Category Archives: main dish

breakfast, main dish, meat & fish, sweet tooth

In the summertime…

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*photo from unsplash

…when the sun is scorching down on the earth. When the sky is clear and blue and wide, so far away and seemingly so near. When the noon is burning on our arms and glimmering on the streets. When the middle of the day seems to enclose around endless heat. When the soil is dry and the roses and herbs spread their scent over the gardens in the afternoon and when the evening brings the long awaited relief…

…I will embrace the night.

I will kick off my shoes and open the windows wide. I will rejoice in the wind and dance under the stars. I will listen to the crickets sing, close my eyes and silently cheer for the approaching thunderstorm in the west as the best part of my day begins here, right now. And I will stay up so late that my yawned “good morning” will actually mean “oh, look, it’s noon already” while I will once again realize with a lazy smile that during summer the days are indeed longer but shorter alike, because the nights are so very, very beautiful.

And celebrating that with a thorough brunch on the weekend only feels right.

Chicken and Waffles

Ingredients for 4 portions
(after this lovely recipe—thanks so much to M. for the tip!)

For the chicken: 

  • 2 medium-sized chicken breast (about 500 g)
  • 200 ml buttermilk
  • 2 tbs roughly chopped mint leaves
  • 2 tbs roughly chopped coriander leaves
  • 3 pepperoni
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 2 tsp salt
  • about 50-100 g wheat flour for dredging
  • oil for frying

For the spicy maple syrup: 

  • 200 g maple syrup
  • 1 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp paprika flakes

For the waffles: 

  • 100 g wheat flour
  • 50 g rice flour
  • 1 tbs cane sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 200 ml buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 50 g melted butter, cooled down
  • additional butter for frying the waffles

On the day before:

Cut the chicken breasts in 2 or 4 pieces each. Cut off the stem of the pepperoni and using a blender mix it with the buttermilk the herbs, the garlic and the salt until creamy. Pour the marinade over the chicken in an airtight container and put it into the fridge for 12-24 hours.

Toast the spices for the spicy maple syrup in a pan on medium heat for 1-2 minutes until their scent rises up, add them to the syrup, and set aside to infuse for 24 hours at room temperature.

In the morning:

For the waffle dough mix the dry ingredients and whisk in the buttermilk, the egg, and the melted butter until you have a smooth batter. Cover the bowl and let it rest for about an hour at room temperature. Heat up your waffle iron and prepare the waffles according to its instructions.

Shake off the excess marinade of the chicken, and dredge it in the wheat flour. Fill a pot with vegetable oil about as high as your little finger is long and put it on medium heat. Sprinkle a bit of flour into the oil to check if it’s good: when it sizzles and starts to turn golden and brown it is. Now add the chicken and fry in the oil for about 7 minutes on both sides. When it’s done let it drain on paper towels.

Serve the fried chicken on top of the waffles and drizzle it with the spicy maple syrup.

anime, Asian food, geek corner, main dish, meat & fish

Food Envy

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Katsudon

A bad and all the same wonderful thing about watching anime is all the food. You agree? Just think about all the delicious looking pictures: Simplified just enough so you will recognise the dish, but the colours beautiful and bright, every little detail a perfect masterpiece, and you can nearly smell the rising steam. Equally awful is watching the characters indulge in said dish with their beaming eyes and an excited “oishii!“ that in bad times nearly makes me swoon.

Yes, whilst watching anime it’s easy catch food envy. The praised Katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl) in the latest hype “Yuri!!! on Ice“ is another example out of many. Luckily you can make it yourself at home. Easy and good. It might not look quite picture-perfect as on TV, but the flavour will make up for it. 

Katsudon

Katsudon — Pork Cutlet Bowl

Ingredients for 2 generous portions

  • 2 pork cutlets without bone
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tbsp potato starch or flour
  • panko or bread crumbs
  • 1 tbsp oil for frying
  • 1 onion, cut into rings
  • 1 spring onion, peeled and cut into rings
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 2 servings of freshly steamed rice

Crack one egg onto a plate and mix it thoroughly. Put the starch on a second plate and the panko on a third. Mix the soy sauce and mirin in a bowl. Wash the pork cutlets, pat dry them dry with kitchen paper and crumb it. For that turn it first in the starch, then in the egg mixture and finally in the panko.

Heat the oil in a pan. Put in the cutlets and fry them on medium heat for 5 minutes. Flip them over and fry for another 5 minutes.

Get the pork out of the pan, and get in the onion and the white part of the spring onion. Fry for about one minute then add the soy sauce and mirin mixture. Cook for another 3 minutes.

Cut the pork into bite-sized stripes. Roughly mix the remaining two eggs. Put the cutlets back into the pan and pour the eggs over it. Cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for about two more minutes until the egg just has solidified.

Divide the rice onto two bowls, cover with the pork and finish with the remaining, green part of the spring onions and some sesame if you like. Enjoy.

Asian food, main dish, meat & fish

Against the Loss of Appetite

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Udon with Pork Belly

It happens to the best of us. A—hopefully temporary—period of tiredness. A time of “ehhh!”, listlessness or mopishness. A state that tells us there is something bothering us and we should listen to what is going on inside: Is it caused by outside influences? Is it ourselves? Is it simply a sign of being stressed out? Is it a health-issue? It is important to talk about this in an environment where social media, society, and advertisement suggest that life has to be perfect all the time and we with it. Always glorious. Always happy times. A constant state of elation. Because, spoiler alert? Life isn’t like that. It is okay, normal, important, to have days like these. Or weeks. Or even months.

During these times we need soulfood. It has to be made quickly. Easily. Almost without effort. Because—let’s be honest—especially in times like these we want it that way. Uncomplicated. We need these “almost no recipe” recipes. These “please don’t let me stand in the kitchen for too long” dishes. These “I’ll cook you every day, because everything else would be too bothersome” favourites. These “I just want to munch happily and feel good” meals, that go best with a glass of wine or a beer or a comforting pot of tea.

So what about udon noodles, quickly cooked and mixed with stir-fried pork belly? The noodles make happy just by being noodles and are always joyful to eat. The limes give a certain freshness and flavour, the pork is comforting, and the hot and sweet sauce will make us smile again. Of course you could make the udon on your own. But hey! There’s no need to always do everything from scratch when you can have it easy just as well. It’s alright. Live a little!

Udon

Udon Noodles with Pork Belly in Lime and Honey Sauce

Ingredients for 2 portions

  • 2 portions of udon noodles*
  • 200 g pork belly without bones, cut into 1-3 cm big dice
  • 2 spring onions, washed and chopped
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • some chili flakes
  • 1 tsp sesame

*The recipe for homemade udon noodles is below

Bring a pot of unsalted water to a boil, add the noodles and cook according to instructions. Drain them into a sieve and wash with cold tap water to rinse off additional starch and to stop the cooking process. Drain well and gently mix with a tbsp of oil.

Pour the sesame oil into a pan and heat it up on medium to high heat. Mix the lime juice, honey, soy sauce and mirin. Put the pork into the pan and fry it until it looks nice and crispy all around. Shake the pan or stir every now and then. Add the white parts of the spring onions, the chili flakes, and the sauce and let it cook until it is reduced to a creamy consistency. Put the noodles into the pan, give it a good shake and divide the dish onto bowls. Sprinkle with the green part of the spring onions and some sesame. Serve hot and enjoy.

Udon with Pork Belly

Homemade Udon Noodles

Ingredients for 2 portions

For the udon noodles*:

  • 250 g wheat flour
  • 125 ml water
  • 12 g salt
  • some rice flour for rolling out
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

*If you don’t want to make the udon on your own you can buy them just as well, of course. Personally, I prefer the precooked ones to the dried version.

For the udon noodles knead the wheat flour with the water and the salt into a firm, smooth dough that’s neither wet nor too dry. Cover it and let it rest for an hour. Put the dough into a big plastic bag and put it into the floor to knead it with your feet for at least 5 minutes. Put it onto your work surface and roll it out until it is about 3 mm thick. Dust with a little bit of rice flour and cut it into 3 mm thick strings. Bring a pot of unsalted water to a boil, add the noodles and cook for 3-5 minutes. Drain them into a sieve and wash with cold tap water to rinse off additional starch and to stop the cooking process. Drain well and gently mix with a tbsp of sesame oil.

Stored in a closed container and in the fridge the udon noodles will be good to eat for about two days.

main dish, vegetarian

Summertime Happiness

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Being outside. Throwing your arms up in the air. Simply because you can.

Sunbathing. A book to that?

Dancing in the warm rain. And finally being barefooted again.

Counting the stars, whilst thriving in the coolness of the night.

Celebrating simplicity. Complicated can come back later.

Even more sun! And noshing tarte flambee.

Tarte Flambee Goat Cheese

Tarte Flambee with Goat Cheese, Pear, and Mushrooms

Ingredients for 2 portions

For the dough:

  • 185 g wheat flour
  • 90 ml soda water
  • 2 tbsp peanut oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt

For the topping:

  • 150 g soft goat cheese
  • 2-3 tbsp sour cream
  • 1/2 pear
  • 2-3 champignons or other mushrooms
  • some fresh thyme

Knead the ingredients for the dough until it is smooth and soft. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 1-2 hours if you’ve got the time (the resting isn’t really necessary but it will be better with it in the end).

Preheat the oven to 250°C.

Cut the pear into small dices. Cut the mushrooms and the cheese into slices. Divide the dough into two halves and roll out each of them very thinly, until you almost can see through. Put each of them onto a baking tray with baking paper. Spread half of the sour cream thinly onto each tarte and scatter half the remaining ingredients onto each tarte as well. Bake for 5-10 minutes until the dough is crispy. Serve hot.

bread, how-to, main dish, meat & fish, soul food

Searching for the Sun

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Classic Hot Dog - Birds

Misery is here. It’s creeping through locked windows and doors, sneaking up on us like an unwelcome guest. It is carried by dark, thick clouds that keep denying us a lasting glimpse of the wonderful spring sun.

You almost tend to get hermitical. Not being able to spend your time under a blue sky for weeks when this–spring–usually is the one time of the year that urges you to spend your free time outside. To get yourself some energy. To soak up joy. And sooner or later you are simply displeased with everything. Including (let’s be honest here) with yourself.

So, distraction is what we need from all this shit. A new book. Tying knots into the socks of your most favourite person. A bunch of flower to brighten up the greyness. Tickling each other’s ears (or one’s own). Making plans for a trip. A Sunday, dedicated simply to soul food.

And because the weather outside truly is dreary, we’ll make the hot dog almost completely on our own. It is definitely worth the trouble anyway. And when you bite into that self-baked brioche roll, rejoice in the homemade ketchup, and you can’t even decide on which side of the filled bread you want to stop the dripping content first… you will smile again. I promise.

Classic Hot Dog

Hot Dogs

Ingredients for 6 hot dogs
the brioche rolls are our own, the rest is after a recipe out of Stevan Paul’s „Auf die Hand“

For the ketchup:

  • 100 g onions
  • 2 tbs oil
  • 120 g sugar
  • 2 tbsp tomato mark
  • 1 tsp paprika powder
  • 1 pinch of Pimento powder
  • 500 g canned tomatoes, pureed
  • 100 ml water
  • 50 ml white wine vinegar

For the brioche rolls:

  • 100 ml milk
  • 10 g fresh yeast
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 230 g wheat flour + more 
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 40 g unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 egg
  • for the coating: 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk

For the cucumbers:

  • 1/2 cucumber
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1-2 pinches of salt

For the hot dogs:

  • 6 hotdog sausauges
  • 1 onion
  • 5 tbsp ketchup
  • 1 tbsp mustard
  • 1/2 tbsp grated horseradish
  • 1 hand full of salad leaves, washed
  • mayonnaise
  • the cucumbers from above
  • 6 hot dog rolls

Ketchup: Peel the onions and chop them roughly. Gently sizzle them in oil for 10 minutes, then add the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, so everything just bubbles, and let it cook openly for 1 hour. Puree everything, put the pot back onto the stove and cook for 15 more minutes. Strain the sauce through a sieve and press everything through with a tablespoon. In the end there should remain only about 1 tbsp of solid ingredients in the sieve. Fill into sterilized jars, store them in the fridge and use them up within 2 months.

Brioche rolls: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead for at least 5 minutes. Dust a working surface with additional flour and keep on kneading the dough in it until it just doesn’t stick anymore. It will still be soft and slightly damp. Put the dough back into the bowl, cover it, and let it rest for 2 hours.

Divide into 6 equal portions, knead them shortly, then form them to balls. Roll them between the working surface and your hands until they have a long shape, just like a sausage. Put them onto a baking tray, covered with a sheet of baking paper, cover it with a dry and clean cloth and let it rest for 30 more minutes. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Mix the remaining egg yolk with the milk and brush it onto the rolls. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Cucumbers: Cut the cucumber into thin slices. Put everything in a pan and heat it up. Cook on medium temperature until the cucumbers are soft.

Hot dogs: Heat up the sausages. Peel the onion and cut it into dices. Mix the ketchup with the mustard and the horseradish. Cut the brioche rolls lengthwise, put in a sausage each and a bit of salad. Garnish with the hot dog sauce, mayonnaise, cucumbers, and onions. Enjoy warm.

Asian food, main dish, meat & fish, soul food

The Feeding of Predators

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20150909-20150909-DSC_7778

Steakhouse owners and -waiters always rejoice in my appearance whenever I step over their threshold: My brightest smile of my face, sparkling eyes that beam with anticipation, and already deeply inhaling the flavours of Heaven… yes. It is time to feed The Predator again. Side dishes, mostly unnecessary anyway, are counter-ordered or simply left aside; my concentration is fixed on the essential. The meat.

Good is what it has to be. A little bit of luxury for a special moment. It should have lived a happy life, a species-appropriate existence on wide meadows under the sun and stars, with a generous selection of yummy grass, various herbs, fresh air, and freedom with an end that was as respectful as possible. Ideals – I know. But they are worth pursuing. In exchange I’d rather savour a little less often, but then properly.

Then the next question: Filet? Or ribeye? Maybe a striploin or t-bone? Marinated? Mediterranean? From the barbecue or out of the pan? The portion for a lady (hardly so…) or for a hungry fellow (much more likely!)?

One thing is always for sure though: For me it has to be rare and bloody! Still wonderfully bright red inside and – here at the latest you detect good quality – tender and delicious. A little bit of marinade or dip to that and the evening is perfect. All that’s missing now is a glass of red wine or a cocktail…

Entrecôte with Miso Dip

Entrecôte with Miso Dip

Inspired by Nigel Slater’s “eat”

Ingredients for 2 portions

  • 400 g entrecôte, one single piece
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 branch of rosemary
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • some oil for frying

For the dip:

  • 1-2 branch of thyme
  • 3 tbsp white or yellow miso paste
  • 1 tbsp apple vinegar
  • 1 gulp of sake or dry sherry (30-50 ml)

Rinse the meat under cold tap water and pat dry. Peel the garlic and chop into slices. Remove the rosemary from the branches, mix with the garlic and the olive oil and rub it into the steak. Cover it and let it marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, better over night.

Heat up a pan and add some oil. Put in the meat and fry it on middle to high heat on both sides until it is to your liking (I prefer it very rare, so I only let it in the pan for 1-2 minutes on each side, medium should take about 8 minutes on each side).

Remove the thyme leaves from the branches and mix with the miso paste and the apple vinegar. When the meat is done remove it from the pan and add the sake. Stir and take the pan off the flame. Add the miso mix.

Cut the meat into thin stripes and serve with the dip.

Eat with rice, roasted potatoes or as a sandwich between to halves of a ciabatta.

– – –

The beautiful lady on the photo above is one of the happy cows of Denmark. I named her Kate and she was my lovely meadow friend for two whole weeks. Then we had to drive back home again…

Asian food, main dish, meat & fish

Listen to Your Heart

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Listen to your heart. It usually tells you what you truly need (and even on what you should give up).

Don’t let things which you can’t change anymore get you down. You can not change them anymore. But you can learn from them.

Be brave and reach for the stars. You are worth it!

And just say “no” from time to time. You are allowed to.

Treat yourself every now and then. No matter if it is reasonable or not – your soul will thank you for it.

Listen to your music. And do more of the stuff that you love.

Just breathe… first because you actually need air and second because calm serenity often brings you further than short temper.

Miso Salmon

And if the day still just does not turn out to be a good one… indulge in something delicious to eat! Because sometimes it is prepared easier than you might think. The salmon in miso paste almost cooks itself on its own in the oven, the rice cooker takes care of the rice, and you should always have gari at home anyway. To that some creamy eggs and a cup of heart-warming tea and everything looks a little brighter already. Wanna bet?

Miso Salmon

Ingredients for 2 portions

  • 2-3 tbsp white or yellow miso paste
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp make
  • 200 g salmon filets with skin, scaled

Mix the miso, mirin, and sake in a dish. Turn the salmon in the marinade, cover the dish and let it rest in the fridge for 60-120 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and brush a little oil on it. Put the salmon onto the tray, skin side down, and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Serve with freshly steamed rice and if you’d like some creamy eggs, some gari, and a cup of tea tea.

main dish, meat & fish, soul food

Good Things Take Time (and Love)

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Venison Lasagna

Some caring attention and time is always nice for proper food, and sometimes exactly what makes the meal present itself in the best light. But time is something that likes to lack in this hasty world. Sometimes even almost too much. So you hurry through daily life, trying to find something – anything – to eat. Because eating is something you just have to do. Right?

But when most of the Christmas turbulences are over and the quiet, long desired tranquility between the years settles over the world, you actually could invest some of this preciousness again.

A nice venison ragout for example can taste a lot better if you just let it simmer patiently to let it soak up even more flavour. Also a bechamel sauce brightens up if you give it time with spices, that make it more aromatic. More fascinating. More round. And if you even have the time and the joy to make you own pasta, you will be rewarded with a lasagna that delights your senses with every single layer and that is worth every tiny bit of work. Creamy, spicy, soothing, and full of loving attention you can taste.

And best you share this piece of art with your most favourite person… because food always tastes better when it is shared.

Venison Lasagna

Venison Lasagna

Ingredients for 2-3 portions

For the venison ragout:

  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 250 g minced venison (without bone)
  • 150 ml strong, red wine (for example Shiraz, Primitivo or Pinotage)
  • 200 ml meat broth of your choice
  • 200 g tomato sauce or simply sieved tomatos
  • 2 laurel leaves
  • 2 juniper berries
  • 2 springs of rosemary
  • 2 springs of thyme 
  • salt and pepper for seasoning

For the pasta layers:

  • 250 g wheat flour
  • 125 ml water
  • 1/2 TL salt

For the bechamel sauce:

  • 25 g butter
  • 25 g flour
  • 450 ml milk
  • 1laurel leaf
  • 1 clove

Additionally:

  • 75 g freshly grated parmesan
  • 75 g freshly grated cheddar

To prepare the ragout melt the butter in a pan on medium to high heat, then add the venison to fry it. Deglaze it with the wine and pour in the broth and tomatoes. Put in the laurel, juniper, rosemary, and thyme, put a lid on the pan, and let the ragout simmer for 2 hours on low heat. Remove from the stove and best let it rest overnight. Season with salt and pepper to your taste and remove the laurel leaves, juniper berries and herb stalks.

Knead the ingredients for the pasta until you have a firm and smooth dough, that is neither wet and clingy nor too dry and dusty. Cover it, let it rest for 1 hour and roll it out very thinly (the thinnest adjustment on your pasta machine, if you happen to have any).

Melt the butter for the bechamel sauce in a pot, mix in the flour and after 2 minutes stir in the milk. Let it simmer on low heat for 5 minutes whilst stirring from time to time before adding the laurel and clove and let it rest on very low heat for about 20 minutes. Remove the laurel and clove.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Pour a thin layer of ragout into a dish or casserole and cover it with one layer of pasta. Add on thin layer of bechamel sauce and cover that with another layer of pasta. Continue until all the ingredients are used up – the last layer should be a bechamel sauce. Sprinkle it with the cheese and bake for about 40 minutes until the surface of the lasagna is golden brown and bubbly.