Shakshuka or Brunch people are coming over in an hour...

My.... It's been this long, has it?

Well, hello again my virtual culinary notebook.....

Shakshuka is at the same time a very simple dish to make and very much a crowd pleaser with wow-effect. Silky soft eggs cooked in a spiced or even hot tomato sauce with fresh herbs strewn over before serving... What's not to like?
I've made this very adaptable recipe ever since I saw Yotam Ottolenghi do it on one of his television shows. I think you can still find it on youtube...
All you need to be mindful of is that the tomato sauce needs to be bulky enough to support the eggs as they are being poached. Add whatever you like in the way of spices and herbs.
I love cumin and fresh coriander best but you can really be creative here...

Quantities are generous for two and might even feed three.
Here is the recipe:
Olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
a medium onion, finely sliced
chili flakes, to taste
0,5-1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 big handfuls of cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
or
A can of pelati
5 eggs

Fresh herbs and bread (upgrade: garlic bread!) to serve.

Add a little oil and the garlic to a frying pan and heat to medium high. Add you onions and fry them gently, stirring often. When they go soft and start to caramelise add you chili and cumin to fry. If your tomatoes are not up to par you can add some tomato paste at this point. When the spices (and paste) have cooked through add your chopped tomatoes. Add a little water and let the sauce cook down and reduce. Up to this point you can prepare the dish well ahead of time.
When it's gotten to the consistency you want (and you want it slightly on the bulky side) season to taste with salt and pepper. Then you can make little wells and crack in the eggs. Lower the heat and put on the lid until the eggs are cooked to you liking.

Sprinkle with your torn fresh herbs (and maybe some fresh sliced chili) and bring the pan to the table to serve.

*photo by irishinswiss

Pulled pork

Hello everyone!
It seems I must once again apologize for an unplanned hiatus here... But I have a really good i'm-sorry-let-me-make-it-up-to-you treat.
This recipe has been asked for a lot and I am so happy to be posting it.

I had one of those annoying round birthdays this year and was very pleased that about 20 people actually wanted to celebrate with me. This left me a bit in the lurch as to how to feed them all. If it would have been a smaller group I would have headed straight for fish tacos. But I didn't see myself flipping filets for twenty hungry eaters. So I tried out something new and I have to say the results were more than pleasing... It is an easy dish you can prepare ahead and when it comes to serving your guests can do some diy.

If you are planning to prepare this in Switzerland make sure you talk to your butcher beforehand about getting pork shoulder. It's not a very standard cut. My butcher actually gave this dish the nickname of American Döner, which isn't too far off the mark. ;-)

I based my recipe for the meat off this one.
For the meat:
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
some olive oil
1 pork shoulder, deboned (ca. 1 kg)
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp cayenne pepper or chili to taste
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp tomato paste
ca. 500 ml beer
ca. 500 ml water

1. Preheat your oven to 160°. In a large pot with a fitting lid heat some olive oil and fry off your veggies. In the meantime mix your spices and coat your pork on all sides. You could brown your meat after this step. I couldn't and it turned out fine.
2.Place your pork on top of the sauteed veggies, add the tomato paste and fill the pot with half water and half beer until the liquid comes up to 3/4 of the meat. Let it come to the boil and cover with the lid. Place it into the hot oven for about three hours turning the meat over halfway through.
3. Take it out and let it cool slightly. Lift the meat out of the sauce (you can reduce it slightly if you feel like it). Shred it into pieces with two forks. Place it onto your serving dish and pour over some of the sauce.

To serve:
Soft rolls
Julienned carrots
Finely sliced cabbage
Fresh herbs (go with coriander or mint)
Sour cream that has been heavily seasoned.
Sliced tomatoes
Onions
Basically whatever you feel like...

Everyone can make their own sandwich. We had it with different salads and it was a great meal. Sorry to say that this was the only photo I have....

Do give it a try.

Post-edit:
I like adding garlic in with the onion and carrots. Just a about two chopped cloves.

Pan fried cod with sauce vierge

This dish is very easy to make and absolutely delicious. I wanted to make the best of the tomatoes and basil from the balcony while they last and this recipe really brings out their flavors. You could combine this sauce with other fish or even make it slightly thicker and use it over pasta or bruschette as an appetizer. Don't try it without really good tomatoes though... I omitted the peeling and de-seeding as I had laborously grown these gems from seed...

Ingredients:
ca. 1 dl good olive oil
a large handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped
a small handful of pitted olives, chopped (you could use capers or even some anchovies instead)
Three sprigs of basil, leaves roughly chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper

One piece of cod

 

1. In a small pan warm up your olive oil over medium low heat. The trick with this sauce is that it should under no circumstances be boiling/cooking. When the oil is warm add in the tomatoes and lower the heat if necessary. You want to warm it up as close to boiling as possible without getting there, if that makes any sense. After a few minutes, add the chopped olives.
2. Heat up a frying pan to medium high, season your fish with salt and pepper and fry it in oil of your choice. Depending on the thickness, turn after two to three minutes. It is done when it starts to flake under pressure.
3. Check and adjust the temperature of the sauce vierge if necessary. Add the lemon juice and seasonings to taste. Add the basil about two minutes before serving. This way it will keep it's color and some of the fresh taste. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve.

Pea, Edamame, Spinach and Feta Salad

This is a variation of a standard pea salad that I make quite often. Recipe found here  Just scroll to the bottom.

I have recently found that the local asian supermarket sells shelled edamame ready for cooking. I added a handful of those to the peas and mixed fresh young spinach with the dressed feta before burying them with the drained peas and beans. It wilted very nicely.

This is a fun quick lunch to make and so simple!

Summer drinks

Even though summer has been treating us in central Europe really badly so far, I am always trying my best to drink enough fluids during the day. I have on occasion reffered to myself as a camel because of my general lack of thirst....
All joking aside I struggle with drinking enough water. So these tasty alternatives will really help when the next heat wave will hit. I am still hoping.
Regarding gadgets I have really come to love the little countertop smoothie maker my sister gave me a couple of years ago! But you can use a regular blender instead. (In case of the lemonades you can even use a stick blender.)
These quantities are all guestimates for one ca. 3 dl glass. Multiply and make pitchers if you are more than two!!! Chic straws optional.

Iced coffee
One espresso or alternatively instant coffee
Sugar sirup or sweetener to taste
Ice
Water
Milk
Mix the coffee while still hot with the sugar/sweetener to dissolve. Add lots of ice to a tall glass and pour it over to cool down. Then add milk and water to taste. I usually go for a half and half mixture to keep the drink on the refreshing side.

Mint or strawberry lemonade
Juice of a lime or half a lemon
Sugar sirup or sweetener to taste
One sprig of fresh mint/two to three hulled strayberries
Water (try sparkling)
Ice
Add the sweetener to the citrus juice to dissolve. Add the mint or strawberries then blend as finely as possible. You might have to add a splash of water depending on the gadget. Pour over ice and fill up with cold still or sparking water.

Watermelon smoothie
Watermelon, cut into chunks
Ice
One squeeze of lime juice
Some water, if you would like the consistency more fluid
Fill your glass half with watermelon chunks and then ice. Squeeze over a bit of lime juice and add water if you would like it to be more like lemonade instead of a smoothie. Blend until smooth. Drink with a stray.

 

**Please excuse the lack of watermelon smoothie pic. It seems to have gone missing. Just imagine a very un-tanned strawberry lemonade above. :-) 

Post edit

I forgot the most classic option: Iced Tea! When I grew up the summer months always meant a huge jug of this in the fridge. Since I don't have the fridge space for it I compromise by making this concentrate in a 0.5 l measuring jug.  Just add two or three black tea bags, ca. two heaped tablespoons of sugar or sweetener to taste and top with boiling water. When it has cooled remove the tea bags and add the juice of one lemon. Fill a glass with ice, half iced tea concentrate and half cold water. That's it. So much better than the bought stuff...

Warm aubergine and tomato salad with feta

This might just be my new favorite light summer dinner. I got the idea when a friend had this dish in a museum cafe recently after we had been to an exhibition.
Added bonus: It's dead simple to make.

Ingredients for two:
Two or three sprigs of thyme
One midsized aubergine, roughly diced
One clove of garlic, finely chopped
Four plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
A small glass of white wine of stock
Ca. 50 gr. of feta, sliced
Fresh basil, to taste
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Start by heating your olive oil in a deep frying pan. Add the thyme so you will know when it's hot enough. When the herbs start to sizzle you can add the eggplant with a large pinch of salt*. Fry the eggplant over medium to high heat and turn every couple of minutes until the vegetable is cooked through. This will take around ten minutes.
2. Add the garlic and turn up the heat. As soon as the garlic is fragrant (and before it burns) add your chopped tomatoes, give it a quick stir then add the wine and another pinch of salt*. Let it come to the boil, reduce the heat to medium and let it simmer with a lid for 5-10 minutes.
3. Check so see if you still need to let some liquid evaporate, check the seasoning of a final time. Then arrange it on a platter or in y bowl, top with the feta and basil (torn or roughly chopped at the last minute) and serve with some nice dark bread.

This dish is wonderful the next day. Reheat it in a microwave or eat cold, what ever you prefer.
*Seasoning a dish like this in stages will make it more subtle than just throwing in a lot of salt at the end. Just remember that you can always add more and err on the light side....

Spring chicken noodle soup with lemon, asparagus and parsley

This recipe is based on this one by one of my favorite cook book authors Nigel Slater. It is an ideal template recipe to play around with as it is simple, adjustable and the results will be delicious.

I used about 6 chicken wings for roughly 1 liter of water. One adjustment I would recommend is only using one half of a lemon.

Brown your wings on both sides in a little fat over medium to high heat (the darker they go, the more flavour and colour your soup will have), then the cut side of the lemon half. Add your water, let it come to the boil and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.
Now you can play around with it and adapt it to your taste... I lifted out the wings and put them to one side. Squeeze the juice and discard what is left of the lemon. Try to sieve out the pips as they are really unpleasant if you happen to bite in one. Season the bouillon to taste. It will need a lot of salt.

Regarding the meat you have the whole range of possibilities: return them to the soup whole, debone them and give them a rough chop or painstakingly remove every bit of skin and sinew and finely chop the meat before returning. It's all up to you (and maybe your guests') preference.

Think about what kind of vegetable(s) you would like to add and how long they will have to cook for. I went with asparagus (still had a few spears in the fridge), which I cut into 1 cm chunks at an angle. Add the pasta you like (I go for orzo quite often). Then add the vegetables according to how much time is left on the pasta timer. (This sounds so complicated. But I am sure you know what I mean. :-) )
At the very end sprinkle on a few chopped sprigs of your fresh herb of choice, such as the first shoots of flat leaved parsley, season for the last time and serve.

The perfect dinner for a cold spring evening!