cranberry margarita // french 75

Leave a comment
Drinks

cranberry margaritas
4 generous servings

200ml pure cranberry juice
100ml freshly squeezed lime juice (2-3 limes)
150ml tequila
100ml orange flavoured liqueur, like Cointreau or triple sec
2 handfuls ice cubes
salt

Check your pantry to see if you have a large canning jar, which can do double duty as a shaker.

Put the ice cubes, the cranberry juice, lime juice, tequila and orange liqueur in a canning jar, close it tightly and shake for ca. 30 seconds.
Rub a lime quarter around the rim of each glass and press the rim in a plate with salt, so that you end up with a salt rim.

Pour the drink from the canning jar into the glasses through a little sieve to retain the ice cubes.

french 75

1 cl freshly squeezed lemon juice
dash simple syrup
dash grenadine
2 cl gin
champagne

Shake on ice cubes, strain into champagne glasses, fill up with champagne.

Quiche mit Räucherlachs

Leave a comment
Cakes + Cookies / Lunch

Meine Gäste lieben sie als herzhafte Variante bei Einladungen zu Kaffee und Kuchen.

Für den Teig:
300g Weizenmehl
80ml Wasser
100g Butter
1 TL Salz

Für den Belag:
2 EL Butter
600g Lauch (in Ringe geschnitten)
300g saure Sahne
2 EL Speisestärke
4 Eier
Salz und Pfeffer
1 Bund Dill, gehackt
400g Räucherlachs

Zuerst verarbeitet man die Teigzutaten zu einem elastischen Teig. Dann wird der Teig ausgerollt und auf eine runde Backform gelegt, den Rand zieht man an den Seiten hoch.

Der Lauch wird in der Butter gedünstet.

Die saure Sahne, Speisestärke, Eier Salz und Pfeffer und Dill werden gut vermischt, dann Räucherlachs und Lauch dazugegeben und auf dem Teig verteilt.

Bei 200°C Umluft 30-35 Minuten backen.

Stachelbeerkuchen // Johannisbeerkuchen

Leave a comment
Cakes + Cookies

Stachelbeerkuchen // Johannisbeerkuchen

125g Butter
100g Zucker
4 Eier
ein wenig abgeriebene Zitronenschale
eine Prise Salz
200g Mehl
2 Teelöffel Backpulver

für den Guss:

4 Eier, getrennt, Eiweiß zu Schnee geschlagen
200g gemahlene Nüsse
100g Zucker
eine Prise Zimt

500g Stachel- oder Johannisbeeren, oder beide gemischt

Aus den Zutaten einen Rührteig herstellen und in eine Springform geben. Darauf die Beeren verteilen.
Für den Guss die Zutaten vermischen, zuletzt den Eischnee unterheben. Auf die Beeren streichen.

Ca. 40 Minuten bei 180°C backen.

raw red currant jam

Leave a comment
Jams + Preserves

Searching for more interesting recipes besides the traditional jelly or jam, I found a long stirred raw red currant jam in an old cookbook of my mother.
And when I say long stirred I mean loooong stirred. I tried it … the outcome is delicious.

Note the little “x” mark by the side. Means the recipe is tried and well approved by my mother.

Raw red currant jam

500g ripe red currants
500g sugar

Wash the currants and discard the stems.
In a china bowl mix the currants and the sugar and let the mixture rest during the night in a cool place.
With a wooden spoon crush the currants and stir for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in the same direction. (I recommend watching a Netflix series or selling the task Huckleberry Finnwise to family members or friends).
Once thickened to the consistency of jam, fill in alcohol rinsed jars.

Raw currant jam is extremely aromatic. True!

mini orange cakes

Leave a comment
Cakes + Cookies

This recipe is based on a cake found in the book “Tartes et Gourmandises” by Eric Kayser. For my own mini orange cakes I reduced the amount of sugar and substituted some of the plain flour with stone milled barley and spelt, resulting in a more hearty bite and less overall sweetness. I also opted for my homemade quince jelly instead of the original orange marmalade. The recipe below is still the original, with my suggestion in brackets, if you wish to follow my path.

mini orange cakes

300g sugar (I used 130g)
pinch of salt
the zest of an organically grown orange
330g flour (I used 130g barley & spelt flour, 200g plain white flour)
1 sachet baking powder
180ml cream
6 eggs (I used 5 eggs)
130g soft butter
50ml liqueur d’orange
100g orange marmelade (I used quince jelly)

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
  2. In a bowl mix sugar, salt, orange zest together with the flour and baking powder.
  3. In another bowl slowly beat the eggs and the cream.
  4. Gently whisk the wet mixture into the dry ingredients.
  5. Add the soft butter, the liqueur d’orange and the orange marmelade.
  6. Continue to whisk until all ingredients are perfectly combined.
  7. Fill the batter into the baking forms of your choice.
  8. Bake for 25 minutes.
  9. Let cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.
…. AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR


three apple tart

Leave a comment
Cakes + Cookies

…which does not mean, that only three apples are necessary to make this beautiful tart. On the contrary: apples are its main ingredient. They come in three variations (thus the the name) and three layers. Grated apples mixed with almond butter, a layer of sliced apples and a glaze of apple juice thickened with kuzu.

It’s macrobiotic (a Steve Acuff recipe), vegan and free of added sugar.

Feel free to use any kind of apple for a range of results. I have made this tart several times, once using apples from my garden (crisp and juicy), wild apples from a communal field (soft and melting) and apples gifted by my friend (tart and bright).

three apple tart

for the dough:
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 tablespoon Kuzu or arrowroot powder
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water

for the filling:
2 1/2 cups grated apples
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons almond butter

1 1/2 cups apple slices

for the glaze:
1 cup apple juice
1 pinch salt
1 pinch cinnamon
1 tablespoon Kuzu or arrowroot powder

Mix wholemeal flour, white flour, Kuzu and salt with a fork, add chilled oil and stir it in. Add chilled water and knead until you obtain a smooth dough. Store in the fridge for 15 minutes. Flatten the dough with your fingers into an oiled baking form. Bake at 250°C for 10 minutes until the crust is dry, but not brown.

In the meantime grate and slice the apples (see ingredient list for the amounts). Mix the grated apples with raisins and almond butter and fill them onto the baked crust.
Then lay the apple slices on top in a circular pattern.

Bake for another 10 minutes at 250°C.

Heat apple juice, cinnamon, salt, add Kuzu diluted in water, cook until the liquid turns clear. You may add a tablespoon of red currant jam for a more rustic look. Glaze the tart and let it rest until cooled.

tomato sauce with butter and onion

Leave a comment
sauces


tomato sauce with butter and onion

900g ripe tomatoes
75g butter
1 onion, peeled and halved
salt

Immerse the tomatoes for 1 minute in boiling water. Once cooled down, peel and chop them.
In a pot simmer tomatoes, butter, onion and salt with the lid open for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Eventually the fat should have separated from the tomatoes.

Discard the onion. Add your pasta of choice or gnocchi to the tomato sauce, sprinkle with grated parmesan and serve immediately.

Baltic beet soup

Leave a comment
Soups

The remedy for the summer’s heat came to me from the Baltic countries: an earthy, slightly sour, chilled red beet soup. Sophie from Café Goldfisch introduced me to it, hers in a striking baby pink shade, mine a bit more on the magenta side. Anyway, as long as you use the traditional main ingredients red beet, gherkins, dill, spring onions and kefir (yoghurt, sour cream…) you can’t go wrong.

Baltic beet soup
(yields 4)

ca. 600g red beets
750ml vegetable broth (or water)
salt
4 eggs
250g gherkins
4 spring onions
1 bunch dill
1l Kefir (buttermilk, Sweden milk, yoghurt…to your liking)
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (to your liking)

Peel and chop the beets, cook them in the broth for about 20 minutes until soft. Let beets and broth cool completely.

In the meantime boil eggs until hard and set them aside.

Chop the gherkins, spring onions and the dill (leave some tips to decorate) and add to the beets. Blend to a gentle, velvety soup. Stir in the Kefir and enjoy the arising pinkness!

Serve with quarters of hard-boiled egg , a sprig of dill and -if you like- some hot boiled potatoes on a separate plate.

Best the next day, when the flavours had time to melt

Fichtenspitzen

Leave a comment
Foraging

Im letzten Jahr habe ich Maitriebe von Tannen, Kiefern und Fichten gesammelt, Rezepte gelesen und experimentiert. Ich habe sie frisch gehackt auf Butterbrot probiert, daraus Kräuterbutter mit Zitronenabrieb hergestellt, sie für Tee und Wildgerichte getrocknet und in Gin eingelegt. Die Triebe von der Fichte fand ich im Vergleich zu den anderen Nadelbäumen mit Abstand am würzigsten. Ihr Aroma ist frisch, ganz fein fichtennadelig und ein wenig zitrusartig. Und sie sind ganz weich und zart.

Fichtenspitzen in Gin

In Gin marinierte Fichtenspitzen sind eine Delikatesse, die besonders gut zu sahnigem Vanilleeis oder selbstgemachtem Beereneis schmeckt.

Fichtenspitzen zum Trocknen ausgelegt

Getrocknete Fichtenspitzen

  • Fichtenspitzen gemischt mit ein paar Blättern Brennessel und Waldmeister, übergossen mit heißem Wasser , ergeben einen würzig-waldigen Tee.
  • Fichtenspitzen, 5 Minuten in Wasser zusammen mit Chaga geköchelt, wärmen an kalten Wintertagen.

Ich verwende die Fichtenspitzen auch gern im Schmorsud, wenn ich Wild zubereite.

Chaga und Fichte

Fichtensahne

1 Handvoll Fichtenspitzen
1 kleine Prise Salz
1 EL Honig
1 EL frisch gepresster Orangensaft
2 TL gerieben Nüsse
200g Schlagsahne

Püriere alle Zutaten mit einem Pürierstab bis eine feine grüne Masse entsteht. Köstlich über Vanilleeis und zu Erdbeerkuchen!