Dienstag, 28. Mai 2013

*Easy* Crispy Oven French Fries - WORLD`S BEST!



With French Fries for me it is like with Pizza, Lasagne, Burger....with all the Classics:
Most you can get are "okay" to "not very awesome", sometimes you are lucky and get very good ones.

And again: I was on the hunt for MY perfect French Fries...the problem is: when you found them and you do them at home...you never can eat some outside from anywhere and be satisfied. Damn.

But nevertheless: I found my personal FAVs, and the same for Timo. We both love them!
AND!!! LADIES! - and Lords, for sure:
They are made in the OVEN, with a little bit of oil - but they are NOT deep-fried, so there is nearly no added fat in it!!! THIS is the REAL deal with that recipe here. Eat French fries without bad conscience.

Okay, let`s go.
_________________________________________________________________________

Crispy Oven French Fries
serves one as a generous side dish

> 2 BIG potatoes, floury
> salt
> neutral oil (for frying)
> polenta
> paprika powder

>> Preheat oven: 180°C/ 360°F
>> Peel the potatoes or not, like you prefer it (I like them with peel)
>> Cut into 15mm x 15mm thick long slices - you can choose your own thickness. They shrink while they are heating a bit, so don`t  make them toooo thin.
>> Prepare a big bowl of ice water (some cold water with ice cubes is perfect) and put potatoe slices into it for 15 minutes.
>> Dry them as best as you can on a kitchen towel. Ehm...dry them really WELL!
>> Mix them with paprika powder and polenta (own measure)
>> Give them on a baking sheet on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil.
>> Give into oven for about 20 minutes. Have a look at the color. They should get really dark yellow, like on the photo.
>> Take them out into a bowl and salt them


ENJOOOYY!



Dienstag, 14. Mai 2013

*Easy* Rhubarb Syrup

Some things in life just arent`t fair. You do so much and you get much less.
I think sometimes about it when I listen to the song "Ironic" from Alanis Morissette.
But I guess it works sometimes also the other way `round. Sometimes it needs just a spark and you get fireworks back (especially with best friends :))

For me, it works also in cooking.
One of my passions is to find the simplest basic recipes with the most magical flavor.
I mean those kind of recipes you can recite after you did them one or two times. And I mean also these kind of basic recipes that allow you to power them up with a flavour you are just in the mood to add.
When you found one, it surely will be a "Classic" for the rest of your life. Yeah. I am collecting "Classics", I am on the hunt!

Pizza, bread, basic sauces, icecream... (the chocolate icecream I wrote about is already one of my "Classics")
Here is one more of my beautiful babies!
Springtime here, that means april and may, is rhubarb-time. I always try to cook some things with it in, because the time is so short. It is not always easy, because Timo doesn`t like it at all. But that syrup is awesome, because you can store it in the fridge for long, and it is so refreshing. You can bring it to grillparties or take it into the office or whatever. It is just lovely.

And ... like I told you: it is so easy you can do it soon by heart!

Best is: be creative in serving!
Add ice cubes. Sparkling water. Lemon slices. Mint leaves. Prosecco. Other kinds of alcohol. Add to icecream. Whatever!
____________________________________________________________________

RHUBARB SYRUP

About 1 liter

Ingredients:
> 1 kg rhubarb (makes normally about 500 ml rhubarb juice)
> sugar
> 1-2 lemons (1 lemon contains about 30 to 40 ml juice)

Method:
>> Peel rhubarb and cut roughly. Put into a pot with 50 ml of water.
>> Heat until it cooks, let then simmer at lower heat until the rhubarb is completely soft, like mush.
>> Give into a linen sheeth or very fine colander and let drop for a while. Then begin to squeeze it as much as you can. That will take some time and takes some effort. But do it for every drop. In the end, the rest of the rhubarb should be very dry...you can knead it like a dense dough then. Throw the "dough" away.
>> Measure your juice amount, put back into pot.
>> For every liter juice, add 700 grams of sugar and 70 grams freshly squeezed lemon juice.
>> Heat but not let cook...until the sugar completely dissolved.
>> Pour through a fine colander into sterilized bottles (I lay the bottles into hot/cooking water 15 minutes before using them)

...and now enjoy it with whatever you think it`s good (on my pic with cold water, ice cubes and fresh peppermint). Preferably on a warm or hot day in the sun :)



Donnerstag, 9. Mai 2013

Lime Turkey WOK


The winter is over!
It was quite fun cooking during that cold season. The food is always very heavy and strong, what is really the best when you come from a walk in the cold cold air.
But I am looking forward so much to the springtime, and I prefer now light food. We love to cook in our WOK, so here we go, this is our first WOK food this year!
_________________________________________________________
Lime Turkey WOK
(serves 2)


Ingredients:
> 200 grams
turkey cutlet
> 1 lime, untreated (you need the peel)
> 1 stick of lemongrass
> 1 piece of ginger (size: half of a thumb)
> 1
garlic clove
> Pepper
> 150 grams fresh mushrooms (I prefer oyster mushrooms)
> 150 grams PakChoy
> 2 Tbsp oil
> 3 Tbsp fishsauce
> 2 Tbsp Ketjap Manis
> 6 Tbsp chicken stock

150 grams rice, dry


>> Prepare rice (instruction HERE)

>> Cut the meat into stripes.
>> Wash
lime with hot water. Grate the peel and press the juice.
>> Cut the top of the
lemongrass, quarter lengthwise and chop into little pieces
>> Peel ginger and
garlic and chop also into little pieces. Mix with 1 Tbsp limejuice, limepeel, pepper and lemongrass and rub into the meat. Put into fridge until you need it.
>> Cut mushrooms and PakChoy into large stripes.

>> Heat WOK until very hot, add oil and heat it until hot.
>> Add meat and fry 3 minutes until lightly golden brown.
>> Take out meat off the pan and put mushrooms in the rest of the oil. Stir and fry 2 minutes.
>> Add PakChoy, stir one more minute.
>> Add fishsauce, Ketjap Manis, stock and 2 Tbsp
limejuice
>> Add meat and let cook for 3 more minutes.
>> Add once more pepper.

> Serve with rice!
 

Dienstag, 7. Mai 2013