White Chocolate - Sunchoke Mousse Tartelettes with Blood Orange Panna Cotta and Blood Orange-Beetroot Jelly

Well, it seems that the beetroot-blood orange combination is unstoppable at least here at the "corner". However, after yesterday's soufflé it was not my intention to include sunchoke in this dessert, not at all! However now I am happy, that my original idea did not work out. First I planned to repeat the poppy seed mousse, but this time using white poppy. However, it just did not work out, because the components didn't stay together, so it ended up in the garbage. I thought, it is time to say good bye to this dessert, but then I remembered the sunchoke-white chocolate cake and I decided to use that combination in form of a mousse. The jelly on top turned out just perfect thanks to a blood orange and a half-blood orange that I mixed with the beetroot jelly. You can taste the beet, but it is not dominating, just right there, where it should be. If I would make these tartelettes again, I would use a dark chocolate ganache as the first layer, instead of some molten chocolate.

Ingredients:
for the cocoa pastry (adapted from Johnny Iuzzini)
140 g cold butter
150 g sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 egg white
310 g flour
50 g cocoa powder
4 g baking powder

Cream butter with sugar and salt. Whisk in the egg and the egg white, then add the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Knead a dough, flatten and put it in the fridge for at least 1 hour. I have used about half of it, and that made 4 tartelettes, you can easily freeze the rest of the pastry. Blind bake the tart shells at 180°C in 10 cm diameter tartelette rings for about 10 minutes.


100 g white chocolate
50 g baked sunchoke + 1 tablespoon cream
60 g simple syrup
2 egg yolks
2 sheets gelatine
200 ml cream

Puree baked and peeled sunchoke with cream and stir in the previously soaked gelaint sheets into the still warm puree. Beat egg yolks with simple syrup over steam, so that the bowl is half way in the hot water. Beat until thick and creamy, then remove and keep on beating until it cools. Stir in molten white chocolate, then the sunchoke puree and finally fold in the beaten cream.


100 ml blood orange juice
100 ml cream
100 ml milk
1 vanilla pod
2 tablespoons sugar
2 gelatine sheets


Bring milk, cream with sugar and the vanilla seeds and pod to the boil. As soon as it is boiling remove from the heat, add blood orange jucei and discard the vanilla pod. Stir in the previously soaked gelatine sheets and let it cool to room temperature.

100 ml blood orange juice
50 ml beet juice
1 gelatine sheet

Bring blood orange and beet juice to the boil and stir in the previously soaked gelatine sheet. Let it cool to room temperature.Take the blind baked tartelettes shells and brush with molten chocolate or pour a layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom. Chill until it sets. Then pour a layer of room temperature panna cotta  on it and chill for 1-2 hours. Put 4 desserts rings on top and pour white chocolate-sunchoke mousse into the ring and chill for 2-3 hours. Finally pour a layer of blood orange-beetroot jelly on top and chill until it sets. Sprinkle with poppy seeds before serving.

Beetroot-Sunchoke Soufflé

Actually, this supposed to be yesterday's lunch, but I simply had no time to prepare it, because I started with this year's spring cleaning. Altough there is still a lot to do, I could not resist and had to get back in the kitchen because I have so many ideas that are must be tested before all the gorgeous spring vegetables arrive! I must say, that I still haven't had enough of beets, sunchokes and blood oranges. Still so many possiblites and ideas opn my mind. Really, can't wait to test them all! Though it would also be great to try new combinations, but not yet. I hope you are also not bored of it! As far as the soufflé is concerned, well if you ask me these ingredients harmonise just perfectly together and the blood orange salad with the salty feta cheese and chervil made a great match.

Ingredients:
150 g baked sunchoke (weighed peeled)
50 g baked beetroot (weighed peeled)
20 g butter
20 g flour
125 ml beet juice
3 eggs
salt, pepper
2-3 tablespoons poppy seeds + butter for the forms

Puree sunchoke and beet in a mixer. Melt butter, stir in flour then add beet juice while whisking, cook over low heat until it thickens. Remove from the heat, stir in sunchoke-beet puree, then the egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt, then fold it into the batter. Pour it in buttered and with poppy seed coated ramequins and bake for 6-8 minutes over 200°C.

White Poppy Seed Crusted Zander with Yellow Beetroot Puree, Mace-Orange Scented Yellow Beet, Beetroot Foam , Chioggia Beet Chips, Sea-Buckthorn Gel, Nutmeg Oil and Oyster Mushroom

What a coincidence! Yesterday, I was wondering how would it be possible to get a bigger amount of white poppy seeds. Some years ago I bought a small package in a store, I guess I haven't used it since then. However, my plan is to prepare the poppy seed mousse again, but this time white. Today morning I recieved a package from a Robert, who by the way writes the amazing blog myBites. And guess what was in the package?! Yep, right! Among other exiciting ingredients, like nutmeg oil, a big portion of white poppy seeds. What a surprise!  Meanwhile I do not even know what else I could have cooked, because it was such a perfect harmony on the plate! Each bite was like a melody and they came together to a song. The white poppy is much less intense then the black or the blue. Therefore it was really great together with the fish and beets. My newest discovery that I am absolutely passionate about is sea-buckthorn. Unfortunately, I could get only in form of syrup, but I am more than happy about it. I used some to caramelise the yellow beet slices, that were scented by mace and that way the nutmeg oil has just made perfect sense. Chioggia beet is so sweet and its beautiful pattern is visiable at its best when it is prepared as chips or served raw. The beet foam would have looked a lot more exicting if I would finally give in and use lecithin, but somehow I just do not want to use powders in my kitchen. However, it is really tempting, so I might reconsider it.

Ingredients:
4 zander fillets
4-5 tablespoons white poppy seeds
olive oil for frying
1 teaspoon butter
salt pepper
for the yellow beet puree:
1 shallot
1 teaspoon butter
100 g yellow beet (peeled and diced)
200 ml orange juice
2 cardamom
some cumin seeds
piece of long pepper
5-6 tablespoons rapeseed oil
salt
for the sea-buckthorn gel:
100 ml orange juice
5-6 tablespoons sea-buckthorn syrup
1 1/2 teáskanál zselatina
for the beet foam:
70 ml beet juice
50 ml fish stock
25 ml vermouth
3 tablespoons milk
salt, pepper
and these you need also:
1 Chioggia beet
sunflower oil
1 yellow beet
juice of 1 orange
1 tablespoons sea-buckthorn syrup
mace
1 teaspoon cold water
nutmeg oil
oyster mushroom
thyme
salt, pepper

For the puree sautee chopped shallot in butter, add diced beet, spices and orange juice and cook it over low heat until soft. Once it is cooked remove spices and puree with rapeseed oil, season with salt. For the sea-buckthorn gel warm orange juice with the szirup then stir in the gelatine and chill for a few hours. Pulse in a mixer before serving. For th foam bring fish stock and vermouth to the boil and reduce by half, then add beet juice and season. Add milk before serving and foam with a mixer. Cook sliced yellow beat in orange juice with mace and when there is almost no liquid left add sea-buckthorn and butter and let it caramelise. Season fish with salt and sear in oil, then add butter. Remove from the pan and coat with white poppy seeds. Fry oyster mushroom in butter, season with thyme, salt and pepper.

Spaghetti with Beef & Anchovy Meatballs

A fellow Hungarian foodie, Gabojsza has prepared some anchovy meatballs lately. I liked the idea a lot, and wanted to cook it somewhen as a quick dinner. Here I must confess, that I have never had spaghetti with meatballs before. The reason is simply: I hated tomato sauce, so no meatballs or anything else. Now this has changed already long ago, but I always ended up with a bolognese instead of meatballs. I had some leftover anchovies so the opportunity was just perfect to make it. I have changed the recipe which inspired me and added capers and oregano to the mince. Star anise, clove and coriander seeds make the tomato sauce exciting.

Ingredients:
for the meatballs:
500 g beef mince
50 g breadcrumbs
1 twig fresh oregano or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1 onion
1 teaspoon olive oil
8 anchovy fillets
zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons capers
salt, pepper
for the tomato sauce:
500 g passata
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
2 celery stalks
1 big garlic clove
100 ml white wine
1 star anise
2 cloves
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
handful of black olives
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 twig thyme
1 bay leaf
bunch of fresh basil
salt, pepper

To make the meatballs, first chop onion and sautee in oilve oil, then add oregano. Remove from the heat and transfer into a bowl, add mince, chopped anchovy fillet, capers and lemon zest. Mix it well together and season with a little salt and pepper. Form about walnut size balls and fry them in a really hot pan. For the sauce grate onion, carrot, celery stalk and sautee in olive oil. Then add garlic, spices (use a bag or something so that you can remove it easy when ready), thyme and bay leaf. Pour white wine over it and as soon as it has absorbed add meatballs, passata and black olives. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. Then season with salt, pepper and sherry vinegar. Add basil and let it stand for 5-10 minutes, then remove basil and spices.

Poppy Mousse Cake with Blood Orange Cream, Coffee Ganache on Beetroot Joconde

Huh, that was a long day! I can hardly get my thoughts together, but I did not want to wait until tomorrow to share this tiny treat with you. It reminds me of an old fashioned hat, I can't explain it, but that is what I had to think about all the time, while taking the photos. I was once again so stupid! I had the idea of this poppy mousse already about three years ago, but I did not dare to go for it! Yeah, once more! But today, while checking out my notes, I found it again, and I felt like if not now, then I will probably never try to make it. I was so nervous! Originally, I planned to take my mom's delicious poppy pie and turn it into a parfait, but never done. As time passed by, the parfait turned into mousse and finally it is here. Poppy and lemon are inseparable in my eyes, though orange is also great, but it will never be the same like with lemon. So I decided to add a layer of blood orange and lemon based on the beet tart from earlier. I do not even know how to call it, after all it. It is like a curd, but I am not sure if that's the proper name for it. It is actually like a silky pudding and just perfect with the poppy mousse. The base is a joconde and its colour comes from beet, just like the meringue, but you do not taste it. However, coffee is also there in the background in form of a ganache, but it stays there!

 

Ingredients:
makes 5 8 cm round cakes
50 g ground almond
50 g powder sugar
30 g egg yolks
30 g egg whites
10 g beetroot juice
50 g flour
100 g egg whites
60 g sugar

 

Mix together the almond with powder sugar, add 30 g egg yolk and 30 g egg white and whisk until fluffy. Whisk in the beet juice and keep on whisking for about 5 minutes. Stir in flour, while that beat 100 g egg white with sugar until it forms soft peaks and fold it into the almond mixture. Bake for 5-6 minutes over 230°C.

100 ml blood orange juice
 25 ml lemon juice
120 g sugar
150 ml cream
3 eggs
1/2 egg yolk

Preheat the oven to 120ºC. Put the ingredients of the filling into a heatproof bowl, mix it together and leave it over a bain marie until it reaches 60ºC. Now pour it over a sieve, remove any bubbles and pour it into silicon form. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it has reached 70ºC in a water bath. Let it cool and chill, and before assembling the cakes freeze it for 30 minutes.

100 g poppy seed
100 ml milk
3 tablespoon vanilla sugar
zest of a lemon
4 egg yolks
120 ml simple syrup
150 ml cream
4 sheets gelatine


Ground poppy seed, add vanilla sugar and cook it in the milk over low heat until it has absorbed. Stir in freshly grated lemon zest. Stir in the previously soaked gelatine and set aside. Beat egg yolks over steam with the simply syrup until fluffly and thick, then remove it from the heat and keep on beating until cool. Fold it into the poppy mixture, then fold in beaten cream.

50 g egg whites
50 g sugar
50 g powder sugar
10 g beet juice


Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt, then add sugar gradually and beat it into stiff peaks. Fold in powder sugar and beat juice. Pipe it onto a baking sheet and dry over 100°C for  30-45 minutes.

 

Coffee Flavoured Yeast Dough - Cinnamon Waffles

Today I managed to have breakfast twice, but I do not mind it at all! I wasn't fully awake when I discovered these wafers and I did not give much attention to it. But then, when I checked back again I was totally thrilled about them, and I felt like I must have them, NOW! After all cinnamon buns are one of my favourites, though we call them snails in Hungary. But this here is a lot more exciting! These are baked in a waffle iron, just a gorgeous idea! I have only changed a few things like I added coffee extract to the yeast dough and as I had no pearl sugar I doubled the amount of the butter and used cane sugar instead. The smell was just gorgous while the wafers were baking!

Ingredients:
(based on a recipe by paules ki(t)chen)
350 g strong flour
160 g milk
20 g fresh yeast
50 g butter
30 g cane sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon coffee extract
1 teaspoon salt
for the filling:
100 g butter
70 g cane sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Warm milk over low heat, then remove 3 tablespoons and crumble yeast into the lukewarm milk then set aside. Add sugar and butter to the rest of the milk and warm it until it has molten, then stir in coffee extract. Sift flour into a bowl, add four, the warm sugar-butter- milk, the yeast milk and knead a dough. Let it rise over room temperature for an hour. For the filling cream together soft butter with sugar and cinnamon. Roll out dough and smear filling on to, then roll it up and cut in slices. Bake them in the hot waffle iron.

Roasted Beet Salad with Blood Orange & Raspberry

Lately I have posted a couple of salads, that's mainly beacause I am on diet, well, not on a stirct one, but once in a while I like to serve something light. But do not worry, I will not stop baking, in fact I have already planned two desserts for this week, I only hope to have the time to make them. But now back to the salad! The possibilities seems to be endless as far as beetroot and blood orange in combination is concerned. Be sure that I am going to bring them back here over and over again. Once I have heared that beet and raspberry is great together, but haven't tried them until today. The reason is simply, usually I cook beets during winter, and when raspberries are in season I never think of them. I gotta change that! Anyway, I did not want to wait any longer, so I bought a bag of frozen berries. The vinaigrette is made of blood orange juice, raspberry vinegar and rosemary. The salad was served with sheep'S milk cheese, fresh horseradish and roasted pine nuts.

Ingredients:
per person:
2 small beetroots and 1 blood orange
20-30 g raspberry
1 teaspoon roasted pine nuts
40-50 g sheep's milk cheese
1 piece of fresh horseradish
for the vinaigrette:
juice of 1 blood orange
3 tablespoons rapeseed oil
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
1 twig rosemary
1-2 teaspoons rose water
salt, pepper

Roast beetroot in foil together with anise, black cumin or cumin, as you desire. Fry slices of sheep's milk cheese in a hot pan until golden brown, then turn it over and remove it from the pan after 30 seconds and put it on a slice of bread. For the vinaigrette mix together all the ingredients, add chopped rosemary, then season with salt and pepper. Mix together diced beet and blood oranges fillets and season with the vinaigrette. Sprinkle raspberries, roasted pine nuts and freshly grated horseradish on top and serve.

Prawn Ravoli with Parsley-Salsify Puree and Blood Orange

While we are all eagerly waiting for spring with its fresh vegetables, we should care about what winter has to offer. The asparagus of winter is the black salsify and this beautiful vegetable is full of possibilites. For example it goes perfectly well with vanilla and oranges and this paired with fish and seafood. Did you actaully know that serpent root, another name for salsify, is also tasty raw in a salad? I have also included it raw in this dish together with blood orange fillets and seasoned with rapeseed oil, lemon juice and a touch of vanilla. Some chunks of candied blood oranges support the sweetness of the prawns. In case you want to emphasize the orange flavour, then cook salsify in some orange juice and add some zest to the puree. Feel free to use vermouth for the sabayon, but today it felt like, it has to be sherry.

Ingredients:
for the ravioli: 
200 g flour
2 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
300 g raw prawns
1/4 teaspoon butter
1 clove garlic
1 small shallot
1/4 teaspoon fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1-2 tablespoons cream
for the salsify puree:
200 g salsify
1/2 bunch of parsley
1 shallot
2 tablespoons butter
50-60 ml cream
1 lemon
nutmeg
salt, pepper
for the blood orange sabayon:
100 ml fish stock
50 ml sherry
50 ml blood orange juice
1 shallot
2-3 coriander seeds
1 egg yolk

First prepare the pasta dough: sift flour and make a mold in the middle and add whisked eggs. With the help of a fork mix it together, when the dough is getting viscous knead it with  your hands, and while that add olive oil, two pinches of salt and knead a dough until it is smooth. Chill for about 30 minutes. For the sautee chopped onion and garlic. Dice prawn and puree together with the rest of the ingredients. With a help of a pasta machine roll out pasta dough as thin as possible and place a teaspoon of the filling on it and form a ravioli with a help of a cookie cutter. Bring salty water to simmer and simmer ravioli for a 2-3 minutes and toss in melted butter. For the puree sautee chopped shallot in butter, then add just enough water so that it is covered together with a tablespoon of milk. Cook salsify until soft, then sieve and puree with just enough cream and butter that you have a smooth puree. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and a little lemon juice. For the sabayon sautee chopped shallot in a teaspoon of butter, add fish stock, coriander, sherry and reduce for 2 minutes. Sieve, add blood orange juice and whisk it together with the egg yolk. Beat sabayon over bain marie until foamy, season with salt and pepper.

White Chocolate - Beetroot Cake with Peppery Blood Orange Buttercream

Huh, if you'd ask if this cake was a spontaneous idea, well then, I would say yes. However, the idea was waiting for about 2 years to be finally baked! Why? Hmm, can't tell you, I just did not find the right opportunity to make it. Okay, no special occassion today, no nothing, I just felt like, I gotta do it, now or never. Nope, it is not that serious, but I guess you got me, don't ya? Besides I bought about 10 kilos of blood oranges, yeah that's crazy, but it was a must, because they disappear for weeks and I can't be without. I am crazy for blood oranges. And as they are great with beets, well it was clear that they must be included in the cake. Maybe it is a bit daring to pare it with black pepper, but go for it! Just be careful, because you have only made it, if it tickles your throat. Otherwise you missed the point! Serve it among a slice of candied blood orange or any other citrus, like mini mandarins.

Ingredients:
for the cake:
100 g white chocolate
100 g butter
50 g beetroot
juice of 2 mandarins
125 ml beetjuice
85 g sugar
1 egg
125 g flour
10 g baking powder
70 g coarsly chopped macadamia nuts

Peel and dice beetroot and cook in mandarin juice over low heat, then puree together with the beet juice. Meanwhile melt chocolate and butter over steam. Pour molten ingeredients into a bowl and add pureed beetroot-beet juice mixture. Beat egg with sugar until pale and stir it into the beet batter. Sift flour and baking powder, then fold it into the batter together with the nuts. Butter and flour a 16-18 cm baking form and bake cake for 45-55 minutes over 170°C.

for the buttercream:
2 eggs
200 g icing sugar
100 ml blood orange juice
2 gelatine sheets
200 g butter
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1-2 tablespoons orange liqueur

Beat eggs with sugar until pale, add blood orange juice and beat it over steam until it thickens. Then stir in the previously soaked gelatine and let it cool. Then whisk in room temperature butter and season with black pepper and orange liqueur.

for the candied mini mandarins:
10-15 mini mandarins or other citrus
500 g sugar

Cook fruits for 2-3 minutes in boiling water, then chill in ice cold water. Bring 500 ml of water to the boil with the sugar. When it reached the boiling point reduce the heat and cook fruits for 30-45 minutes in 90°C hot sugar syrup.

Yellow Beet Salad with Tarragon, Feta Cheese and Red Walnuts

Beet and goat cheese are unbeatable together, one of the best proof of that is my gnocchi, that I have already prepared salty and sweet as well. In the mentioned sweet version included blood oranges in the dish, but this time I have picked apple for the fruit component of the dish. Tarragon goes perfectly well with apple and beet, so I only needed something crunchy. I decided to add walnuts, also because I used walnut oil in the dressing.  Both baked and raw beets are included in the salad and the feta cheese brings that missing saltiness. Look for the real thing made of sheep's and/or goat's milk!

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow beet per person + 1 chioggia, if available
1 apple per person
2 tablespoons honey
1 lemon
4 tablespoons walnut oil
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1-2 pinches of ground anise
100 g feta cheese
1 bunch of tarragon
handful of walnuts
salt, pepper

Bake yellow beets in the oven for about 20 minutes, then slice them. Slice apples as well and put them into lemon water in order to prevent it from getting brown. Melt honey over low heat, then add sliced baked beet and caramelise, then season with ground anise, salt and pepper. Slice raw beet with a help of a mandoline. For the dressing mix together walnut oil and balsamic vinegar, then stir in the honey glazed beets, season with a little salt. Mix the drained apples to the rest and serve it with fresh tarragon, feta cheese and walnut.

Potato-Buckwheat Buns

After the success of the dried tomato bread from last week, I felt like experimenting with something new. As I still remember the taste of those spicy buckwheat buns from the holiday season, I thought why shouldn't I bake some buns! So I grabbed the bag of buckwheat flour and started to think about the rest. I decided to use the leftover boiled potatoes from yesterday, so I grated those quickly. I managed to get together the rest of the ingredients and I was inpatiently waiting for the dough to rise. I must say that these buns turned out great and were perfect with butter, 15 months old cheddar and homemade mandarin jam.

Ingredients:
130 g all purpose flour
170 g buckwheat flour
200 g boiled potatoes (peeled)
25 g fresh yeast
180 ml kefir or yoghurt
1 pinch of sugar
5 g salt
milk for brushing
polenta

Cook potatoes the day before and press it through a potato ricer or grate finely. Sieve flour and make a mold into the middle. Crumble fresh yeast into the mold, sprinkle sugar over it. Add salt, grated potato, kefir and knead a dough. Let it rest for an hour or until it has doubled its size. The dough will be pretty soft so flour a surface rather well and form a roll. Cut roll in equal pieces and put them into paper baking forms. Brush top of the buns with milk and sprinkle polenta on top. Pour water into the preheated oven and bake buns for 25-30 minutes over 200°C.

Mustard-Rutabaga Soup with Tarragon Flavoured Rainbow Trout Balls

I have almost completly forgotten about that lonely rutabaga in the fridge. If you haven't had them yet, then I would suggest to go for a puree with fish. In our family it was one of the winner dishes during the holiday season. Anyway, this soup was inspired by an old favourite combination: fish with tarragon and mustard. As far as the mustard is concerned use anything you desire, may it be English or French, with or without seeds. It's really up to you. I must confess that the soup is rather a mustard soup than a rutabaga. The reason is simple: I am a huge mustard fan.

Ingredients:
for the rutabaga soup:
500 g rutabaga
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1-2 allspice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
750 ml vegetable stock
salt, pepper

Sautee chopped onion in a tablespoon butter, after a few minutes add sliced garlic and diced rutabaga and sautee for 5 minutes together with the allspice. Add vegetable stock and cook for 15-20 minutes. Puree and press it through a strainder (there will remain quite a lot of puree in the strainer, but this can be served the other day as a side dish). Season soup with salt, pepper and mustard.

for the rainbow trout balls: 
150 g rainbow trout
1 egg
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard seeds
1-2 tablespoons fresh tarragon
salt, pepper

Chill trout until ice cold, then puree together with an egg, mustard powder, crème fraîche and tarragon. Form balls with a help of two spoons and cook in simmering water in 2-3 minutes. Serve soup with trout balls, peanut oil and coarsly chooped peanuts.

Prawns with purple carrot puree, carrot paper with black cumin, curry sauce, mango with chilli, coriander oil, fresh coconut milk and chips

During my weekly shopping tour I was totally distracted and I just bought products without having a single idea what I am going to cook. Somehow my subconsciousness was awake, because I still managed to cook something really so to say, round.Though this dish is simply too little on its own, therefore I would rather imagine it in a five or so course menu. I spent quite a long time wondering about the elements of the dish, but then, as so often, I just started and luckily everything worked out pretty well. Coconut and carrot are great together and they very screaming for prawns. Then I grabbed a thai mango, the only type I like, I know it is neither local, nor in season (?) but once in a while I can't say no. So all these ingredients called for a curry sauce. As I also had a fresh coconut, I prepared some milk and chips and some ginger flavoured coconut foam. The carrot is on the plate in two different ways: once a puree made of purple carrots with coconut oil. The other is a so called carrot paper with black cumin. And the kick comes from the mango with chilli and some freshly made coriander oil.

Ingredients:
for the carrot paper:
(based on a recipe by Nils Henkel)
100 g carrot
1 lemongrass
1 piece of ginger
30-50 ml peanut oil
1 sheet gelatine
1/4 teaspoon black cumin



Bake peeled and diced carrot together with the lemongrass, ginger and half of the oil in foil in the preheated oven on 200°C until soft. Puree carrot without ginger and lemon grass, in case it is not smooth enough add the rest of the oil. Mash puree through a strainer and stir in over low heat the previously soaked gelatine. Smear puree onto a baking paper and dry in the over over 70°C.


for the puree and coriander oil :
100 g purple or other carrot
30-50 ml coconut oil
50 ml vegetable stock
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 sliced ginger
50 ml olive oil
1 bunch fresh coriander
salt, pepper

Caramelise diced carrot in sugar, pour stock over it and cook it over medium heat together with the cumin and ginger until soft, then remove the spices and puree. Season with salt, pepper and add some coconut oil to make it more creamy. Heat olive oil to 120°C, add coriander leaves, remove it from the heat and let it stand covered until it is cool. Puree and sieve.

for the curry sauce:
150 g prawn peels
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon curry spice mixture
1/2 teaspoon curcuma
3 garlic cloves
1 piece fresh ginger
1 chili
1 onion
10 curry leaves
150 ml fish stock
200 g coconut milk

Heat olive oil, add prawn peels and when it turned red add chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chilli, curry leaves, spices and curcuma. Mix everything together and pour stock over it, reduce by half, sieve. Add coconut milk and reduce by 1/4. Season with salt and pepper.

Minestrone and Oregano-Dried Tomato Bread

Today, I was in some kind of rustic mood, if I may say that, so the timing couldn't have been better to cook a big pot of minestrone. The other reason for the soup is that I have collected a couple of parmesan rind, that actually is the heart of every minestrone. Without it is just not the same, and nothing can replace that savoury cheese. Minetrone is a soup that you can enjoy in every season, but to me winter is the best time of the year for a bowl of heart warming soup. This season I always add dried beans and curly kale or savoy cabbage to the vegetable mixture. Just feel free to use any vegetable you have at home and are in season. I think dried beans are essential, but if it should be rice or pasta, is really up to you. Freshly baked bread is just perfect with it, however those who follow my blog know, that I am not very good in bread baking. However today it must be my lucky day, because I managed to bake a soft bread with a crispy crust. Finally, I made it!

Ingredients:
for the soup:
50-70 g dried beans
1000-1500 ml vegetable or chicken stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion
3-4 carrots
1 piece of celeriac
2 parsley root
1 leek
1 garlic clove
2-3 potatoes
1 can plum tomatoes
5-6 leaves curly kale
1 piece of parmesan rind
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
40-50 g pasta
salt, pepper

Drain dried beans the evening before and cook it the next day until soft. Peel and dice the vegetables and sautee in olive oil for a few minutes. Add about a 1/4 teaspoon salt and dried oregano, the parmesan rind and the garlic clove. Pour stock over it, add canned tomatoes and cook over low heat for 40-50 minutes. Then stir in cooked beans and pasta and cook until the pasta is done. Season with salt and pepper.

for the bread:
250 g strong flour
7 g salt
25 ml olive oil
10 g yeast
230 ml water
30 g sun dried tomatoes
2 twigs fresh oregano
1 teaspoon durum wheat

Sift flour into a bowl, sprinkle salt somewhere on the side and make a mold in the middle of the flour. Crumble yeast into the mold and pour lukewarm water over it and start to work the ingredients together. Then add olive oil and knead a smooth dough. Let it rise for an hour. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cut dried tomatoes in small cubes and mix it with the fresh oregano leaves and knead it into the dough. Form a long bread, brush with water and sprinkle the top with durum wheat. Pour about 250 ml water into the hot oven and bake the bread for about 30 minutes.