More soup - French Onion!

All that talk this morning about a good old fashioned French Onion Soup got my tastebuds tingling. The few ingredients necessary are staples in most cooks' kitchens. Well, I may not always have beef broth on hand, but this time I did. Even had a little white wine left over and there is always a cognac on the 'butler's tray' somewhere between my liquor collection.

Let me brag and say it was soooo good! Even my normally non-plused husband raved that it was even better than from the French owned restaurant at the local port we were at recently. It could be that they save on the cognac...they definately did use white wine though. Me, I 'do' both. That is how I was introduced to a 'real' French Onion Soup and learned it in Belgium.

What I don't like about some restaurant's versions is when the bread under the Gruyère cheese is soggy and a bit insipid. This is because the bread slices are not toasted enough, or (horrors) not at all. A very amateur mistake, I am told. The 1 cm (half inch) slices are toasted in the oven until they are like croutons...dark golden and very crisped. They go in the bowl first...then the soup is ladled over. One urges most of the onion slices off then comes a generous amount of grated (or very thin slices) of Gruyère cheese (yes, you can cheat with a good Emmentaler too) before settung under a grill to melt and bubble.

A trick I learned is to dip the slices in a little garlic olive oil (a little fresh minced in a tablespoon of oil will do) THEN you toast them. If I am using already day old bread, then a serious rub with garlic before dipping will do it also. The slight amount of garlic is not noticeable, but certainly adds to the flavour dimension.

Not all recipes for this soup mention the garlic trick...I suspect those versions are from the Provence, where garlic is used more than the more northerly areas in France. I also add one sliced garlic clove to the onions as they slowly cook in the butter.

Oh yes...and the onions must be in thin half rings and cooked in the butter until light brown, just starting to caramelize. It makes a huge difference in the flavour of this wonderful peasant soup.

Peasant food, or as known by the Americans from the southern states 'po' folks food' is frugal and practical...using whatever is commonly at hand. OOOOooo...soooooooo good!

Soup, soup, soup!

Can't get enough of it lately. Soup as a light meal, soup as a first course...it seems once cooler weather sets in here, I loose my interest in leafy salads. In fact, they put me off. I listen to my tastebuds and what my body wants. Cooler weather definately means soup for me...with only the occasional yearning for a leafy, mixed salad as a starter. Like the other day. Rucula salad with balsamico and shavings of parmesan cheese was on a menu and my tastebuds said 'YES'! And we did and we enjoyed.

But back to soups. My Polish Grandmother couldn't fathom a main meal without a soup! Nor can the Czech or Russian friends of mine. It's a cultural thing. The soup shown here is just a simple beef broth with fresh homemade noodles...which is why it is not so clear. And the soup was steaming which is why I can't get it very sharp. No matter. You get the picture (oh dear, excuse the pun!).

I've been making a few of my vegetable soups with a base made from the saved and frozen scraps left over from preparing vegetables. But perhaps that is worthy of another article for my Food Bytes section.

Soup of the Day today? Hmmm....don't know yet. I'll find out when it's time to prepare lunch (for us the main meal of the day, around 2 pm). I've got a beef stock waiting its turn....lot's of onions too...Gruyère....hmmm....French Onion Soup?

World's most expensive dessert - a serendipity?

Decadence seems to be on the tip of my tongue lately.

Believe me...I am not one to rejoice over another's misfortune - it's just not my nature, but I simply could not help a snigger and a thought about justice over this one. Just days after the New York eatery Serendipty 3 introduced their $25,000 Frozen Haute Chocolate dessert with much PR and fanfare, they fail not only miserably one inspection but two within one month and had to close.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong here about luxury food + 'insane' prices? I didn't read anything about this dessert being auctioned off for a good cause...that would justify such a price. It's the rich person's version of a Dairy Queen Sundae and you get to keep the cup and the plastic spoon...only this time the spoon is gold.

Just think of it. $25,000 for a fancy chocolate icecream sundae made in a kitchen with resident rodents, roaches and other revolting 'things'. Sick. Sick. Sick. You know, there is but a fine line between the rich and the decadent rich.

Whoever ordered it, certainly deserved their just desserts.

(I promise no more rants for a while ;>)

Truffle Decadence

What is it about truffles that remind me of The Emperor's Clothes or Bad 'Art' being sold for ridiculously astronomical prices because...hmmm...because Art Critics make huge commissions and paybacks, tell US that yes indeed, the freeze dried pile of Dog Poo is indeed Art - and aren't we just stupid for not 'understanding' art?

Oh yes and let's not forget the 'message'. The statement the artist is trying to make. One day I will write about conversations I had with a famous sculptor in Germany and his take on art, art critcs and gullible public. Yes, laughter is healthy for you, especially all the way to the bank with fat checks in your hand.

So, what has this to do with the truffle? Well, I know I am not alone with my stance of 'what IS the big deal?' Yes, I have sampled white, black...in France, in Italy and I can only tell you that it - for me - does not justify all the excitement and certainly not the price. Yes, yes...I know, we are supposed to cheer and rave the truffle (because aren't we supposed to?) because the culinary In Crowd has deemed it so. Me, I jig to another tune. I also don't care much for Beaujolais nouveau either. Shocking, I know. It's a short season, everyone gets excited and frankly, I'd rather have water. I also don't follow fashion dictates unless I DO like something. But I digress.

Read this Truffle Sold For $277,000 (143,000 Euros) or this one as of this morning that sold for $330,000. Read here my 'truffle review' (scroll down about mid-page). I am convinced that if they weren't so difficult to find and were easy to cultivate, there would be hardly any interest in them because they wouldn't cost much more than a champignon.

It's all about marketing. And decadence in the case of truffles. Personally, I find it disgusting that more than a quarter million dollars was paid for lump of truffle weighing about as much as a chihuahua.

Let's see now. How many starving people could be fed for that? How much rice would that buy? Ummm, oh yes...and the buyer who was so willing to pay that money for a mushroom...would they give that same amount to the neighborhood needy? One could certainly open a Soup Kitchen and run it for several months on that. I can't help but wonder.

And the Emperor? He had no clothes on. He was publically naked. Just like the truth of decadently priced 'luxury foods'. Shameful and embarrassing.

Zwiebelkuchen - Onion Savoury Tart or Keesh it Not

Although it is certainly warmer here in Spain than back in Germany, around the mid of September - for me - it is Autumn. And certain specialities come to mind and palate.

My special order of German wine came in with friends driving down from Germany - whose son-in-law is a wine dealer - oh lucky me! Looking at those lovely bottles of fabulous Rhein and Mosel wines...my palate decided lunch - a really traditional autumn/winter fare - Zwiebelkuchen.

Usually served with 'Federweisser' (Feather White) wine - a very young wine, still cloudy, it can be served with any medium dry white German wine.

What is the difference between a quiche and Zwiebelkuchen? A few split hairs and a good measure of regional pride. First there was Zwiebelkuchen...then came quiche. Yes.

Optically, the quiche is thicker, almost always baked in a deep, round pan and can be an end combination of many things held together by an egg/cream mass...and cheese often plays an important role.

Zwiebelkuchen...is lots of onion, eggs, cream (of some sort, sour, crème fraîche etc.), bacon or bits from a lightly smoked slab of pork belly and that is it. No herbs, seasoning often nutmeg and/or whole caraway seeds, salt-pepper. Nothing pretentious, no fluff or snobbery. Which reminds me, it is absolutely sacrelegious to use puff pastry. Please don't (wince).

The traditional base is a bread yeast dough although some swear by a baking powder raised one. I can tell you those cooks are not from the Pfalz or Rhein-Hessen region. And though smaller amounts can be baked in a round pan, it is more often baked on a deep sheet. However way you do it, please...it's not quiche. Call it rather - Onion Tart if 'ZTVEE-bell-koohjn is unpronouncable for you (that 'hj' is a bit like, hmmm, let me see - think hissing cat and it will be close).

Recipies vary as to a few eggs more or less, more cream or not or technique such as pouring over the egg mass on the onions or mixing them with the mass before pouring onto the dough. This part is personal preference.

What matters is the right wine, cooler weather and friends to share it all with!

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related article on Zee Keesh! or The Quiche and I where you will find more info.

Ravioli - Pumpkin and Walnut Pasta Pillows in Sage Butter

I get in the mood for certain foods and when the thought knaws on my palate long enough, then I simply must make them.

So it was yesterday with my 'very large' raviolis filled with a mix of pumpkin, onion and walnut - toasted and finely chopped of course. I had to make them. The sage leaves are crisped in the butter, just as it turns tan - then the cooked raviolis are 'turned' in the butter gently and served on warm plates. And these too, I will have up on the Recipe Collection.

I served these as a main course with steamed, fine green beans, tossed with a little butter. The first course was chicken broth with lots of parsley and a little meat...but it can just as well have been a salad. It just so happened that I had made the chicken stock the day before...to nurse my cold.

These can also be served as a first course...just one sitting in a lovely broth garnished with herbs such as chive or lightly sautéed spring onion diagonally sliced.

My mother loved them - especially the crispy sage leaves. They are delicious!

Salmon Trout with Rosti

One of my very favourite fish is the salmon trout (belongs to the rainbow trout family, I think). A little smaller than the salmon and much bigger than a trout, it is neither one or the other but seems to have the best qualities of the two. A delicious, delicate flavour with the fine texture of trout.

This time I served the filets with rosti (a kind of Swiss potato patty - very simple) topped with sour cream (or creme fraiche or smand). For eye apeal to compliment the colours of the dish, I chose steamed cauliflower florets tossed with fresh spinach, lightly sweated in melted butter.

The secret to serving meltingly succulent fish filets is to never overcook them and like pasta, always serve on well warmed plates.

I used a generous amount of melted butter and coconut oil (a wonderful flavour combination) to which I added a small garlic clove. The filets were lightly seasoned with a little herbal salt and a grating of mixed pepper - no lemon this time.

Over medium heat, cook the fish on the skin side until the thinner edges begin to change colour. This will take about 3-4 minutes. Use two spatulas to turn over, wait a few seconds then turn the heat off. Leave them while you arrange the rosti on very warm plates and keep in the oven. Have the spinach sweating while you do this. When the spinich is wilted, add the cauliflower and bit of butter and toss. Using two spatulas, place the fish on the plate, then the cauliflower. Top the rosti with the sour cream, garnish all with chopped chive and serve immediately.

A Grauburgunder white wine goes well with salmon trout as does a good medium dry Champagne.

I think we'll have a repeat of this next week...it was sooo good!

Summer Dessert - French Berry Galette

Summer berries in any combination or alone make a wonderful, light dessert. I served this simple, typically French way of serving fruit in a pastry casing...it was the dessert, although served a few hours later for tea time, to the Salmon Trout lunch.

A galette is a flat, rustic 'pie or tart' without the pan and with as many variations as there are regions in France. Though often filled with fruits of the season, they can be savoury as well.

The first photo is just before popping into the oven and the second the finished tart (I used spelt flour, by the way).


There is nothing to this dessert, really. Just a plain pastry

sweetened with a just a little sugar, a good amount of butter and a

little Triple Sec (or Gran Marnier) mixed with the chilled water. The berries were a combination of blackberries and blueberries, garnished with a few sprigs of red currents.


I gently tossed the berries in a little vanilla sugar and potato starch (corn starch will do as well). It is late here, so I hope to have the recipe up tomorrow.

This small tart went in one sitting. So light and soooo delicious!

Marrons Glacé - crystallized chestnut decadence

Chestnuts are one of those things that I always associate with street vendors selling their aromatic wares. Holding a newspaper cone of them...just the memory of them while I type brings back the scent of them, roasted over a small open fire. And the warmth they give the fingers as you peel them.

I love them.

Another favourite way to consume them - a decadent one - is candied. Glazed chestnuts* are one thing, but Marrons Glacé (crystallized chestnuts) is quite another. The former is done rather quickly and the later takes a few days of tender loving care. And a good recipe.

I adore them.

So does a visitor to my site, who having located this classic recipe through a search engine was kind enough to report back on his success and has allowed me to use a photo of his Marrons Glacé. A big thanks and a round of applause goes to you, Robert!

For many years my family has enjoyed Marrons Glacé - but only at Christmas and only in small quantities because they were so darned expensive. This recipe produces a wonderful result and we can now indulge to our hearts content, smug in the knowledge that they are home produced and at little cost."
Robert Ornbo

Home produced, with that magic ingredient love and time. Bravo Robert!


(Robert, if you read this please contact me. I have something for you!)

note: Although glazed chestnuts is the term often used to describe candied or crystallized chestnuts, the procedure is much different. Glazed chestnuts are often used for savoury dishes as an accompaniment, much like glazed carrots...a process that is not as involved as crystallized chestnuts and results in a different product.

January Update

Oh, have I been negligent of this blog! Shame on me. Well, it's surely not because I've been lazy...on the contrary. It's been a very busy past 6 months.

Since a few weeks now, I have been searching for a solution to help me send out my newsletter. In the past I sent out each email manually. Now there are so many subscribers (hurray!) that it took me several hours of precious time I really didn't have. And frankly, with that daunting task before me, I felt guilty about updating and being able to 'get around to manually sending alllll those emails'.

So a solution had to be found. I hope the system I found is as good as the reviews have said. So far I am impressed. Today I sent out my first newsletter through them. I hope it works...it took me days and hours to manually upload each address with all the information (what day signed up, first name, last name...etc) AND get used to their system.

If it works, I'll be freed up to concentrate on content. And this blog!

Have a look around the site, there are new articles, recipes, home page's What's in Season has been updated as well as a new recipe of the week. The syndicated service I subscribed to has been so unreliable...and still no answer to my emails.

And yes that is a recent photo of me on the home page...taken at my Christmas party.

Have a fabulous new year, everyone!

Whole Hazelnut Cookies (Haselnusstaler)

I love these typical German bakery shop cookies. The original name really translates to 'Hazelnut Coins' - a taler was a coin in use generations ago in Germany, much like a shilling or quid was in Great Britan...but I suppose in English there is no better term for them, although for me they are not 'really' cookies any more than a 'bar' of something is. But...oh well...they are what they are and they are delicious!

In the shops they are usual about the size of an average palm. Eating one really is enough. I made mine smaller and used a glass to cut them out of the dough.

They are my mother's most favourite too, I found out years ago. I've been wanting to surprise her with them for weeks. But everytime I buy the hazelnuts, I end up reducing them down because I snack on them. And you do need a good amount just to make a mere dozen.

In the top photo you can see they start out as from a rolled out dough - just a common sweet 1-2-3 one (1part sugar, 2 parts REAL butter, 3 parts flour) a pinch of salt and a little vainilla sugar and half an egg (because my 1 part was only 50 g. of sugar). Anyway, I had designs for the second half - that went into the first course for lunch of a broth.

Anyway, the cut out rounds are baked at 200°C until they are light brown and when cooled melted dark chocolate is spread on them. When slightly cool, the nuts are added and when all are cool, a quick caramel of sugar with a little lemon juice is drizzled over them.

They are not complicated to make but take time as besides the dough itself (the only part you can do in advance because it must rest in the refrigerator - even up to a day or be frozen), nothing can be done in advance but proceeds as one step after another. You just can't melt chocolate and keep it warm for long nor can you make caramel in advance - you make that just before you need to drizzle it.

Oh, but are they a delicious, not too sweet treat! The happy surprised look in my mother's face was soooooooo worth the effort!