Xmas or New years Buffet

New years is all about having a good time with your family. So the preparations for the new years eve shouldn't keep you busy all day.

Prepare a little buffet with delicous food in no time,for 6 people all you need is:
A box of cheese, from your local farmers market or shop
2 baguettes
butter
ham
asparagus from the tin
12 eggs
2 spoon mustard
250 ml vegetable oil
1 lemon
Salt&pepper
1 pack fillet of salmon
butter

Preparation time for one person should be approx 45 minutes.


Step1:
boil 10 eggs in water for 10 minutes until they are hard. We are going to make filled eggs.

Step2:
while the other eggs boil separate remaining 2 eggs, you need the 2 yolks. Add a dash of the lemon, two teasppon of english mustard, a bit Salt and Pepper. Using a hand mixer you are going to make mayonnaise by poring in, bit by bit the vegetable oil. Mix well and dont poor to much oil at the time.

Step3:
Cut the boiled eggs in two half's, remove the cooked egg yolk and put them into a bowl. Add some mayonnaise made in Step 2 and some salt and pepper to taste and mix well.

Step4:
Take the egg mix and fill the empty egg half''s with that now spicier mix. You can use a piping back to make it look attractive.

Step5:
Cut the baguettes in slices, half of it topped with butter and the salmon nice arranged on a plate, the other half in a bread basket so people can use it with the cheese.

Step6:
Take the asparagus and roll it in the ham to get little rolls as shown on the picture above.

That's it, very simple but effective. But most important, its tasty and there is something for everyone.

Hope you will slide over well into 2013, see you there !

How to cook a Xmas Turkey

Whoo, just 5 times sleeping and Xmas Day is finally here. Like most people we will have Turkey as well, but how to cook the perfect one ?

Most important for that operation is,
Do not attempt to cook a frozen Turkey !

Thawing times for frozen turkeys;

4–5kg: 20 hours at room temperature; 65 hours in fridge
5–6kg: 24 hours at room temperature; 70 hours in fridge
6–7kg: 30 hours at room temperature; 75 hours in the fridge
8–9kg: 40 hours at room temperature; 80 hours in the fridge
9–11kg: 48 hours at room temperature; 96 hours in the fridge

Stuffing, some people prepare that a few days ahead, some on the day if the use raw eggs. Make sure you match your families taste, sometimes a simple filling, a onion, a lemon, some herbs can be the best way to give your bird some extra flavour !

Prepare the Turkey, rub it in with butter and honey, have some foil and cover it when placed in the roasting tray. Start moderately with the temperature and allow about 30 minutes for each kg of the total weight of your bird. this may vary depending on your oven and how often you open it for basing.

let the bird rest 30 minutes before you serve it, that gives you time to do your vegetables.

Enjoy your meal and don't rush into things,
allow time, have fun and enjoy the company of your family rather than being completly stessed out about that turkey.

Make sure you wrap the leftovers up so you have plenty of food for the next days :-)

Xmas Tiramisu

I recently wrote about my favourite tiramisu and now for the run up to Xmas I created a simple Xmas version of it by using a piece of carton decorating it in a Xmas theme with Cacao powder.

Doesnt it look great ?

Mickey Mouse Birthday cake

My daughter Sophie and Laura had recently birthdays and I wish I could have made a trip back to Austria to make for Laura also a nice Bday cake.
Sometimes its not easy, also, not easy to make a nice cake. I googled a bit and found a nice recipe how to make a Mickey Mouse cake.

As you can see in the pictures, I made twice the amount of my Sacher cake recipe which you find here.

Than I used two small and one big mould to make the ears and face.

My talented Au pair did draw a Mickey Mouse face on same baking paper with a pencil, So I could transfer that features easy on some marzipan.Well the result of my Pastry talent you can see at the left, that's the best I could do in that short time, Sophie was happy !

I hope I inspired you a bit to give it a try yourself !

Happy St. Nikolaus

Some people might think the picture above displays Santa Klaus, that's wrong, there is no Santa.

We believe in the Christ kind in Austria which is an Angel and brings the gifts on the evening of the 24th. The gentlemen above is Sankt Nikolaus, who is bringing little gifts to children on the evening of the 6th of December. That Character is based on a real men originally from Turkey. He felt guilty because of something he did so to make good he visited houses at night and placed little gifts there.
More Details you find on wikipedia

Anyway, in our tradition we place the boots in front of the house on the 6th, and when you check in the morning Nikolaus filled it with sweets.

Krampus day !

Its Krampus Day today in Austria, the most feared day by children. If you have been nasty, the Krampus (in Germany known as Knecht Ruprecht) will give you a beating. Normally a few of this guys accompany Nikolaus on the 6th of December in a big parade. On the 5th and all December this guys are around to make sure bad childrens and adults get scared and behave better the next year.

Traditionally the Krampus (Perchte) was created to get rid of bad spirits of the winter, to scare them away. Now in modern days most wooden made masks look more like the devil than the traditional ones I prefer. Anyone with a plastic mask that day should get an extra beating in my opinion.

Anyway, when I was a child I had much respect of this guys, when I became older I used to wear the family mask which was passed down generations and is in the family for more than 100 years.
I think its a fun tradition and I miss it a lot. Well, maybe next year I can spend some time home and visit this event and visit some Christkindl Markets as well.

Tiramisu

Bella Italian, I love Italy and especially the Italian Food.
One of the famous desserts from Italy is Tiramisu.

To make a great Tiramisu you just need to put in just few Ingredients but a lot of amore (love)
250 gram Mascarpone (to be found in the cheese section)
50 gram sugar
sponge fingers
200 ml Coffee
1 table spoon rum or a bit rum aroma
3 eggs
cacao powder

First separate the eggs, than add half of the sugar to each, yolk and white and mix it well. Place the sponge fingers in the coffee and let them soak a bit. Mix the Mascapone to the egg yolks and add than the white and mix in the rum too.

Make a layer with the sponge finger, than add a layer of your mix, add another layer of sponge fingers and again a other layer of the mix in a form.

Place your finished product in the fridge for a few hours to settle, before serving sprinkle it with cacao powder.

Bon appetito !

Recipe: A Quick Chili con carne

Lazy days are happy days...
Sometimes when I am really busy, like now working on my cookbook I need to cook quickly something up.
So here my very quick Chili con carne.

Carne is Italian and stands for meat, so take minced meat, cook it in a pot with some oil, add the chopped onion, a can of beans and corn and to Finnish up some chopped tomato. Spice it to taste, I think you get the Idea ?
Some Chili should be in it too, dont you think ?
Anyway, its prepared in 5 minutes, let it simmer a bit and serve with some toast, or with the famous Sopa paraguaira

Enjoy !

Planning a Xmas Party

It’s a bit early to mention the C word now,
but let’s don’t deny it, Christmas is coming up fairly quickly.
I am not a fan of Xmas decoration in shops and streets before December,
but believe it or not, some little elves are working already hiding away in conference rooms in a workplace near to you.

It’s the time of the year companies are planning their Xmas Parties to make sure they get a date in at the different venues. It’s easy to get confused what’s on offer and what should be planned for your company Xmas Party, gathering with club members or friends before the festivities.

Here a little guide if you are involved in the planning of a function for your workplace or club.
Gather Information:

How many people you expecting to attend ?
Are you up for a formal sit down dinner or does your team like it rather informal ?
What’s the budged per head for food/drinks and entertainment?
Which Date is preferred by management, party during the week or on the weekend ?

Once you gathered this information you should already have a good enough idea what offer is best for your crowd.

Offers available:
For small team night outs and informal gatherings where the craic is most important, with a low per head budget you will probably get the best deals if you talk to your local publican.
You can’t go wrong with tasty sandwiches and a tap, or two drink vouchers and that’s available for as low as 10 Euro per head.  In pubs they are offering menus at restaurant level and you can get more than just the finger a food option.

For groups who want the intimacy of a sit down menu, get your dates in now in one of the towns restaurants. Menus are available from around 20 Euro per head for a 2 course meal, up to 40 Euro for a 4 course meal deal. The spaces/dates are already limited, so make your bookings now.

Good advice for anyone reaching out to the venues for offers, call between 3 and 6pm to talk about your party, around lunch time and in the evening the staff is busy with their lunch/dinner service.
Or why not dropping them an email or text message with your contact details, so they can call you back and take time to discuss what you are looking for.

The last option I wanted to mention is one of the Xmas party nights organized by the local hotels.
There are food / entertainment packages available starting at around 27,- Euro up to 45,- Euro which include mulled wine reception, game entertainment and party music.
That’s good value too, especially if you up for a good night dancing and partying.

Whatever option is best for you and your colleagues is entirely up to you, most important is that you have fun and a relaxing time, doesn’t matter how big or small the budged is.
Make sure you prearrange transportation or have a designated driver so you get back home safely from your night out.

Richies Cooking Class

I wrote previously a review of Richys bistro & Restaurant cooking classes here in Clonakilty.
I had again a lot of fun with two different classes, cooking fish and game,
and I wanted to let you know there is one upcoming for the 27th of November which is focusing on Christmas Cooking.

The cooking classes are about fun but also to learn how to have all dishes ready in time.

To be honest, before the classes I could cook,
but my timing was way off. My wife can report you about evenings with delicious food at home, and the 1 hour waiting time since it just took me longer to get all ready than I expected.

Now, after a few classes, I learned to time the starter and main dishes perfectly. No more starving now, and with all the small tips here and there my overall performance in the kitchen improved a lot.

I can just recommend you, book a class, 50 Euro for a fun evening in the kitchen, with wine to each course is a superb value !
Book your place now at http://www.richysbarandbistro.com/