Wednesday's salads

Still too hot to cook!

1. Potato salad: sliced potatoes that I steamed in the morning and then refrigerated all day tossed with mashed garlic, minced onion, parsley, chives, rapeseed oil, white balsamico, mustard (plenty of it), and a bit of vegetable bouillon
2. Smoked pork salad: diced (1cm) smoked pork loin tossed a vinaigrette (lemon, garlic, peanut oil, honey), chives, and piment d'espelette
3. Cold pasta tossed with a pesto rosso (dried tomatoes, basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, parmesan, black pepper)
4. A big green salad

Tuesday: Bread salad

When we got back from the mountains it was hot as hell in the flat, so there was no way I was going to do real cooking. Instead I did a tomato-bread salad (panzanella) with some leftover pagnol, tomatoes from the box, basil from the balcony, olive oil, garlic, onion, balsamico, and a bit of veggie bouillon. After letting this soak for 30 minutes we ate it over lettuce.

Catching up.

I'm hopelessly behind with the blog (again) so here's an attempt to catch up with at least some of the things I've made recently:

1. chicken legs marinated in garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, sriracha, soy, and shallots, then broiled. I served the extra marinade as sauce (after boiling it, of course).
2. A salad made from grated zucchini (salted for 30 minutes), chopped tomatoes, olive oil, white balsamico, and basil
3. wurstsalat (the usual method)
4. Japanese-inspired beef salad: thin steaks seasoned, seared in the grill pan, thinly sliced, and then marinated in soy, mirin, sake, and sesame oil
5. thinly sliced peppers marinated in balsamico and olive oil
6. potato salad (more than once, multiple kinds)
7. salade nicoise
8. Chard cannelloni: chard leaves cooked with olive oil, garlic, and piri-piri chilis, then chopped and mixed with finely diced smoked bacon (from Wallis) and parmesan. We rolled this up in lasagna noodles, topped with a bit more parmesan and ran it under the broiler for a couple minutes before serving drizzled with good olive oil

Another round of energy bars

Made a batch of energy bars for a backpacking trip. I used more or less the same proportions as last time but I did stronger spicing (2tsp ground ginger, more nutmeg, more black pepper) and, due to ingredient availability in the kitchen, I made a couple substitutions:

• 100g dried mango instead of the prunes
• 200g honey instead of 110g honey and 90g zuckerruben sirup

I also left out the butter, but that's because I forgot, not due to any clever plan. ;-)

The results were, once again, really good. This makes a large quantity so we should be set for a few weekends.

Tueday's randomness

A couple of weeks ago I marked a recipe for gooseberry relish that looked like an interesting way to use the gooseberries from our balcony when they got ripe. Last night as the night. Since there weren't a ton of berries (our bush is small) I ended up doing a half recipe, which meant there was insufficient liquid to put the ginger and mustard seeds in a bag; I just dumped them in and then picked out the ginger slices before serving (the mustard seeds blended in well with the seeds from the berries themselves). I also didn't add any additional sugar other than what came in with the elderberry syrup. The resulting preparation maybe could have used brightening up with some lemon juice, but it was still quite good.

We ate the relish over thinly sliced pork steaks that I seasoned with salt and cooked quickly in the grill pan.

As an accompaniment I made a batch of coconut rice (using coconut milk to replace most of the water in a standard short-grain rice recipe). I have no idea where this idea came from, but it worked reasonably well.

Of course we had a big green salad as well.

More salads

I did a couple salads to take for a picnic by the Rhein: wurstsalat and fennel marinated with preserved lemon slices (recipe from Bittman, but I used mustard seeds instead of coriander).

Tuesday salads

Salads to deal with the heat:

1. cottage cheese, finely diced Walliser bacon (smoked and then dried with herbs and spices... fantastic stuff), parsley, black pepper, a bit of olive oil
2. cauliflower (steamed, then cooled to room temp with cold water), mashed garlic, white balsamico, good olive oil, chives, black pepper
3. A big mixed green salad

We accompanied the salads with bread and cheese.

Thursday at the grill

A nice day that was just screaming for grilling... so that's what I did:

1. Burgers (beef, salt, minced onion, minced garlic)
2. Various sausages (we found a package of mixed sausage from Ticino)
3. Fennel, grilled and then served with a basel vinaigrette
4. Big green salad (not grilled, of course)

Sunday cocktail: the bourbon sidecar

Eric Asimov did a post on the bourbon sidecar last week that just sounded excellent, so I "had" to try it.

It's the standard ratio: 2:1:1 bourbon (Makers Mark):triple sec (Curacao):lemon juice with a twist of lemon zest and it's really, really good.

Sunday: Lamb steaks

We found some lamb steaks from the leg (mmm, lamb ham) at the Coop. Since I happened to have some newly done preserved lemons in the fridge this one was almost too easy...

Marinate the lamb steaks in: diced preserved lemon, minced garlic, minced rosemary, black pepper, olive oil for a good while (I did 24 hours). Cook them in the grill pan (or on the grill). Serve with some reserved marinade as a relish.

We ate this delight with a big green salad and a "hobo pack" I made in the oven with new potatoes, onion, olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika.

Saturday: chinese

Andrea's request for chinese yielded:

1. sweet and sour pork (recipe from Land of Plenty, I've made this one before).
2. dry fried eggplant (also from Land of Plenty, but I added szechuan peppercorns and chilis to the mix).

Of course we also had rice and a green salad.

Thursday: quick(ish) stewed veal

Andrea found some veal stew meat at half price, so that formed the basis for dinner.

Cut the veal into thinnish slices; brown well in clarified butter; add minced garlic, diced onion, diced carrot, and cook a few minutes; sprinkle over some flour and cook a few more minutes; deglaze with white wine and let it reduce to half; add chicken bouillon and bring to a simmer; add chopped fresh herbs and simmer for 20-30 minutes; just before serving add more herbs.

We ate this with sauteed spinach (the usual garlic, chili preparation, drizzled with balsamico for serving), noodles, and a big green salad.

so far behind...

Ok, Andrea was out of town for a week and there was lots of lettuce in the fridge, so I ate salad for a week.

Friday: first pesto of the season

The basel plants on the balcony needed to be trimmed back, so I made the first pesto of the season. Aside from having a bit too much garlic, it was another nice way to welcome summer.

Friday at the grill

The weather was good, so we had a couple people over and fired up the grill.

The grilled food:

1. Red peppers and fat spring onions, choppped and mixed into a salad
2. Red onions
3. Veal cipollata
4. Standard bratwurst
5. Small bratwurst (Nürnberger size) with sage
6. Meatballs (beef) flavored with allspice, lemon zest, black pepper, and salt then grilled on skewers.
7. A nice ribeye (it was on sale, I couldn't resist) done with salt and pepper

The non-grilled food:

1. a big green salad
2. baguette
3. flavored ketchups: ketchup+curry powder+hot paprika; ketchup+chipotle tabasco
4. a vinaigrette : cider vinegar, rapeseed oil, rosemary, chives, salt, pepper, honey

We ate well...

Wednesday: macaroni with meat sauce

a.k.a. Hörnli mit Gehacktes :-)

Soften some diced onion, diced carrot, and minced garlic in olive oil. Add ground beef along with some salt and cook, without browning, until the beef is most cooked. Add some white wine and reduce a bit. Add tomato puree, oregano, bay leaf, parsley, a bit of rosemary, black pepper, and a good pinch of sugar. Let cook uncovered, barely simmering for an hour or so. Serve over macaroni with a grating of parmesan.

Monday: stuffed kohlrabi

An adaptation of a recipe from this month's Le Menu.

Peel a couple kohlrabi, then steam them until they are about soft (about 20 minutes). Cut a flat bottom in each and scoop out the insides to give a ~1cm thick shell. Chop the insides coarsely and set aside.

Cook 300g of spinach (I did in the microwave), drain, and chop coarsely. Cook a minced onion with some minced garlic in butter until the onion is cooked, then stir in the spinach and a good pinch of salt. Once the spinach is cooked through, add pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Stir in 2 eggs that have been beaten together with 5cl of sour cream; cook until the egg starts to set, then stir in 100g of grated gruyere.

Put the kohrabi shells in a lightly buttered dish. Fill them with as much of the spinach filling as fits inside (I ended up using about half, which makes sense since the recipe is for 4 shells ;-), sprinkle the chopped kohlrabi around, top with grated cheese, pour a mixture of cream and veggie bouillon around the whole thing, then bake at 200C until the top is brown and the liquid is bubbly.

We ate this with the leftover risotto and a big green salad and were not displeased.

Sunday: lamb chops and risotto

Found some nice lamb chops at the Coop on Saturday and this is what I did with them:

Marinate the chops with lemon juice, olive oil, minced rosemary, chopped garlic, minced lemon zest, black pepper, and salt for a few hours. Cook the chops in the grill pan until they have some good color and are medium rare, let them rest a couple of minutes then serve.

To accompany the lamb we had risotto made with onions, garlic, diced yellow carrots, diced chard stems, white wine, and chicken stock.

For the salad I marinated some halved mini-mozarella balls and grape tomatoes in a dressing of minced onion, olive oil, white balsamico, mustard, salt, and pepper. This we ate over lettuce dressed with the same dressing.

Really nice food.

Saturday dessert: Rhubarb crisp

I've been planning to do Bittman's rhubarb crisp recipe since I saw it online. We didn't get any more rhubarb in this week's box, so I picked some up at the market.

The only monkeying around I did with the recipe was driven by available ingredients: I replaced brown sugar with raw sugar (which is what brown sugar kind of wants to be anyway) and substituted sliced almonds for the pecans.

rhubarb is a really strange ingredient but still: mmmmmmm

Saturday: gnocchi primavera

There's a stand at the market that has various Italian cheeses, sausages, filled pastas, and gnocchi that look quite nice but somehow I rarely get stuff from. Yesterday I picked up some gnocchi in order to combine them with the eggplant from the box.

Cut a smallish eggplant into 1cm dice, salt it lightly and let drip for a bit. Prepare some spring onions by cleaning them and cutting them in half if they're big, then lightly brushing with olive oil and cooking under the broiler until they soften and take on some color; chop them coarsely. Cook the eggplant in olive oil with grated yellow carrot and a chopped garlic clove for 5-10 minutes, until the eggplant is about ready. While this is happening start cooking the gnocchi. To the eggplant add the chopped onions, a bit more minced garlic, and mixed fresh herbs (I used thyme, rosemary, parsley, and some unidentified member of the mint family from this week's box). Moisten with a bit of the pasta cooking water. Serve the vegetables over the gnocchi sprinkled with parmesan and drizzled with olive oil.

The gnocchi themselves were really good and this was definitely a very nice way of serving them.

This technically doesn't qualify as rule of five, but it almost works if you think of the herbs as one ingredient, and I made up the damn rule anyway. :-)

Friday: Kartoffelpfanne

An idea from Andrea to use some of the new potatoes from this week's box.

Cut unpeeled new potatoes in half or quarters, depending on size. Cook with olive oil until they take on some color and are almost ready to eat. Set aside. Cook diced onion, diced carrot, and chopped garlic for a few minutes in olive oil. Add diced kohlrabi and fennel chopped into bite-size pieces. When the vegetables are a couple of minutes from being done, add sliced wienerli, the potatoes, lemon zest, chopped fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley, and a good grind of pepper. Let everything heat through and serve.

Wednesday Fish

Driven by the multiple bulbs of fennel and large quantity of lettuce left from the box:

1. Fennel cooked in olive oil and a bit of water, dressed with lemon juice (from CPV)
2. Stir fried lettuce with lemon zest
3. Pan-roasted cod seasoned with salt, pepper, and piment d'espellete

All together quite a nice combination of flavors.

Sunday Mezze

Yesterday I fired up the grill and did several small things with a mediterranean influence:

1. Chicken marinated in a paste made from garlic, thyme, rosemary, parsley, dried chili, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil, then grilled on the slow side of the grill and finished with a couple of minutes directly over the coals.
2. Roasted peppers with thyme, rosemary, and olive oil.
3. Baba ganouj made from eggplant roasted whole on the grill.
4. hummus
5. a yogurt sauce made with grated cucumber, garlic, yogurt, salt, and piment d'espelette.

We ate this with lettuce and some flat bread and were pretty happy with our lot in life. :-)

Saturday: asparagus

Yesterday at the market we picked up some local white asparagus. I did a very simple preparation: after peeling it well I boiled it in a stock made from water, sugar, salt, and the asparagus peels. The cooked spears then went onto a napkin and we ate them with salt, butter, and dried ham. Thought it took me a while to understand the appeal of white asparagus, I definitely get it now.

As sides I made a batch of brown rice and sone pan-roasted cauliflower with spring onions.

Together with a big green salad this all made for an excellent late-spring meal.

Thursday dessert: pudding with rhubarb

A simple idea to use some old rhubarb: make a batch of the vanilla pudding recipe from Bittman and serve it topped with rhubarb stewed with a b it of sugar and lemon juice. Mmmmmmmmm

Thursday: burritos

This was to satisfy a craving that both Andrea and I had...

Marinate diced turkey breast in lime juice, oil, salt, ground cumin, and piment d'espelette for 30 minutes or so then cook in a very hot pan. Just before the turkey is done pour in whatever marinade is left.

Make a quick salsa from canned tomatoes (fresh would have been better), minced onion, lime juice, hot paprika, piment d'espelette, and diced red bell pepper.

Assemble burritos from rice, pinto beans, corn, turkey, broiled and chopped spring onions, sour cream, feta cheese, and salsa. Bake for 10 minutes or so then serve.

Not even remotely difficult, but quite satisfying.

Wednesday: venison salami hash

When we were in tessin over the weekend we picked up some venison salami that was a bit too soft for sandwiches but seemed like a good candidate for cooking. This was an improv to use that up.

Start by cooking some diced potatoes in olive oil until they take on some color. Set them aside. Cook diced carrots and sliced leeks in the same pan until the carrots start to soften, set these aside. Add some more olive oil to the pan and gently cook some piri piri chilis along with a few smashed garlic cloves until the garlic turns golden. Just before it gets there add cumin seeds. Add diced salami and ham and let cook until the salami starts to crisp. Add the vegetables and potatoes along with salt and pepper, mix well, and heat everything through. Serve topped with parsley.

As sides we had a big green salad and sone steamed kohlrabi.

Monday pasta

An idea created to use up lettuce... We had a lot from the biokiste.

Cook diced carrots, onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions start to soften. Add a tbs or so of flour and cook another three to four minutes. Add wilted, chopped lettuce and cook another couple of minutes. Add diced ham and cook another couple of minutes. Add light cream, salt, and pepper and simmer for a couple more minutes. Just before serving stir in a bit of piment d'espelette and nutmeg.

Served over whole wheat penne and with a big green salad, this made for a good meal.

Friday: bread

Another batch of bread. This time, as an experiment, I added 100g of millet to the mixture (150g rye, 300g wheat flour, 100g millet, 350g water, 1/2tsp yeast, 1.5 tsp salt). This didn't disturb the method at all and produced a very tasty loaf of bread.

Thursday: spinach-ham lasagna

Start by making a bechamel. This time I used the recipe from Kamman with the variation that I used a brunoise of carrots, onion, and celery (root) and I didn't strain the vegetables out. When the sauce is about ready to be used add some piment d'espelette and nutmeg.

While the sauce is simmering prepare the filling: saute leeks, a bit of carrot, and onion in olive oil until the onions soften. Add a good splash of white wine and let it reduce to nothing. Add smoked ham (cut into match sticks) and cook another couple minutes. Add chopped wilted spinach, salt, and pepper and mix well. Take off the heat and add grated asiago cheese. Build the lasagna by layering sauce, noodles, and filling. Finish with a layer of sauce, top with shaved almonds and a good grind of pepper, then bake at 180C for 20 minutes.

I'm not quite sure where the inspiration for this came from, but it was a good idea regardless. :-)

Wednesday: Spaetzli pfanne

One of those "use up the vegetables... quick!" things.
Start by cutting some bratwurst into 2cm slices, browning the slices, then setting them aside. To that pan add diced carrot, onion, garlic, chard stems, and a bit of olive oil. Cook a while until the carrots start to soften, then add the chopped and wilted (in the microwave) chard leaves. After another couple of minutes of cooking, set the vegetables aside. Add fresh olive oil to the pan and cook the spaetzle until they take on some color and begin to get a bit crunchy. Stir in the vegetables and sausage, along with some raclette spice and black pepper, and serve.

Monday pancakes

Kind of a random idea for a weekday night: make a batch of pancakes and eat them with whatever happens to be in the house. I used a basic batter with yogurt (no sugar), and went from there. For toppings we did canned cherries, cheese, ham, rhubarb-ginger jam, etc. One noteworthy variant was pancakes "tatin": I started by melting a bit of brown sugar in the the pan, topped that with a slice of apple ring and let that cook a couple of minutes before topping it with pancake batter and proceeding as normal. Mmmmmmm, caramel apple pancake.

Sunday: trout

On Saturday Nik brought us a couple rainbow trout he caught nearby. Last night I tried to out them to good use, though it has been a long time since I did anything with whole fish.

I took a simple approach based on a combination of ideas from Bittman and Le Menu: I filled the cavities with the greens from some spring onions, dredged the fish through seasoned cornmeal, and then pan-fried them in some olive oil. I split the bottoms of the onions in half and cooked them split-side down in a hot pan until they took on a bit of color. Since I didn't do the best job the world has ever seen of flipping the fish (to put it mildly... the pan was a bit too small is my excuse), I removed the filets before serving.

I also made a tartar sauce by combining some home made mayonnaise with finely diced pickle, chives, some lemon juice, and a couple dashes of Tabasco.

To go with the fish we had steamed potatoes and sauteed asparagus; both of which turned out quite nicely indeed. The potatoes, in particular, were a good second vector for the tartar sauce.

Of course we also had a big green salad.

Saturday: meatloaf with rhubarb sauce

This was a recipe from last month's Le Menu: a meatloaf made with mixed ground meat, brät, grated carrots, onion, ginger, curry powder, chopped prunes, and bound with egg and breadcrumbs. While baking it gets brushed with a glaze made from apple juice, butter, and honey. The meatloaf is served with a sauce made by softening minced onion in a bit of butter, then adding apple juice, rhubarb, lemon zest, some vinegar, and sugar. Simmer until the rhubarb softens, then purée.

To go with this i did steamed vegetables (carrots and kohlrabi, cut into threads) and rice cooked withia bit of carrot and onion.

The meatloaf was quite good: it was borderline too sweet, but it didn't really go over the border.

Tuesday soup

A nice soup to use the stock I made from Sunday's chicken carcass: cook sliced garlic with piri piri chilis in some olive oil until the garlic starts to take on some color. Add diced onion and small diced carrot and cook until the vegetables are soft. Add chicken stock and canned beans and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a few minutes then add lemon juice and bit of light cream (inspirations from Romania) and serve topped with parsley.

Together with bread and some chees this made a very nice meal.

Monday leftovers

To finish off the roast chicken from Sunday I took the leg and thight pieces and sauteed them in olive oil until they took on a nice crunch. As a side I did a batch of baked rice using the recipe from La Cucina de Mama.

Simple but good.

Sunday: roast chicken and vegetables

I somehow don't end up making roast chicken very often, but last night it seemed like the thing to do.

I followed the technique from Bittman and roasted the bird in a skillet (actually in the grill pan, which was exactly the right size for is) surrounded by vegetables: potatoes, yellow carrots, onion, and celery root. After the bird was done, I made a sauce by adding white wine and a bit of cornstarch to the pan juices.

As a side I sauteed some chard stems with salt in olive oil. When they were about ready to go I added some pureed tomatoes and black pepper.

This stuff turned out very nicely.

Saturday: asparagus

After a week away, I was in the mood for a big portion of vegetables. Lucky for me that Andrea had picked up a bunch of green asparagus from the Alsatian farmers.

The prep was the usual: sauteed with onion (we didn't have any shallots) in butter.

Combined with a big green salad this was a very satisfying meal.

Wednesday: Spinach pockets, Geschnetzeltes

Ah, the fun of doing random things in the kitchen:

For the spinach pockets: cook some garlic and sliced leek in a bit of olive oil until the leek starts to take on some color. Add a bit of flour and cook a couple more minutes. Add white wine, salt, and wilted spinach and cook, stirring frequently until most of the liquid is gone. Wrap this with diced feta cheese in pieces of puff pastry (blätterteig) and bake at 220C until nicely colored.

For the geschnetzeltes: cook the beef in a single layer in a very hot pan with a bit of oil and a pinch of salt until it's nicely browned on one side. Stir in some flour and let cook another minute or two. Add some cognac and let the liquid evaporate. Add prepared mustard, water, piment d'espellete, and black pepper. Let simmer a couple of minutes and then serve.

Along with a big beet and lettuce salad these made a very good meal.

Sunday: Spinach mass + Farinata

Constructed to use the contents of the biokiste: wilt some spinach in the microwave, drain it, and chop it. Slice some leeks and cook with diced cooked potatoes until the leeks soften. Add the spinach, shredded bärlauch (it's that season again), some lemon zest, a splash of white wine, and some salt and mix well. Let cook a few minutes then serve with grated parmesan, chives, julienned bärlauch, and piment d'espelette.

To go with the spinach I did a batch of farinata that could have turned out better. I'm not sure what happened (probably a lack of attention), but the flat breads themselves ended up being somewhat dry. Still, the flavor was quite good.

With a big green salad this was a nice meal. Probably should come up with a better name for it than "spinach mass" though. :-)

Friday: pork steaks, bratkartoffeln, spinach

Last night somehow turned into a big cooking night.

We started with margaritas because it was Friday, and we could. :-)

For the pork: marinate pork loin steaks with tarragon, garlic, tabasco, cider vinegar, and some salt. After about an hour in the marinade, dredge in flour and then sauteed them. For the sauce: cook sliced garlic with some piri piri chilis in a good amount of olive oil until the garlic starts to take on a bit of color. Add small-diced carrot and onion and cook until the onion is good and soft. Add whole cumin and some ground coriander and let cook a couple more minutes. Add tomato puree, rosemary, bay leaf, and some salt and let simmer, covered, 30 minutes or so. Serve the pork on top of the sauce.

I also did bratkartoffeln with onion and spinach sauteed with pine nuts and raisins and then tossed with a bit of wine vinegar.

Of course we also had a green salad.

mmmmm, good eating.

Wednesday teriyaki

Making teriyaki has been on the list for a while, particularly after having lunch at Tokyo Subway when we were in CA.

I guess it's been quite a couple years since the last time I did this.

To go on top of the rice with the chicken I did: chopped, steamed spinach tossed with sesame oil, salt, and a bit of mirin; and carrot cut into ribbons, then briefly cooked (microwave) and tossed with salt and tossed with rice vinegar and mirin.

As a vegetable side I braised some diced kohlrabi and cabbage with soy and sake.

Tuesday basics

Last night I did two very simple dishes:

1. schnitzel: pork loin pounded thin, seasoned with salt and piment d'esplette, and breaded; served with lemon
2. saffron risotto: onion, rice, saffron, white wine, stock

Combined with a green salad, these made a really nice meal.

Monday: Joe's special

Given the big bag of spinach from the biokiste, making Joe's special was pretty much a must. No deviation from standard practice here.

Sunday: Roesti

To go with the leftover bbq pork I did a rösti. On the side we had steamed kohlrabi sticks with herbed quark and a big carrot salad with a citrus vinaigrette (lime, lemon, orange, rapeseed oil, tabasco, cilantro, salt).

Saturday barbecue

It's not quite summer yet, but the weather was acting summery, so we had friends over and did a southern barbecue:

1. margaritas
2. pork shoulder rubbed with "All South" rub (I substituted hot paprika for the chili powder and cayenne), smoked over hardwood logs, and basted with beer. Served sliced.
3. beacon butcher barbecue sauce
4. cole slaw ("Tidewater Coleslaw")
5. baked beans ("Grandma Wetzler's Baked Beans")
6. cornbread (my usual variation with extra corn meal and whole sweet corn)

With the exception of the margaritas and barbecue sauce, the recipes are all from Thrill of the Grill.

Altogether an excellent kickoff to grill season.

Another loaf of bread

Friday morning I started another loaf of the rye version of no-knead bread; this morning I finished it. This loaf ended up somewhat squat and ugly (I chose a bad shape when letting it rise) but it still tastes great.

Thursday's salads

Last night I did a collection of salads to celebrate being back and having a big new biokiste to work with:

1. potato salad with vegetable broth from a recipe in Wiener (this was the main driver of the idea... there were lots of potatoes to use)
2. diced steamed beets tossed with olive oil, balsamico, rosemary, salt, and white pepper
3. steamed kohlrabi sticks with lettuce and herb quark (chervil, tarragon, parsley)

We also did bread and cheese.

Tuesday: Asian chicken salad

A quick one to help recover from the flight back from CA:

Thinly slice some cabbage and toss with lemon juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Toss in thinly sliced onion, grated carrot, and some coarsely chopped cilantro leaves. Let stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally. Before serving toss with some sesame oil. Serve on lettuce, topped with shredded chicken (I use a rotisserie chicken from the Coop), and peanuts. Garnish with some quick-pickled cucumbers (thinly slice, 20 minutes with salt, rinse, ring out, toss with rice vinegar).

We ate this with bread and a nice white wine and were quite pleased.

SF Restaurant notes part 3

1. Thursday: Hong Kong Chinese (Lunch, Mtn. View)
2. Friday: Tokyo Subway (Lunch, Menlo Park)
3. Saturday: Lunch at Jon and Cati's
4. Sunday: La Fiesta (Mtn View)

SF Restaurant notes part 2

1. Tuesday: Bouchon (Yountville) for lunch; Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar (Healdsburg)
2. Wednesday: Bistro Ralph (Healdsburg)

Food combination note for later: roasted asparagus with white miso and lemon

SF restaurant notes part 1

1. Wednesday : BoBo's Steakhouse
2. Thursday : Lake Chalet Restaurant (Oakland)
3. Friday : Blue Plate
4. Monday : La Briciola
5. Tuesday : Eddie Rickenbackers (lunch), Kate O'Briens
6. Wednesday : Thirsty Bear
7. Thursday : Chaat Cafe (lunch), House of Nanking
8. Friday : Out the Door (lunch), Baloompie pupuseria
9. Saturday : La Corneta Taqueria (lunch), Steve and Dianna's
10. Sunday : Cliff House (brunch), Henry's Hunan
11. Monday : Chaat Cafe (lunch), Colibri

Thursday: mashed potatoes with arugula and goat cheese

A somewhat random idea driven by the bunch of arugula we had from the biokiste: cook mashing potatoes in their skin, then peel them hot and transfer to a double boiler. Mash the potatoes with some salt and good olive oil. Add chopped goat cheese (not chevre... I used a bio goat cheese from Spitzebärg that I found at Coop) and mix until the cheese melts. Stir in a bunch of chopped arugula and let stand a few minutes so that the greens have a chance to wilt a bit. Serve sprinkled with fleur de sel.

This is a really nice side that almost qualifies as a main dish. I made simple french omelets with chives to complete the meal.

Wednesday: Sauerkraut and sausage

I actually made this Tuesday night, but we didn't eat it until tonight.

The usual quick weeknight sauerkraut thing: cook the cabbage with some white wine and add a saucisson vaudoise for the last 30 minutes of simmering.

Tuesday: Topinambur soup

I needed to use the last of the topinambur from the box, so I tried another recipe from Wiener. This time I monkeyed around with the recipe a bit based on the ingredients in the house, so I used milk instead of cream (though I did add a bit of butter to compensate) and normal brown mushrooms instead of porcini.

We ate this with bread and a green salad. I also made some sauerkraut with saucisson vaudoise, but we ate enough soup and bread that the sauerkraut got pushed a night.

I'm sure it would have been considerably better with porcini, but the soup was quite nice as is.

Sunday: Pasta with lentils and gorgonzola

Another pasta and lentils idea from Wiener, but this time I followed the recipe. :-)

And what a recipe it is... this cookbook is rapidly becoming a favorite.

Saturday: chicken with almond-cress sauce and semolina croquettes

An interesting sounding recipe from the current Le Menu.

The chicken breasts are braided (to make zopf shapes), fastened with a toothpick, seasoned, browned, and then cooked in a low oven (90C) until done.

The sauce is made by adding minced garlic to a light roux and cooking for a minute, adding chicken stock and simmering for 5 minutes, adding cress and pureeing, and then stirring in some lightly-whipped cream and adjusting seasonings.

For the dumplings cook 75g semolina with 375ml milk-water until it forms a thick paste, cook gently for 5 minutes, let cool, stir in two egg yolks, 75g flour, salt, 30g grated parmesan cheese, and let cool. Make croquettes (could be done by piping them, but I didn't), coat with bread crumbs (probably optional if piping), and then cook in clarified butter until nicely browned in both sides. Hold in the low oven with the chicken until ready to serve.

Serve the chicken and croquettes on top of a layer of sauce. Top the chicken with toasted almond flakes and some more cress as a garnish.

I did a endive and orange salad (dressing: orange juice, olive oil, toasted cumin, salt, and black pepper) to accompany this.

It was a nice meal.

Wednesday: fondue gratin

An approach for using up leftover fondue.

We did a normal gratin with potato and celery root thinly cut on the ceramic slicer layered with thin slices of dry smoked ham and a sauce made from milk, sour cream, potato starch, garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, bay leaf, cloves, and black pepper. After Andrea built it, we topped it with leftover fondue that I had crumbled and mixed with bread crumbs. I used the usual baking scheme: 40 minutes covered, 20 minutes open.

mmmmm, good stuff.

Tuesday : "tortilla pie"

There were tortillas left that needed to be used...

Brown some ground meat (mixed pork and beef) with salt, transfer to a bowl. Cook some diced onion in the same pan for a couple of minutes. Add back the ground meat along with some water and some prepared mole (I mixed these together to start with). It should be soupy. Simmer for a few minutes and adjust salt (not too much here though... feta is coming).

Layer the meat/sauce mixture on tortillas with thinly sliced onion, corn, and feta cheese, top with a layer of sauce and some grated cheese and then bake for 20-30 minutes.

Another simple (since the mole came from a jar) winner.

Monday: fusiony quesadillas

Kind of a random thing for a work night.

The sauce: soak some ripped up dried chipotles for a bit in hot water. Saute diced onion and garlic in a bit of neutral oil until the onion starts to soften. Add cumin seeds and some ground coriander and toast for a couple of minutes. Add a good amount of sweet paprika and toast a few seconds. Add canned tomatoes, the chipotles, and the soaking water and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Puree well with a stick blender.

The pork: saute finely chopped pork (geschnetzeltes) in neutral oil over high heat with some salt. When it's about done add some garlic paste and cook another 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl.

The quesadillas: on each tortilla place some pork, grated cheese (I used Emmentaler, because that's what was in the fridge), thinly sliced onion, and some corn. Fold in half and bake for 10 minutes.

Before serving pour whatever liquid has collected in the pork dish to the tomato sauce and adjust seasonings of the sauce. Serve the quesadillas on top of the sauce, with sour cream and additional sauce on the side.

Very nice.

Nanorestaurant Review: Gasthof Baeren (Eggiwil)

One smiley face. What one hopes for in a good "dorfbeiz".

• Food: Swiss standards, well prepared
• Service: good
• Atmosphere: pleasant; two thumbs up for being non-smoking
  

Wednesday: pasta with beans

A recipe from Hazan that I somehow haven't done before: Embogne. It's a sauce made from beans (kidneys in my case), the bean liquid, minced bacon, onion, garlic, sage, and rosemary. Served over pappardelle with copious parmesan, this made for a really good meal.

Monday: Risotto and Pork tenderloin

For the risotto we used onions, garlic, diced carrots, and radicchio. Kristen did the stirring. :-)

For the pork I made a relish (salsa, pesto, whatever) from finely diced dried tomatoes, chopped pine nuts, parsley, smashed garlic, minced onion, balsamico, salt, and rapeseed oil. The tenderloin itself I browned on all sides and then did in a slow oven (80C) until it hit serving temperature.

Verrrrry nice.

Sunday fondue

Always a winner with visitors: cheese fondue and a big salad

Saturday choucroute

We have family visiting, so I kicked things off last night with a choucroute: Cook diced onion, carrot, and leek with some lardons in a bit of rapeseed oil for a few minutes. Add rinsed sauerkraut, bay leaves, lightly crushed juniper berries, and caraway and mix well. Transfer to a baking dish and top with a couple bratwurst. Bake at 175 for a bit, then add a schuffeli and some wienerli and bake a while longer. Serve with steamed potato wedges, pickles, and grainy mustard.

Friday: rigatoni with red cabbage and sausage

The usual biokiste-driven improv: lightly brown some sliced bratwurst. Add leek, diced carrot, and minced garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add chopped red cabbage and a good pinch of salt and let cook another couple minues. Add good chicken stock, some diced dried tomatoes, a bay leaf, and a bit of tomato paste and simmer until the cabbage is ready to eat. Serve over rigatoni.

Wednesday chickpea ragout

Bit of a Spanish-influenced improv: cook onion and garlic in some olive oil with a few piri piri chilis. Add diced salami, diced yellow carrot, ground cumin, and ground coriander and saute a bit longer, add drained chickpeas and a good amount of sherry. Let the sherry reduce. Add good chicken stock and let it reduce. Add some tomato puree and a couple bay leaves. Let the whole thing simmer 15-20 minutes.

Serve with brown rice and a big salad.

Tuesday leftovers

To use the leftover mashed potatoes I did some quick croquettes: mix the potatoes with grated cheese and some black pepper, form them, roll them in bread crumbs, and then cook with olive oil. It would not have hurt to add an egg or two to add structural integrity for the pan cooking part, but these still tasted quite nice, particularly with the mustard sauce.

We also had pork chop, sauerkraut, and some cornbread. All quite randome, but good.

Sunday: Chili and cornbread

For the chili: browned beef, soaked kidney beans, garlic, onion, red wine vinegar, water, some tomato puree, toasted cumin (whole) and coriander (coarsely ground), dried arbol and New Mexico chilis, soy sauce, oregano.

I did the chili in the slow cooker on Saturday and reheated it last night.

Something wasn't quite right with the cornbread. I ended up using a different measuring cup for the milk and I think there was too much liquid. The flavor was just fine, but the texture was too dense.

Saturday: pork with mustard sauce, sauerkraut

For the pork: Coat boneless pork loin chops with a marinade of both grainy and normal mustard and dry vermouth; let stand for a couple hours; cook in a 85C oven until the interior temp is 65C.

For the sauce (inspired by something in the Niedergaren cookbook): reduce a mixture of good chicken stock and white wine by 2/3. Whisk in some hot mustard (Loewensenf) and a corn starch slurry. Add a bit of sour cream and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in whatever liquid collects around the pork just before serving.

The sauerkraut was from the biokiste, I just heated it up.

As a side (and additional use for the sauce) we did mashed potatoes.

Nice food.

Sunday soup

This was to help Andrea recover from her cold and use up the chicken breasts from the tagine bird.

I started with a stock made by roasting a couple chicken carcasses then cooking them with leeks, carrot, onion, celery root, garlic, clove, bay leaf, and pepper. To make the soup I added diced carrot, leek, chicken breast (cut small), cooked macaroni, chopped basil (from the freezer), and light cream.

Saturday tagine

This was the Bittman chicken-chickpea-vanilla tagine. I toasted the spices first to add some extra oomph.

We ate it with flatbread and some eggplant puree (eggplant roasted in the peel, then pureed with olive oil, salt, lemon juice, and a bit of chipotle tabasco).

mmmm, ooomph!

Another bread

A repeat of the rye version of the bread to have for breakfast.

mmmm, good.

Friday: a random curry

Somewhat random curry: tofu, dried shrimp, green curry, onion, chili, lime leaf, lemon grass, lime juice, etc.

Not my best effort, but it certainly wasn't poison.

Lentil soup

A simple soup: lentils, carrots, celery root, leeks, and beef broth and diced beef from Sunday.

mmm, lentil soup and rye bread

The next bread experiment

Another round of no-knead bread. This time I added some coarsely ground rye flour: 150g rye, 300g bauernmehl, 350g water.

Wow does this method produce some good bread.

Monday: Choucroute simple

On Saturday we had grabbed some sauerkraut from the Alsatian farmer we like. That stuff is so good that there's no need to do much to it: cook some diced onion in a bit of rapeseed oil; add caraway seeds, crushed juniper berries, and a bay leaf; add white wine and rinsed sauerkraut and cook for 5-10 minutes; add a saucisson vaudoise (mmmm), cover and cook gently for 10-15 minutes; serve with grainy mustard and pickles.

Sunday miscellany

Kind of a random evening:

1. Beef brisket simmered with carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaf, clove, allspice, fennel, sliced and served with a horseradish-cream sauce
2. Oven-roasted potatoes
3. Butternut squash diced and cooked with some butter in a pan until soft, then mashed with salt, nutmeg, white pepper, and lime juice.

Random, but good. :-)

Saturday bread

Another batch of no knead bread from the base recipe. This time cooked in the romertopf instead of the enameled pot. Another great success. This stuff is really good.

Friday: frikadellen, rice pilaf

A simple one for Friday night.
For the frikadellen: pork, minced red onion, salt, piment d'espelette.
For the pilaf: chopped onion, garlic, diced carrot, diced celery root, chicken bouillon, par boiled rice with wild rice.
As a vegetable side: chicory braised in a bit of olive oil

Wednesday: tomato-leek soup, bread, miscellaneous veggies

I read the Bittman article about Jim Lahey's no-knead bread back when it came out and the idea has been kicking around in the back of my head ever since, but I never got around to actually making it until this week. We have no problem finding good bread, but a bit of DIY is always fun and wow is that a simple way to get good bread. Will probably be making this recipe (and variations) a regular thing. I followed the ratios from the new edition of Bittman but made a smaller quantity (3/4 recipe: 450g flour to 340g water).

To go with the bread (heh), I did some tomato-leek soup with: tomato puree, leeks, chopped canned tomatoes, diced dried tomatoes, bay leaf, and oregano. Instead of pureeing the soup I left it nicely chunky. Good stuff.

As vegetable sides: a beet salad (steamed beets tossed with balsamico, olive oil, salt, and white pepper) and sweet and sour red cabbage (sliced red cabbage cooked until crisp tender then tossed in the pan with raisins, pine nuts, wine vinegar, and a bit of tomato paste. The whole thing inspired, somehow, by a spinach recipe from La Cucina de Mama.)

Monday: Chicory-ham gratin

We had a load of chicory in the fridge and a gratin seemed like a good idea...

Start by halving the chicory and cooking it cut-side down in some olive oil for a few minutes. Add chopped onion and garlic and let cook until the alliums are caramelized and the chicory is about soft. Meanwhile make a bechamel sauce flavored with fresh thyme and a bit of cayenne. Transfer the chicory and alliums to a baking dish, add some diced ham, pour over the bechamel, top with grated gruyere and a light sprinkling of breadcrumbs, and bake for about 20 minutes, until the top is brown and bubbly.

... it didn't just seem like a good idea; it was fantastic.

Friday Fusion

We've had various discussions about ways to do asian food using the contents of the biokiste, particularly the winter biokiste, and never really come up with anything. Earlier in the week I saw a recipe for a beet-coconut milk soup that led to the following experiment.

Dice (1cm) a good sized beet and steam it until almost ready to eat. Meanwhile cut a chicken into saute pieces, remove the skin from those pieces, and brown them. Set the chicken aside and add some sliced leeks, lime leaves, garlic, lemongrass, and chili. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add coconut milk, lime juice, a bit of sugar, and fish sauce and bring to a simmer. Put the chicken pieces (minus the breasts) in a casserole, add the beets, pour over the sauce, cover, and bake at 175 for 20 minutes. Add the breast pieces and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Serve with rice.

This wasn't a great revelation, but it was quite good. The combination of the beets and the curry flavors did work together.

Tuesday: Parsnip soup with tarragon-garlic oil

Another pureed vegetable soup, this time with onion, garlic, carrot, potato, celery root, and lots of parsnips. I served it topped with a tarragon-garlic oil. The parsnip flavor came through really nicely and matched well with the tarragon.

Why haven't I always been making lots of soups?

Sunday: horseradish risotto with beef strips

Horseradish risotto was something I had and really enjoyed at St. Georg (though I was skeptical when I saw it on the menu). This was the first try at making it myself. I looked around for a bit and found a recipe that sounded reasonable in the Le Menu archive and started from there. It's simple: make a standard risotto (vegetables: onion, garlic, brunoise carrots; white wine; a bit of veggie bouillon; water) and, just before serving, stir in cream, grated horseradish to taste, and salt to taste.

The Le Menu suggestion for an accompaniment is strips of boiled siedfleisch that are browned quickly just before serving. That sounded good, but I wanted a bit more so I did something a bit random: I made a "tea" by simmering some gluehwein spices (orange peel, rose hips, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, vanilla) in a mixture of white wine and water. After about 15 minutes of simmering, I strained this and used it as part of the simmering liquid for the beef. To the tea I added some carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaf, clove, salt, and enough water to cover the piece of beef. This simmered gently for two hours, until the beef was clearly cooked through but not fork tender, and then I turned off the heat and let the beef cool in the stock overnight. For serving, I sliced the beef, cut the slices into strips, and then sauteed them very briefly in rapeseed oil with a pinch of salt. Just enough to give them a bit of color and heat them through.

I served the beef next to the risotto with a pile of watercress to the side.

Really, really nice food.

Thursday: Simple Choucroute

A really simple one to use the sauerkraut from the biokiste: saute some onion, lardons, and diced carrot in rapeseed oil; add the sauerkraut (ours comes with cararaway, juniper berry, bay leaf, and coriander already added) and some white wine and cook a few minutes; add a couple bratwursts, cover and simmer until the sausage is almost done; add a couple pieces of cooked ham and some steamed potatoes and cook until these are warmed through.

Serve with grainy mustard and pickles.

Monday: winter vegetable soup with meatballs

The idea and meatball recipe came from Wiener, the contents from what was in the veggie box.

For the soup I used: carrot, parsnip, celery root, potato, napa cabbage (all diced to about the size of chickpeas); chickpeas; sliced leek; chopped onion; bay leaf; cloves; beef bouillon. The meatballs were: mixed beef and pork, soaked bread, parsley, garlic, marjoram, salt, black pepper.

The soup was great, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the meatballs: the garlic was harsh tasting and became dominant.

Friday: Baked ham and potato-celery root gratin

Driven by the contents of the biokiste and the nice looking ham we got on sale.

I coated the ham with a glaze made from apricot jam, chipotle sauce, and bourbon before baking it.

For the gratin we layered the thinly sliced potatoes and celery root with a sauce made from light cream, garlic, pepper, salt, and mild paprika. This we topped with gruyere and then baked.

Of course there was a green salad as well.

Tuesday: spaghetti with beef-leek ragu

Another simple one: a ragu made from tomato sauce, ground beef, chopped leeks, garlic, red wine, basil, and parsley. We ate this over spaghetti topped with a grating of parmesan, some lemon zest, and basil chiffonade.

Monday: Potato-leek soup

A simple one: potato leek soup, good bread, and salad.

Sunday: lentil soup

The idea of a slightly sour lentil soup came from a dish we at had the Restaurant St Georg and was further reinforced by memories of soups from Romania.

Cook some finely diced smoked bacon in a bit of olive oil until it starts to take on some color. Add finely diced carrot and minced onion and garlic and cook until the vegetables soften. Add rinsed green lentils, finely diced starchy potatoes, a splash of white wine, chicken stock, a bay leaf, and a clove. Simmer until the lentils are tender; the potatoes will more or less dissolve. Add some cream and adjust seasoning. Add white balsamico in small portions until the sourness is at an appropriate level.

To go with this I did a salad of schnibbelbohnen (boiled until tender) and red cabbage (thinly sliced and then steamed until crisp-tender) dressed with minced onion, sugar, lemon juice, savory, cream, and rapeseed oil. After dressing it I let this sit for a couple hours to marinate.

Saturday spanish

After getting back from vacation Andrea was craving rice; this went well with my desire for something Spanish. I did two dishes from La Cucina de Mama: baked rice and chicken with fino sherry. Aside from adding a bit of extra onion to the rice, I followed both recipes pretty much exactly and they both turned out well.

With this we had a big green salad.

Nanorestaurant review: Restaurant St Georg (Ernen)

The fact that we went to this restaurant twice during our week in Ernen is probably all I need to say... definitely two smiley faces.

Food: Excellent. Heavy focus on staying local, very carefully prepared from excellent ingredients and with a bit of creativity/wit.

Service: A bit distracted the second time, but otherwise very good.

Atmosphere: Relaxed and comfortable.

Monday: radicchio-bread casserole

A somewhat random idea to use up some leftover bread and the last of the radicchio from the box.

Cut some stale bread into 2cm dice. Toss the cubes with stock (I had turkey stock), chopped radicchio, a can of tomatoes (chopped), a thinly sliced leek, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, salt, and pepper. Transfer to an olive-oiled baking dish, top with mozzarella cheese, cover with foil, and bake at 175 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 30 minutes or until the top is nicely brown and bubbly.

To go with this quite nice dish I cooked diced acorn squash in butter (covered) until it was tender, then served that with white pepper and raclette spices. This was like a savory buttery dessert. :-)

Sunday: Kale and sausage

This week's box had the first kale (grünkohl) of the year. woo hoo!

To prepare it was quite simple: remove the tough stems and chop the leaves finely. Saute them in a really hot pan until they wilt considerably. Add sliced leeks and cook another few minutes over high heat. Add a bit of stock, some diced and steamed firm-cooking potatoes, and some sliced smoked sausage, cover, and simmer until the kale is ready to eat, 20-30 minutes.

mmmmm

Saturday: baked radicchio, white beans

We had a couple heads of radicchio in the fridge that needed to be used. The obvious thing to do was risotto, but that wouldn't have made a big enough dent, so I used up a whole head by baking it with olive oil (method from Hazan).

To counter (or at least compliment) the bitterness of the raddicchio, I gently cooked some white beans in their own liquid along with a clove and a bay leaf. These I served with a drizzle of olive oil.

We also had some ebly (cooked plain) and a big green salad.

This year's thanksgiving spread

We had a smaller group this year so the preparations somehow seemed easier (which doesn't make much sense at all).

This year's spread:

• roasted turkey
• stuffing (bread, leeks, mushrooms, carrots, celery, thyme, celery, sage, roasted-chicken stock)
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potatoes (cooked in their own liquid in the pan, a la Cooks Illustrated).
• green beans (roasted a la Cooks Illustrated then topped with shaved almonds to reheat)
• green salad (nüssli, cranberries, walnuts)
• chopped salad (raddicchio, spitzkohl, carrots, minced onion, cress)
• bread
• pumpkin soup with chestnuts
• a chocolate and pecan cake brought by guests
  

For the appetizers:

• the usual spiced almonds
• a few varieties of olives
• beets: baked in foil then peeled, diced, and tossed with chopped walnut, rosemary, rapeseed oil, balsamico, salt, and white pepper.
• salami and möstbrockli.

way too much was eaten. :-)

Saturday: baked chicken and sauerkraut

A simple one in the midst of the preparations for this year's belated thanksgiving celebration: put sauerkraut (pre-spiced from the biokiste) in an oiled baking dish. Top with chicken leg quarters, season the chicken with salt, pepper, and raclette spices. Bake at 180C until the chicken is done.

Hard to get much simpler than that. :-)

Thursday: curry chicken gipfeli, savoy cabbage gratin

Two recipes from this month's Le Menu that I followed without too much variation. Combined with a green salad this was a nice meal.

Monday: millet-vegetable gratin

Another recipe from Wiener. I stuck to the recipe. For vegetables I used 200g celery root, 200g beet, and 100g carrot. One change to try next time: mix the sauce with the millet and vegetables first, then transfer to the gratin dish and top with the cheese.

As an accompaniment I dressed some sauerkraut (from the market, not from the biokiste) with leftover lemogrette from Sunday.