Saturday: Chard-gorgonzola tart

I'm going through a difficult phase with the the chard from the biokiste, so I dug around a bit to find something new to do with it. The recipe I found, in the Le Menu archive, was for a tart with chard, gorgonzola (the recipe called for "couronzola", which I guess is just a Swiss variant of this), and creme fraiche. Sounds pretty good!

In this case following the recipe was a mistake. Normally the Le Menu recipes are reliable, but here the crust really should have been pre-baked before adding the filling. I ended up baking the tart for 40 minutes instead of 20, but the crust was still pretty soft. Ah well, the chard-gorgonzola combination was a good one... definitely something to remember for the future.

Friday: Bratkartoffeln with lamb

We still had some lamb that needed to be finished and this seemed like a good way.

Slice some potatoes and layer them in a hot pan with some clarfied butter. Cover and let cook over medium-high heat until the bottom starts to crisp. Toss to rearrange the potatoes and cook a while longer. Repeat this a few times until the potatoes are nicely colored. Cut the lamb into bite-sized pieces and add to the potatoes, along with some of the rosemary coating and a bit of additional rosemary. Cook until the lamb is heated through, then serve.

On the side we had summer squash sauteed in olive oil and a big green salad.

Wednesday: stir-fried beans, southeast asian chicken

Andrea wanted Asian, so that's what we did.

For the green beans: cut some smoked bacon into thick lardons and stirfry in a bit of peanut oil until they take on some color. Add chili-bean paste and some chopped ginger and cook a couple more minutes. Add green beans and some black vinegar, toss well, and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are ready to eat.

The chicken is from an old Minimalist recipe that is in Hesser. (I know I've done this recipe before, but I can't find it with blogger's search...): Marinate chicken leg quarters in soy sauce, garlic, and ginger for an hour or so. Brown the chicken well in peanut oil, then reduce the heat, cover, and cook until the chicken is done. Set the chicken aside. Add additional ginger and garlic to the cooking pan along with some sugar and cook until the sugar caramelizes. Add water and fish sauce to dissolve the caramel and then add back the chicken. Cook for another five or so minutes, turning occasionally, until the chicken is heated through and nicely glazed. At the last minute stir in some chopped cilantro. Serve the chicken topped with the sauce.

Together with some rice this made for a great meal.

Tuesday: Pappardelle with sauce bolognese

I did the usual (Jamie Oliver) recipe for the sauce. Oranges are crap at this time of year, so to serve it I used a mixture of grated lemon zest, rosemary, parsley, and a bit of crushed garlic.

There was no sadness in the house about having to eat this. :-)

Sunday lunch: filled tomatoes

I'm not 100% sure where the idea came from, but there it was: tomatoes filled with lentils.

Peel some good sized tomatoes. Carefully core them and remove their seeds and juice. Fill with room temperature lentils and a sauce made from the lentil cooking liquid, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper, and good olive oil. Heat in the microwave for 30s or so. Drizzle with a bit more of the sauce and serve with good bread.

Sunday: slow-cooked lamb

This was a random thing inspired by the frozen leg of lamb in the freezer.

Fill the cavity in a boneless leg of lamb with some fresh rosemary and thyme, then tie the roast so it's a regular shape. Brown well on all sides, then cover with a paste made from minced onion and garlic, chopped rosemary, thyme, and parsley, mustard, salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part and bake at 85C until the core temperature reaches 60C. Slice and serve

As sides:

• Basmati rice cooked with tomato and saffron
• leftover lentils
• An arugula, cherry tomato, avocado salad.

This was some good food.

Saturday: salad and lentils

We were pretty tired from the day's hiking, and had grabbed a panini while waiting for our transfer in Luzern, so it was a simple dinner: salad and lentils.

I cooked the lentils with onion, carrot, garlic, olive oil, bay leaf, a clove, and vegetable bouillon. We ate them topped with a bit of lemon juice and fresh olive oil.

Thursday: chicken under a brick

Inspired by from Food52, I did chicken under a brick. I left out the pickled peppers and just used rosemary.

To go with the chicken I sauteed diced zucchini in butter with fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, chives) and roasted some potato wedges tossed with salt, pepper, and more fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley, marjoram).

Excellent food.

Wednesday's salads

Plenty of salad eating again this week:

1. Shrimp salad: broiled shrimp cut into small pieces then dressed with a mayo, sriracha, lime mixture
2. more guacamole (as long as they keep having decent avocados at the store...)
3. potato salad: potatoes, minced onion, mustard, olive oil, white balsamico

Tuesday: polenta pizza

A random idea to use up the polenta that didn't get made into dumplings.

Form cooked polenta into disks on a well-oiled baking sheet. Top with sliced tomatoes, strips of dried ham, and gruyere. Bake until crispy on the bottom and browned up top.

Sunday: Baked polenta dumplings and cauliflower

The polenta dumpling recipe came from this month's Le Menu. The original recipe called for it to be served on a bed of zucchini, but we had cauliflower instead, so I used that. :-) I did a bit of monkeying around with the seasonings of the dumplings but otherwise stuck more or less to the recipe.

Bring a mixture of 4dl milk and 4dl water slowly to a boil with a couple of bay leaves. Remove the bay leaves and whisk in 200g fine polenta along with a couple good pinches of salt, some cayenne, and plenty of black pepper. Cook, stirring frequently until it's a thick paste. Add freshly grated nutmeg and 50g of grated gruyere, mix well, adjust seasonings, then remove from the heat and let cool.

Put some light cream in the bottom of a baking dish and add a layer of sliced (1cm) cauliflower. Season well and add more light cream as necessary. Form dumplings from the polenta (I used my wet hands, but theoretically you can do it with two spoons) and put them on top of the cauliflower. Dot with butter, sprinkle over strips of thinly sliced dried ham, then bake at 190C for about 35 minutes.

Together with a big green salad this made for a very nice meal.

Another catchup post

[Still shockingly behind]

Last week's cooking:

1. Fish steamed on lettuce: inspired by the old Bittman recipe. I used cod and steamed it on lettuce together with some frozen peas
2. Ensalada rusa: recipe from Wiener. This is great stuff and I'll have to make it again and again.
3. Beans and greans: white beans and bacon done in the pressure cooker with yellow carrots, garlic, onion, chicken bouillon, bay leaf, cloves, and piri piris. Some nice bitter lettuce cooked in for the last few minutes. Served with parsley, chives, and olive oil
4. A big hash : dice some potatoes and pan-fry them until they start to get crispy. Toss in a 170C oven. Cook some ground beef with salt until about done and set aside. Sweat diced carrot, long red pepper, onion, and garlic. Add the beef and potatoes. Serve topped with chives, together with sour cream and ketchup.
5. Guacamole: avacodo, mashed garlic, salt, lime, 'tro, chipotle
6. Sauteed chard with killed onions. From Hesser. A repeat.
7. Cooked lettuce: boiled in well-salted water, then drained, chopped, and tossed with butter and a bit of yogurt.
8. "Catalan vegetable paella": from Hesser.
9. Vegetables with pasta: fresh tomatoes (peeled and chopped), minced onion, minced garlic, green beans (steamed to crisp-tender), diced zucchini (salted for a bit), whole-grain penne. Tossed with olive oil and black pepper and topped with shaved Sbrinz.

Last week's salads

[Shockingly behind again...]

It was hot, we had lots of vegetables to use up, so I made salads, salads, and more salads. And a soup or two.

1. Green beans steamed until crisp-tender then tossed with minced onion, white balsamico, olive oil, and sliced wienerli
2. Mange tous steamed until crisp-tender then tossed with soy, sesame oil, shiso, and that japanese hot pepper shake stuff
3. Beef sirloin seared, thinly sliced, and tossed with lime, soy, fish sauce, and sesame oil.
4. Cold rice noodles with carrots, cucumber, cilantro, peanut butter, soy, fish sauce, and lime
5. Shaved fennel with oranges, cress, and walnuts (from Hesser)
6. Shaved fennel with lemon, salt, and olive oil. (all about what you leave out)
7. Eggplant and pine nut puree (from Hesser)
8. Finely diced eggplant, herbs (thyme, lemon tyme, lemon balm, parsley, chives), garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt
9. Cucumber soup with yogurt (from Hesser)
10. Malaga gazpacho (from Hesser)