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Mandelhörnchen (Almond-Marzipan cookies)

My family and I just love these cookies. If there are no complications (such as a broken decorating pipe or the cookies sticking to the wax paper), they are actually pretty simple and fast done. This is another recipe from my friend Thomas. I am not aware that he cooks much, but my family and I are very grateful for the tiramisu and these cookies. These are now definitely favorites for us :) 

Ingredients:

• 200g (7oz) marzipan
• 100mg (6.5 tablespoons) sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 50mg (3.3 tablespoons) flour
• 50mg almond shavings
• 100g chocolate for glazing (dark or semi-sweet)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 380 degree Fahrenheit.

1. Break the marzipan in little pieces into a tall thin bowl. Add the sugar. Mix everything with an electrical mixer (using the whisks and not the dough hooks as they would not work).
2. Add the egg whites and continue mixing. Bit by bit, add the flour and keep mixing. The dough should not be too liquid. 
3. Use a decorating pipe (or use a ziploc bag and cut one corner of) to squeeze little cookies in a half circular shape (see picture) onto the baking pan. The recipe suggests to use baking paper, but I have had bad experience with that. I only grease the baking pan and that seems to work fine. Add the almond shavings on top of the cookies.
4. Bake them for about 10 min, but keep an eye on them. They only need to dry and they also darken a little bit more after you take them out. 
5. Remove them from the baking pan. Melt the chocolate, either in the microwave or in a warm water bath. Therefore you can just heat up a pot with water, take it from the oven and put the chocolate cup in there and let it melt. Make sure that the water is not boiling, it only needs to be warm, and make sure that no water gets into the chocolate. Dip each end of the cookie into the chocolate and set aside on a plate to cool down.

Almond and Marzipan - The stars of this cookie

Cookie Dough

Ready to bake

Out of the oven

Chocolate Glazing

Let the chocolate dry

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Fish Curry with Coconut and Lime

Finally, after literally years, it was time for a reunion with my great friends Lisa and Simon. And how better to celebrate this, then over a pot of steaming curry, and with an obligatory glass of red wine and a German Reality TV Show (e.g. Germany's Next Top Model, The Bachelor, etc.).

Cooking a pot of curry has already some kind of tradition status for us, having mastered some very delicious curries in Germany, the US, and now in Switzerland (for the obligatory picture of the brewing witches over their cauldron see below).

This time's curry was even more special. It wasn't just any kind of curry, cooked and celebrated by long missed friends, it was also inspired by our addiction to Gordon Ramsay. Who doesn't love Hell's Kitchen or Masterchef with Scottish chef Ramsay? We made some minor changes to Gordon Ramsay's recipe that seemed quite reasonable at the time (e.g. added the lime and coconut milk to the curry instead of the rice, doubled the amount of coconut milk, and used store bought red curry taste) :)

Ingredients:

And a very special appearance made
sweet little Matilda who didn't want
to be left out :)

• 600g fish (mix of Salmon and Cod or other white fish, cut in 1 inch cubes)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion (diced, big pieces)
• 2 leeks (sliced in 0.5 inch rings)
• 2 garlic gloves (minced)
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 1/4 of a pumpkin (cut in 1inch cubes)
• 1-2 carrots (cut into 1 inch)
• 1/2 head broccoli (cut into little 1 inch heads)
• 1 bag fresh green beans
• 2 1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1000 ml coconut milk
• 800 ml water
• 2 Thai Basil leaves
• 3-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves (chopped)
• 3-4 spring onions (sliced)
• juice of 1 lime
• salt, pepper
• Rice

• Highly encouraged: 1 or 2 glasses of Red Wine

Preparation

Note: The original recipe suggests to put the fish in a bowl, add salt, pepper and a spoon of coconut milk, cover and let chill till ready to cook. 

Heat the oil in a big pot, add the diced onions and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the leeks and cook for another 2 minutes. Now, add the minced garlic and the curry paste. Stir and fry for a couple of minutes. Make sure that the garlic does not burn as it gets bitter then. 

Now, add the hardest vegetables first (pumpkin, carrot, broccoli), add salt and pepper, stir and let fry for about 5 minutes. Add the fish sauce, the coconut milk and the water so that everything is covered. Add the Thai basil leave. Bring to a boil and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the green beans and cook another 5 minutes till almost soft. Shortly before all the vegetables are cooked through, add the fish, the cilantro and spring onions. Season to taste with the lime juice, salt and pepper.

Serve with rice and a glass of red wine.

Note: While we added lime and additional coconut milk to the curry, the original recipe suggests to make a lime-coconut rice. Bring 300g Thai rice, 200ml coconut milk, 200ml water, juice of 1 lime, salt, pepper and 2 kaffir lime leaves to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10min. Remove from heat and let steam another 5 minutes covered.

Black-Forest Tiramisu

This is my Dad's favorite dessert and it is no ordinary Tiramisu. It is a pretty simple recipe, without using raw eggs but rather some juicy cherries. I got this recipe from my friend Thomas from highschool times. He ones made it for our group of friends and we just fell in love with it. The use of cherries seems a little strange in a Tiramisu, but considering that we are from the Black Forest area, it seems suitable :)

Most of the following ingredients are very Germany specific, but you can use American substitutes.

Ingredients

• 1 package (200mg) Löffelbisuits (lady fingers)
• 1-2 cups of coffee
• 3 oz (shot glasses) of liquor, lemon or rum
• 75 mg (3 tablespoons) sugar
• 1 package (8g/ 0.28oz) vanillin sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 500 ml heavy cream
• 2 packages (each 8g/ 0.28oz) "Sahnesteif"(whipping cream stabilizer)
• 250 mg mascarpone cheese
• 1 glass (720ml/ 25oz - including heavy syrup) dark pitted sour cherries
• chocolate flakes for decoration

Preparation

1. Prepare the coffee. Place the lady fingers on a plate. Drizzle the lady fingers with coffee and with either some liquoer, lemon juice or rum, whatever is available. Let the lady fingers soak for a few minutes, then turn them around and drizzle the other side. The lady fingers need to be soft and bendable in the end.
2. Mix the sugar, vanilla sugar and cinammon. If you don't have the German "vanillin sugar" (which is a mix of sugar and vanille), use one more tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
3. In another container, I recommend a thin tall one so that the cream doesn't splatter too much, whip the cream for 1 minute, add the "Sahnesteif" (stabilizer that keeps the whipped cream stiff), and finnish whipping until the cream stays in the container when you turn it upside down. Be careful not to overwhip it. In the end, add the sugar mix and give it one last quick stir to mix it up.
4. Whip the mascarpone in a separate bowl. Then, fold in the cream mix.
5. Now start layering the tiramisu. Start with half of the lady fingers, cover the entire bottom of a suitable bowl. Then add half of the cream mix. Drain the cherries and add a layer on top of the cream. Keep a few cherries for garnishment. Add the rest of the lady fingers on top of the cherries and finish with the rest of the cream. Decorate the top with a few cherries, chocolate flakes and/or cinnamon powder.

Tzatziki

Ingredients

• 8 oz plain yogurt (unsweetened)
• 1/2 cucumber - peeled and diced
• 2 garlic gloves - minced
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh dill
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 lemon - juiced
• salt to taste

Preparation

Start with whisking the yogurt. Then add the diced cucumber (some people like to remove the seeds beforehand, I personally like it with seeds), minced garlic and chopped dill. Mix everything. Add olive oil, lemon juice and salt to taste and mix good. 

Serve with pita bread, veggie sticks or use it as a spread for a slice of bread.

Tabouleh Salad

This is a recipe inspired by my good old friend Lisa who also loves food, cooking and exotic spices. Best dishes that we made together will always be our steaming Curry's, we have pictures where we look like brewing witches over their cauldron :)

This recipe however, we made about 5 years ago together with her friends while watching "Germany's next Topmodel". Here I learned that you eat Tabouleh salad originally on a leaf of lettuce. How exciting :)

Ingredients

• 2 cups bulgur (medium grain)
• 2 cups of chicken or vegetable bouillon
• 1 bunch fresh parsley - finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon freshly chopped mint
• 4 green onions - sliced
• 1 pint cocktail tomatoes - cubed (or quartered)
• 1 cucumber - peeled and cubed
• 1/4 of a red bell pepper - cubed
• juice of 1-2 lemons
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

• Serve with: lettuce, pita bread and tzatziki

Preparation

First, prepare the bulgur. Bring chicken or vegetable stock to a boil, then add the bulgur, cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand and soak for 30 minutes. Then use a fork to fluff up the bulgur. I am using chicken or vegetable stock, because it gives the bulgur already some flavor. You can also already prepare the dressing and let it soak in the cold dressing for 1-2 hours. Bulgur is actually already par boiled, this means it was already boiled before it was dried. Therefore, you can let it soak in cold dressing or even cold water. However, I do like it very soft, therefore I let it soak in boiling hot bouillon.
Next, prepare the vegetables and herbs. Finely chop the parsley and the mint leaves. Best to use flat-leave parsley. You can also use the curly parsley as I did, you will notice the pieces a little bit stronger in the salad. Slice the green onion and dice the tomatoes, cucumber and bell pepper. Add everything to the bulgur and mix.
Last, prepare the dressing. In a separate bowl, mix the juice of the lemon, the olive oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper. Pour over the bulgur mix and stir. Let soak for a little bit. Best to keep a little extra dressing to add directly when serving.

Serve the tabouleh salad on lettuce. It also tastes good with a side of tzatziki and pita bread.

My Mom's "Bohnensuppe" (Navy Bean Soup)

This is my Mom's delicious navy bean recipe. A hearty soup with German wiener sausages and served with crusty bread to dunk into it. The difference between the German and American wiener sausage is, that the German version uses pork instead of beef, turkey or chicken. You can of course substitute with American sausage.

For this soup, my Mom uses a big can of navy beans that already comes a little bit spiced with soup greens (tiny bits of carrots, celery and parsley). However, if you cannot find such a can, you can also use plain navy beans, add some more spices and maybe a few tablespoons of finely chopped carrots, celery and parsley.

Ingredients

• 1 big can "Weisse Bohnen mit Suppengrün" 

(alternatively: 2 small cans of navy beans,  2 tablespoons of finely chopped carrots, 2 tablespoons finely chopped celery, 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley, 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Bouillon spices such as Knorr or Maggie)

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1 small onion - diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2-3 potatoes - diced in 1-2 inch cubes
• 2 cups water
• 2-3 German wiener sausages (pork) - sliced
• 3 tablespoon flour (mixed with 3-4 tablespoon water)
• salt and pepper
• vegeta 

• Serve with crusty bread

Preparation

Note: The big can with "Weisse Bohnen mit Suppengrün" basically just contains navy beans with some soup flavor (small pieces of carrots, celery and parsley, salted). If you do not find such a can, just use normal navy beans. Sometimes the navy beans come already slightly salted. Most of them come with some bacon in it, but I don't really like that. If you just use plain navy beans, you may want to add about 2 Tablespoon of finely chopped carrots and celery and a dash of freshly chopped parsley. 

1. Heat the oil and butter, add the onions and sauté till translucent (about 5-10 min).
2. Add the tomato paste, stir and let cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, some salt. Stir and let cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the water and the navy beans (with the water in the can). If you use plain navy beans, also add the finely chopped carrots, celery and parsley and add 1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon spice. Stir and let cook for about 15 minutes, till the potatoes are soft.
5. Add the slices of wiener sausage.
6. Thicken the soup: in an extra bowl, mix the flour with some water so that it is free of clumps. Pour a little bit of the mix into the boiling soup and stir. Let cook a little bit. If not thick enough, add more. Be careful, it will thicken up even more after you take it off the heat.
7. Add salt, pepper and vegeta to taste and serve with some crusty bread.

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