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Simple Seasonal Delights

Tomato Soup is quick and easy to make, tasty and satisfying, especially now when we have quite a few sweet and ripe every day. But you can also use tomatoes bought in the shops or on your local farmers’ market from a wide range of quality and prices.

Wash and quarter the fruit, removing large stalks. Add an onion and one or two cloves of garlic, crushed, a teaspoon of salt. Put to a gentle simmer on low heat until it is melted, then blizz the whole thing.

Finely dice a small onion, then gently fry in a knob of butter and an equal amount of olive oil until golden. Add the soup, bring back to heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with soured cream. Basil pesto, Balsamic vinegar, toasted pumpkin seed or chilli oil also make tasty and visually appealing additions, so does wilted spinach or caramelised feta cheese.

As I said. Quick and easy, tasty and satisfying.

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Tapas

Who doesn’t love tapas whatever they are called, whichever country of origin?

Spanish Tapas, an Indian Thali or simply a selection of starters from your local Chinese, it’s all the same to me in principle: lots of different morsels to explore rather than one large plate of one dish.

Almost anything goes. Fun to make, fun to order, fun to eat and share.

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Calamari Fritti

A household and family favourite as far back as my memory reaches, and beyond!

After a number of disappointing experiments with various types of coating or batter, here’s what I settled for.

I use frozen baby squid with bodies between 7 and 10 cm in length, not counting the tentacles. Thaw and clean thoroughly. Although being pre-cleaned, I find the job isn’t always done perfectly so I prefer applying some extra scrutiny before setting the tentacles aside and cutting the bodies into rings. Put on some tissue to take away the excess moisture.

5 of these baby squid make one good sized portion.

Now it is time to start the fryer. I use a small wok or pot with lid and plain vegetable oil, but obviously a real fryer would be better as it is better at reaching and holding the temperature. Shoot for 190 C.

For the coating, mix 4 heaped tablespoons of white wheat flour, four heaped tablespoons of semolina, a tablespon of corn starch. Season with a generous pinch of salt and a sprinkle of pepper.

Toss the squid parts in the coating mix, shake off the excess and set them side-by-side on a board for a few minutes. This allows the coating to stick better.

Then, fry quickly, until the coating takes on a very light golden colour. Be quick about it since the squid cook quicker than the coating; you’re looking at 2..3 minutes at most.

Serve with aioli, salad, fresh bread and white wine and Bob’s your uncle!

Many other recipes include ingredients such as milk or egg. Avoid! At best, you’ll get Calamari a la Romana, more likely you’ll get a disaster.

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Rapid Sponge Base

My mother calls it Blitzbiskuit, and it really is a very simple and quick affair. It makes a perfectly quick and simple sponge base for a fresh summer fruit cake and, with added cocoa, also serves well for a Black Forest Gateaux.

For a 24 cm tray, add 4 tablespoons of cold water to four organic free-range egg whites, then beat almost stiff. Add 150 g caster sugar and dissolve with more beating.

Now put the power whisk aside and switch to a hand whisk. Use this to gradually fold in, one after another:

3 lightly beaten egg yolks,
1 teaspoon of baking powder,
180 g white wheat flour.

Add 3 tablespoons of dark cocoa for a dark base.

Bake 25 minutes in an oven preheated at 180° C. Ain’t that a quickie?

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Fleischkäse

Fleischkäse is a German meat loaf made from cured sausage meat. Hard to describe but delicious and, thanks to these guys, I managed to make it myself to great success: selber-wurst-machen.de

You need a mincer, a kitchen machine with a rotating blade, and you need to find a suitable emulsifier. Best to read the whole story first:

Following is the commented and ever so slightly modified recipe based on their Fleischwurst recipe. I’ll come back to the difference later.

Prior to anything else, start freezing approximately 150 ml of clean water per kilo of meat into ice cubes.

Buy 1 kg pork meat and fat, not counting skin or bones. A fatty pork belly is perfect, but it may need boosting with a less fatty piece of shoulder joint if it has very much fat. (See note on the meat composition at the end of the article.)

Trim the meat: remove skin, bones, sinew, but keep all the fat. Then cut into stripes suitable for your mincer and place them in the deep freezer for half an hour. The meat needs to be cold and firmed up for ease of processing.

Meanwhile, prepare the spice mix:

18 g curing salt (see note on salt below)
3 g hot smoked paprika powder
2.5 g finely ground pepper mixed from 75% black pepper and 25% allspice
1 g caster sugar
1 g ground mace
1 g ground coriander
1 g ground ginger
0.5 g ground cardamon seeds

1 glove of fresh garlic puree or 2..3 g of dried garlic powder

3..5 g emulsifier (“Kutterhilfsmittel” – see note below)

Now put it all together. It’s important to work quickly now so that the sausage meat stays cold through the process:

Mince the meat using your mincer’s finest setting. That might require two round trips starting with a larger disk, depending on your mincer. Set aside, away from heat sources.

Turn your ice cubes into ice snow using a blender, ice crusher or place them in a zip-lock bag and bash to smithereens using a rolling pin.

Mix the minced meat with the spices and emulsifier quickly and thoroughly, then put it into your kitchen machine’s rotating cutter device. Mine takes about 500 g in one session, so I split the meat into two portions for this.

Run it at full whack. The idea is to chop the mince even finer. While chopping, add the ice snow. After a short while, the mix turns into a not very appealing light brown and glossy mush. Perfect! Out with it before it turns warm.

To make Fleischwurst, you’d now use your sausage filling facility to fill pork intestines. Once filled and closed off, you’d simmer these very gently at 70 C for 45 minutes, then let cure for 24 hours.

To make Fleischkäse, you’d form a loaf within a baking tray and bake at 75 C until the loaf’s core reaches 70 C, then allow for 5 extra minutes. Remove from the tray and try a slice immediately. It won’t get any better than now, fresh from the oven, warm and juicy. Never ever.

Any leftovers can cool down, mature for 24 hours in the fridge. You can eat it cold, gently fry a slice with a knob of butter and serve with a fried egg or gently heat with steam, such as the steam of a portion of Sauerkraut.

Voila!

Note on Salt and Spices:

They specify 20 g curing salt for a kilo of meat. I find it good but on the salty end of the scale, hence my suggestion for a slightly lower salt content. On the other hand I have increased some of the spice amounts: firstly because I like a robust savoury flavour and secondly because I struggle to weigh 0.5 g even with my finest scale.

I use curing salt because it helps preserve the produce and retains an appealing pink colour. I suppose you can also use regular cooking salt if you eat it right away and accept a less appealing slightly grey colour.

Note on Meat Selection:

They specify 60% pork belly, 30% bacon joint and 10% beef. I am sure that’s perfect but honestly, a nice meaty and fatty chunk of pork belly works for me. In the UK simply ask your local Polish butcher! You need a fair amount of fat so depending on the belly joint you might need to add some white pork fat or a chunk of meat (back leg or shoulder joints will be fine).

Note on Emulsifier:

You need something to help amalgamate and stabilise your emulsion of fat, water and meat. That’s the emulsifier for you. It’s Kutterhilfsmittel in German (preferably “mit Umrötung” for a nicer colouring) and can be found online.

If you ever wondered why German menus always show Bratwurst with a footnote informing you that the Wurst contains phosphate, now you know. Kutterhilfsmittel, that’s why.

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Muffins

Muffins, lovely and quickly made, versatile, delicious fluffy muffins.

It couldn’t be easier but since I keep on forgetting the ratio, here it is again:

100 g plain white wheat flour
80 g soft butter
80 g caster sugar
80 g whole milk
1 free range egg
1 teaspoon of baking powder

This is the base recipe, which makes about 6 medium-sized muffins. You might want to double or triple it depending on the occasion.

Whisk butter and sugar, then add milk and egg, then flour and baking powder. Spoon into a muffin tray, paper or silicone muffin forms, filling just over half the height. Optionally add fruit into the mix, such as apple bits or blueberries or gently press into the dough after distributing into the forms (cherries, raspberries, blackberries, and so on).

Bake at 180 C for about 15 minutes.

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Poached Chicken Breast with Beurre Blanc Sauce

There’s a reason for the great classic recipes to be among the great classics, and this is one of them: a poached chicken breast, served with a Beurre Blanc sauce alongside anything suitable: freshly baked bread or some egg tagliatelle are popular, potato or potato-and-parsnip mash also works. The photo shows a potato gratin with toasted Brussel Sprouts, also nice.

Following is the wholesome from-scratch method that takes a little preparation time. I can’t vouch for the express method that uses breast fillets and instant poaching liquor.

Here’s the full Monty, which rewards with quality results and a second meal.

For the poaching liqor:

Buy a whole free range chicken, preferably a corn fed one. Take off the breasts and chill. Meanwhile chop one medium-sized onion, 3 gloves of garlic, two thumbs worth or fresh ginger, and any other suitable vegetables you find: leaks, cabbage greens, carrots, and so on.

Put the bird with the vegetables into a pot. Add 4 or 5 star anise, a heaped teaspoon of salt and pepper each, a couple of chillies. Then add cold water to just cover the lot, typically 1 to 1.5 litres, bring to the boil then let simmer very gently for 2 hours. Let cool down in the pot.

Eventually, take all meat off the bone and put it in the fridge. This makes a great chicken salad or a Fricassee on the next day, almost an instant meal! Or combine it with the poaching liquor and a splash of double cream for a delicious creamy chicken soup lunch!

Take the breasts from the fridge when you start cleaning the chicken. It helps to start at room temperature.

Poaching the breasts:

Key to poaching anything is to remember that poaching is not to cook. So, bring the liquor up to 85 C, remove the skin from the breasts and let them rest in the hot liqor for 15 minutes, a few minutes more if the meat was still cold or if you bought one of those 2 kg monster birds with breasts to match.

For the Beurre Blanc:

Dice a shallot finely and cook with a ladle of the poaching liquor and a ladle of dry white wine until the volume is reduced to half. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper, optionally add a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and, or, a tablespoon of small capers.

Take the pan off the heat and never return. It must not boil from here on!

Then take 125 g of cold butter. Dice it to little cubes, maybe 10 mm each side. Keep 5 or 6 of these behind and melt the others in the sauce, whisking fairly vigorously. Then add the remaining butter and stir in very gently, thus dissolving any foam that might have developed.

Dish out your chosen side dish, slice the breast, add the sauce and serve with a dry white wine.

Nothing wrong with that!

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Baked Cod with Tartar Sauce

Simple, quick, classic and everybody loves it: baked cod with tartar sauce, served with steamed potatoes or fresh white bread.

First, take the fish out of the fridge and leave to get closer to room temperature.

Start with the tartar sauce: make a mayonnaise from one fresh free range egg yolk per portion. Olive oil is pretty acidic and not ideal; I prefer groundnut (peanut) or grape seed oil but a good vegetable oil will also work.

Finish the mayonnaise with a pinch of salt, two drops of lime juice per yolk and a spoon of wholegrain mustard. Mix and chill.

Meanwhile, hard-boil one fresh free range medium sized egg per person.

Chop a handful of flat leaf parsley, a coupe of spring onions. Drain and chop some capers, peel and chop the hard boiled eggs.

Mix with the mayonnaise and leave in the refrigerator.

Clean the cod but leave the skin on. Cut into portions of 150 to 180 g each. Place on a baking tray using balking parchment, skin side down. Put a half-walnut sized piece of butter or the equivalent amount of chilli oil on each piece of fish.

Put the fish into the preheated oven at 150 C, circulated heat. Give it 12..15 Minutes, more if the pieces are very chunky, more if they are still cold from the fridge, but no more than 20 Minutes.

Add freshly ground black pepper, serve with the tartar sauce, steamed potato or fresh white bread and a glass of a crisp dry white wine.

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Mustard Pickled Cucumbers

If your cucumber plants are as prolific as ours then you might be looking just for this: mustard pickled cucumbers, or Senfgurken in German.

It will work best with pickling cucumbers, or Gewuerzgurken in German, in contrast to salad cucumbers. Them spiky ones, if you look out for them in the shops or in the market.

I take 5 large ones for 3 Kilner jars:

Peel and quarter the cucumbers lengthwise, remove the seeds. Trim to the inner height of the jars minus half an inch but keep the off-cuts. Toss with 75 g salt and leave in a bowl for 24 hours, then drain and dry with kitchen tissue or a clean tea towel.

Mix 500 ml white wine, fruit or cider vinegar with 300 ml water. Dissolve 200 g cane sugar, add a teaspoon of crushed mixed pepper corns, a few crushed allspice berries, a teaspoon of lightly crushed coriander seeds. A teaspoon of ground turmeric, 50 g slightly crushed yellow mustard seeds. Bring this to the boil.

Meanwhile, stack the cucumbers in the Kilner jars together with a sliced onion. Add a star anise, a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf or a few cloves if you are so inclined, then top up with the hot pickling liquor. Smaller off-cuts get the same treatment in a more chaotic order.

Seal the jar, sterilise at 80 C for 20 minutes, then let cool down and put away. Give it at least a week or two to fully mature, then enjoy the pickled cucumbers with cheese or cold meats.

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Baked Custard Apple Cake

DSC_0551This simple apple cake, topped with a baked soured cream custard, is a household favourite and has won approval on very many occasions, least of all by myself because it is so very quickly made. It’s also the perfect way of using limp apples towards the end of their shelf life.

Butter a 24 cm wide deep two-part baking tray, one of those where the sides and bottom come apart one way or another. Set aside.

Whip 75 g soft butter with 100 g sugar and seed from half a Vanilla pod, or an equivalent amount of vanilla extract. Gradually add 2 whole medium sized free range room temperature eggs, 100 g regular white wheat flour, 50 g corn starch and a good teaspoon of baking powder. Mix this well until the mix is smooth and silky.

Spread into one even layer in the baking tray.

Peel some semi-sharp apples, cut into quarters, remove the core. We love Russets, but a sweeter apple may need a sprinkling with lime juice. Braeburn are normally perfect for the job.

You need enough apples to cover the surface of the baking tray. Press the apple pieces slightly into the batter.

Bake for 30 minutes at 180 C.

Mix 300 ml soured cream, two heaped tablespoons of sugar (40..50 g) and two eggs (medium sized, free range, room temperature), adding an additional egg yolk for extra luxury. Pour this over the cake and continue to bake for another 30 minutes or until the surface has just the right colour: deep golden with light brown patches.

Remove from the tray after cooling down a little, then let cool down completely. Finish with a good icing sugar dusting and enjoy with a nice cup of tea or coffee.