German Lebkuchen & Chocolat Baiser Kisses - XMas Cookies I

Okaaay, lovely people.
The pre-christmas time began. This is MY TIME! Christmascookierecipes...come to me! YAYA!

Just in time, 1st of november, I began baking. Not one day before or one later.1st!
I always make two recipes in one session.
One "every-year-again-recipe", a classical one. And the second is something new. Something different, interesting, not-so-classical.


Here we go:
1) Absolut classical german LEBKUCHEN, from Nuremberg. For me, the Nuremberg Lebkuchen are the best in whole Germany. Nobody does so well as they do. The tradition is very very old. The Lebkuchen are so fresh and tasty and fluffy and spicy, and and and...OHH, I love them!
I had kind of a "second family", my guest family in Portugal, when I lived there. I brought them once a package of Nuremberger Lebkuchen, and the dad of the family got crazy about it. He ate it ALL (and he has two little kids...he didn`t want to share - hahaha!).
Please, people out there, TRY it! bake it. Love it! Enjoy! It`s so wonderful! Best of christmastime!

2) Not classical, but experimental, beautiful and ommnomm: Chocolat Baiser Kisses.
It combines three ingredients I really really love:
Cocoa (Chocolat) Powder (into the baisers), marsipan and nougat (my absolute favourite chocolattype!)

Here are the recipes:
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Nürnberger LEBKUCHEN
50 pieces, wafer aperture: 50 mm)

TIP: Begin to prepare them either early in the morning or in the late evening. They have to rest for 12 hours before baking.

Ingredients:
>> 50 wafer (aperture 50 mm)
>> 4 eggs
>> 250 grams brown sugar
>> 250 grams all-purpose flour
>> 200 grams hazelnuts, grounded
>> 70 grams candied lemon peel
>> 70 grams candied orange peel
>> 75 grams almond, chopped
>> 1 tsp cinnamon, grounded
>> 1 pinch of grounded clove
>> 1 pinch of grounded cardamom
>> 1 pinch of grounded nutmeg
>> 2,5 level tsp baking powder

Icing:
>> 200 grams icing sugar
>> 3 Tbsp lemon juice
>> 50 almonds, peeled (half or complete, it`s your choice. I prefer them half, because they stick better in the icing)


> Mix eggs and sugar in a mixer undtil creamy
> Add flour, almonds, hazelnuts, candied lemon & orange peel, cinnamon, baking powder and all spices. Fold in thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
> Prepare 2 baking sheets. Put wafers on it and a little cup of water next to you.
> With the help of two teaspoons, put a good amount of dough onto the wafer. You will get a feeling, how much it should be. Be generous! The heaps can be a little bigger.
> Damp your fingers and flatten the dough heaps into the final shape. Arrange them immediately after shaping onto the baking tray/baking sheet, where they should stay. The wet wafer makes it stick on the sheet, and you can`t really move them before baking.
> Put them aside and let them dry for 12 hours.
> Preheat oven to 150° C ( 300 F )
> Put the trays in the middle of the oven. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
> Let them cool down.
> Prepare the icing by mixing sifted icing sugar and lemon juice. Brush Lebkuchen with it and put one almond on the top. Let them dry completely.

TIP!!: To store them, please put a slice of fresh bread into the same box (seperated by a kitchen paper). The bread "feeds" the Lebkuchen with humidity, so they stay wonderful soft and luscious in the inside.

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Chocolat Baiser Kisses
30 pieces
Ingredients:
>> 100 grams almonds, grounded
>> 100 grams icing sugar + 20 grams extra for the marsipan
>> 2 Tbsp best dark unsweetend cocoa powder
>> 2 eggwhite
>> 50 grams fine sugar
>> pinch of salt
>> 100 grams marsipan paste
>> 100 grams nougat (I tried to use a good chocolat instead of the stuff you can find in the baking areas in supermarkets. It worked, and it tastes much better!)


> Preheat oven to 150°C (Air circulation 130°C)/300 F and prepare 2 baking sheets.
> Mix almonds, 100 grams icing sugar and cocoa powder
> Prepare a how waterbath and an ice cold waterbath.
> First, beat eggwhites over the hot waterbath with the fine sugar and pinch of salt. It should be a warm, stiff mass.
> Second: beat it immediately after that in the cold waterbath, until cooled down.
> Fold in almond mixture.

> Fill the mass into a piping bag.
    If you have no, do it yourself :)  >>MAKE YOUR OWN PIPING BAG
> Squirt 60 little heaps onto the sheets, not bigger than 2 cm diameter. You can flatten the top with damp fingers, if you want.
> Bake them for about 18 minutes. Let them cool down (in the oven, door open)

> Roll out marsipan on your 20 grams leftofer icing sugar.
> cut circles out of the marsipan in the same size of the final baisers. You can do that with whatever you find - I often take a small shot glass, the edge floured that it doesn`t stick on it.> Melt Nougat.
> Brush two bottom sides of your baisers, put one marsipan circle in between and glue them together.
> To dry them, you have to be a little creative, because if you lay them down, the both baisers drift apart. I put them on a cooling rack, where I could arrange them stable.> Let them dry.


Most important: ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY and sing JINGLE BELLS, while dancing in the kitchen
(makes the cookies more magical)

Everybody is involved! Be a foodie-hero!

Everybody who is interested in food - and better: everybody who isn`t yet - should please (!) watch this here:

Fresh handmade Pasta

Before the Christmascookie-Season begins (my traditional start is the 1st of november), I`d like to give you something salty, because it is getting sooo sweet soon!

There are a lot of recipes for fresh pasta in the web and in books.
But most of us buy the dried pasta from the supermarket, because we think, it is too hard and too complicate to do it by yourself.

Here is the wonderful message: It isn`t!
I tried it, and really, I swear - it isn`t!

I guess one thing is, that most of the recipes tell you to buy 00-flour, called “Semola”.
Because I live in the big wonderful city of Hamburg, it is no problem to get it. For some of you it could be (but in the Internet, for sure, you can order it!).
I don`t know how the dough behaves when you use all-purpose flour, but I heard it`s getting a bit slimy, and that is something you really really don`t need while making pasta.

Second is: The pasta-machine.
You can roll the dough by hand, for sure. Italian mamas often do that. But most people use pasta machines. But the good news are: they aren`t very expensive. You don`t need a high-class machine if you make pasta time by time and not every day for 5 families.



For the dough itself, you really need nearly nothing!
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FRESH PASTA
serves 4

Ingredients:
200 grams 00` Semola Flour
2 eggs
1 TSP olive oil
1 pinch of salt
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>> Mix all together and knead it. Knead knead knead, until you have a beautiful smooth elastic dough.
In former times in Italy (probably still today?) people put the dough into a plastic bag and knead it with the feet, because they have more power in there.
I tried it out. It`s a little bit strange in the beginning, and you need to find out a “feet-knead-technique”, but it helps if you do not have too much power or you don´t wanna leave half of your day-energy in kneading.

>> Then flatten the dough a little and put it into the pasta machine.
The important thing is, that you have to roll them through ALL the 8 or 9 steps, it`s getting thinner and thinner.
AND : the first 3 steps when it comes out, fold it again double and put it again through the same step.
Try it out, you will get a feeling for it.


Watch this video from GIULIA <3 when you wanna see how to use a pasta machine and how the dough should look like.



>> Boil enough salted water.

>> If the dough is ready, put it through the part of the machine where you can form long broad stripes.
If you wanna do it by hand, cut the dough to the length you want to have, than flour it generous and fold it softly (do NOT press it together!) a few times. Then take a knife and quickly (!) cut them into the thickness you wanna have. After you did that with the whole dough, unfold the single stripes quickly, put them unsorted on a floured plate.

>> Then put them into the salted water.
They only need a few minutes to cook, 2 or so (depends also on the thickness). If they stay longer, they`ll be sticky and slimy. So take care of them.

One last hint: Pasta (and this is also the same thing for all other food) won`t be good if you do not put all your patience and devotion in it.

Enjoy them with whatever you want. Pesto, tomato sauce or, like I love, just with olive oil and a few herbs or with butter and salt.

What Katie Ate! ROCKS!

I guess a lot of foodblogger and foodies know this lady: KATIE!
Katie got a foodblog where she posts for already a long time stunning photographs and wonderful delicious recipes. She has her very own style in cooking and styling, so she is really popping out of all the stuff you can find in the web.


I follow her blog already a very long time.
She always tells a lot about what`s up in her life and it is quite fun, because you get the feeling to know her personally. She is so authentic and warm and funny, that it is a pleasure to "visit" her time by time.

One day she wrote that she was asked to make her own cookbook.
Well, she was SO happy and surprised! The first thing I thought was: "FINALLY!" - she is so damn talented that I asked myself why nobody else had this iodea before.
Well, she kept people update about her cookbook timetable and what happened, and now - the book is in stores!!!!!
I immediately ordered one, because I am so happy for her (and for the world) and I really really love her work!

And people, I got to tell you: She CAN cook! So...if you want to buy some very special cookbook with a rusty flavour, with no fear of meat or big meals - buy it! It`s so lovely!

All images taken from What Katie Ate ~ Recipes and other bits and bobs 

© Katie Quinn Davies 2012 and Penguin Books, Australia

KATIES BLOG

Pumpkin-Walnut-Tarte

Yepp...it`s pumpkin season!
Timo and me drove into the countryside, south of Hamburg, to buy some different pumpkins.
My idea was just the pumpkinsoup I made a week ago.
But when I put the "small" pumpkins on my kitchenscale, I had to realize: They are muuuch more heavier than I thought.
I made a whole huge pot of soup, put most of it in the freezer, and I still had two Hokkaido and two Butternut left.
So I made a pasta-sauce out of one Butternut.

So, now I still have more than the half of what we bought!
A friend of us from Switzerland, Zora, told me I should make a pumpkintarte. Why not?
It is easy to do and tadaaaa!...here it is!



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PUMPKIN-WALNUT-TARTE
28 cm diameter - tarte pan

INGREDIENTS
Dough (Shortcrust)
>> 250 grams flour
>> 50 grams icing sugar
>> 125 grams cold butter, cutted in little pieces
>> 1 egg (big)
>> little bit of milk
>> some oil or butter to  grease the pan

Filling
>> 500 grams pumpkin (pealed and diced)
>> 500 ml milk (full-fat)
>> 200 grams cane sugar
>> 1 vanilla bean
>> 2 eggs (big)
>> 3 TBSP sugar
>> 1 hand full of walnuts
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Preparing the dough:
NOTICE: All ingredients must be as cold as possible. I normally put the flour into the refrigerator the day before. If you can`t, no problem. You can wash your hands very cold, too, and so on.

>> Sieve icing sugar & flour onto a workplate
>> Just with your fingertips, knead the butter carefully into the flour (until u have crumbles)
>> Add eggs and a little shot of milk
>> Knead all together as quick and carefully as possible until it is a rough dough (no problem if you see  some butterflakes still)
>> sprinkle with flour, press it down to a thick plate, wrap it into foil, put into fridge for 30 minutes.
>> grease the pan
>> roll dough out (on a floured plate) until 5 mm thickness
>> put into greased pan, press it into form and cut off the overlapping dough
>> prick a few times with a fork
>> wrap in foil , put into fridge for 30 more minutes

>> preheat the oven: 180°C  (356°F)

Preparing the Filling:
>> put pumpkincubes, milk, vanilla bean (vanilla pulp and bean separated) and cane sugar into a pot
>> let it boil softly, stir steadily
>> let it simmer until pumpkin is soft (~30 minutes)
>> put out vanilla bean, purée all together with a blender.
>> Let it cool down

Preparing the Caramelized-Nuts-Topping:
You can do that while the pumpkin is boiling
>> Put sugar into a pan
>> heat softly, wait for the sugar getting golden and liquid (that takes time, be patient)
>> if you see, that all is liguid, quickly put the nuts into it, stir stir stir until every nut is caramellized and put them onto a plate

Dough:
>> Cover dough with baking paper, fill with lenses or rice until full
>> Bake for 10 minutes (called "blind-baking")
>> Take out baking paper with rice/lenses and bake for 10 more minutes
>> take out, let cool down
>> put down oven on 160° C (320°F)


>> Mix eggs a few minutes into pumpkinsauce with a blender
>> fill into tarte pan
>> bake for 30 minutes
>> take it out and immediately spread the nuts over it. They should sink down a litle bit. If not, softly press them just to combine it with the filling
>> let cool down

ENJOOOOY!
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~~~~~~~~ The RAINBOWCAKE RECIPE! ~~~~~~~~~

Lovely people!
I made it!!!

I promised you SOOO long to give you my recipe for the beautiful Rainbowcake.
So many people asked, and I always said "soon!".
It took a lot of effort, because I wanted to make it as beautiful as possible (well, I am an artist, not jonly a foodie :)), so it took longer.
But I never forget what I promised to all of you, and so:

HERE IT IS!
Bake the Rainbowcake and send me photos, please!
Create new ideas of the decor or topping and tell me about it, I am so curious!

FABI´S RAINBOWCAKE RECIPE FOR YOU! <<<< DOWNLOAD

Pumpkin Soup

This is a "the-same-procedure-as-every-year"-recipe. When autumn arrives and everything gets color outside, pumpkins pop out here wherever you go. You can buy them everywhere!


What I REALLY love about pumpkin (except their wonderful taste) is, that you can store them for such a long time!
When you put them into a cold and dry place, you can use themn still in 4 or 5 months, some people say even longer!And because pumpkins are so HUGE (I mean here: the Hokkaido), you can get so much out of it. AND with Hokkaidos, you do not have to peel them - just cook it all together!

There a thousand of possibilitries to enjoy pumpkins.
But here is my basic one, a wonderful soup!

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PUMPKIN SOUP

>> 700 gramm of Hokkaido Pumpkin [diced, seeds removed]
                (= 900 gramms of Pumpkin before cutting)
>> 2 onions
>> 2 TBSP Aceto Balsamico
>> 40 gramm of butter 
>> 1000 ml vegetable stock
>> 200 gramm cream [optional, also just less, if you want]
>> 2 TSP honey
>> grounded nutmeg
>> salt & grounded pepper

> Dice onions and pumpkin
>  Melt butter in a big pan or pot and roast onions & pumpkin gently until they are lightly brown
    ( I put them in different pots and mix them together after, but you can do it also all in once)
>  Deglaze it with Aceto Balsamico
> Add vegetable stock
> Let gently boil it for 15 minutes (until pumpkin is very soft, test it)
> Purée it with a hand blender or whatever you have
> Flavor it with honey, salt, pepper and nutmeg

> If you want it more creamy: Add now the cream, mix it and let it boil up once more.

You can garnish it with whatever you want.
I prefer a blob of curd and some roasted pumpkin seeds. But chopped dill, parsley or some other herbs are wonderful, too! Pumpkin seed oil is a beautiful and tasty garnish, too.
I serve it always with some bread or baguette.

Enjoy your beautiful warm soup! Mother nature loves us :)

Chocolate-Oh-Chocolate Icecream

Well, this icecream is from now on my favourite Chocolate Icecream (and all people who love chocolate icecream know what it means to decide---THIS is my fav!..this is like winning gold at Olympia!)

I added chocolate pieces and chili, because in my opinion, those small chocolate pieces in icecream are the little wonder that makes "good" icecream to "best of" icecream.
And Chili...well...just `cause I llike it. you can leave it out, if you want!

(I have an icecream machine. if you do not have one, you can make icecream, too!
But there is a special procedure you have to follow. I don`t know it by rote, so please google it.
I  recommend you warmly the  procedure of the wonderful David Lebovitz, because he really knows what he does: How to make icecream without a machine)

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Chocolate-Oh-Chocolate-Icecream(6 - 8 servings)

What you need:
>> 130 gramm chocolate (70%)
>> 200 ml milk (no low fat milk, please!)
>> 200 gramm cream
>> salt
>> 80 gramm sugar + 1 tsp.
>> 2 egg yolk (size M)
>> 1 tbsp cocoa powder (good one!)
___

> break 100 gramm of the chocolate into pieces
> heat milk, cream, a pinch of salt & 40 gramm of the sugar
> add chocolate-pieces and let melt while stiring

> mix egg-yolks with rest of the sugar (40 gramm)
> mix cocoa powder + 1tsp. sugar, add a bit of the cream milk and stir well until smooth
> mix egg-yolk-sugar mixture with cocoa-powder mixture
> over a hot water bath, mix with a mixer about 10 minutes (not less!) until creamy
> immerdiately after that, mix over an icecold water cath more 6-8 minutes
> Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to cool down totally

> Chop the remaining 30 gramm of chocolate into little splits, add to your cream
> if you want, add a little bit of ground chili> Put into your icecream machine, let freeze for 30-35 minutes (depends on your machine, have a look into your instruction manual)> Let the cream freeze totally in the freezer.



If you do not know how to make a warm/icecold waterbath, Google is your best friend!
Same with making icecream without icecream machine.GO GOR IT!


Eat with vanillasauce or without, or with cookies..or ...whatever you want! ENJOY! :)
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Fluffy Berry-Bomb-Cakes

Well...these ... BOMBS ... were normally thought as little cake pieces, but I already was in doubt when I arranged them on the tray, before baking.
When I watched oven-TV (I love to see my cakebabies grow!), I had to realize: theeeese are no little cakes...these are BOMBS!

But well, ...they are DELICIOUS bombs, and the risk is: you eat it ALL. No matter how big it is.

It´s summertime, so it was close to take berries.
I took for one half blueberries, for the other half - because I really LOVE them - black currants.

But in fact:
This is a simple yeast-raised paistry with a little amount of spice and fruits.
So if you are that experimental type of cook (like I am), choose other fruits or spices, if you want. But don´t blame me, if they taste not like you expected! :)

Here it is, the easy recipe (with the smeary dough, haha! Have fun!)
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Fluffy Berry-Bomb-Cakes

Dough:
>> 1 package dry yeast (7gramm)
>> 375 ml tepid milk
>> 1 tsp ground cardamom
>> 2 eggs (big ones!)
>> a pinch of seasalt
>> 200 gramm sugar
>> 50 gramm melted butter + 15 gramm melted butter for the sheet
>> 800 gramm flour
>> 75 gramm cane sugar

Filling:
>> 400 gramm blueberries (, other berries or another fruit)
>> 75 gramm sugar
>> 1 orange (peel and juice)

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> Stir yeast into the tepid milk. Let rest for a little while.
> Mix egg + seasalt in a large bowl firmly
> While stiring, add cardamom, sugar, melted butter, 500 gramm flour and yeast-milk.
    (dough is fine when it has a gooey texture
> Finally, add remaining flour (300 gramm)

> With floured hands, knead dough a short while. Sprinkle with flour, cover it and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size.


> Meanwhile smash blueberries, sugar, most of orange peel and a splash of orange juice with a fork in a bowl.
> Cover a big sheet with baking paper, place a few butter flakes on it and sprinkle half of the cane sugar onto it.

> Sprinkle working surface with flour.
> Stretch out dough with floured hands until round about size of 20 x 30 cm (~ magazine sheet size).
> Dripp off half of the berry-mixture and spread out on dough
> Fold dough like an envelop and knead again firmly

> Divide dough in 8 parts.
> Shape looooooong, thin rolls while twisting like a spiral from outside to inside
> Place on sheet (leave enough space to one another, they grow to BOMBS!)
> Spread rest of berries onto the BOMBS and press them into dough.
> Sprinkle with some blueberryjuice, remaining cane sugar and orange juice.
> Cover with moist fabric, let rise for 20 more minutes in a warm place

> Preheat oven: 180°C
> For 25 minutes you can try now to clear the chaos you made in the kitchen (good luck!)
> The BOMBS should be now wonderful golden brown and crispy (because of the sugar).
> Open oven, grab them (careful, it`s hot!) and munch`em ALLL ALL ALL ALL!

...good idea : add warm vanillasauce! <3

Greek Lamb Fricassee

This recipe is from "Jamie does".
I love those Jamie recipes, because they are not that complicated, but creative - and they aaaalways taste great.

Fricassee / stews are great, because the meat is left, cooking for a few hours, and you can use the time otherwise. It is a very easy and thankful way to cook.
AND you can cook much more, for the other day or for the freezer.
Try it out. It´s ommnommnomm!

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Greek Lamb Fricassee
serves 4-6

Meatpot
>> 1200 gramm leg of lamb, deboned, & ut into 4cm pieces
>> 2 onions, finely sliced
>> 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
>> 2 bunch of spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
>> 2 heads of romaine lettuce, washed and finely shredded
>> a bunch of fresh dill, finely chopped
>> Salt and pepper

Sauce
>> 2  large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
>> Juice of 1,5 lemons.
>> 1 big tsp. Greek yoghurt (or cream yoghurt, 10% fat)
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> For the sauce: Stir all together.

For the meatpot:
> Take a large pot. Heat a little bit of olive oil and butter.
> When hot, put the lamb in until browned (~ 7 minutes). Remove meat, put aside.
     (You can do that in batches if your pot is too small...it is better for a regular roasted meat)
> Onions, garlic, spring onions >> off to pot for 10 minutes, stiring here and there
    (shouldn`t get brown, just soft)> Add meat.
> Add shredded lettuce and dill, cook for a few minutes until lettuce imploded a little.
> Add salt & pepper and fill with water until all is covered.
> Boil, then turn down to low simmering. Cover and let it simmer for 90 to 120 minutes.
> Remove lid, let simmer for more 30 minutes.If more water is needed, add it.

You can try the meat during that 30 minues. If it is tender enough for you, the stew is fine!

> Take the pot off the cooker,let the first heavy heat out. Stir the sauce gently into the stew, for that the egg does not set.
> Let calm down for a few mintutes and then: ENJOY!!!

(serve with whatever you want.....baguette (what Jamie does), rice, potatoes, pasta...and the rest of the greek yoghurt on top)

Gooseberry Compote

Helloooh everybody!
My computer is bursting from all the pictures I have taken the last weeks. So many stuff I tried to cook, so many tasty things... I will gtry to share the best ones with you.

Summer did not really arrived in Hamburg.
We have that day here, 27th of june, calles "Siebenschläfer" (edible dormouse).
And it is said, if it`s raining on that day, 7 weeks of rain will follow.
What shall I tell you? It rained!
And so, the weather is very changeful. You never know if you should wear something short or long. It is always wrong.

But nevertheless, the farmer markets are full of summer vegetables and summer fruits.
I was crazy about the idea making something with gooseberries.
They only can be bought here for a short time and we don´t have that much. But I love them, because at my parents house where I grew up, we had a gooseberry bush. I ate a few and felt in love...one day, the bush got ill and the fruits were full with dark points.
The bush died, but my love for that fruit did not :)

And so I decided to make a compote I can eat with my homemade icecream.
The best is: Timo doesn`t like gooseberries (the poor guy) and so....I can eat it AAAAALL!

Enjoy the "fruits of your labour" when you cooked the compote. It`s so summerly!

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Gooseberry Compote

What you need:
>> 400 gramm gooseberries (red ones are better, they are not that sour)
>> 2 cm fresh ginger
>> 150 ml juice (preferable: red grapes. Depends on yourpersonal likings. Better use something not too strong, like orangejuice. Apple and everything red should work fine, too)
>> 150 ml white wine (if you don`t wanna use alc, take the same amount of juice)
>> 0,5 cinnamon stick
>> 2 tsp starch flour
>> 50 gramm sugar
___


> Wash the gooseberries and pick off the little pieces on both tops.
> Peel the ginger and hack it as small as possible.
> Mix the starch with a few tablespoons of the juice.
> Spread the sugar into a jar and let it heat slowly...the sugar begins to melt after a time (be patient, attentive and don´t do it too hasty, because if it is going to melt at one point...everything is going verrrrry quickly!)
> When it caramellised to a beautiful light-golden color, add half of the wine and increase the heat.
> Let it cook and stir, stir, stir until the caramel dissolved.
> Add the rest of the wine, juice, ginger and cinnamon stick.
> Boil up.
> Stir the starch into it and let cook for 4 minutes.

> Add gooseberries and let them cook softly with all the other ingredients. But only for 3 minutes, because they burst very quickly!

... Fill the compote into another bowl and let it cool down.


Eat with vanillasauce, joghurt, icecream or whatever you like! Enjoy summer :)
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Elderflower Summer Syrup

It is now the middle of june, and the best time to pick elderflowers.
Next to my home (and everywhere I go), there are a lot of bushes - it seems to be a very thankful plant: It grows everywhere, presents us with those wonderful tasting and smelling umbels - and later in the year, it gives us also berries to cook with.

A wonderful precious friend of mine, Simone, came to my home and we took a walk to pick elderflowers.
We had luck: The sun was shining - and this is not self-evident here in Hamburg.

So, here are some pictures, they can tell you more, and the recipe, for sure.
It is sooo easy, every baby can do it! The only thing you have to do it: take a walk in the forests or parks and pick the umbels!



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ELDERFLOWER SYRUP
Please do not pick the umbels next to streets - better get some from more natural environment!!




>> 1,5 litres of water
>> 1,5 kg sugar   
***(1 part water + 1 part sugar - works also with 1 litre/1kg and so on)
>> 15 - 20  umbels
>> 1-2 lemons (biological), quartered or sliced>> 1-2 oranges (biological) (optional - does not belong to the classical recipe)

Clean the umbels by hand (if there are still little flies or something).
Better do not wash it! If you really want to, very very quickly under cold water.

>> Boil water
>> Add sugar, boil until sugar dissolved...simmer it for a couple of more minutes.
>> Let it cool down a little bit. Hot water over the umbels destroys the taste!
>> Put umbels and lemon (/oranges) into a big pot and souse it with the sugarwater.
>> Cover with lid, cloth, foil or something.
>> Hardest part: wait for 3-5 days
>> Teem the syrup through a sieve into a something lockable or screw-top jar. Put it in the refrigerator and enjoy! Best before at least 4 months.

How many umbels you take belongs to YOUR fondness for taste - stronger means: more umbels, softer means: less. Simone and me took more, and when it is too strong in the end, I can add more sugarwater to the syrup.
The same for the lemons and/or oranges: more lemon = more sour and so on.
Try it out!
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Strawberry Sorbet

Here is something very very easy to do! It catches the wonderful summer flair into smooth, tasty scoops!

[What you need for this is an icecreammaker.

I know there a a few ways to create icecream without one, but because I never tried it, you have to google that solution on your own.]

STRAWBERRY SORBET - with whateveryouwant

Ingredients:
>> 500 gramm strawberries
>> 1 TBSP fresh lemonjuice
>> 1 TBSP powder sugar
>> 80 ml white wine or water
>> 80 gramms fine sugar
>> (1 eggwhite)

Combine the strawberries, lemonjuice and powder sugar with a hand-held blender until smooth.
Heat the wine/water with the fine sugar until soft boiling and the sugar dissolved.

Add the strawberry-mixture through a colander into the wine/sugar.
Put it into the refrigerator for 30 minutes until cool.

If you like your sorbet a little more creamy:
Beat the eggwhite until fluffy and fold it gently under the strawberry-mass.


Put everything into the icecreammaker until you have a creamy mass.
Before eating, put it 5 or 6 hours into the freezer, because it is a little bit to soft after leaving the icecreammachine.

I bought a fine vanillasauce...but use whatever you want as topping...cookies....chocolatsauce....strawberry liquer.... feel free to play around with tastes!

Apricot-Chicken with Halloumi

Summer arrived in Hamburg - and me, too, after my holidays in France.

I started to work immediately after my return. I am a Freelancer, and when I am out of office for holidays, nobody is there to do the work and check the mails.
So when I am back I have to catch up on everything.

The first days, I had nothing in my head but clearing my desk.

Yesterday, the first delight for cooking came back and here we go!
I made a very quick dinner for Timo and me. It is REALLY quick and it doesn`t soil the kitchen at all, so: a little work for a mouth full of flavour and love :)


APRICOT-CHICKEN with Halloumi (grillcheese)

(serves 2)

>> 2 filets of chickenbreast (200 grams each worked perfectly for us)
>> 4 apricots (quartered)
>> 10 cherry tomatoes (or another amount of whatever tomatoes.Follow your preferences)
>> 150 grams Halloumi (greek grillcheese), cut in 4 slices
>> 1 TBSP liquid honey
>> 1,5 TBSP olive oil
>> grated lemon peel of 1 lemon
>> a few branches fresh thyme
>> 2 teacups Couscous

Preheat oven: 180°C
Thinly slice each breast three times and stuff the thyme into the cuts.  Put the chickenbreast, the Halloumi slices, the apricots and tomatoes (prick every tomatoe softly with a pointed knife, so they won´t burst under the heat) next to each other into a casserole.

Mix olive oil with honey and lemon peel.
Spread it equally over everything.

Put it into the oven for 20-25 minutes (have a look for the breast. When it is tanning, the meat should be done...you can also have  a look into the cuts. If the meat is done: Out!)Couscous: Boil 3 teacups of water and mix it with the Couscous (if you want, add juice from the lemon into it). Let it soak for 10 minutes.
>> Enjooooy!

~~The lovely Mediterranean Sea - Back from France~~

HELLOOOOOUH! I am back from holidays in south of France!

Torreilles Plage - even more beautiful with the best friend!

I had 11 wonderful days with lots of relaxing.
"Relaxing" was my first intention for those vacations, because I really have been out of energy the last months. I know, 11 days won`t give me back all of it, but it worked so far, and I am back, fresh and crispy tanned :D

Me and my best friend Lissy spent the days mostly with enjoying nature and mediterranean food (and a little bit of comic-bijoux-food-shopping, for sure!).

I guess we made up for all the fish we did not eat this year in Germany.

We bought salmon, crevettes, codfish and more and mostly mixed it only with olive oil, lemon and salt.
We picked wild rosemary and thyme, which is really growing EVERYWHERE there. The air is full of different bloomy and tangy smells. - we nearly got drunk by it!

Wild thyme from the Pyrenées

We bought some fresh vegetables at the market, for example at St. Laurent de la Salanque, which is incredibly cute, with all the stands curling through the little alleys.
Or the market at Le Barcarès lies next to the beach and the turquoise Mediterranean Sea...

We put beans, tomatoes and sugar pods under our salmon in aluminium foil, drippled it with lemon juice and god oil from the regional mills...onto the BBQ...some potatoes with rosemary into the blaze...not missing the garlic, for sure!!...and enjoyed our fish in a warm summer breeze.
Sunsets were red and the near mountains full of snow, we could listen to the breakers not far from the house and to the whine of the wild cats who were always looking after our cheese plates.

Fresh salmon, cooked in foil ~ Artichokes from the market ~
Pain Epi ~ One wonderful cheese of thousand

Oh, and - PREMIERE! - Lissy and I prepared our first artichoke, which was really an adventure, but finally so yummy.
I already miss the slow and calm days down there.
Weather is nice, too, in Hamburg. But the silence and the soft warm air gave me a feeling of time is not important. I really really miss that.

We are such good friends that we bite the same way without knowing!

Collioure

Where it meets the Pyrenées mountainregion, the Roussillon is also rough and wild.

Beach, snow and old history meet there all in one.