Five on Friday......

......foodstuffs I miss most from the UK.

Well, another Christmas over and I'm sure the supermarkets in England are proudly displaying the Easter Eggs already, which is a good thing as I, for one, can't get enough of that loveliness that is a Cadbury's Creme Egg.

I have a secret stash here in my cellar as you cannot buy them in Germany so I rely on visiting Englanders to keep me supplied.  I now only have one left........ but I'm not going into panic mode just yet as I have visitors coming in a couple of weeks to top up the contraband!

However, the diminishing supplies got me thinking - what are the foodie bits I miss most from back home?  I know I could probably get most of them here if I really tried - but it's not quite the same as popping into Sainsburys.

So here you have it - my 'Friday Five' - those things I can't do without.....

5)Bacon - in the land where pork is almost raised to a godlike state, the state of bacon is, suffice it to say, absolutely shocking. Fine if you want lardons to start of a stew or soup, and fine if you want very thin strips of streaky to wrap around things - but if you're after a bacon sarnie or bacon and eggs for breakfast, then it's disappointing.  All that seems to be on offer is very, very thin, small rashers of streaky bacon.  On the very odd occasion I see back bacon in the shops (it's marketed as 'English Bacon') you only seem to get 4 rashers to a pack so you'd have to empty the store if you wanted to make the family bacon butties for breakfast.  Good smoked back bacon is another of those foodstuffs I make sure I fill up on when home, and ask those coming over to smuggle with them, sometimes only a bacon sarnie will do to start the day!

4) Self Raising Flour, yes, I know you can make your own but I never, and I mean never, manage to get it just right.  As a result, some of my baking has become quite interesting - in a not very appetising way. And yes, you can find it in 'Ethnic Supermarkets' (though not in the Turkish ones I've been to) but that requires finding the right sort of shop and making a special trip, instead I come back with kilo's of it from the UK!

3) Crisps - proper ones that is - not the pale imitations you find here - pappy, paprika flavour.... nope - I want a burn your mouth salt and vinegar, a scrumptious prawn cocktail, even a ready salted kettle chip.  Now yes, you can get some of these here, but - and it's a big BUT, paying 3Eur plus a pack for kettle chips - no siree, and the salt and 'vinegar' flavour you can get here doesn't deserve the name.  So I always need to stock up when home. Actually, you could also add here twiglets (see no1 for the real reason!) and Bombay Mix which I've not seen anywhere here.




2) Cadbury's Chocolate - Creme Eggs, Dairy Milk, Crunchies...... I'm not that fussy when it comes to the purple stuff!






1) Marmite - food of the Gods - need I say more?

Delicious!

 

Sparkling Sylvester

A very belated Happy New Year!!

Girls in their finest

We saw the old one out and the new one in in style this year - I'd planned a black-tie (we don't get much opportunity to parade our best frocks so need to make the most of any that arise!) and cocktail party to ring in the new, but for a number of reasons, it didn't pan out quite as planned.  Thankfully, a fellow Expat, who conveniently lives staggering distance away, offered us the use of her 'Partyzimmer' and co-hosted with me.

Feuerzangenbowle at Lipstickandlaptop's Christmas Party.

Now Sylvester is one of the few times the Germans really, and I mean really, let their hair down! New Year's Eve in Germany is inextricably linked with fireworks - yup come midnight - actually for quite a bit beforehand too - it's like world war three has started.  The bangs are almost more important than the sparkles....  There is a great article on the Telegraph Expat site about Germans and their love of all things fire related - be it fireworks, feuerzangenbowle, barbecuing or even just their continued addiction to the humble cigarette.......

I digress, back to the party.....  Glad rags on, Partyzimmer suitably decorated, drinks bought, canapes made.... we were ready to rock and roll!  And we had a great night - despite illness (Mr. Expat Emma) and bad weather (raining - thankfully the wind had dropped - that would have made the fireworks even more fun...) we managed to see 2013 in in style - think glamourous frocks, champagne cup, delicate canapes - you're about on the right lines (at least that's how I'm picturing it in my minds eye.....)

Enjoying the Champagne Cup!

The champagne cup - a mix of a Blanc des Blancs, Pomegranate Juice and Seeds, sugar syrup and white rum, went down rather too well but was balanced out by a 'mocktail' for those not partaking of the hard stuff - this was a concoction of grapefruit lemonade with a tropical lime/coconut juice (think Malibu without the alcohol!)  Apparently very subtle and sophisticated - but not having tried it I'll have to take that on trust!

The canape table groaned with samosas (unusually done in a 'fladenbrot' a flat Turkish loaf as there was a lack of pastry it seems in Dortmund that day - actually supplies were running low in Kettwig too...); blinis with smoked salmon and dill creme fraiche; sun dried tomato hummus; a plethora of other chips and dips and then (more) mince pies and Christmas cake! 

Ready for the Fireworks

Then as the clock hit midnight - I'm not sure how we checked this as we didn't have Big Ben bonging in the background, we all toasted the New Year with a glass of Sekt and headed outside for the fireworks.  The rain didn't deter us or dent our spirits at all - nor did it adversely affect the display - or the bangs!  What is really lovely is that the whole community are out on the streets at this point, each doing their own small display but what you end up with is an ongoing, much bigger firework show than you'd have managed on your own.  

Seeing 2013 in with a bang!

Crock-pot Cock-up

Never one to shy away from experimentation in the kitchen, I've naturally had my ups and downs.  Fortunately, there have been more ups than downs, but this week saw an epic fail on my part.

It's not often I have to throw something away - and yes, this week I had to throw (most of) a whole dish out it was so revolting.

The story starts with me getting the slow cooker (Crock pot if you're from 'over the pond') out from it's summer hibernation and starting to get back in the swing of slow, languorous cooking resulting in melt-in-the-mouth moist stews; thick, hearty warming soups or slow roast pieces of brisket and the like.  So  slow cooker installed on the worktop, I decide that a risotto must be doable in the slow cooker - and therefore bung in the ingredients, onion, garlic, herbs (thyme and oregano), chicken, stock and rice and pop it on and away I go.


So far so good - well I say that but it didn't look overly appetising at this point, but such is the art of a slow cooker that sometimes things which look the most unappealing and unassuming turn into things of great joy over the hours - this time it was not to be.

When I came home from the school run, the house is suffused with a wonderful smell of cooking chicken and aromatic herbs - at this point I'm quite hopeful for a good supper - then I get to the pot.  I look inside.  Somehow, all those lovely ingredients and that wonderful smell looks like something the cat threw up (if indeed I had a cat - that is what I would assume it to look like).  I taste it - oh my, it is so utterly revoltingly pappy that I cannot bring myself to eat it myself, let alone serve it to the family.  There's only one thing for it - rescue remedy.

I carefully pick out the pieces of chicken and rinse them under the hot tap - thinking I can transform the cooked chicken into another dish easily enough.  The wallpaper paste pot of rice is unceremoniously dumped into the bin.  The chicken was added to a tomato ragu and served with pasta and passable enough so not all was lost - thankfully.

I remain convinced that a risotto is slow-cooker friendly and am not entirely sure what went wrong with mine - perhaps I ought to look at a recipe -or measure some ingredients - you never know that might help!

Never one to be put off, I try the slow cooker again the following night - this time a somewhat 'out-there' recipe which involves cooking a ham joint on a bed of sugar.  And well, it was a triumph!  No messy burnt on sugar to deal with, just melt in the mouth Kassler with a sumptuously sticky sauce - perhaps only to be improved upon with a slug of rum next time, or some Chinese spices - I was hoping for leftovers for sandwiches for lunch - but no such luck.

The recipe I read called for 400g of dark brown sugar (not very easy to get hold of in Germany) - I only had 250g of light muscavado sugar so used that instead - and a ham joint - I used a peice of Kassler which is a smoked, cured pork from Germany, and that was it.  The recipe calls for 10 hours on low - but I only put it in at 1.30 so it had 4 hours on high then the leftover bit went on low for a couple more hours once the children had had their share!

The moral of the story - try, try and try again - never let a culinary disaster deter you from your dishes!

Dressed to Impress....

the table that is - not me!  Last night we played hosts to some friends for dinner and I'd decided to push the boat out somewhat and step up from last time's curry banquet!

After much deliberation I'd narrowed down the menu to - something cheesy to start with, followed by lamb (my absolute favourite meat - and not the easiest to get hold of here in Germany - you can really only get frozen New Zealand imports unless it's Easter) and then I thought something chocolaty for pudding.

So far so good - but the loose airy ideas needed focusing into dinner.  Well, being Autumn, we needed something warming and hearty - and that didn't require too much last minute attention - after all who wants to leave their guests to don a pinny and faff in the kitchen - not me, that's for sure!  I therefore plumped for braised lamb shanks - something I could get going and then forget about.  After much perusal of recipe books and the interweb, I came across this Lorraine Pascale recipe on the BBC Good Food website and felt it was just what I was looking for, strong robust flavours which had mellowed over the 5hours I cooked it for.

Main course sorted I then went to work on the starter.  I'd fancied something cheesy and was erring on the goats cheese/red onion combo which I know works well, but then thought I'd try something slightly different and I decided to add beetroot to the mix - so I was after a beetroot chutney/relish type recipe.  Despite copious amounts of googling, I couldn't find a recipe I was happy with - so had a go at throwing something of my own together and came up with my own beetroot relish recipe.

 500g Beetroot
1 bulb Garlic
1 Red Onion
Thyme
Sugar
Red Wine Vinegar




I roasted the beetroot and garlic till soft (wrapped each piece in foil) then fried the chopped red onion in olive oil and added the soft roasted garlic and some thyme and fried a bit more.  The I added the roasted beetroot which I'd diced.  Briefly mixed together, I then added about 3 tablespoons of sugar and about 150-200ml of red wine vinegar (just guessing here as I didn't measure it).  I left this to boil on the hob until it had acquired a deep purple colour and a jam-like consistency - and voila!

I made some shortcrust pasty tartlet shells and put the relish in the cooked tarts and topped each one with a generous slice of a Camembert style cows cheese and grilled it before serving with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

We paired the Cheese Tartlets and the Lamb Shanks with the Nembus wine - which was wine of the month in October - and it definitely hit the right notes with both dishes - suitably robust to cut through the Camembert and the richness of the lamb, but not so much to overpower either dish.

And so to pudding....... well chocolate was definitely order of the day - and I pulled out all the stops and attempted this Moelleux au Chocolat  which was actually a remarkably easy pud to make - it didn't need quite so much cooking as suggested on the recipe but was still moist and very, very moreish!  The pudding is a butter-free recipe ( so almost diet food!!)  The melted chocolate and cream ganache was mixed with egg yolks, ground almonds and a tablespoon of flour,  then a meringue mixture was folded in, the resulting batter baked for 30 minutes to give a moist, sunken cake - which I think could probably be slightly improved upon with a generous slug of Cointreau or Armagnac or the like - will have to remember that next time I try!  Served with cream it was actually a lot lighter than I thought it might be and so finished the meal off perfectly.

Mmmmmm Lecker!
 

Birthday Bonanza

We're well into birthday season here in the Expatemma household.  It runs from late August through til the beginning of November - but October is the real bonanza month - I think there are eight this month.  Now of course, birthdays mean lots of things - but here, there's a lot of importance placed on cake.....  yup you guessed it, more baking fun!!

Well celebrating a 65th birthday this year, you do really need to pull out all the stops - and this included a surprise weekend away for the birthday boy who was lucky enough to share this milestone with his family all together in Deutschland.

Cake wise, I'd been inspired by tinnedtomatoes when I saw this fantastic After Eight cake on her blog - and it was yummy....  a moist, tower of a concoction with peppermint buttercream, chocolate buttercream - and topped off with after eights..... yummy!

You can find the recipe here it's very easy to do and you get a fantastically light and moist cake from the very runny batter you end up with - it does work so although it looks far too runny to be a cake keep with it!

I split the said batter into three tins and we went from this:

to this:

The buttercream is my usual 1:2 recipe - 250g butter well whipped on its own with 500g icing sugar - followed by whatever flavourings you fancy - in this case a few drops of peppermint essence in the white icing and a very generous shake or three of cocoa powder for the chocolate.

The resulting cake was a tower of lusciousness, very moist yet light and airy - and lots and lots of icing - just right to celebrate with some well chilled Sekt!

More cake to be constructed later in the week too as we are finally (only about 6 weeks after the event - well I suppose we can't be accused of binging bad luck on him by doing it early...) holding Son#1's birthday party - his requested 'sinking of the Titanic' might be a bit beyond me but no doubt something suitably nautical will be produced..... fingers crossed it meets with approval!  Watch this space....

Leftover Lunches #1

I'm not really a recipe cook - not by a longshot.  Yes I may have many, many well-thumbed cookbooks - but they're more for food porn -lusting over the lovely glossies - and general inspiration.

A, on the other hand is a confirmed recipe cook (he can't abide Nigel Slater for his vagueness of recipe for example) and whilst he does enjoy cooking, it is very much to the letter.

I am often left therefore with a random assortment of half-used items in the fridge - think half-tins of random ingredients (artichokes/roasted peppers/exotic spice mixes) or half used vegetables etc.  This is where the inspiration for today's post has come from - and I hope for it to become an ongoing theme on my blog.

Leftover Lunches.  Pretty much what it says - I only need to cook for me at lunchtime as the Kindling and A are taken care of elsewhere - so here's today's offering:

I found - two marinated artichoke hearts, a couple of spoonfuls of creme fraiche (at the bottom of a pot!), some small strips of filo pastry and half a pack of feta.

Added to that with some store cupboard faithfuls (frozen spinach* and oregano - my most favouritist herb) and we have: Feta, artichoke and spinach parcels.

What I did: mix a small bowl of chopped defrosted spinach with the artichoke and creme fraiche, place a generous spoonful (or 2) in the middle of a cross of filo (4 strips in total 2 on top of the other) and then add some crumbed feta on top and a good sprinkle of oregano.  Fold the strips in to make parcels, then brush with olive oil and baked till golden.

*Frozen spinach as it's generally quite difficult to source fresh spinach here. No popping to the supermarket and being certain of there being a bag of baby spinach in the salad section - oh no - it's a real buy it when you see it type of thing here as you can never be sure when the fresh stuff will be next available.  

Oops - what have I let myself in for?

Now, I'm fairly generous with my time and have a habit of volunteering.  I don't work (well - not for money in a real job or anything....am a stay-at-home mummy which in itself is a full time occupation and then some) so don't mind signing up or things, joining things or generally helping out when I can or when someone asks.

One of my expat friends here - Kettwigefrau - had this idea (not sure if it was inspired or completely crazy but that's another debate) that we expat ladies should gather a team together to enter the Dragonboat racing section of our local regatta which is held in the middle of October.  Well, swept along by a wave of  (quite probably drunken) enthusiasm, we've a team - and a boat - and are entered to take part.... yikes!

Now of course, this isn't being taken tooooo seriously, we're out to have a good time, winning of course preferred too!  And as you would expect, a great deal (and I mean GREAT deal) of debate and planning has gone into our team name (Puff's Power Girls - from 'Puff the Magic Dragon' - geddit?) and of course our team strip (no we're not stripping.....but have a fabulous outfit dahhlings) so we're dayglo pink wigs, tutus over thermal leggings (well this is water, in October, in Germany) and a logo'd hoodie - we will be some sight to behold I imagine - never ones to blend into the background.

Whilst we're not taking this as seriously as we are probably expected to, it has been suggested to us that we ought really to do at least some training - given that none of us have actually Dragon-boated before it's probably a very valid point.  This brings us to today and at 2pm, Puff's Power Girls (and associated spouses, children, animals and various other hangers-on) will convene somewhere on the Ruhr near Mulheim to have a trial.  Now there are some slight issues here - of course not everyone can make it (par for the course) and we're training in a 20man boat whereas we'll be racing as a 10(wo)man crew - so we've had to borrow some extra rowers (think Husbands) so who knows how it will translate into the real thing..... but at least we'll vaguely know what we're meant to be doing - in theory anyway!

Very generously, another fellow rower has opened her house for us to convene at afterwards for the post-training debrief.....I mean drinks/food/chat on the understanding that we all bring something for the Tisch. 

Oh - look the blog's, morphed into food again....

My contribution for this is a Peach and Marsala Meringue Pie.  Loosely based on Delia's pile-it-high-orange-and-rhubarb-meringue-pie (from her Summer Collection recipe book) - I had some peaches left over and thought it would be a lovely end of summer dish.... let's hope the weather holds for us today.

I took Delia's recipe but made the following alterations:

Crust: - I used wholemeal flour, all butter and added a tablespoon of sugar.

Filling: peaches with a couple of tablespoons of Marsala and a shake of icing sugar.  No oranges - and made the custard from the peach/Marsala juice with some extra apple juice for volume.  Only used about 3tsps of cornflour and used 4egg yolks.

And the proof is in the eating as they say - so we'll find out later!

Speedy Chocolate Sauce

I'm somewhat in a rut pudding-wise for the Kindling - lots of fromage frais, Kinder Pingui, sponge and custard.... (preferably chocolate sponge with peppermint custard as requested by #1 son 8) so today we tried something new.

Now, my criteria for a weekday pudding at 'children's tea' is that it shouldn't be tooooooo bad for you and should preferably contain milk in someway to aid good sleep.  My three are not good fruit eaters so suggesting they help themselves from the fruit bowl isn't greeted particularly positively.

So today, I had some waffles left over from the post-school-in-the-car-snack, only #1 son had partaken, #2 son said he "only eats waffles with icing sugar on" and the wee girlie was just grumpy!  Well, left over waffles, yes I know it's probably quite a difficult concept to get one's head around - I was certainly surprised as it is a highly unusual occurrence here too.

Anyhoo - the leftover waffles formed the basis for tonight's pud.  Waffles with warm chocolate sauce.

Did I say earlier on that another vital criteria for weekday puddings is that they should take no time at all to make/assemble/put before the gannets.....

So I google 'quick chocolate sauce' and there's chat about cocoa, butter, sugar, vanilla - well not really the sort of thing I had in mind - so I persevered down the first couple of pages and came across an Australian site and they had just the thing I was after.  Two ingredients, two minutes in the microwave - you can't go wrong with that - so here it is:

100g dark chocolate (I used milk as that's what I had to hand)
1/4cup thickened cream (I used a generous slug from the bottle of 'schlagsahne')

Now they suggest adding Kahlua too - and I'm sure it would make for a fab pudding - but probably not best at nursery tea!!

Method:

Break the chocolate into squares, add to cream in a microwave proof jug, and blitz on full power for 2 mins - stirring after each minute. 

Done and dusted - a smooth and creamy super-quick sauce..... and it went down a treat with my not-easily-pleased tasting panel!

Swap-shop slapstick

So today was my first dress-swapping experience.  L a fellow expat had invited me to a party she was holding in her bar (yup - she owns a bar just the right sort of friend to have!!) the premise of the party being that you bring 20 or so items from your wardrobe you want to swap, oh and you need to bring something for the brunch buffet.....

Well, important things first... I volunteered to bring something sweet for the brunch - so after looking in my (reasonably) well-stocked larder, I decided on Chelsea Buns - a good English offering.  So a sweet bread dough was duly made, raised and lovingly kneaded - something very therapeutic about kneading dough.

Then the fruits and spices were added - which left my house smelling very chrismassy yesterday - lovely!  And voila - a batch of sticky sumptuous homemade Chelsea buns to take to the expats.

So far, so good - I even managed to look out a few pieces from my wardrobe to take to swap - a bag I'd never used, a lovely cloche-style hat (I have 2 and one was slightly too big), various pairs of trousers which were way too small.  I felt I had a reasonable offering to make. 

We (a friend from the village and I) set off in good time to get to the venue - and park, having to drop off a friend's son on the way through.  Well - we were still going fine at this point, but then it all started to come undone.  After dropping off said son, we were just round the corner from a fellow swappers house (well I'd assumed she was coming too... that may have been my first mistake) so I suggested we ring her and ask if she wanted a lift to the swapshop - well she was in the middle of her German lesson and insisted that we had the wrong week, no definitely Monday 10 - she double checked her email for us.  Oh well, so my friend and I were both independently wrong.....

Laughing it off we turn around and go home, and friend and I sat and chatted in her (very nice - and with gas oh the luxury...) kitchen, putting the world to rights for an hour or so.  Then off I tootle home and check my facebook messages - and there it is "see you tomorrow" from L the party host - oh no so it was today....  well back on the phone to my friend to ask if she still wants to go and off we head again - behind all the Sunday drivers....  Well we get there (eventually) and have a great time, both of us picking up a couple of bits for the coming season.

Of course, the girls at the party had tried to call us - but me being me had left my phone in the car and so couldn't answer (goodness only knows what would have happened if it had been the school calling.....) and we didn't hear the other mobile ring.....such is life. Next time, we'll be more organised, try to keep our phones on us and stick to our guns... oh - and never take Mrs E's word for it again!!

Bananadrama

Bananas....... who'd have thought they be quite so troublesome.  I know I should just avoid them, not pander to whining children in the supermarket and buy them....but I think"Oh good, they're demanding fruit - much better for them than XYZ junk food they usual clamour for".  So I succumbed again and now have four slightly dappled, soft bananas sitting on my worktop begging to be used before the fruit flies take over completely.

So what are my options?

1) Force the children to sit and eat soft, mushy, slightly brown bananas - that'll learn 'em for asking for fruit goddammit.

2) bin the blighters and never buy again - but that goes against my principles of throwing away anything.... well at least on the food front something that can be transformed into something edible!

3) Get me to the kitchen and whip up something marvellous (which no doubt the Kindling wont eat because it tastes of bananas.....)

Well, option 3 it is and we've flipped a coin to decide between banana ice cream and banana cake - and the cake won.  Out come the pinnies, Kenwood, various chairs to raise children to the appropriate worktop height.......

Having (un)thoroughly googled 'banana cake' I came across this which seemed nice and easy and as a bonus I have everything for it in the cupboard (well almost - not quite enough SR flour which you can't get here - so I topped up with plain and added most of a packet of Backin...seemed to work OK).  Now, why I googled I'm not sure as I have a considerable number of cookbooks (am a bit of a closet collector!) and could quite easily have flicked through at my leisure, salivating over the luscious pictures and been completely sidetracked by something else..... but hey, why get up from the sofa to find a book when I can just google....


Well, four ripe bananas - so lets double the recipe and put one loaf in the freezer and take one on holiday with us - something to 'pique-nique' with on the Autoroute.

Now, despite the proliferation of cookbooks in the house, I've never been known to be particularly attentive to following recipes - so here I dispensed with the melt everything step and just bunged (technical term here) it all in the Kenwood and beat it mercilessly.......

It needed cooking for quite a bit longer - and at a higher temperature than stated - I started it off at 150c for the 35mins - then gave it another 15 before whacking it up to 200c for another 15mins before it was suitable browned.

 And you know what - well have a look and see for yourself....

 ...... whether they're eaten or not is another matter!

We're jamming!

This time last year I was over run with soft fruit from my garden: strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants and gooseberries all did really well.  SO well in fact that I was struggling with ideas of how to use them all up.  We had lots of jam, Rote Grutze - a sort of summer fruit compote - almost like the inside of a sumer pudding, and plenty in the freezer left over too.

Roll on 12 months, and the garden hasn't been so productive.  The raspberries are nowhere near ripe, the strawberries are going mouldy on the plant and the redcurrants not so prolific as last year so the 'bird toll' seems a lot dearer.  Still, spurred on by a post I read in Recipe Junkie's blog, I felt compelled to do something at least with what I could salvage.  So cue more jamming here yesterday.  I managed to pick about 600g of strawberries and redcurrants and then added 300ml of sour cherry juice I happened to have in the fridge to make the fruit up to a kilo.

Pureed fruit and sugar pre-cooking

I use Diamant Gelierzucker mixes as they're very easy to use and as they contain extra pectin you're guaranteed a well set jam!  Yesterday's was the 2:1 version - so that's 2 lots of fruit to 1 bag of sugar.  I pureed the fruit from the garden and then mixed in the sugar, heated and boiled for the requisite 4 minutes and decanted into jars - as simple as that!  For less than an hours' work from deciding to pick some fruit here's the result:

three and half jars of deep red jam!

I find that jamming here is a lot easier than in the UK.  During the soft fruit season, the gelling sugar mixes are easily available.  Last year there was a 'flavoured' on too - we had Elderflower and vanilla flavoured strawberry jam which was very fragrant!  You also tend to find in the supermarkets all the equipment on offer too - packs of jars (which don't cost the earth!), muslins, thermometers and so forth.  I think there is still much more of a tradition of using the fruits of the season and stocking the larder here than we have in the UK now, although there seems to be a bit of a comeback of these crafts due to the current fiscal climate. For me, well it's a therapeutic, thrifty exercise - I love to make things from scratch and I hate wasting anything from the garden - the pots also make great little gifts with a personal touch - a couple of them will certainly be coming back to the UK with me next week!

Teatime Treats

The baking bug has bitten me well and truly and following on from last week's fairy cake fest, this week we've been having something home baked as a treat at teatime.

The first concoction arose following a request for pancakes for tea from Son No2 - but as no-one else wanted them he didn't get them - but aha I had a brainwave and so quickly knocked up a batch of Scotch Pancakes for pudding - the Kindling had them warm with nutella on and we grown ups had them a more traditional cold with lashings of butter later on.

Thank you Good Housekeeping* for an easy, foolproof recipe which I'll share here:

125g SR Flour
2 tbsp sugar (would use less next time as they were quite sweet)
1 egg (beaten)
150ml milk.

• Mix all ingredients till smooth and consistency of thick cream.
• Heat greased frying pan/griddle and drop spoonfuls onto the pan
• Turn pancakes when bubbles rise to the surface
• Keep the cooked pancakes warm in a clean tea towel.

They didn't last long - so I was left with an empty biscuit tin to fill.... so yesterday's offering was dark chocolate covered flapjacks.  Very moreish - and perfect with a cup of coffee!

 So the trusty family recipe comes out - handwritten in an old book (aren't those always the best type of recipe?)

Well it's no top secret formula - so here you are:

225g Oats
150g SR Flour
100g Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
150g Butter
150g Golden Syrup


The method is super simple.

• Mix all dry ingredients together
• Melt butter and syrup - easiest in the microwave for a couple of minutes
• Combine oat mix and syrup mix - make sure they're well mixed and you've no dry patches.
• Press into a baking tin / make small rounds and flatten slightly on baking tray.
• Bake at 180c for about 15mins

I had some leftover dark chocolate so melted that and liberally coated the flapjacks once they'd cooled - scrummy!!

* The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book is one of my failsafe cookery books - always good for checking a recipe or method.

Consolation cake

Last night was Expat's Quiz - we play once a month in a local bar and much fun is had by all.  Of course, we don't take it very seriously at all.....

Well, I have to admit that last night broke my duck.....

I didn't win.  I always win.

Not only that, but I was beaten on a Jubilee themed quiz by a team of natives.  Not my finest hour. In fact, none of the truly British teams performed very well....perhaps we'd all been Jubileed out and were suffering from over exposure.

So I had to settle for joint second place (with about four other teams) and quite frankly it's just not good enough.

KM and I scored 19. How would you have fared?  Here is the quiz....

1 Who barged into her own party last Sunday?
2 Which club holds a grass court tennis championship in West Kensington used by many players as a warm up for Wimbledon?
3 Which borough of New York City did the character, Fran Fine in the TV show the Nanny grow up in?
4 What is the most powerful piece in the game of chess?
5 Today is the official birthday of which Australian State?
 

Royal scandal
6 Who was involved in public toe sucking?
7 Who was photographed in Nazi uniform?
8 Who wanted to be a tampon?
9 Who drives without having ever done a driving test and prefers not to wear a seatbelt?
10 Who said of his daughter “If it doesn't fart or eat hay then she isn't interested"? 

11-15 were the Music questions - all Queen hits!

Royal general knowledge
16 What animal makes Royal jelly?
17 Who received an Academy award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth the second?
18 Which state of the USA was named after a ruling queen of England?
19 Who is the richest, Elizabeth II or Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein?
20 True or false? When the RSPCA decided not to charge Prince Philip over the death of a fox, a protester demonstrated against it by eating a corgi.

Royal Multiple Choice
21 Every royal palace has a brushing room. What is it used for? A polishing tableware. B cleaning military uniforms. C headquarters for domestic organisation of the palace D extramarital royal rendezvous
22 Where was Phillip Duke of Edinburgh born? A In Zurich, Switzerland in a private hospital B In Corfu, Greece on a kitchen table. C In Hessen, Germany on the family estate. D In Denmark in a hunting lodge during a shoot.
23 What gift did the princess Elizabeth receive on her 18th birthday? A koala B a coronet C a corgi D Cornwall
24 Where does Queen Elizabeth keep her mace? A In her handbag, just in case B In the Royal Kitchen, for curries C In Parliament, to show who is boss D In the lodge at Balmoral to make kindling at family barbecues
25 Who is the current “Keeper of the Queen's Conscience”? A Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall B Kenneth Clarke MP C Rupert Murdoch D Lord Voldemort

Thanks must go to our friendly antipodean quiz master - another great event!!  

So today I consoled myself with cake.  I've been getting back into home baking as I'm trying to stop buying so much rubbish for the kindling and provide them with more wholesome treats!  Cue homemade cakes and biscuits, fresh popcorn instead of crisps and that sort of thing.  So I've been using up my precious supply of self-raising flour.

Today's cake followed my usual kitchen practises of not wanting to waste anything left in the fridge and being a bit adventurous on flavour combinations....  So we had coconut and lemon loaf cake with buttercream icing.

 

A simple sponge

125g Butter
175g Sugar
2 Eggs
175g SR Flour
pinch salt
3-4 tbsps Milk (I used leftover coconut milk from a curry earlier in the week!)

I added some lemon zest too.

Beat the whole lot with an electric whisk, put in a well greased loaf tin and bake at 180c for 45mins.

Buttercream

2:1 ratio of icing sugar to butter.  Then a few drops of flavouring (lemon juice today but usually vanilla extract) and a couple of tablespoons of milk (coconut milk today!)

The secret of a good butter cream is to really really beat the butter first on its own until it is really pale and fluffy, then pop the icing sugar in and beat, beat, beat some more!

Yummy!  I can report that coconut and lemon is a winning combination - more than can be said for KM and I last night!

Cake!

Following on from the birthday fun we've had here of late, I thought I'd add a word or two about cake.....

Now Germany has, rightly so, a really rather good reputation in the cake stakes.  Kaffee und Kuchen are practically a national institution - indeed I wouldn't be surprised to find out there was a law which stated that you must have cake at least once a day!

Particular favourites of mine include Streusel cakes - which are a sort of crumble topped cake and fruit affair, all very seasonal of course, so we're in the midst of rhubarb cake at the moment - yummy!  Also not to be missed are the classic Apfelkuchen and many of the baked cheesecakes.  I did also find a lovely rice-pudding cake which, too, was very moreish!

German cakes are generally big, often creamy and you do need to invest the time to enjoy them properly - none of this eating on the run....  Coffee, cake, copious amounts of whipped cream and there you have classic Kaffee und Kuchen.

Bavarian Kaffee und Kuchen

Now, if you've read any of my other postings, you'll be aware that I've begun to bake a bit more here than I perhaps did back in the UK, partly as I enjoy the actual baking and of course the end result - but also due to children's birthday parties and assorted events at Kindergarten, school and other clubs which require cake donations.

The cupcake bandwagon hasn't quite reached my part of Germany yet and so that is what I generally go for when asked to produce something for the cake sale.  As I've said before, obtaining baking supplies - both in terms of ingredients and decorating is somewhat awkward here.  I'm still experimenting with the best ratios of German baking powder to plain flour for my UK recipes which demand self-raising......with varying results!

Anyway, once said cakes are baked to my satisfaction, then I often tend to get carried away.  It seems a run of the mill butter cream icing is fairly unknown here so my creations often feature that with some sort of sweet/chocolate decoration on top.  Without fail at Kindergarten every time I've offered up my cupcakes I'm asked if they're 'cream cakes' as they can't seem to get to grips with a fluffy icing instead of a flat glace icing.

Birthday cake design is also that bit more tricky as you can't readily buy ready to roll icing - so I've had to make my own.  I found, with the help of several online fora, a recipe for marshmallow fondant - which I will share with you here - it's very easy to make and tastes much nicer than the usual roll out fondant.

450g Marshmallows
4 tbsp Water
1.25kg Icing sugar
Colour of choice.

1. Melt the mallows and water in the microwave together for a couple of minutes
2. Pop in food processor - add the sugar and blend till smooth and the right consistency  - you may need to adjust the sugar amount.
3. Turn onto a greased surface and knead till smooth and pliable.

Now, bear in mind that the icing will be VERY VERY sticky.  I use solid coconut fat to grease the mixer and my hands /board /rolling pin as without it it will stick to everything.  (A pleasant side effect of this is that your hands feel super smooth after working the fondant)   The fondant keeps well in an airtight container - for several weeks and can also be frozen.

Mario mid construction

It works best with a layer of butter cream underneath to both smooth the cake and stick it down - oh and it tastes fairly decadent with both too....

I'm certainly enjoying sampling as many German cakes as I can (whilst not on my current diet fad...that's a whole other post) and also enjoying sharing my knowledge of English baking with our German friends - and of course cake can NEVER be a bad thing!

Super Mario Birthday Cake - the finished article.

More Birthday Fun

So despite all the German misgivings our (2 days) early birthday party went off without a hitch (well almost!)

Ten 5-6 year old boys and the volume goes off the scale - but apart from the noise - and a meltdown by the (un)birthday boy when he didn't win the pass the parcel prize, it was a remarkably easy and unstressful afternoon.

Lots of playing - a very long time playing musical statues - which of course had the benefit of wearing the little darlings out - so much so that we ended up popping a DVD on for the last 20 minutes or so as they were all flaked out on the sofas!!


We managed to fill them with sugar at our 'retro English birthday tea' - Tunnocks Tea Cakes, Cadbury's Mini Rolls, Iced Gems (not as good as they used to be....), Cadbury's Fingers, Party Rings, cocktail sausages on sticks and cheese and pineapple on sticks.  All went down well - as did the jelly and cake!




All in all a great day and despite the minor hiccup over pass the parcel the Birthday Boy had a great day - and he gets to do it all again tomorrow on his actual birthday!

A thorough(bred)ly tasty cut

So I've noticed more and more Pferdefleisch on sale here in Germany - in the local weekly markets and the supermarkets - and was curious as to what it would be like.  Now back in good old Blighty you don't come across much horsemeat in Sainsburys (you may find it in Waitrose I suppose.....!!) and as a result I'd certainly not cooked it myself nor knowingly eaten it (although you're never quite sure when you order a steak in France!).

So anyway, I thought I'd take the plunge and give it a go.  I spoke to the lady on the Butchers stall at the local market to ask her what it was like and how it ought to be cooked.  It is a very lean meat and so either needs very quick cooking (for the sirloin/hufte steaks I cooked) or slow pot-roasting.  It's a good strong dark coloured meat and ours had been well hung to make the most of it's flavour.  Taste-wise, it's not dissimilar to beef - indeed I think you could get away with calling it beef and most people probably wouldn't think it wasn't.

So, wanting something quick and easy to cook and eat with a forbidden salad (that's another story), I opted for two hufte steaks which I think is the equivalent to a sirloin.  I lightly seasoned them with salt and pepper and quickly griddled them to medium-rare.

So - how did they turn out?  Surprisingly well -  not tough or chewy as I was led to believe by some, not too gamey either - but good tender, juicy steaks - and better in terms of impact on both my health (they're low fat, low cholesterol) and my wallet (significantly cheaper than the equivalent cut of beef) - an all round winner!

So what to accompany the steak?  I was looking for something robust, which would stand up to a strong flavoured meat - I had a choice of Tempranillo or Carignan.  We plumped for the Tempranillo which worked well - full enough to hold its own and smooth enough not to out run the steak so to speak!  On the plate, I didn't plump for salad - we've been off the raw foods here due to E-Coli concerns, but suffering from a distinct lack of vegetables, I cooked up a large bowl of Ratatouille - all in all a very yummy meal and one I'd be happy to give another ride to....

Pancakes and possible purgatory.....

So another day knocked off the celebratory calendar - Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Fastnacht - or whatever it happens to be with you.  We, of course, had pancakes galore and I'm pleased to report that Laura managed to out-pancake the boys!!

For us grown ups, the menu is one of stuffed pancakes with chicken, schwartzwalder schinken, dijon mustard and creme fraiche grilled with cheese for a yummy crust.  Here's how I did it:

Pancake batter:
1 egg
100g Plain Flour
1/2 pint milk.

Whisked together till smooth - best done a couple of hours before you need it to allow it time to rest.  Then fried in the pan - should make about 6 large but thin pancakes.

Filling:
Diced chicken breast
Slice of cured ham (black forest / bayonne / parma - that type of thing)
Sliced onion
Large dollop of grainy mustard
Good slug of sherry
Small pot of creme fraiche

Cook the chicken, onion, ham till lightly browned.  Add the sherry, mustard and creme fraiche and reduce till slightly thickened.

Divide filling between 4 pancakes and top with grated cheese.  Pop under the grill till brown.

We ate this with a Rivaner from the Mosel. Which was suitably fresh and fruity.  Schmitges 2010 Rivaner trocken - might be worth a try if you can get hold of it.

This will probably be the last wine mention for a while as we're going on the wagon for Lent (although I'm reliably informed that Sundays don't count!!)  Will be quite a challenge for me I'm sure as I'm rather fond of my evening glass of wine once the Kindling are in bed - I'll definitely have to find some other wind-down options.  On the plus side though, hopefully it will kick start the diet again which I've not been able to get back on track with since Christmas.