Checking in

Take a look at my delicious dinner: forked potatoes with spring onions and a wonderful piece of salmon.

New recipes coming soon. I promise!

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...

Asian Rice

My recipe today is not really photogenic... It's not very spectacular either. But it's a little trick I learned a couple of months ago that takes virtually no time at all and makes such a difference!

I love doing stir fries during the week. They take virtually no time at all and have tons of flavor, even if you only stick with the basics of chili, ginger and garlic with your chosen ingredients. This method of rice preparation has completely won over my taste buds with any kind of Asian inspired main dish... Give it a try and you won't be disappointed!

For two portions of rice (don't worry, it's so easy to multiply...)

ingredients:
one clove of garlic, finely chopped
one cm of fresh ginger, (peeled, if so desired and) finely chopped
a little bit of oil
one cup of long grain rice of choice (I use basmati), rinsed until the water runs clear and drained
one cup of stock (your choice, I like the chicken)

1. Heat the oil in a pan over moderate heat. Add your garlic and ginger. Let them fry for a couple of minutes but make sure that the garlic doesn't turn brown. You don't want the bitter taste.
2. Add your rice and slowly mix the whole thing. Like with the first step of risotto, you want every kernel coated.
3. Add your stock and let it come to the boil. Lower the heat, put a lid on it and let it simmer for ten minutes.
4. Take the lid off, let the remaining fluid evaporate and fluff the rice up with a fork.

Enjoy with your stir fry of choice...

Julia's Chicken Wings

Visits are always a special occasion... Especially if a sister is coming to stay!

When I asked Julia what she felt like having for dinner, she messaged back "chicken wings".
Apparently this was a hint for us just to go to McDonalds.... Next time: Spell it out hon!

I went into chicken wing research overdrive and muddled up this version, which turned out quite tasty indeed.

Ingredients:
Ca. 12 chicken wings
3 tblsp garlic olive oil
1 tblsp maple sirup
1 small lemon, juiced
chili to taste, finely chopped
2 cm piece of fresh ginger, shredded
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt to taste

1. Mix all of the ingredients for the marinade together. Mix in the wings and make sure they are evenly coated. Let them stand for at least 15 minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Prepare a baking sheet or a not too deep baking tray by lining it with aluminum foil (this will make the clean up ever so much easier). Spread out the wings in one layer and roast in the oven for 40 minutes.
3. Take them out of the oven and transfer to a serving platter with tongs (the foil might stick slightly). Enjoy!

Happy 720th CH!

Today is my country's 720th birthday. I remember this day in years gone by, spent outside overlooking the lago di lugano. Eating meats and sausages from the barbeque for dinner and impatiently waiting for the darkness and the fireworks it contained. I can't recall a First of August with rain.

Today's recipe is semi-patriotic. It's two main components are red and white in color. It is a simple dish that can be assembled very quickly... Just in case you still need a side for tonight's celebrations...

Couscous salad with tomatoes and feta cheese

ingredients for two portions

8 cherry tomatoes, cut into eighths
ca. 70 gr. feta, cut to your liking
1/2 cup of couscous
fresh herbs, to your liking (I went with two sprigs of mint, three basil tops and one long green spring onion leaf), roughly chopped
olive oil
vinegar or lemon juice
seasonings

1. Cook the couscous in a small bowl by sprinkling with a pinch of salt and adding an equal amount of boiling water (1/2 cup). Cover it with cling film and leave aside for ca. five minutes while assembling the rest of the ingredients.
2. Combine the tomatoes and the feta in your salad bowl and drizzle with oil and vinegar (roughly a 3 to 1 ratio). Add salt and pepper and mix well. Add the roughly chopped herbs on top.
3. By now your couscous will have steamed. Loosen it up with a fork before adding it to the other ingredients and tossing the salad a final time. Season to taste.

Spicy Bacon and Cucumber Salad

I found this recipe online, which suited my need to clear some space in the fridge very well. It's the perfect summer dinner, when a cold salad just won't do...

I had half a cucumber left over, so I added two baby bok choi (roughly chopped stems in with the cucumber and the leaves only in the last minute). I liked the Szechuan pepper, although I might grind it up next time. I just added the chili I have growing on the balcony, to taste. With these kinds of recipes it is pretty easy to play around with substitutions (different chilies for heat, vinegars for acidity, etc.), so just use what you have on hand.

All in all a very tasty and easy dish to prepare, which I will surely do again.

Apricot and blueberry pie with honey and sweet vermouth

This little number came to be because I had a total of five apricots at home which were going sort of soft... Meh. (Major apricot binge these last two weeks or so.)
In the grocery store I walked past the dough section and picked up on of those pre-rolled puff pastry pie shells, thinking I could turn it into something... And it did turn out very nicely indeed.

Many people like to sprinkle the bottom of the pastry with ground almonds or hazelnuts. Not only does this add taste but it also helps to soak up the fruit juices and keep the pastry from going soggy. Since I try to avoid nuts, I have substituted this with either Kellogg's Special K (bashed to powder with my pestle and mortar) and as I didn't have any of it on hand today, with a rye crisp bread.


I used blueberries here because the five apricots didn't quite fill out the pie and I had the berries on hand. So I just used enough to fill the gaps. They look stunning in combination with the apricots and their flavor doesn't really detract from them either.

For the sirup on top I wanted to go with lemon juice and sugar at first. But apricots are always associated with honey (don't know why) and I remembered the big bottle of sweet vermouth in the cupboard (I had bought it thinking it was the dry variety...). I was surprised how well the herb-y, woody notes of the wine complimented the apricots. I will be using this combination again for sure.



1 puff pastry pie shell
1 slice rye crisp bread, use pestle&mortar or a plastic bag and a rolling pin to crush it into powder
a little sugar, if the fruit needs it
5 apricots, de-stoned and quartered
a handful of blueberries
1/4 cup sweet vermouth
1 teaspoon honey

Preheat your oven to 200°C.
Sprinkle the rye powder over your pie shell evenly. Add a little sugar if you want to.
Distribute your apricots evenly and then the berries into the crevices. Combine the vermouth and the honey. Heat and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Then pour the sirup over the whole pie.
Bake for ca. 25 minutes or until the bottom has crisped.