Pumpkin soup

Hmpf. Yes. It has been a while. More than a little while. But well, I am back now. With renewed good intentions and the firm resolution to revive this blog adventure. I think I got discouraged by the dwindling visiting numbers. And then I just stopped visiting altogether myself. Maybe some creative pause is healthy... Let's see!

But in the spirit of the season, here comes a very autumnal dish: fresh pumpkin soup!

Ingredients (for about 4 plates) :
2 tbsp. butter
2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
500g fresh pumpkin
200 ml fresh cream
500 ml water
1 tsp. salt
Pepper
Some leaves of sage

Preparation:
Chop the shallots and press the garlic. Heat both in 1 tbsp. of butter in a pan. Cut the pumpkin into cubes and add it to the onions and garlic, fry for about 5 minutes. Add the water, season with salt and pepper and then let the mix simmer at reduced heat (and with the lid on) for 20 minutes. When the pumpkin is soft, purée it and add 100 ml of cream. Keep the soup warm.
In a frying pan, heat the second tbsp. of butter and add the sage leaves. Fry them until crunchy. In the meantime, whip the cream until it's stiff.
Serve the soup with the whipped cream and sage leaves!

Note: if you want the soup to be more hearty, add 2-3 carrots and 2-3 potatoes.

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Goat's cheese pancakes with mango salad

I don’t have much to say to “explain” this recipe – other than to say that the pancakes are very yummy (with a nice twist because of the goat's cheese)

and the fruit salad makes this dish very refreshing and healthy. If you don’t like mangoes, you can substitute it for peaches and/or nectarines and strawberries.

Ingredients (for 4 pancakes):

100 g goat’s (or sheep’s) cheese

1 lemon

1 ripe mango

A handful of fresh mint leaves

1 small egg

70 g flour

1 tsp. baking powder

125 ml milk

20 g butter

Liquid honey

Salt

Preparation:

Mix the egg, flour, baking powder and milk in a bowl and whisk until the dough is smooth. Add a pinch of salt and the goat’s cheese (in little crumbs) to the dough. Grate the lemon’s skin and add to the mix, then stir well. Cut the mango into pieces and drizzle some lemon juice over the fruit. Cut the mint into small stripes and add to the mango salad. Bake the pancakes in butter for about 2-3 minutes (until golden brown) and serve with the mango salad. 

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Summer rolls

It seems I have a blog-writing block. This could be related to the fact that I am currently in Italy, enjoying my holidays and not spending loads of time indoors. But let’s overcome this lethargy and be a more active member of the blogging community. And let’s do it with an Asian recipe – that always helps ;-).

So today, I propose a recipe for summer rolls, i.e. non-fried spring rolls.

Ingredients:

Spring rolls sheets (available in bigger supermarkets either frozen or dry)

50 g glass noodles

60 g bean sprouts

½ cucumber

1 carrot

1 spring onion

Cooked shrimp (as many as you have spring roll sheets)

Surimi sticks (1 per sheet as well)

Fresh coriander and mint leaves and chives

2 tbsp. dark soy sauce

Preparation:

Soak the spring roll sheet, one by one, in warm water, until soft. Similarly, “cook” the glass noodles by soaking them in hot water. Cut the cucumber and carrot into long stripes (not too thick) and prepare the filling for the rolls.

Place one spring roll sheet at a time on a damp kitchen paper towel and place the filling of the roll onto it (the mint and coriander leaves first so that they shine through the pastry). Fold in the sides of the roll (so that it looks like a Döner Kebap or an envelope) and roll the sheet.

For the sauces, you can either just use plain soy sauce or sweet chilli sauce or you follow the recipes posted when writing about the dumplings.  

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Raspberry cupcakes

Recently, I was invited to a birthday party and tasted some of the most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever had! I’m normally a) not a big fan of desserts (except if they’re Asian of course ;-) ) and b) don’t like cupcakes that much because they’re just so heavy. But somehow, the version prepared that evening was very convincing and so I am sharing the recipe (which I adapted ever so slightly) with you. I hope I can convince some of you cupcake-doubters too and for those of you who are cupcake-lovers anyway, I hope this one is an addition to your favourites!

Ingredients (for a batch of about 20 big cupcakes or 25-30 smaller ones):

For the dough:

200 g sugar

125 g butter

2 eggs

1 vanilla pod

150 ml sour cream

180 g flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 basket of raspberries

For the topping:

200 g Philadelphia cream cheese

125 g butter

500 g icing sugar

1 vanilla pod

Preparation:

Mix the (melted) butter, sugar and eggs in a bowl. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scratch out the seeds with a knife; add to the paste. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt and sieve into the butter mix. Add the sour cream in between portions of flour. Put 2-3 raspberries in each cupcake form and add the mix with a spoon. Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes. In the meantime, mix the butter (at room temperature), Philadelphia and the vanilla seeds (scratched out of the pod) in another bowl. Sieve in the icing sugar and stir until it is creamy. Add a handful of raspberries and mix well.

Once the cupcakes are done and cooled, decorate with the topping. 

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Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef soup)

Uh, after posting the link to my blog on Facebook, the number of viewers increased drastically – obviously you would say. It was still a very positive surprise and motivates me to continue… In the hope that the number of you checking out the recipes will stay high!

Today’s recipe is Pho Bo, a Vietnamese beef soup. I discovered it in London since you know that I have never actually been to Asia… But maybe this fall, I’ll finally manage. Inshallah ;-). Until then, I just ignorantly continue to cook from (probably Europeanised) recipes. Still, they're really tasty... so I hope you like the outcome as much as I do!

 

Ingredients (for 4 to 5 portions):

1 ½ L beef stock

1 tbsp. fish sauce

2 onions

3 cm of ginger

2 stars anise

2 cloves (yes, just 2)

1 cinnamon stick

200g fresh, thick rice noodles (or dried, but cook them first)

200g beef filet

100g fresh bean sprouts

2 spring onions (with the green)

1 lime

2 tbsp. fresh coriander leaves

If you like and have: Thai basil leaves

Preparation:

Firstly, prepare the beef (same procedure as for the Bibimbap): rinse the beef under cold water, then pat it dry with a paper towel and wrap it in cling film. Freeze the meat for about 30 minutes (until it is firm to the touch, but not frozen solid). When ready, remove the beef from the freezer and unwrap the cling film. With a sharp knife, cut the beef into thin slices.

At the same time, simmer the stock with the fish sauce, the onions (cut into quarters), ginger (cut into slices), anise, cloves and cinnamon for 30 minutes. Strain the stock and bring it to the boil. Put the rice noodles (they have to be soft) and the beef (raw!) into soup bowls. Pour the stock over the noodles and beef. Put the bean sprouts, spring onions, lime (cut into slices) and coriander leaves on a plate and serve with the soup. 

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Olive and tomato tapenade

My grandmother makes this really good olive and tomato tapenades - and for these warm summer evenings, crunchy bread with some delicious olive or tomato spread is just all you need!

Ingredients for the olive tapenade:

200g black olives (or if you prefer, green olives), without stones

2-3 cloves of garlic

50-100g capers (depending on how much you like capers

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Optionally, lemon juice and anchovies

Ingredients for the tomato tapenade:

1 glass of dried tomatoes in oil (do not use the oil)

5 black olives (without stone)

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Optionally, garlic and the skin of 1 lemon

Preparation:

Purée all the ingredients, add 6 tbsp. of olive oil and season with salt and pepper according to need and taste.

Serve with fresh bread or crackers. 

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Banana times two

It was festival time in Bern so please excuse the delay in posting new recipes!

I have realised that it has been a while since I have posted any dessert recipe. In order to make up for the long silence and the absence of any sweets, here come two recipes (Asian of course) with banana – both equally healthy... ;-) Enjoy!

 

Fried bananas

Ingredients (6 baby bananas):

50g flour

5 tbsp. coconut flakes

3 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. corn starch (Maizena for example)

2 tbsp. sesame seeds

¼ tsp. baking powder

2 pinches of salt

100 ml water

6 baby bananas (or 3 normal ones)

Oil (for frying)

Preparation:

Mix the flour, sugar, corn starch, sesame

seeds, coconut flakes, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the water and mix well. Cover the bowl and let the mix rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Cut the baby bananas in half (in the length; if using normal bananas, cut them in half in width as well). Add about 3 cm oil into a frying pan and heat. Turn the bananas in the marinade and bake (i.e. fry) until golden (about 2 minutes per side). Put the bananas on paper towel to dry, but serve warm.

Milky bananas

 

Ingredients (8 baby bananas):

8 ripe baby bananas

150g sugar

200 ml coconut milk

1½ tsp. salt

1 L + 100ml water

Preparation:

In a glass bowl, mix the water with 1 tsp. of salt. Peal the bananas and put them in the water for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, heat 100ml of water in a saucepan. Add the sugar and simmer (at lower heat) for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved in the water. Take the bananas out of the salty water and put them in the sugary one. Cook the bananas at low heat for 15 minutes, turning them carefully (once is enough). The baby bananas will turn yellow (other bananas turn light brown). Mix the coconut milk with ½ tsp. salt in another saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring continuously. To serve, place the bananas into little bowls (with the sugared water) and add the warm coconut milk. 

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