Pork chops in orange and mustard sauce

Where to begin... I am so sorry for not posting during the whole of march (!). Can state that I was recuperating from a medical procedure for half of the month and we will forget about my blog lapsus? Thanks.
This recipe is another one that came about through hunger and invention. I was going for Nigella's mustard pork chops. To my great disappointment I had to discover that my local grocery store does not stock any cider... Since I had a schriveled orange lounging in my kitchen I decided to use that. The result was actually quite pleasing. Although the dish certainly moved from Normandy into the more Asian influenced territory, as I used some shaoshing rice wine too. The sweetness of the orange juice goes really nicely with the pork.

Ingredients:
Two pork chops
Oil, to fry
One orange, juiced
A small glass of rice or white wine
One teaspoon of grain mustard
Cream, to taste, if desired

1. Preheat your frying pan and season the pork chops with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot add your oil and the chops. Fry until done (two-three minutes on both sides, depending on the thickness). When they are done, cover and set aside.
2. Put your pan back on the heat and use the orange juice to de-glaze. Add the wine and cook off the alcohol. Stir in your mustard. Season to taste, adjust the consistency if needed and add the cream if you are using any. Also check if there are any meat juices from the chops. Add those to your sauce too.
I had mine with some (prefab) gniocchi.

Simple fish with a warm red cabbage and orange salad

This dinner is very quick to make, light and delicious.
And the salad gives a gorgeous burst of flavor even though summer has gone...

For the salad (this made two servings):
1 very small red cabbage (about the 15 cm in diameter), quarter, discard the stalk and finely slice
1 orange, (fileted and ) chopped
Olive oil
vinegar or lemon juice
salt
pepper

1. Heat your frying pan over medium to high heat. Add a splash of olive oil.
Stir fry the sliced cabbage only a couple of minutes until it begins to wilt. You still want it to be slightly crunchy in the finished dish.
2. Add the orange and all the juice you can press out of the discards. Let it warm through.
3. Pull off of the heat and season to taste. Arrange on your serving plate. (Wipe the pan clean if you want to fry your fish next.)

For the fish (1 serving):
1 filet of lemon sole (or fish of choice)
Olive oil to fry
Salt
Pepper

1. Heat your clean pan over medium to high heat. Add the oil.
2. Season the fish on one side with salt and pepper. Put it into the hot pan and season the other side.
3. Let it fry for at least two minutes without disturbing it in any way. Turn it over and let it fry for another two minutes. Transfer it to your plate without making a scramble of it (like I did). Don't worry though, it will taste good no matter how it looks. Drizzle with a little bit of lemon juice...

Fresh Winter Salad

Hello everyone!

Please excuse my prolonged absence! A challenging new job and an apartment hunt in a city that is notoriously difficult does take its toll... But things are looking up, so let's get back to business!

This delicious salad I just made is a fusion of the wonderful and unanticipated combination of oranges & raw beets (with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt) and the citrus & green olive salads that seem to be quite the rage these days (check out Mark Bittmans version on the New York Times homepage).

Inspiration struck today (three oranges lying around from making orange vodka like here) and I tried this version:

(ingredients for a light dinner for two)
three oranges
one raw beet (red ones make for a stunning color combination)
a handful of green olives (de-stoned for convenience)
one small red onion
good olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Start by cutting the peel off the oranges and slicing them, about half a centimeter thick. Spread them on a large enough serving platter.
2. Peel and slice the beet as finely as possible. Supposedly a little olive oil on your hands prevents them from taking on too much color...) Spread them over the oranges.
3. Chop your olives roughly. I cut mine lengthwise into slivers. Sprinkle over your oranges and beets.
4. Peel and slice your onion into half moons and spread over the platter.
5. Drizzle over your olive oil and add seasoning to taste.


The combination of the juicy fruit with the crunch, the sharpness and the saltiness is unbelievably good. I know it may be a bit late to try to get people to go for a winter salad, but if you try this one you will be looking for these ingredients long after the first local strawberries are being sold... Don't take my word for it. Try this one out for yourself!

'Tis the season to be jolly...

Christmas is fast approaching. I know it's just the beginning of November, but the decorations are being put up in cities and the tree lighting ceremonies have already begun. (True story. Saw it on the news yesterday.)

I don't know how you guys celebrate the season. In my case it's some intense family time. Being as we are almost globally spread out, we have to make up for the fact that we can't just pop over to see each other during the rest of the year.
We have card games deep into the night. Fortunes are won and lost, as is honor. Good times.
What also become just as much a tradition is drinks before dinner.

A couple of years ago I discovered how easy it is to make your own flavored vodka. (I use vodka because it is relatively neutral in taste, but I guess you could use whatever you prefer.)
Christmas with all the evocative spices and tastes that go with it, is an especially fun time to play around with this. Plus you will have more people to enjoy the finished product with.

The preparation couldn't be simpler. In general you add your flavors to the bottle of booze then wait for three weeks while shaking the bottle a couple of times a week.

The fun part is creating your own blend of flavors. Just remember that the drier your aromatics the better. Spices are brilliant as are citrus peels. The problem with things that contain higher levels of moisture is that will at some point go bad.
Two years ago I made this orange and cranberry vodka that was absolutely beautiful.

(Sorry for the blurry picture.) I cooked a handful of cranberries with sugar before putting them in the liquor. The cranberries add color but the aroma came from the orange peel. At some point the cranberries were off and a weird gray/black color. (Note to self: It might work with roughly chopped dried cranberries...)

This year I am starting early with two flavors: Orange and Cinnamon&Star anise
These two both seem really wintry to me and don't pose a problem where spoilage is concerned.

Add the peel of an organic orange to your vodka of choice. Then wait and shake until the flavor develops. It really couldn't be easier.


Add two to three sticks of cinnamon and a star anise. Same procedure as with the other one. When I made this one last time I noticed after two weeks that the star anise was overpowering everything else, so I had to get it out. For this reason I am tying a thin kitchen twine to it this time, so the fishing part will be a lot easier. Within a few hours you will find the clear liquid beginning to turn a beautiful golden brown color.

This flavor is really nice mixed with hot or cold apple juice.

PS: My favorite non seasonal flavor is vanilla. Just add two or three split vanilla pods. Use this to make a divine mojito!

Taking Tarte Tatin for a ride....

(You know you want to...)

This recipe was inspired by a photo in a swiss cookery magazine that I saw at a friends house last weekend. The picture was good. The recipe was of sugar and damsons or prune plums covered with a complicated-ish batter.

I knew I wanted to try my own version instantaneously.

This is such a simple tarte to make. Give it a try and you will be surprised at how delicious it turns out.

Ingredients:
70 gr. cane sugar
zest of 1/4 orange
a dusting of cinnamon
700 gr. of damsons/prune plums (apparently Fellenberger are the best)
500 gr. of puff pastry

Preheat your oven to 200°C.
Spread your sugar evenly into your pie tin.
Sprinkle the zest and the cinnamon on top. (You really don't want much, just a hint to compliment the taste of the fruit.)
Cut in half and de-stone your fruit then arrange them cut side down into the tin. Try getting as much fruit in there as possible.
Roll out your pastry (it rises better than the pre-rolled kind) and cut a generous "top" for the tin. The pastry will shrink as it rises, so make it a little bigger. Extra tip: After you've cut it, turn it over before placing it onto the fruit. This is also supposed to make it rise better.
Place the pastry onto the tin.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and a deep golden brown color.

Take it out of the oven. Let it cool slightly then overturn it onto a serving platter.
Admire. ;-)

Serving recommendation: Still warm from the oven with a big bowl of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Glorious Orange and White Asparagus Soup

Have you been enjoying the fresh tastes of Spring as much as I have?
Strawberries with sugar... cress and boiled egg sandwiches... Asparagus with Parmigiano and melted butter.
In that case; SAVE YOUR ASPARAGUS WATER!!!!

This along with a couple of leftover spears will give you a delicious meal and one of my favorite soups (of all time, I have to add).

This recipe is made with white asparagus. I think it pairs better with the sweetness of the orange juice and the delicate sharpness of the zest than its green siblings...

It's a rich, velvety soup that packs enough calorific punch to leave one satisfied as a meal on its own. It is unusual in taste as it combines the sweet aroma of the fruit with the savory freshness of the spring vegetable. Give it a try. You won't be disappointed.



ingredients:
(serves two or four, if served as a starter)

2 Tablespoons/30 grams of butter
2 Tablespoons of flour
one Orange, zest and juice separately
one litre/4 cups of asparagus cooking water
a couple of leftover asparagus spears (if on hand)
125 ml/half a cup of whipping cream
one egg yolk

1. Melt the butter over medium heat and toss in the flour. Mix with a whisk. After a minute add the orange zest. Let this mixture fry gently until it turns the slightest bit brown in colour. The smell should change towards nutty.
2. Pour in the asparagus water slowly while whisking the mixture constantly. (If this isn't done well, you will risk ending up with a lumpy soup.) Turn up the eat, whisk every couple of minutes and let it come to a gentle boil. I wouldn't recommend leaving the room as this mixture "likes" to boil over.
3. Let it boil gently for at least five minutes to thicken and get rid of any residual floury taste.
4. If you have the asparagus spears at you disposal you can either cut them into bite size pieces and put them into the soup at this stage to warm up. Or you can blend them with a little bit of the soup and add them to the dish like this.
5. In a separate bowl whip the cream into gentle peaks. Beat in the egg yolk. Beat the orange juice into this mixture slowly.
6. Take your soup off of the heat. Spoon one ladle of hot soup into the cream mixture and whisk well. Repeat two times. Add the whole mixture back into the hot soup and whisk well again. (This step is called proofing and, while slightly cumbersome, will prevent you from having scrambled egg soup.)Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. (If you didn't put salt into the asparagus water, you will have to through in an astounding amount now...)

Serve with good bread.