Duck breast with sweet potato

 

 

Attention! Takes around 1.5 hours to prepare.

Ingredients (for 2 persons)

Preparation You'll need: Casserole dish Medium-sized pot Two small pots A pan
For the duck breast: 450-500 g breast of a barbary duck 1 small onion 1 scant Tbsp. brown cane sugar 150 mL red wine 300 mL duck stock 1 small carrot 1 celery stalk 80 g leek or celery bulb 2 tsp fermented Pondicherry pepper 15 mL port wine 2 Tbsp honey Normal salt and fleur de sel Sunflower oil
For the port onions: 150-200 g red pearl onions (shallots also work, but are not optimal) 150 mL port wine 4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar Salt Sunflower oil
For the sweet potato purée: 500 g sweet potatoes 3 tbsp sweet cream Salt and coarse pepper Nutmeg
Preparation in several steps
Step 1: Preparing the duck breast and sauce Rinse the duck breast and carefully pat dry.Cut into the skin with a sharp knife in both directions - taking care to cut into the meat itself as little as possible. Rub the fat layer with fleur de sel, then place in the centre of an ovenproof dish (skin side up) and set aside. Chop 1 small carrot, 1 celery stalk and 80g leek stalk (not the leaves) or celery bulb and set aside in a bowl. Dice 1 small onion and sauté in sunflower oil in a large pan over high heat, sprinkle with just under 1 tbsp brown cane sugar and sauté until caramel forms (under 5 minutes). Deglaze with 150 mL red wine, add remaining vegetables and reduce over medium heat until only a little liquid remains.Tip into small saucepan, add 300 mL duck stock and simmer gently, covered, for 15 minutes. In the meantime, continue with step 2!
Step 2: Preparing the port wine onions Skin 150 to 200 g of pearl onions/shallots and sauté over a rather high heat (medium heat if shallots) in a pan, with a little sunflower oil, stirring frequently, until dark brown. Preheat the oven to 160℃. Deglaze with 150 mL port, reduce greatly, stirring frequently, to about a quarter. Now add 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar, salt a little and glaze over a low heat for about 5 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.
Step 3: Duck breast in the oven Pour the stock (with vegetables) around the duck in the ovenproof dish. Cook in the oven for about 30-35 minutes (fan oven, 160℃, no lid). After 30 minutes, continue here, in the meantime you can make the sweet potato puree.
Step 4: The sweet potato puree Rinse the sweet potatoes and boil them unpeeled in a medium pot until soft (15 to 20 minutes). Then rinse in cold water, peel with your hands (this is very easy) and return to the empty pot. Add 3 tbsp sweet cream, some grated nutmeg, 2 pinches salt and some coarse ground pepper. Mash with a sturdy mash with a sturdy fork or potato masher. Set aside in the pot.
Last steps After a total of 30 minutes in the oven, check the core temperature of the duck breast; it should have reached 60 to 65℃. If so, park the duck breast on a plate for a short while and continue with the sauce. Otherwise, put it back in the oven for a few minutes. You can also check the sauce now, if it is too dry, you can add some more duck stock (50 to 100 mL), but it should be fine. Tip the sauce through a coarse sieve into a large bowl. Discard the vegetables. Now bring the sauce back to a strong boil in the saucepan for the last few minutes, reducing it slightly. Coarsely grind 2 tsp pondicherry pepper. In a small saucepan, briefly bring 15 mL port, 2 Tbsp honey and the mortared pepper to the boil, then simmer gently for 2 minutes. Set the pot aside. Put the oven on top grill and wait until the grill coil is very hot. Meanwhile, return the duck breast to the empty oven dish (skin side up). Brush the skin with the honey pepper. Next, put the oven dish back in the oven (middle shelf). As this is now done quickly, you can warm up the dinner plates and 2 medium ceramic bowls for sauces underneath. Roast the duck breast for a few minutes until it has browned as desired; remove from the oven, cut into thick strips. Briefly reheat the puree. Arrange some of the duck, sauce, puree and shallots on each plate and sprinkle some of the remaining honey pepper over them. Place the rest of the puree and sauce in the warmed bowls on the table.

Goes well with a strong red wine, e. g. a Spanish Rioja.

Wolffish in Basil Sauce

 

 

Goes well with rice, pasta or potatoes

Preparation You'll need: A pan with lid
Ingredients (for 2 personens) around 400 g Wolffish 1 bunch basil 2 table spoons oil 10 g butter 100 mL fish stock (if you're doing potatoes as side dish, 50 mL would be enough) 200 mL cream (if you're doing potatoes as side dish, 100 mL would be enough) 1 Tbsp. Creme Fraiche Salt, pepper
Preparation Cut the fillet into four pieces. Chop or purée the basil in oil. Melt butter, add the stock and bring to boil. Then slowly simmer the fillets on low to medium heat. Cover with lid. Let the fillets simmer for around 3 minutes on each side. Take the fillets out and set them aside. Add cream to the stock and reduce by half. Add basil and Crème Fraîche, season with salt and pepper. Add the fish again to the sauce and let it simmer covered for 2 or 3 minutes.

Spanish Garlic Shrimps

 

Recipe originally coming from Shuwen Lisa Wu ☺ 
I just changed a few minor things here and there

 

 

Goes well with white bread, baguette or Flatbread Greek style, and a chilled white wine

Preparation You'll need: A casserole dish
Ingredients (for 2 personens) Around 550 g Gambas without shell (with shell 750 to 800 g, if you don't have any other) 150 mL regular olive oil 10 cloves of garlic ½ or 1 Habanero chilli (or 4 to 5 Thai chilis if no Habanero at hand) 3 Tbsp. parsley if you have some coriander green, that you want to get rid of, it goes well with it, too, but do not drop the parsley. ½ tsp paprika (mild) 1 lime (for the juice) Fleur de Sel, ground black pepper
Preparation Preheat the oven on top/convection grill to 140℃. If the shrimps are frozen and or with shell, unfreeze and remove the shell. Mix the paprika powder with the oil, chop the parsley, garlic and the chilli. Put all ingredients with Fleur de Sel and some pepper into the casserole dish and mix well with your hands. Place in the oven (level 4) and grill at 250℃ for about 5-6 minutes. Afterwards stir well and continue to bake fan-assisted at 180℃ for another 5 to 6 minutes. During that time the heat will slowly go down. Then take it out, add the juice of 1 lime, mix well and serve hot immediately.

Rava Dosa (Quick Version)

 

One can eat it like that, but also with a spicy dip or chutney
Could be just a snack during the day, or serve as an entrée for an Indian dinner.

My version of this Recipe

Preparation You'll need: A large frying pan, or Tefal Astucio, or something similar. A large bowl A pastry brush
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 120 g Semolina (Rava) 120 g rice flour 35 g standard wheat flour (or maida, if available) 2 centimetres fresh ginger (chopped) 2 cloves of garlic (chopped) 1 small onion ½ tsp. cumin Salt, Pepper 3 to 4 chilis, chopped Around 500 to 550 mL water Ghee, or simply oil, like peanut oil, to spread on the dosa
Preparation Dice the onion, cut the chilis and put it on the side. Give the other ingredients (but the ghee/oil) into a bowl and mix well. Das ergibt eine sehr dünne Mischung - und so soll es auch sein :-) Bring the pan to high heat and spread some oil on it. Sprinkle some of the chopped onion and the chilis on the pan, then sprinkle with your hand the dough onto the hot pan. Not too much, so that the dosa don't get too thick, but enough that there are no large holes in the dough. As soon as the dough looks dry on the surface, spread some ghee/oil over it. Fry until the bottom side gets brown, that takes some time. Then fold it once and put it on a plate. Repeat all steps.

Geschmälzte Maultaschen

 

 
 

Preparation You'll need: A large pan A small pan A medium-sized pot
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 6 large Maultaschen ca. 500 g Swabian potato salad (buy some or check my recipe) If you want to do your own Swabian potato salad, you have to start significantly earlier. Check the ingredients list ;-) I am not going to talk more about the salad here. 3 medium sized onions 2 table spoons breadcrumbs 750 millilitres broth (beef) Butter Salt
Preparation Cut the onions into thin rings, then heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a pan and melt 1 Tbsp. butter in it. Now slowly fry the onion rings over medium heat for about 15 minutes, turning them over and over again. In the meantime, in a pot with 750 ml meat stock, cook the Maultaschen for a few minutes as prescribed (those from the butcher only up to 5 minutes, those from the burgers about 10 to 15 minutes). As soon as the onion rings start to turn slightly brown, heat them up to medium/high heat and continue frying until they get the desired colour (I like them dark brown). Now salt the onions a little and pour over one, maximum two ladles of the stock (this is called seasoning). Then place two or three Maultaschen in a plate, according to your appetite and the size of the Maultaschen, spread the onions on top and add a little of the sauce (about 3 Tbsp.) from the frying pan. Keep plates warm in the oven. Melt around 2 table spoons of butter in a small pan, best would be to keep the (small) amount of butter in one part of the pan. Add 2 table spoons of breadcrumbs and fry on medium/high heat while stirring continuously until you get a medium brown colour. If needed add a bit of butter or breadcrumbs. It should be just a bit wet, not dry, but you should see any liquid butter anymore. Take the plates from the oven, add the brown breadcrumbs on top of the Maultaschen and either add the potato salad, too, or serve that separately.

Rutabaga puree with vanilla and lime

Preparation You'll need: A masher or handheld mixer A large bowl A small pot
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 350 grams Rutabaga 1 Lime ½ vanilla pod 125 mL milk Salt, white pepper
Preparation Clean the rutabaga and dice it, slowly cook it in a covered pot with salt water for 15 minutes. Clean the lime with hot water and scrape the peel. Take half a vanilla pod and cut it lengthwise and scratch the inside out. Put the milk into a small pot and add the vanilla and the peel of the lime. Bring it to boil, remove the vanilla pod and set it on the side. Pour the rutabaga and let it steam for a short while. Mash them, then slowly add the vanilla milk. After that, add juice of half a lime and season with salt and pepper.

Goes well with all kinds of fish recipes

Goat Cheese Potato Gratin

 

Attention! Preparation time around 90 minutes!

Preparation You'll need: A casserole dish A small pot Ingredients (for 2 persons) 500 g potatoes 2 medium sized tomatoes 250-300 g soft goat cheese 200-250 g Crème fraîche 3 cloves of garlic Some butter Grated pepper and a little nutmeg

Preparation: Bring approx. 5 cm of water to the boil in a pot.Meanwhile, peel 500 g potatoes, cut into thin slices, add about 1 tsp salt to the water and let the potato slices simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes. Then tip into a sieve and drain. Also cut 250-300 g goat's cheese into small pieces so that it melts more quickly. Finely chop 3 cloves of garlic. In the pot, first melt some butter and then the goat's cheese, then add 200-250 g crème fraîche and the garlic, season with pepper and nutmeg. Meanwhile, cut 2 medium tomatoes into thin slices. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Brush the oven dish with a little olive oil and then spread half of the potato slices, then half of the sauce on top. Now pour the rest of the potato slices, the tomato slices on top and finally the rest of the sauce over the top. This now has to go into the oven, first for 30 minutes at 180℃ and then for another 30 minutes or so at 140℃.

Goat Cheese Toast on Salad

 

Ingredients (for 2 to 3 persons) Goat Cheese (200-400 g) Fresh Baguette Salad (like Lollo Bionda) Vinaigrette Maybe some dry-cured ham, like Jamón serrano or Prosciutto di Parma.
Preparation Cut the baguette into slices. Cut the goat cheese into matching sizes and place on the slices. Place in the oven at 200℃ for a few minutes - until the cheese starts to melt. Meanwhile, you can wash the salad and arrange the individual leaves on the plates - pour over the vinaigrette. To serve, place the toasts on top and add the ham decoratively.

Pasta Salad

Preparation You'll need: A large bowl A large pot
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 125 g pasta (e. g. Fusilli, Rigatoni, Tortiglioni, Penne) ½ red bell pepper Some chives, or 2-3 spring onions (only stems and leaves) 1-2 Tomatoes (approx. 175 g) 10 cm cucumber 5 Tbsp liquid of a glass with gherkins Vegetable stock, around 2 to 3 litres, diluted, to cook the pasta in it 2 tsp spicy mustard Some ground pepper 90 g yoghurt 60 g Miracle Whip If there is no meat to go with it (the salad goes well with grilled meat), you could cut 50 g of poultry sausage into it.
Preparation Cook 125 g pasta in diluted vegetable stock. Chop ½ red pepper, approx. 175 g tomatoes, 2-3 spring onions or some chives and 10 cm cucumber into small pieces and add to the bowl. The pasta must be cold (quench), then you can also put it in the bowl. Now add 5 Tbsp cucumber water, 2 tsp mustard, 90 g yoghurt and 60 g Miracle Whip, stir and season with pepper. Stir well again. Chill in the refrigerator for at least half an hour (or overnight), then serve.

Rosa di Parma

 

The original recipe asks for beef fillet, but I took pork. I am surely going to try it with beef sooner or later, but right now I was looking for recipes with pork fillet and this is really tasty.
While looking at several recipes on the web I found two variations of Rosa di Parma (not regarding the kind of meat): One as I did in the recipe below, and one with Marsala and some red wine like Lambrusco. Quite possible that my recipe will change in the future ツ

Goes well with pasta

Preparation You'll need: A casserole dish A pan A small bowl
Ingredients (for 2 persons) Pork fillet, ca. 400 to 450 g You should ask your butcher to get that out of a piece, as large as possible, so that its diameter isn't so small. Pork fillets just aren't that big. With beef (as in the original recipe) it's easier. 4 leaves of Sage 3 cloves of garlic ½ twig rosemary ½ tea spoon salt ½ tea spoon black ground pepper 3 or 4 slices of Parma ham 50 g Parmesan Olive oil Kitchen twine
Preparation Finely chop the sage, garlic and rosemary. Give into a small bowl, together with salt and pepper. Mix well with 2 Tsp. olive oil, set aside. Cut the fillet in double butterfly cut, so that you can unfold it length wise: First one cut one third down, make sure you cut very deep, but without opening the meat on the opposite side. Turn the meat around so that you can cut it on the other side, this time two thirds down. With a thin pork fillet, this is a bit more difficult, which is why it's so important to get one with a rather large diameter, preferably without the thinner end pieces. Flatten the unfolded meat with your hands, cover with the Parma ham and spread the Parmesan over it, leaving a border of 1 or 2 centimetres. Carefully roll up the meat and tie with kitchen twine. Rub the meat with the herb mixture. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat and fry the meat on all sides until brown, around 5 or 6 minutes. Put the meat into the oven and roast (covered) for around 25 to 30 minutes. In the meantime you can prepare for instance Pasta and tomato sauce. When done, remove the twine and cut the roast into 2 centimetre thick slices.