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.
I actually made this Tuesday night, but we didn't eat it until tonight.
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.
Another pasta and lentils idea from Wiener, but this time I followed the recipe. :-)
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.
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.
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.
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.
One smiley face. What one hopes for in a good "dorfbeiz".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This was to help Andrea recover from her cold and use up the chicken breasts from the tagine bird.
