Salad of oak leaf lettuce, sautéd pear and mushrooms and buffalo mozzarela

I got the idea for this salad from fellow blogger Ghislana of the German blog Jahreszeitenbriefe. Ghislana used lambs lettuce and some other ingredients. This is my take on her recipe.

(serves two)

1/2 head of oak leaf lettuce
200 g mushrooms
1/2 abate pear or 1 conference pear
1 small (125 g) buffalo mozzarella
20 g butter
olive oil
juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon
balsamic glaze
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1. Roughly tear the lettuce leaves, wash, spin and set aside.

2. Wipe or peel the mushrooms and slice them. Dice the pear. Heat the butter and a little olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the mushrooms and pear together. Add a little balsamic glaze and cook until they're nicely nicely browned. Season with pepper and salt.

3. Drain the liquid off the the mozzarella and tear into bite-sized chunks.

4. Add the lettuce to a bowl, scatter the mushrooms and pear, top with the mozzarella and squeeze the lemon juice over everything. Drizzle on a little more olive oil. Serve immediately.

Pasta with chickpeas, aubergine, spinach and sundried tomatoes

As we eat huge quantities of vegetables, this recipe serves just two people. By increasing the amount of pasta it can easily serve four, thoughn.

200 - 250 g pasta
1 aubergine
1 tin of organic chick peas in water (no salt or sugar added)
250 baby spinach
6 - 8 sundried tomatoes
1 onion
1 whole bulb garlic
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated parmesan (optional)
1 tsp herbes de provence
extra virgin olive oil

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Dice the aubergine. Wash and spin the spinach and roughly chop. Cut the sundried tomatoes into strips and drain the chick peas.

2. Heat some oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion, garlic and herbs. After about 5 minutes, move the to the side of the pan or remove completely to prevent them from buring. Add more oil and brown the diced aubergine all over. Lowert the heat and keep frying the aubergine. for a few minutes. Then, add the chickpeas, spinach and tomatoes. Season with pepper and salt, put a lid on and cook over a low heat until the aubergines are tender. If necessary add a glug of white wine, stock or water to prevent the vegetable mix from sticking to the pan.

3. Once the vegetables are in the pan, cook your pasta al dente. Serve with a little parmesan and/or a drizzle of olive oil.

Pasta with morel mushrooms and tarragon

Last week, we found fresh morels at the health food shop. Since they only grow on sandy soil in the wild they are very expensive. Luckily, you don't need a lot to transform an ordinary pasta dish into something special. This recipe serves two.

200-250 g egg pasta, e. g. tagliatelle
100 -125 g morels
1 shalot
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp fresh tarragon
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2-3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
20 g unsalted butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Depending on the cooking time of your pasta you may want to put them on first in plenty of salted water.

2. Grate the parmesan and chop the tarragon. Set aside.

3. Finely chop the shalott and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes at a medium to low heat in the butter and olive without browning.

4. Wash the morels really well to get rid of the sand. Cut into thin slices and add to the pan. Sauté at a medium heat taking care not to brown the shalott and garlic. Season with pepper and salt. When the morel slices are done after 5-7 minutes, add the tarragon to the pan, mix and turn off the heat.

5. Drain the pasta and return to the saucepan or pour into a warmed dish. Mix in the morels and half the parmesan. Serve immediately sprinkled with a little more parmesan.

Herb Mash

I love mash, particularly in winter and when I make it I make lots of it so it can be pan-fried the next day or the day after.

1 kg baby potatoes, unpeeled
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
250 ml warm semi-skimmed milk
3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
nutmeg
1/2 bunch parsley
1/2 bunch dill
1/2 bunch tarragon
1/2 bunch coriander
or any herbs you like

Baby potatoes have a very thin skin that can be left on. But if you don't like skins on potatoes peel them. Cook in salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes depending on size. Add black pepper, too.

Chop the herbs and set aside.

Drain off the cooking water but catch it, particularly if you don't like using milk. You'll need it to make the mash creamy - unless you want to use huge amounts of olive oil. :)

With a potato masher start breaking up the potates, add the milk and olive oil and work into a smooth or chunky purée. Season with pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Check the seasoning. Lastly, add the chopped herbs, stir and serve.

Left-over Chicken with Herbs and Rice

When there are just two of you even a small chicken is too much to finish in one session. So I'm trying to come up with tasty ideas for left-over chicken. This time this involved lot and lots of fresh herbs, soured cream and brown rice.

brown rice for two
left-over organic or free range roast chicken, torn in bite-sized pieces
150-200 ml soured cream
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove,  finely chopped
a few handfuls of fresh herbs, e.g. dill, coriander, tarragon, parsley, chopped
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Boil the rice in 3.5 times the amount of cold water for 30 - 40 minutes. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and sauté over a low to medium heat for a few minutes until tender. Add the chicken pieces and stir. Pour in the soured cream and season. Stir and add the herbs. Heat through gently and serve immediately when ready.

Garlic Soup

It seems that everyone needed soup this week to get warm from the inside as winter has returned with a vengeance, much more so in Germany, where some people are practically drowning in snow. I remember a friend of mine talk about garlic soup but never really made one, though pretty much all my dishes used copious amounts of garlic. So when I saw this recipe in a German blog called Querschnitt, I decided it was high time to try it out for myself. And, OMG, was it good!

1.25 kg potatoes
750 ml - 1 l vegetable stock
250 ml milk
1 tub of soured cream
2 whole bulb garlic bulbs
1 small onion
1/2 - 1 red chilli
1 bay leaf
freshly ground nutmeg
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
freshly chopped herbs

Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes. Finely chop the onion and chilli and coarsely grate the garlic. Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes without letting them brown. Add the potatoes and stir until they're coated with the garlic mix. Add about 3/4 of the stock, the milk and bay leaf, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Remove the bay leaf and blitz the soup. Season with some nutmeg, check the seasoning and stir in the soured cream. Serve sprinkled with freshly chopped herbs and/or some dukkah.

Chestnut Soup

As it's been really, really cold again this week, I made a variety of soups.

(serves 4-6 as a starter)

500 g preecooked chestnuts (from the supermarket)
2 small banana shallots
2 garlic cloves
750 ml vegetable stock
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil

optional ingredients for serving:
bread for croutons
parseley or coriander
butter bean paté
dukkah

Finely chop the shallots and garlic, heat the oil and gently sauté for 2-3 Minuten minutes until the shallot have become transparent. Meanwhile coarsely chop the chestnuts and add to the saucepan. Mix, add the stock and season. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. When the soup is hot, take out  4-5 tablespoons of chestnuts. Chope a little more finely and set aside. Blitz the soup, check the seasoning and stir the chopped chestnuts back in.

Serving suggestions:
1. Make croutons by browning diced bread in a little butter and olive oil. Scatter onto the soup and sprinkle some chopped coriander or parsley over the top.
2. Toast some baguette slices, spread with some butter bean paté and sprinkle with dukkah (see photo).