Spicy Potatoe Wedges

I think everyone of you knows those days where you don´t care about healthy food and are craving for some Burger, some fries or some Potatoe wedges or... Of course all of you know how to do Potatoe wedges. But are you sure that your recipe is the same than mine?

For about 1 kg Potatoes I make a sort of a marinade out of 1 tsp. ground paprika ( I used Pimento de la Vera that is a little bit more spicy), 1 tbsp.coarse sea salt, 2 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. hazelnut oil (feel free to use only olive oil), 1 tbsp. dried oregano and one sliced garlic clove. Peel and cut the potatoes as usual for wedges. Put the wegdes in your marinade and mix until all your potatoes are covered by the marinade. Put the wedges on a oven tray, disperse over them a handfull coarsely chopped hazelnuts and roast in the preheated (210 C) oven for  20 minutes until crispy. And then enjoy with some ketchup, mayo, a piece of grilled rib or whatever...

Crunchy Pistachio-Chocolate Cookies

Although the days are continuing to be quite stressing, I take time to cook or bake something. In fact this kitchenwork helps me to relax, to come down, forget the rest of the world... And of course to relax I need also my cup of tea that has to be accompained by some small treats. And what would be better then some cookies to crunch with your tea meanwhile reading a Journal, the Newspaper or whatever... Those Pistachio-chocolate Cookies are crunchy. By using dark brown sugar they do not become too sweet even when you use milkchocolate chips as I did. In fact they are done very quick but you have to get them refrigerated for at least 2 hours. The simpliest way is to prepare the dough the day before you wanna bake them and bake them the next day. This way you will have fresh baked cookies within only 12 minutes! Great! No?

You need (makes about 25 small cookies):

- 100 g milk chocolate chips

- 25 g chopped, non salted pistachio

- 120 g melted butter

- 90 g dark brown sugar

- 150 g all purpose flour

- a pinch salt and a dash vanilla paste (or 1/2 of a vanilla pod, scraped)

To prepare:

1. Mix sugar, butter, salt and vanilla until creamy. 

2. Add pistachio, chocolate and flour, combine well and form a roll out of the dough

3. Wrap your dough roll in some clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

4. Preheat your oven to 180 C

5. Cut the dough roll in slices and put on your oven tray (armed with parchement paper)

6. Bake for 12 minutes and let rest for a short time on the oven tray. Then remove the cookies and let cool down entirely (if you can resist :) ).

 

grissinis for Impatients and Kitchendummies :)

I confess that I am a little bit impatient especially when I am hungry or of course when I am late or when I have an idea in my mind that would need more time that I don´t have.... As the sun is shining bright the last days you see people making a picknick or opening the barbecue season... That´s for me also the time for snacks, for Prosciutto, some glass of chilled wine and some Grissinis... I´ve read different recipes of Grissinis the last days and came home today quite hungry = quick please, something to savour. So all the different recipes that sound really great about grissinis have one problem: they would take too much time (even if I wanna try some of those recipes one day..). And as I said I want Grissinis right now! Taking some puff pastry combined with cream cheese with herbs, some sesam, some salt, some fresh herbs and 18 minutes later I had my fresh, tasty Grissini.

 You need:

1 ready rolled puff pastry (275 g)

100 g cream cheese with herbs (I took a Gervais with herbs)

Some fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, some sesame seeds or for example some poppy seeds.... 

Preheat your oven to 180 C and place a parchement paper on your oven tray.

Spread the cream cheese on your puff pastry plate and cut in small about 5 mm stripes.

Twist each stripe and place on your oven tray.

Sweep some water on them with a kitchen brush and disperse the seeds and herbs

Bake for 18 minutes

If you wanna bring them to your Barbecue invitation or to your new neighbours or to your friends or ... bundle them with some ribbon and place in a small basket. Have you baked enough Grissinis?

Hazelnut flavoured mashed potatoes with Asparagus and Prosciutto di Parma

I am not a Asparagus addicted. But as the time you can get fresh Asparagus from your own country is quite limited I eat some Asparagus from time to time during "Asparagus Season". As I bought some delicious hazelnut oil during the springtime gourmet festival in my hometown I was thinking about how to use it beside the possibility to savour it simply with some fresh bread... So I was thinking about an combination with asparagus... Some fresh new potatoes, some Asparagus, some slices prosciutto di parma and here we go..

Ingredients you need (serves 2 - 3 persons)

500 g Asparagus (I used white one but I think the next time I will take some green one because I think  that it would look nicer in combination with the pale yellow from the potatoes...)

30 g Prosciutto di Parma (or more.. :) )

500 g new potatoes

2 - 3 Tbsp. Hazelnut oil

Handfull hazelnuts
some fresh thyme

1 Tbsp. butter

Salt; some kitchen foil

How to prepare:

1. Take a kitchen foil, big enough to form a sort of a package and cook in it your asparagus. I reccomend to make one package per person.. Grease the kitchen foil with some butter.

2.Prepare the Asparagus. The white one has to be peeled. Place the asparagus on your kitchen foil, add some salt, a little bit of butter and some thyme. Form a not too tight package and place in the to 200 C preheated oven for about 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of you asparagus the time may vary).

3. Place on a small oven tray the hazelnuts and roast them in the oven for about 5 minutes until their "skin" can be removed easely.

4. Chop the roasted hazelnuts coarsely and reserve.

5. Cook the potatoes and peel them beeing still hot.

6. With a fork mash the potatoes coarsely, season with salt and the hazelnut oil.

7. Place the mashed potatoes, the Asparagus and the Prosciutto on your plate. Disperse the hazelnuts over all as well as some thyme leaves and enjoy with some young white wine for example...

Chocolate - Lemongras Cheesecake

Now, the last days was very busy and in fact the next days will also not be very quite... But sometimes it happens that you have too much to do and that you can´t really change it by yourself.. So thats the time when one may need some chocolate : ). I remembered that had read a cheesecake recipe on the blog from Nicole Stich (delicious days) and as she uses some cream cheese and I wanted to try the new chocolate flavoured cream cheese from Philadelphia I decided to try a chocolate variation from her recipe.

You need:

60 g butter

150 g butter crackers

1 dash vanilla paste

700 g chocolate falvoured cream cheese (i used Philadelphia)

100 g sugar

1 Tsp. Lemongras powder

3 eggs
2 Tbsp flour
1 round 22 cm cake pan 

 

To prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 C and cover bottom and sides of the cake pan with some parchement paper (first greas your cake pan and then place the parchement paper inside).

2. For the Crust put the crackers in a plastic bag, close and hit on it with a rolling pin (very good for stress reduction : ) . Of course one can also use a food processor) until the crackers are like ground. Mix the crackers with the melted butter and dump into the prepared cake pan. With a Tablespoon press the crackers down and form an even crust (get a little bit higher on the sides, about 2 cm). 

3. For the filling mix together chocolate flavoured cream cheese, sugar, vanilla paste and lemongras powder until smooth. Then add the eggs and the flour.  

4. Pour the cream onto the crust.

5. Bake for about 50 minutes ( the middle might be still a little bit wobbly). Turn off the oven, but leave the cake inside for 1 hour. During this time the chocolate flavour will fill your whole kitchen.... When completely cooled cut in pieces and savour your first piece...

For Mothersday: Mango - Vanilla Pie with Lemonbalm

Today is Mothersday in my country. I don´t know why it´s not on the same day all over the world. For example in Great Britain they already had her Motherday.... Whoever! I decided this morning to make a quick little Pie for this occasion. I saw this Pie beeing prepared in a cooking show at the TV some days ago. I varied it a little bit but it´s nonetheless based on a recipe from the cook Andreas C. Studer.

In my opinion the recipe can be used for quite every fruit. I pesonally love Mangos and the one in my fridge had to used... But try the recipe for example with some raspberries or some rhubarb. (andreas C. Studer did it with rhubarb.. in the TV Show) Of course the recipe can be done on any occasion or without occasion :) ...and not only on Mothersday...

The amount of ingredients I´ll tell you is enough for about one 25 cm Pie

For the Piecrust you need:

- 200 g wheat flour

- 100 g cold butter

- 4 Tbsp. Milk

- a pinch of salt and some flour to dust the surface when you roll out the dough 

 For the Filling:

- 1 Mango

- 200 ml heavy cream

- 4 Tbsp. sugar

- 1 Tbsp. corn starch
- 2 medium sized Eggs
- 2 pinch of vanilla paste (or 1 scraped vanilla pod)

- 1 Tbsp. of chopped lemon balm

To prepare:

1. Start preparing the Pie crust by crumbling the butter together with the flour and a pinch of salt until you get a sandy consistency. Then add the 4 Tbsp. milk and work on it until you get a well combined dough.

2. Roll out your dough (I like to do it on a parchement paper because it is then easier to transfer the dough in my Pieform) until about 3 mm thick

4. Transfer it to your pieform that you´ve buttered before.

5. With a fork make all over some "holes" in your dough.

6. Cut the Mango into cubes and disperse on your unbaked Piecrust

7. Mix together heavy cream, sugar, corn starch, eggs and vanilla (mix just until well combined)

8. Pour this mixture over the Mangos
9. Spread the lemon balm over all. (The next time I´ll try if it would be better to add the lemon balm after having baked the Pie, to taste more of his flavour...)

10. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven (220 C)

 Meanwhile clean your kitchen. Nobody else will do it...

 And then savour when slightly hot, the delicate, melting Filling with the crispy crust.... For Mothersday I

decorated the Pie with some coloured sugar.... I made out of a paper a "heart shaped master plate".. First dusted along my heart with the coloured sugar and then dusted allover with some icing sugar.