Spicy Lobster

Preparation You'll need: A small casserole dish A large casserole dish (large enough for the two stuffed shells) A large and a small bowl for mixing things A good kitchen knife to cut the lobster Lobster tongs
Ingredients 2 lobsters 1 slice of white bread 100 mL milk ½ egg, beaten (don't take more, or it will kill all the other flavours) 1 tsp mustard seeds ½ tsp salt ½ tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp Tabasco Sauce 25 g breadcrumbs 15 g butter ½ tsp salt
Preparation First boil the lobsters in salted water (depending on condition, see package, or ask seller). Then rinse with cold water. Cut open the lobster, in each case so that the back shell remains, i.e. remove only the underside. Remove the head and claws. Remove the meat and dice it. Now put the lobster meat, 1 slice of toast (cut into small cubes), 100 mL milk, half of a beaten egg, 1 tsp crushed mustard seeds, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tsp Tabasco and mix well. Now pour the mixture into an ovenproof dish and bake for 25 minutes at 180℃. Meanwhile, you can melt 15 g of butter and mix it with 25 g of breadcrumbs and one ½ teaspoon of salt. Afterwards fill the shells with the lobster mix and sprinkle the cracker mix over it. Place it again in the oven and bake it with top heat until the crumbs start to get brown. If you wish, you may add the head and the claws now, too. Finally place the shells each on a plate and add the head and the claws decoratively.

Atlantic Wolffish Provençal

 

Put baguette or Greek flatbread and fleur de sel at disposal on the table, they are perfect complements to the dish.

Preparation You'll need: A tajine or casserole dish Aluminium foil or well closing lid A medium sized pot
Ingredients (for 2 persons) Fillets of Atlantic wolffish, 300-400 g around 350 g hard cooking potatoes ½ red bell-pepper 100 g courgette if you're doing the recipe for more than just 2 or 3 persons, you might do the variation of taking two kinds of courgette, half green, half yellow. 350 to 400 g small tomatoes 20 black olives with pits 6 Tbsp. olive oil 3 Tbsp. lemon juice Salt, pepper, 1 Tbsp. Herbes de Provence
Preparation ChezTeddy Tip: Simple way to peel tomatoes Rinse them Keep skimmer in reach Bring in a medium sized pot enough water to boil Throw in all tomatoes at once and let them cook for 10 to 20 seconds (small or ripe ones shorter, large ones with thick peel or not so ripe ones a bit longer), don't pour water, get tomatoes out with the skimmer put in plate a short time to let the cool off Peel the tomatoes (see above ;-). Peel the potatoes, cut in thin slices, add ca. 1 tsp salt to the still hot water, bring to boil and let the potatoes simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. In the meantime you can easily remove the peel of the tomatoes. Then pour the water, set pot with the potato slices aside for a short time to cool off. Cut the bell-pepper in stripes and the courgette and tomatoes in thin slices. Cut the fillets in two pieces for each person (each around 80 to 90 grams). Pour a bit of the Olive oil (1-2 table spoons) into the tajine or casserole and then add the ingredients in layers. First the potato slices, then the courgette, fish fillets, tomatoes, bell-pepper in stripes and finally 20 olives. Season well with salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence (1 Tbsp), and sprinkle with the rest of the olive oil (4 to 5 Tbsp) and lemon juice (3 Tbsp). Finally cover the casserole (lid or aluminium foil) and finish cooking in the oven at ca. 170℃ for 40 to 50 minutes.

Pizza

 

Attention! The dough should be done several hours earlier!

Preparation You'll need: A Chamotte stone A bowl
Ingredients for the dough (for two persons, two pizzas) 270 g standard flour some durum semolina or Semola di Grano Duro ca. 6 to 8 g yeast (of a yeast cube) 130 to 140 mL water 3 Tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. salt
Ingredients for the Pizzaiola (tomato sauce) 4-5 cloves of garlic 2 Tbsp. olive oil Tomatoes in pieces (around 400 g - canned or Tetra Pak) 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt 2 tsp. herb mix for Pizza Some ground white pepper
Preparation (dough) Give 270 g flour and 1 tsp. salt into a bowl and crumble the yeast over it. Add 130 to 140 mL water and 3 Tbsp. olive oil in several steps while kneading the dough. Keep kneading the dough for 10 to 15 minutes (a kitchen machine would be great, but one can do it by hand). Cover the dough with a wet cloth and set it for at least one hour (better two or three) aside.
Preparation (the Pizzaiola) Dice the cloves of garlic and and sauté in olive oil. Add the tomatoes in pieces. Add 2 tsp. Pizza herb mix, ½ to 1 tsp. salt and some pepper, mix well. Let it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stir from time to time. The sauce should reduce a bit, but shouldn't get too dry. You can keep the Pizzaiola in the fridge.
Preparation (finally, the Pizza) ---> At least one hour in advance: Put the pizza stone into the oven and heat it up at 300℃! When you want to start doing the Pizza, sprinkle the Semola on the counter and spread out the dough with your hands into a flat disc. Keep rubbing flour on your hands. When the dough is nicely flat spread the Pizzaiola on it (not too thick!) and the layer of Mozzarella cheese. Then the other toppings (ham, mushrooms, bell-pepper ...) and finally the Gruyere. Now put the Pizza on the the Pizza stone (watch out - HOT), the rest should be done by the hot stone. As soon as the top of the crust starts to get slightly brown, turn the oven to top grill so that it gets a nice crust. The pizza should be done after one or two minutes. If you want to do a second Pizza afterwards, keep the oven at 300℃ (convection, not top grill!) while you eat the first round.
A Calzone Since the Calzone is covered by a 'lid', it takes longer for the heat to get to the topping (Salami, ham, bell-pepper ...). It's therefore important to sauté the veggie part of the filling for a short time in a pan. Everything else is roughly the same, just one has to put the Pizzaiola and the 'toppings' just on one half of the dough, leaving a rim of naked dough (around 3 centimetres). I also prefer the 'lid' to be somewhat thinner than the other half. Carefully close the Calzone with the other half of the dough. It's very important to really close it completely - it has to be air-tight so that no liquid runs out, and the taste will be better, too. I prefer that half of the dough, that will be the cover, to be a bit thinner. After closing the Calzone, I brush olive oil or some rest of the Pizaiola on top of it, before it goes into the oven. Switch the oven off completely and let the heat from the stone work - it needs a bit more time than with a normal pizza, so that the heat can really go inside. When you see the top slowly turning brown, switch to top grill to give a final boost.

With 70 g ham, maybe olives, 3 medium champignons, and fresh onion rings. Cheese: 70 g Mozzarella and 20 g Gruyere

With 40 to 50 g ham and 2 slices of ananas (Hawaii style). 50 g Mozzarella and 30 g Gruyere

With 70 g ham, 3 artichoke hearts, pepperoncini and olives. Cheese: 70 g Mozzarella and 20 g Gruyere

And here the Calzone...

Gild-head bream in Herb Sauce

 

Goes very well for example with mashed potatoes.

Preparation You'll need: A casserole dish A blender
Ingredients (for 2 persons) Two gilt-head breams A bundle basil Some parsley 2-3 cloves of garlic 6 Tbsp olive oil 2 Tbsp sherry vinegar 2 bay leaves 200 mL fish stock Salt, pepper
Preparation Check that there is white wine in the fridge! Measure out 200 mL fish stock. Clean the gilt-head breams and dry them off. Preheat the oven to 180℃. Clean the basil and the parsley and shake them dry. Peel the cloves of garlic and press them. Slightly salt the insides of the fishes and put them together with the bay leaves in the casserole dish. Give the other ingredients (including a bit of salt and pepper) into the blender and cut them not too fine. Then pour the sauce to the fishes. Bake the fishes in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Red Onions for Steak

 

Goes well with Steak, Roast, pork fillet....

Preparation You'll need: A small pot with lid
Ingredients (for 4 persons) 210 g red onions 3 cloves of garlic 30 g brown sugar 50 mL red wine 35 mL Balsamico 50 mL Port 1 small bay leaf Some rosemary 1 Tbsp butter Pinch of salt
Peel the onions and cut them in half rings. Chop the cloves of garlic. Caramelise the sugar in butter, then add the onions and garlic. Mix well, then add the rest (Port, Red wine, Balsamico, bay leaf, salt). Stir well, then let it simmer covered on low heat for half an hour. Afterwards, after cooling down a bit, put it in a closed container for at least three days into the fridge. Stir daily.

Red wine sauce for steak

 

 

Preparation You'll need: A large pan
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 250 mL red wine 150 g Creme Fraîche Salt and pepper 1 Tbsp maple syrup
First do the steaks (and as usual let them rest wrapped in aluminium foil) and then prepare the sauce in the same pan: Deglaze the sauce with red wine and reduce. When it's getting thick, season with salt and pepper, add Creme Fraiche and maple syrup. Then unwrap the steaks and pour the contained sauce into the pan and mix.

This sauce goes well with steaks like beef fillet or bison.

Aglio e Olio

You can sprinkle the pasta with Parmesan cheese, if you want.

Preparation You'll need: Large pan with high rim
Ingredients (for two persons) Around 120 mL olive oil 8 cloves of garlic Some parsley up to 1 tsp. of dried chilli flakes, or 1 thai chili Salt, pepper
Preparation Press or finely chop the garlic. Coarsely chop the parsley. If necessary, chop the Thai chilli. Add 120 mL olive oil to the pan and heat over a good medium heat (do not bring to the boil!). Add the garlic. Sauté for a few minutes (the garlic should not brown), then add the parsley and (if you like) chilli powder or 1 Thai chilli, and some salt and pepper. Stir well and then throw in the finished pasta. Stir until the sauce is well distributed over all the noodles - done!

Apple Fritters (Schwäbische Apfelküchle)

 

Preparation You'll only need: A large pan A bowl
Ingredients (for 2 persons) 3 apples (with a sour taste, such as this kind) 180 g flour 150 mL milk 2 eggs 35 g sugar 2 pinches of salt 2 Tbsp. of Grand Marnier (not Swabian, I stole it from the French cuisine) Sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle over the Apfelküchle Sunflower oil Optional: Whipped cream 100 mL cream (at least 30% fat) and 6 g icing sugar Before preparing the whipping cream put cream and whisk into freezer for 10 minutes. Put cream and sugar into bowl. First mix cream and sugar on low speed, after 1 minute go to maximum speed to whip the cream until stiff (takes several minutes). Don't whip for too long, only until the whipped cream reaches the right consistence.
Preparation Mix flour, sugar, eggs, salt, Grand Marnier and milk in a bowl. Peel the apples, remove the core and cut in rings, around half a centimetre thick. Dip the apple rings by portions into the batter and fry them on medium heat on both sides in sunflower oil until golden brown. Sprinkle the Apfelküchle with sugar and cinnamon, also whipped-cream goes well with it.

Hunter's Toast

Preparation: You'll need: a casserole dish
Ingredients (for 2 toasts - as a snack this is enough, if it's a full meal, you should double the ingredients). 2 slices of large white bread (for toast) 2 small steaks of pork collar (150 up to 180 g together) ½ small onion 200 g fresh Chanterelle 50 - 60 g Gruyere cheese (or half/half with Edamer) 80 - 100 g Creme Fraiche 50 mL chicken broth Some parsley (around ¼ - ½ a bunch) 1 table spoon flour
Preparation Toast the bread, chop the onion, pluck the parsley leaves, grease the casserole dish. Clean the chanterelle, put them on the side. Quick fry the steaks in oil until medium brown, put on the side. Fry the onion in oil on medium heat until it starts to get translucent, add the chanterelle, fry until all extra water has evaporated. This will take some time, in the meantime, if necessary, grate the cheese (large flakes) and preheat the oven to 200 ℃. Now sprinkle flour over the mushrooms, sauté a short time, deglaze with 50 mL chicken broth, add Creme Fraîche (80-100 g) and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, let it slightly cook until mushroom topping is not liquid anymore (otherwise the toasted bread will get too wet). Put the bread in the casserole dish, place steaks on top and spread the mushrooms on them. Sprinkle cheese over that and bake in oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

Toast Hawaii

Here's a quick one... The famous German classic.

Ingredients (for 2-3 persons) 6-8 slices large white bread (for toast). 6-8 slices of pineapple Suitable amount of ham and salami (around 250 grams altogether) The original is only with ham, but I like to add a small amound of Salami for stronger taste. Cheese (like cave cheese), that goes well for grilling - around 250 to 300 grams. Some butter, paprika (instead of paprika I use cayenne pepper ;-)

Preparation One could toast the slices of bread a bit, if one likes them really cross, or if one grills them on a solid baking tray, not the grill kind. Butter the slices of bread, then spread the ham and the salami (that's important, so that the pineapple slices don't leak juice into the bread). Then put one slice of pineapple on each toast and cover it well with cheese. Put a good deal of paprika/cayenne on the cheese and grill the toasts in the preheated oven at aroud 190℃ for several minutes, until the cheese gets brown.