Category Archives: savoury

quark spread with chive, radish and onion

spring has come and so it’s time for chive again. at home in my parent’s garden we used to check everyday, starting mid march, on the progress the young chive made. and when it was finally long enough to be cut my father made fresh kräuterquark with chive and onions. delicious.

i don’t have a garden but the store-bought stuff will do.

ingredients:

  • 250 g quark (10% fat)
  • 50 ml milk
  • half a bunch of chives
  • half an onion
  • 6 radish
  • 1/4 tsp salt, black pepper

dice onion and radish, cut up the chive into small rolls. put in a bowl, then add quark and stir until well combined. add milk by the tablespoon until desired creaminess is reached ( i like it rather thin as you can see in the pic). season with salt and black pepper.

the quark is also very nice with fresh potatoes (boiled in their skins) and linseed oil or pumpkin seed oil.

pasta with fennel, tomatoes and black forest ham

i don’t like fennel. this is a fact i never questioned, although i could not tell a single occasion where i ever tasted fennel so far (that is, as a vegetable). it must be a late effect from the fennel tea i was forced to drink as a kid. but i also used to hate eggplant – up until i ate parmigiana di melanzane. so why not try to overcome the fear of fennel as well? i started cautiosly by using in a vegetable soup. it was not bad, though i have to admit that i had difficulties telling it apart from other vegetables. but today i entered the next level: fennel as the main ingredient in a (great!!!) pasta dish.

ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 600 g fennel
  • 6 mini tomatoes
  • 3 slices smoked Black Forest ham
  • 50g grated parmesan
  • 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • salt and black pepper, to taste
  • 200 g pasta of your choice

toast pine nuts in a dry pan. set aside. cut ham in small stripes and fry (without additional grease) until it is crisp. set also aside.

wash and prepare the fennel, cut it up into small pieces. keep fennel green for decoration.

saute fennel in olive oil about 20 minutes until it is tender, add some salted water (in which the pasta will be cooked) as needed. quarter the tomatoes, add and cook for a few minutes. add some more salted water – overall it should be about a ladle full. season with lemon juice, sugar, a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper and maybe some more salt.

meanwhile cook the pasta, then pour it over the sauce. mix and let it stand on the hot stovetop for a few minutes – the pasta should soak up some of the sauce. transfer to a large bowl and mix with grated cheese and ham stripes. top with pine nuts and fennel green.

so yes, i think fennel can be added to my list of edible greens.

pasta primavera (or sth. similar)

there is nothing in the fridge except an aging zucchini, half an onion and a bit of leftover heavy cream? oh, and in the freezer are still some peas. dinner is saved:

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbsp sun flower oil
  • half an onion (or more)
  • one zucchini
  • 150g  frozen green peas
  • 100ml vegetable stock
  • 100 ml heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • salt,  freshly ground black pepper
  • 200g pasta of your choice

sauté the diced onion in a pan with sun flower oil, add diced zucchini and cook for a few minutes. add peas, stir a few times, then add vegetable stock. let it simmer until the peas are done. add heavy cream and let it simmer again for 2-3 minutes. season with lemon juice, salt and black pepper. meanwhile cook the pasta, strain and mix with the sauce.  quick and easy and quite good.

salad with avocado dressing and grilled cheese sandwich

the salad was inspired by the avocado wasabi salad from vegan yum yum. it does not look particularly great with the thick green gravy, but it is really delicious – and the dressing is a welcome change from the usual vinaigrette stuff. different from the original, this salad does not contain chickpeas and broccoli, also the dressing was modified – and there is no wasabi anywhere.

Ingredients:

salad

  • romaine lettuce
  • 2 grated carrots
  • 20g chopped and toasted almonds

dressing

  • 1 avocado
  • 3 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tsp tahini
  • 2 generous tsp sour cream
  • 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp sun flower oil

dice avocado and mash with a fork, then whisk in the other ingredients for the dressing, except oil. when the mixture is smooth, slowly add oil and keep whisking until emulsified.

in a bowl, mix together salad and carrots, toss with the dressing. sprinkle almonds on top and serve.

the salad was already quite rich, but since we left out the chickpeas and broccoli, there was room for the grilled cheese sandwhich to accompany.

mango chutney

the mango chutney was definitive a highlight of our dinner. i never made chutney before (actually i barely ever tasted it), and so i was at first a bit sceptical how it would turn out. a combination between several internet recipes and again jaffrey’s book yielded this:

Ingredients:

  • 1 green mango (about 500g)
  • 100-150ml water
  • 185 ml vinegar
  • 180g brown sugar
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 4cm ginger
  • 30g chopped raisins
  • half of a fresh red chili and chili pepper flakes (to taste)
  • 1.5 tsp salt

peel the mango, remove the core and cut in small cubes. dice ginger and garlic. cook these three together in water until the mango is tender. add vinegar, sugar, chilis, cardamom, salt and cook until a little thick (this took quite a while – i think more than one hour). if you want to preserve it, pour into sterilized jars while still hot.

and how did we get the lava in the jar?

indian dinner

for the indian dinner on friday we had

  • mango chutney, coriander chutney and papadum as starters
  • rice and paratha (from madhur jaffrey’s book “indisch kochen“)
  • zucchini kootu
  • once again the bombay curry
  • channa raita (this is raita with chickpeas and garam masala)
  • and what i made the paneer for: methi-palak paneer – unfortunately without methi leaves. and i guess the addition of ground fennugreek seeds to the dry masala is no substitute at all.

my spice rack is now stacked with many new items. so far i did not even know that there is such a thing as curry leaves! i also used tamarind for the first time.

i don’t have pictures from the final dishes, as i didn’t want to bother our guests with extensive photo shooting. i’ll post recipes later.

and of course, such a feast comes at a price.

paneer

i’m planning for another indian dinner and so i made paneer today. it’s very easy, just bring milk to boil, add lemon juice and stir until the milk curdles. strain on musselin cloth and rinse with cold water. press into a solid form and you’re done. (if you need more detailed instructions – there are plenty around on the net…)

Ingredients:

  • 1.5l milk (3.8% fat)
  • 5 tbsp fresh lemon juice

i think i could have done with a bit less lemon juice, but i was impatient while waiting for the milk to curdle.  now the cheese is in the fridge and i’m curious how it will turn out.

in the lower right corner you can see whey – this is what’s left after straining the paneer.

spinach pancake for st.patrick’s

st.patrick’s is generally not observed in germany, but i thought it would be nice to eat something green tonight. these spinach pancakes (adapted from this recipe) were made like this: prepare 250g spinach, fresh (should be blanched an chopped) or frozen (should be unthawed and cooked for a few minutes).  in a bowl, mix 200g flour, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg. in another bowl pour 250ml buttermilk and beat in two eggs. add 2 tsp melted butter. stir this mixture into the dry ingredients, then stir in the spinach. adjust consistency with a bit more buttermilk if needed. cook pancakes in a buttered pan, 2-4 minutes each side. pancakes that are done should be placed in the oven at 175°. mix a cup of sour cream with 1tbsp lemon juice and serve with the pancakes. we had also carrot salad with it.

i’ll leave you with the two other greens i found in the kitchen and a selection of st.patrick’s day greeting cards.

panini al rosmarino e formaggio

i tried these rosemary buns from the silver spoon today, but they were not really satisfying. the dough was quite stringy and dry, even though i added some more milk to it than it was written in the recipe. a few minutes before the end of the baking time the buns are filled with a mixture of heavy cream and cheese. but i think also the dough-cheese ratio could be improved… so i’ll skip posting the recipe.

green lentil dāl with spinach

we had indian food tonight, consisting of green lentil dāl with spinach, bombay curry with tomatoes and coconut milkcarrot raita, rice and naan bread.  bread, curry and raita were made with recipes from the grosses buch der asiatischen kueche (but i found similar versions on the internet 1,2,3). the bread started as a disaster, as i made only half the amount of the recipe, but added the full amount of liquid to the batter. with a lot more flour and two tablespoons i was able to shape bread-like things on the baking tray, and in the end they were not half bad.

the dāl was made like this: cook 130 g green lentils for about 30 minutes until they are done. in a large pan heat 1 tbsp clarified butter (or use ghee which i did not have), add 1tbsp grated ginger, 1/4 tsp chili pepper flakes and 1.5 bay leaves and stir for a few seconds. add 200g spinach (i used frozen spinach) and 1/2 tsp coriander and cook for 5-10 minutes. add the lentils and 1tsp salt (optionally a bit water), cover the pot and let it simmer at low heat for 20 minutes. season with 2 tbsp lemon juice and black pepper. i also added 1 tbsp crème fraîche.