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:

- 3 Eggs and 2 Egg yolks

- good stuffed 1/3 cup of shredded Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano Reggiano  

- Pepper

- 3 slices of Guangiale or 4-5 slices thick cut Bacon

-  around 12 ounces Spaghetti


This is how you do it:

Prepare a separate Bowl for the Spaghetti to mix with the eggs.

Set up the water for the Spaghetti like always. Cook Spaghetti 9 -10 min., slightly under "al dente". 

Mix the egg yolks and eggs with pepper and mix with the cheese. Set aside.

While the Water is coming to a boil, cut the Guangiale into small pieces (or use the Bacon) and fry it in a pan until its nice and crisp and the fat has come out. Keep it warm.

When the Spaghetti is done, take some of the Pasta water into a measuring cup (I use a ladle for that). Put the hot Spaghetti in the separate bowl you prepared earlier. Trick is, no more heat. Now add the hot Bacon/Guangiale with the fat and mix well into the Pasta. Add a bit Pasta water and stir well to get already a slightly creamy sauce.  

Now add the yolk-cheese mix and stir quick so you don't get scrambled eggs. The sauce will thicken even more and get a nice yellow color. If you think its still to thick, add a bit more Pasta water. But be careful at this point. You don't want to add too much liquid here. Stir well until the cheese is melted. 

The saltiness of the Pecorino and the Bacon and the Pasta water is enough to season this dish. So no extra salt is needed. The rest heat of the Pasta and the Bacon will let the eggs just cook enough to not be raw no more so no worries. 

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