More japanese beauties arrived ... ;-))

Two new japanese kitchen beauties arrived: a Yanagi (240mm, white steel) and a Kamagata Usuba (180mm, white steel). Both custom made for left handed by Shinichi Watanabe. All knives are single beveled and sharp like razor blades.

Beef filet and oven baked tomatos

Today we had beef filet and oven baked tomatos. The tomatos were deskinned, quatered and deseaded. They were put on a plate sprinkled with olive oil, custard sugar, pepper and salt. Some garlic and rosmary were added. Everything was put for around 1.5 hrs. to the oven at 100 deg. celsius.
The beef was pan fried at strong heat (two minutes each side). Afterwards the beef was put for 45 minutes to the oven at 100 deg. celsius.
The sauce is made with sherry, mushrooms, green pepper and cream.

Tom Yum Kung Soup

Tom Yam Kung Soup is a thai sour, spicy soup with prawns and straw mushrooms. The recipe in short is: de-shell and devein the prawns. Keep the shells and heads. Heat oil in a huge pot and roast the prawn shells and heads. Add 1L of water and add lime leaves, lemon grass and chilies. Boil for 5-6 minutes. Drain the stock through a sieve into another pot. Add mushrooms, tomatos and prawns. Add finely chopped coriander, sliced spring onion, sliced chili, fish sauce and lime juice.

Amaebi Miso Soup

Today I tried a new variant of miso soup. I de-shelled and deveined some fresh tiger prawn. They were coated in some cornstarch and afterwards slightly boiled in salt water for 2 minutes. The prawns are arranged in a small bowl together with some carrot decoration, wakame seaweed and sliced spring onion. The miso soup is poured carefully over the prawns.

Again - vegetable soup

Today I prepared again vegetable soup. Some frozen vegetable soup stock was still in the freezer. Together with some fresh potatos, carrots, mushrooms, and pies a very nice vegetable soup. Helen added some egg noodles. I had some sliced, smoked sausage added, that gives a nice salty, smokey flavour. As garnish some finely sliced spring onion.

The new kitchen beauty arrived ...

After some hassle with the German custom I have now my new kitchen beauty. It is a custom made deba knife made by Shinichi Watanabe (http://www.watanabeblade.com). It is honed at the left side so that lefthanders can cut properly with this single beveled knife. Another optional feature is the octagonal ho wood handle. I am looking very much forward to use this knife.

Forelle Blau (trout blue)

This is a traditional receipe from south germany (Baden). It is called "Forelle blau". It is poached trout. The stock (Court-Bouillon) is constisting of carots, fennel, leek, shallot, garlic, parsily, thyme, white pepper corns, bay leaf, juniper berry, salt, Noily Prat, and white wine vinager. The trout is poached for 15-20 min in the stock.

Japanese Knives

One of my new hobbies is collecting knives - especially handmade japanese knives. It is not only collecting - also using in the kitchen.


The Cheff Wa Gingami 3 - a sashimi knife with a length of 210mm with a Ho wood handle


Sirou Kamo - Migaki Nikari 165mm - a vegetable knife with Ho wood handle

Healthy Vegetable Soup

Last night I prepared a nice vegetable fond. I used celery, carots, leek, onion, broccoli, mushroom (fresh and dried), garlic, white wine, cloves, bayleave, roasted onion.
Today I prepared a vegetable noodle soup using carots, spring onion, celery, fresh peas, bean sprouts, fresh mushrooms and yellow egg noodles. As an additional dip I prepared some sliced chilies with soy sauce and lime juice.

Marinated Prawns

Today I tried another prawn receipe. The prawns are marinated for some hours. The marinade consists of olive oil, sesame oil, lime juice, lime zest, ginger, salt, pepper, coriander and brown sugar. Some of the marinade is kept aside as vinaigrette to drizzle over the fried prawns before serving.

New Cooking Sessions

Yesterday I bought a new cook book from the "Der Feinschmecker". It is written by Eckart Witzigmann - one of the most famous German kitchen chefs - about young vegetables.

The first trial was a green bean salad with tomatos and freshly sliced mushrooms. The vinaigrette consists of fruit vinager, aceto balsamico vinager, mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper and finely sliced spring onion.


In parallel I prepared a homemade vegetable fond. I needed it for todays potato soup. The fond consists of onion, zucchini, celery, carrots, tomato, leek, broccoli, white wine, water, and herbs.

Today I tried the potato soup recipe from the Witzigmann book. A very creamy, rich soup and very delicous.

BBQ Season has started ... ;-))

We bought a beautiful, handy Weber Q100 Gas Grill. It is a very sturdy, easy to handle and clean BBQ Gas Grill.
Today we tried some marinated pork fillet with vegetables (onion, bellpepper, zucchini, mushrooms). All vegetables were marinated with olive oil, herb salt, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Delicious ... :-)) ... a really good buy!

Teochew-Style steamed Loup de Mer

Today we steamed Loup de Mer Teochew-Style. I have ordered the fish (in a whole) from a gorgeous online-shop: http://www.lachskontor.de They deliver absolutely fresh fish. From the catch to delivery at home it takes only 24 hours. They have special packaging in order to maintain the freshness and chilling chain. I am so happy to have a source of fresh fish. The price of the fish is absolutely reasonable. The fish is vacuumized in portions and is easy to freeze. So we have fresh fish all the time.
The fish was steamed together with ginger julienne, garlic slices, soy sauce, shao xing rice wine, lime juice and sesame oil.
The fish flesh was very firm and tasty. Delicious.
The raw fish ...

Still raw, with the other ingredients

The steamed fish ...

Mango Avocado Salad with Crayfish Tails

Today I prepared a second time this wonderful salad. This time I replaced the papaya by mango, which was also nice. The vinaigrette consists of lime juice, honey, olive oil, salt, pepper, diced onion, chili and coriander stem. Crabfish Tails are used as a delicious topping. Best served with a glas of chilled Prosecco.

Pork Chop with Potato Salad

Today I prepared pork chop and potato salad according to a recipe from Alfons Schuhbeck. The pork chop is shortly pan fried and then put to the oven for 20 minutes. The sauce is made of vegetable stock with ginger, chili, parsily, majoran, butter and lime.

Prawns with Salsa

Back from Istanbul. I have had some really nice seafood and other food in Istanbul. Today I prepared some prawns with salsa. The salsa consists of tomatos, onions, coriander, lime juice, soy sauce, salt and pepper. A very refreshing food. The prawns were simply pan fried in olive oil with thyme and garlic slices. The recipe is from Steffen Henssler in "Der Feinschmecker" (Fisch und Meeresfruechte).

Spring chicken with artichokes

Today I prepared two spring chickens. The chicken breast and drumlets were fried in a pan and later oven backed. The rest of the chicken I used to prepare a nice chicken stock. The artiches were pan fried in olive oil together with dried and fresh tomatos.

Mussels and Sea Bass

Yesterday we went to France for grocery shopping again. Bought a very fresh sea bass (a whole fish) and fresh french mussels. The mussels and the fish, together with several vegetables (sellery, fennel, onion, carots), were steam with fish fond and white wine. As a starter we had some pan fried scallops.

A french supper ...

Last evening's supper: smoked duck breast, french goat cheese, bloc fois gras (duck liver paste) and french baguette. It was delicous and a very nice snack.

The first fresh scallop since eight month ...

Today we drove to France to go shopping at the Match Supermarche. They have a good selection of fresh fish and seafood which can not be found in Germany (not in the area where we live). So much nice food - duck breast, magret de canard du sud -ouest (thinnly sliced smoked duck breast), bloc de foie gras (duck liver), scallops, prawns, Riesling wine from alsace ...
We bought some fresh scallops with corail and raw tiger prawn. This ones were shortly pan fried at low heat. As a side dish I prepared some vegetables (fennel, shalotts, bellpepper, zucchini) with garlic and thyme.

Some new fish recipes

Today I tried out two new recipes I found in a cooking magazine. The one of both was nothing new. Asian style stir fried vegetables (spring onion and bellpeppers) and tuna cubes.

The other dish was more exciting. It is a bed of vegetables (fennel, carrots, leek) placed on a piece of backing paper. A Tilapia filet is placed on top, salted and peppered. Fresh thyme, a bay leaf and sliced green olives are placed on top. Then some splashes of lemon and olive oil. Afterwards the packet is folded and sealed. The whole thing goes for around 25 minutes to the oven. I can only say: absolutely simple to prepare and delicious ... :-)

First Asparagus with Sauce Holloandaise

Fresh asparagus was offered at the vegetables section at the supermarket. I know - it is not season for asparagus in Germany, but we gave the asparagus a trial. Don't ask me from where it is imported. However, it turned out to be delicious. Sweet and not bitterish.
The Sauce Hollandaise was prepared according to a recipe from the German magazine "Der Feinschmecker". This sauce is a little bit tricky to prepare. Easily the beaten egg can coagulate in several of the preparation steps. If this happens one can dispose the sauce. Luckily it doesn't happened.
While writing this post we are waiting for the mango puff pastry to be backed. Hmmm ... looking forward to the dessert ... ;-)

Happy New Year 2008!

Happy New Year 2008 to everybody reading this blog!

We had a very nice new year dinner. As a starter I prepared beef tatar (according to a recipe of Johann Lafer) with a layer of creme fraiche with lemon and mustard and cives. It was very tasty. The main was mediterran style pork filet with bell peppers and zucchini. Cooked with lots of olive oil, garlic cloves, rosmarin and thyme.