Monday: Stuffed eggplant

Inspiration from a cooking show I caught a bit of while we were in Romania.

Poke a couple holes through the skin of an eggplant so that it doesn't burst. Toss it under the broiler for a while on each side until the skin is ready to come off. Let cool a bit, peel, cut in half, scoop out the insides, and dice it fine.

Make the filling: Brown some ground pork with a couple pinches of salt and then set aside. Cook some diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil until the onion caramelizes. add thinly sliced green and red bell pepper and the diced eggplant guts and cook another couple minutes. Add back the pork along with a sprinkling of flour and mix well. Add a splash of dry vermouth and cook to reduce it some. Turn off the heat and add chopped fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano). Adjust seasoning.

Fill the eggplant halves, top with crushed crackers (no bread crumbs in the house), and bake at 200C for about 20 minutes. Serve with basmati rice.

I had also picked up a hokkaido (potimarron) squash. This I cut in half, scooped out the guts, and baked at 175C until it was tender. After cooling for a bit I peeled half the squash, mashed it up with olive oil, salt, and raclette spices. This we served topped with chives and black pepper.

Very good food.

Wednesday: Canned beef hash

On their last visit, Andrea's parents brought us a can of beef (long story). Using it to make a hash seemed to be the obvious thing.

Dice some potatoes small (5mm or so) and cook them for 5 or so minutes with the minimal amount of oil to keep them from sticking. Add diced onion and minced garlic and cook until the onions are soft. Add diced canned beef and a diced long green pepper. Just before serving add a bit of the "broth" from the beef to moisten things.

We ate this, which was actually quite nice, with a green salad.

Ok, I can't help myself... It was quite a relief to be able to prepare something like this that's a bit odd and memory-associated for Andrea without making a complete hash out of it. :-)

Monday: Geschnetzeltes with tortilla

A simple one to use more tortillas: marinate some geschnetzelted pork with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, salt, black pepper, and a bit of cayenne for a couple hours. Saute in olive oil and finish with a bit of dry vermouth. Serve with tortillas, a sauce made with sour cream and vermouth (cuisine de kuhlschrank strikes again), and rice.

Sunday: Fried plantains and quesadillas

Found some decent-looking plantains at the Coop, so we did a batch of fried plantains with the requisite chipotle salsa. To go along with this I did some quesadillas (cheese, tomato, onion, served with sour cream and the salsa).

Simple and good.

Saturday: Green bean cannelloni

A recipe from this month's Le Menu. 

Cook green beans for a couple of minutes in butter with minced garlic and thinly sliced onion. Add a splash of water, a good pinch of salt, and a bunch (tied with kitchen twine) of savory, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the beans are about tender. 

Boil some "no boil" lasagna noodles for a couple of minutes in salted water to soften them, then toss them into cold water.

Make a bechamel sauce with 30g butter, 2 Tbs flour, 4 dl milk, salt, piment d'esplette, and nutmeg.

Form cannelloni by laying a strip of thinly sliced smoked bacon on a noodle, topping that with green beans, then rolling it up. Place the formed cannelloni in a buttered baking dish, pour over the bechamel, top with parmesan, bake for about 20 minutes until the top is nicely browned.

We had this with a big green salad and were very happy about it. I normally find savory to be a bit overwhelming, but the trick of keeping it whole and then fishing the branches out after cooking seems to help. Also green beans and bacon is one of those combinations where it's hard to go too wrong.

Friday: pasta with pesto

A simple one for a Friday evening: the last of the gazpacho, pasta with pesto, bread, and a big green salad.

Wednesday Frikadellen

Another quick one due to the heat: oven-roasted potatoes, frikadellen (beef, pork, lemon zest, salt, pepper, sweet paprika), and a green salad.

Tuesday Miscellany

Andrea's parents were visiting, but I'm not sure what that had to do with my choice of dishes. :-)

Main: cook a couple seasoned turkey schnitzels in the grill pan, set aside. Cook some chopped onion and garlic for a couple minutes in a bit of neutral oil. Add diced summer squash and cook, covered until the squash is just about tender. Stir in a bit of veggie bouillon and some quark (half fat). Cut the turkey into strips and stir that in as well. Cook until the turkey is heated through. Serve over buttered noodles.

Vegetable side: green beans steamed and then cooked with diced bacon and finished with a bit of balsamico.

We also had a nice green salad.

Monday salads

Another day where it was too hot to really cook.

1. Gazpacho: tomatoes (canned), water, minced onion, minced garlic, long-green pepper, olive oil, salt, piment d'esplette, served with a bit of sherry vinegar
2. Wurst salat
3. White bean salad: white beans, ketchup, chipotle tabasco, white balsamico
4. Cottage cheese with chives and parsley
5. Smoked cheese
6. Lettuce
7. Bread

Saturday: steak with ebli and vegetable vinaigrette, corn salad

The steak: a pan-roasted rib eye.

The ebli: cooked in salted water, drained, cooled to room temp.

The vinaigrette: finely diced carrot, long green pepper, and dried tomato; minced onion, salt, white balsamico, rape seed oil, parsley. Left to stand for an hour before serving.

The corn salad was inspired by this week's Minimalist, I had missed this corn-balsamic vinegar-tomato-basil thing, so I did that: cut the kernels from the ears of corn, cook for a couple of minutes over high heat with chopped garlic and a bit of neutral oil, transfer to a bowl and add diced tomato, chopped basel, sherry vinegar (no balsamico in the house), and a bit of olive oil. Served in a lettuce cup.

Very good food.

Friday: salads and corn on the cob

It was a bit hot to do any real cooking, so even though I've been out of the kitchen for a while, it was salads (caprese and a big green salad) and corn on the cob for dinner.

Traveling, no posts

Out of town for a week.

Nanorestaurant review: Zum Goldenen Stern (Basel)

One smiley face; we were disappointed.

Food: Surprisingly uninspired considering the reputation (and cost) of the place. Kornhaus does better.

Service: very good

Atmosphere: very nice

Sunday: chicken stir-fried with ketchup; curried green beans

At some point in the last couple of weeks I developed a craving for the Bittman recipe for chicken stir fried with ketchup (from 2004, I should dig the link out). Sunday I satisfied that craving.

To go with the very simple chicken dish I also did a random curry: green beans with yellow curry. First stir fry green beans cut into bite-size lengths for a couple of minutes, mix in some yellow curry paste and cook another couple minutes, add coconut milk and let simmer until the beans are ready to eat.

We ate all this goodness with rice and enjoyed it a lot.

Saturday: beans and sausage

The weather was cool and gray and we had to pass on the mountains, so comfort food was in order.

Cook black eyed peas with garlic, onion, and bay leaf. When they're about done add a saucisson vaudoise and some salt. Simmer until the beans and sausage are done, then serve.

As a vegetable side I cooked diced chard stem with some orange zest, olive oil, and a goodly amount of beef stock. I cooked it uncovered so the stock could reduce.

We also had brown rice and a big green salad.

Really good food for a cool evening.

Saturday lunch: tortilla

Lunch actually involved some cooking:
Thinly slice a couple potatoes (on the ceramic slicer), layer into a pan with some melted butter. Season well and cook one side until it's crisp, then flip and cook the other side until it's close to crisp. Pour over some scrambled eggs, cover, and let cook until the eggs are set.

Served with chipotle tabasco, this was a great lunch.

Thursday : assorted salads

An assortment of salads for a hot day:

1. Sausage salad: cook a garlic sausage (from Tessin) in the grill pan. In the meantime mince an onion and mix it with a good quantity of prepared mustard, salt, a dash or two of hot sauce, and rapeseed oil. When the sausage is five or so minutes from being done, toss a long green pepper (quartered lengthwise) into the grill pan to soften a bit. Dice the pepper, slice the sausage, and toss them both with the dressing. Stir in some chopped parsley just before serving.
2. Beets: Dice a couple beets, steam them until crisp-tender, then toss with white balsamico, rapeseed oil, salt, pepper, finely chopped rosemary, and chives.
3. Chard with cottage cheese: cook chopped chard leaves with salt, onion, and garlic in a bit of olive oil until they are ready to eat. Let cool a bit and then stir in some cottage cheese.

We also had a standard green salad and some good bread.

Tuesday: Baguette with summer vegetables; boiled beef with arugula

Cuisine de Kuhlschrank indeed: 

"Tessiner toast": cook some minced garlic in olive oil with a diced onion. Add zucchini and cook until the zucchini starts to soften. Add diced tomato and cook another couple minutes. Add chopped basil and cook another minute or so. Set aside. 

Cut a piece of oldish (but not hard) baguette in half lengthwise. Toast briefly in the broiler. Drizzle with olive oil and salt. Top with vegetables (and liquid). Top with diced mozarella and a grind of black pepper. Throw back under the broiler until the cheese looks good.

Beef with arugula (idea from Hazan). Boil a piece of beef in broth (bouillon, bones, garlic, onion, bay leaf, celery, clove) until tender. Let cool in broth, thinly slice. Serve with lemon wedges, arugula dressed with olive oil, and grated carrot.

Very, very nice eating.

Monday: Green beans and sausage

There were green beans, there were sausages (Landjägers), this is what happened.

Cook some minced garlic in a bit of olive oil with diced onion and thinly sliced sausage. After a few minutes add cumin seeds and almonds. After another five or so minutes add some steamed green beans and salt. Cook until the beans take on a bit of color.

We ate this very nice dish with some bratkartoffeln and a big green salad.

Saturday at the grill

A bit of grilling on a nice, but hot Saturday evening:

1. Grill bread (the usual recipe; I stuck to it this time except for giving it more time to rise than normal)
2. Red and yellow peppers, blackened on the grill, peeled, cut into strips, then tossed with olive oil and salt
3. Pork and lemongrass patties, BittmanWorld recipe.
   
4. Ground lamb with rosemary, cooked on skewers
   
5. Ground beef with allspice and lemon zest, done as skewers
   
6. Ground beef with cumin, coriander, and paprika (both sweet and hot), done as patties with an almond in the middle.
7. Potato salad
8. Green salad