Grilled lamb

I am doing a morrocany kind of marinade almost like chermoula: grated onion, grated ginger, chopped parsley and cilantro, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, salt and pepper

Getting to my roots: Pancit Bihon

Fabadas asturianas

Post coming soon but here is an in progress photo

Carrot pineapple muffins for a sunny sunday

It all started two weeks ago at our office's xmas dinner.  My workmate Rich, an intrepid baker, received a muffin tin and festive muffin cases from his secret santa.

 I told him about my muffin bible and how i worked my way through the book cover to cover and back again, making my daily batch of 'muffin of the day' at the cafe where i worked in Aberdeen.  I've never had a bad batch from the recipes in this book. Ever.

 So anyways, i took the book out last weekend and made a batch of the apple spice muffins.   This weekend it's 18 and sunny and in a more tropical spirit i decided to do the Carrot Pineapple variation.

Carrot Pineapple Muffins
Makes 12 normal sized muffins

200g (about 2 medium sized) finely grated carrots
120g well-drained crushed pineapple, or 4 slices chopped
255g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
110g white or soft brown sugar
120ml milk or water
85g melted butter
Optional add-ins: raisins, sultanas, walnuts, desicated coconut

1. Grease muffin tin cups.  Preheat oven to 190C.
2. Prepare the carrot and pineapple and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. In a medium bowl, beat the egg with a fork.  Stir in the carrot and pineapple, sugar, milk and melted butter.
5. Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Stir only enough to combine the ingredients.  If using add-ins add before the final few stirs.  The mixture will be lumpy.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack.
7. Best enjoyed sitting on a sunny patio on a sunday morning.

Dema's Mom's Falafel

Last weekend i had a craving for middle eastern food and decided to make some falafel. My usual source for recipes is the infinite wisdom of Claudia Roden. I have my ma's well worn copy of her guide to food of the middle east (this is where kelsie gets her recipe for no-fail hummous) and i have a newer book called Arabesque which features the food of Morrocco, Turkey and Lebanon.
On this occasion i decided to ask my workmate Dema, who is Palestinian, for her tips. She in turn asked her mom and i was all set to go.
To accompany i made some tahini dressing, pitta bread and a pickled red cabbage carrot salad.

Falafel
500g dried favas or chickpeas
2 onions grated
1 bunch parsley finely chopped
1 bunch coriander finely chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
Salt
Cayenne
1 tsp baking powder

First soak the dried beans in plenty of water for 24 hours.
Drain well and grind to a smooth consistency in a food processor. You need to scrape down the side of the bowl from time to time to ensure a uniform consistency.
Add the rest of the ingredients and process until well blended.
Set aside in a bowl for 30 minutes.
Heat a wok or pot with vegetable oil until a piece of bread dropped in sizzles and turns brown.
Form walnut sized balls of the falafel and flatten slightly. Add to the hot oil and fry until golden brown all over.
Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you fry the rest.
NOTE: this recipe makes a LOT.

Tahini dressing
2 cloves garlic crushed to a paste with salt
3 Tbsp tahini
1 lemon juiced

Whisk all the ingredients together. Add 50ml water or enough to thin it out to the consistency of double cream. Adjust seasonings.

Pickled Red Cabbage and Carrot Salad
2 carrots, grated
1 small red cabbage, finely shredded
1 lemon, juiced
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 pickles cut into slices
3 pickled chilies cut into slices
Salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and adjust seasoning to taste.

Oleoturismo: a mini road trip in search of olive oil

It all started with me doing a google search for "slow food sitges". I found out about two slow food restaurants right on our doorstep and widened the search to Tarragona which is high on my list of places to visit. There are lots of roman ruins there and three more slow food restaurants.
One that stood out to me is called El Celler de l'Aspic. I became fb friend with them and the other day they posted that their supplier just released this year's olive oil.
So then i became fb friends with the Cooperativa Agricola Riudecanyes.
And i found out they have a shop where you can buy their products.
And for the past three days i have been harrassing kelsie about doing a mini road trip to visit them. Because well, we finally finally got a new car. This wasn't too bad for a first road trip. It's about an hour and some on the toll road. The tolls one way add up to almost 8€. You basically drive down the coast past Tarragona and then head a few miles into the hills. When we arrived in Riudecanyes we managed to catch the last cars that were driving through on the RallyRACC catalunya-Cost Dorada Race. The town was heaving with spectators. They were there to see the cars and we were there to see the olive oil.
The man at the shop was really helpful and explained the difference between the filtered and unfiltered oils. We bought a couple lires of the filtered. It's more fruity than grassy and is going to be enjoyed as long as we can make it last. We also picked up some tapenade made from the same arbequina olives, some moscatel and a package of hazlenuta.
In the same building as the shop is a small info area showing how olive oil produced from harvest to bottle as well as descriptions about the other fruits of the local countryside.
If you are further afield than a mini road trip, fear not! They also have an online shop where you can order direct.

Pane co' santi

It's my turn to bring breakfast in for my office mates tomorrow.

I decided to try this recipe from Twelve by Tessa Kiros. She says the reason it might be called saint's bread is that the ingredients of olive oil, walnuts and sultanas are saints themselves.

Lunch Adventures: Mayura Lounge

Food:
Indian food for a Spanish palate. For lunch you have a choice between the Indian thali menu or the Mediterranean menu. The thali menu on this particular day had: samosa, chicken saag, rice, lentils, vegetable curry and chapatis. The menu also includes drink (i paid extra for a Cobra beer) and dessert (i chose mango lassi). There are several supplement options if you want additional items like pakoras or a meat other than chicken. Overall the food was nicely spiced but not overly hot. The green chile chutney gave everything a nice extra kick of heat.




Interior:
Mostly lounge style seating consisting of low sofas/chairs with lots of cushions. Our group sat at the long bar which is divided in the middle by a water feature. Hint: if you sit at the bar you get a discount on the price of the menu.




Service:
menus came in english and spanish. our orders were taken quickly and the food came out pretty fast. paying took a bit longer because we were each paying separately.

Cost:
11.80 for the indian menu



Mayurna
Calle Girona, 57 Barcelona
Map
Tel: 934 814 536
Web: www.mayuralounge.es

New Series: Lunch Adventures with Restaurant Tickets

One of the best perks from my new job at Xing is the booklet of Sodexo restaurant tickets that I get every month. Each booklet has 43 tickets, each ticket is worth 3 euros. Most of the restaurants around where we work accept these tickets in lieu of cash. This amounts to 129 euros tax-free each month. Can't beat that! It's also a really good way to encourage us to get to know our work colleagues better as we inevitably go for lunch together in a group. Such a nice contrast to the rushed sandwich or tupperware leftovers eaten at your desk, in front of the computer.

The Lunch Adventures posts are going to be all about where we go for lunch and what we eat. And don't forget, if you have Sodexo restaurant tickets, all the places i write about accept them.

Sucking vegetables: The Way of the Calçotada

I have a friend Don Purple who is a stylist in New York. Part of what makes him a good stylist is his vast collection of things he's picked up over the years. I remember the last time i saw Don we were in Scotland and his favorite thing to do was trawl the numerous charity shops looking for "collectibles". At that time his collectibles were all porcelain white animals. Anything…bunnies, kittens, puppies, would be considered and sometimes purchased. I confess i didn't understand it really, it was just 'stuff', but years later when i saw some of the brilliant photos he styled it clicked.



I'm a collector too, although my stuff isn't porcelain white animals. My stuff is local food experiences. It's not necessarily about exotic or hard to find or 'best in class' ingredients. It's more about the particular local ingredients and how they're celebrated in the local culture. Like….german rye bread slathered with schmaltz...



or the famous pork pies from the Ginger Pig...




I like to go to someplace new and eat something from that place -- doing that sears that place on my memory better than any instagram can do.

Lucky for me there are a ton of regional food festivals here in Catalunya. i've already missed the Fesolada (white bean festival) in Sant Pau. And i know that on the horizon there will be a chicken and artichoke festival in Prat Llobregat this month



Right in our town of Castelldefels we had a Calçotada. The featured ingredient is the calçot. It's basically a variety of spring onion. I noticed that all the local fruiterias (where you also buy veg) had stands of calçots cropping up around the beginning of january. when i asked my team mates about them they told me about Calçotadas which are meals centered around the calçot.



the usual way of preparing and eating calçots is to grill them over a barbecue until the outer layers are completely charred and the inside is cooked to a sweet pulp.



Since there's already a barbecue going the rest of a Calçotada is made up of grilled meats and maybe even potatoes and artichokes.



the other essential element of a Calçotada is the romesco sauce that you dip the calçot in before eating it. apparently it's the quality of the romesco that distinguishes a good Calçotada from an average one. and of course the other essential requirement is the company of good friends to enjoy the experience with.



there's a definite learned technique to eating a calçot. at last week's Calçotada our friend asela demonstrated the technique. first, peel off the charred outer skin. next, swish the cooked white part in the romesco. finally suck the end, pulling the onion up through your teeth to get every last juicy bit.







kelsie wasn't too impressed with the sucking vegetables bit. she was far too fascinated with our new friend alba who was captivated by the oranges we had.





i of course sucked and savored every last calçot and had enough to last me until next year's festivities.

San Esteban at Mar Blanc

For those of you who haven't heard yet, we've moved (yes AGAIN!) -- this time to Spain! Our new home is in the town of Castelldefels which is a short commute to my new job at Xing in Barcelona. I'll save you the story about all the stress and angst of leaving Berlin and moving here. Suffice it to say that we are glad it's over and that we're here.

We're really loving it here already and are starting to explore our new surroundings. A big plus is that it's a mere 1.25 hour flight between here and where my parents live. So much closer! We invited them over for a few days to celebrate Christmas and had a wonderful meal on Christmas day.

To close out the visit my parents wanted to treat us to lunch and asked for us to choose some place special. We chose Mar Blanc for a few reasons: 1) it sits right on the beautiful beach of Castelldefels; 2) they had Lobster Thermidor on their special San Esteban menu; and 3) most of the review we read on TripAdvisor were complentary of the food and restaurant.



The restaurant has three separate eating areas -- an outside terrace which would be fab in the sprint or summer but would have been too cold on this particular day, a downstairs dining room which is where we sat, and an upstairs dining room. When you walk in the front door you immediately face tanks where the live lobsters are kept before being cooked for you. The dining room is decorated with seaside paintings and other nautical adornments.



Here is the view from our table in the restaurant.



For a starter we were served hollowed out oranges filled with a salad and gulas. We accompanied this with some lovely cava.



Our first course choices were either seafood cannelloni or langostines. The cannellonis were flavourful and very rich, and the langostines were succulent and sweet, though a bit of work to remove the shells. Btw -- the best part of eating the langostines was sucking all the juice out of their heads. Yum!





For the second course we mostly went for the lobster thermidor, while my father decided to tackle the cochinillo (suckling pig). We were unanimously underwhelmed by the lobster -- it was dry and lacked flavour and the rich sauce you'd expect with a thermidor. On the other hand, the cochinillo was tender and flavoursome and served with a nice side of potato gallette.





Dessert was the traditional yule log, followed by an assortment of turrons.

Overall we loved the location and everything but the lobster which we felt should have been the star of the meal. I'd like to go back again and order things a la carte to see if it's any better.



Details
Mar Blanc
Ribera de Sant Pere, 17 08860 Castelldefels
Map
Web site

A Visit to the Thermomix Test Kitchen

One of the repeatable 'discussions' Kelsie and I have is about the amount of kitchen equipment I've accumulated over the years. There was definitely a point in time when I'd regularly bring home something new that I 'needed'. Some of these aquisitions have still not been used: i'm thinking of the iron disc i got in Barcelona that is heated and then used to make a perfect burnt sugar crust on crema catalana. and i'm thinking of the tortilla press that's still in the box waiting to be used. And there are some acquisitions that only get hauled out once or twice a year: the iddli cooker that i finally used last christmas, the individual sized pudding moulds (set of 8) that i've used a few times for dinner parties, and the sugar thermometer.

A lot of these are packed away in one of many plastic tubs that are down in the cellar. Somehow i keep track of what is where. Then we get to the bigger equipment: my Magimix which i definitely use at least 1x week, the blender which K has been using every day for her smoothies, the ice cream maker which has lately been taking up room in the freezer while i deliberate on whether Schlagsahne will work in place of whipping cream, the toaster and the filter coffee pot. We're probably going to bin the coffee maker. it's not been used since we started making cappuccinos in the morning with a 3-cup espresso maker and hand powered milk frother.

These days i more often than not say no to myself before indulging in another piece of kit. But I do know of some things i still want/need: a 28-32 cm stovetop casserole pan; a bigger than 10" cast iron frying pan, and i'd love one of those oval shaped le creuset pans that fit a whole chicken or a tiny pan just for blinis. I'm doing pretty good on the saying no front. Mostly because i'd rather get rid of my debts before adding to them.

I got to exercise my restraint a couple of weeks ago when i was invited by Jill to the weekly meet-up at the Thermomix test kitchen in Alt Tegel. At the last Berlin Cooking Club, Jill brought her 'magic' machine. Magic in the sense that while the rest of us were furiously chopping and stirring and competing for time to cook on the two induction hobs, Jill quietly produced her two dishes -- sweet potato salad and veggie jambalaya with farro -- before any of us had finished. Both dishes were prepared in the Thermomix that she had brought with her.

The Thermomix kitchen sits on a quiet street right near an industrial park. When we arrived, the cooking was already underway. Each week a different sales group takes turns cooking for the team, with most of the dishes being prepared in the Thermomix machines.



Jill expertly took the machine apart to show me the parts -- a 2ltr stainless steel bowl, a removable 4 blade chopper (removeable makes it really easy to clean and the blades are staggered in height and position to ensure uniform consistency, a stirring attachment, a lid with a 100ml stopper for adding in ingredients while the machine is working, and a 2 tier steamer attachment which allows you to steam other things (veggie, fish) while you are using the main machine to cook. There is a temperature adjuster, a speed adjuster to control how fast the machine works, a reverse stir feature, and a pulse feature for extra strong bursts of chopping and a timer.



Jill has been using this machine as her primary cooking apparatus and these days rarely goes to the trouble of cooking things on the stove. She says that this machine has dramatically changed the way she cooks. She even prepared pizza dough in it the other day -- yes, it also does bread dough.



On this particular day the cooks were making a rocket risotto in the Thermomix. I watched the finishing stages where the pre-chopped rocket was added along with grated parmesan. The end result was a bit on the wet side of al dente for me, but certainly acceptable as a risotto. And i can attest to the nice consistency of the farro that Jill used in her jambalaya.

The Thermomix has been around for about 27 years. And there were a couple of older models on display at the test kitchen.





They also have a variety of different cookbooks at the test kitchen which are geared towards using the machines.

The price of the Thermomix is about 1,000 euros which isn't surprising given all the things it does. They have financing plans that help spread the payments out over several months.

For me, i'm going to wait to get one. It isn't just the price that is holding me back, or that I have been pining for one of those candy coloured kitchen aids. It's that I don't really need to worry about time-saving equipment. If i was cooking for large groups of people and had to get a lot of dishes out then I probably would consider it. But for now i actually enjoy the manual part of cooking. i like chopping and stirring and adjusting the temperature myself and kind of feel that the machine would take that away from me.

Sources:
Thermomix website
If you are in Berlin you can contact Jill to arrange a demo.

Meatless Monday: Rigatoni ai peperoni

The saga of the sodden summer continues. The days have been filled with a dull kind of humid heat. And while the sun has poked itself out, inevitably i've found myself riding home from the train station in a late afternoon rainshower. Last week we even had hail.

All this unpredictability has made me keep the barbecue and briquettes covered until i'm sure they won't get soaked. Which means, when i buy bell peppers to grill on the barbecue so that i can make some antipasti, i have to end up doing something else with them.

I found this simple recipe in the book Twelve by Tessa Kiros. The August chapter mostly features exquisite photos of bright blue sunny clear days and lots of recipes for the barbecue. And it's got a good selection of recipes included peppers: this one, Pappardelle con melanzane e peperoni, Trota in forno con peperoni (i am definitely going to make this soon esp. with all the trout that's available right now), and Peperonata.

Rigatoni ai peperoni Serves 6
from Twelve by Tessa Kiros

2 medium sized red peppers
1 medium yellow pepper
4 Tbs olive oil
1 med red onion finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
4 ripe tomatoes, skinned and pureed
handful freshly chopped parsley
500g rigatoni, penne or similar pasta
4 Tbs thick cream
6 basil leaves, roughly torn
120g freshly grated parmesan

1. cut peppers into small chunks


2. heat olve oil in large saucepan and add onion and garlic. sautee few minutes until softened, then add the tomatoes. when they begin to bubble up, add the peppers and half of the chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. add about 250 ml water and simmer, covered for 30-40 minutes or until the capiscum is very soft. add a few more drops of water to prevent the sauce from drying out, if necessary.


3. meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to boil for the pasta.


4. remove the suacepan from the heat. puree haf of the peppers sauce and return to the saucepan, leaving the rest as they are. add cream and heat through.


5. cook the pasta in boiling water folowing the packet instructions. drain and quickly toss into the sauce. mix hrough the remaining chopped parsley and basil and serve immediately sprinkled with parmesan.

Just Dim Sum

The formula is pretty simple:

1 grey and drizzly Sunday
+
1 relatively empty fridge because we didn't do our weekly shop the day before and all* the shops are closed
x
2 hungry Travels With My Fork wanderers
= an afternoon meal at newly discovered Just Dim Sum restaurant

Just Dim Sum sits on a quiet street, just around the corner from Tauenzienstrasse. When we got there at 1 pm it was not as crowded as it had been the week before when we discovered it. As we walked in our hostess ushered us to the section on the right side of the restaurant.

The restaurant is decorated with idiosyncratic furniture -- high backed chairs with extremely low seats (they have cushions on hand to boost you). There is a view to the kitchen from the eating area. The lighting was nice -- brightly coloured shades that were arranged like a constellation around the ceiling.



We had a quick scan of the menu. There was a section at the front with dim sum items (about 20 or do) and other main dishes. We decided to stick with the dim sum and ordered two each. The dishes came out as they were ready.:

Steamed shrimp and pork dumpling shao mai (3,80)



Exactly what it says on the tin. The wrapper had a nice consistency, not too chewy. The filling could have used a bit more seasoning but was fine. These were good dipped in the soy-vinegar sauce they ahd on the table along with plain soy sauce and fiery chili sauce.

BBQ pork rice noodle roll (3,80)



Silky smooth rice noodle rolls filled with carnita-like bits of barbecued pork. The pork was a bit dried out, the noodles were a nice consistency and the sauce was good. This one was my favourite of the meal.


Shrimp rice noodle roll (4,20) -- this was just like the pork one only with shrimp.

Fried pork dumplings (3,80)



The dumplings were just the right kind of crispy where they had been fried on one side. The pork filling was also well flavoured. This was Kelsie's favourite one.

Still hungry we decided to order two more dishes:

Lushui tofu (2,80)



This was marinated and braised tofu on a bed of raw peanuts. Being allergic to peanuts Kelsie didn't try this. I really like the peanuts but the tofu was chewy and could have used even more marinade.

Roasted duck (6,80)
Crispy pieced of roast duck with lots of flavourful crackling. We really enjoyed finishing off the meal with this dish.

On the day we came the EC card machine was kaputt so i had to dash down the block to a Deutsche Bank to take out some cash.

I really want to say that Just Dim Sum was outstanding, but it wasn't. It certainly can fulfill a craving for dim sum but I don't think we'll be regular visitors here. When we tweeted about our recent discovery more than one person tweeted back -- is it good? is it the real thing? It wasn't like here. By a long stretch. And in retrospect I'm wondering if maybe we got the Western menu instead of the Chinese menu. I'm willing to give it another go and find out!

Just Dim Sum
Ansbacher Straße 8, 10787 Berlin, Germany
Tel: 030 54856678
Website
Map



* actually on the same day we discovered Ullrich right across from the Zoo station. it's open on sunday's until 10 pm! our new favourite :-)