Brataepfel - baked apples

One of simplest desserts and unguilty pleasures in the wintertime is this hot fruit assembly - here is one version I like a lot.

This also goes really well with Gluehwein.

Cut 4 apples in half and take the core out.
Fill each apple with raisins, powder cinnamon over them, and turn them upside down in a baking form. Add some raisins & cinnamon also between the apples. Add brown sugar over the apples, about two to three table spoons, and pour enough red wine (merlot works great, or a dry chianti) over it, enough to cover the bottom of the pan and somewhat the raisins, and add a few pieces of unsalted butter between the apple halves.

Bake this at 400 deg F for about 30 minutes.. and enjoy :)

The classical german version of this is typically without redwine, with whole apples without cores (cut out with a special core cutter), filled with raisins and sugar, mostly cinnamon, and sometimes hazelnuts, and also drizzled with honey.
In some parts of germany the Brataepfel are eaten with a hot vanilla sauce, in my home area rather on their own.

Lime-Chili Baiser/Meringue

I'm in the mood for a lemony-spicy dessert - it's too cold for icecream - I'm not in the mood for creamy stuff anyway, and would like some kind of crunch experience.. and it should be something I have not tried before.

How about lime-chili-baiser?

Baiser (which you might know better as Meringue) are an unusual pastry, simply eggwhites wipped stiff with sugar, and baked until completely dry. In this case, for 2 hours at 266 deg F or 130 deg C.
Classically, they are used as a cake base, as baskets to be filled with fruits, as little desserts and ornaments.
In that sense, I'm doing a very classical thing here, just the flavoring is a bit .. unusual.
I used a zester to peel the skin of two limes:


The zest I put in a food processor with 225 g sugar, until the sugar has a lightly green tint and the zest shows up as little green speckles.
This I put in the fridge over night, first because I did not have time that night to finish the Baiser, second in the hope that the lime flavor would intensify with time.
Today, I wipped 5 egg white with the sugar until it was stiff:
Then I measured off little "dumplings" from this baiser-dough with two spoons onto a baking sheet, and baked them at 266 deg F for two hours. This is how they look afterwards:
Now, this was the version with pure lime, assuming that one cannot go wrong with this flavor, and having enough left over to mix with a chili baiser that would be much more risky..

Same procedure with the chili: I put half a red jalapeno pepper with 100 g sugar into the processor until the sugar was lightly reddish/pink. I removed the bigger chunks of pepper at that point, because the hotness will definitely intensify with time and baking. It should be a nice kick, not a punch in the face..

This sugar I whipped with 2 eggwhites, and lifted that carefully under the left over lime baiser - creating a red-green marbled baiser, that is limey and spicy and sweet. :)


Note to self - and you - the chili version needs some experimentation. Actually, zest of two limes for 4-5 egg whites turned out perfect, creating a wonderful lime smell and flavor, which turns down the sweetness a little and gives the whole pastry a real unique touch, to the point that you can eat lots of them without feeling sugared-out. Very very nice.
I think, next time I would add chili to that mix, rather than replace part of the lime with a pure chili-baiser, simply because the lime works so well, and the chili adds an accent which is very nice, but does not tone down the sweetness. My chili turned out too weak, you had a slight aftertaste, a light hotness in the background which was not bad but way weaker than I had intended. Next time - more chili? Cayenne pepper? The concept is great though, and the lime baiser are phantastic....

Crazy fusion

My friend says I am the craziest fusion cook he knows. Him being crazy himself, I take it as a compliment, and feel compelled to share what triggered his remark.

I wanted to cook something quickly. I had chicken. Spaghetti are fast. And I had fresh tomatoes from the garden of good friends. There are always onions and various spices around.
Simple.
But now about that madness aspect of it...
Take some garam masala and curry powder (or ingredients thereof of your choice), fry it in a little olive oil, add some chopped onion and black pepper, until the spices' smell reaches its peak. Then add the chicken (pieces of breast meat in that case) to brown it and get it happily accustomed to its flavoring friends. When the chicken is nice and brown, add some tomatoes, and to give it a little edge, some apple cider vinegar. Just a dash will do to bring out the tomato acidity a little better and contrast what is coming next: add the raisins.
Oh, I forgot that chili pepper I threw in with the spices for good measure.. but you probably thought of that yourself..And this is how this fused italian curry looks on spaghetti..
Oh, and what my friend means with "crazy" is "crazy good"..

Potapigrapesagne

With all that talk about swine flu I got inspired.
Actually, that's a lie.
I just have a thing for pork in combination with all fruits I can find in my kitchen. Somehow it always works.

It may have to do with my mom's cooking.
It may be related to the sweet&savory combination dishes that are normal in Saarland.
Or it plain and simply just tastes good..

Here just quickly another example in the long list of fruity animals I have delivered at this site already -
olive oil in the pan, lay it out with potato slices. They fry a tiny bit, optimally to get them a bit brown (my impatience and hunger did not allow that to happen this time..)
Then lay thin pork cutlets on top of the potatoes, add a layer of grapes, then a layer of apple, throw some spring onion, thyme (generous!), black pepper and salt over this potapigrape-sagne, cover with a lid, set to something in the medium range and walk away.
Eventually, come back (I would suggest after 15 minutes; smell-driven also earlier).This is one of those dishes that you will keep in your list of quick and dirty yet amazing. Promised. :)

Apple of many seeds

Sometimes the world is so in admiration of something, that it cannot get enough of it - over and over you encounter this one single item, as if there is nothing else noteworthy in this life. So, you trust the spirits, the vibes, the improbability accumulation and your coincidence detector, and enjoy what is offered to you.

Good choice!

That's how it felt to me last week, when I repeatedly encountered pomegranates in all forms and disguises.A worthy fruit to be detected, discovered, and deliciously combined with flavors, textures and colors.

So, what did I encounter? I'll focus on two only, to not overwhelm the worthy fruit-lover..

First, pomegranate icecream with chocolate chips. DARK chocolate, that is. I know people who cannot stand the combination of fruit & choc, but I really love it. Pomegranate is the perfect candidate for such a mix, because it brings a robust acidity into the marriage, paired with distinct fruitiness - together with the rich aroma of cocoa beans this adds up to something that does not allow not to be eaten up. Entirely. And still, you feel really okay afterwards!
Second: The next wonder of the pomegranate world I met was at "Jayne's gastropub" in San Diego. If you're in the area, check it out - it is a beautiful little restaurant, all european feeling, where me and my two german friends were debating which place in Germany (or France?) (or where?) this looked similar to. Beautiful tile floor (reminding me of my grandparents house), walls half dark wooden, half white, covered with large mirrors, a british flag and other treasures from across the sea.. the kitchen open, visible from the bar, with beautiful stainless steel gas stove in action - sip on your first glass of Cabernet and enjoy the skillful wrist movements of the chef that let the skillet merely wiggle, but every food in it jumps up & down, just like you inside. I'm like a big kid in a toystore in these kind of places.

Here is what I ate:
Oven Roasted Maple Leaf Duck Breast potato gnocchi, savoy cabbage, spinach, pearl onions, shitake & cremini mushrooms, pomegranate balsamic reduction
The picture I found is only similar, I was too focused during dinner to remember taking a picture.. my duck actually was medium rare, nice and red inside, grilled & almost crispy outside - the gnocchi and vegetable were tossed together, a really great combination, gnocchi, savoy cabbage & spinach? Man, so phantastic.. Savoy cabbage is pure magic anyway..
But the pomegranate sauce was really interesting - I'm not entirely convinced that there is something gained from adding balsamico to pomegranate, because they both hit the same spots, fruity, only lightly sweet, acidic.. but that is just me wondering - the result, along with the duck dipped in it, was beautiful and very tasty.

Let this be enough of my pomegranate encounters. Check out this site here to dive deeper.. enjoy & let me know how your encounters turned out!

Fruity animals

To continue with the fruit-meat combinations, here another one I made quite a while ago:
Pork-apple stew
This is based on onions seared to being soft & golden, and pork pieces fried to have some color; at that point I added pieces of good textured apples, fried them a little bit as well, spiced it all up with a dash of cayenne pepper, and lastly took the heat off with cider vinegar, adding more fruity acid and giving it the final kick.
Simmering that cider vinegar away to have everything blend together gives you the chance to adjust how sour it tastes - some of it will cook off, but don't forget that the Cayenne pepper gains in power as you cook this longer...

A good idea is also to move this a little more in the indian corner, by starting to fry onions with cumin, turmeric and coriander seeds, and maybe some fenugrek, which adds a almost meaty flavor to the whole concept. Less acid in that case is key, but more cayenne might be good.

Any other interesting meat & fruit ideas? Let me know!

Cordon vert

My last night's dinner reminded me on another variation on the theme of fruit, pork & cheese.. Cordon vert.
No worries, you have not forgotten anything essential, I made that one up. Still good.

A dish very typical for rural area german restaurants is "Cordon bleu" (blue ribbon, supposedly not named after the culinary school, but after the blue ribbon of excellence), also common in Austria, I assume. It is veal cut open and filled with cheese and ham, battered and fried, similar to a "Wiener Schnitzel", just stuffed, as can be seen on the right.


My "cordon vert" (green ribbon), first of all, is with pork, i.e. makes the ham obsolete, is not battered, has a different cheese (correct, my alltime favorite gruyere), and is green, because it contains fruit/veggie matter. The upscale healthy choice, sort of.

This is before frying it:Pork cutlet or pork chop without bones, filled with apple slices and gruyere, fried with black pepper, parsley and spring onions.
This is it when it's done, ready for the happy eater:
Enjoy :)

Himmel und... heaven too

Do you know "Himmel & Erde"? It is a traditional german dish with potatoes and apples. Enough said, happiness included.
There is something else going in that direction, combining potatoes & pears - no discussion there either. Yum. (Does anyone know that dish under some name? Am I making that up? No matter, tastes great..)
One step further: add gruyere to the above. Okay? Easy, that is basically nothing else but a traditional Raclette (with gruyere instead of raclette cheese, admittedly): hot potatoes, good cheese molten on top, pear in some form (admittedly, not in Eau de vie form, but that is a very good candidate for accompanying or following this dish).

Yes?
Oh, yes...
Here is today's heavenly dinner:
starting with olive oil, one layer of sliced potatoe, chopped onion, garlic, nutmeg, salt, & black pepper.
Next layer: fried pork chop cubes.
next: pear, in this case fresh from my friends garden, i.e. locally & organically grown, and so tasty on their own..
Then: sliced/cubed gruyere (Kaltbach, i.e. aged in a cave, that is the reserve of gruyere... imagine that!)
Bake it for 25 minutes at 400-420 deg F (or til it smells amazing & the potatos are soft).
This is how it looks then:Himmel, heaven, and then some..
bon appetit :)