my personal top 10

i have been tagged by zorra to join the best of 2006 meme. it is not an easy task, but i finally managed to narrow my personal favorites of the last year down to just ten recipes ... wanna see? there you go!

number one just has to be the fantastic lime coconut fudge! no doubt about it!


i saw ainsley harriot make ricotta pancakes on one of his shows. they looked so divine, i had to find a recipe to make some myself!


cooking a pumpkin for the first time this year! the pumpkin soup with zucchini tasted incredible and i've made it a couple of times already!


i discovered so many new tastes and textures this year because of the lovely farm box i get delivered to my porch every week. the parsnip probably was the most surprising vegetable and the parsnip au gratin was just delicious!


god, i am such a fan of soups! i tend to make the same soups over and over, but the lentil soup with roasted bacon was really outstanding!


i always thought making pudding from scratch was difficult. why on earth did i think that?! it's so quick and easy - and oh, did i forget to say delicious?


the green nockerl with mozzarella clearly where an experiment. and while not every experiment in my kitchen turns out okay this one is definitely a keeper!


garlic soup from scratch is definitely a staple dish in my kitchen!


i tend to stick to the tastes i know and like when it comes to trying out new recipes. the coconut soup was all about brand new flavours - and to my big surprise it worked out really well!


oh, the colorful layers of savoy cabbage where divine! adjusting something i've known for years and making my very own dish out of it has got to be my hobby number one since i started my food blog!


i know you always have to invite people to join a food blog meme, but i think i like to leave this invitation open: everyone should scan their archives! it is totally interesting to rediscover recipes you've already almost forgotten about! and it is harder than you think to limit your favorites to only ten!

so join in the fun, my foodblogging friend!

day five

i am invited to a gorgeous brunch at my friends' place and i did not really want to bug them with my camera. so i sneaked a picture of the table and we chit-chatted and gossipped instead during brunch. i'll give you the things i consumed in writing though:

01 cafe latte
02 müsli
03 half a banana
04 bread and mozzarella
05 bread and jam
06 water
07 a pear
08 water
09 yoghurt, a pear, cinnamon and honey
10 water
11 a good old wurstbrot! jause rocks!
12 water
13 coffee
14 black coffee at work - not very good
15 water
16 mohnflesserl with gouda

i really should cook more. but the weekend is coming, i'm staying positive :)

day four

01 i overslept. so no coffee in the morning. water at my desk instead
02 a tangerine
03 water and almost falling asleep
04 lye finger roll
05 the office is out of coffee, so more water.
06 dürüm kebap while window shopping in the afternoon
07 apple juice and still roaming the streets of linz
08 a few bites of chocolate
09 and finally a coffee
10 pasta with swiss chard and onion
11 i'm thirsty. i need water
12 sure, eat all the chocolate. you know you want it. go ahead.
13 i always finish my day with water

i hardly ever drink anything else besides water. whenever i have a craving for coke or sprite or any other soft drink (like twice a year) one sip usually will satisfy my desire. but i like apple juice. grape juice or black currant juice is also great - but only in summer.

pasta with swiss chard and onion

while i grew up with the wonderful but very rich and heavy dishes my mama and my grandmother taught me to cook i desperately needed to discover my very own style. i believe that every generation needs to learn from the previous one but also should adapt and change the food they grew up with and set their own new standards.

well, that's what i did. and compared with the two previous generations my style was totally lean cuisine (which it is so not!). my grandmother for example used to fry all the wonderful bohemian style dishes in lard almost exclusivly. my mother made the transition to butter and margarine while yours truly in the third generation tries to avoid that grease alltogether. or use a non-stick frying pan and a tsp of olive oil or a knob of butter. don't get me wrong, lard and butter have a very distinctive flavour that often is essential and indispensable in upper austrian cuisine (perhaps in all native rural cooking in general) and i would never totally ban it from my diet. but i don't need to eat it every day either!

coming from a family of loud and big ass women (and i say that in the most loving way, after all i inherited the big mouth and the famous tush!), it still took a while until i gained confidence and my organic way of living. because a herd of dominant women can be very daunting!

i try to broaden my horizon regarding food in general. when i grew up spaghetti really was code for any kind of noodle with a meat and tomato sauce. today i have a different, more diverse point of view as far as pasta is concerned. and i especially like my spaghetti with steamed vegetables and very little sauce. i like all my pasta that way, no matter if spaghetti, tagliatelle, cannelloni or sedanini.

if i still had my spaghetti with butter and heavy sauce i guess i'd have a REAL problem with my weight instead of the oh no, my belly is wobbly and oh god, my thighs are really chubby - remarks i tend to make from time to time ...

where am i going with this post?! i wanted to show you my dinner!

since i had swiss chard in my farm box (a vegetable i absolutely adore) i made some spaghetti with swiss chard and red onion for dinner today. what a lovely combination!

1 swiss chard
1 small red onion
1 tsp of olive oil
100 ml of cream (i used rama cremefin)
pasta, which ever one you like :)
cheese, which ever one you like for your pasta (i used a slice of gouda)

1. cook pasta in a pot of salted water. i like my pasta very well done, but if you like yours al dente that'll work too
2. in the meantime dice the onion, clean and slice the chard
3. when your pasta is done drain it but leave enough of the cooking water to blanch the chard for a few minutes
4. don't overcook the chard, the vegetable should still be firm to the bite. it really only should take a few minutes
   
5. now drain the chard too
6. fry an onion in olive oil (i did that in my pasta/chard-pot) and add the chard before the onion turns brown
7. now stir in the cream and bring to a boil
8. add the cheese and season to taste
9. add pasta and gently toss to combine
   

Well Fed Network: Food Blog Awards

... now go to the well fed network and vote for your favorites!
... pretty please?!

(polls will close on midnight EST on january 9.)

day three

01 a fruity start with leftovers of my farm box ... plus yoghurt and weetabix and honey
02 water
03 coffee
04 water, now at work
05 a lousy baguette with salami and cream cheese - note to self: never buy that again
06 a teeny tiny tangerine
07 awful work coffee. but i am almost falling asleep.
08 more water
09 a pear
10 water
11 i did not drink enough today, so more water please
12 turkey, salad, peppers all wrapped up, an adequate compensation for the baguette
13 some fair trade chocolate that was in the mail today. sent by my newspaper
14 water to finish the day

only a few snacks today ... damn, and i wanted to cook more often! well, that's not happening so far, folks!

day two

01 morning coffee
02 water at my desk at work
03 terrible coffee at work
04 lye finger roll for breakfast
05 water - and still at work
06 more water, because water is good for you!
07 a banana
08 an apple while waiting for the tramway
09 a peanutcreme and chocolate bar. for my blood sugar :)
10 and water again
11 dinner, the chickpea-goulash
12 water, yes
13 and another coffee
14 an orange
15 half a pack of kettle vinegar chips while catching up on my daily online reads

my perception is shifting already.
i always thought i'd drink too little and i'd eat too much.

apparently i don't, really.

is it goulash?

there are two methods of cooking i frequently use when i am out of ideas: frying and stewing.

i once even had a little stewing-phase when i cooked nothing but stews for a few weeks. that phase is fortunately over but even today if i can not come up with a decent recipe or i can't decide what i am craving for dinner i'll stew something up.

i especially like all kinds of goulash, my favorite of all time being the szegedin goulash with pork and sauerkraut (my mama makes the best szegedin goulash, by the way!). every food that only resembles goulash and has lots of paprika powder in it is very comforting for me! we had it pretty often when i grew up and i could not get enough of the gazillion variations my mama is able to create.

i even invented some of my own. stews that taste a lot like goulash but use vegetables instead of meat. though i am not a vegetarian i hardly ever crave meat and i could easily live without it. actually, i often do live without meat for weeks without even noticing! when i was a child i used to push the goulash meat to the side of the plate and i only ate the paprika-sauce with lots and lots and lots of white bread. i still love to dunk a slice of bread in the sauce and i'd probably lick off the plate if you guys wheren't watching ...

i actually wanted to make hummus today and soaked some chickpeas overnight, but when i came home from work (very wet and very cold!) i was suddenly craving something else ... something goulashy ... and so i quickly added lots of paprika powder to a plain and simple chickpeas and tomato stew

1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 large hand full of dried chickpeas
(how much could that be in gramms? i have no idea!)
3 tomatos
olive oil
salt
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp of paprika powder

1. soak dried chickpeas in water overnight and cook them in water until they are soft enough. you can also use canned chickpeas.
2. in a pot, fry onion and garlic in plenty of olive oil
3. add the spices and keep stirring
   
4. dice and add tomatoes
5. let simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes
6. add chickpeas
7. cover the pot and continue to simmer for about 30 minutes

the rich thickness of a gulash usually comes from the meat, so i thought i'd throw in some tomatos to give the dish some hearty flavour. eat it with bread! i think that could be a side dish as well but for a single gal like me it's more of a quick fix - well, not so quick after all, stewing still takes some time!

day one

with this new year knocking on my door i want to face the challenge of taking pictures of everything i consume during this first week of the new year. there was a food blog event in november over at becks and posh which i missed. i want to catch up on that now. kind of a new years resolution, i think. most people start the new year with a diet or a very strict workout schedule, but i need to do some different things *. i only want to screen what i eat and drink for a week - because i am curious. i tend to be very lost in my thoughts when i eat. or lost in my computer. or lost in my favorite tv show. i need to focus on eating again.

actually, maybe i jumped the gun here because as i took a picture of the first thing i drank this morning - a plain glass of tap water - i noticed: gosh, this might be terribly boring for you! most of the things i stuff in my mouth don't really photograph very well!

when i post an entry - and i am sure most of you mad foodbloggers out there will agree - i try to make the pictures as perfectly as possible. i consider lighting (no flash, please!), background (as blurry as possible), colors (colorful dishes with boring food and vice versa) and sometimes i even arrange the noodles on the plate to make them look exactly like i want them to ... yeah. now you know. my name is gerda and i am a crazy person. with all that stuff in mind my food usually is lukewarm by the time i get to eat it.

taking pictures of everything i consume is gonna be tricky. how on earth should i take a picture of the weckerl i gulp down in the tramway on my way to work?! this thing is gone in like two seconds!!

of course i will try my best and i intend to not cheat. but the people around me will certainly think i am totally out of my mind by the end of this week ... camera at the ready all! the! time!

okay. that said, in the style of tucker shaw i proudly present the yield of 01.01.2007


01 water
02 latte macchiato plus first cigarette of the day
03 water
04 bread and jam
05 weihnachtsstern tea
06 chili con carne leftovers - that's even better when warmed up!
07 water, again
08 more weihnachtsstern tea
09 a banana
10 cocoa & rum (watching a cheesy chickflick on tv)
11 the last 3 of my lime coconut fudgybabies (ditto!). i will have to make some more!
12 a kiwi
13 even more water

that's not really much food in one day, is it? and while it's challenging for me to remember taking all the pictures it might be totally dull for you.

we'll see what tomorrow brings.
more food and some actual cooking, i suppose!

_____

*
do you want to know what my real new years resolutions are?
yeah, shame on me, i could not resist making some anyway!

• i want to play guitar more. i started when i was 10 and i haven't played at all last year. i used to love to play and now i don't even know if i can remember all the tricky chords ...
  
• i did not read a single book last year. i started to read "carmen" by prosper mérimée two weeks ago in an effort to at least look back on one book in 2006, but nope! i did not manage to finish it (i have to admit i picked the original french version and my french is a bit rusty) ... i need to switch off my computer from time to time and grab a decent novel. i've never been a big reader, i mostly read magazines or i catch up on my reading online. but one book a year, for christ's sake! that should be doable, right?
• i want to receive mail again. real mail. with a stamp. written by hand. but i guess i have to start sending out letters in order for that to happen. so another resolution this year is to write letters again. because i can't even remember when i sent out my last letter. i suppose it was before the millenium.
  

thank you & a question

did a fellow foodpage with a million hits a day link to my humble site and thus share some of the success - or what is going on here? 31.12.2006 has been the busiest day so far on this blog! page views where shooting up and i've had almost twice as many visitors than before! oh man, i am really excited about that and i want to thank you again for visiting :) you certainly made my day! i totally consider this good luck for 2007 :)

but this first post in 2007 is not about cooking, eating or anything else food-related. i want to ask you something: how do you keep track of your (food)blogs? maybe you noticed the blogroll in the sidebar, that's my only archive at the moment - well, i am not really satisfied with that blogroll and i am looking for another way to file my bookmarks online. how do you handle the overwhelming amount of fantastic foodblogs? there must be a better way - tagging, storing in folders, maybe rss ... whatever! i'd love to sort foodies by country.

do you also store your links online or do you keep track in the favorites of your browser?
do you have any tips or suggestions for me?
your help would be appreciated!

lime coconut fudge

or: how to make your own homemade bounty bar!

i found the recipe over at is that my buréka? and i thought it was a bit weird at first that you would actually use a potato in a confection sweet. but it just sounded just too good not to try. i have no idea how these little babies should taste, but with my bountybar fantasy in mind i figured i just try to make bite sized minibars.

30 g mashed potato
150 g icing sugar
60 g unsweetened dried coconut shreds
1 tbsp lime zest
150 g milk chocolate

i'm suggesting you turn to burekaboy for the original recipe (because i think i went a little coo-coo on the recipe) and i'll present my little photo lovestory over here:

store the coconut/lime/chocolate-bits in an airtight container in the fridge.
... or better yet: store them in your belly!


and i have to admit: they taste exactly like my favorite chocolate bar!

maybe austrian potatos are different, but i had to use more sugar and much less dried coconut shreds. i also was very surprised that the potato turned all liquid once i added the sugar (apparently because of the potato's starch). they also did not have any peppermint extract at my local supermarket, so i added twice as much lemon zest (if i could marry lemon zest, i probably would! yumm-mmmiiieeee!!). maybe i screwed up the recipe after all, i am always shilly-shally about converting between metric and imperial system. i hate that and its really stupid since i actually am a total tech girl ... but burekaboy suggested a useful tool for all my future cooking conversions!

i absolutely love those little mini bars taken from the delicious peppermint & lime coconut fudge. that recipe is definitely a keeper! i might gain a few kilos if i keep making this candy and all my teeth will fall out eventually - but believe me, it's totally worth it!

and with this last post of 2006 i want to thank you all for stopping by from time to time!

it has been a great year for me and i have made a couple of great friends with my little foodblog! i hope you had a good year too and 2007 is getting even better!

i wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy 2007!

everything, everything, everything

there was an interesting challenge over at becks and posh somewhen in november: the "every single thing i ate and drank last week" - task. i was not up to join in the fun back then. i hesitated because i was afraid it might bring out my darkest cravings for the whole world to see ... too revealing, much too revealing! i was not at all prepared to let that happen!

but i made up my mind. i thought i could just stop being a coward and make one (and ony ONE) new years resolution for this very first week of 2007: take pictures of everything you eat and drink, gerda. but seriousely. no matter if i dig into a box of cereals in the afternoon or if i put a big chunk of chocolate into my mouth right before going to bed ... i will share it all with you. no cheating, i promise.

so ... are you even interested?

well, at least it will be a therapeutical new years resolution for yours truly.
watch out my friends, it's gonna be interesting!
and it'll probably look something like my dishes-photoset on flickr:


you could help me revive the becks and posh challenge if you also missed it two months ago! or you could just check out my adventures in eating and drinking over the next week ...

happy christmas!

"it's christmas! and unless you get your sorry ass in gear another holiday is gonna pass and all you'll have to show is your name urinated in snow!"

"but i like urinating my name in snow! almost as much as i like touching myself!"

hello friends!

i wish it was snowing in austria (not that i'd be able to pee my name in the snow ...), but staying with my folks for the past days definitely got me into the right mood. i'll only be taking a tiny holiday blogging break and i'll be back in a few days. now let me wish you

happy holiday to you and your loved ones!
enjoy lots of good food!
(and blog about it, please *g*)

risotto with leek, broccoli and feta

i have another fine dish for you that will soothe your tummy and tastes totally yummie! yes my friends, i am ryming. because i am finally over the stomache-ache. i am on my feet again.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, chopped
125 g rice
125 g broccoli
50 g feta
600 ml vegetable broth
salt
pepper

1. cook broccoli for 10 minutes and make sure it's not overcooked. it will later be added to the risotto and has some more time to cook
2. heat olive oil in a pot (or saucepan) over medium heat
3. stir in leek and cook until it is just begining to turn color
4. pour in the rice and stir until the rice is coatet in oil. stir for 2 to 3 minutes
5. stir in one third of the vegetable broth and continue stirring until incorporated.
6. repeat this process untill all the liquid is absorbed (should take about 20 minutes)
7. when you pour in the last broth add the broccoli as well
8. once the rice is toroughly cooked add the feta and stir until it has melted
9. season to taste and serve

lets smoke out the malady ...

... with the scent of oranges, shall we?

several fairly large oranges have piled up over the last weeks due to my loss of appetite. actually, i did not use the content of my farm box at all. sure, i could have cancelled the delivery for a while, but i gave my veggies to my mother instead. she ran some errands in linz past week and she happily took all the organic food off my hands (minus apples and oranges).

when i bookmarked this recipe for orangettes over at smitten kitchen a while ago (i am totally smitten by that blog, btw) i figured i'd make those someday along the way ...

well, along the way is today! i am using up the whole batch of these organic oranges and i'll make orangettes and orange marmalade. the orangettes will definitely go into my adventcookie collection for future reference. honestly - i suppose i just will make this candy all year long whenever i peel oranges ...

this first batch probably gets zero points for their messy appearance - i think i have to work on my presentation next time. i did not find a decent way to cover them propperly in all that chocolate! i'm not too experienced with candy making and so i was virtually stuck in chocolate up to my elbows when i was finally done covering the slices ... (stuck in chocolate?! is there really anything wrong with that?)

however, they taste marvellous despite this messy overall impression.

orangettes (original recipe at the food network)

4 large oranges
8 ounces water
8 ounces sugar
16 ounces dark chocolate
16 ounces bitter cocoa powder

1. Slice the ends off of the oranges, score the peel from one end to the other, and remove the peels off the oranges.
   
   
   
2. Slice the peels into thin strips and trim the edges.
   
   
3. Using a medium size pot, place the peels in boiling water and blanch them for a few minutes. Rinse the peels, and repeat this process a second time. This is done to remove the bitterness of the peels.
   
   
4. Prepare the simple syrup by combining the water and sugar in a sauce pot. Bring the syrup to a simmer, place the peels in the pot, and simmer for 1 hour. Once the peels have cooked, remove them from the pot, and place on a rack to cool and drain.
   
   
   
5. Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler. Dip the candied orange peels in the chocolate, remove them quickly, and roll them in the cocoa powder. Store the orange peels in an airtight container.

make sure to watch the pot while you cook the peels in the syrup! okay, a watched pot never boils, but you will quickly notice that if you set the temperature too high the water may boil off quickly and your slices will start to burn! if there's too little water in the pot just add some more and reduce heat!









the oranges themselves where quickly transformed into orange marmalade:


sugar high friday # 26

technorati tags: sugar high friday

a heavenly combination: apple / cinnamon / semolina

my sick stomache is slowly recovering and i want to thank you all for your kind words! right now i am having my first coffee in over a week (and i am usually a total coffee person). i am taking little sips of heaven! coffee is divine!

regarding all your tips about a stomache-friendly dish i decided to go with a sweet one (lacking a soup hen) for a start. so i am preparing a big pot of a sweet porridge-style semolina dessert. i am making it not too sweet though. i still need to give my belly a break and i don't want to kickstart my digestion - baby steps, everyone! because i learned from experience that bowel cramps are no piece of cake!

mmmmh ..... cake! but no, silly me! let me get back to my semolina-dish instead!

as a child i was not a big fan of semolina, although it is a big part of bavarian and bohemian (hence mühlviertler) cuisine. whenever we would have a main dish made of semolina little gerda would go on strike! like a little suppenkaspar i'd yell "i hate semolina! i HATE semolina" ... and i would run straight to my room and pout all day long. or at least until supper.

do you know the suppenkaspar? it is a story in the (very cruel!) german children's book struwwelpeter. oh yes, i hated that book too! die geschichte vom suppen-kaspar (the story of augustus who did not have any soup) begins as kaspar, a healthy, strong boy, proclaims that he will no longer eat his soup. over the next five days he wastes away and dies. VERY questionable stories for little children, if you ask me ...

again, i am drifting off! now let me really get back to my semolina-dish! it is easy, quick, and it tastes really good. and above all it totally soothes my stomach.

30 g semolina
300 ml milk
50 g yoghurt
1 apple
cinnamon
sugar

1. core, peel and dice an apple and cook in a little water until tender. add cinnamon and mash the pieces up when they're done
   
   


2. in a small saucepan, stir together milk and sugar (as much as you may like, i took one teapoon) and bring to a boil 


3. immediately remove from the heat 


4. stir in semolina and return to the stove


5. bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until thickened
   
   


6. remove from heat again and stir in the yoghurt
   
   
   


7. pour in a bowl and top with the apple sauce

(serves one person)

the yoghurt adds a fresh touch to the dish, but you can skip the yoghurt altogether if you like.

semolina - friend or foe? i can see why i changed my mind- semolina is just too delish!

this is really sick

actually i am sick. please feel free to look up the term gastroenteritis in wikipedia. i don't want to chase you away, after all this is a blog about ingestion and not the opposite. all i'm going to tell you is that i virtually spent the last 5 days in the bathroom. i totally lost my appetite.

i haven't been seriousely sick in a few years and honestly - i hate it! i missed some important classes at university and i could not go to work either - but the worst thing probably is that i am bored out of my mind by now.

today i slowly crawled out of bed again and i instantly started to think about cooking - despite the fact that my stomach has been numbed by pain in the previous days. i am suddenly craving dairy products although i usually don't like milk at all (and i have trouble digesting it). so what should i do now? i have no idea how to cook for my sick self :) my mama would always have camomile tea and rusk (zwieback) at home for emergencies like this. but me? nope, nada.

it returned to my mind that there was a chapter in "my first cookbook" and that we learned about cooking for sick people in home economics when i was ten. obviously i did not pay enough attention back then because i still had my mother to take care of my misery.

now i need to cook something to get me going again. i passed grocery shopping with flying color (without fainting), eating something and keeping the morsels down should be doable!


do you have any secret recipes for a sick stomach? maybe chicken soup for the belly?

just a quick reminder: 2006 food blog awards

you can nominate your favorite foodblog by leaving a comment in the desired category. and though i want to nominate myself (only a little bit) i probably won't do that. there are simply too many brilliant food blogs out there i enjoy every day.

they really deserve that award. because all of them raised the bar pretty high to what a gread foodblog is. and my humble little foodblog here is only striving for getting anywhere close to the brilliancy and wittiness of my foodblog heroes.

now go and nominate your favorites!

let the pleasant anticipation begin: vanilla crescent christmas cookies

i jumped out of bed like a little child today! it's nikolaustag!

the tradition of saint nicholas is a big thing here in austria. it goes back to nikolaus von myra as you probably know and when i was a child this was one of my favorite festivities in the church year. i did not have a very religious upbringing and i rarely go to church today, i practically only attend weddings, funerals or christenings in my close family and circle of friends. i am not very fond of the fact that advent season starts around mid-november these days and that everything seems to become more and more kitschy and sponsored by coca cola ... but i still love love loooove to celebrate the festivities i couldn't wait for as a child.

us kids would always find little "nikolaussackerl" on the breakfast table decorated with a tiny little rod reminding us that we did not always behave well during the year. the "sackerl" contained little presents, nuts, tangerines, apples, oranges, candy and a little saint nikolaus made of chocolate. while we where still very small children a person dressed up as st. nikolaus acompanied by the evil krampus would knock on our door in the evening, inquire about our behaviour and bring the presents himself. while i just adored the bishop with his flowing beard, miter and staff, i was always very afraid of the krampus, the evil helper that would discipline bad children with his rod and take them away ... of course we never were beaten up by this guy, but if you ask me threatening children to hit them if the are naughty is a very questionable educatinal method!

my mama still made us little presents on nikolaus day as we became teenagers and young adults and so i am still really into this children's holiday ... mama spoiled us for life!

as i am living alone and further away from my family now i need to treat myself to a little st. nikolaus celebration. that day usually marks the start of advent season for me. i throw in a little "last christmas" (kitsch, you say?!) and get in the mood.

and i start baking.

my late grandmother was famous for her vanillekipferl (vanilla crescent chrismas cookies or vanilla cornets in english) and although i can not look back on 60 years of baking experience (yet) i try my best today and make these cookies just like she used to make them. let me share the recipe:

300 g flour
50 g sugar
1 pack of vanilla sugar
200 g soft butter
100 g ground hazelnuts
5 tbsp lukewarm milk
2 packs of vanilla sugar mixed with confectioners' sugar

1. in a bowl, knead all ingredients until you get a dough of firm texture. be careful, the more you knead the more the butter in the mixture will soften. so work rather fast. start by creaming together butter and sugar and add the flour and the other ingredients after that
2. let the dough rest (you can put it in the fridge) for half an hour. cover with wax paper
3. preheat oven to 180 °c
4. pinch off walnut sized pieces of the dough and place them on a cutting board
5. 
   roll each one into a strip and shape them by pulling the strips into a semi-circle
6. arrange the crescents on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes
7. coming straight out of the oven (still hot!) either dust them with a mixture of confectioners' sugar and vanilla sugar or simply pull every single crescent through the sugar mixture in a flat dish or a little bowl
   

they turned out pretty fine although it took a while until i figured out the best way to roll those little strips into crescents. the second batch was by far less crooked than the first one! i wonder what my grandmother would say if she was still alive - i bet she would secretly think "mine are better" but i am also sure that she would be really glad that her former tomboy granddaughter is finally transforming into a domestic maniac cherishing and treasuring her legacy.

where did all the broken crescents go, you ask?

well ... straight into my mouth, baby!

chicken curry with steamed fennel on the side

i have been invited to join the masala mambo group on flickr - is there a better excuse to cook something india-inspired? i haven't cooked with indian spices in a while so i am really looking forward to this dish. i'm gonna have myself a little chicken curry with steamed fennel on the side. i have to admit that my sister is much more creative when it comes to indian cooking. she just loves indian food and owns about twice as many indian spices than i do. she also likes to experiment with almonds and grapes in her curries ... since i have neither of her secret ingredients at home, i am going to stick to the only remotely creative verison of a curry i am able to cook ... because i just love the taste of coconut milk! this curry is also quite hot due to the (massive!) amount of ground pepper in it. if you don't like it that hot i suggest you don't put any pepper in it and just season to taste with pepper at the end. i like all my dishes very mild and i rarely use black pepper at all, but every once in a while i can handle a spicy dish. the steamed fennel goes particularly well with that curry, it seems to soften all the spices.

1 diced onion
15 g fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon curcuma
1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
350 g chicken breast, diced
250 ml coconut milk
100 ml cream

1. in a pot, heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil and gently fry diced onion and minced ginger.
2. add curry powder, curcuma, coriander and black pepper and increase heat.
3. stir for a little while and then add the diced chicken breast.
4. roast for another 10 minutes or so
5. finally add coconut milk, cream (i used rama creme fin) and bay leaf, cover and let simmer on low heat for at least 20 minutes.
6. season to taste - works well with steamed veggies or rice as a side dish.

i met my old friend christa the other day. i haven't spoken to her in like 10 years and i was really happy to see her. she is married now and her husband is from india - maybe if we revive this old friendship i can learn from her (or the husband) how to cook a propper indian meal *g*

anyway, i need to look for my bend it like beckham-dvd now.
whenever i cook indian food this movie pops into my head!

and of course i start to reminisce about my time in london (are you getting sick of my nostalgia and my stories of london?). i took a language class at ealing tertiary college and i quickly became a fan of the southasian lifestyle that was omnipresent in and around ealing. my favorite foodrelated locations in london are wembley and ealing ... i am still very fond of the colourfull things and flavours and i can't get enough of the local cornershops there.

man, i can not wait another 10 years before visitin london again. though i lived there 10 years ago i did not feel like a tourist at all on my trip this spring. certainly, very much has changed, but i guess i lost my heart for good ...

mamas zwiebelkuchen (mama's onion tart)

i have rarely seen my mama cook anything according to a recipe and when i asked her about helping me with the zwiebel (onion) task for todays foodblog event she again improvised herself away.


man, i almost had to write in shorthand! mama was so quick throwing this thing together although she has not made anything like this before, can you believe that?! she suggested to make a "zwiebelkuchen" with some sort of a pizza crust and a quiche filling. gosh, that lady can improvise! apparently mama knows what the final dish will taste like just by combining the ingredients in her mind!

i was incredibly busy with taking pictures and keeping up with "a pinch of this and a pinch of that" - the only thing i could offer to help with was doing the dishes afterwards ... and eating the onion tart (pie?), of course! so with this post you'll get the german version of the recipe and a photo(love)story as well.

für den teig:
250 g weizenmehl in eine schüssel sieben, mit 1 päckchen hefe, salz, 50 ml öl und 125 ml lauwarme milch hinzufügen, alles miteinander vermengen und etwa 5 minuten zu einem teig verarbeiten. den teig an einem warmen ort so lange stehen lassen, bis er etwa doppelt so hoch ist, ihn dann nochmal durchkneten und auf dem mit butter oder margarine gefetteten boden einer springform (kasserolle) ausrollen und die form bis zum rand mit dem teig auslegen.

für den belag:
500 g zwiebeln abziehen, würfeln. 1-2 eßlöffel butter oder margarine zerlassen, die zwiebelwürfel darin glasig dünsten lassen. 1 eßlöffel weizenmehl mit 3 eiern, 2 bechern saurer sahne (etwa 300 g), kümmel und salz verrühren, mit den zwiebeln vermengen, die masse gleichmässig auf dem teig verteilen. 50 g durchwachsenen speck in würfeln schneiden, über die zwiebelmasse streuen, den teig nochmals an einem warmen ort für 15-20 minuten aufgehen lassen, die form erst dann auf den rost des vorgeheizten backofens schieben und auf 200 °C für ca 30 minuten backen.

and now the english version

for the pastry:
sift 250 g flour flour in a bowl and add a small pack of instant yeast, a pinch of salt, 50 ml oil and 125 ml lukewarm milk. make a firm dough and knead for about 5 minutes. let the dough rest in a warm place until it has doubled in size. knead again and roll out to fit either a casserole or a pie plate. make sure to trim pastry even with the edge of the casserole or pie plate.

for the filling:
clean and dic 500 g onions. melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter or margarine and fry the diced onions. in a bowl mix 1 tablespoon of flour with 3 eggs and 300 g sour creme, caraway seeds and salt and finally add the mixture to the fried onions. again stir well and spread the mixture evenly on the pastry in the casserole or pie plate. dice 50 g streaky bacon and sprinkle on top of the mixture. let the pastry with the filling on top rise again for another 15 to 20 minutes in a warm place then put in the oven and bake für about 30 minutes on 200-250 °C.

i really hope i got everything right. this woman is a very fast cook! and the onion tart was gone in the blink of an eye too! my grandpa, my aunt and my cousin and his wife (as well as their children) all wanted to have a taste. do i have to mention that i am really honored to be the daughter of the best cook in the family? she truly took over the wheel from my late grandmother. you can send fanmail to herta@haunschmid.biz ;)

technorati tags: zwiebeltag, onion day

the kitchen thing

okay, this will be a post not really related to food.

the other day, vasilisa from where is my dinner mentioned the ikea restaurant ... i am a huge fan of the food there, actually! since i sold my car i don't have the opportunity to go to my local ikea as often as i wish i could, but my mama, my sister and me have scheduled an ikea-date for next monday. i am so looking forward to this!

and who would have thought! i even have quite some money to spend this time! i am currently finishing my bachelor's degree in art and apparently i am a pretty good - i was granted a merit university scholarship (something like a merit bonus). now i can finally buy an essential piece of furniture: a BED! ever since i moved out of my shared flat two years ago i have slept on a mattress on my bedroom floor. and i did not even mind. i am more the student-type (despite i am 31 now) and i live a pretty low key life. i don't need a posh space to live, chrome faucets or mahogany sideboards - just any cosy old building will do.

one big disadvantage of my building are the crooked walls with no single right angle in my entire appartement. that will definitely drive you crazy if you want to hang shelves or if you want to mount wall storage in the kitchen. thank good i am totally into crafts, i sometimes have to be very creative if i have to come up with some emergency "this does not stick to the wall" - plan.

i really love my flat. you can't even tell that i have to live on a budget and that most of the furniture is rather cheap. it is really charming.

i'd love to be able to afford a new kitchen though. i have very little storage space and virtually no work space, this can be a bit of a hassle sometimes. the room layout itself is also a bit weird, since this large room contains kitchen, dining space, workspace and living room. i always gaze at the lovely displays at ikea (especially the "one room solutions") where they seem to be able to combine all the living space you need in a fassionable and affordable way. this is like furniture porn (or even more kitchen porn, since i loooooove to check out the kitchen departement at ikea)!

right now they have a contest at my ikea where you can win your dream kitchen.
of course i did enter the contest!
the only thing i had to do was design my dream kitchen with their kitchen planner:


i can soooooo see myself cook in my dream kitchen! now i either win or i somehow need to earn
€ 2.899,28 to actually buy the kitchen i'd really like to own ... okay, that won't happen. so i just have to win it.

cooking with the queen bee

since i will spend the next few days at my parent's house i am planning to bring in the woman who taught me how to cook and let me dearrange her kitchen like a thousand times: my mama! but she has no clue yet. so please don't tell on me! i plan on having her as a guest-chef or even a guest blogger! her english is really okay but she is a little shy to actually use it. well, we can work on the post together, don't you think?

she agreed to join me in some organic food-shopping on our local market next saturday (finally i got her interested in a more healthy way of living!) and she is always very keen on hearing what i cooked and posted on my blog. she'd love to have one herself but the only thing she can do on a computer is play solitaire.

she'll be so surprised when we kids give the parents a laptop and "the internet" for christmas!!

then she can finally read the food blogs i slobber over all the time!
she's already a little jealous about all my access to wonderful recipes and websites!

i tell you, she'll never play solitaire again!

i have to see (make, taste) for myself!

there is a hype going on in the foodblog world right now about this super-easy no-knead bread.

i think many other foodbloggers where shaking their heads in disbelief like i did, but by now i saw so many posts regarding the gorgeous results of this no-effort-recipe and i am convinced: i have to try this now. i have to pass the torch!

according to jim lahey of the sullivan street bakery in new york you only need water, flour, instant yeast, salt - and no tricks!

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon of instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 cups of water

... are the exact measurements. i always have that in my kitchen cupboard, so lets get to work. actually, i will let the yeast do the work over night. it should take me only a few seconds to throw the ingredients together.

check out the video of mark bittman (nyt) right here. and stay tuned. i will post the results in about 20 hours. maybe i will be one of the many people fascinated by the simplicity of the recipe and the lovely result.


all i have to do now is figure out how many °Celsius 515 °Fahrenheit are ... i can hardly wait until i come home from work tomorrow and finally bake this baby ... and join the hype of the blogosphere.

technorati tags: no-knead bread, bread

update:

this recipe seems to be really foolproof. when i came home from work today the dough had rested for about 20 hours and doubled its size. i was pretty impressed! yes i know, yeast does that to flour and water :) the smell of the dough when i lifted the cloth was a bit weird. it reminded me a lot of beer, actually. i was afraid that the bread might end up tasting like this too ... but it didn't.

one challenge i had to face was the baking itself. since my oven is not working propperly i had to stick the bread into my mini grill/oven-type of thing (which actually is half broken too ...). and since the capacity of this thing is very very limited i could not use a pot and a lid.


i placed the dough in my casserole and tinkered an aluminium foil "hat / lid / cover". that is very lame, i know. but look how perfect the bread came out after one hour on 235 °C (again, this damn mini grill /oven is not able to produce more heat)


perfect, don't you think?

it certainly tasted wonderful, a lot like ciabatta. and despite i am a big big fan of dark bread i really like this one and i will definitely make my own white bread from now on.

let me sum this up: you need flour, instant yeast, salt and water and it does not even seem to matter if you don't stick to the instructions religiously.

instead of a pot and a lid i used my casserole and some aluminium foil.
instead of 268 °C i baked it on 235 °C.

don't be scared to improvise!
be creative!
how much easier can it get?

... now let me get back to my light evening meal with my lovely bread ...