Pan Roasted Vegetables with Chicken

For sure you know this. You have a whole day free from work, no appointments, no nothing. One hour goes, then the next and then the next and before you know it the day is gone.
Right, maybe you don’t know this, because you always have a busy schedule and have to do a lot of things, going here and there and being everywhere and doing things for everyone or just excessively for your boss or the opposite entertainment.
Either way, it might be the case you wasted some of your time. Sometimes it has to do with priorities and sometimes with motivating oneself.
Whatever the case, thing like this happen from time to time and usually we are not worried that much about it, even if you have wasted a whole day doing nothing. Maybe you have at least relaxed from the hardships of life.
Call me guilty! For that I am!
BUT … and that is a big BUT (yes, you noticed the upper case letters, fine), I don’t want to be guilty of wasting food.
Once again I have averted the throwing away of food, this time by cooking this …

Let me call this …

Pan Roasted Vegetables with Chicken

As I got two quarters of pumpkins, obviously, I had to use them up. So, watch the line-up of saved food items and watch the show …

Ingredients:
A splash of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 potatoes, finely chopped
1/8 part of a Hakkori F1 pumpkin (or similar, maybe 400 g), chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 hand full of cherry tomatoes, halved
Some leftover chicken meat, cut into large cubes
Leaves from one sprig of rosemary, finely chopped
A large splash of white wine
Salt and pepper

Method:
When I think about the ingredients list, I just gave you, it is almost clear what to do. You could just add the ingredients in order of appearance to the pan and … but, we can do it differently …
Lightly heat up the olive oil and add the onions and garlic and cook until translucent.
I decided to put in the other vegetables according to the time they need for cooking or the way I wanted to have them in the end. So you could use the order set out in the list, but if you have a different pumpkin you might want to add it a bit later. Anyway, I do it the cook as you chop way. So, no worries, no hectic, in a relaxed way, chop the ingredients and add to the pan. Don’t forget to season with salt and pepper.
When the vegetables are to your liking, add the rosemary and the leftover chicken (if you want or have chicken) as the chicken is already cooked (leftover, right?) and you just have to heat up the chicken.
Finally pour in the white wine and reduce it a bit.
Time for eating. Somehow, I also had a bit of the goat’s cheese dip, which I mentioned in my previous post, so I served it together with it.

I enjoyed it very much, the dip really did an excellent job with it. Again, some food items saved, mostly it was the piece of pumpkin, the carrot, the chicken and the dip.

Gebratenes Gemüse mit Hähnchen

Ja, das hört sich jetzt ja nicht unbedingt so aufregend an, aber wir sollten uns die Sache erst einmal näher anschauen. Das besondere hier ist schon mal, dass hier wieder Kürbis vorkommt. Gut, ich hätte das ganze ja auch Gebratenes Gemüse mit Kürbis und Hähnchen nennen können.

Doch nun zu den Einzelheiten …

Zutaten:Ein Spritzer Olivenöl
1 Zwiebel, feingehackt (nicht weinen)
2 Knoblauchzehen, feingehackt
1 Möhre, kleingeschnitten
2 Kartoffeln, kleingeschnitten
1/8 Hakkori F1 Kürbis (oder was anderes, vielleicht 400 g), kleingeschnitten
1 grüne Paprika, kleingeschnitten
2 Hände voll Kirschtomaten, halbiert
Etwas fertig gekochtes Hähnchenfleisch (gutes vom Vortag)
Blätter von einem Zweig Rosmarin, feingehackt
Einen großen Spritzer Weißwein
Salz und Pfeffer

Zubereitung:

Das Olivenöl auf kleiner Hitze erhitzen und die Zwiebeln und den Knoblauch andünsten.
Dann hab ich so gedacht, das restliche Gemüse entsprechend der Kochzeit zum erreichen der gewünschten Konsistenz nachwerfen. Meine gewünschte Reihenfolge geht aus der Zutatenliste hervor. Einfach genug Zeit lassen beim Kleinschneiden und immer, wenn was fertig ist in die Pfanne geben. Mit Salz und Pfeffer abschmecken.
Wenn das Gemüse gemäß den Wünschen weich genug gekocht ist, kann der Rosmarin und das Hähnchenfleisch mit in die Pfanne, um das Fleisch zu erwärmen.
Mit dem Weißwein das ganze dann noch abrunden und ihn ganz minimal einkochen.
So … Zeit zum Essen. Ich hart noch was von dem Ziegenfrischkäsedip vom letzten Beitrag übrig. Der passte super dazu. Na denn, lasst es euch schmecken …

It's oh so quiet here ... Pumpkin Soup with Chorizo

I don't have to tell, you very easily recognise it yourself. It's almost two weeks ago I have posted something here. Yes, it's indeed oh so quiet here. There could be various reasons for this, but I try not to bore you with that. However, it could become even quieter around here ...

Are you shocked?

Well, it's a bit hard to think with an empty stomach. Have something to eat first. Why not have a pumpkin soup with chorizo. After all it's the season for it. For chorizo? Eh, why, chorizo is always in season and you never should put it away too far.
Now's the time for squashes and pumpkins. Well, there are 7 pumpkins on my table or at least parts of them.
So, why not have a soup - with pumpkin and chorizo ...

... I'm going to tell you also, what other ingredients you have to put in ...

Ingredients:
Olive oil
300 g chorizo, kind of cubed
1 carrot, roughly chopped
300 g potatoes, roughly chopped
1 kg butternut squash, roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
100 g cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved
200 g goat's cream cheese
1-1,5 l water
2 tsp. spicy paprika powder
Splash of sherry vinegar
50 g dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
1 tsp. cumin
Salt and pepper

Method:
Let me try to tell you, how to put the soup together ... phew! Luckily I wrote things done a bit more detailed than usual.
First of all, fry the pieces of chorizo in a bit of olive oil. Put the fried chorizo aside into a separate bowl.
Having all those lovely juices from the frying of the chorizo in the pan, make things even lovelier by adding the garlic, crushed fennel seeds and the cumin to the pan.
Then toss in the carrot, potatoes and squash. Let things work a bit in the pan to soften the vegetables.
After that, it's time to add the paprika powder, the dried tomatoes and the water. Bring it to the boil and let everything simmer for quite a while until everything got even softer. Half an hour and even more will do. If you have the feeling, you need more water, add it.
Having reached this state, it's time to blitz the content of the pan together with the goat's cheese.
Afterwards, it can all go back to the pan. Then the chorizo returns to the pan, followed by the fresh cherry tomatoes. Heat everything up to eating temperature, adjust the seasoning with some salt and pepper and a splash of sherry vinegar. Ready for eating ...

At this point I got a visitor, who didn't came for a meal, just to talk about a few things. So I left the soup on low heat ...

... so what?

Yes, the soup lost a lot of liquid and it looked rather like pumpkin mash or the kind of food you would feed to your baby (not that I know very much about these matters).

Let me call it pumpkin soup concentrate. You can add litres upon litres of water to make the soup for a while. So, if you have unexpected visitors ... the kind that are out for food ... here you go.

Are you shocked?

What for? I don't know what this is all about. Did I say I wanted to shut up shop? I don't think so. Nevertheless, the future is uncertain ...

So, watch out for any news regarding Cooking Around the World ...

Go for Belgium with Stoemp

Either this will be a total confusion or actually a nice little post. Therefor I want to set a thing straight fright away, concerning the title of this post. The last word is not referring to a percussion group, originating in Brighton, UK that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance. So it's not Stomp, but Stoemp. Just in case you where suspecting a typo here. 

Stoemp (now I have to be careful not to produce a typo here) is a Belgium dish with mashed potatoes and other vegetables in it, depending on what you want to use. As I understood it, it's all mashed together, and that is what I did then.

In fact Stoemp originates from Brussels. Maybe that's why you could add brussels sprouts as well. Fine, I didn't. I also haven't been to Brussels myself. When I was in Liège, Belgium, my friend, who was driving was too afraid to drive in bigger cities and that's why we didn't go further in that direction. So, I've never been there. 

I have been in Bruges, though. Don't mistake that either, because I am not referring to the movie with Colin Farrel and Brendan Gleason here. No I have been to Bruges (maybe that is a better wording as well) about ... eh ... let's think (no, I don't need to think I just read it a few minutes ago) ... 18 years ago.

Still I managed to get a few pictures for you. The quality isn't that good, though, due to the fact I took pictures from the pictures. So here we go for Belgium ... first of all ... with Bruges.

No, I can't tell you what this is, but I must have liked the architecture ... yes, I definitely can't tell you what it is.

Oh, yes, it's a canal. You remember? It should be a famous thing, too, to do a tour on them ... I reckon.

This one you can recognise easily, that the Belfry of Bruges. Again a no for not climbing the tower. For sure you shouldn't attempt to climb the 366 steps, if you are far too fat. Then The 39 Steps would be better (you could try London for that).

After that time travel, Belgium travel sort of thing we are ready to go for Belgium with Stoemp (yes, still not Stomp, they won't be having any concerts in Belgium soon, but you could try London again).

So, finally, we go for Belgium with Stomp ... ah, no ... got me here ... no ... with Stoemp ... at least my version of it ...

Ingredients:

500 g potatoes, cubed

3 medium sized carrots, cubed

Hand full of peas (no, they will do as they are)

A big knob of butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

A drop of milk (or two)

Salt and pepper

Method:

First of all I got the peas, carrots and potatoes boiling so they are going soft.

In the meantime I melted the butter in a pan on low heat and added the onion and garlic.

Once the potatoes, carrots and peas were soft (that wouldn't be any problem for the peas), I started mashing them up a bit (you may have to rinse them first, though), added the onions and garlic together with the remains of the butter to the pot. Then comes the milk or ... yes, you could use cream, too. A little bit of seasoning with salt and pepper and ready we are to go for Belgium with Stoemp.

Obviously ... yes ... very obviously indeed ... you could have a vegetarian meal here, if you wouldn't add those sausages as I did. You could add whatever you like, if you like. Do you like that? Do you like the dish?

Whatever the case, as this is a Belgian dish and Belgium is playing in the World Cup today, you for sure all know, what that means!

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - Fish Soup (#ReadCookEat)

I reckon you don't want to hear anything about snow right now, but ... I do it anyway. Where does it say that you have to read books playing in winter and with snow and winter and summer books in summer? Does this aid your imagination or what?
Well, I read a certain book, when I feel like it. There was it on my bookshelf: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow or as you would call it in the original Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne by Peter Høeg. What shall I say? For sure there are better short summaries of the book online somewhere, but I still give it a shot. 
Smilla, 37 year old daughter of a female Inuit hunter and a rich Danish physician lives alone in an apartment complex. One of the neighbours is an alcoholic. That one has a son called Isaiah. She forms a friendship with him. Suddenly Isaiah dies. The police explains it as an accident, the boy falling from the roof. However, due to his marks in the snow on the roof and some other facts, Smilla does not believe in an accident. She investigates, later together with another neighbour, called Peter. He is a mechanic. Whatsoever, there is some kind of conspiracy and ... the rest you have to read for yourself.
As Galina from Chez Maximka and I myself are still doing the ReadCookEat challenge, it is no wonder I also kept an eye on the food in the book apart from obviously following the real plot.
While I would have loved to go for a raspberry cake I decided for this ...

In one scene in the book the mechanic, Peter, is preparing a fish soup for Smilla and himself. The description of the ingredients and the preparation is quite detailed so I tried to reproduce it, although I stuck to the ingredients I could get more easily ... eh ... for what was in that one shop, when I went shopping for the dish.

Ingredients:
Splash of olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
1 small bulb of fennel
1 leek
Various items of fish (I had: gilthead bream, haddock, salmon)
Hand full of prawns
Rice
2 Star anise
1 tsp. cardamom
2 tbsp. sour cream
Juice of half an orange
Salt and pepper

Method:
I prepared the rice in the usual way with the star anise and the cardamom. I did this in a separate pan. You know, double amount of water, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to minimum or turn off and let it work for 20 minutes. Anyway, you may have a different method or even a rice cooker. Feel free to do as yo are accustomed to do.

Than start with a large pan to do the soup. Give a splash of olive oil to the pan, which you put on low to medium heat. Chop up your onion and throw it into the pan.
Afterwards go for the carrots. Peel, chop up and off to the pan. Now the fennel and finally the leek. Give the vegetables a good time in the pan to soften them a bit and to release some flavour, maybe 20 minutes or more. Just make sure, you don't burn anything.
In between season the whole thing with salt and pepper and Pour in 1,5 litre or water. All this you bring to the boil and let simmer for 10 minutes.

It's not called fish soup for no reason. Therefore we need some fish in the pan. If you feel you just want to go ahead as I did (with little knowledge about fish) just use whole fish like I did with head, fin and bones and all (as was done in the book as well). However, that might get a bit messy, for later you don't want the head, fins and bones in the finished soup. For your convenience use fillets of fish. That will make your life easier, but you might have less flavour, if you can notice. Just one more thing, you don't want to have the scales of the fish anywhere near your pan. That, of course, if you have a good fishmonger should be no problem at all. I don't have ... a good fishmonger.
Fine, you put your pieces of fish into the pan, pushing it under the liquid and let the fish boil together with the rest for 10 minutes. If you need to remove heads, fins and bones afterwards ... your problem. 
Once all the undesirable parts are removed, add the prawns and cook them for another two minutes. After that you can finish the soup of with the sour cream and the orange juice.

Serve the soup together with the rice and if you like some bread as well.
That was one of the more expensive dishes, for you know, fish isn't that cheap. However, I got a good quality meal and finally some more fish for my health and a more balanced diet. Apart from that, there are some leftovers for another day ... or maybe too.
While eating I still discovered some fishbones in the soup - maybe that's why I don't have fish too often.
Whatever I say, I enjoyed the fish soup and am glad I have some more for the weekend.
Now that's something lovely for ReadCookEat.

Anyway, it wouldn't have been my fault, if the soup would have been terrible, for I followed most of the time Peter Høeg's description.

If it happens to be the case you have been reading something or are still doing so and you find any connection with food in that book and find the power to do a dish, then I see no reason, why you should not join ReadCookEat this month ...

Click here to go to the Link-up

Still Italian - Saltimbocca alla Romana with Roasted Vegs

I am still in the mood for Italy or was it Italian food? I would right away do a food trip to Italy, if I could. However, as there is no room for thinking about that at the moment I have some more Italian food: Saltimbocca. It may be strangely, but that was something popping into my mind when thinking further about Italian food. I wanted to make it for some time now. The only problem so far was, to come across some nice veal escalopes.
A few days then, it was the case, so I started searching for some ideas and found something from the Jamie Oliver magazine: Saltimbocca alla Romana.

That sounded perfectly good for me ... eh ... almost good for me. I just made a tiny bit of adjustment.
First of all, I concentrated on what to have with my saltimbocca. The original idea was to have some rosemary potatoes. Instead I went for a bit more colour. So, feel free to use any kind of vegetables you love to have or want to use up.
I used potato, courgette, carrot and celery. I simple chopped up the vegetables in different shapes, seasoned them with some dried rosemary and salt and dripped enough olive oil on top of them.

Because that wasn't good enough for me, I tossed in some whole garlic cloves, which to squeeze over the vegs after roasting them for about 30 minutes at 200 °C in the oven.

Just before the roasted vegetables are ready, you can prepare the saltimbocca.

Ingredients (for 1 person):
1 veal escalope (about 100 g)
Black pepper
Some sage leaves
2 slices of Parma ham
A splash of olive oil
2 knobs of butter
A splash of sweet white wine

Method:
I started my saltimbocca with flattening it out. Sometimes I need to make some noise, so the neighbours know I am still alive.

Then I went on seasoning the meat with some black pepper. After that I placed a few of the tiny sage leaves I still had left from the bunch of sage I had bought a few weeks ago.
Just a few stems had survived them. I had put them in a glass with some water. One of the stems had developed some roots now. So I planted that one into a pot and used the leaves from the other stem.
Over the sage leaves then, the two slices of Parma ham were placed.

Time to heat up the pan with some olive oil and a knob of butter. From here on, things go quite fast. The saltimbocca needs two minutes on each side. Then you remove it from the pan, cover it with aluminium foil and leave it to rest until you are finished with the sauce.
In order to do that, you add another knob of butter and a splash of sweet white wine to the pan you have still on the heat. Add some more sage leaves to the pan and quickly reduce the sauce, because I am hungry.

Plate up the Saltimbocca alla Romana with some of the roasted vegetables and enjoy a very delicious meal. Now I remember, why I always wanted to make saltimbocca, because it tastes so great - that is, if you have used good quality ingredients.

Before I come to end here I like to add this post to some challenges.
First of all to Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays. I didn't see anything wrong in the ingredients I used. It's all from scratch here.

The herbs in that dish are obvious. You can even see them on the photos, the rosemary and the sage. So I even used herbs according to this month's Cooking with Herbs, which is managed by Karen from Lavender & Lovage.

Now it's just time to continue thinking of Italy. I don't know whether reading Romeo & Juliet will help ... or some Italian wine is necessary ... who knows!?

Chain Reaction: Italian Week - Tomato Sauce, Pizza and Lasagne

Sometimes one thing leads to another. I like to have some kind of cooking chain reaction, when the leftovers of a meal come to star in another meal or two or even more. I dreamt of five meals or so. Well, I will be satisfied with less ... for now.
It all started with a tomato sauce. No, not exactly, it started when I found some lovely celery sticks and carrots smiling at me. When celery and carrots smile at a man, the only thing you can do is smile back and ... cook with them.

Meal 1: Pasta with Tomato Sauce (call it vegetarian bolognese, if you like)

Before I go on, I just want to tell you, I couldn't find the photos of the pasta with tomato sauce. Maybe that's because I didn't take any.

I put a large pan with olive oil on medium heat. Then I went about finely chopping two cloves of garlic, an onion, four celery sticks and two large carrots. All the tiny bits of vegetable ... eh, maybe I didn't chop them that fine ... went into the pan in order to be soften. Have patience and enjoy the process.
Next I poured a tin of tomatoes (400 ml) into the pan with some extra water. I better should ave taken two tins or a larger one. That's why I added some fresh tomatoes and a bit of tomato puree later on. Oh, some chopped up red chillies will give the sauce some extra heat, too.
It's important not to forget the seasoning. Good I didn't forget it the same way I forgot the photos and (you will see later) something else.
Anyway, now you want to get the content of the pan boiling and then leave it simmering for 30 minutes.
At this point you check the seasoning again. Better safe than sorry.
Now a splash of red wine vinegar comes in handy and ... you have to make a decision. You could just break up the tomatoes with a spoon or put the whole sauce into a blender and ... let things go. I went with blender. I wasn't in the mood for coarse consistency this time.
Finally I added some chopped up fresh basil.
Cook your pasta according to the package instructions, if you are not doing fresh pasta.
Again, if you don't forget, you could catch up some of the cooking water to add to the sauce.
Whatever the case, have a plate of pasta with the tomato sauce and some parmesan on top. It won't disappoint you.

Of course we have some leftover tomato sauce in order to continue ...

Meal 2: Four-cheese Pizza

I had to do this. It was about time I do a post with pizza again. You can never have too much.
I want some tomato sauce for my pizza before I put the final topping on, no matter what it is. At least that is what I think right now. Well, I can't remember it otherwise right now, I forgot it (with all this forgetting, I reckon I am getting old).

Fine, we already have our tomato sauce for the pizza. What else? Of course, the pizza dough. You can use your favourite pizza dough or have a look here for a recipe.
More? Sure, the four cheeses. I took buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan and a fourth very delicious Italian cheese, which unfortunately I (here it comes again) forgot the name of. The cheese was very creamy and in fact you get the most of that cheese when you eat it just the way it is. Yum!
Once you have all the components read, heat up the oven to 250 °C (unless you have a pizza oven). Roll out your dough and thinly spread on some of that tomato sauce. Then scatter as much of the cheese all over the pizza. Make sure to taste small bits of cheese to survive the time until the food is ready.
If you feel like it, you can finish off the pizza with a splash of olive oil. Since we are having an Italian week here, in fact, you can put a splash of olive oil to anything we are having.
My pizza was ready after 15 minutes ... well, I cut it into pieces ...

... and went for it ...

It was so yummy, I could have had more. Luckily, I already had frozen the remaining pizza dough. In time, that would be meal 4, but until then it is resting in piece.
So, if you love cheese, that's your pizza. At least it's mine. Even now while I am writing this done I am starting to salivate again. Or is this due to the fact I had some of meal 3 ...

Meal 3: Lasagne (do I have to say more)

Still I am doing Italian ... thanks to that lovely tomato sauce. I was so glad I still had that much left over.
Another pan goes onto the oven and again some olive oil is heated up.
I have 500 g of minced pork that needs some browning in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Watch as the heat does it's job. Add the tomato sauce when the meat is ready. Stir through well and heat the sauce up.
Meanwhile you have a sufficiently large tin (mine was 35 cm x 25 cm) ready. Add some - I told you so - olive oil to the bottom of the tin. then lay out a layer of lasagne sheets.
Oh, we would need some kind of bechamel for the lasagne as well, I reckon. Nah, forget about it. We are doing a cheat version. Mix 200 g of crème fraîche with salt, pepper, a large hand full of grated parmesan and an egg.
Next onto the lasagne sheets goes a half of the minced pork tomato sauce, then half of the bechamel cheat, then some lasagne sheets again, followed by the remaining meat, followed by the remaining bechamel cheat. Well, how does that look?
Obviously something is missing. Ah, here we go, I topped the whole thing with 200 g of grated mozzarella cheese and ... you know.

30 - 35 minutes in the oven, which has been heated up to 200 °C, will do. The cheese will turn brownish.
Now you would only need to slice the lasagne up and serve it. Dig in! The lasagne was as delicious as the pizza. Dangerously delicious!

You might get some further ideas and serve a rocket and tomato salad on the side. However, I was satisfied with as it was. After all, I know about all those vegetables hidden in that meal.

When some lovely ingredients smile at you, smile back and get cooking.

Now, what about you, do you have any chain reactions going on in your kitchen? While I don't want to turn this into a blog challenge necessarily, why not share your Food Chain Reaction Stories with us by linking up a post in the comments and ... see what will happen.
Since I also made good use of the leftover tomato sauce, this is a fitting post for Elizabeth's from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food Challenge, which ... what a coincidence ... is hosted by my own self this month.

Dangerous dieting, but soup is good for you - Winter Minestrone

I reckon, life can be quite dangerous as a food blogger ... when you are at least as crazy as I am ... at least. Otherwise, how would you call baking a Sachertorte just for your 2nd Blogiversary? As I don't throw away food, I will inevitably end up with having problems putting my trousers on. Yes, no help arrived in helping me eat that cake. 
Anyway, repeated incidents like this will turn you into being overweight. That can make life quite hard, especially when you want to go swimming at the Sea and at the same time activists of Greenpeace are nearby. For sure they will aid you in getting back into the Sea, where you obviously belong.
Now, you could also choose the way of dieting as some have the custom to do at the beginning of every year or ... no wonder ... close to the beach season. From the latter we are still far off.
In case you have found a diet that is working well for you beware that it isn't working too well. In order to help you with that I have some clues for you when to stop dieting ...

Fully Fed - Pulled Pork with Herb and Beer Cheese Buns

I know, there are quite a lot of things I haven't tried before. There is still a lot of food on my list to feed on ... eh to try, cook and eat. Sometimes I think, I should be cooking all day. Eh, well, for some thing you nearly have to do this literally, like for example pulled pork. An acquaintance talked about it, that he wanted to try it and then I saw something lovely on the net somewhere that encouraged me to try it, finally.
So I had a bit of a look on how to do it and then I had a go ...

Together with the pulled pork I wanted to have some Herb and Beer Cheesebuns.

One way or the other Red Hokkaido Squash Soup

From what I gather by looking around, it's time for squashes and pumpkins. Really? Yes, I would say so. What do we get out of it? For example, I bought a Red Hokkaido squash. Well, I didn't have to go that far and travel to Japan to get it. From it we can get vitamin A and vitamin C, calcium, potassium and iron to mention just a few. Furthermore it is low in calories and sodium. That is, if you are caring about nutrition facts and ... eh ... calories. However, I guess we have to mess around with the calories anyway. But at least you can say, the calories didn't come from the squash.
We are going to have some soup. One day I was invited by some friends ... eh ... just a moment, I invited myself and ... we had some pumpkin soup. Some time later I tried to recreate that soup without having the recipe. 

I may have gotten it slightly wrong, but I will give you some alternative ideas, too. So you can have it one way or the other ...

Dark Secrets and a Rustic Meaty Medieval Beer Stew

Moors and dense and dark forests. That's the perfect backdrop for some myths and legends. Witches, werewolves, wraiths, giants, fairies and dwarfs - creatures that dwell in those mysterious tales ... just around the corner. That's what the local newspaper wrote about the region of Schaumburg, not the one in Cook County in Northeastern Illinois. Rather the Schaumburg in the Northern part of Germany, just slightly to the west from Hanover.
The first tale I like to relate to you is about the blood linden tree (Blutlinde). According to the legend it took place around 1400. An evil squire accused a young girl or practicing sorcery. The trial took place at the castle of Schaumburg.
The girl was presented to the judge and also has professed her innocence under torture. Now it was upon 'divine judgement' that guilt or innocence was to be perceived. The night before the judgement a storm was raging and the linden tree at the gate of the castle fell down.
The next morning the accused girl in haste plugged a branch from the fallen tree, pushed it into the soil and said: "As surely as this branch will sprout and grow, I am truly innocent." 
The young girl was taken to the water pools to be put to the water test for the 'divine judgement'. Would she float guilt was proven. On the other hand, if she would sink down, she would be innocent. As you see, no chance of winning.
The young girl sank and hastily they tried to pull her from the water, but to no avail. Life had gone out from her. An innocent girl had been murdered.
The branch of the linden tree, though, sprouted and grew into a giant tree. Up to today you can hear the whispering  of it's leaves and the swooshing of the branches.
Today you also have a good view from the castle on the valley below, especially when you dare to climb the high tower. These days there is also a restaurant there, where you can buy fruit wines.
But back to the past ... same place, some years later, this time the 12th century. Apart from the owner of the castle of Schaumburg there is said to have been yet another resident - a knight. The story goes that he was clad in black and raided passing traders. The people around the area called him 'the Black Knight'.
Finally back in the 21th century a local brewery took up the legend of the black knight and brewed a beer and named it after that knight calling it 'Schwarzer Ritter' (black knight).
Now it happened that I had a guest post here on my blog recently. It was about a Canadian Beer Cheese Soup. Of course I don't just let others write posts with recipes for me without testing them myself. So I had to get some beer and as a result came across the 'Schwarze Ritter' beer, a dark brew.
Then I thought by myself I want to cook something else with it, maybe something that could fit the time and the area as well. What came out of it was this Rustic Meaty Medieval Beer Stew.

Let's do this stew. No one gets hurt, I promise.

Ingredients:
500 g beef shin, cut in small chunks
2 fresh coarse pork sausages
1 tbs butter
5 slices of bacon
2 onions, cut into rings
500 g carrots, cut into round chunks
1 kg potatoes, cut into random chunks
1 large leek, cut into rings
1 l beef stock
1 bottle 'Schwarze Ritter' dark beer (330 ml)
A bunch of parsley (or even dried), chopped up
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
You see, all natural ingredients, no additional artificial flavourings and preservatives. No fancy things, just basic ingredients. You can use any dark beer you can get your hand on.
Barbecue the beef and the sausages in your griddle pan unless you are in the mood to set up your barbecue outside. After all, here it's still to cold for that.
Once the meat has got sufficient colour and even some marks from the barbie you can put it aside on a wooden board or as you may see fit.
Get yourself a large pot ready and melt the butter. Place the slices of bacon at the bottom and let them work a little bit. I like to time things as I go. 
Now I give my attention to the onions and toss them together with the bacon. It might be necessary to reduce the heat a bit. We don't want to blacken anything here.
Time to work with the carrots, peeling them and cutting them into the aforementioned chunks. Well, this might be a good opportunity to train your knife skills. Maybe that's why I chose this amount of carrots. Into the pot with them. Spoon through with your favourite wooden spoon and devote your attention to the potatoes.
The peeling of the potatoes might feel a bit like a punishment. Maybe you can find someone else to do it for you. No? Ah, no worries, I managed alone as well. Off they go into the pot all the same. Spoon.
Now, what's left to peel or chop? Right, chop the leek in rings after you have thoroughly cleaned it. They will find their place in the pot.
While you are already at it, add the meat and the parsley as well.
Pour over the beef stock and the beer. Spoon through one final time before you bring the whole content of the pot to the boil. Then let it simmer with the lid on for about one hour or longer. The potatoes should be cooked through and soft, but still retain their shape.
You may want to let it simmer further on afterwards a bit longer while the lid is removed. It all depends on whether you like to have more or less liquid in your stew. 
If you want to use any leftovers later on in a pie or so, you can cook away some liquid away later. 
However, at this point it would be time to plate up your Rustic Meaty Medieval Beer Stew and eat it. 

Thou might desire a piece of rustic bread to go with it. Why not have it! 
Enjoy it folks and have a nice life! 
See thee!

...

Wait! 

Not so fast! 

Where are you going?

I decided it isn't over yet. Another quick one. 

About one year ago ... to be precise at February the 5th in a small place far far away from a lot of things ... to be more precise, in a small town (village? hamlet?) in the Northern part of Germany a young man (just assume for a while - for the sake of dramatisation - it's right to say so) set out on a journey (if you like to call it that way) to boldly do ... eh ... now I confused myself ... again.
It's always the same. Now I write on this blog for exactly one year and still have drop outs and I don't know what to say.
Try and fail, try again and fail a little better. Fine!
Cooking Around the World is now officially 1 year old!!!

What do you say?

Back for Good!? Hot'n'Fruity Potato and Carrot Curry

'I guess now it's time for me to give up. I feel it's time.'

In 2012 ... a lot of things happened that shouldn't have had!

'Whatever I said, whatever I did, I didn't mean it.'

While kicking 2012 farewell I was a bit mean and some started worrying ... well, at least some worried whereas a lot wouldn't, if I'm not there anymore.

What now?!

Was the beginning of Cooking Around the World something that shouldn't have happened? Will anyone miss crazy stories intertwined with cooking that don't have anything to do with cooking? What about recipes that make the truth appear on your hips? Besides that who can stand the truth???
Then there are the things that have the capacity to bring you a burning sensation several times to your body ...

... 2013 ... Happy new year? Who knows about such things???

It's up to you to be happy ...

Besides that ... things go on as they have been before ... but will it be back for good?
The answer is shrouded in darkness ...

You didn't understand a word? Well, then directly continue with the burning ... and have a Hot'n'Fruity Potato and Carrot Curry ...

Ingredients (everything you don't like is optional, but then you might end up with nothing much):
1 red onion, finely chopped
500 g potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes (sort of)
500 g carrots, peeled and cut in cubes (you know)
1 tbs flour
500 ml vegetable stock
1 chili (oh, oh, I used a habanero one), finely chopped
100 ml coconut milk
2 tsp mango chutney
2 tsp curry powder
Juice of one lime

Preparation (beware not to make 'the' mistake):
Let's talk business now and put this Hot'n'Fruity Potato and Carrot Curry together.
We start off by softening the onion in a pan with some oil at low heat. After that we chuck in the potatoes and the carrots and turn up the heat a bit to fry them a little bit. You will see some colour appear on the potatoes.
Spread the flour all over it ... if you can and then pour over it the vegetable stock. Go with a wooden spoon through it and ... add the chili. While talking about chillies, just keep in mind to be careful, when handling them or otherwise they will burn also in another way. We will talk about this a bit later again.
Did you add the chili? I did and the coconut milk, mango chutney and curry powder goes in as well. Spoon things through again to have it all spread evenly (sort of).
Then it's time to put a lid on it and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes.

Don't worry too much about the things you don't have! After all, you could have added some pieces of chicken breast and some pieces of mango as well, but ... we didn't ...
So, don't worry, be happy!

After the simmering is over, turn off the heat, remove the lid and add the lime juice. Use that spoon once more. Then you are ready to heat. Should you be as stupid as me and have used the habanero chili, you will have quite a burning feeling in your mouth. However, there will also be a certain fruitiness. Guess why!

Once the meal is over, I hope you are still happy ...

Nevertheless, there comes the point in once life where you have to rub your eyes, because of something ...

... what a stupid idea!!! A really stupid idea, when you have handles chillies and removed the seeds with using your fingers. Even if you wash your fingers afterwards, something still remains. Yes, rubbing your eyes using those fingers is really stupid ...

... yet another reason to cry! Will it ever end?

I only know that this was not the first time I did this chili part and for sure it will not be the last time ...

If you dare to try this Hot'n'Fruity Potato Carrot Curry, let me know what you think about it!

That's all for now, but is it back for good?!

Hanoi Lemongrass Cheesecake

I was thinking ... yes, for a change ... and it came to my mind ... right, I haven't lost it completely ... that there was this lovely blog hop I used to join in once in a while. It is called The Sweet Adventures Blog Hop, in short SABH.
The SABH is presented by Delicieux, The Hungry Australian, Dining With a Stud, The Capers of the Kitchen Crusader, and 84th & 3rd. I had a look and ... the theme for this month is cake and three veg.
Here I am now, somehow I have to bake a cake with veg in it. The only things that come to my mind are carrots and beetroot in a cake ... that is, a sweet cake. If you have a look at the other blogs later (as would be recommended) you see how inventive others have been.
After some research through various books and taken the ingredients I have at home I came to this: Hanoi Lemongrass Cheesecake.

Well, lemongrass is used as a herb in the Asian cuisine and you for sure wouldn't call it a veg. What about the veg then? I used carrots. In fact you could call this cake also: Lemongrass-Lime-Ginger-Carrot-Chocolate-Cheesecake.
However, that would not sound as intriguing as the name I came up with friends from the net. I try this cake exclusively for this Blog Hop. I have no experiences with it, as I never did it before. We will see, how things end up. So, let's do Hanoi Lemongrass Cheesecake. 
Ready, set, bake ...

Ingredients, here they come:
Cake base:
300 g flour
14 g baking powder
Pinch of salt 
1 tbs cocoa powder
50 g brown sugar
100 g of carrots
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
150 g yogurt
2 tbs of vegetable oil
2 eggs or 4 egg whites

Cheese topping:
400 g cream cheese
100 g sugar
2 eggs
2 tbs milk
1 stalk of lemongrass
Zest of one lime

Chocolate topping:
100 g 25 g of chocolate (I thought I needed more, but I didn't)

How the experimenting went:
First of all we like to concentrate on the cake dough.
I mixed all dry ingredients together in one bowl, that is sifted the flour with the baking powder in, added the brown sugar and cocoa powder, and, not to forget, the pinch of salt.
Then I concentrated on the other ingredients with a different bowl. I put in the yogurt and the oil. Time for grating ...
The carrots and the ginger were grated to the yogurt. The oil and the eggs (or egg whites) joined. A little bit of mixing was due then.
It's time for the contents of both bowls to join forces together. Therefore I added the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture and ... of course ... mixed everything together into a brown and sticky dough.
Already before all that, I had a spring tin form greased. This was ready now to receive the dough ... sometimes, though, I wish afterwards I had used baking paper, but ... I didn't.
With a rubber spatula I tried to level things out and once that was accomplished more or less, the cake went to the oven for 10 minutes at 200°C.

That 10 minutes is exactly the time I wanted to use to prepare the cheese topping.
No need to panic! Really?
We just have to mix all the ingredients for the cheese topping together. Well, not exactly. The lemongrass needs chopping up, as fine as possible. Of course, I didn't forget to grate in the zest of the lime.
10 minutes over. I made it!

I removed the cake from the oven and turned up the heat to 225°C.
Now the cheese topping goes onto the cake ... on top. Oh, oh, it seems quite liquidish. Will it set properly? No worries, we will see.
Back goes the cake into the oven for 15 minutes. Then the heat is reduced to 125°C and the cake stays in the oven for another 30 minutes.

After that the cake needs cooling down and somehow we have to figure out to remove it from the tin without destroying it again ... hard job.
Anyway, I couldn't even wait properly for the cake to cool down. It was getting late. I wanted to eat the cake at a proper cake time ... what nonsense am I talking ... cake time could be anytime.
Whatsoever, I grated some chocolate over the cake. Somehow it melted partways, but i wasn't bothered. After all I had to take some pictures and have cake.

What would you say? Will such a cake taste nice, delicious, wonderful, or whatever good?
It did! You will not be disappointed.
Although now, it was the first time I tried this cake, I can only say, it's worth a try ...

 Now back to the SABH ...

I hope you enjoyed the Hanoi Lemongrass Cheesecake!

For sure you will enjoy the other entries ...