Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

The other day I discovered a new Asian Grocery store. It is about half the distance from the one I usually go to. And they had kafir lime leaves. So I invented Almost Tom Yum soup with meat balls. We need 6-9 meat balls 8 cups of water 6 tsp of Knorr Tomato bullion 2 large tomatoes 4 kafir lime leaves 1/2" fresh ginger cleaned and sliced 2 inches of lemon grass cut into slices 7 white button mushrooms, coarsely sliced The meat balls are from the freezer from the batch I made a few weeks ago. They can be still frozen. In a pot add all the ingredients and bring them to a boil and turn the heat to simmer. Simmer for about 12-15 minutes. In a separate pot I did cook some noodles. When all is done, serve in a bowl garnished with Thai Basil. It almost tastes like Tom Yum soup. -Mahlzeit-

This may be something weird for many people, but it is something more common in Europe. For the fish I recommend to prep this the day before and let it marinade over night in the fridge. We need 1 glass of Herring in White Wine Sauce 1 small onion finely chopped 1/2 apple chopped 1 cup of sour cream In a bowl, add the fish without the liquid from the glass. The onions are fine. Add the fresh chopped onion, apple and the sour cream. Mix everything, cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.   Serve the next day with just boiled potatoes. -Mahlzeit-

Rabbit is a very lean meat. Completely defrost it over night. Then cut it into pieces. On a large cutting board, add salt pepper and dijon mastard. In a dutch oven add some veggie oil and 3 slices salted pork slices in larger chunks. Render the fat a bit. Then add all the pieces and sear them from all sides. While doing this, preheat the oven to 375F. Add  1.5 cups of water to it and transfer into the oven. Total cooking time took for me about 2 hours. Check every 20 minutes the liquid level and add more if needed. scoop some of the liquid over the meat to moisten it. When the rabbit is done, turn the oven to warm and hold. Remove the pot from the oven, Transfer the meat onto a serving plate and put it back in the oven to stay warm. Add 1 cup of water to the cooking liquid and bring it to a boil. Scrape all the brown things off the pot, that is what give the sauce flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add 1.5 tbsp of Dijon mustard and stir to dissolve. In a coffee...

I thought I make a chili    this weekend, but decided to do meatballs. Meatballs can be used in many things: Meatballs: 3 lbs of ground turkey 85/15 1 tsp salt 3/4 tsp pepper 1 tsp of smoked paprika 2 eggs 1 cup bread crumbs (I make my own from left over dried bread) In a big bowl, mix all of this  and from out balls. I tend to measure mine. This time it is about 60g +/-3. Cooking liquid 3/4 gallon of water 1 tsp salt 1 tsp of ground allspice 1 tsp of ground cumin 1/3 tsp of dried thyme Use a wide pot, that can hold about 10 meatballs and they have still room to float. Bring the water with all the spices to a boil, add 10 of the meatballs and let them simmer for about 20 -25 minutes. I ended up with 29 meatballs, so in total that is going to be 3 batches. Don’t throw away the cooking liquid. We will use it. Meatballs in a white caper sauce. Make a roux with butter and flower and add slowly sp...

It is March. It is getting warm outside. So time for a veggie soup. 1 cup chopped kale 1 cup of chopped spinach 1 large sweet onion chopped 1 orange bell pepper 1 poblano pepper cleaned and charred 1 leak cleaned and cut 1 cup chopped asparagus 1 ear of corn chopped into 1" slices 1 cup chopped green beans 1 cup carrots chopped 1 cup of celery chopped 3 packs of low sodium chicken stock 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper In a big stock pot, add some oil, the onions, carrots and celery. Over medium heat cook until the onions get translucent. Add all the rest of the ingredients, cover and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes. Cut 1 pack of Eckrich turkey sausages into slices and add to the soup. Simmer for 5 more min and turn off the heat. Serve with dumplings or just toast. -Mahlzeit-

It is time to develop my own clam/shrimp boil. This is the first try. It need some refining. 3 liters of water 1 1/2 tbsp of Old Bay seasoning 2 bay leaves 1 tsp allspice 1 Eckerich sausage, cut into 1/2" slices 1 lbs of shrimps 1 lbs of clams 1 fresh corn, cliced into 1" slices 4 red skinned potatoes cut to even sizes 1 can of diced tomatoes Clean the clams from the outside with a brush, pull any beards. Set them into a bowl of water with ice cubes and salt. Try to mimic the ocean. Set them into the fridge for 2-4 hours. This is to get the sand out of the clams. After 2-4 hours,  combine in a big bowl, the water, the Old Bay seasoning, bay leaves, Allspice, sausage slices, fresh corn slices, potato cuts, tomato. Bring to a boil on a medium heat and turn down to simmer. Start checking after 10 minutes. It all depends on how you cut the potatoes. When they start to get soft, add the clams, bring to a boil, for 4 minutes, add the shrimp, boil for 1 minute, and tur...

Lunch: There was just not a lot of time to get a full lunch cooked. So something fast needs to be thought of. 5 min Quaker grits with cheese and a side salad.   Of course I forgot to read the label how to cook the grits. My way worked just fine. Add 1 cup of grits, 2 cups of water, 2 cups of 2% milk, stir, orver medium heat bring it to a boil, stir more when it starts cooking, turn down the heat a bit if it bubbles to much. In parallel, grate some cheese, This is smoked gouda and mozarella. Add the cheese after 5 minutes, cook for 2 more minutes and turn off the heat. -Mahlzeit- Dinner 1: 1 onion chopped, 3 eggs, 1/2 Eckrich turkey sausage, 2 slices of bacon, some bbq sauce. Cold grits, that is now solid, and can be sliced.  In a pan render the bacon, add the sausage slices and the chopped onions, let them get some color. Move them to the side and add slices of the grits and warm them up for both sides. In the mean time, crack the eggs in a bowl, ...