Burger Bonanza

In other parts of the world, it is the beginning of summer. In Germany, it is not. This week, my colleague told me with an earnest face that she honestly believed it would snow (and "why on earth are you wearing that summer dress?"). Maybe I'm in denial, maybe it's because I grill year round, but the last couple of weeks, I've been doing burgers.

Sometime a while back, I found good avocadoes & had to make some guacamole. Underneath, beef patties that had a little bit of red miso mixed in.


Recently, I went out to dinner at the Bootshaus in Heidelberg. I ordered the turkey burger from the menu. What surprised me was the turkey. It wasn't ground, it was 2 (or 3?) slices of marinated turkey in a bun with toppings. Juicy, tasty, a fun new idea.

Later, I found ground turkey in the supermarket. Quite the score here in Germany. I was thinking of grinding my own turkey, that's how seldom the stuff is in the stores. I took 300g of ground turkey, 3 tbsp mango chutney (a friend made it last year & gave me 3 jars), 1/2 a sauteed onion, zest of 1 lemon, a handful of chopped parsley, Old Bay spice, tobasco & chili powder. Topped off with 1/2 a grilled fig. Unfortunately my grill ran out of gas half-way through, but these are a definate remake, if I ever find the ground turkey again.


Cathy, at Accountants can cook? made some meatballs recently which seemed like the good start of a burger (the irony being that she herself grew tired of burgers). I adapted them & made patties:
300g ground beef
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
3 Tbsp chopped green onion
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1 egg
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
soy sauce
coconut milk (they looked like they needed liquid)
chili powder

To satisfy carb-o-phobic tendencies (I should actually be going for a run right now), I made a Baji-like pancake
2/3 c chickpea flour
1/3 c regular flour
1 chopped chili
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp oil
salt to taste
water to mix.

I made a pancake like batter out of everything, then I made pancakes. Then I topped my pancakes with my burger, then with bean sprouts, then with Kecup Manis (my new Indonesian score) & then I ate it. Pretty simple stuff. I have a funny feeling this would go best with pork, though.There you go, burgers. Now all I need is some good weather to go along with them...

Tapas - Now with Extra Mojo!

Last weekend was the first fireworks of the season in Heidelberg. Every year, they "light" the castle 3 times symbolizing the 3 times the French tried to burn it down. I've been out in the crowds to watch the fireworks a few times - a highly social event for people who live here; an excuse to meet friends, go outside & enjoy the weather.

This year, I thought it would be great to have people over, feed them, watch the fireworks & drink wine. Good idea, but what do I feed them? My failsafe crowd-pleaser - Tapas! Everyone loves fingerfood, it's not more work that a sit-down meal, it goes on for hours & can be interrupted to go outside.

It just so happens that there is a tapas contest going on this month. It is hosted by Tony Tahhan at Olive Juice. Every month, he picks a Mediterranean country to focus on & has a contest based on a dish from that nation. This month happens to be Tapas month. I took my cue from Núria at Spanish Recipes & made a few treats. Here's what I could prepare before guests came:
Clockwise from the top left: Tortilla Espanola, Aioli, Oeufs de Caille avec Tapenade & Câpre, Mojo Verde.

Tortilla Espanola (Spanish Omelet)
Sautee 1 chopped onion, slice 4 small potatoes & parboil them. Mix 4 eggs (use an extra white, if you have one), add onion, potatoes, salt & cook in frying pan, flipping it over when it looks solid-ish.

Aioli (Garlicy-lemony-Mayonaise)
In a boil, beat 1 egg yolk with 1 tsp dijon mustard. Slowly add 1 c olive oil. Add 2 minced garlic cloves & 2 Tbsp lemon juice.

Oeufs de Caille avec Tapenade & Câpre (Quail eggs with olive paste & capers)
Boil quail eggs (this takes 5 minutes in boiling water). Allow to cool. Shell eggs (easiest if you crack them & then peel them under water). Slice, top with a bit of tapenade (olive paste), and 1 little caper on top. Note: I don't actually speak Spanish, so I have no idea what this would be called in Spanish :-(

Mojo Verde
Take 2 green peppers (seeded & chopped), 1/2 bunch parsley, 2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice, dash of cumin, salt & pepper & mix in a blender. Squeeze out excess water. Also good on grilled meats. Also good for entertaining people who have also seen Austin Powers. We all giggled at the name of this sauce from the Canary Islands.

People started to show up & I had to get out the warm tapas. I already had all of the cold stuff on the table, plus the following:

• olives
• Jamon Iberico (my leg)
• cured pork sausage
• 3 different kinds of cheese (Manchego, a Spanish ewe milk cheese with rosemary & P'tit Basque)
• bread
• cherry tomatoes
• Plantain fritters a friend had brought over

I made the following warm tapas, (clockwise from top left): Gambas a la Plancha, Patatas Bravas & Albóndiga con Tomate. The whole time, we were all in my kitchen talking, eating & drinking wine.

Gambas a la Plancha (Beach Shrimp)
Do not shell shrimp. Sautee in olive oil. Add garlic near the end. Add parsley. Grind sea salt over top & serve.

Patatas Bravas (Spicy Potatoes)
Parboil 500g of potatoes, cut into cubes. Fry them in olive oil (sautee, if you are afraid of oil excess, like me).
In a saucepan, sautee 1 chopped onion & 1 clove of garlic. Add 1 can of diced tomatoes. Add 1/4 tsp paprika, dash ground chilies, dash cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil, turn heat down & allow to simmer until it looks kinda solid-ish (25 minutes). Add 1 Tbsp aoili & serve over fried potatoes

Albóndigas con Tomate (Meatballs with Tomato)
Take 250g of ground beef, add 1/4 c breadcrumbs, 1 Tbsp tomato paste, 1/2 chopped onion (very fine!), 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp grated cheese (Manchego, or I used pecorino). Form into balls, brown in a frying pan. Add 1 can diced tomatoes, salt, sprig of rosemary & 2 bay leaves (both chopped), 1/4 c red wine & allow to simmer until sauce is thick enough to your liking.

We heard the first fireworks as I was getting the Gambas ready, so we went outside. This is what we saw:
A spectacular view - I was so happy that the weather was nice (it rained all morning). We could see (from left) the castle, the people on the bridge watching, the fireworks in the valley, and, well, I could see my friends! :-)

We went inside & another friend brought a desert: Strawberry flan! A simple biscuit topped with a bit of custard, fresh strawberries, sliced bananas & then a glaze. As the night progressed, one friend got creative. I told him about the blog contest & as he made himself little canapes, he wrote them down, judged them himself & took photos. At the bottom of the picture is Creation #2.

Creation #2 is: bread, manchego, jamon iberico, 1 tomato, salt & pepper, aioli & 1/2 an olive. At 3am, it was pretty good, I have to say. I thought I was making all the good food that night, but I got a lot of help from my friends, keeping me company, helping to inspire me & being just generally fantastic. I guess that's why I keep them around!

Blog Award

I received this award from Cathy at Accountants can cook? a while back but I haven't gotten around to posting it for 1 simple reason: it involves me to do stuff. With this kind of attitude, if I were an actress, I'd never get an Oscar in my hands because it would involve me to pick a dress, go to the hairdresser, get my makeup done, find shoes & jewerly - even typing this hypothetical list tires me. I think I've been working at a software company too long - I'm used to people presenting themselves in decade-old T-shirts.

Anyway, the "work" in this award is simple. You write down 7 personality traits & you pass it on to 7 other bloggers. So here goes:

1. I'm a workaholic with a skewed sense of priorities. Right now, I should be working on an editing certification. Instead, I edit more texts.
2. I'm cynical. I believe things when I see them, and until then, I make stupid jokes.
3. I'm egocentric. This does not mean that I do not care about other people. It means that I try to relate to other people through my own experiences, or, try to extrapolate & figure out what I can learn from the situations of others.
4. I have apathetic tendencies. Maybe that's why I haven't gotten the cert yet.
5. I'm quick witted. Sometimes I'm even funny, I've been told.
6. I'm a bit of a slob but yet germ-o-phobic at the same time. I know what can grow on my desk - I do not know what grows on the desks of others.
7. I like to make other people smile. This makes me happy.

So, that's it. 7 personality traits & pass this along to 7 other blogs.

1. A Foodie's Thought's
2. Shizuoka Gourmet
3. Yum-o-Rama
4. Samurai Viking Cuisine
5. Spanish Recipes
6. Tangled Noodle
7. The Lunch Box Project
   

These are all blogs I love to read for their picutres, ideas & excellent writing style (or, in the case of The Lunch Box Project, the original art).

Thanks to Cathy for the award & thanks to these 7 bloggers for their work!

Asparagus - Tip from PML

A few weeks ago, I went out to dinner at the Print Media Lounge in Heidelberg & had asparagus. I know, I've been into asparagus a lot recently, and my eagerness is starting to wane - a good thing, I suppose, as there are only 19 more days of fresh local asparagus for this year. Am I counting? Maybe....

What really amazed me about the asparagus at PML was the fantastic flavours in a simple traditional dish. Standard asparagus around here is: asparagus, boiled new potatoes, hollandaise sauce & cooked ham. At PML, I had olive oil & parmesan, and the potatoes were sauted & wrapped in what appeared to be wild garlic. I think. The asapargus itself had a mild citrus flavour, which I thought came from plunging the asparagus in lemon-ice water to stop the cooking.

This weekend, I was lucky enough to talk with one of the most knowledgeble people on staff about the food. He admits that he doesn't know what exactly they do, but that there is a fair bit of science involved. Sugar, salt, everything possible in the water, plunged in no idea in order to stop the cooking.

Armed with my rudimentary knowledge & skills, I opted to steam to asparagus in a salted/sugared water & do the lemon-ice plunge after. The results were very satisfactory.

Served with crepes, olive oil, jamon iberico and a bit of manchego cheese the asparagus was pretty good. 19 more days...

Horse, of Course!

After my trip to Amsterdam, I was seriously let down. The classes weren't what I was expecting, the ladies of the Red Light District looked just like Go-Go girls & the food kinda sucked. Sure there was Indonesian food around, and I will report on that later, I promise. But what I really wanted from the Netherlands was horse.

When I was in university, one of my good friends was of Dutch parentage and we exchanged stories of our childhood. He was forced to eat horsemeat sandwiches, a tribute to his Friesan heritage. He hated this aspect of his heritage. Horses are beautiful animals, why on earth would you pack them in WonderBread & give them to a kid was a mystery to the young adults we were. Well, with this story in mind, I set off to find some horsemeat. Only on my way to class on the very last day, battling traffic, did I see a butcher shop which looked like it sold horsemeat. After trying to get out of the city for 45 minutes, ther was no way we were going to stop the car, look for a spot, buy some meat & let it wait in the car for 6 hours while we were in class, then a further 4 - 8 hours until we were back in Germany. So, no horse for me.

2 days later, I went to Strasbourg & exlpoited my credit card - the poor thing - I think I heard it cry. In the supermarket, I saw horsemeat. South American steaks. In my whirlwind effort to buy groceries in 30 minutes, I threw 2 horse steaks in the cart. When I got home, I tried nearly every excuse to avoid eating them. I saw dancing horses in the Dutch countryside - I didn't want to eat one of their kin! Well, I had already bought the meat, and I know that the stuff is eaten in the Veneto in Italy, as well as other parts of the world (South America, Quebec, Mongolia, even German Sauerbraten was originally made from horse). OK, fine, I'll do it.

I marinated the steaks for about an hour in olive oil, garlic, herbs de provence & a bit of tapenade (my failsafe "safe" marinade) and threw them on the grill. The result - not bad. Leaner than beef, better flavour than ostrich. In short - a decent meal. Am I happy I can check this off of my things to do list? Yes. Do I need to do this again? No.

Dining In/Out - Horn of Africa Take Out

I have a project deadline coming up, normally it shouldn't be anything major, normally it should be routine. What makes every project individual is the unanticipated problems. This time, the unanticipated problems are killing me. Oh well, it's a job, it pays the bills & it enables me to eat good food.

I wasn't able to cook good food because I knew that I would have to work, so I paid someone to cook for me. I went to the only African restaurant in the area, which happens to be just by my house. I really like it there - they are really friendly, the food is good & I strongly believe in supporting your neighbours. Unless they are driving down the property value... that isn't the case with these people, in fact, I feel they enrich the area.

In an effort to maximize time, I scanned the menu from The Horn of Africa online, & selected the Tibs.They're strips of beef, sauteed with onions & served in a sauce & my choice of sides. I chose the West African Maffee (peanut) sauce, and Mataha (mashed potatoes with corn & peas).

My fellow work-aholic went for one of the daily specials. They had whole grilled seabream, ostrich steaks & Argentinian beef. He opted for the 250g of Argentinian beef with coconut sauce on the side and fries. I love the fact that they know us & they know that I need extra hot sauce (beware, it is actually hot).

We sat at the bar, talked about how to make things better & drank a glass of wine while we waited. We got our food, I stole fries & then we got back to work. I don't remember actually working, but when I checked my mails the next morning, it became apparent that I actually got the stuff done that I planned on doing. A relatively painless night, all things considered. Maybe it was the Tibs.

Wild Rice Pancakes & Leftover Asparagus

Ah, the joy of working in Germany! Today is a holiday (Pentecost) and I have the day off of work. Even though I have to vacuum the apartment, do laundry, repot some herbs & build Ikea furniture, it's still a day off of work. Although I might log in later & do work, nullifying the concept of "holiday" as such, but we'll see...

For lunch, I'm getting rid of some leftovers. Last night, I tried to follow a recipe for stir-fried beef & asparagus, which was OK, but moreover, I have leftover wild rice. It's actually a brown rice - wild rice mix, but that's only a technicality. I'm making pancakes out of them & will be using the scant amounts of stir-fry I have leftover as a filling.

Rice Pancakes with Leftover Asparagus Stir-Fry
1 cup cooked wild/brown rice
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
pinch ground ginger
pinch cinamon
1/2 clove mined garlic
pinch chili pepper flakes
1/2 Tbsp lime juice
water as needed
1/2 cup leftover asparaus beef stir-fry (see recipe)

In a blender, puree all ingredients. It won't turn out smooth, but that's OK. Add water, if necessary, to maintain a "batter-like" consistency.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, spread 1/2 the mixture. Allow to get crispy & wait until it can slide on it's own. At this point, flip the pancake.
Repeat for 2nd pancake.
Top with warmed leftovers & garnish with green onions.

I wasn't thrilled with the stir-fry last night, but I was much happier with the leftovers.