Vietnamese Pho with Duck (the quick version)

It's been dreadfully cold, wet and gray around here lately. This made me all the more thankful to my friend Anna for teaching me how to do one of my favorite restaurant dishes at home. It's simple, easy and healthy, not to mention it tastes divine! Give it a try and you won't be disappointed. Promise.

Ingredients for two:
1 l beef stock
3 cloves
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 generous tablespoon of fish sauce
ca. 4 cm. fresh ginger, sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and halved
ca. 150 gr. rice noodles
one duck breast (without the skin) or ca. 200 gr. of beef steak
bean sprouts
spring onions
Thai basil or fresh coriander
optional: fresh chilies or hot sauce

1. Let your beef stock and the aromatics (everything up to and including the onion) come to a boil over high heat. Turn it down and let it simmer for ca. 45 minutes.
2. When your stock is done and smelling wonderfully fragrant, prepare your rice noodles according to the packet instructions. When they are done make sure to blanch them under cold water.
3. Wash your bean sprouts, pick your herbs off the stems and chop your spring onions. The duck or beef needs to be cut very thinly (it will only be cooked by the hot broth being poured over it). My duck was frozen, so I just defrosted it for a short while and pulled off the skin. It was very easy to cut afterwards.
4. From this point on it is simply a task of assembly. Layer the cold noodles over the meat and pour over the hot (boiling!) soup. The aromatics, except for the onion, can be discarded. Let every person add their own sprouts, herbs and spring onions. I like adding a bit of chili. Enjoy!

Variations: I am sure this would be delicious with halved prawns or sliced fish too. You could also leave the protein out completely.

Merci Anna!

Scaloppine al limone (Veal escalopes with zingy lemon sauce)

With one or two notable exceptions the last couple of weeks have been very gray in Zurich. I was lucky enough to find some veal escalopes that were marked down at my local grocery store. I often shop for my protein this way because it has the added bonus of making be notice cuts I wouldn't usually go for...

This is such a simple dish to prepare and the result was so delicious. I will be making it again for sure. With a simple salad of rocket it makes a wonderful light meal.

Ingredients for one person:
Veal escalopes (I had four small ones)
2-3 tablespoons of flour
Oil or butter to fry
Half a lemon, juice and zest cut off &chopped with a paring knife
1 small glass of white wine or 1/2 of stock
Ca. 20 grams of cold butter, cut into pieces
A few sprigs of flat leaved parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper

1. Place your flour on a flat dish and season with salt and pepper. Dredge both sides of the escalopes in them making sure to pat off any excess.
2. Preheat a non stick frying pan to medium high heat and add your fat of choice. Fry the escalopes on both sides until just done. This should take 2-3 minutes on both sides and they should be slightly browned. Take out of the pan and keep warm.
3. Put the pan back on the heat, add your juice, chopped zest and the wine or stock and deglaze the pan. Let the alcohol cook off and the sauce reduce for 4-5 minutes. Stir in the butter and adjust the seasoning.
4. Add your parsley at the last minute (if using) and pour over the warm escalopes to serve.

Salmon steak with sweet potato and pea mash

Hi everyone! I am back from my one month on Africa's other end. It was fabulous and hot. But I am ready to get back into the kitchen.
I present to you my dinner yesterday evening. I never used to like cooked salmon. Only when I tried to prepare it myself did I find out that it was because I don't like the texture it gets when it's well done... too rubbery. So I tend to almost undercook it at home. It stays nice and tender that way.

This was a simple meal, rustled up in about a quarter of an hour. It was actually two meals considering I mashed all the leftovers and fried it into a little Rösti to serve with a fried egg on top for lunch...

Ingredients:
one salmon steak (without without skin, according to your preference)
one sweet potato, peeled and thinly sliced
two handful of (frozen) peas
(optional: a little stock)
salt and pepper
lemon juice, to serve

1. Boil your sweet potato in just enough water or stock to cover. This should only take about ten minutes. Add your peas and cover with a lid to let them cook. You can turn the heat off or down to medium while you prepare the fish.
2. Preheat a non stick frying pan on medium to high heat. Season your salmon with salt and pepper and put it into your frying pan. You can add a little oil if you'd like. Fry until you have a golden color. This will take two to three minutes. Flip over carefully and fry on the other side for a further two to three minutes or until done to your liking.
3. Save about half a cup of the liquid you boiled your potatoes and peas in. Pour off the rest. Put the pan back onto your stove for a couple of minutes to dry the vegetables properly. Mash and season. Add some liquid back if needed. Serve with your fish on top and add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Easy as that.


 This is what lunch the next day looked like:

Luxury item: Truffle Oil

I am currently trying not to spend too much money (who isn't, I guess). After another afternoon spent wandering through shops without buying a single thing, I did decide to treat myself to a luxury item on my grocery round. Some truffle oil.

I have only recently acquired a taste for these most infamous of mushrooms and have never actually cooked with this ingredient myself...

The first thing I tried was popcorn with parmesan and truffle oil. A very nice combination but the optics still have to be tinkered with... I will present a recipe as soon as it is worthy.

Other things I can't wait to try:

- Pasta with egg yolk, parmesan and a little truffle oil
- Scrambled eggs with truffle oil
- Risotto al tartufo

I guess anything eggy or creamy is on the list.

One thing I have to gripe about though: This packaging is the worst. Considering the product within is meant to be doled out in very homeopathic doses, you would think the producer would manufacture something to that end. Instead one is confronted with a container that cannot drizzle but only pour and leaves a good bit of the strong smelling contents stuck to the side, however you try not to... Definitely one thing to be mindful of in case you were thinking about investing into something like this.

DIY Chili flakes

This is a fun little project to do when you have a little bit of spare time. The results should last you for a good long while! I did it because my chili plant produces way to much to use and this is a great way of storing this spice. But of course you can also use your favorite store bought chilies.

The wonderful thing about making your own flakes is that you can make them as spicy or mild as you please....

There are two possible routes to choose from.
First option:
You dry the chilies whole first.

I cut off the tops and stem and tried to remove most of the seeds by rolling the chilies between my hands. If you decided to go for milder varieties, this step may not be necessary.

Then you just chop them to your desired consistency in a blender.

Alternatively you could start with fresh chilies. De-seed them if necessary and chop them finely then spreed out on to a baking sheet and dry them in a low oven for a couple of hours. Move them around a couple of times and make sure it is really dried out before you store them. Otherwise they could get mold and all your effort would have been for nothing.

I have already used my chili flakes in this meatball recipe.

They were quietly slipped into my freezer waiting for unannounced guests or an evening when I don't feel like preparing something from scratch...

Post edit: I actually took out some earlier this week and  combined them with a simple tomato sauce and spaghetti. I'm sorry not to add pictures at the moment. Blogger isn't allowing me to upload any.... 

Chicken Wings update: Favorite marinade

Making something good even better....

Julia and I were in a bit of a pinch you see. We were in a new apartment with a kitchen equipped with shall we say, the barest of bones. All joking aside, we didn't have all of the knickknacks my lazy self is used to. But in this case it was definitely a blessing in disguise!

We were really craving some chicken wings, like we had last time see here
This recipe is kind of a simplified improvisation that we in fact like better than the original... Who knew?

This has seriously become my favorite marinade to put on any piece of bone-in chicken. Give it a go!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced/grated/chopped as finely as possible
1 heaped teaspoon of honey
a squeeze of lemon juice or a splash of vinegar
tabasco or chili to taste

Stir all the ingredients together and give it a taste. The sweet, salty, tangy and spicy should balance each other. Adjust quantities accordingly if necessary.
As you can see in the photo below I used it on thighs. I guess you could use it on pretty much any piece you want. I love it with rice and a side of fried and steamed greens if I want to be slightly healthier... 

Stir-fry of beef with broccoli

This is a very basic template that I often use when doing a Chinese inspired stir fry dish. By template I mean that the specific ingredients can be substituted to taste, seasonality and whatever you have on hand. I love using vegetables that keep a bit of crunch (pak choi, chinese kale, etc.). Otherwise you can use whatever you fancy.

Ingredients for two to three people:
ca. 200 gr. good beef, thinly sliced (steak cuts tend to be good for this)
1 tblsp oyster sauce
1 tblsp soy sauce
a generous pinch of sugar or palm sugar
pepper to taste
Groundnut or vegetable oil to fry
two cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
fresh chili to taste, finely chopped
1 head of broccoli, florets split if they are big, stem parts chopped to equal sized pieces
one glass of water on standby
1 small red onion, cut into wedges
a generous splash of Shaoshing rice wine or dry sherry
1/2 tsp of corn or potato starch dissolved in a little bit of cold water

1. Marinade your meat in a mixture of the oyster, soy, sugar and pepper. Leave it for at least 20 minutes.
2. Heat your wok or frying pan on high. Put in a tablespoon or two of oil and add your beef evenly. Let it sit for a minute or two to brown and then turn over. Take out of the pan and set aside.
3. Wipe out your pan if necessary. Heat it back up and add more oil if desired. Add the garlic, ginger and chili and fry until fragrant (Only a minute or so). Add the broccoli and stir fry for two minutes. Add a splash of water and cover the pan to allow the vegetables to steam for about three minutes.
4. Remove the lid and add back in the beef, the onion and the Shaoshing rice wine. After the wine has cooked off you can add more water if needed for the sauce.
5. Add the dissolved starch at the very end and it will only need a couple of moment to thicken the sauce. Check the seasonings and add more soy or pepper if necessary.
Serve with rice or noodles.