Recipe XVII - Two-in-one: Sour Cherry Clafoutis and Austrian Kaiserschmarrn

Last night was a very good night for cherry picking - the moon was over half-full, scattered clouds were letting the light seep through and I was out cycling with a special companion in the hills where fruit grows in abundance and you can see as far as next Thursday. The collection was pretty quick, provided I hoisted her on my shoulders so she could reach the higher branches, but we made a pleasant occasion out of it. Remember, Nature gives us Her fruit freely and with love; the least we can do is sing a song of thanks to the tree that provided us with its produce. Leaving something there in return (bread, some home-made alcohol, etc.) is also a good thing to do.

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
300-350g sour cherries, preferably freshly-picked but from your local market is fine
300ml fresh milk
60g ordinary flour
60-75g sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Baking powder
Icing sugar







Instructions:
Go to your local cherry orchard in the evening after the sun has crossed the horizon but is still giving light.
When you come home, put your oven on to about 180°C.
Get three eggs and crack them into a bowl.
Pour the sugar and vanilla essence into the bowl and beat thoroughly into the eggs.
Take the milk and flour, and give them a beating until it becomes a consistent batter.



Put the cherries into a baking dish, arranging them on the bottom. Don't be afraid to use some of the less nice-looking ones as they provide taste to the dish.
Pour the batter over the cherries (often, not all the mixture gets used), and put the baking dish in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until it is thoroughly cooked.



To see if it is ready, put a knife in the middle and if there is a lot on the blade, it still needs 5 more minutes.
Once out of the oven, leave it to cool slightly (10 minutes should do) and serve at a warmish temperature. It will probably reduce in size a little in the dish. This is normal.
Sprinkle some icing sugar on top of it if you like.

Accompaniment:
Goes well just on its own with a nice cup of tea in the afternoon, or as an early Sunday evening dessert. Cold vanilla sauce or ice cream would go down very nicely.



What to do with the rest? An Austro-Hungarian treat, Kaiserschmarrn! (Or in Hungarian, Csaszamorzsa)
Take the rest of the batter (top it up if necessary with another egg, a bit of flour, sugar and some milk) and put it in a sizzlingly hot frying pan with some butter. Immediately pour some currents and sultanas in it, sprinkle cinnamon on the top, and fry for two minutes. Put it under the grill for a further three to four minutes (until it rises) and serve hot or cold.

Recipe XVI - Pasta Carbonara

Please excuse the one-day delay in this recipe - I had quite a busy weekend, and I'm only now coming to terms with the fact it's Monday...

To make a carbonara is one of life's little pleasures in my kitchen - it's simple, quick and is perfect for this type of weather as it re-salts your body after sweating so much in the heat. I like my Speck/pancetta nice and chunky, because it looks so appetising!
Carbonara is not, like the packets in supermarkets like you to think, a runny cheese sauce, at all. It is more like scrambled eggs wrapped in pasta. Don't leave the final part of the sauce too long to cook though, or you'll be having an omelette instead...

Timing is the key.


Ingredients:
200-300g pancetta/Speck (or equivalent smoked pork belly from your local area is also OK)
4 eggs
1 medium-sized onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 small carton (140ml) of cream
150g pecorino/cacciotta di pecora (or parmesan, if you can't get any)
Some fresh marjoram
Ground black pepper
I also like to add one ball of mozzarella, but only because I am addicted to it.




Instructions:

• Cut up the onion and garlic into small pieces.
• Take your kitchen scissors and cut the pancetta into strips.
• Fry the onion, garlic and the pancetta lightly in the pan until crisp.
• Meanwhile, heat up your (lightly salted) water.
• Crack open the eggs and beat them. Add the cream, mozzarella and some of your cheese.
• Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the pancetta and turn the heat up a little. Cook until the consistency is to your liking.
• Add the pasta to the pan as soon as it is al dente. Do not leave it to cook much longer, or it will become a mushy pap.
• Stir all the ingredients in very well and serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

Recipe XV - Beef and Buffalo Mozzarella Roulades with Fresh Herbs in a Red Wine Sauce

As every good cook's hands should smell of onion or garlic, the kitchen should contain a cheap bottle of wine for cooking purposes. This dish takes about 45 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.

Ingredients:
3 thin pieces of beef flank steak
120g buffalo mozzarella
1 onion
Fresh oregano, basil and thyme
6 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
2 glasses of red wine




Instructions:
Take the beef and spread it flat on the preparation dish. Rub some salt and pepper into it on both sides.
Cut up the onion and put it in a blender along with the herbs, garlic and some olive oil until it becomes a pulp.



Spread the mixture on top of the beef like butter onto bread.
Slice the mozzarella into three pieces and place one in the centre of each steak.


Pick up the longer sides in the middle and envelope the longer tongues over the top, sealing with cocktail sticks in strategic places.




Cooking:
Heat a large, high-sided frying pan with some olive oil and place the roulades inside, frying gently until all the sides are sealed.
Add your red wine and put on the lid of the pan. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes on a medium heat. Check it every ten minutes.
Some of the mozzarella, onion, garlic and herbs will have leaked into the wine, making a delicious sauce.




Accompaniment:
We had boiled potatoes with chives and melted butter, but a nice tomato and rocket salad would go really well too.

Recipe XIV - Chick Pea and Sweet Potato Soup

Many of the ingredients in this particular dish were served to me at a very kind friend's house last week. They were in a German diet recipe book (which is the equivalent of a Spanish safe-driving scheme or a Swedish joke shop) but it had potential. I adapted it slightly with a few other things, where you see the (*) next to the ingredient. There are quite a few, considering it was a diet book...

Most of the ingredients before cooking

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
4-5 carrots
1 onion (I used about 5 onions from my garden as they were tiny)
8 or more cloves of garlic
1 leek (*)
1 yellow pepper (*)
A tin of chick peas
3 chicken breasts, cubed (*)
A tin of coconut milk (*) or 250ml yoghurt
A handful of dried coriander (*)
A large helping of ground cinnamon (*)
Some raisins and sultanas (*)
Two spoonfuls of sugar (*)
A spoonful of chili powder (*)
A litre of chicken or vegetable stock (bouillon)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Instructions:
Turn on the oven and roast the garlic for half an hour to 45 minutes.
Cut up the sweet potatoes, carrots, leek, yellow pepper and onion into easily manageable pieces.
Lightly salt the chicken and gently fry it with the onion, pepper and leek in a high-sided pan, adding pepper and some chili powder.

A view into the pan

Remove them and put them in your largest saucepan. Get the sweet potatoes, carrots and chick peas and put them in there too, along with the stock.

After the rest of the ingredients have gone in

Put more coriander in, as well as some more chili powder if you wish. Not forgetting the coconut milk or yoghurt.
Once the garlic is nicely roasted, remove it from the oven and crush it with your pestle and mortar. A fork will do if you're out of pestles! Spoon it into the saucepan and mix it in well.

The ingredients before mashing

Cook on a low heat for as long as you like - the longer the better. As an option, feel free to crush all the ingredients to make a really flavoursome mixture.
Serve with Asian noodles or rice.

 

Ready!

Recipe XIII - Porterowka Liqueur

I was very fortunate to have been given a sip of one of Poland's finest alcohols at the house of my cousin in 2009, and since then I have made several litres of it - it makes you feel all warm and glowing inside, and tastes like a liquid tiramisu. It is a perfect after-dinner winter liqueur or a wonderful accompaniment to the successful conclusion of a summer party when you want your guests to go home with something they'll never forget...
...or never remember, depending on how much you give them.

Ingredients (pro rata):
2 litres Porter beer (London Pride, Guinness, etc...)
2 sachets of vanilla sugar
[My own addition: a few spoonfuls of syrup e.g. golden syrup, etc...]
One cup of ordinary sugar (or more, for taste - I used quite a lot)
250ml-500ml wine spirit (90%, from most chemists), depending on the strength you would like
One bottle of vodka - optional, depending on the amount you require

Instructions:
Take a very large cooking pot or cauldron and pour, ever so carefully, the beer into it. Heat it up, stirring constantly, but DO NOT let it boil. Add the vanilla sugar, the syrup and the sugar. Stir continually until the sugar disappears and the foam is no longer.
Leave it to cool.
Once it is totally cold, pour the wine spirit into the pot. Here is the moment to pour in the bottle of vodka, as this will give you more for the amount you made, but as I said in the list of ingredients, everything is pro rata.
Mix the ingredients very well, and pour into bottles. It is possible to use the same night, but for the best possible results, wait six months. If you do it now, it'll be ready in time for the Christmas season!

 

Try and taste the colour. It's exactly the same.

 

I recycled one of the vodka bottles for my drink.

 

How it might look after three or four glasses.

Recipe XII - Pasta alla Puttanesca

Italian food is not known for its spiciness. In fact, it is quite a parochial cuisine, being based on 5 principle ingredients (green-red vegetables, meat/fish, onion, garlic, olive oil) with add-ons to vary the flavour, like cheese and herbs, but it is still quite interesting to see what can be done with those five ingredients. In this recipe, spice makes a dramatic entrance into this most limited of national cuisines. It is also surprising how much Italians rely on canned produce to make up their dishes.

This particular dish was served by the prostitutes of Italian ports looking to serve something hearty to their clients, hence the name.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, diced finely
1 tin of anchovies is usual, but I use tuna as it does not have such a salty taste, considering the other ingredients
2-3 red pepperoni or some chili powder if not to hand
1 red pepper
1 large onion
Half a cup of capers
A large handful of pitted black olives (chopped or whole according to preference)
A tin of diced tomatoes or a carton of tomato passata
Fresh herbs (parsley is usually recommended, but I like to add thyme and basil)
Some red wine (optional)
A 500g pack of penne rigate or farfalle

Instructions:
Put the olive oil into a rounded frying pan and put the cooker on a medium-hot setting. Once the oil is hot (you can tell by putting one piece of finely diced garlic or onion and seeing if it bubbles), throw in the onions and peppers.
Sweat them for a few minutes until they are soft but not browning. If you choose chili powdder, now is the time to add it.
Add the tuna, garlic, pepperoni, capers and olives and allow the mixture to blend into itself.
Meanwhile, heat up a saucepan of salted water. Once boiling, put the pasta into it and follow timing instructions.
Add the herbs, then the passata. Turn down the heat and allow the ingredients to mix well into each other. Some people do this for ten minutes, others for whole hours. It is up to you, but use a lid if you are leaving it on for a longer time.
Once the pasta is cooked (remember, pasta al dente is about a minute short of full cooking time, and makes the pasta much more solid rather than that dinner-hall pulp served in staff canteens) put it into the sauce and mix it all together until it forms a homogeneised consistency. Serve hot, drizzle olive oil over the top.

Other options:
CHEESE: Some choose to add mozzarella to it early on to dissolve into the sauce but in such a spicy dish, this makes little or no difference. What does, though, is the cheese you use. Some purists will guffaw at the following idea, but what is a recipe without a tweak? I personally think grated English Cheddar is the ideal cheese topping for tomato-based sauces, and I defy anyone who has not tried it to disagree! Failing that, Cacciotta di Pecora is an ideal alternative to Parmigiano, which I have always found a trifle too powdery.

Recipe XI - Russian Apple Scharlotka with a Vanilla Kick

Ingredients:
2-3 apples
Approx. 200g-250g sugar
Approx. 150g-175g flour
3 eggs
A vanilla pod
A knob of butter

Instructions:
Start by preheating the oven to about 180°C.
Put the flour, eggs and sugar into a bowl and mix them together until they form a smooth, thick paste which takes a long time to fall from the spoon. Add the content of the vanilla pod and stir it fully into the mixture.
Meanwhile, grease a round baking dish with the knob of butter and cut up two to three apples into thin slices and place them into a spiral pattern on the bottom of the dish.
Pour the mixture over the top and cook the whole thing for about 40 minutes. If, after 30 minutes, the top is going dark, check if it is ready by inserting a knife into the middle. If it comes out still sticky, it is not done yet. In this case, turn down the heat to about 160°C and leave it in for another ten minutes or so.
Dust the top with some powdered sugar.
It can be served immediately or it can wait for up to 48 hours in a cool, dry place if you need to prepare it in advance.
Sorry I don't have a photo this week - I took it straight to a party on Friday and it was gone before I could get a camera onto it!