bunte wirsingschichten / colorful layers of savoy cabbage

you might know by now that i like to make up my own recipes. maybe i take other recipes as an inspiration, but usually i go totally bananas and invent my own food. i am definitely not a copycat and i always (at least i try to) backlink when i make a wonderful dish of a fellow blogger. of course, we influence and inspire eachother and while i think this is a big plus there are definitely some disturbing things going on here on the net, especially if someone steals stuff and wants to make money off of it. as far as i am concerned i usually try to *steal* my mamas recipes (okay, i experiment with family heirlooms...) and give them my own twist. or i make stuff that my mama would never ever make. dishes with cabbage for example. why stick to the old dull stuffed cabbage? here's what i decided to create: colorful layers of savoy cabbage with minced meat and other veggies.

500 g minced meat
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 egg
breadcrumbs
250 g savoy cabbage
1 carrot
1 bell pepper
4 slices of gouda

01 chop onion and garlic, roast in a pan and put aside to cool
02 remove stalk of the cabbage and blanch
03 finely chop or grate carrot and bell pepper
04 add fried onion and garlic to the minced meat
05 add one egg and intensely mix the meat
06 add breadcrumbs until you get a hamburger-like consistency. season to taste.
07 butter a casserole and lay out first layer of cabbage
08 put a layer of meat on top
09 add a layer of the grated carrot
10 add a layer of the finely chopped bell pepper
11 add a layer of gouda cheese
12 cover with a layer of cabbage
13 put a layer of meat on top
14 add a layer of the grated carrot
15 add a layer of the finely chopped bell pepper
16 add a layer of gouda cheese
17 cover with a layer of cabbage
18 do you get the picture? continue to make the layers until your casserole is filled. your last layer should be a layer of cabbage
19 bake for at least one hour on medium heat (180-200°c)

while some of my inventions are not really a feast for the eye (as i mostly throw every ingredient in a pan and mash it up real good) this thing turned out really pretty. hey, and yummie! do i have to mention that?

ricotta pancakes with fruit on top

just lovely! i can share so many *firsts* with you here on my food-blog, and here is another one:

250 g ricotta
125 ml milk
2 egg yolks
20 g sugar
125 g flour
2 egg whites

3 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 kiwi
1 banana
1/2 apple

01 in a bowl, combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks and sugar. add flour and stir until well blended
02 beat the egg whites and gently fould into the mixture
03 pour batter onto a lightly greased hot griddle and turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. cook until second side is golden brown
04 in a little pan, heat the maple syrup
05 cut fruits in little pieces and add to the boiling syrup
06 cook fruit mixture for a little while and pour over the pancakes

i have never made american style breakfast pancakes before! they taste just fantastic, i guess i will add them to my sunday routine! i am still used to eating pancakes (the much thinner version we austrians like to call "omletten") as a rich desert after a luscious meal - but hey, there seems to be nothing wrong with eating desert on sunday mornings!

(recipe can be found @ chefkoch and is by dialog)

technorati tags:pancake, pancakes, ricotta, fruit

Blogged with Flock

what are you?!

.... and how do i cook / prepare / eat you?!

well ... is it a fruit, is it a vegetable?! i can't even figure that out! can i cook this *thing*? or do i eat it raw?

i am really excited every thursday when my farmbox is arriving. while i enjoy to have fresh organic salad, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, ... at my doorstep i am always very curious about the little unfamiliar surprises i find in the box. stuff i have never seen before, let alone cooked it. stuff that is not even available in my regular shops, stuff i would never ever voluntarily buy ...

now i don't have a clue about this thing here.
can you help me?

hazelnut-cocoa cream

in case you run out of nutella i have i nice little recipe for a similar spread for you! i silghtly modified one of the recipes i found in my new bread & spreads book. homemade stuff tastes so much better, it is amazing! especially if you are a sucker for cocoa like me (cocoa, not chocolate!) you have to try this one! so simple, soooooo fantastic!

60 g ground roasted hazelnuts
60 g soft butter
40 g cocoa
20 g sugar

01 put everything in a food processor or mix by hand until smooth
02 add sugar to taste.

i really adore the slightly bitter taste of cocoa, so i did only add two tablespoons. if you are a sweettooth you definitely need trice as much. i suppose this tastes good with maple sirup or brown sugar too!

okay, i agree, there is nothing like nutella, but this homemade spread is just as tasty and might be a good alternative every once in a while. i buy nutella maybe twice a year, but this spread might find its way onto my sunday breakfast table ...

give me gebäck!

tomorrow is world bread day! oh yeah - bread, bread, a thousand times bread!

i am a big fan of bread in general, especially the gorgeous dark schwarzbrot, the tasty loaf of bauernbrot and first and foremost (for me at least) the beloved gebäck in every way, shape and form. while i could survive on bread only i am a big big fan of the austrian gebäck. the propper english translation seems to be pastry, but as an austrian i have to say this is not entirely what i mean by gebäck. the english word "pastry" would much rather be our feingebäck, the sweet strudel or the sweet tart. when we speak of gebäck, we mean savory tiny little breads. i guess you can much rather compare gebäck with scones or bread rolls. we often like to call this little piece of bread weckerl.

in any given bakery, even in the tiniest shop around the corner you can find a gigantic selection of those tiny little breads. in austria and southern germany the semmel is the king of tiny breads, while the rest of the german speaking world you would simply call it brötchen, the diminutive of bread. we have kaisersemmel, kornspitz, mohnflesserl, salzspitz, vintschgerl, wachauerweckerl, kipferl, grahamweckerl, kartoffelweckerl and a wide, wide range of kornweckerl - fitnessweckerl, kürbiskernweckerl, schusterlaibchen, müsliweckerl, sesamweckerl ... i could ramble on for a while :) i especially like the ones with salt, caraway seeds or the mini breadloafs made of rye and spelt.


but my favorite gebäck of all is the good old mohnflesserl. a mohnflesserl is a traditional austrian gebäck, looking similar to a braided yeast bun. it is made from white bread dough, it is sprinkled with poppy-seeds and sometimes salt. i just love my mohnflesserl with poppy-seeds and salt. and while i also love it with jam, salami, cheese ... whatever! the best way to eat your mohnflesserl is with plain butter ...


but the task for bread day is to make bread yourself. what a challenge, because i have never made bread myself. so i went for groceries in order to buy flour, yeast, sour dough or whatever you need for making a decent loaf of bread. first off i needed to get inspired in my bookshop though. of course i did buy one of the bread books on display there ...


although in the books it's described as "very easy" to make your own bread, i suddenly lost confidence. i thought i might need a few trials (and maybe errors?) in my bread baking adventures. i was strolling through the aisles of the supermarket and i suddenly lost all my will to make bread from scratch in fear of not succeeding. though my general cooking skills are pretty okay i thought i'd rather head to the aisle with the bread mixes. i have never used a mix for making bread either, but adding water should be something i'd be able to manage despite of my lost confidence in making bread from scratch ...

i am sorry if i have to disappoint you here, but i did not want to show you my flat, not risen and hard-as-stone bread for a blog event :) yeah. i am a coward, i know - i could always pass a flat austrian bread for tiroler schüttelbrot *g* ...


so there you go. i am making bread, but i am faking it. i decided to take a brown bread mix, which would result in a kind of kornspitz-gebäck. i like kornspitz!

while it is easy to add water to the bread mix you still have to have some time on your hands. you have to let the dough rest for an hour, then form little buns or weckerl and let them rest for another 40 minutes. okay, fine with me. and i just prepared my first (fake)homemade bread! is there anything better than eating warm bread right out of the oven on a sunday morning?! i doubt it!

i need to keep this in mind if i ever have a boy over for a "pyjama party" :) i bet i can (also) seduce a man with my cooking skills on sunday mornings ... or i'll show him where the bread mix is and tell him to read the instructions - after all, the way to a womans heart is through her stomach too!

so check out the photos of my (still single) sunday adventure:


read the instructions on your bread mix!


add water and mix. knead for 8 minutes.


let the dough rest for an hour.


form little buns and let rest again for 40 minutes.


make sure to add a little bowl of water in the oven when baking the bread.
bake on 230 °C for about half an hour.


yum-mie!
the purer the better, if you ask me!
but a little butter and a little bell pepper does not hurt either!

though i might take on the challenge of making bread from scratch i definitely need to have the breadmix in my kitchen cabinet from now on - whether if it's for myself, for mister right or for mister right now, i could easily get used to making my own bread on sunday mornings!

hey, thanks for listening to my debacheries!

this blog event is hosted by 1x umrühren bitte
technorati tags: world bread day '06, world bread day 06

celebrating you

as i am entering my second year of foodblogging today i want to say

thank you!

you have made me a better blogger, a more open-minded eater, a bold tastebud-tester, an adventurous shopper, a brave and a very, very inspired cook!

as a little thank you i have compiled all the recipes i've blogged so far on little recipe cards for you to download and print out. enjoy!

bizarre meme

i have been tagged for the "bizarre meme" by rosa's yummy yums and since doing meme's and quizzes online is really fun and one of my favorite things to do on the net (i know, this might be a little lame) - apart from reading blogs of course! so here we go!

take the first book that you find underhand, open it on page 18 and copy what’s written on the fourth line from the top:
it is from a book i am currently reading because i am finishing my baccalaureat. it is called architektonische grundelemente und ihre dynamik (architectural basics and their dynamics): der punkt ist für ihn sowohl null-punkt wie beginn der materialisierung ... short sentence. i know!

what was the last program you watched on tv?
the thirsty traveller on the travel channel - i just love that show!

without verifying, try to guess the time it is?
about 23:30?

check out. it is:
23:54

which noise can you hear apart from the one of your computer?
since its sunday night i don't hear anything. the north side of my livingroom is facing up to a busy street though and normally i would hear traffic and trains ... oh! i can hear a lonely car now!

when did you go out for the last time and what did you do?
i went to an exhibition at my university yesterday evening.

what are you wearing now?
hey, it's sunday night, i am in my sweatpants and in a shirt with a stain on the belly ... i look like a mess - thank god i am single!

before you started this meme, what were you looking at?
i was watching a few episodes of sex and the city. i just love that show. i am thinking of buying the whole back cataloge ... i know it is crazy. but i think i might really need to own the dvds ...

did you dream this night?
i don't remember dreaming anything ... i have to admit that i was a little hammered last night after the exhibition ... and whenever i am a little drunk i sleep like a log!

when did you laugh for the last time?
yesterday evening, with my friends. oh, and today when i heard something fun on the radio.

what’s on the walls of the room in which you are?
some photos from my trip to the black sea and a big map of europe.

did you see something strange today?
no, not really. oh, wait, yes! i found a living caterpillar in my fridge today. this is the fun part of having a box of organic vegetables and fruits delivered every week ... i just hate tiny litte animals, everything from spiders to moths they just freaks me out! so as i was throwing the little fellow out of the window onto the neighbours terrace i was squeaking like a little girl!

what do you think of this meme?
oh, i love memes and online quizzes!!!

which was the last film that you saw?
i don't remember going to the cinema in the last two years. what a shame! but to my defense: i worked in a cinema for like 5 years and i could watch every movie for free (that is why i saw amelie 9 times). suddenly i find it very unreasonable that i would have to actually pay 7 euros for a movie! that's probably one of the reasons why i did not go to the movies lately. or maybe because i just want to own the dvds ...

if you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would be the first thing that you’d buy?
i'd probably want to buy a house or a flat. i am pretty low key and i have really everything i need. what i don't have is a place i can call my own. maybe i should start working on that. but then again, i would have to find myself a decent job first and forget about being an artist.

tell us something about you that we don’t yet know
i like to belive that i am psychic. i think of a person i haven't seen in a really long time and the person calls me the very same day. i also think that i can sense certain things. i think foreboding is the proper english word. that is cheesy, i know.

if you could change something in the world apart from culpability and politics, what would you change?
i would erase prejudice and jealousy

do you like dancing?
i love it! i don't mind being the only one starting to hit the dancefloor if i hear a good tune!

georges bush?
how can such a stupid person become president? i guess it is all about connections and election fraud ...

which name would you choose if you had a girl?
if i would have a girl i would definitely name it after my beloved grandmother who i still miss dearly. my grandmothers name was theresia, which is a little oldfashioned - i think i would probably give my daughter the middle name theresa. and first name? i like anna, and maybe ruth. i have not really thought about girls names before. although i would really like to have a girl as my first born. i was the first child of my mother and my mother was the first child of my grandmother. this is a cool female tradition i'd really like to continue!

and if it was a boy?
picking boys names is easier: jonas, daniel, david, jonathan, jan, till, ...

have you ever thought about living in a foreign country?
i am really in love with london. i have lived there already ... but since i am really rooted here in austria, i think i could never really live abroad.

what do you want god to tell you when you go through the doors of paradise?
i'd ask him why the hell he did not answer whenever i cried for help and asked for a sign of god ... where where you, master of the universe, when i was in dire need of help from above?!? and what is the meaning of life anyway???

which are the 4 other bloggers that you'd love to tag:
everyone who wants to do this meme is invited to join in the fun!

i am one lucky girl

i became hooked on cooking shows during my time in london. i quickly became addicted to carismatic tv chefs and tv cooking long before jamie oliver hit the small screen. the trend of tv cooking shows only started in the german speaking countries (or austria at least) two or three years ago. it quickly became a trend and though i enjoy some of the shows that are around on cable tv from germany i was always looking back wistfully on the british shows and the creative twist and yet sometimes very very british approach the bbc has always put on their cooking shows.

i was always very fond of ainsley harriott and gary rhodes. i actually saw gary rhodes on leicester square shortly before i left for austria again. but i was too shy to approach him for an autograph ...

now, i bought a digital sat receiver a few weeks ago and one of the first things i discovered was this german cooking channel, tv gusto. AMAZING!! a whole CHANNEL!!! as i am pretty addicted to tv sometimes i pretty much am nailed to my couch now skipping from the new found tv gusto to the new found travel channel and back :) one night last week on a commercial break on the thirsty traveller (so cool!!!) i switched back to tv gusto and there he was - AINSLEY HARRIOT was laughing, cooking and making jokes!!

oh my god! amazing! i cound hardly believe it and as i switched on my computer beaming with joy i quickly found out that tv gusto actually has a whole bbc food segment every evening. many different shows, various different chefs, supercool cooking for one hour, and every evening! i still can not believe it. this is just lovely. i certainly know where i will spend my evenings for the next couple of months. i will sit in my cozy livingroom watching gary rhodes do something amazing to eggs. or fish. or asparagus. or even cauliflower.

oh, i can hardly wait until tomorrow to see another british celebrity chef embark upon a new cooking adventure ...

technorati tags:gary, rhodes, bbc, food, cooking

Blogged with Flock