Recipe: Christmas Punch

Good Evening!

I was going to write a long post about all my crafty adventures but unfortunately, I am quite sick/exhausted. This week I developed an allergy to the antibiotics I was taking and let's say I have been very spotty since... :P

Since this won't be a long post as planned with great crochet pictures (it's stormy and rainy outside... no time for good pictures), I figured I could gift you a recipe instead. This recipe has been in my family for some time and it is alway a big hit: Alcohol-Free Christmas Punch. The original recipe provides over 10L, so I broke it down a bit. This version is perfect for a 5L pot. :)

Ingredients

2L black tea

2L red grape juice

1-2 cans of mixed fruits

1 glass morello

200 grams peeled, whole almonds or hazelnuts

200 grams raisins

1 lemon

2 sticks of cinnamon

5-10 pieces of star anise

1/2 tsp vanilla powder

Mulled Wine Spices

How to make it

(1) Steep the tea and pour it into a large pot.

(2) Cut the lemon into slices and add to the tea. 

(3) Add all the other ingredients. Note: The juice of the mixed fruits and of the morello need to go in the pot too! That way no extra sugar is needed.

(4) Let it simmer for 1 hour.

(5) Serve! Make sure to provide a spoon for the fruits. Oh and tell people not to munch on the star anise. That doesn't taste so good. You could - of course - fish all the star anise out beforehand but it's a bit annoying to find all the pieces really.

Note

You could add alcohol but it isn't needed. Best to put a bottle of clear alcohol next to the pot, so people can spice up their punch if they want to.

Hope you will have a wonderful 3rd Advent!

Take care

Anne

P.S. The pictures were taken at the Christmas market at Schloss Lückenbeck (Castle Lückenbeck) last weekend.

Herman the German Friendship Cake

Hello everyone! Welcome to all our new readers, and hugs for old friends :) 

I have been participating in a VERY exciting experiment over the last 10 days. My friend Pat received a pet cake from a friend of his, and when it was ready he passed it onto me! 

Pat's delicious baked Herman

It's called Herman the German Friendship Cake, which has been around since the 80s (at least), and you can find out more about its history here.

We fed him, and stirred him, and loved him over the last 10 days, and he bubbled and frothed and grew (blossomed?!) under our tender loving care...

...then today was baking day!

We added extra pineapple chunks to the recipe, and used tinned apple instead of fresh. It made for a lovely moist but light cake :)

Perfect with a cup of tea!

We may have eaten most of one cake already...

The remaining starter has been divided and boxed up, ready to be passed on for Herman to have new and exciting adventures with new owner Helen and pre-owner Pat. We are also keeping a bit for ourselves to feed and keep for another 10 days - I'm thinking chocolate and raspberry loaf for next time!  

If you're vaguely in my area and would love to try keeping a pet cake (I'm told it's great for kids!), let me know and I'll hook you up. If you're further afield, try and find someone with a starter, or make your own! Instructions are on the website I linked at the top of the post. 

I'm a very lucky blogger this fortnight - I get to do next Tuesday's post as well! Check back then to find out all about my birthday dinner on Saturday night - food, fun and of course a lot of laughter (I hope)!

Take care,
Michelle

Recipe: Apple Strudel (My favorite!)

Hello you lot!

Again, welcome our new readers! And welcome back our regulars! We love your comments - thanks you so much for taking the time! :-) 

I had a busy week... Only some crochet fitted in (see the pic of the fruits below) and thus I figured I should give you the recipe Michelle has been trying to get from me for some time ;-) 

What is your favorite winter/autuum treat? Mine is most certainly apple strudel. I usually get it instead of cake when we go out for coffee (and am disappointed if the strudel isn't great). But that occacional apple strudel wasn't enough for me and so I decided to make some at home. Over the years I became pretty good with it and thus I want to share my recipe with you.

 

By the way... I am lazy. Thus I am not making strudel dough myself. I buy frozen pastry sheets instead.

I wish I could share pictures with you buttt the last time I made a strudel and had my camera in reach, it (... the strudel not the camera) was eaten too fast. Oh well. I will add pics the next time I make one!

Ingredients

Pastry sheets (Puff Pastry)

6 apples

200 grams chopped almonds

2 Tablespoons of sugar

1 Tablespoon of honey

2 Teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon cardamom 

1-2 cups of sultanas (to your liking)

Preparation

Take the pastry out of the freezer. Preheat the oven to 175 ° C.

1. Cut three apples in pieces and cook them in hot water til they are soft (Add the sugar to the cooking water). Take them out of the water and puree them. 

2. Cut the other three apples in small pieces and mix them with the sultanas, almonds, honey and spices. Add the apple puree and mix well.  

3. Make one large piece out of the pastry sheets. Like a paper, one side should be longer than the other. The longer side is the one which will get folded over. Put the filling in the middle of the pastry (see picture!). Make sure to leave some space at each of the sides of the short side. Fold the long sides over the filling. Close the sides by folding the short sides in. Make sure there are no open spaces anywhere...

4. Bake for 30 minutes.

5. Eat with whipped cream and ice cream!

 

Recipe: Oremon Drink

Hello all!

Some weeks ago I had a very yummy hot drink at a local café. It seemed to be a picture of fresh orange juice, fresh lemon juice and sugar/honey. So good, so healthy! Vitamin C-Bomb I reckon...

Since I can't go back to this café everyday, I decided to make up the drink myself. After a few tries comes the result right here! I called it Oremon (ORange lEMON)...

Oremon Hot Drink

Serves 6

Ingredients

2-4 oranges (if they are juicy two are enough)

2 lemons

2 Tablespoons honey

Hot water

How to make it

Add honey into a teapot. Squeeze the lemon and orange juice into the pot. Add about the same amount of hot water (not boiling - it will destroy the vitamin C otherwise) as the juice. Taste and add more honey if it isn't sweet enough. 

Ta-Dah! Yummy hot drink made!

Take care,
Anne

PS There will be crochet posts soon... :-) 

Recipe: Raspberry Citrus Gravlax

We are about to go away on holidays for a few weeks to Vanuatu! Before I leave Sydney's horrible cold, windy weather behind, I thought I would share with you a lovely little recipe that is good for all year round :) 

As you know, I LOVE gravlax. I am a latecomer to seafood, and it definitely took me a while to get the hang of raw fish! I think what I love about gravlax is that it combines the beautiful subtle flavours that work so well with fish, with a certain bacony-meaty-ness that is just oh so good...

After our beetroot experiments, we decided to have a go using different flavours to cure the salmon. I love the flavour of raspberries - that sweet and sharp taste goes well with so many foods! 

The raspberry colours the salmon beautifully, with a delicate pink tinge.

Photo courtesy of Kiah Westlund

I also love the visual of the salmon fillets bathing in that stunning pink soup! 

Without further delay, the Raspberry Citrus Gravlax recipe! 

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RECIPE: RASPBERRY CITRUS GRAVLAX

Serves many

Ingredients
1 whole salmon, filleted, skinned and pinboned 
(ask your fishmonger to do this for you!)

500g frozen raspberries
250g rock salt
170g raw sugar
1 tbsp mixed peppercorns
Zest of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 oranges
1 bunch of dill
60ml vodka

Method

1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except salmon, and whizz until smooth.  Pour into a large baking dish that will fit both halves of the salmon and leave on the bench to defrost.

2. Snuggle your salmon fillets into the raspberry mix and make sure they are covered all over. Cover with clingwrap right to the surface of the cure to try and keep the air away from the curing meat. Put in the fridge.

3. After 24 hours, turn the salmon fillets over in the cure and stir the raspberry mix around. There should be a fair amount of juice come out of the salmon, and you want to mix that into the raspberry cure so that the salt can stay close to the meat.

4. After another 24 hours, take the salmon out of the cure and rinse really well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towel or a clean tea towel, and wrap tightly in cling wrap. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

5. To serve, slice the gravlax as thin as you can (with a very sharp knife)! It's great with cream cheese, lemon and dill on some lovely rye bread, but try it however you like! 

Enjoy!

Recipe: Tarte Flambee

Hello all!

One of my favourite recipes is Tarte Flambee or Flammkuchen as it is called in German. It's such a quick and wonderful recipe at the same time. We really like to make it when we have friends over, for dinner with wine and so on. 

Usually we make the traditional version with onions and bacon, but sometimes we experiment too. These are the results of our experiments. Note: The dough is always the same.

Recipe: Tarte Flambee

Preheat the oven to 230°C
Important: Tarte Flambee should be baked with the grill function on (no fan forced!) and on the lowest ray.

Dough

250 grams plain flour
125ml water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt

Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I usually knead by hand.

Roll as flat as possible. This is enough dough for one baking tray or 7 little ones (like on the photos).

Toppings

No 1 - The Traditional One

200 grams Schmand
200 grams Quark
(Note: People outside Germany will have problems getting these ingredients. You can use a mixture of double cream and creme fraiche instead)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix well and put on the flat dough. Note: This mix is usually enough for two Tartes Flambee. You can use all the cream but I reckon it's too heavy.

2-3 onions, chopped and braised
100-150 grams chopped bacon

Scatter the onions and the bacon over the cream on the dough.

Put the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake for about 16 minutes. Note: If you are making small pieces instead of a large one, reduce the time.

No 2 - The Almost Traditional One

200 grams Schmand
200 grams Quark
(Note: People outside Germany will have problems getting these ingredients. You can use a mixture of double cream and creme fraiche instead)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix well and put on the flat dough. Note: This mix is usually enough for two Tarte Flambee. You can use all the cream but I reckon it's too heavy.

2 bunches of spring onions, chopped
100-150 grams chopped bacon

Scatter the spring onions and the bacon over the cream on the dough.

Put the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake for about 16 minutes. Note: If you are making small pieces instead of a large one, reduce the time.

No 3 - The Salmon One

200 grams Schmand
200 grams Quark
(Note: People outside Germany will have problems getting these ingredients. You can use a mixture of double cream and creme fraiche instead)
Salt and Pepper to taste
2-3 Teaspoons of Dill-Mustard-Sauce

Mix well and put on the flat dough. Note: This mix is usually enough for two Tarte Flambee. You can use all the cream but I reckon it's too heavy.

2 bunches of spring onions, chopped
150-200 grams frozen or fresh salmon (if frozen: defrost before you use it)
Parmesan to taste

Scatter the spring onions and the salmon over the cream on the dough.

Put the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake for about 16 minutes. Note: If you are making small pieces instead of a large one, reduce the time.

Pasta experiments!

On MasterChef last week, one of the contestants cooked chocolate pasta, and totally converted the judges to the cause. It looked so delicious, we instantly decided we had to try it! 

Of course, once the pasta machine is cracked out of the box, it only makes sense to make a big batch of at least two different kinds of pasta, so we made tomato and herb fettuccine as well ;) I'll put the recipes below, but here are some pictures from the experiments! All the pictures are courtesy of the amazing Bec Sellars, my partner in pasta crime. 

I'd love to know if any of our readers try making these pasta recipes! Post photos in the comments!

[Edited to Add: I forgot to say before that it was all SO TASTY and we are still finding it difficult to stop eating the dried chocolate pasta off the clothesline, and the house is beautifully scented with chocolate.] 

First, the tomato and herb fettuccine:

Lovely kneaded pasta dough :)

The dough balls having a rest in the fridge

The pile of rolled and cut fettuccine

Going into the water...

The delicious sauce - bacon, zucchini,
mushrooms and cream

Mmmm dishing up

And now for the chocolate ravioli:

Started off with a raspberry champagne coulis!

Melting chocolate for the pasta dough

Such a glorious colour!

Rolling rolling rolling

 Flower ravioli! We decided pretty quickly that this shape was too hard and just made circles.

The finished product! 

We made too much chocolate dough,
so some got hung up as fettuccine and spaghetti to dry :)

I hope you enjoyed these photos! Recipes below:

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RECIPE: TOMATO AND HERB FETTUCINE
Adapted from "Pasta", edited by Valerie Ferguson

400g "00" flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs
30ml olive oil
60ml tomato paste
90ml chopped fresh herbs (we used equal quantities of parsley, chives and pizza thyme)
Extra flour for dusting

Method:
1. Put flour, salt and herbs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until well mixed and the herbs are chopped down as much as possible.

2. In a measuring jug mix together the eggs, olive oil and tomato paste. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the food processor while it is running. Mix until the dough starts to form (it'll make lots of little wet balls).

3. Flour a clean work surface. Tip the dough mix out onto the surface and knead until the mixture comes together in a smooth, elastic dough, which springs back if you poke it with your finger :) Divide the dough in half, and roll each half into a smooth ball. Wrap well in cling wrap and put into the refrigerator for 40 minutes to rest.

4. Using a pasta machine (or a rolling pin, if you need a full body work out), roll out the pasta to very thin (we went to the 6th notch on the pasta machine), and then use the fettuccine attachment to cut into strips. Toss well with flour to stop the pasta strands sticking together.

5. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, with small handful of salt. Once it is at a rolling boil, drop the pasta in and stir well. It should be cooked in about 3 minutes, but keep testing after 2 minutes in case you prefer it done a bit more al dente! 

6. Drain into a colander and rinse well with cold water to stop the cooking process. Then, either serve as is, or pour into your pasta sauce pan to thoroughly coat!

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RECIPE: CHOCOLATE RAVIOLI WITH RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE COULIS
Adapted from who8thebean's recipe on Instructables 

PASTA
160 grams dark chocolate roughly chopped
¼ cup thickened cream
3 cups “00” flour
½ cup Dutch cocoa powder
½ cup icing sugar
2 pinches finely ground black pepper
2 pinches salt
4 eggs

WHITE CHOCOLATE MASCARPONE FILLING
120g white chocolate
1/3 cup thick cream
100g mascarpone
1tsp vanilla extract

RASPBERRY CHAMPAGNE COULIS
2 cups frozen raspberries
2/3 cup castor sugar
4 tbsp sparkling white wine
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

EXTRAS
• 1 egg lightly whisked for sealing ravioli closed
• ½ - ¾ cup raspberries extra needed for stuffing the ravioli

Method:

Coulis

1. Set a small saucepan on the stove and add raspberries, sugar, champagne and vinegar. Simmer over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves and the raspberries become soft and pulpy. Set aside to cool.

Ravioli filling

2. Set a mixing bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Be careful not to allow the water to touch the bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the white chocolate melts and half of the thick cream. Stir continuously until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together the mascarpone, vanilla and remaining cream.

4. When your chocolate mixture has cooled for about 2-3 minutes gently whisk it into the mascarpone and cream mixture and ensure that it is well combined. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator to chill. 

Pasta

5. Place the dark chocolate and cream into a mixing bowl over gently simmering water and melt, stirring. Once melted, set aside to cool slightly.

6. Place flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar, pepper and salt in the food processor bowl and turn it on.

7. Add eggs, one at a time.

8. As the dough begins to come together add your melted chocolate and cream mixture and continue mixing until a firm but pliable dough is formed.

9. Now pull your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and give it a good kneading until it is smooth and soft. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes in the fridge to allow the gluten to relax.

Putting it all together!

10. Once your pasta has rested, cut it into 4 portions and run it through the pasta press folding and repeating the process 2 or 3 times before gradually reducing the setting. We decided on a very thin ravioli, and went to 8 on the pasta machine settings. This should give you a nice thin sheet of chocolate lasagna.

11. Take a cookie or scone cutter and cut circles in the dough. 

12. Place a small teaspoon of the mascarpone mixture onto each ravioli and press a raspberry piece gently into the centre. Don't overstuff them, or it'll be easier for them to burst open during cooking! 

13. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, spread a very small amount of egg wash around each mound of stuffing – this will help the pasta to seal shut during cooking.

14. Take another circle of pasta and press down gently all around the filling and try to expel any air from the ravioli.

The Cooking

15. Prepare a large bowl of chilled water ready to plunge your freshly cooked pasta straight into.

16. Bring a medium pot of water to the boil. Using a slotted spoon lower the parcels into the water one at a time for approximately 30 seconds.Remove from the boiling water and plunge into the cold water briefly to prevent further cooking.

17. Serve with the raspberry coulis and any leftover mascarpone!

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