Muffuletta

 

My take on the Italian/American Speciality from New Orleans.
I only did it once so far, and we liked it. But I am going to change a few things, making it less "original". For instance, we missed tomatoes.

Attention! This has to be done one day in advance! The muffuletta then goes one day into the fridge.

Preparation You'll need: A bowl with lid out of glass or caramic A large bowl for the dough
Ingredients for the Muffuletta itself (for 2 persons) 180 mL warm water 15 g yeast some icing sugar 180 g standard flour 90 g bread flour (I took French T65) 1½ tsp salt 20 g lard (I took Griebenschmalz, German lard with crispy pieces of pork skin) 1 Tbsp sesame seeds 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 egg (one only needs a little bit, so if you do more dough for four persons, one egg will still be enough) 1 Tbsp cold water
Ingredients for the filling (for 2 persons) 60 g pimento-stuffed green olives 30 g Kalamata olives 2 cloves of garlic 1 Tbsp capers 1 Tbsp of celery stalk 1 Tbsp of carrot 30 g pepperoncini 15 g marinated cocktail onions ½ tsp dried oregano 1 Tbsp fresh basil ½ tsp ground black pepper 75 mL olive oil 25 mL sunflower oil 80 g Genoa salami (or a real Italian salami, out of beef or beef and pork mixed), thin slices, could have pepper corns inside 80 g cooked Italian ham, thin slices 80 g Mortadella, thin slices 70 g Mozzarella, sliced (alternative: Edamer) 70 g Gruyere, sliced (Original version: Provolone) 2 medium sized ripe tomatoes, sliced (Original version: no tomatoes, but 20 g of chopped pickled cauliflower)
Preparation of the olive salad (4 to 5 hours before assembling the sandwich) Chop the green olives, remove the seeds of the kalamata olives, chop them, too. Add the capers, pepperoncini and the cocktail onions, chop again. Dry of that mass with kitchen paper (or the bread with get too wet). Add to the bowl. Add oregano (½ tsp), cloves of garlic (2-3, chopped), celery stalk and carrot (1 Tbsp ea., cut small), basil (1 Tbsp, chopped), ground pepper (½ tsp), red wine vinegar (30 mL), olive oil (90 mL) and sunflower oil (50 mL) and mix well. Cover with lid and place in fridge.
Preparation of the dough (ca. 3 hours before assembling the sandwich) Give the flour (180 g and 90 g), salt (1½ tsp) and lard (20 g) into the large bowl. Mix, press a dent into it. Into that give the yeast (15 g), some icing sugar and a bit of the warm water. Put 15 minutes on the side. Mix again, the pour in several steps the rest of the water while kneading the dough, until the dough comes together. Then strongly knead the dough on a floured work surface for 10 minutes. Form into a ball, coat with olive oil put it aside in the bowl for 1½ hours, losely covered (I always put dough into the oven at 30℃). Take the dough out, knead it again for a short time. Spread some olive oil on a baking try. From a flat round out of the dough, around 1½ centimetres thick, place it on the try. Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds (1 Tbsp), press the seeds lightly with your hands into the dough. Place the tray on the side for 1 hour (Oven, 30℃). Prehead the oven at 220℃ (convection). Brush the surface of the flat bread with egg wash (1 eg, 2 Tbsp cold water). Place into the oven and bake it first for 10 minutes at 220℃, then continue for another 20 to 25 minutes at 190℃. When the bread is golden brown, take it out and let it cool down.
Stacking the bread When the bread has cooled, take a large bread knife and cut the bread in half horizontally. Spread half of the olive salad (including the oil) on each of the pieces of bread. Layer the bottom half with half of salami, ham and mortadella. Place on top all of the cheese (Mozzarella and Gruyere). The place on top the rest of the mortadella, ham and salami, in reversed order. Carefully place the upper half on top and wrap it in cling film. Place for at least half a day into the fridge. Just before you want to eat the Muffuletta, preheat the oven at 190℃, then heat up the bread for just 5 minutes - the bread should be nicely warm on the outside, but still cold inside.

Cheesecake Verrine with Fruits

 

Attention! This goes into the refrigerator for 5 hours!

Carinne's taking over ChezTeddy for this dessert :-)

Preparation A little dish Two bowls Four glasses
Ingredients (for 4 persons) For the base: 15 wholemeal biscuits 30 g sugar 65 g butter The cream: 200 g cream cheese (in the original recipe it's Mascarpone) 30 g icing sugar 1 sachet vanillin sugar The fruits: Frozen fruits, e. g. raspberries, bilberries
The base Crumble the biscuits in a bowl with your hands, not too fine. Add melted butter and sugar, mix well. Put in the refridgerator.
The cream Mix the cream with icing sugar and vanillin sugar.
Build the cake First spread the base equally in the four glasses, don't compact it too much, then the cream. But the still frozen fruits on top. Put that into the fridge for 5 hours.

Snacks with white bread

 

 

 

For people in a hurry: Done in 5 minutes and not your usual snack.

Ingredients (for 2 persons) 4 slices of white bread 100 g farmer cheese or cream cheese 1 large Tbsp. creamed horseradish 1 pack sliced smoked salmon (ca. 100 g) Some cucumber
Preparation Mix the cheese and horseradish well. Spread on the bread. Cut several thin slices of the cucumber and put on two of the four slices. Put the slices of smokes salmon on the other two. Finally cut all slices in quarters.

Spanish Chicken

 

Goes well with farmhouse bread, Baguette or Greek flatbread

Attention! Preparation time ca. 1.5 hours!

Preparation You'll need: A Tajine (or a casserole dish with tighly closing lid) A pan with lid
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 2 chicken legs 40 g Serrano ham ½ red and ½ green bell-pepper 2 medium-sized onions 1 Tetra-pak chopped tomatoes (500 g) 4 cloves of garlic 1½ heaped tsp. Pimentón Dulce Ahumado (Spanish smoked sweet paprika) 1½ bay leaves 1 lemon (bio) ½ bunch of parsley Olive oil Salt and pepper
First steps Fry the chicken legs in regular olive oil on medium high heat (6) on both sides until they are dark brown. This will take some time - in the meantime you can prepare the other ingredients: Coarsly chop the 2 onions, cut the bell-pepper halves into large pieces (2 to 3 cm), put together aside. Rinse and pluck half a bunch of parsley Remove the skin of the 4 cloves of garlic, press and finely chop them. Cut 40 g Serrano ham into small pieces Zest 1 complete lemon, juice one half of it.
Preparation Pre-heat the oven at 180℃. As soon as the chicken legs are brown, set them in Tajine aside. Now sauté the onions and bell-pepper in that oil for 5 minutes, also on medium heat. Then add the garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, Serrano ham, 1½ heaped tsp. pimentón, lemon zest and juice (20 mL), bay leaves and most of the parsley (the rest of the parsley will be used at the end). Mix well, season with salt and pepper, pour into the Tajine next to the chicken legs. Put the chicken legs on top, close with the lid and bake for 40 to 45 minutes (depending on the size of the legs) at 180℃ (convection). After the 40 to 45 minutes, remove the lid, continue to bake for another 15 minutes.
Serve To serve first remove the legs for a moment, season the sauce again if necessary, put the sauce on the plates, garnish with parsley, place the legs on top.