Jerusalem Artichokes

Today we decided to put something different on the menu, Veal Fillet on Jerusalem Artichokes, Savoy Cabbage, Fingerling Potatoes and Mange Touts. Really nice to do something different for a change.

The Jerusalem Artichokes were just beautiful, a not so often used vegetable. It is often called Sunchokes or in French Topinambour. It is a root, looking a little bit like Ginger but having its own lovely flavour. It has some nuttiness and is a little bit tart, very nice and refreshing.

One has to put the peel roots strait in some water with a bit of lemon. Then I usually just cook it in salt water till soft and puree it. Then I add a bit of pureed potatoes to give it a bit more substance.

The Savoy Cabbage is just shredded, quickly blanched and tossed in EV Olive Oil, tiny bit of Shallots......roast the veal fillet, keeping it whole and then just slice it......yes cooking is fun.

Gluten free Muffins

Having to cook for a celiac is not always easy, especially when it comes to baking. I am busy trying to find a "perfect muffin base which is home made but tastes good. So I started browsing the net to find an easy muffin recipe. I think most people are put off cooking special diets as they can't find the ingredients, like Xanthan gum, so I started playing with the recipes.

The first try of a highly rated recipe was a total flop......too liquid, puffing up and then...flat, bummer. So I took the same recipe and added some more of the flour mix, bingo, we are going in the right direction. So the second try is a lot better, I just feel there is a bit too much sugar and baking powder in the recipe, so I have added more flour and the third try is now in the oven.

No, still not happy, let me change the recipe again! I wonder where is good old Mr. McGee with his book explaining what is happening while I bake the muffin, would like to read it up and see where I go wrong. This is getting ridiculous, when is the muffin trial ending?????

Good, now we got everything right, I did two different batches with NR. 4 and 5 and NR. 5 worked well. I had a couple of people in the bakery for tasting and they all liked it very much. Now we can use the basic mix and just add the extras like chopped apples or choc chip or blueberries.

On the photo one can see try number 2 to 5. Number one is too embarrassing to post, a total flop!


One can truly say that this recipe is tried and tested, lol



And here the recipe

3 cups gluten free flour mix
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp gluten free baking powder
0.25 tsp salt
0.5 ea vanilla bean scraped
2.5 ea eggs
0.5 cup milk
0.5 cup butter melted
2 ea apples in cubes
0.5 cup raisins

Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the wet ones, stir quickly together to form a batter.

Bake in the pre-heated oven at 160 o C for about 20 to 25 min or till golden brown.


Of course one can exchange the apples and raisins with anything like chocolate chips or blueberries.

Save the Bluefin Tuna

Finally some good news. I just heard that the European Union is considering a total ban on the Blue fin Tuna fishing. That is great news as it is just a question of time till there is no more Blue fin Tuna. Apparently France and Italy have already reduced quotas last year drastically, meaning that within two days the quota was fished......and both countries are accused to have fished more than the quota allows! It is such a marvellous fish and predator and we need to preserve it! We need to boycott Blue fin Tuna wherever we see it on the menus. I truly hope that we are able to save this wonderful creatures and hopefully will be able to enjoy the wonderful meat in future again. In the mean time there are so many other great fishes which can be used for Sushi and Sashimi, so I think there is no shortage on marvellous tasting fishes!

Having fun

So far I played around a bit with my baking, but boy, I got this urge of playing baker more and more and instead of just doing one bread, I did two types. The Ciabbata was light and airy and just puffed up in the oven, the baguette did as usual its own thing and I the bottom of the bread looks nicer than the top, so I just turn it around. The breads on the picture is what I did this morning, if i continue like this the baker can go on leave soon......maybe not. Anyway, I can see that it gets easier each time I do the breads and think that I will continue doing them for a long time.......

Rhodes

I just came back from a lovely walk though Rhodes, what an amazing town, so much history, one feels like a knight! I took the tour around the fortification of the town, a path lesser traveled, but lovely and peaceful. The most amazing thing, apart from the walls going up on both sides is the smell of the pine trees and the sound of the crickets. It takes a good hour and a half to get all the way around, but it is worth while doing it, the best way to get away a bit from all the tourists.

The town itself is full of tourist shops, I mean full. And of course there are plenty of restaurants, not cheap, not specially good, but plenty. This town oozes history, I love it. All the fortifications of the wars 800 years ago, the museums, just amazing, I really, really love it here.

The cruise ships basically park just in front of the old town, so it is a 10 minute walk and one is in the middle of it all. But the island has a lot more to offer, unfortunately I don't have the time to explore more, but will come back for a holiday, see the valley of the butterflies (I have been here when I was about 7 years old) and there is so much more.

Bread Baking

In the past couple of weeks I started baking bread nearly daily and getting more and more in the swing of it. At the begin the bread didn't always come out the way I wanted it, but as they say the more you make the better the result. I try to keep the breads simple and artisan, every bread is done the traditional way, fresh yeast, good flour and no additives. At the moment I am doing Baguettes, French Country Loaves, Ciabatta, Focaccia, German Rye Bread and a Swiss Zopf. The recipes will appear on the blog one by one, as soon as I am sure the recipes are tried and tested.

I thought being Swiss I start with the Zopf, a traditional plated bread which was originally eating Sunday mornings with Butter, Jam and Milk Coffee (half coffee and then half hot milk, just mixed in a big mug, nothing fancy like the Lattes). I got the recipe from a chef friend in Switzerland, it is hhis grandma's recipe from the Bernese mountains and must be about 100 years old if not more. It has been passed down from generation to generation.

Butter Zopf

2 kg Flour
1.2 l Milk
100 g fresh Yeast
200 g melted Butter
50 g Salt

Heat the milk till luke warm and desolve the fresh yeast in it.
Then mix all the ingredients together and knead for at least 10 minutes. This is important as only like this the gluten will bind nicely. Best to use a Kitchen Aid to do the job.
Then let the dough proove at room temperature for about 1.5 hours or till double in size.
Push the dough back and divide into 4 equal pieces, let rest for 10 minutes.
Then form long strings as shown on the photo, and plate them together.
The plated bread has now to rise for another about 45 minutes.
Baste with egg wash and bake at 200 o C (400 o F) for about 30 to 40 minutes, till golden brown.
The bread is ready when it sounds hollow when tapping on the bottom of the bread.
Cool on a rack and have a taster while still a bit warm.

The dough before the proving



The dough after proving


The dough rolled after knocking it back

The Plating

Istanbul

Wow, what a buzzing city, over 12 Million people living here, it is just fantastic. I have just arrived this morning at the harbour and can see the Hagia Sofia and behind the blue mosque. So there is quite a bit on the program, but what I really want to do is popping into the spice market which is not too far from the ship. On the way there I was lucky to find a small fish market which we will hit in two weeks when we are back in Istanbul. There was lovely fresh mackerel, sea bream and salmon trout.

The spice market is just fantastic but there is not just spices, no there is cheese, meats, loads of different sweets and plenty shops selling fake sun glasses and branded clothing.

The one thing I was looking for was saffron.......I did find but the quality is very poor, so if you ever in Istanbul do NOT buy any saffron. There is as well "Indian Saffron" it is just simply curcuma and curry powder. But then there are all the lovely smells, the chillies, the fenugrek, then the dates, apricots, halva, Turkish delight in all forms and variations, one could spend hours in there. Next time I will get some good for a Turkish high tea, sweet! The smell on the market is wonderful and makes me hungry, especially the Asian spices are great.

The dates are absolutely amazing, the size already and the taste, unbelievable. There are several varieties, all of them are really nice and sweet.

Tulumba, a Turkish Dessert

I am in Kusadasi, a lovely Turkish town close to Ephesus, the ancient city. Today I explore a little bit the Turkish desserts, wow, are they sweeeeeeeeet! But at the same time they are delicious! This one here is called Tulumba, what a wonderful name. It is actually very similar to a Koeksister, deep-fried and then soaked with a sugar syrup, just delicious. I even got a recipe

1 soup spoon sugar
100 grams butter
250 grams flour
400 grams water
50 grams potato starch
6 eggs

For the Syrup:
1 kilo sugar
2 soup spoons lemon juice
500 grams water

Prepare the syrup with the ingredients shown above by boiling them for 2 minutes. Put it aside and cool till ice cold.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the water, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Add the flour while beating the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cook for 10 minutes while continually beating it. Remove from the heat.

When the mixture has cooled, add the eggs one by one, then the starch while mixing constantly. Heat oil in a frying pan. Take a piping bag with a star nozzle. Fill the dough in the piping bag. Squeeze out pieces of dough into the oil, each one being 2 or 3 cm. wide. Move the pan back and forth occasionally while the cakes are cooking. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes until the cakes are golden brown.Put them into the cooled syrup and let stand 15 minutes, then place them on a serving dish. Serve when the tulumba have completely cooled off.

Now I just have to go out and get some more delicious desserts and sweets!!!!!