Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

This is one of my favorite refreshing salads in the winter.  For all the fruits, it pays to use fresh and ripe fruits. 1 big handful mixed spring greens 3/4 cup of chopped pinapples 3/4 cup of  chopped water melon 1 pomegranade 1/4 of an onion finely chopped 2 tomatoes 5 fresh basil leaves finely cut  The dressing is easy 5 tbsp maple sirup juice of 1 fresh lime salt and pepper Cut everything up and mix in a bowl. I should sit for about 1 hour so the flavors can all mingle. With a slice of bread and butter it makes a meal by itself. It is also a great addition to any other full meal. -Mahlzeit-

I am trying to use some of the things from my freezer. There was a lamb roast. I defrosted it over night. As seasoning for the meat, I just used salt and pepper. In a pot I added some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and let it get hot. Add the meat and brown it from all sides. While it is searing, Cut one large onion into medium chunks. When the meat is seared remove it from the pot and set aside. Add the onions. After they became translucent add the meat back in together with 1 cup of water 1.5 tsp of ground Allspice 1/2 tsp of dried Thyme 3 Bayleaves Cover the pot and turn down the temperature. Simmer until you have your desired inner temperature. With the cooking process some of the nice color goes away. So I decided to do some more  searing. Heat up a pan without any fat and sear it again from all sides. Serve with sides of your choice. -Mahlzeit-  

A few weeks back I talked about a duck I bought that was pretty much just fat on my FB feed. They did send me a replacement duck and some extra. It was time to do the duck breast. What can I tell. It looked so nice: The left side was below on the right size. The different color from the skin comes from the red meat sitting on top of it. But cleaning? Why was that not properly cleaned?  And I didn't even pull everything out. And here again fat, fat, fat. I trimmed as much as I could, then salt and pepper onto the meat side and just salt onto the skin side. 2 pans were heated up without fat. Put down the breast, skin side down and let the fat render. I used 2 different pans, as I wanted to do 2 different recipes. Let the skin get crusty over medium high heat. Then I turned the breast around, turned down the heat. I then covered the pans. This will take the crips out, but at the end I am going to crisp it up again. 2 of the duck breasts got basted with Voodoo Sauce from Lucky 32 South...

Last night I went to Walmart. I wanted to get some tomatoes and cucumbers. It turned out a different kind of shopping. The tomatoes and cucumbers did not look good. I ended shopping for other things. There was a nice piece chuck roast in the meat section. Now that is going to go on the smoker tomorrow. I have not used the smoker much this year. The spice rub: 3 tbsp light brown sugar 1 tsp of ground Allspice 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp ground chipotle 1 tsp onion powder 1.5 tsp fine sea salt 1/2 tsp of black pepper Rub the meat all over. Also cover the sides.  Any left over can go into a little glass container and be used for the next steak. While in the kitchen I was watch the Pioneer Woman make bacon wrapped steak. Wait, I got bacon last night as well, I am going to put a few pieces of bacon on smoker. They taste so much better then coming out of the store. The smoker goes on 220F. I left the bacon on for about 1 hour. The meat was smoked until the inner temperature was 131F. The ...

It is time to get rid of some of the things in my freezer. This weekends plans: 2 ground beef patties and 1 lamb shank steak. Aside from the ingredients I need 2 small baking forms and some margarine. In a blender I added 2 large ground beef patties (80/20) 1/2 of a small onion, don't bother cutting 1 tsp of ground Allspice 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika 1/2 tsp of dried thyme 1/2 tsp of black ground pepper 3/4 tsp of kosher salt 1/2 tsp of ground cumin 1/4 cup of crushed ice Blend until all is really fine mashed. In the picture I added a stick of margarine next to it (a bit is already missing, but the dimensions can be guessed). Blend until it is really smooth. I don't want to see any texture anymore. The blender did a good job. This time I didn't use any curing salt. Next time I think I will do that again. Heat the oven to 450F. Now my counter top oven can do 450F. The second thermometer I have in there takes 100F off. I am not sure which one is right.  The baking forms need t...

I while ago I complained to a company that was raising and selling ducks, that their duck basically was 50% fat. I got from them as make-up a new duck, 2 duck breasts, 2 duck legs confit and 2 duck legs. On Friday I started to defrost the 2 duck legs in the fridge. Saturday night they were defrosted. So this is the process inspired by the French duck confit process. Pad dry the duck legs, slightly salt the skin side and put them meat side down in a glas container. They should all lay flat, not stacks. Add 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, and some juniper berries (about 5 per leg). Cover with cling wrap and into the fridge over night. From that duck disaster a few weeks back, I still had plenty of duck fat left. Preheat the oven to 300F.  Remove the duck legs from the bowl and clean it from the spices. Don't reuse the cold bowl for roasting. Chances are it will shadder. Salt the legs from all sides, add some more fresh thyme, rosemary and juniper berries...

I wanted to get some real rolls. Crunchy and still having a decent consistency the next day. Not like the soft things one can get here at groceries store, that one can press down to the size of a table tennis ball and when it is released, one does not see anything of the shape it was just in. The original recipe is from  this website  . This way to much food for me. OK, I cut everything in half. 500g all purpose flower 200 ml warm water (the finger should still be comfy to stick in) 100 ml milk 1 tsp of dry active yeast 10g salt 1 tsp sugar Sounds easy. For what ever reason I used the 400ml water from the original recipe. I made up for it by using 3/4 of  a cup of additional flower. In the bowl of my stand mixer I mix the flower and the salt. In a pot I heat the water and milk. I use a glas measuring cup for a lot of things. Glas does not react with things. Add the yeast and sugar with 1/4th of the warm liquid, stir to dissolve the sugar and yeast. Let it stand for 5 minu...