Gravlax

         For the come back of the travelling galley, I felt like sharing a Scandinavian specialty. This is a very easy, economic recipe plus you gonna amaze those friends with who you have this unofficial competition called : “Who’s gonna be the best host ???”

But first let’s get to know what we are going to prepare…

During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen, who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The word gravlax comes from the Scandinavian word grav, which literally means "grave" or "to dig" (in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch and Estonian), and lax (or laks), which means "salmon", thus gravlax means "buried salmon". But you won’t need a shovel since today fermentation is no longer used in the production process. Instead the salmon is "buried" in a dry marinade of salt, sugar, and dill, and cured for a few days. As the salmon cures, by the action of osmosis, the moisture turns the dry cure into a highly concentrated brine, which can be used in Scandinavian cooking as part of a sauce. This same method of curing can be used for any fatty fish, but salmon is the most common.

Concerning the salmon, you can use either wild or farmed salmon. The wild salmon has a more delicate flavor whereas the farmed salmon is more fatty and cheaper. I advise you to use a farmed one because the fat will permit your fish to achieve a much better texture, plus the subtle flavor of wild salmon is partly overtaken by the condiments you will dispose on your filet.

1 Fresh salmon Filet with the skin, no bones

150g Salt

100g Brown sugar

The zest of one orange and one lemon

200g Dill

Some red pepper

Blitz the sugar, salt, orange zest, lemon zest and dill together.

Rub the mix into both sides of your salmon filet and wrap it in cling film.

Lay the filet on a tray if you don’t want your fridge to be flooded with Gravlax juice….

          Leave the salmon “cooking” for 36 hours then rinse it under cold running water, dry it and put it back in the fridge for 24 hours so that the texture of your fish will be uniform and tender.

          Before serving, slice the salmon filet into thin slices that you can serve on toast with an hint of sour cream flavored with horse radish… Perfect to complex your guests during the aperitif.

PS : If you don’t eat the entire filet at once, just freeze the left over !

Palta a la jardiniera

Avocado a la jardiniere

 Last time I was watching this video, it remind me how much I love pan flute.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkDBlEvfbgg&feature=related

Since I wanted to cook something that compliments this wonderful musical instrument, I chose a Peruvian recipe !

Thanks to the meeting of native and Spanish cultures, the gastronomy in the Incas country is very rich and varied. The other essential factor which makes la Cocina Peruana so unique is the diverse climatic conditions present in the three different geographic regions of Peru (coast, mountain and jungle). In the market of Lima or Cuzco you can find an incredible number of products, tastes, smells and colors.

For this recipe, it’s essential to get very creamy, ripe and tasteful avocados. However, the way you  cook your cubes of vegetables is also a very important factor for success. You want the cubes to be tasteful (don’t forget to put a large amount of salt in the cooking water !) and crunchy (don’t boil the vegetables for too long and allow them to cool in iced water !). If you respect those two basics, and if you add a bit of patience, this starter will be an absolute delight !!!

Tonight Hubert, your best friend – and unfortunately his wife and 3kids- are coming over for dinner, you will need to buy :

-          3 Avocados

-          3 boiled eggs

For the “jardinière” :

-          1 stick of celery
$1    1 Carrot

-          1 handful of string beans

-          1 Zucchini

-          1 handful of peas

For the tomato salsa :

-          1 Red onion

-          2 limes

-          3 Tomatoes

-          1 Red chili

-          Fresh coriander

For the mayonnaise :

-          100g of mayonnaise

-          1 garlic glove

-          50g of fresh cheese

-          Few leaves of lettuce

The first step of this recipe consists of cutting all the vegetables of the 
“Jardinière”  in small cubes of 0.5cm, keep them separate. Also you don’t have to cut the peas in cubes, that might take a while, a small chef secret to help you out : Get someone else to do it !

In a pot, bring some salted water to the boil, prepare your bowl of iced water

Firstly throw in the carrots and beans, 20 seconds later add the celery and the 
peas, and a further 20 seconds later the zucchini for 20 seconds. Yeah.. you too needed to read that sentence twice huh ? Strain the veg, cool them down in the
iced water. When cooled strain the jardinière and absorb excess moisture with
paper towel.

Now for the tomato salsa or pico de gello :de-seed the tomatoes and cut them in small cubes, then add crushed garlic, the chopped red onions and coriander
followed by the lime juice. Season the mix.

In a blender, put garlic, fresh cheese and mayonnaise and add some water to 
obtain a creamy consistency.

 All those stages can ( and must) be done in advance.

You are such a great host !!! You’ve patiently spent all that time carefully cutting the beautiful, colorful, tasteful cute little cubes of vegetables. After checking, the beers are in the fridge, the table is set up… you are ready, waiting for yours beloved guest !!!

Since the clock is about to strike 8pm, you realize that with rug rats attending you will have to skip the aperitif. So, on your tray, spread the chunky chopped leaves of salad, then cut your avocado in sixths or in halves depending on your esthetic tastes. Nevertheless if you have good taste, you will cut it in big chunks, that’s what I did.

Sprinkle the jardinière on top with your halved boiled eggs, a bit of tampered/doctored mayonnaise and your pico de gello. Serve the leftover sauces on the side.

You kick back with a glass of white to admire your masterpiece, only to be told as your partner works through the door that dinner is actually … tomorrow night!

That smug smile is soon wiped off your face.

Anzac biscuits

Anzac biscuits

Australian Maaaaate !

To be honest, I was a bit scared to bake a recipe from the Kangaroo Island…. For the record, they put beetroot in their Hamburgers ! I actually had to eat my words : the biscuits are a ripper and easy as pie to prepare.

A.N.Z.A.C stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps established during First World War. It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation. Plus, one notable omission from any Anzac biscuit recipe is that of eggs, mostly because of the scarcity of eggs during the war as most poultry farmers joined the war effort.

I am still trying to understand why, but it occurs that the compatriots of Crocodile Dundee are very patriotic and proud of their island. No surprise then, when one Australian friend declared that since it was the 11/11/11, we would be eating Anzac biscuits at 11.11am to celebrate the fighters… and the delicious biscuits her mum was baking.

OK buddy ! Let’s start !

For 20 Wallabies biscuits :

-85g porridge oats

-85g desiccated coconut

-100g plain flour

-100g butter

-1 tbsp of golden syrup or 2 Tbsp of honey

-1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda, yes one TEA spoon otherwise, you end up looking like this disappointed Aussie, and then you make another batch.

-          Heat the oven at 170°C.

-          Put the oats, coconut, flour and sugar in a bowl.

-          Melt the butter in a sauce pan, stir in the golden syrup. In the mean time, add the bicarbonate of soda to 2 tbsp of boiling water, then stir into the sauce pan.

-          Right‑o ! Now make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter mixture. Stir in gently to incorporate the dry ingredients.

-          Put small balls of mixture into buttered baking sheets, about 2.5cm big

-          Bake in batches for 10min until golden brown all the way round.

-          Clean the mess

Enjoy one of these with your next cuppa*, Mate !

*Cup of tea

Gratin Dauphinois (Potato Bake)

Ahhhh a French recipe!!! I mean who doesn’t like France? … Uhhh I mean who doesn’t like French cuisine?

This  very simple recipe is one of my favorites although a dietician probably wouldn’t  share the same view.

Side order for 6 “XV de France” Supporters :

-          1.5kg of starchy potatoes

-          1L liquid cream 20%

-          Nutmeg

-          2 small garlic cloves

-          10g of butter

Put on your most beautiful beret, and preheat the oven at 150C°.

Peel the potatoes, I highly recommend this wonderful piece of equipment:

Cut the potatoes in thin and regular slices. Put potatoes in a bowl, add : a grating of nutmeg, salt (at least 5g), and pepper.

Rub your gratin dish with the garlic clove and the butter, layer the potatoes and cover with the cream.

Bake until the potatoes are golden and the cream has been absorbed – about 2 hours-

Thai Crispy Salad

Here are the possible reasons why you want to make this salad:

-          You like Thai food

-          You just gained 2kg last week

-          Yesterday, you had your in laws over for dinner. Since you try to impress the parents of your one, your only one, your everything; you cooked this wonderful white fish and you forgot that they were devoted vegans… again

-          The weather is awesome today, and you want to eat something which suits your summer dress

-          After watching “Hangover 2”, you fell disappointed and in the same time, you remember how great and wild your trip in Thailand after graduation was. Now that you are settled you really need to taste the energy, the freshness, the sweetness, the spice from the old times…

-          You think that if a recipe is on this blog, it has to be awesome… you guys!

Whatever the reason, you probably will like it!

For 6 buddies or BFFs

-          250 g of white fish filets deboned (I used two left over dorado)

-          Sunflower oil to fry

-          2 small red onions very finely sliced

-          6 sliced spring onions

-          1 sliced stick of celery

-          3 sliced Lebanese cucumber (they are small cucumbers with a more crunchy and tasteful flesh)

-          5 sliced leaves of Chinese cabbage

-          1 hand of fresh coriander

-          1 hand of fresh mint, use Thai mint if you can

-          2 TS of grilled peanuts

For the dressing:

-          2  de-seeded and  very finely sliced Green chilies  

-          2 Limes : the zest and the juice

-          1 TS of palm sugar or brown sugar

-          1 ½ TS of fish sauce

So the only technical difficulty during the preparation of this dish –besides avoiding slicing your fingers instead of the vegetables- is to get this fish crispy. The first step is to cook the fish: season the filets on the two faces, then bake them with a little oil at 150C° for 20 minutes.

Now crush roughly the flesh in a cuter or with your knife.

Preheat the oil in a pan, add the fish and let it crispy up for 15 minutes on a low heat

Remove the colored flakes of fish and leave it dry on paper.

Zest your limes, keep it

For the dressing: mix the fish sauce, the lime juice, the sugar and the sliced chilies until the sugar dissolved totally. Do not mix the dressing in the salad now, the acidity and the salt that contains the fish sauce would “cook” your salad !

So let’s sum up, your salad mix is ready, your dressing is ready, your guests arrived late, you made two or three bad jokes during the aperitif… Time to move on!

Now add the dressing to your sliced vegetables; serve it on the 6 plates

Sprinkle the herbs, the zest and the peanuts

Enjoy and correct your humor

 You could also serve a couple of fried prawns on this salad....

Chili con carne !

The Chili con carne

Yippy !!! I love Mexican food!  …tss…tss…tss… Such a beginner mistake… Chili con carne is a god dammed American dish! It first appeared in San Antonio, at the end of the 19^th century. The dish was slightly different at this time: The recipe used by American frontier settlers consisted of dried beef, suet, dried chili peppers and salt. They were pounded together, formed into bricks and left to dry, which were then boiled in pots on the trail. Then later, it became street food, sold by brightly dressed Mexican women known as "chili queens".

              Since everyone has their own best recipe for this dish, I will give you mine. But don’t you worry, I will not tell you that it’s ‘the best’ recipe and that all the other ones are wrong !  That’s because I never say such obvious facts.

They are two things I like in the chili con carne: the chilies and the meat.

So let’s start with the meat, I am not a huge fan of minced meat, I prefer some nice big chunks of chuck (Norris). It gives the stew a much nicer texture and it tastes better too since it’s far easier to fry.

Now the chilies; it’s actually chili peppers. You should roast them and peal them, this is because the skin of those red, yellow and green suckers is quite hard to digest. Never the less, to give a nice kick that this dish needs the red hot chili peppers are invited too (although, after testing I am absolutely positive it doesn’t work to put the CD in the pot).  

So enough blabla, the recipe now !

For 6 starving people :

-500g of beef stew meat

- 2 Onions

- 1 stick of celery

- 2 Carrots

- 2 Peppers

- 2 Chillis

- 3 garlic cloves

- 1 small tin of refried beans or if not just kidney beans

- 800 ml of tomato passata (tomato puree)

- 15g of beef stock powder

- 1 stick of cinnamon

- 2 pinch of cumin

-1 pinch of coriander

- 1 pinch of dried oregano

- 1 bit of fresh coriander

So first, preheat the oven at 180 C° then put some mariachi song on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssbu1bZzRRQ&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLC76F54CF85AEDC0D

Ok, now we are ready :

-          Put the peppers untouched on a tray, and roast them for 15min, they should come out black

-          Peal the onions, carrots and celery, chop them in small dices

-          Dice the meat in 2.5cm big cubes

-          Crush the garlic cloves and the chili

-          Peal the peppers, the skin should come off easily now, de-seed them and cut them in big dices

-          In a thick preheated pan, fry the meat with some oil

-          When the meat dices are nicely colored, take them out

-          Now it the turn of the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and chili to be gently fried

-          Lower the heat, add the meat, the tomato passata, the diced peppers and all the other remaining ingredients, add some water if necessary, bring it to the boil.

-          Now, the hardest part of this recipe : wait. This stew should cook at least 3 hours, you can either put it in the oven at 150C° with a lid on or leave it cook on the stove on a very low heat.

-          It has now been 3 hours that your Chili con carne is cooking, which is good news since you really had enough of the mariachi music… Chop a bit of coriander and sparkle it on your stew

-          Enjoy this piece of Texas with some rice !!!

Currywurst

Currywurst

So here we go, first post !!!! Excited !

Since my goal for this blog is to share culinary experiences from the places where I am, this post will be about... surprise, surprise… Currywurst  !

So what the heck is a currywurst ?

Well it is basically a sliced fried pork sausage (Bratwurst for the insiders)  swimming in a tomato curry flavoured sauce (Currysosse) with pinch of curry powder. This snack is served with a bread bun on a paper plate. I guess now that you know what it is, you are wondering why is it so popular in the krauts’ capital !

This dish actually has an interesting story, it all begun post world war 1949 to be exact. While the city was under reconstruction, while the population of the divided german capital was suffering of a very bad ingredient supply, while France wasn’t yet football world champion, appeared a heroic soul : Herta Heuwer (see picture). The legend is that this beautiful swan was trading curry powder, Worcestershire sauce and 

ketchup against liquor with the British solders … After many tries, she came up with her original recipe which she never revealed (yeah… Americans may have Coca Cola but Germans have the Currywurst). This original, cheap, hearty dish quickly became a hit for the laborers of Charlottenburg (West-Berlin), so big, there are now not less than 800 millions of this culinary delight served every year in ‘schland.

So what about a little recipe in case there is no sausage stand around the corner of your place (you unlucky bird) :

·         1 package of bratwurst (5 links) OR 1 package of hot dogs

·         1 tablespoon of oil

For the sauce :

·         1 8-ounce cans of tomato sauce

·         1/4 cup of ketchup

·         1 tablespoon curry powder

·         1/2 – 1 teaspoon paprika

·         1/4 teaspoon sugar

·         1/2 teaspoon onion powder

·         1 teaspoon of vinegar

Preparation:

1.       Poor oil in medium saucepan and melt over medium heat, fry the sausages

2.       Stir all the sauce ingredients in a sauce pan.  Add in all seasonings and mix as well

3.       Lower heat to medium-low, cover and allow to cook for 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally to prevent burning.

4.       Check flavor and add curry at your discretion.  Lower temperature and simmer for 20 minutes more.

5.       Serve with french fries or bread bun on the side, adding enough sauce to dip fries or bread.  You may also sprinkle some curry onto the Wurst for garnish.

Ps: Don’t listen to  Angelas’ 85 million co citizens which will tell you that they, personally,  have the original recipe. Because in case you don’t know, I am always right !

For more information, here is a link for the “Currywurst Museum”, not kidding.

http://www.currywurstmuseum.de/en/museum/