Recipe: Easter Nest

Easter is approaching, and what is better than a bit of baking for Easter, so here a simple recipe for you to make a lovely Easter Nest. (tastes like brioche)
Ingredients:
500ml milk
100gr sugar
150gr butter
40gr yeast
2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs + 1 egg to add later to keep the dough moist

first add the yeast to the lukewarm milk, make sure you don't use to hot milk, that would kill the yeast. than add the butter and the rest of the ingredients. using a kitchen machine make sure the dough is well mixed than let it rest for at least 2 hours, the dough should double in size.

After make 3 strings out of the dough, take a cooked egg, it can be also a coloured one, and make a string around that egg, as shown in the picture.

Its a bit tricky to get it to look nice, but you have enough dough to make at least 2 of this nests.

Let it after the forming rest about 30 minutes, preheat your oven to 180 C and bake it for 45 minutes. Use a toothpick to test if the nest is fully bake.

enjoy,

Happy Easter !

How to make your own Soup Stock (powder)

Its a great thing to make your own soup / bouillon from your vegetables in the garden, or left overs, all you need is the following:
4 Carrots
2 Onions
Leek
Herbs such as Parsley
nutmeg
salt and Pepper

Cut all of that and grind it very very small,
than put the paste on a tray to dry in the oven at very low temperature for several hours.

Than grind the whole thing again and let it further dry.
You can store it than for up to 2 months, the color changes a bit to brown after drying, thats normal.

It might take you some time to get used to the taste of your bouillon, since there are no taste enhancers, etc in it.

Recipe: Tomato Pamper Soup

I transformed and adopted recently a Jamie Oliver recipe to be able to use the stuff I had at home and it turned out very yummy !

Ingredients:
Basil (fresh or dried)
3 Tomatoes
2 garlic gloves
1 piece dried bread
1 tin chopped tomatoes
25ml olive Oil
Pepper and Salt

Preparation takes you about 5 minutes.

Chop the tomatoes and garlic, ad the garlic with some olive oil in the pot and heat it up. Than add the tin of chopped tomatoes and  some basil.

bring it to boil, than cut the bread in little pieces and add it to the mix.
Spice with Salt and Pepper and Serve while hot.

Its a very tasty starter and pretty filling and healthy too !
Enjoy !

Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup

This soup is perfect for a light, healthy lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:
1 butter nut squash
1 pear
2 cups soy milk
1 cube veggie broth
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 apple- diced







Preparation:

Cut the squash in 1/2 and place face down in a glass dish, with a bit of water  to cover the ground of the dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes at 180 C degrees until the squash is easily pierced with a fork. Then peel (or scoop out the soft pulp) and place the squash in a pot on medium heat.

Add the pear, sliced in 1/2, the soy milk, veggie broth and spices.

Blend for a few minutes until the soup is hot and the consistency is a velvety texture.

Scoop into bowls and serve with a sprinkling of diced apple and a bit of cinnamon.

It tastes soooo good, you will love it !
Enjoy

Recipe: filled mushrooms

Its the week of simple dishes I believe, or as a matter of fact side dishes.

Today I made stuffed mushrooms as a side dish.
Ingredients:
mushrooms
cream
ham in cubes
cheese
onion
cucumber
butter


First clean the mushrooms, but if possible not with rinsing water, since we don't want to get them soaked and wet. Than coop a onion fine and also the cucumber. Beat the cream and than add the onion and cucumber, together with some salt and pepper, this is the sauce cream you serve later the champions with.



Next, cook the spinach in a pot and add a bit of onion and the ham. Use this to fill the mushrooms and on top add some grated cheese.

Now bake the mushrooms for about 15 minutes on 180 C in the oven. They should look as nice golden brown as here on the pictures.

Serve with the Cream,
Enjoy !

Recipe: Gorgonzola Spaghetti

Lazy days, but Happy days.

Do you know those days, busy with work, complete without power you get home, and the last thing you want to do is spend hours in the kitchen ?

I had recently such a day, and its still a wonder that I took the camera to document what I was up to.


I made one of the laziest recipes ever, but tasty like hell. Spaghetti Gorgonzola

Ingredients:
you guessed right..
Spaghetti
Gorgonzola cheese
milk or cream
1 egg
Salt and pepper

Mix all except the spaghetti in a pot and let the cheese melt under medium heat. Bring once to boil, add now the the still hot spaghetti mix and serve.
Done in 10 Minutes, tasty and filling.
I wouldn't invite guests for such a dish but for a lazy day the perfect solution !

Enjoy !

Recipe: Wild Duck

Hey Ducky,

here my experience how to cook duck from stretch. First: You need to know a hunter you is so kind to get you some wild ducks, legally shot in the right season.

Second step is to plug and gut the ducks.
Its for a modern human maybe not that easy to do so, my experience was its a messy and hard business, and you need to have a good stomach to do so.

Its rewarding however after that long preparation to have the bird finally on your plate.

I went with a really simple recipe, but i believe something went wrong, not that the duck was burned, ok on the picture below it looks pretty black, but that's from soy sauce i put on top.

My duck was way too dry, and I didn't like the sauce. Also, on a wild duck, there isn't much meat on it, so the below duck wasn't enough for 3, not even for 2 people.

I served it however with some vegs, so it turned out not to be a complete kitchen disaster.

I will however do make more research how to get a better result, and than publish the recipe here.
Still got 2 ducks in the freezer and will try soon different recipes and approaches, and will let you know what worked best for me.



If you have a suggestion please use the comment function.

Recipe: Sesame Rice Balls side dish

I made too much Sushi rice the other day, so I kept it in the fridge for one more day, which is usually not a good idea fro sushi rice since it shouldn't get too dry.

I however didn't want to make sushi twice in a row so I used the rice, formed balls and did turn them in sesame seeds.

In the oven i gently rewarmed the balls and served them as a side dish with meat.

Its a tasty alternative to potatoes and if you serve it with some sauce to go with it its quiet filling.

Enjoy !

Recipe: Semolina dumpling soup- Griessnockerl Suppe

Time to write about something easy and fast to cook. This tasty soup takes you no longer than 10 minutes to make.

First make a dough with the below ingredients:

125ml milk
120g semolina
80g soft butter
2 eggs
salt
pinch of ground nutmeg

Than, form little dumplings and put them in soup soup you made from stock.and let them simmer for approx. 10 minutes. Do not cover the pot, and watch them, once the swim up and you tried one and its soft its time to serve.

If you wait to long or boil it too hot, they dumplings will break and you got a semolina soup.(which doesn't taste bad either, but doesn't look as good)

Enjoy !

Recipe: Apple Avocado Smoothie

The other day I saw we had too many fruits at home so i thought lets do a smoothie for a change.

On yummimix.com I found this unusual recipe which tastes not too bad and is very healthy.
Ingredients:
1 large apple, washed and quartered
1/2 avocado
1 orange
3 mint leaves
1/4″ slice of lime (with some peel)
1/2 cup water
1 cup ice cubes

Place all in your blender and blend until its really smooth.
It easily serves 4 and gives you all the vitamins you need for your day !