What makes this lentil soup so sensational? – Pretty nearly everything!

When you use those small green lentils from Puy your soup will be ready cooked in no time at all and it will be clear and light. Thanks to the vanilla bean and to the Pastis liquor the soup’s flavor will be wonderful and unique. And the chips on top of it made of Jerusalem artichokes are the icing on a cake – and that is: each one of them. Delicious!

I am sending the recipe Lentil soup with Jerusalem artichokes as my contribution to the HotM 10 “Quick and easy” – event.

Lentil soup with Jerusalem artichokes
Category: vegetarian
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
100 g leek
300 g Puy lentils
1,2 Ltr. light chicken stock
1 vanilla bean
2 tbsp. Pastis liquor (Pernod, Ricard etc.)
2-3 bay leaves
salt
ground black pepper
2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
200 g Jerusalem artichoke
oil for deep-frying

Preparation:
Cut the leek into small strips and wash them. Wash the lentils too and bring them to the boil in chicken stock. Slash the vanilla bean lenghtwise and add it to the soup. Also add the Pastis, bay leaves and leek. Let the soup simmer for approx. 20 min. until the lentils are done but will not mash.

Clean the Jerusalem artichokes by brushing them under water and cut them into thin slices of approx. 2 mm. Deep-fry them in oil for about 3 min., take them out of the oil, let them cool down a little and drip off on kitchen paper. Then deep-fry them again until they are golden and crunchy. Let them drip off again and slightly season with salt.

Now, take the vanilla bean and the bay leaves out of the soup, season and portion in soup plates and sprinkle some ground pepper and chopped parsley over it. Garnish with the Jerusalem artichoke chips.

You can replace the Pastis liquor with 1 tsp. of fennel seed. Some like chopped cilantro rather than parsley – a mere matter of taste.

When you deep-fry the Jerusalem artichokes twice and let it cool down in between they will be airy and crunchy, just like very well made french fries.

You could substitute potatoes for the Jerusalem artichokes but that would be only half the pleasure.

For me this soup is unique and so convincing as to be a separate course in a gala dinner. In that case, however, I would serve only a very small portion.

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This looks like a very stilted title for a dish, but it’s a bright idea for a successful combination of two special vegetables which is barely found in Germany’s kitchens. It’s another find from the book “Silberlöffel” (silver spoon), the German version of the modern Italian kitchen bible “Il Cucchiaio d’argento”.

As usual this Italian dish is straightforward and you can make it “rapidamente”.

Peas and Roman salad
Category: Italian, vegetarian, garnish
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

40 g unsalted butter
2 spring onions
1 lettuce/green salad ( Roman, medium size)
600 g peas (deep frozen)
salt, pepper
ground nutmeg

Preparation:

Cut the spring onions in small slices and sautee them with butter in a pan.

Cut the salad in squares of approx. 5 cm and put them into the pan with the frozen peas. Season and add water until about 1/3 of the vegetables are in the water.

Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 20 min. Stir from time to time and add some liquid if necessary. When it’s finished cooking there should be only little liquid left in the pan.

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You can take lettuce as well – but it will become awfully mashed, green chicory is a good choice, too – but you will have to add something to make it sweeter. For me, the green Roman salad works best (this is how this big and crunchy salad is called in Germany). We can buy it in every Turkish grocery.

Peas with salad are a very good garnish with fried fish or even with nothing but roast potatoes. I tried to roast a crusty panful of them from grated uncooked potatoes which were slightly sprinkled with flour. You should only put a few of the potatoes into the very hot pan because otherwise you will produce an awfully lumpy mass like I did. Nevertheless, it’s a pretty method.

Maybe next time I’ll make the fresh uncooked roast potatoes the same way my mother did:

Peel the potatoes, wash and dry them and slice them into small sticks similar to very thin French Fries. Add some bay leaves and fry the potatoes in a very hot pan with some oil or lard. Fry many potatoes at the same time in many layers one on another. Now you have to be patient and brave at the same time. The potatoes will puff and sizzle, but you should not turn them over until you’re nearly sure that they have already burnt stuck to the pan’s bottom. After you have carefully turned the potatoes with a spatula you have to be brave again. Season with salt and pepper when the second side is readily fried, carefully turn the potato layers again, season the new uppermost layer too, add some finely diced onions and a little soup stock, cover the pan and let the potatoes braise with self-sacrificing bravery. Then the potatoes will be turned over again, maybe you’ll add some ground nutmeg, some more stock and onions, cover the pan again and let the potatoes braise to be fully cooked. Now, lifting the pan’s cover will be a tongue-wagging affair. Frying potatoes is an art: they should be roasted dark-brown but not burnt, their liquid and their starch have baked them into a fluffy cake and everyone around the table will get their portion which will be cut off with a spatula.

These are very fond memories from my childhood.

The combination of peas and salad is also brilliant for a frittata.

Frittata made of egg whites

Category: Italian, vegetarian
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 green salad ( Roman, medium size)
1 onion
150 g peas (deep frozen)
6 egg whites
1-2 tbsp. flour
salt, pepper
ground nutmeg
1 buffalo Mozzarella cheese
native olive oil

Preparation:

Clean the salad. Cut out the thick center vein of the leaves and finely dice the veins.

Blanch the leaves in salted water, rinse them with cold water, squeeze out all remaining liquid and chop them finely.

Peel the onion, slice it into thin half circles and braise them in a pan with olive oil. Add the diced leaf veins and let the mixture simmer until it is nearly dry. Add the deep-frozen peas, season and let them braise again for some time. Take the pan from the oven and let the salad mixture cool for a while.

Now beat the egg whites to be creamy but not stiff. Add a pinch of salt and stir in 1 or 2 tbsp. flour. Add the salad, mix carefully and season to taste.

Oil a pan and fill in half of the egg and salad mixture. Sprinkle with finely diced buffalo Mozzarella and cover with the other half of the salad batter. Now bake the Frittata slowly with medium heat.

From time to time you should loosen the Frittata from the pan’s rim and you should also shake the pan in order to remove it from the pan’s bottom. As soon as the surface gets stiff take a spatula and slide the Frittata carefully onto a plate, sprinkle some drops of oil on it, cover the pan with a plate and turn round both swiftly in order to bake the Frittata’s second side. Shake the pan until the Frittata loosens again, turn it back onto the plate, cut in segments and serve.

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It’s a very special Frittata dish made without egg yolks but only with the egg whites. This makes it very light and especially easy to digest. Some people also say that baking with egg whites only is also healthier, but who knows.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you’ll remember the oceans of egg yolks which I recently transformed into cream and mousse and sauce. I usually deep freeze the egg whites in portions of 4 or 6 each. No doubt, every single leftover egg white is worth to be made into those incredibly delicious Madeleines and I have certainly been tempted to do so but a wonderful egg white Frittata is not too bad after all.

If there is no original buffalo mozzarella in your house it’s much better to cut out the cheese. All those German supermarket so-called mozzarellas taste like and should be classified as hazardous waste.

We had the Frittata with a hot chili potato gratin and some Parmesan sauce.

Gratin of potatoes, garlic and chili pepper

Category: Italian, vegetarian
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

900 g potatoes (the waxy type)
250 ml fresh cream
250 ml milk (+ a rest)
2 fresh hot chili peppers
2 cloves of garlic
salt, pepper
butter

Preparation:

Mix fresh cream and milk in big bowl. Stir in the squeezed cloves of garlic and the very finely diced chili peppers. Season generously with salt and some pepper.

Peel the uncooked potatoes, wash and dry them, cut them in slices of approx. 2 – 3 mm and immediately put them into the milk mixture. Mix carefully so that all the potatoes are moistened. Let the potatoes rest for about 30 min.

Then fill them evenly into a butter coated gratin dish. If necessary add some more milk so that the potatoes are nearly covered by the liquid.

Bake the gratin in your preheated oven at the bottom level at 180 degrees C with circulating air for about 40 min., then reduce the temperature to 120 degrees C, push down any floating potato slices, cover the gratin dish with a foil and bake it again for approx. 1 hour.

Then level down the temperature to 80 degrees C and let the gratin simmer for another 30 min. (or more).

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It’s your choice how many garlic cloves you’ll use for the gratin and it depends on what you’re expecting to do after dinner. Some only rub a clove through the pan, others happily slice clove after clove. I prefer to use one single clove of garlic, and one chili pepper is also sufficiently hot for me.

Using this method you can prepare the potato gratin one hour previous to serving. You can leave it in the oven at 80 degrees C.

It’s the same procedure for a Gratin Savoyard – no chili pepper, less garlic, some ground nutmeg, freshly grated Gruyère cheese in between the potato layers and on top of the gratin,

or cooking a Gratin Dauphinois – no chili pepper, hardly any garlic but fresh thyme generously mixed between the potatoes.

Of course, the roast potatoes are a fantastic choice with the Frittata.

Parmesan cream

Category: Italian, cheese, sauce
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

100 ml milk
100 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Cook the milk to the boil, take it from the oven and slowly stir in the grated Parmesan using a whisk, keep it warm on the side and stir from time to time.

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This sauce must not boil so that the Parmesan cheese won’t go lumpy. Stir the sauce from time to time and add some drops of milk if it thickens too much.

It’s exactly this Parmesan sauce, thinned down and foamed up with a mixer which you can serve with these small vegetable tartlets, too:

Swiss chard frittata with egg whites

Category: Italian, vegetarian
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

250 g Swiss chard leaves (without the center veins)
250 g fresh young spinach leaves
6 egg whites
1 tbsp. flour
salt, pepper
ground nutmeg
native olive oil
lemon zests
milk
Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Blanch the Swiss chard leaves and half of the spinach in salted water, rinse with cold water, squeeze out all remaining liquid and chop everything finely.

Beat the egg whites to be creamy but not stiff. Add a pinch of salt and stir in 1 tbsp. flour. Add the chopped leaves, mix carefully and season to taste.

Oil a pan and fill in the egg whites mixture and bake the Frittata slowly with medium heat.

From time to time you should loosen the Frittata from the pan’s rim and you should also shake the pan to loosen the batter from the pan’s bottom. As soon as the surface gets stiff take a spatula and slide the Frittata carefully onto a plate, sprinkle some oil drops on it, cover it with the pan and turn the pan and the plate upside down to bake the second side. Shake the pan until the Frittata loosens again, turn it back onto the plate, cut out small Frittata circles using a glass, serve them on a plate with the rest of the spinach leaves and sprinkle some lemon zest over the tartlets.

For the Parmesan sauce dissolve 1 part of freshly grated Parmesan cheese in 2 parts of hot milk, foam it up with a mixer and pour it over the Frittata.

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To bake small Frittata tartlets you can also use metal rings. Grease the cold metal rings with some oil or butter, put them into a hot pan and immediately fill in the Frittata mixture.

Here you see the same dish once again shaped into a big Frittata.

This time served on rocket salad with cherry tomatoes and goat farmer cheese.
But still it’s made with egg whites only.

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„Torta Margherita“ – I was bored at first when I ran down the recipe’s page of the simple sponge cake. But when reading the last phrase: „ … you can also add two peeled and finely diced apples to the dough“. I realized that this could be the basis for a pretty and extremely delicious cake as a dessert, which we could then call „Torta Margherita con mele e la crema di menta“.

Here we go.

Apple bisquit with mint and joghurt creme
Category: dessert, cake
Serves: 1 plate

Ingredients:
3 eggs
300 g yoghurt
200 g sugar
150 ml sun flower oil
450 g all purpose flour
1 baking powder
2 apples (approx. 400 g)

Mint cream:
150 g cream yoghurt
50 ml fresh cream
1-2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 pinch of sugar
1 handful of peppermint leaves
peppermint leaves for decoration
confectioner’s sugar to sprinkle
baking foil or butter

Preparation:
Scramble yoghurt, eggs and sugar. Then add the oil.
Mix flour and baking powder and stir it into the oil mixture until it is a creamy batter.
Peel the apples, dice them finely and add them to the batter.

Now, cover a baking plate of at least 4 cms height with baking foil or coat it with butter.
Fill in the batter evenly.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C (180 degrees C when using circulating air) and bake the sponge cake for approx. 25 min. until its surface becomes lightly golden brown.

Meanwhile mince the ingredients of the mint cream in a food processor very finely and add less or more fresh cream, depending on how liquid you prefer it to be.
Portion the lukewarm sponge cake into small cubes, sprinkle them with confectioner’s sugar if you like, decorate with mint leaves and serve them with the mint cream.

I modified the original recipe by reducing the sugar to 2/3 because the apples and the confectioner’s sugar will add some more sweetness.

The lukewarm cake tastes very well but I nearly prefer eating it the next day when it seems juicier and even more refreshing, especially when you portion it into small cubes and serve it chilled as a dessert. A mint parfait will go with it extremely nicely, I assume …

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Everyone knows white bread with raisins. But what about a hearty coarse rye bread with dried fruit baked in ? – But of course! Here it is, tailor-made for the BREAD WITH FRUIT – Event No.2

Coarse rye bread with dried fruit
Cathegory: bread
Serves: 2 loaves
Recipe source: Eckhart Witzigmann “Süße Verführungen”/own variation

Ingredients:
25 g fresh yeast
10 g powdered sugar
500 g wheat flour
250 g rye flour
15 g honey
10 g soft butter
20 g salt
470 ml water
50 g pine nuts
100 g mixed dried fruit

Preparation:
Solve the yeast and powdered sugar in approx. 30 ml of water. MIx half the wheat and rye flour with 470 ml of water. Let both solutions rest for 30 min.
Then mix all ingredients except the pine nuts and the dried fruit and knead the mixture in a food processor for about 8 min. The dough is fully kneaded when it detaches from the bowl’s surface and is smooth to the touch. Dust some flour over it, cover it with a towel and let it rise until doubled in size in a slightly warm place.
Cut the dried fruit in small cubes und roast the pine nuts until they are golden in a dry pan, let them cool down.
When the douigh has doubled in size, roll it out and form a rectangle, spread fruit cubes and pine nuts evenly on it and form a roll. Knead the dough thoroughly with your hands and divide it in half.
Shape two loaves of bread, place them on a coated baking plate and make several slashes in the surface with a razor blade. Dust some flour on it , cover it with a towel and let it rest again for approx. 30 min.
Preheat your oven to 210 degrees C with circulating air and bake the bread for 20 min. Pour some hot water on the oven bottom initially to give a “kick” to the yeast.
After 20 min. reduce the temperature to 180 degrees C and bake for another 20 min.
Check whether the bread is done: knock on the bottom of the breads with a knuckle. If it sounds dully and hollow your bread is well baked. Take it from the oven and let it cool down on a grid for 1 hour.



This recipe was created by Eckart Witzigmann, the German “chef of the century”, (who’s actually from Austria). His recipes are so perfect that, apart of the dried fruit and the pine nuts, I didn’t have to change anything. Okay, I modified the temperatures and baking time, let’s say to adapt it to my oven and habits.

The dried fruit is a mixture of apple, plum, apricot, pear, and pineapple. Of course, you can also take a single fruit or eseveral types, depending on individuel preferences.

If you like bigger pores in your bread, choose the no-knead-method. You will find a recipe here. You just replace the dried tomatoes with the half amount of dried fruit and pine nuts.

I like this hearty, tasty bread best when it’s fresh from the oven, just cooled a little bit and with nothing on it but some creme fraiche or cream curd: einfach köstlich (simply delicious).

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These very light gnocchi are enormously delicious. They should be generously seasoned.

Spinach Ricotta Gnocchi with chili pepper and sage butter

Catergory: gnocchi, vegetarian
Serves: 4
Recipe source: own recipe

Ingredients:
300 g spinach leaves without the stems
100 g butter
50 ml olive oil
250 g ricotta cheese
1 clove of garlic
3 eggs medium size
1 tsp. salt
freshly ground pepper
nutmeg
150 g flour
50 g durum wheat semolina
1 small red onion
1 tsp. sugar
20 sage leaves
1/2 red chili pepper
50 g pecorino cheese

Preparation:

Wash the spinach and make it wilt, while still dripping wet, in a hot sausepan. Then rinse it in very cold water. Squeeze the water out and chop the spinach finely.

Purée the spinach, 50 g butter, ricotta, eggs, 1/2 clove of garlic with salt, pepper and nutmeg in a food processor. Then mix it with the flour and the semolina. Let the mixture rest for about 30 min. in the fridge.

Use a wide pot to boil 5 litres of salt water ( use at least 1/2 tbsp. salt for 1 litre of water). Use two tablespoons to shape oval gnocchi, put them into the boiling water and simmer them for an additional 3 min. after they have risen to the water’s surface. Remove them from the water and let them drip off on kitchen paper.

Cut the peeled onion in fine slices and fry them with 50 g butter and 50 ml olive oil in a pan. Sprinkle some sugar over the onions and fry until they are slightly golden. Now add 1/2 clove of garlic and 1/2 chili pepper without the seeds, both finely diced. Cut the sage leaves in small strips and add them with the drained gnocchi. Swing the gnocchi in the pan until they are warmed up. Serve on hot plates and sprinkle some pecorino cheese over the gnocchi.

Use more or less chili pepper as you like. Always remove the seeds so that you can control its pepperiness more easily. The little white skins inside are very hot, too.

If you don’t like pecorino cheese you might want to take parmesan or grana pardano.

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Alright, it’s classic. But nevertheless it should not be absent in any collection of recipes.
This is my contribution to the Kochtopf’s tomatoe-blog-event.

Penne with three different kinds of tomatoes
Category: pasta, Italy
serves: 4
own variation

Ingredients:
2 red onions, medium size
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 tin Italian tomatoes (Pelati, 850g)
3-4 bay leaves
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 dried peperoncino (chopped)
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
10-15 sun-dried tomatoes
350 g pasta
15-20 cherry tomatoes
salt, pepper (freshly ground)
Tabasco
1/2 bunch of fresh basil
white balsamico
Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Peel onions and chopp into wedges. Brown them with finely chopped garlic in 3 tbsp. of olive oil. When they have taken a golden colour (not brown) mix them with the mashed tinned tomatoes, add the bay leaves, dried basil, brown sugar and some chopped peperoncino.

Cut dried tomatoes into 4 parts and add them after 10 minutes. Let everything simmer for another 20 min.

Bring 4 liters water to the boil, add 4 tbsp. salt (yes, pasta needs nearly the salt concentration of sea water, nearly 3 %) and cook the pasta to be nearly done – al dente.

Cut the cherry tomatoes into halves. Season the sugo with salt and pepper, add some Tabasco if you like. Maybe you will mix in some drops of balsamico.

Pick the basil leaves from the bunch und cut them into fine strips using a very sharp knife. Cut this way, the basil strips will hold their color and flavour. If it is squeeze them they will turn black and bitter.

Save a big cup of the pasta boiling water. Pour off the pasta water and mix your pasta with the sugo, the cherry tomatoes and the basil strips in a big bowl. Now dilute the sugo with some of the saved-up water because the pasta will swallow the sugo’s moisture.

Serve with grated parmesan and some drops of fresh olive oil.

If you like it hot, season the sugo with freshly chopped chili pepper, including the seeds.
Oh wow! Simply Delicious!

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Italian bread meets sun-dried tomatoes and spicy basil: all the best ingredients for the BREAD WITH HERBS – Event Nr.1

No-knead bread from Tuscany with sun-dried tomatoes
(Pane toscano con pomodori / no-knead)

Category: bread
Quantity: 1 bread
Recipe source: own creation

Ingredients:
400 g wheat flour (best: Manitoba flour Type 00)
1 tsp. white baker’s malt (leave out if unavailable)
7 g fresh yeast
15 g sugar
8 g salt
280 ml water
50 g sun-dried tomatoes
2 tsp. basil, dried and cut

Preparation:
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in water. Dice tomatoes finely. Mix all ingredients except the water in a big bowl. Pour in the water with the yeast and mix it all together very briefly with a spatula. Dust some flour over the dough and leave the bowl covered with a towel in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size. This time I let it rise for about 3 hours.

Then put the dough on a flour-sprinkled table top, fold it 3 or 4 times with a spatula (stretch & fold), put it in a rising basket generously sprinkled with flour, and let it rise again until doubled in size (1 hour this time).

Preheat your oven to 230 degrees C. Carefully turn over the rising basket to put the dough on a flour-sprinkled baking tray and bake it for approx. 15 min. Initially, pour a cup of hot water on the oven bottom, to give the baker’s yeast a good „kick“. After 15 min., reduce the temperature to 190 degrees C and bake again for aprrox. 20 min.

Check whether the bread is done by knocking on the bottom of the breadwith a knuckle. If it sounds dull and hollow your bread is well baked. Take it from the oven and let it cool down on a grid. (But I wonder whether you can resist the temptation of eating the entire bread right away.)