Braised duck in a fine sauce

 

Very tasty duck drumsticks with a great sauce.

Attention!
Here red cabbage is a must (homemade). Make this the day before (tastes better).
Also Kartoffelknödel (potato dumplings) go well with it.
Preparation time for the drumsticks approx. 2.5 to 3 hours!

Preparation You'll need: An oven-safe pan with a lid, a roaster that seals well or a tajine (that's what I use). A small pan A small pot for the red cabbage from the previous day
Ingredients (for 2 people). 2 drumsticks of Barbarie duck (approx. 350 g each) We don't find duck breast so great with that sauce. 2 medium red onions 1 medium carrot (approx. 75-100 g) 1 small piece of celery root (approx. 75-100 g) just under 2 Tbsp. clarified butter/ghee (the fat from foie gras also fits perfectly) 1 tsp. brown cane sugar 50 mL port wine 300 mL red wine Approx. 350 ml broth (preferably duck, if you can't find that, game, or poultry in a pinch). 2-3 tsp plum jam 4 tsp redcurrant jelly 8 bay leaves 1 star anise 2-3 tsp Mondamin Gravy thickener for dark sauces or simply cornflour Salt and pepper from the mill Nutmeg, possibly some cinnamon
Preparation Roughly dice 2 medium red onions, 75-100 g carrot and 75-100 g celery root, set aside. Rinse the duck legs, pat dry, salt.Heat about 1 Tbsp clarified butter in pan/broiler and sear drumsticks briefly on both sides over medium-high heat until just lightly browned. Set aside. In the used pan, now sauté the root vegetables for a few minutes (for the roasted flavours of the drumsticks). Sprinkle with 1 tsp. cane sugar and caramelise. Deglaze with 50 mL port wine, continue to fry until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Preheat the oven to 140℃ (fan oven). Add 300 mL red wine and approx. 350 mL stock, bring to the boil briefly. Place the duck legs in the stock, add 8 bay leaves and 1 star anise. Then place in the oven, covered, and braise for 2 hours. 2 hours time for other things ☺
Last steps Now put the pan/roaster back on the cooker, put the duck legs on the side and tip the stock through a sieve back into the pan. Discard the collected root vegetables, as well as the bay leaves and star anise. Reduce the stock by half over a high heat. Now it would be time to warm up the red cabbage from the previous day in a small saucepan. Thicken the reduced stock with 2-3 tsp Mondamin (for dark sauces) or cornflour, reduce again slightly if necessary. Season well with salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch of cinnamon and 2-3 tsp. of plum jam. As soon as everything is right with the sauce (taste and consistency), pour it back into the tajine, add the duck legs and grill in the oven (level 4, grill, 250℃) until the skin is a nice dark brown. Now serve with the side dishes, such as red cabbage and/or marrons and (separately) some redcurrant jelly.

Red Cabbage

 

 

Delicious side dish with poultry, game or Wiener schnitzel

Preparation You'll need: A medium pot with lid
Ingredients (for 3-4 people, as you can easily keep this in the fridge for a week, I wouldn't make less). 1 red cabbage (500 g are needed) 1 medium red onion 1 Tbsp. goose fat or ghee/butter fat ½ tsp. juniper berries 1 bay leaf 1 small cinnamon stick 100 mL red wine 4-5 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar 1 Tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt 1 tart apple (e.g. Boskop) 2 Tbsp. redcurrant jelly some freshly grated nutmeg Possibly some cornflour
Preparation Peel the red onion, halve it and cut it into fine strips. Can go straight into the pot. Remove the first leaves of the cabbage. Wash the cabbage, cut off approximately the required amount of 500 g from the cabbage (they are usually much larger) and cut out the stalk if necessary. . Cut into fine strips with a sharp kitchen knife or a vegetable slicer. Heat 1 Tbsp. lard in a saucepan. Sauté the onion until translucent. Add the red cabbage, 1 bay leaf, ½ tsp. juniper berries and 1 small cinnamon stick and mix well. Sauté for another minute or two, then deglaze with 100 ml red wine. Add 1 Tbsp. sugar, 3-4 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar and 1 tsp. salt, mix well again. Bring the liquid briefly to the boil, then cover and simmer over a low heat (level 3) for 70 to 80 minutes, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes - you can check whether the liquid has (almost) evaporated and add a little water so that nothing burns. Meanwhile... Wash and peel the apple. Remove the core and cut into wedges, halve them. Add the apple 15 minutes later.
Final steps After approx. 70 to 80 minutes, remove the lid and cook until the liquid has almost completely evaporated (it doesn't take long for me, there isn't that much liquid). If you have more liquid or are in a hurry, you can help it along with cornflour. Remove the spices and stir in 2 Tbsp. redcurrant jelly. If necessary, season the red cabbage again with apple vinegar, salt, pepper or sugar. Add some freshly grated nutmeg and pepper. Stir well again.

Potato Dumplings

Delicious side dish for meat dishes that come with a nice sauce.

Preparation You'll need: A large pot
Ingredients (for 2 persons - 4 to 5 dumplings) 400 g floury (!) cooking potatoes 25-30 g flour 25-30 g cornstarch 1 egg Nutmeg ½ tsp salt
Preparation Boil 400 g potatoes unpeeled (because healthier) or peeled (because of burnt fingers afterwards ;-) until they are well done. While they are still hot (if necessary) peel and mash well with a potato masher or simply a fork. Leave to cool until lukewarm. In the meantime, bring a good amount (approx. 10 cm high) of salted water (1 tsp salt) to the boil in a saucepan. Add 25 g flour, 25 g cornstarch, 1 egg, some freshly grated nutmeg and ½ tsp. salt to the potato mixture and mix everything well with your hands. The dough should be quite firm, only slightly moist. ChezTeddy tip: Prepare a small dumpling to test. Especially if you haven't made potato dumplings often before, and you're not sure if the dumplings won't fall apart when cooked (hence floury potatoes, they have more starch - if there is too little, the dumplings will fall apart in the water) just make a small dumpling first and see if everything goes well - see the following section). Separate the mass into 4 or 5 parts with wet hands and shape them into round dumplings.As soon as the water boils slightly (it should not simmer or even boil), put the dumplings into the water and let them steep at low temperature until they come up on their own and float to the surface. Then simmer gently for another 5 to 7 minutes, i.e. turn the temperature up slightly. The dumplings taste best when you can serve them while they are still hot.

Spare Ribs

For real barbecues this is the wrong recipe :-)
This is more a reminder by recipe, when we look at ChezTeddy to see what we could eat.

Preparation You'll need: A large pot with lid A baking tray
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 1 kg spare ribs A good barbeque sauce (homemade, or bought - we like to buy this one: Mississippi Barbecue Sauce)
Prepare spare ribs for the oven Wash the spare ribs and put them into the big pot. Add enough water to cover them well, then bring them to a boil. Add 1 Tbsp. of salt, stir well. Put the lid on and simmer for about 35 to 40 minutes. After boiling, dump the water and let the spare ribs dry out for a few minutes. Preheat oven at 220℃. Then place on the baking tray (convex side up) and spread well with BBQ sauce.
In the oven Put the baking tray in the oven (middle shelf) and switch the oven to 220℃ convection grill. Continue grilling for some time (approx. 10-15 minutes) until golden brown, brushing once or twice with BBQ sauce.

Cream Sauce for Seafood

Preparation You'll need: A small pot or pan with lid A small sieve
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 35 g butter 2 shallots 1-2 bay leaves 75 mL white wine (dry) 1 sprigs thyme 150 g crème fraîche some sticks of chives A little bit of dill Some salt and coarse pepper
First steps Finely chop 3 shallots. Pluck the thyme leaves. Add to the pot together with 35 g butter, 1-2 bay leaves and 75 mL white wine. Coarsely chop a few sticks of chives and the dill. Put it on its side, it will be needed later.
Preparation Cover the pot over medium heat and let the contents simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add 150 g crème fraîche, mix and bring to the boil briefly. Filter the cream from the pot with a sieve that is not too fine, using a spoon to press the shallots well against the walls of the sieve. Add the chopped herbs (chives and dill) and stir.

This sauce goes very well with lobster or fish (e.g.: monkfish)

Oven Vegetables

 

It goes well with a bit of bread.
This is a side dish that goes well with fish and meat. See the large photos below.
If you add meat, you should do it separately in the pan.

Attention. Preparation time about 60-90 minutes!

Preparation You'll need: A high baking sheet A small pot
Ingredients (for 2 persons) This is one of those recipes where the principle is: Everything you like. Following is a suggestion. In general, this applies to all recipes, of course, but especially here. ½ small Bell pepper, red 1 small courgette 1 small aubergine 1 medium red onions 1 small garlic bulb approx. 250 g small potatoes 1 medium carrot 3 large, slightly hot, pepperoni 2 shallots 2 spring onions (for the leaves) A few thin pieces of fennel tuber (50 to 100 g) about 10-15 cherry tomatoes 20 Kalamata olives ½ lemon (juice) Lots of fresh thyme and rosemary Lots of olive oil Plenty of salt and pepper What else could you add to it? Parsley, mushrooms, a second half pepper (green or yellow), turnip, ... What doesn't fit: Ginger
First steps Check that there is white wine in the fridge! First of all, wash the aubergine, peel it partially (like a zebra), cut it into bite-sized pieces and put it in very salty water for 15 to 30 minutes. Wash the small potatoes briefly and then put them in a pot with water, add salt. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, nothing more. Meanwhile, you can cut everything else into bite-sized, not too small pieces and simply throw them on the baking tray (leave the tomatoes whole and put them on the side with the olives, they will be needed later). Pluck thyme and rosemary and chop into small pieces. Garlic: Peel all cloves. Chop one half of them finely, leave the other half whole. Half a lemon is only needed at the very end.
Prepare vegetables for the oven Remove the aubergine pieces from the water and roughly pat dry. Cut the small potatoes into quarters. Add both to the vegetables in the baking tray. Add the garlic (chopped and whole cloves), thyme and rosemary (finely chopped), salt and pepper everything well and pour over plenty of olive oil. Then mix everything well with your hands.
Bake in oven Place the baking tray in a non-preheated oven (middle rack). Then turn on the oven and set it to 260℃ fan grill. Once the temperature is reached, continue to grill like this for another 20 minutes, but keep an eye on it for the last few minutes! Then mix everything well, go down to 220℃ and grill for another 15 minutes. Follow the intermediate steps below. If you want to make lamb cutlets to go with it (see one of the photos), you should start now at the latest. After about 5 minutes, add the olives and tomatoes and mix again briefly. Attention: If you want to put fish fillets on top, you should now add them as well.
Final Steps After the last 10 minutes, remove the tray from the oven (if you're doing fish fillets with it, remove it), squeeze half a lemon over everything, mix well again and serve.

Exotic Red Cabbage Salad

Attention! The salad should be kept in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours! It tastes best if you prepare it the day before!

Raw red cabbage salad in an exotic variation.
This is best served with Greek or Moroccan flat bread

Preparation You'll need: A large closeable bowl
Ingredients (for 2 persons) The amount is for a vegetarian meal with flatbread. As a side dish to e.g. grilled meat (which fits very well!) you can reduce it by half. 300 g red cabbage ¼ tsp. salt 3 Tbsp. good olive oil 2½ TL lime juice (lemon also works) 100 g feta cheese 200 g Süzme (high-fat Turkish yoghurt; you can also take normal yoghurt) It may be that you should add another 1-2 tbsp. of yoghurt before the meal, depending on how dry the salad is after sitting for a long time. approx. 75 g dates a fistful of parsley some pepper 2 tsp. chili flakes 6-8 Tbsp. pomegranate seeds (approx. ½ pomegranate) For very last: approx. 2 tsp. sesame seeds
Preparation Cut the raw red cabbage into thin strips and place in the bowl. Sprinkle ¼ tsp. salt over it and massage in well. Chop the parsley, cut the dates into small pieces. Remove the pomegranate seeds from the fruit. Add all ingredients except the sesame seeds to the large bowl. Mix well and place covered in the refrigerator.
Final Step just right before serving! 2 tsp. sesame seeds are only needed just before the meal: Roast them in a hot pan until they are medium to dark brown. Add to salad and mix well. Then serve.

Moroccan Flatbread

Attention! Preparation time 2 hours!

Preparation You need: A pizza stone (but it is also possible without, the temperature is not so high)
Ingredients (for 2 flatbreads) 200 g flour (standard wheat) 100 g durum wheat semolina Some sesame seeds, if you like 10 g yeast 5 g salt approx. 160-170 ml water
The dough Mix all ingredients (except the sesame ;-). Knead for at least 5 minutes, the dough should be as soft as an earlobe. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth. Put aside in a warm place for three quarters to an hour (e.g. in the oven at 35 to 40℃).
Forming flat breads Spread some durum wheat semolina on the work surface. Knead the dough again briefly and divide in half. Shape both into flat cakes and press them well into the semolina. Sprinkle a little sesame seed on the top and press it lightly into the dough with the palm of your hand. Then sprinkle some durum wheat semolina over it and cover with a dry cloth. Let it rise again for three quarters of an hour. In the meantime, put the pizza stone in the oven (middle rail) and preheat the oven (circulating air, 210℃).
Baking the flat breads If you like, you can now pierce the 2 flat breads three or four times with a fork (then they don't bulge so much) and then put them in the oven on the pizza stone. After about 15 minutes, if they do not yet have the desired golden-brown colouring, you can still switch briefly to grilling, but be careful that they do not burn or dry out.

French Baguettes

Important! This takes 3 hours to prepare!

Preparation You need: A baguette mould A dough scraper
Ingredients (for 3 small baguettes) 345 ml water, lukewarm 17 g normal yeast; almost half a cube 430 g wheat flour (405 in Germany) or a mixture of 375 g normal flour and for example 55 g whole grain) 13 g salt
The dough Put the following ingredients in a bowl in this order: water, yeast, flour, salt Stir the mixture well with a dough scraper to form a homogeneous mass without really kneading the dough - everything should be uniformly mixed. The result should be a very moist, sticky dough. Then place the dough in the bowl in the oven, without turning it on. Just so the dough can rest there without air circulation and temperature fluctuations. Rest period: 2 to 3 hours.
Shaping the baguettes The dough should have risen clearly after 2 hours. Stir the dough again briefly with the dough scraper so that most of the air is pressed out. Now lay out baking paper (or a silicone mat) in the baguette mould and use the dough scraper to spread the dough in the three gutters. The baking paper is necessary because this dough is very wet, and otherwise it creeps into the holes (sometimes even through them), and you can't get the baked bread out of the tin so easily. Use the dough scraper to pull the dough apart so that the grooves are evenly filled and the dough pieces get the typical baguette shape. The coarse pulling apart ensures that the breads get the typical uneven surface structure of a baguette. Now let the dough rest for another 20-30 minutes. In the meantime, push a high baking tray into the lowest level and fill it with water (1.25 litres). Place the oven rack on the middle shelf. After 10-15 minutes, preheat the oven (convection oven, 210℃).
Baking the baguettes Put the baguette mould in the oven (on the oven rack) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes (keep an eye on them from 20 minutes!).When they are nicely brown on top, take them out, turn them over, and put them back in the oven for a few minutes with the underside facing up, with Top Grill --> Don't take your eyes off them! The underside should only be lightly browned. After baking, remove the baguettes immediately from the tin and place them crosswise on top -> so that air also gets to the underside. Leave to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, then eat them all straight away ;-)

Spanish Rabbit

 

 

 

Goes well with farmhouse bread, Baguette or Greek flatbread

Attention! Preparation time a bit more than 1 hour!

Preparation You'll need: A roaster with lid
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 1 whole rabbit 40 g Serrano ham ½ red and ½ green bell-pepper 2 medium-sized onions 1 Tetra-pak chopped tomatoes (500-600 g) 4 cloves of garlic 1½ heaped tsp. pimentón (Spanish smoked sweet paprika) 1½ bay leaves 1 lemon (bio) ½ bunch of parsley Olive oil Salt and pepper
First steps Rinse the rabbit, pat dry with paper towel, remove head if it's the full rabbit, and cut into several pieces with a cleaver. Fry in regular olive oil on medium to high heat (7) 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 As soon as the rabbit parts are browned, take them out of the roaster. Now sauté the onion and peppers in the olive oil at medium heat for 5 minutes (if olive oil is still needed, you can now add Extra-virgin olive oil). Add garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes. Now add the tomato pieces, Serrano, 1½ heaped teaspoons of pimentón, lemon zest and juice (15-20 ml) of one half, bay leaves and most of the parsley (the rest of the parsley is used at the very end). Stir well and season with salt and pepper. Add the meat pieces, cover and fry over medium heat for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally and checking the moisture. If necessary, add water.
Serve To serve, first briefly set the meat aside, season the sauce again, then place it on the plates, add the meat and garnish with parsley.

Beef Fillet under a Truffles Crust

 

 

Attention! Please note below "First Steps", there are some points that have to be made before the actual cooking. The rest takes about 20 minutes. The herb butter should be done one day in advance.

Preparation You'll need: A good pan, best would be a wrought-iron pan or a grill pan (such as a Le Creuset) A medium bowl A casserole dish
Ingredients (for 2 people) 4 slices of beef fillet, not too large in diameter (each approx. 120-140 g) 1 plain bread roll, 2 days old and very hard, to grate 40 g truffle butter 1 egg yolk 3-4 tablespoons truffle oil (depending on how dry the roll is)
First Steps If you want to make your own truffle butter, it is best to do it the day before: Mix 40 g soft butter, 10 g truffles (finely diced), a little salt and pepper, a dash of lemon juice in a small, lockable bowl and place in the fridge. Take the steaks and truffle butter out of the fridge 2 hours before cooking starts.
Preparation Basically, prepare the steaks the way you want them to be, but remove them from the pan a little earlier because they will be put in the oven for a short time. Place on its side in aluminium foil for 5 minutes. Preheat the stove (200℃, convection grill or top heat), continue with the rest. Grate the bread roll into not too fine crumbs in a medium bowl. Add 40 g truffle butter (very soft, almost liquid), 1 egg yolk and 2 Tbsp. truffle oil. Mix well. Now place the steaks in a casserole dish, spread the breadcrumbs on top and put them in the oven. Leave in the oven until the crust has a dark brown colour (2 to 3 minutes). As a side dish I recommend Rösti, potato gratin, green asparagus (fried) or tomatoes (halved or whole to be baked in the oven).