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.

Gözleme

Preparation You'll need: A large pan A pastry brush
Ingredients (As a snack or a starter for 2 persons, yields 2 Gözleme) 120 g flour 1 Tbsp Sunflower Oil ½ tsp salt 60 to 75 ml water Ingredients for stuffing ½ bunch parsley 75 g feta cheese 4 cloves of garlic 2 chilis Additionally: 1 tsp. butter, to brush the finished Gözleme
Preparation Mix 120 g flour, 1 Tbsp oil, ½ tsp salz and 60 to 75 ml water. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Split in two pieces, roll them in dough and let them rest for 10 minutes. In the meantime you can wash, pluck and roughly chop the parsley. Press or finely chop the garlic, also finely chop the chilis. After the resting time spread one of the pieces of dough as thin as possible. Sprinkle half of the stuffing (feta - crumble it with your hands, chilis, parsley and garlic) over the center part of the dough. Repeat with second piece. Bring pan to middle to high heat (7). In the meantime you can wrap the flatbread. You have to fold the outer thirds over the center section - first the lower and the upper then the left and right parts to get a small parcel. Press a bit on top with your hand. Place the two pacels in the pan and bake until the bottom side gets brown, the turn around. In the meantime you can carefully melt 2 tsp butter in the microwave. After the first side is brown, the parcels are stable enough to turn them around easily, until both sides reach the desired colour - we like them rather dark brown. As soon as you turned the flatbread around the last time, and the upper side is to your liking lightly brush some melted butter on top. When the bottom side reached the desired colour, too, you can serve the Gözleme.

Gözleme

 

Vorbereitung Dafür braucht man: Eine große Pfanne Ein Backpinsel
Zutaten für den Teig (Als Snack oder Vorspreise für 2 Personen, ergibt 2 Gözleme) 120 g Mehl 1 EL Sonnenblumenöl ½ TL Salz 60-75 ml Wasser Zutaten für die Füllung ½ Bund Peterling 75 g Schafskäse 4 Knoblauchzehen 2 Chilis Zusätzlich: 1 TL Butter zum Einpinseln
Zubereitung 120g Mehl, 1 EL Öl, ½ TL Salz und 60-75ml Wasser zu einem Teig mischen. Ca. 5 Minuten kneten. Danach halbieren, zwei Kugeln formen, in Mehl rollen und 10 Minuten ruhen lassen. In der Zwischenzeit kann man den Peterling waschen, zupfen und grob hacken. Die Knoblauchzehen fein hacken oder pressen. Die Chilis ebenfalls fein hacken. Nach der Ruhezeit einen der beiden Teiglinge möglichst dünn ausrollen. Die Hälfte der Füllung (Schafskäse - mit der Hand zerbröseln, Chilis, Knoblauch und Peterling) in die Mitte des Fladens streuen. Mit dem zweiten Teigling wiederholen. Pfanne auf mittlere bis hohe Hitze (Stufe 7) bringen. In der Zwischenzeit kann man die Fladen falten. Dazu die äußeren Drittel über das mittlere klappen - zuerst das untere, dann das obere, dann das linke und das rechte, um so ein kleines Päckchen zu erhalten. Mit den Händen das ganze noch etwas festdrücken. Die beiden Päckchen nun in die Pfanne legen und so lange backen, bis die Unterseite braun wird, dann umdrehen und wieder backen, bis die Unterseite braun wird. In der Zwischenzeit kann man in der Mikrowelle vorsichtig 2 TL Butter schmelzen. Die Päckchen sind nach dem Bräunen der ersten Seite soweit stabil, daß man sie nun beliebig umdrehen kann, bis sie auf beiden Seiten die gewünschte Bräunung haben - wir mögen sie recht dunkel. Sobald die Fladen das letzte Mal umgedreht wurden, und die obere Seite schon die gewünschte Bräunung hat, die Oberseite leicht mit geschmolzenem Butter einpinseln. Wenn die Unterseite dann auch soweit ist, kann man servieren.

Rabbit Provençal

 

Goes well with Baguette, Fougasse, or Greek flatbread

Attention! Preparation time a little more than 1 hour!

Preparation You'll only need: A large roaster with lid A large bowl to set the veggies aside A small bowl to set the shallots aside
Ingredients (for 3 persons) 1 whole rabbit 200 g shallots 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green) 10 dried apricots (if possible it should be the soft ones, not the completely dried ones) 600 g tomatoes 100 g fennel 2 cloves of garlic 20 black olives 1 Tbsp. tomato paste 1 Tbsp. ricard 2-3 stems thyme (if you use dried crushed thyme: 1 Tbsp.) Salt, pepper, mild paprika Ca. 100 mL water
Preparations Clean the bell pepper, cut into halves, remove all the seeds and the white membranes inside, cut in stripes. Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters, depending on size. If using fresh thyme, rinse. Finely chop the cloves of garlic. Rinse the fennel and cut into small pieces. Put everything, including apricots aside in large bowl. Peel the shallots and cut them into halves, set aside in small bowl. Rinse the rabbit, pat dry with paper towel, remove head if it's the full rabbit, and cut into several pieces with a cleaver. Rub the pieces with salt, pepper and mild paprika.
Cooking Quick-fry the pieces of rabbit in a roaster in regular olive oil, until they have the desired brownish colour, remove and set aside. Quick-fry the shallots until they are medium brown, around 2 to 4 minutes. Add tomato paste (1 Tbsp.), turn heat down to medium, and continue to fry for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add all the vegetables, stir well, season with salt and pepper. Add the rabbit again, as well as 1 Tbsp. Ricard, 100 mL water and 20 olives, and let simmer covered at medium heat for about 30 minutes, stirring from time to time, always check for moisture and add water if necessary.

Fish with Citrus Sauce

 

This goes well with baguette or Flatbread Greek style and a cool white wine.

Attention! The recipe takes around 60 to 90 minutes preparation time!

Preparation You'll need: A pan with lid A small pot A potato peeler, such as this one (I really like it).
Ingredients for the Orange Butter Sauce (for 2 persons) 4 medium or 3 large organic oranges (also for the zest) 1 lemon 175 millilitres white wine (dry) 150g butter 1 shallot Salt and ground white pepper
Ingredients for the vegetables (for 2 persons) 1 thin long courgette 1 or 2 medium sized carrots 3 spring onions (it's the leaves that are needed) Around 10 cherry tomatoes (depending on size) 2 boxes of garden cress olive oil salt
The fish 2 salmon loins, Sushi quality (to sweat on just one side), if one doesn't like dry or fried fish, or: 2 steaks of fish (to fry), like (albacore) tuna (ea. around 150 to 200 grams), swordfish (ea. around 250 grams if with bones) or similar olive oil
Starting with the citrus sauce Zest one orange and the lemon completely (around 7 g each), then fillet one half of an orange (remove the skin completely), finally press the remainder of the oranges for the 250 ml juice. Pour 175 ml white wine in a small pot, add zest and orange juice. Finely chop the shallot, also add to the saucepan and start reducing straight away, over a medium heat. Set the orange fillets in a small dish on the side. Put 150 grams of butter in small pieces into a dish and put that back into the fridge.
Reducing the citrus sauce Cook on medium to high heat, reduce to a syrupy consistence. This might well take 30 minutes. In the mean time you can continue with the veggies, but don't forget to stir the sauce every now and then. ;-)
Preparing the veggies Cut 1 or 2 carrots and the courgette into thin slices - you could take the potato peeler mentioned above for that. Cut the green leaves of 3 spring onions into 4 or 5 centimetres long pieces. Leave the 10 cherry tomatoes as they are. Rinse the cress and keep on the side for when everything is on the plate.
Cooking the veggies You can start with this 10 minutes later... First, turn the oven up to 80℃ and put in a medium ceramic bowl (big enough for the vegetables). Put a good amount of olive oil in the pan, switch to medium heat (not higher!). Put in the carrot slices, cover, after 5-8 minutes add the courgette slices and the spring onion leaves, lightly salt. Cover and let the whole thing simmer gently, maybe even go down to low heat. Timing-wise, this roughly fits the finishing of the following sections. Towards the end, test a piece of carrot, the vegetables should be soft, but still "al dente". Then transfer to the preheated bowl and into the oven to keep warm. Now switch back to the butter sauce, but turn the vegetables every now and then.
Adding the butter to the orange syrup (as soon as the citrus sauce is thick enough) Take the butter out of the fridge and stir it in with a whisk in small portions (about one to two tablespoons), stirring constantly over a low heat. The sauce must not boil! This will take about 5 minutes, don't forget to turn the vegetables. In between, salt the vegetables and add the tomatoes.
Prepare the fish When you're done with the butter sauce, turn the heat down to low, season with salt and white pepper to taste, stirring occasionally. Salt the vegetables and put them in a bowl when ready. Put it in the oven at low heat - you can also put the plates to warm them up. Wipe out the pan just briefly with a kitchen towel and then use it for the fish Sweat the salmon Sweat the salmon in some olive oil on medium heat (covered). Sweat only until the top doesn't look complety raw anymore. Do not turn, serve as it is then. Or: Fry the tuna / swordfish Fry the fish on medium heat until it's well done. Salt lightly. When you're done (or the fish), arrange everything a your plates (don't forget the orange fillets ;-), cut the cress with scissors and sprinkle them on top of the veggies. Serve with cold white wine and some fresh white bread.

Lasagna (Real Italian Recipe)

 

Recipe coming from Laura Lai ☺

ChezTeddy Tip: I always do a double portion and freeze one lasagna.

To make sure that the second lasagna tastes just as good as the first one, mind this:

1. Don't put cheese on top, before you freeze it! Put the cheese, freshly grated on top before you put it (unfrozen) into the oven.
2. Freeze wrapped airtight in clingfilm, take care that there's as little as possible air between the lasagna and the film (push the film).
3. Don't take the lasagna out of the freezer and throw it into the oven. Take it out one day in advance and put it into the fridge. Let it thaw slowly.
4. After grating the cheese on top, put the lasagne into the not pre-heated oven and bake it at 160℃. After half an hour you can turn the heat to 200℃ erhöhen, depending on the browning of the cheese.

Attention! This will take over 3 hours to prepare!

Green salad goes well with this.

Preparation You'll need: A medium sized, or large (for 2x lasagna) pot A small pot Medium sized casserole dish Mine has the width and length to fit one pasta noodle.
Ingredients for the tomato sauce (for 2 persons) For an additional portion to freeze, double the ingredients 250 grams minced meat (beef) ½ onion (medium sized) 1 large thai chili, if you feel like it (I do) 1 small carrot ½ to 1 celery stalk A slug of white wine - for the sauce, not to drink (ᵔᴥᵔ) 1 Tetra Pak sieved tomatoes (500 mL) ½ tea spoon salt, a bit ground pepper ½ rosmary twig
Ingredients for the bechamel (for 2 persons) For an additional portion to freeze, double the ingredients 30 g butter 30 g flour 300 mL milk A bit salt and nutmeg
Other ingredients If an additional portion will be frozen, you don't have to double the cheese. The cheese for the frozen Lasagne mußt be bought when that one goes into the oven. 6 or 7 lasagna noodles 50 grams grated Emmentaler or Gruyère cheese, and 50 grams grated Parmesan cheese Green salad, if you feel like it.
Cooking the tomato sauce Fine dice the onion, carrot, celery (and the chili if you want) and sweat them in hot oil in the medium/large pot for a few minutes. Add the minced meat and fry on medium to high heat until the meat starts to stick to the pot and turn brown. Only then add the slug of white wine, the sieved tomatoes, ½-¾ tsp salt, some pepper and Rosemary (chopped). Let it simmer on low heat for up to two hours. With the Bechamel you could start a quarter or half an hour before the two hours are over.
Cooking the bechamel Take the 300 ml milk out of the fridge a bit earlier, so that it is not so cold. Melt 30 g butter in small pieces (medium-low heat). Slowly add 30 g flour while stirring. Stir until smooth. Slowly add the milk and let it cook for 20 to 25 minutes on high heat (level 4/5 or maybe 5/5) while continuously stirring. Or you've got a Saucier (see picture) and do it the easy way. Same procedure, but not having to stir yourself. Season with salt and nutmeg.
Putting everything together Preheat the oven to 160℃. Take the casserole and put a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, place a lasagna pasta on top, then do one layer of bechamel, add another pasta. Keep doing that until the stuff is used up, or the dish is full ツ. Finally grate plenty of Parmesan and Emmentaler/Gruyère cheese on top and put it in the oven. After 20 minutes you may turn the heat up to 200, if the cheese isn't getting brown.

Aubergine with Pomegranate and Tahini

 

I've found an interesting recipe on SPON (Spiegel Online) (in German), and wanted to see if it tastes as good as it seemed. And, indeed, it's great. I adjusted the amounts to our tastes but didn't change that much. The recipe is by the Israeli Yotam Ottolenghi and the Palestinian Sami Tamimi, who have met in London as chefs.

Preparation You'll need: A few small bowls Brush A mortar A small pan
Ingredients (for 2 persons) One large Aubergine 1 Pomegranate 4 Tbsp. pomegranate sirop 100 ml olive oil 150 g Greek or Turkish Yoghurt (e. g. Süzme) 1 clove of garlic 1 Tbsp. Tahini ½ tsp. coriandre seeds Some cilantro Salt and White Pepper
Preparation Whisk Sirop, olive oil and ⅓ tea spoon salt in a small bowl Cut the Aubergines (if you want, peel them first) in slices (around 1 to 2 centimetres thick). Dab both sides with the sirop and roast them on baking paper in the convection oven at 200℃. Turn them after half the time and if necessary, dab the upper side again with some of the remaining sirop.
Further steps while the aubergine is in the oven: Whisk 150 g Yoghurt, 1 Tbsp. Tahini, 1 clove of garlic (chopped), 2 pinches of salt and 1 pinch of pepper. Remove 20 g of seeds from the pomegranate (that's maybe just one quarter) and clean them. Clean the cilantro and pluck the leaves (don't take too many). Fry the coriandre seeds in a pan and grind them just a bit in a mortar.
Place it on a large plate. Place the slices on a large plate, they should overlap a bit and it shouldn't look too orderly. Put the yoghurt on them with a spoon and sprinkle the pomegranate and coriandre seeds over them. Decorate with the cilantro leaves.