Nutella Pancake

I went to the KWXX Ho’olaule’a in Hilo, Hawai’i a few weeks back and a friend of mine (Aloha, Pierre) ordered a Nutella Crepes. Ever since I had the craving for one, so today I finally made one (actually I made one a few weeks back but I never took pictures). Since I haven’t been creatively cooking or baking since I got her I better post this one. Perfect snack for my 3:00pm coffee :)

Nutella Pancake

¾ cup flour

1 pck. Vanilla Sugar

1 Egg

Milk

(orange aroma – from Germany :)

Mix together – heat butter in frying pan - make one large pancake. Flip over once batter surface has “hardened” (not runny anymore).

Top with Nutella (spread out evenly). Roll and enjoy!

Guten Appetit!

Kumquat Marmalade and Pancakes

Kumquat Marmalade and Pancakes

My first try making jelly/marmalade. Since I only used  1/9th (!)* of the sugar it suggested (somewhere online) I was okay with the consistency (like thick syrup ).

Kumquat Marmalade:

26 Kumquats

2 Oranges

~3 cups water

Juice from one lemon

1 cup sugar (*the recipe online asked for 9 cups – seriously?)

Cut kumquats and oranges into small pieces (I got rid of the orange peel). Add to large pot with 3 cups of water. Let’s soak for about one hour. Bring to boil and boil until peels are soft. Add the sugar and the lemon juice and return to boil.  Let simmer until wanted consistency is reached.

Pancakes:

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

A little sugar and one package vanilla sugar

Add mineral water until “pancake batter” consistency is reached (I always use milk, but ran out of milk yesterday morning so tried the mineral water – it didn’t change the taste at all)

Add all ingredients together and make pancakes :) Top with kumquat jam.

Guten Appetit!

Schnitzel

I have been lagging on getting a Schnitzel Recipe to JT (thanks for your patienceJ) I could have just send one from the cookbook, but really wanted to put my personal touch on it (with pics). So here it is…

I usually buy a large pork loin from Costco and cut my own Schnitzel (way cheaper and way better quality). I just freeze them and defrost a package when I need them. For 4 Schnitzel you will need.

4 Schnitzel (pork loin – about 1inch thick)

Some flour

Salt and Pepper

Oil (for frying)

2 eggs

Breadcrumbs (about 1 cup) Note: I used Panko breadcrumbs this time (just because I had them) and would NOT recommend them for Schnitzel. Since Panko is thicker (larger pieces) than regular  breadcrumbs it sucks up a lot more oil).

First I hit the meat with a meat hammer until they are very thin (double the size). Salt and Pepper

Coat the schnitzel with flour, eggs (mixed), breadcrumbs (in that order)

Now fry....

                     
           

And voila...Schnitzel

That’s right there are only 3 – hmmmm…….

The Miracle of Flour

I have a new recipe for bread since my original starter did not survive my little Hawai’i trip in December. This recipe asks for beer, which is always a winner in my book. Since I did not want to waste a bottle of beer (the recipe only needs ¼ cup, plus 2 tbls), I thought why not bake four breads (which take the entire bottle – I could have drank the rest you ask….well it was only 10:00am in the morning and one does have her standards. We all know that saving the bottle until the evening was not an option since there is nothing worse than stale beer). Back to my bread….

I decided to conduct a little experiment (not really earth shattering since bakers have been doing this for centuries). I wanted to know what different results I would get in MY KITCHEN with different types of flours (holding all other variables constant – a true sociologist speaking here :) Except for the flour, the ingredients, conditions, temperatures, times etc. were identical. This is what I got: 

1. Rye Bread:

2. Wheat Bread:

3. Bread-Flour Bread:

4. White-Flour Bread:

And all of them...

Guten Appetit!

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.