Fish in dough (puff pastry)

Pumpkin sauce goes well with this this.

Preparation You'll need: A medium sized pot
Ingredients (for 4 to 5 persons) Two fillets of Zander (ea. ca. 150 grams) Two fillets of Ruby Red Rainbow Trout (ea. ca. 150 grams), preferably without skin Salt, Pepper, Lemon Juice, Dill 1 small carrot (ca. 70 grams) 70 grams porree 2 celery stalks (ca. 70 grams) 250 millilitres Bechamel (see second list) 1 egg yolk 2 rolls of ready made puff pastry (ca. 250 to 300 grams each)
Ingredients for the bechamel 20 grams butter 20 grams flour 333 millilitres milk Dill Parsley Lemon juice White wine Worcester sauce Salt Pepper
Preparation of the bechamel Sweat the flour and the butter in a small pot, then add milk and simmer it for approx. 20 minutes, stir all the time. Now add all the ingredients to your liking. I would add the juice of half a lemon, one tea spoon of worcester sauce, 50 millilitres of white wine. A good deal of dill and parsley. Also don't be too shy with the salt. Starting from this add more to your liking.
Preparation of the fish for the oven Season the fillets with a good deal of salt and pepper and some dill. Cut the veggies in stripes and blanch them in salt water. They should still be a bit hard in the end, since they go into the ofen. Spread the first piece of dough and put the blanched vegetables in the middle, leaving a rim of maybe 3 centimetres. Put the two zander fillets on top. Pour the bechamel over them (cold, so that it's rather viscous). Now put the rainbow trout fillets on top. Whisk the egg yolk with some salt and coat a 2 centimetres wide stripe around the filling. Place carefully the second dough right over the first one. If you want, you might want to put the filled dough into the shape of a fish, and put little 'scales' into the dough with a small spoon. Preheat the ofen to 220℃. Put the fish for 15 to 20 minutes into the refridgerator.
Baking in the ofen Put the fish into the ofen (lowest level), bake for around 10 minutes at 220℃ until the dough starts to get slightly brown. Reduce the heat to 180℃ and continue baking for another 30 to 35 minutes. Now open the oven, turn down the heat to 100℃. Place the plates into the ofen to heat them up. Close the ofen again and let the fish rest for another five minutes. Now take everything out and place the fish on a large plate to serve as a whole, just cut in the middle to show the inside.

Taco shells with stripes of turkey

Something done quickly and easily. Chez Teddy under the control of HoneyBear ☺
The self-made Salsa could be prepared one day in advance...

Preparation: You'll only need: A pan Plenty of small bowls A cheese grater
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 400 g Turkey filet 3 small tomatoes 200 g Cheddar 1 Avocado 4 spring onions (the stems are needed, not the little onions, nor the green leaves) ⅓ iceberg lettuce Creme Fraiche A handfull of black olives ½ can Refried Beans Ready-mix Fajita spices and 75 millilitres water Hot Chili Sauce or Hot Mama Sauce or similar You should do this Salsa (has to be prepared one day in advance, better two days even) 12 Taco Shells
Preparation of the main ingredients Dice the tomatoes, grate the cheddar, cut the spring onions and the avocado in small pieces. Put all that plus the olives each in little bowls. Put the refried beans in a bowl and heat them up in the micro wave. Then you can put all that together with the Creme Fraiche on the dining table.
Frying the meat Cut the meat in thin stripes and quick fry them in a pan. When they get golden brown, add the ready-mix and stir well. Again quick fry for a short time. Add the water and reduce until the liquid has almost completely diappeared and it is just covering the stripes.

This is fun to eat, the more people, the better

Minced Meat with Tortilla Chips

Something done quickly and easily. Chez Teddy under the control of HoneyBear ☺
The self-made Salsa could be prepared one day in advance...

Preparation: You'll only need: A pan Plenty of small bowls A cheese grater
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 300 grams minced meat 5 small tomatoes 150 grams Cheddar cheese 3-4 spring onions Creme Fraiche A handful of black olives ½ can refried beans Ready-mix Taco spices plus water Hot Chilli Sauce or Hot Mama Sauce or similar 1 bag of Nacho Chips You should do this Salsa (has to be prepared hours in advance, better one day earlier)
Preparation of the main ingredients Dice three of the tomatoes and put them in a little bowl, grate the cheddar and put that in a little bowl, cut two of the spring onions in small pieces and put them in a little bowl, and put the olives into a small bowl, too. Put the refried beans in a bowl and heat them up in the micro wave. Then you can put all that together with the Creme Fraiche on the dining table. Now take the rest of the tomatoes and the spring onions and cut them small, that goes with the minced meat to be fried in the pan.
Frying the minced meat Fry the minced meat together with the spring onions at medium to high heat until the red colour is gone, then add the rest of the tomatoes and the Taco spice mix with 150 millilitres of water. Cook all that at medium heat until all the water is gone, around 10 minutes.

This is fun to eat, the more people, the better

Mexican Salsa

A tasty hot salsa for Mexican food - or for any BBQ. Carinne got the original recipe from a Mexican lady.

Attention! Can be eaten fresh, but tastes best when done one or two days in advance

Preparation: You'll only need: A plastic bowl with lid (airtight)
Ingredients (for 3 to 4 persons) 1 small Tetra-Pak of diced tomatoes (400 g)   2 to 3 small spring onions (all of it) a handful of coriander leaves, chopped 2 cloves of garlic 3 small hot chillies ½ table spoon garlic powder ½ table spoon chilli flakes 2 pinches of salt
Preparation of the Salsa Cut everything into small pieces, put it in a plastik bowl (airtight - otherwise everything in the fridge will smell like salsa) and stir well. Keep in fridge until needed as another ingredient on the dining table.

Goes well with these two recipes: Minced-meat with tortilla chips and Tacos with stripes of turkey

Fish in Baking Paper

This is an easy, quick fish dish, that tastes fresh and light, best served during summer.

Preparation You'll need: A bowl Baking paper (around 40x40 cm per fish) A stapler
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 2 fillets of redfish or coalfish, ea. ~180 g 50 g Leek (⅓ leek) 60 g carrot (½) 1 mango Ca. ½ grapefruit for 10 table spoons (75 mL) juice 8 Tbsp. (55 mL) coconut milk Some stalks of coriander Salt, a good deal of ground pepper, 1 tsp. curry powder
Preparing the ingredients Cut the carrot and the leek in thin stripes, peel the mango, remove the seed and cut in thin stripes, too. Salt and pepper the filets. Grease the baking paper in the centre lightly. Each portion should be wrapped in its own paper, to make it easier after cooking to get the portions on the plates. Put the stripes of the carrot, the leek and the mango into the bowl, pour the cocos milk and 10 Tbsp. grapefruit juice over it, add some salt and pepper and 1 tsp. curry and mix all well.
Wrap the parcels Put the filets on the paper, pile the 'salad' on top. Wrap the fish, and fix the paper with an office stapler ☺
Into the oven Bake the parcels for around 20 minutes in the preheated oven (190℃). When they are done, open the parcels, put the fish on a plate, add the coriander, put the salad next to it, that's it.

Poké Bowl

Attention! The sushi grade salmon should be deep-frozen (if your dealer doesn't tell you it has been frozen already) two days in advance, and then moved one day in advance from the freezer into the fridge, so that it can thaw again very slowly and gentle.

Preparation: You'll need: 1 small pot 1 large pan 2 large bowls (caramic or glass) for serving
Ingredients (for the bowl - for 2 persons) 10 large gambas with shells (250 g) 1 salmon fillet (Sushi grade quality, 250 g) 2 spring onions (only the little bulbs are needed) 1 ripe mango 1 ripe avocado ½ iceberg lettuce 20 g pickled ginger ¼ pomegranate 50 g cashews 10 g sesame seeds (you can prepare them togehtkann man mit dem Sesam des Algensalates zubereiten) 125 ml rice vinegar 3 Tbsp. soy sauce 3 Tbsp. Tahini 2 to 3 limes (zest and juice is needed) Small part of the juice is for the wakame salad 2 tsp. honey 2 stems coriander 2 Tbsp. good olive oil
Ingredients (for the Wakame salad - for 2 persons) 15 g dried Wakame seaweed ca. 1 cm ginger 1 clove of garlic 1-2 tsp. lime juice (use the limes for the bowl) 1 tsp. sesame seed (prepare that together with the seeds for the bowl). 1 Tbsp. (a bit less) rice vinegar 1 Tbsp. (a bit less) sesame oil 1-2 tsp. sugar 2 stems coriander 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
Clean the shrimps, dry them with kitchen paper. Quick fry in hot oil, 2 minutes on each side. Set aside to cool them off. Wash the salad, roughly chop it, dry it off a bit with kitchen paper and place in 2 large ceramic bowls for serving. This will be the underlay. In a small pot bring to boil 125 ml rice vinegar, 3 Tbsp. soy sauce, 3 Tbsp Tahini, Lime zest (2-3 limes), 75 mL lime juice and 1 tsp. honey. Stir vigorously with whisk until you get a creamy emulsion. Place in fridge. Toast the sesame seeds (10 g for the bowl, 1 tsp. for the salad) in a dry pan until they are getting a nice, not too dark, browning. Set aside separately for bowl and seaweed salad. Peel the shrimps, add to the Tahini sauce. Soak the 15 g dried wakame seaweed in a large bowl with plenty of hot water for about 10 minutes. In the meantime continue with the next steps. Peel the mango, cut the fruit into not too small cubes. Clean spring onions, cut the bulbs into thin rings. Peel avocado and cut into not too small cubes. Add to the ceramic bowls for serving. Caramelise seeds of ¼ pomegranate, 50 g cashews, 2 Tbsp. good olive oil and 1 tsp. honey in pan, set aside in small bowl. For the seaweed salad clean 1 cm ginger, finely chop the ginger and one clove of garlic, put both into medium bowl. Add 1 to 2 tsp. lime juice. Rinse and pluck leaves of 2 stems of coriander roughly chop them. Add to medium bowl together with 1 to 2 tsp. sugar, 1 Tbsp. each of rice vinegar and sesame oil, and 1 tsp cayenne pepper. Mix well with a fork. When the seaweed got its 10 minutes of soaking in hot water, pour into colander and let them drip off a bit. Add them to the marinade in the medium bowl. Mix well and let the seaweed marinade for 10 minutes. Cut the salmon with a large very sharp kitchen knife into thin slices. Add 1 tsp. sesame seeds to the Wakame salad and spread one quarter of the whole salad each on the mango/avocado salad in the 2 ceramic bowls. The remaining half is to be placed on the table for self-serving. Rinse 2 stems coriander and pluck the leaves. Spoon some of the lime tahini sauce on the mango salad. Add shrimps, salmon, pickled ginger, coriander leaves, also the caramelised pomegranate seeds and cashews and serve. The remaining sauce you can put in a dish on the table for self-serving.

Phở

Attention! This will take around 6 hours to prepare!

Preparation You'll need: A large pot (for the rice ribbon noodles) A medium sized pot (for the soup) A small pan 2 or 3 rather large bowls to serve the soup
Ingredients (for 4 persons) 2 thick (cross-cut) beef shanks, ca. 600 grams 3 marrow bones Ca. 400 grams beef fillet 1.5 litres water 2 small star anise 1 cinnamon stick 1 small onion 1 piece of ginger 3 spring onions (stem and leaves) 3 twigs Thai basil 3 twigs coriander 3 twigs mint 150 grams Mung bean sprouts 4 Thai chilis 1 small lime 4 Tbsp Vietnamese Fish Sauce 200 grams Vietnamese rice ribbon noodles
First steps Bring 1.5 litres water to boil in a medium sized pot. In the meantime wash the shanks and the bones, add to the water. Roast in a pan without oil (best would be a wrought-iron pan) the onion and the piece of ginger (only peeled, not cut small) until they start to get black patches. That will take a few minutes. When roastet enough, also add them to the water. Let this boil covered for 5 hours on low heat.
Intermediate steps After 5 hours add cinnamon stick and 2 star anise. Let it cook for another hour. Attention! Check the noodles to see if they have to soak for some time. You can get at that in this last hour, use the large pot. In the meantime you can prepare the rest: Clean 150 grams Mung bean sprouts, the herbs (3 stems of Thai basil, coriander and mint each). Pluck the leaves and roughly chop them. Cut into rings the 3 spring onions and 4 chilis. Wash the lime under hot water and cut it into eight pieces. Cut the fillet into very thin slices, you also might want to cut the slices into small pieces. After that last hour of cooking: Pour the soup through a sieve into a large bowl and set the broth aside again in the pot. Remove star anise and cinnamon stick. Separate the beef from the bones and remove the bones.
Last Steps Preheat the large soup bowls in the oven. Add salt to the soaking noodles and bring the water to boil. They are done as soon as the water starts to boil. If you're doing the soup for the first time, you could prepare all bowls completely and serve them. Otherwise I would suggest to put the ingredients into separate small bowls and place them on the table, so that people can do their own mix. Some don't like noodles so much or want less broth, others don't want so much of the cooked beef... Bring the broth to boil again. Put noodles, sprouts and the cooked beef into the preheated bowls. Add herbs and spring onions. Place the raw fillet slices on top and pour the hot broth over everything. Add some lime pieces and chili. You should place the bottle of fish sauce on the table, too, I for one like do add some more into my own bowl ☺
Keeping it in the fridge You can keep left-overs in the fridge, but it is very important to first remove all the lime pieces. They will make the whole soup very bitter!

Duck Breast with Figs

Attention! A good idea would be to do the first step already on the previous day
Remaining preparation time: 2 hours!

A variation would be sweet potatoes with, or instead of, figs.
Instead of the Parsley Nocken one could take mangold.

Ingredients (for 2 persons)

Preparation You'll need: A tajine or casserole dish with lid A medium-sized pot Several small pots A pan A flour sifter
For the figs (Step 1): 4 or 6 ripe figs I would recommend getting one more. I often find one over-ripe by the tme I am starting. 25g brown sugar 200 mL red wine 2 cloves 2 lemon slices 1 Tbsp starch
For the duck breast (Step 2): Ca. 500g breast of a Barbary duck 40 g Onion 25 g Carrot 30 g Fennel 1 clove of garlic 15 g Prosciutto (Parma ham) Olive oil (regular and extra-virgin) 10 g tomato purée (1 heaped tsp.) 100 mL red wine 30 mL balsamic vinegar 2 bay leaves ½ twig thyme ½ twig rosemary 350 to 400 mL calf or duck fond
For the Parsley Nocken (Step 3): 3 bunches of Italian parsley (around 75 g) 180 mL cream 15 g butter Nutmeg Salt Ground Pepper
The preparation in several steps
Step 1: Preparation of the figs (On the previous evening or in the morning) Caramelise 25 g sugar. Deglaze with 200 mL wine and cook until dissolved. Add the cloves and the lemon slices, boil up and pour into a bowl. Add the four figs and put it covered on the side until cool, than place it in the fridge.
Step 2: Preparation of the duck breast Dice 25 g carrot, 40 g onion and 30 g fennel finely. Press the clove of garlic. Cut 15 g parma ham into small pieces. Sear the duck in regular olive oil on both sides, only 20 to 30 seconds each. Place the breast into the tajine or casserole dish (skin side up), pour the oil away. Sauté veggies, garlic and ham in extra-virgin olive oil. Deglaze with 100 mL red wine and 30 mL balsamico vinegar. Add 10 g tomato purée, boil up again. Pour the fond from the pan into the Tajine, add vegetables, herbs (2 bay leaves, ½ twig of thyme and rosemary each ) and 350 to 400 mL calf or duck fond. Put covered into the oven at 180℃ for 35 minutes. You have to remove the Tajine after the 35 minutes immediately and set the duck in a plate on the side. In the mean-time continue with step 3!
Step 3: Preparation of the Parsley cream Pluck the leaves of the parsley and blanch the parsley for around 30 seconds in salt water. Refresh in cold water and dry carefully. Chop finely. Bring in a small pot 180 ml cream, 15 g butter and spicees (a bit of salt, pepper and nutmeg) to boil, and reduce. Add the parsley and reduce until it's not liquid anymore, but creamy. Put the pot on the side.
Step 4: The duck breast After 35 minutes immediately take the duck out of the oven. Remove the meat, pour the fond through a sieve into a small pot. Set the vegetables in a small dish on the side, remove the twigs of thyme and rosemary. Put the duck back into the casserole/Tajine (skin side up!), set aside. Reduce the fond to a quarter. In the mean-time continue with step 5!
Step 5: The figs Put the figs in a plate aside. Remove lemon slices and cloves. Pour the fig stock into a small pot, add 1 Tbsp of starch and reduce. Attention: The starch really has to be sifted, or you will get lumps; quickly stir with a fork, too. Reduce to a viscous consistency. Pour with a spoon over the figs.
Step 6: The Parsley Nocken Prepare with two table spoons two "Nocken" out of the parsley cream. This is done as seen in this video here. Just that it's not getting cooked anymore. Set each Nocke on one plate.
Step 7: Last step for the duck breast After reducing the duck fond, add the veggies and let it cook for one more minute. Season to taste with a bit of salt and pepper. Pour around the meat into the Tajine. Switch to top grill and wait until it's hot. Put the Tajine without lid into the oven (middle rack) and grill the duck for a few minutes until skin is crispy and brown.
The final steps Cut the breast in slices. Arrange together with the figs on the plates. Add a bit of the duck fond with the vegetables, put the rest in a bowl on the table.

Goes well with a full-bodied red wine, e. g. a Rioja.