Chicken liver and mushrooms nests

recipe from BBC Good Food
makes 6 nests
1 medium onion
100 gr mushrooms
1 garlic clove
150 gr chicken liver

2 tbsp brandy
3 tbsp bread crumbs
small bunch of fresh parsley
1/2 dl raw almonds
6 slices Schwarzwald ham

Chop the onion and cook in a bit of olive oil until soft. Chop the mushrooms and add to the onion, cook until the mushroom liquid has evaporated. Add finely chopped garlic, blend everything together and put in a small bowl.

Put some more olive oil in the pan and cook the chicken liver shortly until golden but not cooked through. Set aside on a plate. Add the brandy in the pan and let it cook for couple of minutes. Take off the heat, add mushroom mixture, bread crumbs, almost all parsley and almonds. Chop the liver and add to the mushrooms as well.

Heat oven to 180 C. Line small tins with the ham slices, spoon in the liver filling, sprinkle with some almonds and bake, covered with foil, on the lowest rack in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Beef tacos

There are many many different types of tacos in Mexico and this is one of them, beef tacos. The key to these tacos is to use chuck-cut of beef, because it is marbled with tissues and fat which melt during the braising (about 2 hours) and give the meat its strong beef-flavour. The meat is amazingly soft and juicy as well.

And the salsa is as important as the meat (if not more). With meat tacos usually smooth red or green salsas are served. There are many different types of both, but in general red one is made with red tomatoes and dried red chillies, and green one is made with tomatillo and green chillies.

As it is hard to find tomatillos in Europe I stick to the red salsa. Any kind of dried/smoked red chillies can be used but if you do not have substitute with a bit of smoked paprika.

In Mexico corn tortillas for tacos are small, about 10 cm in diameter, so usually two tortillas are served. And tortillas have to be warm, they are never eaten cold, even when they are made of wheat.

Beef tacos

serves 2

400 gr beef (chuck cut)

some oil

salt and pepper

250 gr tomatoes (the more ripe the better, I sometimes use cherry tomatoes)
2 jalapeños
1 onion
2 small garlic cloves, unpeeled

2 guajillo chillies (ancho, chipotle or a pinch of smoked paprika works fine as well)

16 warm corn tortillas (10 cm in diameter)
onion
fresh coriander
lime

Heat some oil in a saucepan, cut the meat in large cubes, salt and pepper and brown in batches. Put back all the meat in the sauce pan and pour in so much water that it covers the bottom, it should not cover the meat. Put the lid on and braise for about 2 hours. Add water from time to time but just so much that it covers the bottom. When done it looks like this:

In the meantime make the salsa. Half the tomatoes (quarter if big), quarter the onions, clean the jalapeño and together with garlic cloves (unpeeled) roast in the oven, 180 C, for about 40 minutes. When done let cool.

Clean dried chillies and soak in hot water until soft (30 minutes). When roasted vegetables are done, squeeze out the garlic, add the soaked chillies and blend everything until smooth. Salt and pepper, add some water if the salsa is too thick.

Chop the onion and coriander. Cut the meat in small cubes. To serve, put some some meat in the middle of a warm tortilla, top with onion, coriander, salsa and a squeeze of lime. Fold in half, open side up and eat!

Stew with lamb, dates and sweet potatoes

I found the recipe for this stew in BBC Good Food (Dec. 2008). It was supposed to be a tagine but I do not have one so I call it a stew instead. And what a stew this is! It is exotic (for me), delicious and a perfect winter dish. I have made it with lamb and beef with excellent results.

Stew with lamb, dates and sweet potatoes 
recipe from BBC Good Food
serves 2
1 onion
1 tsp chopped ginger
400 gr cubed lamb
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 Ceylon cinnamon stick
salt and pepper
2 dl passata
2 dl water
2 medium sweet potatoes
6 pitted dates

toasted almonds and fresh coriander

Slice onion thinly and cook in some olive oil until soft. Add ginger and lamb (in batches) until the meat gets some colour. Return all the meat to the pan and add cumin, paprika, coriander and cinnamon, salt and pepper. Cook couple of minutes until fragrant. Add water and passata, cover and cook for about 1,5 hours.

Peel the sweet potatoes and cut in large cubes, add to the stew and cook for another 15 minutes. Add pitted dates and cook fr 1o minutes more. Serve in bowls with almonds and coriander.

Flautas

Flautas are Mexican rolled, deep-fried tacos and they are beyond delicious! They can be made with various fillings and one of the classical is potato and chorizo.

Mexican chorizo is a raw pork sausage that is spiced with dried chilies, cumin, paprika and as it is hard to find it here in Munich, I made flautas with Spanish chorizo. They can also be made with wheat tortillas.

As I mentioned flautas are traditionally deep-fried until very crispy but I refuse to deep-fry corn tortillas, they are perfect as they are. Instead I use my cast iron pan and just couple of spoons of fat....über delicious!

Flautas
serves 2
80 gr chorizo
about 2 dl waxy potatoes, cut in small cubes (0,5 cm)
salt and pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
8 corn tortillas, about 11 cm in diameter and warm (when cold they break)
3 tbsp clarified butter, or fat you prefer for pan frying the flautas
3 tbsp crème fraîche (or sour cream) mixed with 1-2 tbsp milk
salad, thinly slices

Cook potatoes in water until done and drain. Cut the chorizo in small cubes as well and cook in a dry pan just until fragrant, 2 minutes. Add cooked potato, season and mix well. The potatoes should partially fell a part and get very well mixed with chorizo, they should not turn into mash.

Put some filling on one end of tortilla and roll, set aside with the seam down. Heat the cast iron pan, add clarified butter and let melt. Put the flautas in the pan, seam down, and cook turning until the tortilla gets some colour and crisp.
Put on a plate, top with sliced salad and drizzle the crème fraîche over.

Pozole

Here it is, my favourite dish ever, pozole. Pozole is one of the most authentic Mexican dishes and it has everything a dish should have, if you ask me. The base is made of corn, same type as corn flour for tortillas is made of, and the rest of the ingredients vary.

In Mexico corn for pozole is sold either dried or vacuum packed (picture). Outside Mexico it is usually sold canned. Vacuum packed corn does not need to be soaked over night but it still has to be cooked for 2-3 hours until the kernels open.

After the corn is cooked, meat is added. Pozole can be made with beef, pork, chicken, seafood, or meatless. And depending on which chillies are used pozole can be red, green or white (no chili). My favourite is red pozole made with a mixture of ancho (left) and guajillo (right) chilies.

There are so many different types of pozole that in Mexico there are restaurants who only serve pozole, they are called pozolerias. A must when visiting Mexico.

Pozole

serves 4

500 gr pozole corn

400 gr chicken, mixture legs and breasts

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2 chilies anchos

2 chilies guajillos

salt and pepper

finely chopped radish, avocado, onion, salad (4 tbsp of each)

dried oregano

lime

tostadas (oven dried or fried corn tortillas)

or

totopos (oven dried or fried corn tortilla chips)

Wash corn couple of times, put in a casserole and cook in water until it opens. Do not add any salt as that prevents corn from opening. This takes 2-3 hours. Water needs to be added from time to time. Add the meat, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. When the meat is cooked take it out, let it cool and shred it in small pieces.

Clean the chilies, soak in hot water for about 15 minutes and when soft blend in a food processor. I don't have a food processor or mortar so instead I scrape the flesh, chop it very finely and press through a strainer. Chilies are sometimes very spicy but sometimes not so much, so add them to the corn spoon by spoon.

Serve pozole in bowls, top with fresh vegetables, chicken meat and sprinkle some dried oregano. Totopos and a piece of lime on the side. Lime is squeezed over pozole just before eating.

Argentine empanadas

Empanadas are made of pastry filled with meat. They can be found in Spanish speaking countries and in Argentina they are considered a national speciality. I have tried empanadas from Spain, Argentina and Mexico. Argentinian are definitely my favourite.

Every region in Argentina has its own version of the filling but the base is made of equal parts of ground beef and onion, that has been seasoned with ground paprika and cumin. All other ingredients like, potatoes, eggs, olives, raisins...differ from region to region and basically you can add them to your liking.

Another great thing about these empanadas is that they can also be baked in the oven. Usually empanadas are fried in oil but Argentinian can be baked without making them un-authentic. I was not that much interested in the pastry this time so I just bought frozen in a Latino food store here in Munich. But here is a recipe for homemade empanada pastry.

Empanadas
16 empanadas
150 gr ground beef
150 gr onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp ground paprika (sweet)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
1/2 dl green olives, chopped
2 tbsp raisins
1/2 dl red pepper, chopped
olive oil

16 empanada pastry discs (12 cm)

Fry onion and garlic in some oil on low temperature until glossy and transparent, takes about 10 minutes. Add ground paprika and cumin, fry 2-3 minutes. Add olives, raisins and pepper, fry 5 minutes more. Switch off the cooker, add meat, fry just shortly, as soon as it is not red anymore take off the cooker. The meat should not be cooked completely as it will cook again in the oven for another 15-20 minutes. Add egg, season with salt and pepper,and let the filling cool down a bit. If it is too hot it might melt the butter-based pastry.

To fill empanadas take one pastry disc, place one tablespoon of filling in the middle. Carefully close empanada, this is probably the hardest part. Press two edges of emapanada well so that nothing comes out. Empanada should look like a half moon and have an dough edge of about 2cm. To make a nice spiral edge, start by folding a corner of empanada inwards, press firmly, and continue folding the dough until you reach the other corner.

Place empanadas on a baking sheet, paint with a beaten egg and bake in preheated oven, 200C, for 15-20 minutes.

Schnitzel

Bavaria (south-east region in Germany) is the kingdom of schnitzels. And right now I happen to live in this kingdom of schnitzels. They are everywhere, meat in general for that matter. Schnitzel is originally from Austria and Bavaria used to cover part of Austria, so I guess the schnitzel tradition came along as well.

Original Vienna schnitzel is made of veal but these days they can be made of pork or chicken as well. When made of pork Germans do not call them Vienna schnitzel but "Viennese style schnitzel". Fine and fair distinction.

The meat for schnitzel needs to be around 5 millimetres thick, then it is covered in flour, dipped in beaten eggs and last in dried breadcrumbs. It is fried in lard or oil (lots of it, needs to swim in it). I fry schnitzels in clarified butte and it works like a charm. 

Schnitzels are usually eaten with potato salad and some lemon juice is squeezed on top of the schnitzel. Austrian version adds also some lingonberry as well (just like Swedish meatballs). When it comes to the Bavarian potate salad it really has become my favourite potato salad. It is creamy but has no mayonnaise or some other diary product, wonderful. Recipe coming soon!

Chicken cashew nuggets

This is a recipe from one of the Swedish chefs that has her own TV-show, Leila Lindholm. Her shows are huge inspiration. I adapted this recipe by coating the chicken with some pesto and later following her recipe. What I like the most is that you do not have to fry the nuggets, oven does the work with almost no oil. We like.

Chicken cashew nuggets
Adapted from Leila Lindholm
200 g boneless chicken thighs
2 tbs pesto
1/2 dl flour
1 egg
200 g cashew nuts
salt


Preheat the oven to 200 C. Cut the chicken thighs in 3-4 pieces and rub pesto all over it. Add some salt if you like. Put in the fridge while you are preparing the rest.

Chop cashew nuts finely. I didn’t have patience so I chopped them coarsely, didn’t look as nice but it tastes the same, that is delicious. Take out 3 deep plates, put flour in one, egg in second one, whisk the egg and in the third plate put chopped cashew nuts.

Oil a sheet or aluminium foil on a sheet. Dip the nuggets first in the flour, then in the egg and last in the cashew nuts. Put on the sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Waiter, there’s something in my…Mexican Stuffed Sweet Peppers

It is my first WTSIM (Waiter, There’s Something In My…) and I am so glad that I found a great recipe to contribute with. I chose a recipe that is called Stuffed Sweet Chili Peppers.

I used red and yellow Sweet Pointed Peppers and they were stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, vegetables, cooking banana, almonds and raisins. Usually stuffing that includes ground meat has rice as well and it is not one of my favourites, so this recipe was an excellent alternative. The only thing I will change next time is peppers, I will only use yellow ones, felt like they fit more than the red ones.


Mexican stuffed sweet peppers 
Adapted from "Cosina Mexicana"
4 sweet peppers
100 ml (60 g) of flour
3 eggs
oil for frying

1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tomatoes
1 medium boiled potato
200 g of ground meat
2 tbs of chopped olives
2 tbs of chopped almonds
2 tbs of chopped raisins
1/2 cooking banana
salt and pepper
some oregano

To prepare: peal potato and cook it until it gets medium boiled. Cut banana in four pieces and fry it in a bit of oil until it gets golden. When potato and banana are done cut them in small pieces and set aside. Wash and clean peppers, take out the seeds and membranes. I usually cut a T in the pepper and take out the seeds and membranes with a small spoon.

To make stuffing: Cut onion and garlic and fry them in some oil without them getting color. Add tomatoes and potato and after 5 minutes add the meat. Cook for another 20 minutes and add the rest of ingredients. Cook for 5 minutes more and when it's done stuff the peppers. Let rest while preparing the frying batter.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add yolks, flour and a pinch of salt. Blend carefully until everything is mixed well.

Heat the oil to medium hot. As I like my peppers to be a bit crunchy I used just a bit more oil than when you fry eggs. But if you like peppers to be soft you can always finish them in the oven after frying. Frying is just to make the batter nice and golden.
Take stuffed peppers and turn them around in the flour until covered. Dip in the egg batter and fry until they get golden. Put them to drip off the excess oil on kitchen paper. Bon appétit!