Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

This week was very busy at work. My outlet is cooking something nice on the weekend.  After all the meat, Salmon is in order. I went to Wegman's grocery shopping as I had an appointment close by. The store is usually very expensive, but once a quarter I treat myself to spend some money there. I got 2 nicely cut 6oz of salmon and lots of other goodies. I will talk about those in future posts.   The plan: Salmon filet with  potatoes, German cucumber salad and as desert cucumber, melon, feta salad  Melon, Cucumber, Feta Salad The melon, cucumber salad take the most time as it should be marinating overnight in the fridge. 1/2 cucumber (peeled or not, your choice), sliced into 5mm slices (the thickness of your little finger where there nail is). Then quarter the slices 1 cup of grape tomatoes cut in half 1/2 cup of feta (crumbles or little chunks) 1 tsp of onions finely chopped 2 cups of melon cut into bite size chunks 2 tbsp olive oil 3-4 sprigs of fresh mint In a bowl m...

Meat prices are up pretty much 100%. I better don't budge anything. This Sirloin Tip Roast did cost me a pretty penny. Spice rub 2tsp salt 2 tsp black ground pepper 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp sweet paprika 1/2 tsp ground allspice 3 tsp dark brown sugar 1/2 tsp onion powder Heat the smoker to 225F. I used hickory pellets. Cover the meat in well mixed spice rub on all sides and put it on the smoker. I have a Traeger smoker, for the first 2h I had the extra smoke added. I decided I want some baked/smoked potatoes. When I turned off the extra smoke , I added a few potatoes in an aluminum foil pouch into the smoker. When the meat reached 142 (medium rare in my case) I put the smoker into shut down mode.The potatoes were not done yet. In a countertop stove I turned it on convection at 450 for 30 min, added the potato pouch,  and all was hunky dori. Time for dinner.  Serve with sour cream for the potatos and if you like with a side sald. Remove the net. -Mahlzeit-

 I had a lot of tomatoes in my fridge. Some of them looked like that they may have only 3 days left. Chunky tomato soup it is.   Veggies: 2 carrots chopped 1/2 cup of celery chopped 1 large onion chopped 1 cloves of garlic sliced  3 cups of water 1/2 cup of chopped Famous Dave's Spicy Pickles 1/2 cup of Famous Dave's Spicy Pickles liquid 6 large tomatoes chopped 1 can of diced tomatoes 2 tbsp of tomato paste   Spices: 3 tsp of Knorr Tomato Bullion 2 tsp of sweet ground paprika 1/2 tsp of ground tumeric 1 tsp of  ground allspice 1 tsp of curry 1 tsp of cumin 1 tsp old bay spice mix 1 tsp of ground smoked paprika   Other: 2 tsp margarine 1 pack of Eckrich turkey sausage, sliced   In a soup pot melt the margarine, add the sausage  and add let them brown a little bid. add the onions, carrots and celery. Let the onions get translucent. Add all the remaining Veggies except the tomato paste and all the spices. Stir to get everything mixed. Cover and brin...

The freezer needs some room. There are a couple of pork loins that can go. Into the fridge they go and defrost. Spices: 2 bay leaves 2 chipotle peppers from a can sliced 1 big clove of garlic sliced 1tsp tumeric 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp ground allspice 1 tsp curry 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground mustart 1/2 tsp thyme leafs 4 cups of water 3 tsp Knorr Tomato Bullion 1 large onion chopped 2 tbsp veggie oil 1 tsp margarine  Meat 2 pork loin chopped into bite size pieces At the end 1/2 cup of fat free half/half 1 tbsp tomato paste   In a Dutch Oven, add the margarine and the veggie oil and heat it up over medium heat. Add the onions and let them get translucent. Add the pork. Mine was actually still a bit frozen, but that is ok. Turn up the heat and sear the meat. Be careful not to burn the onions. Add all the remaining items under spices, stir so all is mixed fine. Cover and turn the heat down to medium. Bring it to a boil and then turn the heat down, so it only simmers. Check ...

When I grew up I loved going to the bakery and get myself a chocolate Americaner. Here in America they are known as half and half cookies. They taste different then what I grew up with. I couldn't find the recipe I used a few years ago, that is asking for Ammonium carbonate . I didn't have much time to look around either, so I opted to use: Mini Americaner . The translation: 100g soft butter at room temperature 100g sugar 1 pack vanilla sugar 1 knife tip of salt 2 eggs 250g all purpose flower 45g corn starch 1 pack of baking powder ( or 1 tsp ) 1-2 tbsp milk. 1 tsp of baking powder Mix the vanilla sugar with the white sugar and salt in a bowl. In a different bowl mix the corn starch with the flower. In a stand mixer add the butter 1 egg and half of the sugar and mix on medium. After 3 minutes start to add 4 tbsp of flower (1 at the time) and mix for another 3-4 minutes. Clean the beater every now and then, so what gets stuck on the beater falls back into the dough. Stop the mix...

This weekend's theme was: All from scratch. Marinating the meat takes time. I started this on Tue, so I can cook on Saturday Potato Dumplings:  6 large starchier potatoes 1 large egg beaten 1/2 cup of potato starch a hint of nutmeg (optional)   Peal and cut the potatoes and cook in salt water until done and drain. Put it back on the stove and let any remaining water steam off,  watch it, and shake the pot so the potatoes do not burn on the bottom. Turn of the heat. Press the potatoes through a potato ricer into a bowl, while they are still hot. Then set aside and let them cool down. When they are cooled down, mix in the nutmeg, potato starch and the beaten egg. Use your hands to get it all mixed up. Form ball out of the potato dough and set aside. I ended up with 7 dumplings. I like mine about tennis ball size most of the time. Some times I make them larger or smaller. Feel free to use an ice cream scooper to get an even size.... In a really large pot bring salted water t...

I have not had fish in a long time. Here we go. I got myself a cod filet in the grocery store. I also came across some fresh Tumeric roots. Fried Potatoes: Best the potatoes are cooked a day before and went into the fridge over night. Cut into 5mm slices. Finely shop a small onion. Peel a bit of the Tumeric root enough for 6 thin slices.  In a skillet melt 2 tbsp of margarine. Add 3 slices of the Tumeric, chopped onions. Season with salt and pepper. When the onions get translucent add the potatoes.  Stir occasionally. When it has the desired color, turn off the heat. Cod In a skillet melt 1 tsp of butter and 1 tsp of margarine. Pad dry the cod filet and season from both sides. I used a BBQ Chipotle spice mix.  When the butter/margarine is melted add the filet and the other 3 slices of Tumeric. Cover. after 3 minutes spoon some of the butter over the filet, cover again. After 2 more minutes flip the filet and repeat the process. My filet was fairly thick over 1". I flipped...