Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

I bought last week a few more things, thinking I can cook more meals and freeze them. Life had a different plan. I ended up with 1/2 celery root, leaks, plenty of tomatoes, red peppers. The original idea was to make Letscho . This is a pepper based with tomato dish, that can be a side dish or a sauce.   What my fridge had in mind: Veggies: 1/2 celery root 3 stalks of leeks 6 tomatoes 2 red peppers 1 large onion 3 stalks of regular celery Other things 3 tbsp of olive oil 4 cups water 3.5 tsp of Knorr chicken bullion 4 cups of tomato juice 1/2 tsp thyme 1 tsp of ground cumin 1 tsp dried smoked paprika 1/2 tsp of curry 1 pack of turkey sausage (optional) Clean and cut all the veggies into almost  equal pices. Slice the sausage into thin slices, but keep them seperate.  In a large pot add the olive oil and heat it up over medium heat. Add the onions. when it starts to get translucent add all the celery. Keep them over medium heat. Stir every now and then. After another 1...

The plan for this weekend was to make Ravoli with a Ricotta Spinach filling. Neither one actually materialized. I made fresh pasta and wanted to use my new engraved rolling pins to put texture on the outside. This did not work out at all. The pasta is just to thin to take any shapes from the rolling pin. Ok, this will become Fettucini and a tomato spinach sauce with cheese.  I like to  flavor my noodles. Aside from the usual ingredients, they always get some spice added, that I think could work with what I want. Noodles (feeds 2 people and is my base recipe) 1/2 cup of sifted All Purpose Flow 1 Egg 1/2 tsp of salt 1 tbsp milk To get the flavor I added 1/4 tsp of ground smoked Chipotle pepper. One can add more depending on how spicy things should get. I found a small jar of tomato basil sauce in my pantry. I took half of the fresh spinach, rinsed and chopped and into a frying pan the sauce and the spinach went. This got heated up over a slow heat and cooked for about 5 minutes....

There was a bag of precooked craw fish in my freezer. A scan over the internet got me an idea. Creamy craw fish and home made pasta. I decided to flavor the pasta with tumeric. I like tumeric.   Pasta: 1/2 cup of sifted all purpose flower 1 tsp of turmeric 1 egg 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp milk Mix the turmeric into the flower.  In a small bowl mix the egg, salt and milk. Then put the egg mixture into the flower. If at the end it is still sticky, sift some more flower over it and mix. This should not be sticky anymore. Knead for  5 more minutes, form a ball, wrap it in plastic and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Run it through the pasta maker. Let it dry for 2-2.5h. When it gets closer to dinner time. Put the frozen craw fish into a big stock pot, add water not barely covering the craw fish. Add 3 tsp of Old Bay seasoning. Bring the pot to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. By then it should be all defrosted. Turn the heat off and drain. Peal the tails from ...

Noodles and red sauce is something that was and most likely is on a lot of students menu's. I can't replicate the same recipe as I did many moons ago, other then the noodles all of the ingredients either vanished or are tasting very different now. So here goes my variation 1: Salami (I buy salami in one piece, yeah is expensive, but I can cut it the way I want it.) 2.5" thick piece, cut into 0.5" thick slices and cube it. OK, you can use slices as well and cut them into bite size pieces 2 slices of ham (optional, they were left overs in my fridge and were looking for a purpose) 1 medium onion chopped 1 can of fire roasted tomato's  1/2 cup of ketchup (use your favorite ketchup) 1/2 cup of tomato juice 1/2 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp of curry leaves from 1 sprig of fresh oregano 1/2 tsp of ground Allspice 1/2 tsp of ground cumin 2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp of margarine 1 cup of water 1 tsp of chopped Chipotle peppers with a little bit of sauce from a can In...

It was time to get another pack of ground turkey. The choices were, yet another chili, the attempt to make Leberkaese with ground turkey (now that I spell it out is intrigues me, but it is time consuming), or a cross over from Soljanka into a spaghetti ground meat sauce. I decided for the last one. We need 1 big package of ground turkey (usually has 3 lbs) 1 tsp sweet paprika 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp of curry 1 tsp of ground allspice 1 tbsp of chili 1/2 of a 7 oz can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce 1 4 oz glas of pimento peppers 1/2 cup of Famous Dave's Spicy Pickles juice 1/2 cup of Famous Dave's Spicy Pickes chopped 2 cans of 14.5 oz fire roasted tomatoes 1 tbsp veggie oil 1 slice of bacon chopped 1 medium onion chopped 2 cups of water 1/4 cup of half/half (fat free is fine) In a big high rim skillet (otherwise take a pot), render the bacon and when it gets translucent add the oil and the chopped onions. When the onions are translucent at the ground turkey. I keep chopping...

There were plenty of mushrooms in the fridge, a bag of white mushrooms and 1/2 bag of shitake mushrooms.  shitake mushrooms cleaned and sliced. I discard the stems, they are usually a bit wooden white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 cup of sour creme 1/2 cup of cut Chinese chives 1 tbsp margarine 1/4 tsp Old Bay spice 1/4 tsp ground allspice 1 medium onion chopped salt and pepper to taste  In a frying pan with a high rim, melt the margarine and add the onions and the chives. Over medium heat get them translucent. Then add all the mushrooms. And cook them until done. I tend to add some water, cover the pan and after 5-7 minutes I remove the cover, add the Old Bay and ground Allspice and keep cooking. Add the garlic and keep cooking. When all the liquid is evaporated add the sour creme. Keep cooking until it is heated up. Serve with noodles and some cheese. -Mahlzeit-