920's. The 2 nations are still fighting over its origin,
but it is a very popular dessert in both countries. It's very simple and, when you have
egg white left overs like me from the Carbonara, a different use then just the plain Meringue.


This is what you need:

- 4 egg whites

- 200 gr (1 cup of fine sugar)

- 1 Teaspoon white vinegar

- 1/2 Teaspoons of Corn Starch

- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

For the cream:

- Heavy whipping cream

- vanilla sugar


This is how you do it:

Beat the egg whites with the sugar, vinegar, corn starch and vanilla till it stiff peaks.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. On a baking sheet back side, draw a 7 inch diameter 
circle. Turn the baking sheet around and put the egg white mixture inside that line 
so its getting a nice round shape. Leave the edges a bit higher. 

Place it in the preheated oven for 60-75 min.. It should be hard on the outside but still
relatively pale. Let it cool completely inside the turned off oven with a wooden stick
in between the door.

On the day you serve, beat fresh Heavy whipping cream with Vanilla sugar and add it on the
Meringue. For the fruits, use whatever you like. All fresh fruits work. I used strawberries and
a banana

for my german friends:

4 eiweiss

1/2 teeloeffel Speisestaerke


1 teeloeffel weissen essig


200 gr zucker


1/2 teeloeffel vanille extract

Schaumig ruehren und auf auf einem backpapier, wo ein Kreis von 7 inches aufgemalt ist, auf der Rueckseite die Masse verteilen, dass es  einen schoenen Kreis gibt. Den Rand ein bisschen hoeher machen. Bei 250 fahrenheit (130 Grad) 60-75 min backen. Mit einem Kochloeffel in der Tuer im ausgeschalteten Ofen auskuehlen lassen. Sahne mit vanillezucker schlagen und Fruechte nach wahl drauf geben.