Green asparagus soup with curry

In Germany we tend to eat mainly the white asparagus, but since it's been so unseasonably cold the harvest is likely to be delayed somewhat. In the meantime we have to make do with green asparagus, which is fine with me. While I usually prepare it cooked al dente and dressed with some olive oil and lemon juice, it's great for soups too. Here I have added a bit of curry power, which gives the whole thing a slightly exotic touch.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 bunch of green asparagus

500ml vegetable stock

2-3 tablespoons of cream

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Preparation: 

1. Peel the lower part of the asparagus and remove any hard ends. Cut each asparagus in 2-3cm pieces and cook them in the broth until soft (around 10mins). 

2. Puree everything until you have a smooth liquid and add the cream. Season generously with salt and some black pepper and add the curry powder and the cayenne. The soup should have a slightly spicy note.  

Creamy Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup is a typical dish to eat in the autumn, but I figure it's still cold enough outside these days to have another go. Everyone in my family likes mushrooms and this soup has the added benefit of being quick and easy to make.

You can use whichever mushrooms you like, in this case I used some brown button mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms and some shitake mushrooms. 

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

600gr fresh wild mushrooms
30gr dried porcini
1 tablespoon of butter
1 red onion, chopped finely
5-6 twigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
2 cloves of garlic
1l vegetable stock
150 ml single cream 

Preparation: 

1. Carefully clean the mushrooms (never use water for this! In case they are dirty, just use a soft cloth to wipe them) and cut into rough chunks. Place the dried porcini in a small bowl and cover with warm water. Let them sit for about 30-40 mins until soft. 

2. Gently fry the onion in a bit of butter, then add the mushrooms, garlic (I simply throw in the whole cloves) and the thyme. Turn the heat up slightly. After a few minutes you will see that the mushrooms begin to lose quite a bit of water, at this point add the drained porcini (keep the liquid!) and some salt and black pepper. Continue to fry until the mushrooms just start to brown. 

3. Now transfer everything to a large pot and add the porcini-liquid (poured through a sieve) and the stock. Cook at a light boil for about 30 minutes before mixing everything in a blender, adding the cream as you go. 

4. Finally season to taste with salt and pepper. In case the soup is still too thick, simply add a bit more water or stock. 

Note: in case you are making this for guests, I recommend you take a couple of handful of the chopped mushrooms and fry them in a separate pan. You can then use them to decorate your soup when serving.

Quiche Lorraine

I used to make Quiche Lorraine the lazy way, using frozen filo pastry instead of freshly made short pastry. But of course a quiche is supposed to be made with short pastry, so I decided to overcome my baking phobia and give it a try. And (surprise, surprise!) it was actually pretty easy. Above all, it was DELICIOUS! I admit that it's not exactly a quick dinner to make (he pastry does take some time) but it's definitely worth it. 

Ingredients (serves 4): 

375gr flour

2 eggs

150gr butter, cut into pieces

salt

200gr bacon, cut into cubes

2 medium-sized onions, halved and finely sliced

200gr sour cream

200ml cream

5 eggs

100gr grated cheese (I used Parmesan and Gruyere)

500gr dried pulses

Baking paper

Preparation:

1. First you have to make the dough. Simply pile the flour on a large working surface, make a hole in the middle and fill that with the eggs and the butter (which shouldn't be straight out of the fridge but not soft either - somewhere in the middle is perfect). Add a bit of salt and, using your hands, combine the ingredients to form a dough. At first it might seem as though there isn't enough butter, but trust me it will come together. Now this is very important: once you have a proper dough immediately stop kneading. Simply wrap the dough in a piece of clingfilm and place in the fridge for an hour.

2. In the meantime, place the bacon in a pan and allow to sizzle away until it starts to brown. Add the onion and continue frying gently until the onions are soft. Set aside.


3. In a bowl, combine the sour cream, the cream, eggs, grated cheese and some salt and pepper. Mix well. 


4. Take the dough out of the fridge. Cover your working surface with a generous amount of flour and roll out the dough (should be pretty thin). Transfer the rolled out dough to a well greased quiche form (the easiest way to do this, is to wrap the dough around your rolling pin). Line the form evenly and cut off any excess around the edges. 

5. Take a piece of baking paper, cover the dough and add the pulses. Place the
form in your pre-heated oven (160°C fan-assisted, otherwise 180°C) and cook for 15 mins. Remove the pulses and baking paper and bake for another 5 mins, this time placing the form directly on the bottom of the oven. Remove and allow to cool off slightly. 


6. Spread the onion-bacon mixture evenly and pour the cream. Place in the oven and cook for 25 mins. Towards the end of the cooking time you might want to turn on the grill to ensure that the Quiche takes on a nice golden color. Once the Quiche is done, let it sit for about 10mins before serving.

Tuna tartar with avocado and ginger dressing

Tuna tartar is a great dish. It's easy to make, light and fresh, and a fantastic starter to serve when you are planning on a bigger meat main course. Alternatively you could serve this as a main course on a warm summer night, accompanied by a glass of chilled white wine.

This particular recipe adds a nice twist on the classic tuna tartar by adding the ginger dressing.

Ingredients (serves 4):

400gr best quality tuna
1 small red onion, peeled and chopped finely
2 avocados, stoned and diced
Juice of one lime
bunch of fresh coriander

For the dressing: 
2 tbs of lime juice
2 tbs sugar
4cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbs olive oil
3 tbs of white wine vinegar
2 tbs of light soy sauce
1 red chili, finely chopped

Preparation: 

1. For the dressing, put the lime juice and the sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Once the mixture starts to thicken, remove from the heat and allow to cool. Then add the ginger, a tablespoon of olive oil, the vinegar, chili and soy sauce. Season to taste. 

2. Cut the tuna into small cubes and season with salt. Add the onion, the juice of half a lime, a couple of tablespoons of fresh coriander, and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. 

3. In a separate bowl, mice the avocado with the remaining lime juice, some salt and pepper. 

4. To serve, first place some avocado on each plate, then adding the tuna (using serving rings is best). Add the dressing and sprinkle with some coriander. 


Recipe adapted from: Reuben Riffel, "Reuben cooks: food is time travel"

Spicy Ginger-Soup

My mother made this for us a few days ago and while I was a bit skeptical at first, I was quickly convinced. The soup is easy to make, uses few ingredients, and it tastes wonderful. I highly recommend  you give it a try!

Zutaten: 

100 gr fresh ginger (sliced, but not peeled)
2 EL freshly grated ginger

500 ml stock (I used beef stock)

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons butter

50ml single cream

Cayenne 

Salt and pepper

Preparation: 

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour. Stir until well mixed. Add the stock and the ginger. Stir well until the flour-butter mixture has dissolved and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. 

2. After 10 minutes remove the saucepan from the heat and allow the ginger to infuse the soup for an hour. Then remove the ginger. 

3. Add the cream and the grated ginger. Season to taste with salt, pepper and some cayenne. In case the soup is still too thick, just add a little water or stock. 

Pasta with Salmon and Vodka

I had this in a restaurant some years ago and immediately tried to copy it at home. The Vodka in the title might seem like a pretentious way to make a simple salmon-cream sauce sound cooler, but it really makes a difference...so don't leave it out (unless you are cooking for children of course).

Admittedly this recipe is not going to get you on the slimmer-of-the-year short-list, but I figure it's all about quality, not quantity. Plus it's almost Christmas, so who cares!
 

Ingredients (serves 2):

300gr salmon (filet)
Handful of cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate
1 teaspoon sugar
250m cream
1-2 shots of vodka (plus one for the cook?)
250gr fresh tagliatelle
1-2 tablespoons of parsley (chopped finely)

Preparation:

1. Heat the cream in a large pan, bring to the boil and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes to thicken the cream slightly. Then add the tomato concentrate, salt, pepper, the halved cherry tomatoes, the sugar, parsley, and, finally, the vodka. Bring to the boil briefly. 

2. In the meantime cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until they are al dente.

3. Cut the salmon in 2cm cubes and add to the sauce. The fish only needs 4-5 minutes to cook through. Make sure you don't leave it too long, otherwise it gets dry and horrible.

Seared Tuna and Cucumber Salad

The first time I tried this was in a rather unlikely location: a restaurant in Disney World! Surprisingly enough, it turns out that they do have restaurants there that serve an alternative to the omnipresent burgers and fries that you find everywhere else. When I got back home I immediately tried to copy the recipe and while I don't think that I achieved a perfect match, it's pretty close. Obviously this dish relies almost entirely on the quality of the fish, so you need to get the highest possible quality of sushi-tuna you can find. 

Ingredient (for 4 as main course):

For the tuna:

800-900gr sushi quality tuna

3 tbs Sesame seeds

2 tbs chopped coriander
3cm piece of fresh ginger

1 red chili

For the salad: 

1 handful roasted peanuts

2 cucumbers

1 small red onion

6 tbs rice wine vinegar

1 tbs fish sauce

2-3 tbs sugar

1/2 bunch of coriander

Juice of half a lime
1/2 red chili

Preparation:

1. Roast the sesame seeds in a dry pan. Finely chop the coriander, the chili and grate the ginger. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and add some salt. Coat the tuna with this mixture and set aside.

2. For the cucumber salad you first need to drain the cucumbers (they contain a lot of water, which will end up diluting the dressing). Finely slice the peeled cucumber, place them in a bowl and add two teaspoons of salt. Mix and set aside for 10mins. 

3. In the meantime, finely chop the onion. Add the vinegar, fish sauce, sugar, and some chili to the onion and mix well until the sugar is fully dissolved. Drain the cucumbers (the salt will have pulled out much of the water) and add the dressing.

4. Heat up a pan to high heat, add a bit of sesame oil and sear the tuna on both sides for no more than one minute (each side). Remove from the pan and slice finely to serve.

5. Add coriander and chopped peanuts to the cucumber salad and season to taste. 

The tuna is served finely sliced with some rice and cucumber salad. You should also have soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger on the table.

Quick Red Pepper-Tomato Soup

It's soup season and this one has the added advantage of an extremely short preparation time. It's perfect for busy evenings when you can't be bothered to undertake a huge effort in the kitchen but don't want to resort to a mere sandwich either. For my daughter I make the soup without chili, but it's definitely better with the added heat. To accompany the soup, all you need is some toasted sourdough bread, topped with butter and a bit of sea salt.

Ingredients:

1 large can of chopped tomatoes
1 medium sized onion
2 large red peppers
1 red chili
1 tbs creme fraiche
2-3 tbs cream
1 tbs tomato concentrate
2 tsp sugar

Preparation:

1. Roughly chop the onion and the peppers. Heat up some olive oil or butter in a medium-sized casserole and add the onions. Once the onions are soft, add the peppers and allow to fry for a few minutes before adding the tomato concentrate, the chopped tomatoes, an equal amount of water, half a chili (chopped finely), and some pepper.

2. Gently boil the mixture for about 10min until the peppers are soft and then puree using a mixer. Last, add the cream and a bit of creme fraiche. Season to taste.