sesame - tofu sticks with salad

 Some time ago if some one would have asked me about the taste from tofu I sure would have answered that any tofu is like any other tofu and that is has not a very distinct taste. Now meanwhile I know that one has to taste the different tofus because there are different varieties. But honestly, in the end.. the way you prepare the tofu is the crucial thing. This time I used a tofu with walnut pieces. But for this recipe you can use any tofu that you can cut in sticks.

You need (for 2 servings):
100g Tofu, cut in fingerthick sticks
50 g sesam
4 Tbsp. Wheat flour
6 Tbsp. Soy or oat cream
1Tsp. starch flour
Salt, pepper and some oil to fry
Some salad (I took a mix of different salads)
For your salad dressing: lemon juice or vinegar, olive oil , salt and pepper
To prepare:
1. Roll your tofu sticks in wheat flour.
2. Add to the flour the starch and cream and mix well. You´ll get a sticky, creamy mass...
3. Cover each stick with this mix and then roll them in the sesame until all over coated
4. Fry the sticks in hot oil until golden brown. Drain on some kitchen paper
5. Make your fav salad dressing and pour it over your salad. Put the hot Tofu sticks on your salad an here we go....

Bulgur-Quinoa Salad to go

I need prepared things that I can take with me to the office for having a good lunch without need for difficult preparations.. so really things "TO GO". Therefore I often prepare different meals on one day and then store them for the next days in my fridge. This way I have inly to choose in the mornig which lunch I would like today. One of those easy to prepare and to take away things is this salad. I made it this time with a mix of bulgur and quinoa and added some sweet potatoe and avocado. Of course one can do ist also with quinoa or bulgur alone as well as you can add quite every vegetable as for example broccoli or cauliflower or....

 

You need (for 2 servings):

125 g bulgur and quinoa (about 80 g bulgur and the rest quinoa)
300 ml water
1/2 avocado
1 sweet potatoe
1/2 tsp. sugar
30 g peeled almonds
1 lemon
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Some mint leaves

To prepare:
1. Add some salt to the water and bring it to boil together with bulgur and quinoa.
2. Peel the sweet potatoe and cut into medium sized cubes as well as the avocado.
 3. Mix the potatoe with a little bit of oil, add some salt, pepper and sugar.
4. In an oven proofed form bake the potatoe in the to 180 C preheated oven for about 30 minutes (until soft).
5. Meanwhile roast the almonds in a hot pan without any oil. Then roughly cut them.
6. Mix together the juice from the lemon with oil, season with salt and pepper.
7. When bulgur and quinoa are cooked (takes about 15 minutes), drain and put in a bowl.
8. Mix together bulgur, quinoa, avocado and potatoe. Pour the lemon dressing over and carefully mix everything.
9. Sprinkle some mint leaves and the almonds on top of your salad. Now or you eat it right now or you put it in some glasses to Take Away within the next days.

Beans and Asparagus Salad

Asparagus Season started and one can get the domestic, much more tasty asparagus than the imported one... In my country we get more often the white one but I prefer the green Asparagus. Also the big Asparagus is said to be the best one and is therefor more expansive than the thinner one. But I prefer the medium sized not too big one. I find him more tasty. As I had invited some friends for dinner I wanted to do a real Springtime - Dinner and decided to start with a Asparagus Salad.

I went to the market and bought (serves 3 - 4 persons as a small dish or about 6 persons as a starter):

- 500 g green asparagus

- 300g big, white cooked beans (in a glass or a tin)

- 100 g Rucola

- 50 g roasted, coarsely chopped Walnuts

- 1 glass of Pesto genovese 

- 100 g baby tomatoes

- 4 Tbsp. lemonjuice, 4 Tbsp. Olive oil

- 1 Tbsp. shaved Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper
To prepare:

1. Mix 2 Tbsp. Pesto with Oil and lemon juice until well combined, season with salt and pepper if needed and add the drained beans

2. Peel the asparagus. The green one need only to be peeled in the lower third.

3. Cook the Asparagus for about 8 minutes in enough salted water where you´ve added a pinch sugar (do not overcook, he should be almost crispy)
4. Meanwhile roast the coarsely chopped walnuts in a pan without any oil

6. Chill the asparagus with some cold water and cut in pieces from about 3 - 4 cm

7. Add carefully the Asparagus to the Bean - Pesto mix

8. Place on your Dish the Rucola, than the Bean-Asparagus-Pesto, disperse the halved tomatoes, the walnuts and the Parmesan shavings over all and serve with some toast or baguette.

Zucchini - Cheese Pastry

I don´t know why but at the moment I seem to be in love with puff pastry. Probably because it is very variable and you can make in a short time a great treat...sweet or salty..... So you can find puff pastry in my fridge quite on all time as well as some cheese. I like those Zucchini-cheese pastries beeing served as a little dish with salad.
What you need (serve 4 - 5 person):
1 roll of puff pastry (275 g)
1 medium sized zucchini
200 g Camembert
2 Tsp of a dried herbs mix (like Herbes de Provences)
Some fresh thyme, salt, pepper and olive oil
For the salad:
1 small lettuce, 1 little onion, ketchup, mustard, white vine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper
To prepare:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C
2. Cut the puff pastry in some rectangles

3. Slice the washed zucchini, as well as the camembert

4. Put the zuccini on the puff pastry, season with herbs, salt and pepper. Top with the cheese, fresh thyme and drizzle with some olive oil

5. Bake in the preheated oven on a paper lined tray for about 20 minutes until golden brown and the cheese is melted (I did meanwhile the pastries baking too much things and nearly forgot them, so they turned a little bit too brown..... : ) )

6. While the pastries bake: wash, cut and season your salad. I mixed for the salad a vinaigrette out of sliced onion, 2 Tsp mustard, 2 Tsp ketchup 3 Tbsp white vine vinegar, 6 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper.
I put everything in a little jar, close it with a lid and shake until well combined. Pour the vinaigrette over your salad.

7. Prepare for each person a plate with some salad and the quantity of zucchini-cheese pastries you like.

About Eggs and Eastern and a Springtime Salad

Eastern is coming. In every shop one can find some Easterdecoration, some painted eggs, a lot of chocolate bunnies or chocolate chicks, chocolate eggs, praliné eggs, almondpaste eggs.... Eggs all around..! So it was self-evident that sooner or later I would look for a dish with eggs... I find Quaileggs cute and like to decorate with them for Eastern. So why not also eat them?

Serves 4 Person:

3 – 4 Quaileggs / person

750 g Potatoes

1 Red onion (sliced into cubes)

                                                     1 small iceberg lettuce

10 Tbsp. Verjus (or lemon juice)

3 Tbsp. Olive oil

Salt, Pepper, 20 g sunflowerseeds

Sesamoil to fry the eggs

 To coat the quail eggs with breadcrumbs you need (amount for about 12 quail eggs):

1 small egg (whisked with a fork)

6 Tbsp wheat flour

8 Tbsp breadcrumbs

(if you intend to coat more than 12 Quaileggs you must adjust the amount of flour, breadcrums and eventually also the egg)

1. Cook the potatoes as usual. Then peel them and cut into slices.

2. Meanwhile the potatoes cook, cut your onion into cubes and pour some hot water over them and let rest for 5 minutes (to get the onions milder and easier to digest), then drain them well and reserve for the preparation of the potatoes.

3. Prepare your lettuce by washing and cutting

4. Cook the Quaileggs for about 3 minutes in boiling water. Peel them and proceed with the breadcrumbcoating.

5. Prepare 3 different bowls filled one with flour,one  with the whisked egg and one with breadcrumbs

6. First roll the Quaileggs in flour, than in egg and finally cover all around with breadcrumbs

7. Heat up enough sesamoil in a pan and fry the breadcrumb coated Quaileggs until golden brown. Drain them on a kitchenroll.

8. In a separate Pan roast the sunflowerseed without any oil until slightly brown

9. Mix together Verjus (or lemon juice) and olive oil, season with salt and pepper and marinate  the potatoes and separately the lettuce. Fold the onion in the potatoesalad.

10. Now arrange on a plate the lettuce beneath the potatoes and Quaileggs aand disperse the sunflowerseeds over all...

Avocado with horseradish-Cream

Today it started to rain and the forecast for the next days are not announcing a real change. My day was also not really exciting: business as usual, one meeting succeeding the other... Regarding the weather in fact it makes no real change if it rains or if it would be sunny as I have to work on Saturday... So on the way home I was thinking what kind of treat I could make this evening and went to the supermarket. The result of my consideration and purchase you can find here :).

For 2 persons you need:
1 ripe avocado

1 teaspoon horseradish-paste

3 tablespoon sour cream

2 tablespoon yoghurt

salt and pepper

1/2 of a medium sized tomato

1 small tin of sweet corn (I used 2 tablespoons from it)

To prepare:

1. Prepare the horseradishcream by mixing together the sour cream, yoghurt and the horseradish-paste. Season with salt and pepper

2. Cut the tomato into small cubes

3. Peel the avocado and cut into slices
4. Put the avocado on a plate, cover half with the prepared horseradish-Cream and disperse over all your tomatoes and the sweet corn.
Thats all your treat is done! I have decorated with salted potatoes that I found to be very tasty in combination with the salad.... Of course some ciabatta or some toast would also be fine....

Lambsirloin with mediterranean potatoe salad

Today it was a really sunny day - one of the first really springtime days.... So I decided to get a little bit out  of the city and drive to the countryside and by the way visit my sister. On the way to her, my attention was captured by an advertisement from a butcher for organic lambsirloin. It really looked tempting....and of course I bought it and brouht also some of it as a little present to my sister.... To prolong the "sunny feeling" I decided to prepare the lamb in a mediterranean way. First I marinated it in a marinade of olive oil and the lamb mix rub from Nomu for about 4 hours. Meanwhile I cooked some small potatoes (about 500 g) . Then let them cool down some few minutes before you cut them in chunky pieces. During the cooking time of the potatoes, cut in small cubes 2-3 stams from a celery and 1/2 of an medium sized onion. Furthermore you  need some salt, pepper, olive oil, about 2 - 3 tablespoons capers  and 50 g cored olives (I cut them also in pieces). Put your celery, potatoes, onion, capers, olives in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix all together with 4 - 5 tablespoon of Verjus (or wine vinegar or lemon juice.. I think I would then use a little bit less amount) and 2 tablespoon olive oil  (the amount of oil and vinegar / Verjus depends on your taste..). Heat up a grillpan and roast your lambsirloin on every side for some minutes (time depends upon your taste: if you like it more well done or a little bit rosé in the middle). Serve the sirloin together with the almost slightly warm potatoe salad.

Papaya Salad

Making my daily shopping in the supermarket I was "captured" today from some Papayas. Thinking about how I could use them and looking into my fridge I found some creamy  mild goat cheese, some mixed salad, and the Verjus that I´ve bought recently. Furthermore you will need some balsamico vinegar (about 2 - 3 Tablespoons), olive oil, 1 - 2 teaspoons brown sugar, salt pepper and a non sticking pan. (= amount per medium sized Papaya halve)

First cut the Papaya into two halves, peel them and scratch out the grains. Cut the Papapya into slices.

For the salad dressing mix in a small jar some olive oil with the verjus (or some vinegar or lemon juice) and season with salt and pepper. Shake the jar to obtain a well mixed dressing.                               

Fry the papaya in the pan together with the balsamico for some minutes until everything is well covered from the vinegar, than  add the brown sugar and wait until all is well melted and caramelized.      

Pour the dressing over your salad, place your hot papayas on it and disperse the coarsely divided cheese (about 30 g / Person) over it. Thats it!