Veal Cutlet

Sunday, 26th January 2014

As usual, seared the meat and finished it in the oven. The addition of a bit of lemon gave it a nice extra flavour. For the pasta a sauce of onions, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms and lots of oil, cooked gently for a long time, to get a rich, oily caramelised taste. The sauce reduced so much I should have started with an extra onion and two or three more tomatoes.
(Taking pictures of food without showing smeary plates is hard!)

Poussin with Red Wine and Mushroom sauce

Saturday, 25th January 2014

Brown the poussin all over in a casserole and set aside. In the same casserole, brown some bacon lardons, then add and soften onions and garlic. Deglaze with red wine. Put the bird back in with some more red wine, stock, thyme and seasoning, and cook in a medium oven for 45 minutes or so. Remove the poussin to let it rest a bit, and ladle out and thicken some of the sauce.
Served with boiled potatoes and cabbage.

Goose Breast

Friday, 24th January 2014

None of this really worked. Even the photo is crap.
I tried the standard approach of quickly searing the meat and then finishing in the oven, but it didn't work. The skin was not nearly cooked enough and was inedible. The meat was mostly rather chewy although, like the curate's egg, OK in parts. The roast potatoes and and turnip didn't brown. The leek was OK, but putting cranberries from a jar in was a mistake as they were far too sweet. Might work with fresh cranberries, but those weren't available. Meh.

Bratwurst and Spicy Tomato Rice

Sunday, 12th January 2014

A bit of German/Indian fusion cooking here. For the rice, soften onions and garlic and add a mix of cumin, coriander, paprika, chile and black pepper. Stir for a few minutes. Then add chopped tomatoes and salt and cook for a while. Meanwhile cook the rice as normal. When the rice is done let it sit for a while. Add chopped beans to the tomato mixture to cook through. Stir in the rice and adjust seasoning. This came out as very spicy tomato rice, but very good.

Swordfish steaks

Saturday, 11th January 2014

Once again, something just seasoned, seared and finished in the oven for a couple of minutes. Swordfish is a very meaty sort of fish, so that approach worked well here too.
Monika showed me how to do proper bratkartoffeln and those worked very well too. Boil some small potatoes in their skins, cool and peel them and slice them into a pan with some heated butter or fat. I added some bacon too (it's the German thing to do). Saute for 10 minutes or so. Also onions and peppers, softened and seasoned generously and then stewed gently in a little white wine until the liquid is gone.
My salad of baby spinach and blue cheese was nice, but needed more dressing.

Spanferkel chops

Friday, 10th January 2014

The little suckling pig chops were simply seared then finished in the oven for a few minutes. Very tender and flavourful, but the star of the plate was the pasta sauce.
This was just onions and garlic softened in a good amount of olive oil, then cherry tomatoes added and allowed to simmer gently so it all caramelised. I added fresh basil and bit more oil at the end. Deliciously oily and rich, but at the same time simple.
Served with a salad of lamb's lettuce, bacon and parmesan shavings.

Pasta and Salmon

Monday, 30th December 2013

Errrm... I don't really remember making this. New Year must have killed a few more brain cells than I realised.
Looks like a bit of salmon pan fried and then cut up, and served on the filled pasta. I wonder where the pasta came from?