Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

It has been a long time, that I made Goulash.  I didn't want to go for the German version this time. Here we go 3 lbs of beef stew meat 1 onion chopped 3 cloves of garlic sliced 1/2 tsp dried thyme 2 bay leaves 10 juniper berries 12 Allspice perls 1/2 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 2 Ancho chilies 1/2 tsp of mushroom umami  2 tsp margarine salt and pepper to taste 4 cups of water 1 cup of white wine (use something you would also drink)  In a dutch oven melt the margarine, add the onion and cook them until they are getting translucent. Add the  meet and brown it from all sides. De-glace the with the white wine, let it simmer for 5 minutes. Make sure the meat does not stick to the pot. Add the water and all the spices. Bring to a boil then turn the heat down to simmer. Cover and cook until the meat is tender. I check every 15-20 min and add more water, when it gets to low. When the meat is tender, bind the sauce. Serve with potatoes and red cabbage. Noodles work well as wel

The pineapple on the countertop is now yellow. I think it is in the sweet spot.  I didn't want to make a Hawaiian toast or pizza.  There is a yummy prime rib waiting... as a great side salad a pineapple can work. After reading through several recipes, here is what I came up with 1/2 of a ripe pineapple cleaned and chopped into bite size pieces 1 avocado chopped into bite little bites 1 cucumber, pealed and chopped into pieces 1/2 white onion finely chopped 1 handful of cilantro chopped 1/2 of a hot pepper or jalapeno, with or without seeds (depending how spicy you like it), finely chopped  Dressing Juice of 1/2 of large line 1 tbsp of a good olive oil 2 tsp of a good honey (I love rapeseed honey, but any honey will do) 1 tsp of white vinegar Chop all the ingredients for the salad and mix them in a big bowl. Mix everything for the dressing in a small ball and pour over the salad. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss everything. Then put it into the fridge for at least 1h so the flavor

Last weekend I picked up a piece of prime rib 2 bones thick.  To get a feel for how to make it, I decided today is the day to try. The rub: Olive oil 1 sprig of rosemary (the length of what you can span your thumb and point finger), needles chopped 1 tsp of fresh thyme (I used frozen fresh thyme) 3 cloves of garlic smashed Himalayan salt (sea or kosher salt works as well) fresh ground pepper I took the meat out of the fridge this morning to come up to room temperature. I just left it in the butcher paper on the stove. Before lunch time preheat the oven to 500F (mine only does 450F, so I added convection).  I salted the meat from all sides generously as well peppered it with fresh ground pepper. All the other thing mix them up in a small bowl and brush them on both sides of the ribs. I covered a baking sheet in heavy duty aluminum foil, added a rack and placed the ribs on it. I then inserted a meat thermometer, that can be left in during cooking. The pin must be parallel to the bone and

Every Wednesday I have to attend a 1-1.5h hour meeting just before lunch, where I just have to be present for 98% of the time. If I were in the office, I would  sit in a meeting room. I would be so polite not to play with my phone and check email or read Facebook. I have a high end wireless head set, so I can be away 30+ ft from my computer on a different level in my house and do things like cooking. This meeting time is now deemed cook a lunch to get away from the left overs or canned soups and salad options once a week. When I hear the dings from the chat, I will go upstairs and check.   For the beefsteak 1 lbs of ground beef 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped 2 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce  Salt, Pepper,  1 egg 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I make them myself, just dry any unused old bread and then blended) 1.5 tsp of smoked spice mix In a bowl mix all of this together and form burger patties. In a frying pan, render some fat from bacon or melt some margarine. Fry the beefsteaks to your liking

The Thai place up the road is for weeks now out of duck noodle soup. Following a principle I grew up with "Create yourself what you can't get", it is time to make my own version. I read through many recipes on the internet to come up with something, I think, will work. There will be 3 steps Roast the duck make some broth make some more duck broth from the duck bones I want my duck really bown. I found some Pomegranate Molasses in the store and just bough one bottle. It is sweet and has some nice tang to it. The oyster sauce from the picture I ended up not using for the roasting process.   Preheat the oven to 375F. I cleaned the duck, removed the neck and parts of the wings and access skin and fat from the duck. Pad dray with a paper towel. Sprinkle salt and pepper into the cavity, cut the apple into smaller slices and stuff them into the duck, Salt and pepper from the outside. Brush some Pomegranate Molasses all over the outside.  Use a turkey pan that has a tray in the b