Apfel-Rotkohl (Apple & Red Cabbage)

A classic vegetable dish which is served during the cold months of the year.  This dish goes well with any kind of meat or poultry.  Easy to prepare and tastes excellent!

Ingredients (serves 4 to 6):
1 small red cabbage
1 apple, to be peeled, quartered and cut into very small chunks
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
200 ml red currant juice
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp ghee or Butterschmalz
salt & ground black pepper to taste

Method:
Clean, wash, quarter red cabbage and cut into strips by using a vegetable slicer. Heat ghee in a medium pot and add in red cabbage strips.  Stir-fry for about 5 to 10 minutes.  Then, add red currant juice, red wine vinegar, salt and sugar.  Mix thoroughly and simmer with lid on for about 30 minutes.

Add apple chunks to pot and further simmer with lid on for another 30 minutes. Check seasoning. Warm up just before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

With the festive season over, I have started to cook healthy and low calories food for my two boys. For tonight's dinner, I prepared Stuffed Bell Peppers with minced beef, harissa and curd cheese filling. Pan-fried with a little oil, followed with the addition of beef stock before they are baked in a moderately slow oven for about half an hour.
As a side dish, I prepared whipped Topinambur instead of whipped potato.

Ingredients (serves 4):
2 medium-sized red bell peppers
2 medium-sized yellow bell peppers
500 g minced beef or lamb
100 g low-calories curd cheese (Magerquark)
2 pips garlic, to be peeled and finely chopped
1 small onion, to be peeled and finely chopped
4 tsp Harissa
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
250 ml beef stock
4 sage leaves
1 stalk rosemary
2 stalks thyme

500 g Topinambur
400 ml vegetable stock
a tbsp chopped parsley
2 - 3 tbsps thick cream (low calorie)

Method:
In a large bowl, add minced meat, onion, garlic, curd cheese, Harissa (add more if you prefer spicy) and salt to taste.  Mix thoroughly and leave aside.

Wash and clean the bell peppers.  Cut them into halves and remove the seeds, leaving the stalk intact.

Add minced meat mixture into the cavities.

Heat oil in a large pan which can be used in the oven.  Sauté stuffed bell pepper all over.  Then, add beef stock and herbs.  Bake in a preheated fan oven for about 20 - 25 minutes.

In the meantime, peel, wash and cut Topinambur in cubes.  Add to a saucepan which is filled with vegetable stock.  Cook with lid on over medium heat for about 25 minutes or until tender.  Drain water away and purée by using a mixer-stab.  Add thick cream and chopped parsley.

Serve Stuffed Bell Peppers with whipped Topinambur.

Bon Appetit!

Grilled Peppers stuffed with Feta Cheese & Dried Tomatoes

A perfect side dish to be served with any grilled meat or poultry.  It is quick to prepare and tastes delicious like those sold in mediterranean shops.

Ingredients:
500 g green peppers (I suggest that you buy medium-sized peppers)
10 stalks fresh basil, leaves to be finely chopped or 1 tbsp dried basil
80 g dried soft tomatoes, to be finely chopped
300 g Feta cheese
200 g double cream cheese (i.e. Philadelphia)
ground pepper to taste

Method:
Cut off the stalk of green peppers and remove seeds.  Wash peppers and dry thoroughly.

In a bowl, add cream cheese, dried tomatoes and basil.  Crumble Feta cheese into bowl and season with ground pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

Stuff each pepper with cheese filling and leave aside.  Note:  Do not overstuff the peppers!

Place stuffed peppers on a grill tray before grilling.  Grill over high heat, turning them often for about 10 to 12 minutes.  Serve grilled peppers as a side dish or just with toasted turkish bread.  The Feta cheese filling is awesome when eaten with with any kind of bread.

Bon Appetit!

Asparagus in Herbs-Yoghurt Sauce served with Grilled Entrecôte

It is still the asparagus season and as a side dish for our dinner tonight, I prepared a simple herbs-yoghurt sauce to be served with steamed white asparagus.   Our main dish is Grilled Entrecôte served with Rosemary-Garlic-Olive Oil.

Herbs-Yoghurt Sauce Ingredients:
1 kg white asparagus, to be peeled and ends trimmed
150 g yoghurt
2 tbsp of chopped mixed herbs i.e. parsley, chives, etc.
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp mustard
salt and pepper to taste
100 g whipped cream

Method:
In a bowl, mix together yoghurt, lemon juice and mustard.  Mix well before adding the chopped herbs.  Season with salt and peper to taste.  Lastly, add whipped cream and mix well.

Steam asparagus for about 11 minutes.  Serve immediately with the herbs-yoghurt sauce.

Ingredients for Rosemary-Garlic-Olive Oil:

6 garlics, to be peeled and diced finely

1 rosemary twig, to be washed, dried and cut finely

olive oil (good quality)

Method:

To make garlic-rosemary-olive oil, mix all ingredients together and set aside.

How to prepare Entrecôte:  One person's portion is about 250 to 300 g meat.  Ask your butcher for entrecôte or roast beef cut.  I do not season the meat at all and my hubby just grilled the beef to our liking i.e. medium.  Our tip:  Depending on the thickness of the entrecôte, grill each side over high fire for about 3 to 4 minutes.  It is very important to remove entrecôte from fire once the juice starts to ooze out.

To serve, add 1 or 2 tsp of rosemary-garlic-olive oil onto grilled entrecôte and season with salt and pepper.

Bon Appetit!

Asparagus in Egg-Vinaigrette Sauce served with Grilled Saibling Fillet

Asparagus is in season at present and I will include it in our menu at least twice or three times a week.  For today's dinner, I prepared an egg vinaigrette to accompany the steamed white asparagus and grilled fish fillet.

Ingredients:
1 kg white asparagus, to be peeled and ends trimmed

Vinaigrette Ingredients:
4  hard-boiled eggs
2 tbsps chopped flat parsley
2 tbsps olive oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar or plain vinegar
1 tsp mustard
3 tbsp white wine or plain water
salt & pepper to taste

Method:
Separate egg whites from egg yolks.  Chop egg whites finely and leave aside.  In a bowl, mash egg yolks with a fork.  Add olive oil, vinegar, mustard and wine.  Mix thoroughly and then, add chopped parsley.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Steam asparagus for about 11 minutes or until done to your liking.  Serve asparagus with Egg-Vinaigrette.

To prepare the fish fillets:  Season with salt and pepper.  Place fish fillets under grill for about 10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Roast Duck served with Apple-Red Cabbage and Potato Dumplings

Specially for Christmas Eve's dinner, I prepared a typical Bavarian dish:  Ente mit Apfelrotkohl und Kartoffelknödeln.  As a filling for the duck, I prepared a bread/apple/raisins filling for a change and it tasted delicious.

Ingredients (serves 3 - 4 persons):
1 duck (about 2,5 kg)
salt and pepper to taste

Filling:
4 bread buns, to be cut into 1 cm cubes
3 apples (unpeeled), to be quartered and cut into 1 cm cubes
4 shallots, to be finely chopped
2 tbsp raisins
2 eggs
400 g bottle duck fond
salt and pepper to taste
ghee or Butterschmalz

Method:
Clean and wash duck thoroughly.  Then, pat duck dry with kitchen paper.  Remove any visible hairs and season duck both inside the cavity and outside skin with salt and pepper to taste.  Leave aside.

Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a pan and roast cubed bread buns until golden brown.  Then, sprinkle with a little water and put on the lid.  Leave to cool down completely.

Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a small pan and stir-fry chopped shallots until translucent.  Leave aside.

In a large bowl, add in roasted cubed buns, shallots, apples, raisins and eggs.  Combine mixture thoroughly and season to taste.  Stuff duck with filling and secure opening with toothpicks.  By using a kitchen string and starting from the top, plait the string in between the toothpicks and secure tightly after each toothpick.  Make a knot at the end and cut string.  Tie both legs together.

Preheat oven (conventional - no fan) to 190° C.  Place duck onto a rack and place a deep baking tray underneath to catch the drippings (1st rack from bottom).  Pour about 200 ml water into the baking tray. Roast duck for about one hour or until the fat oozes out.  One needs to poke the duck's legs to enable the fat to ooze out easily.  This procedure needs to be repeated regularly.

Once the fat is starting to ooze out, reduce oven heat to 170° C and roast duck for a further one and a half hours, making sure to poke the legs to let the fat ooze out.

Then, increase the temperature to 190° to 200° C and roast duck for a further 30 minutes.  Mix 100 ml water with 1 tbsp salt.  Brush duck with this salt water mixture often in order that the duck skin becomes crispy.  Once duck is ready, remove from oven and cut into serving portions.


Apfelrotkohl (Apple/Red Cabbage)

Ingredients:
1 red cabbage (about 1 kg)
1 apple, to be peeled, quartered and cut into small chunks
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
200 ml red currant juice
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp ghee or Butterschmalz

Method:
Clean, wash, quarter red cabbage and cut into strips.  Heat ghee in a medium pot and add in red cabbage strips.  Stir-fry for about 5 to 10 minutes.  Then, add red currant juice, red wine vinegar, salt and sugar.  Mix thoroughly and simmer with lid on for about 30 minutes.

Add apple chunks to pot and further simmer with lid on for another 30 minutes.  Check seasoning. Warm up just before serving.


Kartofelknödeln (Potato Dumplings)

Ingredients (yields 12 dumplings):
2 kg floury potatoes
200 ml milk
1 - 2 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp salt or to taste

Method:
One and a half kg potatoes to be peeled and grated.  Add lemon juice immediately to grated potato and mix well in order that it does not change colour.  Place a small quantity into a linen dishcloth and wring the cloth to press out the juice into a bowl.  Do not throw the juice away as we need to gather the potato starch.  Add potato starch to the potato and mix well.

500 g potatoes to be peeled & quartered.  Then, cook in salt water for about 20 minutes or until cooked. Drain water away and mash potatoes or pass them through a potato presser.

Bring milk to a light boil and add to the potatoes.  Then, add cornflour, salt and the raw potatoes. Mix thoroughly.  Form mixture into 12 dumplings and leave aside.

Boil enough water in a big pot and add salt.  Then, add in dumplings one by one and reduce to medium heat.  Simmer dumplings for about 25 minutes.  Once ready, remove dumplings by using a perforated ladle and place in a serving bowl.

Bon Appetit!

Panfried Nile Perch Fillet served with Fennel-Carrots in Crème Fraîche Sauce

This dish is also known as Gebratene Viktoriabarschfilet mit Fenchel-Karotten in Crème Fraîche Sos in the german language.  I will normally serve boiled potatoes on the side.  This fish is abundantly available in Germany and it is very tasty.  One can use cod or other "firm" fish fillets to prepare this dish.  The following recipes serve 4.

Ingredients:
250 g carrots, to be peeled and sliced (diagonally)
400 g fennel, to washed, dried and sliced
50 ml vegetable stock
150 g Crème Fraîche
salt & pepper to taste
a pinch of sugar
30 g butter or margarine
some chopped chives

800 g Nile Perch filet or Codfish filet
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
salt
some flour to coat
50 g butter or margarine

Method:
Heat butter or margarine in a pan and lightly stir-fry both carrot and fennel slices for 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste.  Be careful with the salt because the vegetable stock has salt in its content.

Add vegetable stock and let it simmer for another 10 minutes or until the vegetables are almost cooked. Then, add Crème Fraîche and stir well.  Check seasoning again before the chopped chives are added.

Wash fish fillets and dry them up by using the kitchen paper.  Season with lemon juice and salt. Then, toss them in flour and set aside.

Heat butter or margarine in a pan and add fish fillet one at a time.  Pan-fry over medium heat until the underneath is browned.  Then, turn it over and cook the other side until browned.  Each side will take about 4-5 minutes to brown and it also depends on the thickness of the fish filets.  Once done, remove to a plate.

Serve the Fish Fillets with the Fennel-Carrots in Crème Fraîche Sauce and Boiled Potatoes.

Bon Appetit!