Weekend Breakfast

During the week, I do not care too much for big breakfasts. Give me a good (!) cup of coffee and a piece of bread and I am good. However, on the weekends I like to indulge myself a little. Since I am always disappointed when I go out for breakfast (just to clarify – I do enjoy eating out for lunch and dinner) I created/or adapted my own little breakfast heavens. Here is one of them…

French Country Omelet

Cook three thick slices of bacon until crisp. Take the bacon out and cook 1 cup, peeled and cut into 1-inch-dices, Yukon Gold potatoes in the bacon grease until they are brown. Take the potatoes out of the pan. In a bowl beat 4 eggs, a little milk, some chopped chives and add salt and pepper. Clean the pan (take out the bacon grease) and add a little butter. Pour the egg-mixture into the hot pan, add the bacon and potatoes over the top and place the pan into a 350F (preheated) oven for 6-8 minutes (until the eggs are set).

Serve hot (with homemade salsa)

Guten Appetit!

Mushroom Tartlets

Not exactly a “fat free” food, but you can detect a theme here….uummmm so good! Thaw one sheet frozen puff pastry and cut (with a regular juice glass) into ~3inch rounds (put it back in the fridge until everything else is ready).

Heat a little olive oil in the pan and add ½ of a diced onion. Cook until soft and add 1 pound sliced Baby Bella mushrooms. Cook until soft and browned (~10 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Add about ½ teaspoon of dried thyme into the mixture.

Spray the muffin cups with olive oil (lightly). Add about 4 tablespoons of the mushroom mixture. Then top each with 2-3 tablespoons of shredded Gruyere cheese. Now top each with the pastry round and bake at 375 F (preheated) for about 25 minutes.

Let it cool for a few minutes and then turn onto a large plate to release the tartlets. These are great appetizers.

Guten Appetit!   

What to do when you can't sleep...

So what do I do when I wake up at 2:00am in the morning because I am completely stressed out about my dissertation? For which, I might like to add, I feel I have reached a point where I am totally blocked now, and instead of being able to see the larger picture my thoughts are constantly returning back to my case study - not getting me anywhere!


Well, I do the one thing I feel I have at least a little control over. I bake! I give you Challah…

Mix 2 packages (instant) dry yeast with 5 cups of flour, ½ cup of sugar, 1 cup warm water, 3 eggs, 2 teaspoons salt and ½ cup (room temperate) butter. Mix until you have a ball of dough, cover, and try to catch some sleep on the sofa while the dough doubles (about 2 hours if you can actually do it w/out thinking about writing/theories/sociological perspectives).

Divide the dough in four equal parts and roll each into a long rope. Line the four strands and braid them (this was kind of a trial an error thing at 4:00am – you will see when it’s correct and there is no way I can explain this process). Cover the braid with a towel and let it rise again for about one hour. At this point I did fall asleep on the sofa and by the time I woke up the braid had risen for about 2 hours (hence it’s a little too fat!).

Brush with one beaten egg, sprinkle with poppy and sesame seeds, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Nectarine Cobbler

I bought a case of nectarines a few weeks ago, and this morning I looked at the last four (sad looking) nectarines that were left in the box. After inspection, one had to go in the garbage, but the last three were, while a little soft to the touch, still in good shape. I thought I give the old Peach Cobbler a spin and try my luck with Nectarine Cobbler. Here it goes…

Cut three (sad looking) nectarines in slices and boil them with ½ cup of sugar and some water for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile melt about 2 tbsp. butter in a casserole dish.

Mix ¾ cup of flour, 2 tsp. of baking powder, ¼ cup sugar, and ¾ cup of milk (makes kind of like a pancake batter).

Add the batter to the melted butter casserole dish (do not mix the batter with the butter - just pour on top of it!). Then add the nectarines with a slotted spoon (I left most of the juice in the pot) on top of the batter.

 

Now bake at 350F for 45 min.

And voila……Nectarine Cobbler.

Chicken in Wine

James, my friend on Facebook, requested a chicken recipe and I immediately thought about my FAVORITE one. It’s the good old Coq au Vin (Rooster in Wine). It’s very easy to make and absolutely delicious. All you need is 100g bacon, 250g mushrooms, 250g shallots, 1 pkt. chicken pieces (e.g. thighs; it tastes a lot better if you use meat with skin – unlike in my picture where I tried to save a few calories and bought skinless chicken breast), 2 lg. carrots, Salt, Pepper, a little flour, 3/8 l red wine (everything is better with wine, but this recipe really needs it), ¼ cup chicken broth, 1 tbs. thyme, and 1 bay leaf.

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and brown them on both sides until they are golden brown. Take the chicken out. In the same pot, fry the sliced bacon and add the quartered shallots and the mushrooms. Cook for a little while and sprinkle the flour on top. Stir again. Add the thyme and bay leaf and slowly add the wine and chicken broth. Cook a little longer and finally add the (thick) sliced carrots. At this point, take the sauce mixture out, add the chicken back to the pot and add the sauce on top. Cover the pot and put it into the oven at 400F for about 1 hour.

I served it with potatoes au gratin which was probably not the best choice. Since the chicken dish has a lot of great sauce, it kind of “clashed” with the au gratin and I would serve it instead with something a little “more dry” (e.g. egg noodles, spaetzle).


Guten Appetit!

Butternut Squash Soup

Squash?!


A strange fruit!

Indeed a fruit - I just recently learned that it is NOT a vegetable. I also must admit that I never knew what to do with squash. Squash is not exactly a staple where I grew up (In fact I don’t remember ever eating squash as a child). I tried to make a squash casserole before and it was horrible. Luckily, after eating Butternut Squash Soup at one of my local Slow Food Tucson events I changed my mind (and yes…you probably will hear the Slow Food Movement mentioned quite often in my blogs, it is after all the topic of my dissertation and besides cooking new recipes, thinking and writing about this movement takes up the majority of my time).

Once you get passed the peeling, getting rid of the seeds, and cutting the squash into small pieces, this soup is very easy to prepare. Moreover, it is healthy and taste absolutely awesome. Cook 3 slices of bacon until crisp in a large pot. Take the bacon out and save it for garnish. Add 1/2 chopped onion, 1 chopped (large) leek, and 1 minced garlic clove to the bacon grease. Also add 1 bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. When this mixture softens add the cut up squash, 1 chopped (peeled!) Granny Smith apple, and 2 ½ cups chicken stock. Simmer this for about 25 minutes.

When the squash is tender, take out the bay leaf and puree the mixture in a blender (if it is too thick add some water). Then return it to the pot and heat it again. When serving just crumble up the bacon and add on top. Absolutely delicious! Moreover, it freezes very well and tastes great re-heated.

Guten Appetit!

Indonesian Corn Fritters

Okay…so Luau Salad wasn’t going to be the only thing I would miss moving of my Island of Oahu. There was another great restaurant - E&O Trading Company - where they served the best Corn Fritters. As a matter of fact I had never heard of Corn Fritters (even while reading the menu the first few times I ate there I kind of glazed over the Corn Fritter part) until a waiter recommended them one day. I am so glad he did! (I would thank him now in this blog but unfortunately I don’t remember his name – in short I just thank all the waiters/waitresses and the E&O Trading Co. Honolulu). After my first time I was hooked and would order this delicious appetizer every time I ate there.


After my move to the "mainland” I experienced the same dilemma as I had with my Luau Salad. I had to find the recipe for the Corn Fritters. After a little research I found out that these are actually called Indonesian Corn fritters and there were plenty of recipes available online. Honestly, the first few times they did not turn out so great, but after a trial-and-error period I finally got them very close to the originals. Yet, the restaurant served them with a special dipping sauce which even today I have not figured out, but provide you with the recipe of the closest match I came up with. I would love to hear comments from anyone with the original ingredients for the dipping sauce.

Mix together: One can of corn (w/out the juice), 1 tsp. minced garlic, ½ cup chopped green onions, 1/3 cup flour, a little salt and pepper, and 2 eggs. Heat some oil in a (deep) frying pan and add the corn batter in “small pancake size” to the hot oil. Flatten the batter out (a little). Cook on each side until they are golden brown.


Serve with the dipping sauce:

1/8 cup soy sauce, 3 tbsps. rice vinegar, ½ tsp. Hot Pepper Paste, 2 tsps. chopped green onions.



Guten Appetit!

My Own Luau Salad

When I still lived in Hawai’i I ate at the Cheesecake factory frequently. However, I always ordered the same item: the Luau Salad. The combination of sweet, sour, fruit, vegetables, chicken, soft and crunchy is something that cannot be explained – it has to be tasted. So imagine my reaction when I found out that my new hometown did not have this restaurant and I would never be able to eat my favorite salad again.

For this reason I immediately searched the Internet for any possible recipe of the Luau Salad. I found a variety of recipes and took a little of each to make my own. The end result looked and tasted almost identical to the one I had at the restaurant. This is not a hard meal to make it just takes a lot of ingredients and some time to chop it all up. However it is so worth the work!

Mix 1 lb spring green mix with 1lb grilled chicken breasts (sliced into thin strips), 8oz each red and yellow bell pepper (sliced thin), fresh green beans (blanched), cucumber slices, mango slices, and ½ red onion (small pieces) in a large bowl. The marinade for this salad is made by mixing: 1 cup balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup rice vinegar, ¼ cup sugar and 1 tsp. sesame oil (do not skip the oil since it MAKES the taste). Set a side (do not mix yet w/the salad). Meanwhile, fry large egg-roll wrappers (so they will become crisp), let cool and brush with sweat and sour sauce. Now mix the dressing into the salad and build the salad on the plate. Start with a little salad, than add the crispy egg-roll wrapper, top w/salad, another egg-roll wrapper, a little salad. Top with some shredded carrots and green onions (mostly for looks) and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Guten Appetit!
wuenscht Alexandra Springer

(Side note: At the beginning of this year a Cheesecake factory opened in Tucson and the waiting time to be seated is about 1 minute compared to 1 hour in Hawai’i ).

Home Baked Bread

I thought I start my new blog with my proudest achievement yet (in regards to baking that is), home baked bread. While there are plenty of very good breads (read: German style) available in my new home of Tucson, AZ (e.g. AJ's) they often come with a hefty price tag. For this reason I jumped on the opportunity when my local Slow Food Movement convivium offered a Master bread class.

Interesting and way fun, the best thing was we all left with a little starter from which my breads have emerged ever since. 8oz of the starter are mixed with 3 cups of water, 1 tsp salt and 1 1/2 lbs of organic unbleached bread flour. This mixture is left for 4 hours and then can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. At this point I refresh the starter with 1/2 cup of water (mix it up completely) and add 6oz whole wheat flour. This then goes back into the fridge for the next time I want to bake. 

The next day the sponge (the part that was in the fridge for up to 24 hours) is mixed with 1/2 cup of water and 1lb 14oz of bread flour + 4 tsp salt. After this is knead thoroughly it has to sit for about 4 hours (to grow). Then I cut the dough in half, shape it a little (so it looks like a bread) and bake it in the oven for 45minutes (exactly!) at 500F. When I first put it in the oven I add 1Glass of warm water to a (metal) bowl underneath the bread (to give it the steam for the awesome crust).

I used to never have the patience to wait so long (I assume this is why I was a terrible baker), but while writing my dissertation I noticed that baking bread will give you the right amount of time to step away from your writing process and nothing makes your think more clear than kneading dough for a great German style bread.