Blood Orange - Aperol - Prosecco Cocktail

This is one of the beverages that accompanied the brunch at the cooking show "Brunch at Bobby's" with Bobby Flay. It is a fancier version of the Mimosa but uses the bitter blood oranges which are currently in season. The drinks turned out not as red as you would expect from blood oranges, even so the blood oranges looked red inside, the juice was interestingly orange...

The original recipe used Campari, but I decided to use Aperol as I know more cocktails for which I wanted to use it. Both are Italian Aperitifs, slightly bitter and similar but I was told they have slightly different flavors. Feel free to substitute for the Campari.

Ingredients 

• Blood Oranges - freshly juiced
• Aperol (or Campari)
• Prosecco 

Preparation (for 1 glass)

One blood orange yields approximately enough juice for a little more than 1 drink. Fill a glass half way with ice cubes, fill it with blood orange juice about 1/2 full, add 1 shot of Aperol, and fill up with the processo. Garnish with an orange slice or fresh mint.

BRUNCH TIME - Tomato Tart (made quiche...)

One of my favorite cooking shows currently is "Brunch at Bobby's" with chef Bobby Flay on the Cooking Channel. Brunch is one of my favorite meals. Every show of Brunch at Bobby's usually has about 2-3 entree options and a nice looking beverage and is intended to be shared with friends. Even though I do like my German breakfast, I do like the vast variety of an American breakfast or brunch. I actually would have bought the cooking book to this show, but as there is none available I had to make do with printing the recipes I liked.

Today I started cooking my first brunch a la "Brunch at Bobby's". I chose the Tomato Tart, accompanied by a Blood Orange-Aperol-Prosecco cocktail.

Quiche or Tart?

As always, I did not exactly follow the recipe. Actually, I researched what the difference between tart and quiche was before I started and surprisingly, the answer was not easy to find. From my understanding,  the quiche's main ingredient is a egg/milk mix, while the tart does either not use egg/milk at all or only to a very small amount. This makes the tart look smaller in height and also crispier. Bobby's tomato tart recipe did not use any eggs for the dough or filling. However, because this was my breakfast/brunch, I wanted to use some eggs. I remembered a very tasty tart recipe from my friend AM, using eggs for both the tart dough and filling and using tomatoes and zucchini for the filling. I incorporated the eggs/milk and zucchini idea into Bobby's recipe but kept the other ingredients. I have to say that using gruyere and camembert cheese really made the difference. Even so it is a little pricy, the smokiness and creaminess of the cheeses convinced me. The first bite was so delicious...

Ingredients

Dough

• 3 cups flour
• 12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter - cut into dices
• 2-3 tablespoons salt and pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons cold water

Filling

• 2 Tablespoon mustard
• 1/2 cup gruyere cheese - grated
• 3 Plum tomatoes - cut into 1/2 inch slices, seeds removed
• 4-6 ounces camembert or brie - white edge removed and sliced in thin stripes
• 1/2 zucchini - grated
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
• 1-2 tablespoon salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil - finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme - finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley - finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic - finely chopped

Preparation

Dough
Combine the flour, butter and salt and pepper in a blender, using a dough or pastry blade. Mix until everything is coarse. Then add the olive oil and water and continue mixing until everything clings together smoothly and forms a nice dough. Roll the dough together in a ball, flatten it to a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge for about 30min.

Roll the chilled dough into a thin circle, about 2 inches longer in diameter than the form you will be using. The recipe asks for using a 12 inch form with a removable bottom. As my tart form did not have a removable bottom, which is really helpful, I just used my 9 inch cake form and I cut of the excess dough on the sides.

Filling
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the mustard on the dough bottom and sprinkle the grated gruyere cheese over it and top it of with the grated zucchini. This will keep the egg/milk mix separate from the dough bottom and prevent getting the bottom completely soaked and soft. Mix the eggs with the milk, add salt and pepper and pour it over the zucchini. Add the tomato slices (very thick slices, and seeds removed to avoid extra liquid) and alternate with the brie or camembert slices (I used brie here). Even though the tomato slices are thick, you will not notice that in the end as they bake for quite some time an get completely soft. Bake on middle shelf of the oven for 35 minutes until the cheese starts to turn slightly golden. In the end, put the tart underneath the broiler for additional 5 minutes. Keep an eye on it to not burn it.

Mix the chopped herbs and garlic together with the oil. Take the tart out of the oven and brush with the herb mixture. These are fresh herbs and should be added last to unfold their true flavors. Let the tart cool for a few minutes and then serve with the rest of the herb mixture and the Blood Orange-Aperol-Prosecco drink.

Note: If you have left over of the herb mixture, you can use it to make some herbed butter. Just take a stick of butter, let it get soft at room temperature, then mix it with the herbs and roll it up and put plastic wrap around it and put it back in the fridge. Herb/garlic butter is really good on bread for italian pasta dishes or for BBQs.

Print this recipe:

My Mom's "Kichererbsen Salat" (Chickpea Salad)

This is a recipe that my Mom used to do on holidays, usually with left-over chickpeas from our Cous Cous. It is called a "Chickpea Salad" and is basically chickpeas with a lot of hot spices. This is nothing for someone who doesn't like hot spices such as garlic and harissa. Also, one warning: After eating this, you will definitely smell like garlic, so maybe rinse your mouth or have a peppermint handy if you want to go out afterwards :)

Ingredients

• 1 lb Chickpeas (preferable dried ones)
• 3-4 gloves Garlic - minced
• 2 teaspoons Biber Salcasi (Turkish hot red chili pepper paste)
• 2-3 teaspoons Sambal Oelek (Indonesian style chili-based sauce with garlic, lime, ginger)
• 2-3 teaspoons Harissa (Tunesian hot chili sauce)
• 3 teaspoons Pumpkin Seed Oil
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup Water
• Salt and Pepper

Preparation

I like to use dried chickpeas more as they remain crunchier and are not as soft as the chickpeas out of the can. If you use dried chickpeas you need to let them soak in water overnight in a covered pan. The next day, drain and rinse the chickpeas. Cover with fresh water and bring to a boil. Let cook for 1.5 - 2hours, till they are soft. Remove from heat and drain. Transfer in your salad bowl. Now, add the spices (minced garlic, biber paste, sambal oelek, harissa, salt, pepper). You will need to use quite a bit of salt, but I would suggest to start cautious and taste first, you can always add more. Add the pumpkin seed oil and water to the chickpeas and spices, so that you can now mix everything together. Let stand and cool down for a while. The spices also need to unfold the full flavors.

Print this recipe:

Lily's Pesto

My boyfriend used to talk about his American friends when we were in Germany, that was before I actually met them. He had a lot of stories, and because I am such a food addict, I remembered especially that he always praised Lily's Pesto (and Jamie and Steven's self-made Guacamole - but that's another story).

After meeting Lily, I noticed how passionate and creative she is about food. She is an amazing cook and it was time to try to re-create that amazing pesto. This recipe is based on her original recipe that she was so nice to share with me. I made just a few little changes. Be aware that you will have left-overs, but it is easy to freeze. I started preparing the pesto last summer after getting tons of fresh basil from the farm stands at sauvie island, but it took me a long time to post this because I wasn't happy with the first pictures I took. I had to wait till I used the frozen left-over pesto. It was as delicious as fresh :)

Ingredients

• 4 cloves of garlic - choped
• 1/2 - 3/4 lb romano cheese (or parmesan, asiago - anything hard and italian)
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 4-5 handfuls of basil leaves
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary
• 3-4 handfuls baby spinach
• milk
• salt to taste

• Spagetthi
• Optional: Garlic Bread, Side Salad, Parmesan to sprinkle

Preparation

Add that time I did not yet have my fancy "Ninja" mixer. I knew that the one that I had was not strong enough to mix everything, so I processed the cheese and the basil/spinach mix separately.

1) Preparing the cheese base
I cut the cheese in small pieces to make it easier on my blender. Then I worked in two batches, I started with blending about half of the cheese with about 1/4 cup of oil. As soon as that was done, I added the rest of the cheese, another 1/4 cup of oil, garlic and pine nuts. I transferred the cheese mix into a bowl.

2) Preparing the basil base
Now,  I added the basil to the blender with 1/8 cup of oil to soak it a little. On Lily's suggestion, I added the rosemary to give it a bit of a spicy flavor. Loved it! After processing the basil, I added the spinach and a little bit of milk. The spinach does not add much flavor, but helps with the consistency. How much spinach and milk depends on your taste. Add more milk or spinach to either make it creamier or greener.

3) Mix everything together - create the pesto
I transferred the basil base to the bowl with the cheese mixture and mixed everything together. If it is not creamy enough, you can add some oil or milk. Also, I liked to add a little bit of salt.

Serve with some spagetthi or other pasta (e.g. Farfalle, Penne). Mix the warm pasta with the cold pesto till the pasta is completely covered. Sprinkle with some Parmesan. It also tastes really good with garlic bread or a small salad with a vinaigrette on the side.

Cous Cous - Happy New Year!

*** A Family Holiday Tradition ***

(takes 4 hours or longer to cook, but lasts for several days)

This is an authentic Moroccan Dish that my parents used to cook on Holidays such as Easter and Christmas and sometimes also on Birthdays. I say "authentic Moroccan" because this recipe originally comes from my parents' friend M. who is indeed Moroccan. 

This dish takes a while to cook, as the soup needs to simmer for a couple of hours so that the soup meat gets soft. It is sort of a slow cooking process. My parents always made two big pots of the soup so that we had leftovers for at least 1-2 more days. This makes it the perfect Holiday dish, you do need some free time to cook it (about 4 hours) but it is exotic for a special occasion and the second day it tastes even better and you don't need to cook anymore. 

When my parents were younger they used to cook this dish for friends and family. Even so I was a picky eater as a child, this was always my favorite dish. It is special to me and I also started to cook it for friends and on special occasions. 

****

Ingredients:

FOR THE SOUP

Step 1 - Sear the beef

• 4-5 Tablespoons Oil
• Soup Beef (with bone and fat)
• 1 Onion - diced
• 1 small Leek - sliced in rings
• 1 small Carrot - sliced in rings
• 2 Tablespoons Salt and Pepper
• 3 Tablespoons Tomato paste
• 2 Tablespoons Harissa

Step 2 - Slow cooking

• Water
• 3-4 Garlic Cloves
• 12 Peppercorns
• 4 Bay leaves
• 2-3 cups dried Chickpeas (soaked in water overnight)

Step 3 - Add the veggies (all cut into ca. 2 cm pieces)

• 4 Carrots 
• 4 Potatoes 
• 3 Zucchini 
• 3 Leek

Step 4 - Season to taste

• 1 Tablespoon Butter 
• 2 Tablespoons Salt and Pepper
• 2-3 Tablespoons Tomato paste
• Harrisa to taste

FOR THE COUS COUS

• Cous Cous (Instant, medium grain size)
• Butter
• Salt
• Water

****

Preparation:

THE SOUP

Note: If you use dried chickpeas which I prefer as they are a little crunchier, you need to soak them in water overnight, the night before. 

1. Sear the beef
I have read that for many Moroccan Cous Cous dishes, they use lamp. However, we have always cooked it with beef. This meat is not really intended to be eaten but to build the flavor base for the soup. You will need a big piece of "soup meat", this means that the meat will need to have a lot of fat and bones to give the soup some flavor. If you also would like to eat a little bit of the meat, you can use a big piece of meat that has some good looking part and some fatty/bony part, or use 2 separate parts of meat - a smaller piece with fat and bones and an extra piece of good beef.

Now, let's get started. Use a big pot and cover the bottom with a good amount of oil. Heat the oil and add the meat, carefully so that it doesn't splatter. Sear the beef from all sides for about 5-10 minutes. How long it will take, depends on how big the meat and the sides are, don't rush it, this is a very important step as the searing of the beef will give the soup its flavor. Just keep an eye on the beef, that it gets dark on all sides, but not black.

Dice the onion, and cut one little carrot and leek into thin slices. Add to the meat. Let cook for another 5 minutes, but keep stirring it. You want the onions translucent, but not brown. Add the tomato paste and harissa, salt and pepper, stir it and let cook for 2-3 more minutes so that the flavor of the tomato paste mixes with the base.

2. Slow cooking

Fill the pot with water so that the beef is completely covered. Bring to a boil. Add the garlic cloves, pepper corns and bay leafs. Let simmer with the lid half closed for about 1.25 hours till the beef is soft (poke it with a fork). You might need to add another 20 minutes if the beef is not soft yet. Check the soup every 20-30 minutes and make sure that the beef is covered by the water. You may need to add more water. 

If you use dried chickpeas that you soaked overnight, you can add them now as they will need to be boiled for about 1.5-2 hours.

3. Add the veggies  --- good time to also start the cous cous

Peel the carrots and potatoes, wash the leeks and zucchinis. Cut all in about 2 cm pieces, the potato pieces can be cut a little bigger. Now you will need to add the veggies in an order so that all of them will be soft at the same time. Potatoes and carrots are the hardest veggies and need to be added first. I use Yukan Gold Potatoes which are pretty hard and I cut them in bigger pieces, so I start with the potatoes and let them cook for 5 minutes, then add the carrots and let them cook another 5 minutes. Then I add the leeks and zucchinis and let cook another 5-10 minutes till everything is soft (try with a fork). If you use canned chickpeas, add them now.

Notes: The order of the veggies depends on how big your pieces are and also, what kind of potatoes you are using. Some potatoes need longer than others.The cooking time may also be adjusted depending on how hot you let the soup boil. 

4. Season to taste

Take the meat out of the soup. Add a little piece of butter (1 tablespoon) and let it melt into the soup. Add 2-3 tablespoons of tomato mark and salt and pepper. Stir good. Add harissa to taste (it is spicy so be careful). You can also add some Vegeta (vegetable salty soup spice).

THE COUS COUS

You can prepare the Cous Cous in two different ways. Either follow the package instructions which is very fast or cook it over water steam which will take about 1 hour.

Instant Preparation

When you follow the package instructions, just make sure to use a little less water than they require. For a full box of cous cous, use 1.5 cups of water (instead the required 2 cups). Bring the water with some butter and salt to a boil, stir in the cous cous, cover the pot with a lid and take from the heat. Let sit for 5 minutes. The cous cous will soak up the water completely. Then use a fork to loosen up the cous cous. Add another small piece of butter and salt to taste.

Steaming

Steaming the cous cous is the more traditional way and that is the way it was taught to us. However, you will need a special set of pots for it: one big pot for the bottom in which you will boil the water, and a steaming pot (a pot with holes in the bottom) to put on top. The cous cous will be steamed in several separate sessions (2-3 sessions) and will be transferred back and forth from a bowl to the steaming pot.

1. Fill the big pot at the bottom with water, half full. Add salt. Bring to a boil. Make sure that there is always water in the pot. You might need to add water. This will create the water steam. 
2. Prepare the cous cous. Add it to a bowl, add 1 - 1.5 cups of water and some salt and stir it. The cous cous grains will immediately soak up all the water, so that they are bigger now and will not fall through the steaming pot holes. 
3. First steaming session. Transfer the cous cous into the steaming pot, add 1 tablespoon of butter in the middle of the cous cous and cover.  Let steam for about 25 minutes.
4. Second steaming session. Transfer cous cous to the bowl again, loosen it up with a fork. Add 1 tablespoon butter and stir, remove all clumps. Add some more salt. Transfer back to the steaming pot. Again, add a little piece of butter in the middle of the cous cous. Let steam for another 15 minutes.
5. Third steaming session. Transfer cous cous back to bowl, stir. Taste. If cous cous too dry add another piece of butter and let steam for another 10 minutes.

Serve with the soup and with a dry red wine.

Glühwein - Merry Christmas

This is just something that belongs to Christmas time for me, a warm spiced wine. In Germany you can usually buy it at the outdoor Christmas Markets to keep yourself warm in a wintery cold night. Even so it is pretty cheap to buy in Germany, during my college time my roommates and I used to sit in our dorm kitchen, play board games and make this spiced wine ourselves. The non-alcoholic version is basically the English Wassail, a spiced warm fruit juice punch.

Ingredients:

• 1 - 1.5 liter Red wine
• 4 Orange slices
• 1 cup Honey
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 3-4 Cinnamon sticks
• 3-4 Anise stars
• 10 Gloves
• Optional: 1/4 cup of cider mate spice (including orange, lemon peel, anise star parts, gloves, dried berries)

Preparation:

Pour the red wine in a big pot, add the orange slices, cinnamon sticks, anise stars, gloves and cider mate. Heat on low, do not boil. Then add the honey and sugar to taste. Start with a little bit and add more if still to bitter. A friend also told me, that you can use orange juice to sweeten it. Heat for about 5-10 more minutes and then strain the wine in cups.

This also makes a nice little christmas gift if you fill it up into dark green bottles, add a cinnamon stick, some christmas stickers and maybe an ornament made out of the orange slices, cinnamon sticks and anise stars :)

Bed & Breakfasts

My boyfriend and I like to stay at Bed & Breakfasts. I just love this feeling of being in a home that tries to recreate a historical ambiance with cute antique furniture. And of course, I do love the self-made breakfast, arranged in a thoughtful and beautiful way. Most of the Bed & Breakfast we have stayed at have delivered delicious and creative breakfast including self-made lemon cake, blueberry corn pancakes, spinach crepes, creamy omelets, crispy warm blueberry muffins, etc.

Last year during Christmas time, we took a short trip to British Columbia, Canada and stayed at the cutest little Bed & Breakfast in Whistler (Inn at Cliff Top Lane). Everything was perfect. It was by far the most romantic and thoughtful one. The owners were very nice and accommodating. The rooms beautifully arranged, even had a jetted tub. The breakfast was very creative with lots of options. The fresh baked blueberry muffins were a dream, they had a crispy top that reminded on a cookie. The owners were so nice to share their recipe with me and I will re-create it soon :) And everything was surrounded by a fairy-tale like snow landscape.

This is a short list of all the amazing Bed & Breakfasts that I have stayed in so far and that kind of spoiled me:

• Inn at Cliff Top Lane (Whistler, BC, Canada)
• Seattle Hill House (Seattle, WA, USA - Capitol Hill)
• 11th Avenue Inn (Seattle, WA, USA - Capitol Hill)
• Chambered Nautilus (Seattle, WA, USA - University District)
• Bottger Mansion of Old Town (Albuquerque, NM, USA - Old Town District)
• newest addition 2014: Albion Manor (Victoria, BC, Canada)

However, I cannot recommend all Bed & Breakfasts...

We recently stayed at a Bed & Breakfast in Capitol Hill in Seattle (Mozart Guest House), that unfortunately did not meet our standards. The house was too small and cluttered and missed the mark of creating the historical feeling. The breakfast lacked creativity and cute arrangements. The host offered either plain eggs or plain french toast, prepared in a very simple way and was unfortunately worse than a continental breakfast at a Super 8 Hotel... However, we still had a nice time in Seattle and just went to our favorite food places to make up for it (see blog post: Seattle's Pike Place Chowder and Lola's Doughnuts).