Prosciutto - Chickenbreast with potatoe gratin

 Of course during those festive days you eat quite a lot of sweets. Everyone bringing, offering his home made biscuits. All of them delicious, all of them "the one biscuit" that you have to try... But let´s confess - and even sweetlovers like me - we are looking for something salty after these sugarmarathon... Looking through my new cookbooks that Santa Claus brought me, I found quite a lot of delicious proposals for cooking. But to try a new recipe I like to have more time and not to try it the first time by an invitation dinner or lunch... So thinking about what to cook and getting satisfiyed the whole family I rememorated this recipe from Jamie Olivers Cookbook "Ministry of Food". It´s one of my favourite cookbooks. The recipes are simple but nonetheless with a certain twist... The potatoe gratin is one of our try and error family recipes that combines the "assignments" from different cookbooks.

You need (serves 4 person):

- 600g chicken filet

- 80 g Prosciutto di Parma (thin slices / 1 per person)

- 1 organic lemon

- 1 Tbsp. thymeleaves

- 50 g fresh grated Parmeggiano

For the Potatoe gratin:

- 800 g Potatoes

- 400 g heavy Cream

- 3 big eggs

- Some butter

Salt and pepper to season and some olive oil

To prepare:

1. Start with the Gratin as it needs about half an hour to bake and some preparation time until ready for baking in the oven. Peel the potatoes and cut them in rather thin slices. Put the potatoes in a bowl filled with very salty water and let soak for about 30 minutes (or even longer)

2. Mix together Cream and eggs and season enough with salt and pepper.

3. Butter small ramekins (or one pieform) all over. Drain the potatoes and dry them with a some kitchen paper. Lay the potatoes in the oven prooved ramekins a little bit overlapping. Pour over all your Egg-Cream-Mix and place in the 180 C preheated oven for about 25 minutes (until the surface gets a little bit brown and crusty)

4. Meanwhile cut your chicken breast in pieces adapted for 1 person. Score the underside with a small knife in a cris-cross fashion. Season with some pepper. Grate some lemon zest on them and sprinkle some fresh grated Parmeggiano and the thymeleaves on each Filetpiece.

5. Lay some Prosciutto on each Filet to cover it on one side. Then drizzle with some olive oil.

6. Cover the filets with a clingfilm  and give the filet a few bashes with the flat side if a meat tenderizer (or the flat bottom of a pan) until about 5 mm - 1 cm thick.

7. Pour some oil in a non sticking pan (you want need very much) and heat up to medium heat. With the Prosciutto side down transfer the filets in the pan and fry for some minuits. Then turn over and fry the other side.

8. Serve together with the potatoe gratin and some green salad....

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...

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...

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...

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.

"Kartoffelgulasch" - my daughters all time favorite

Whenever I ask my daughter what I could cook for her to make her happier the answer is:
Kartoffelgulasch (=Potatogulasch)!!!
It is not very difficult to make and I would wonder if you would not already have some of the ingredients at home. That means that you need (for about 3 - 4 persons)

1,5 kg Potatoes (you can of course also use more or less)
2 tablespoons of ground paprika
4 Debreziner sausages ( but you can also use for example Frankfurter)
300 ml of warm vegetable stock
1 medium sized onion
3 tablespoon oil (I use sun flower oil)

1. Peel the onion and cut into small cubes

2. Give the oil in a pot and heat it up on medium heat.

3. Add the prepared onions and let them turn to light brown

4. Meanwhile peel and cut the potatoes into quarters and also cut the sausages into small pieces

5. Add the potatoes to the onion and stir from time to time for about 5 minutes until all the potatoes are well mixed with onion and oil

6.  Now add the warm stock, the ground paprika and cook for about 35 minutes (depending on your potatoes the time may vary). After 10 minutes add the sausages. Stir from time to time. The meal is ready when the potatoes are soft cooked