A German Quickie - part two: The Food Tourist

I love supermarkets in foreign countries. You can find so many unusual things over there and discover the country's foodie obsessions. In this present case, Germany is all about Lager, yoghurt, tea and chocolate. And Haribo sweets. Oh yeah. My sister and I used to eat trucks of those when we were kids, going to Cologne for the holidays. They had been pretty much absent from the belgian shelves until recently; some delicious kinds are still missing, though. Such as the alphabet letters or the tropical fruit mix. I spent fifteen solid minutes in the baking aisle: I had never seen so much choice at such low prices. I was shocked. I was invited to pick something to bring home with me and I made up my mind for a small box of chocolate chips. We also picked the needed ingredients for the almond brioches; I'm sending her the recipe tomorrow. She's asked me to come back again soon so that I could teach her how to bake various breads. She thought I was joking when I told her I'd show her how to make pizza. ^-^

On sunday, just before we left, we took the promised trip to a nearby bakery. Germans know how to make beautiful, yummy cakes. We picked two servings of four or so different cakes, including the nation's favorite: the Crown of Frankfurt. It was absolutely delicious and light - as in 'not heavy on the stomach', not 'healthy' -_-; Berliners taste so much better there, too!

My next german mission will consist in hunting down a couple of pastry recipes and discover new ones. I can't wait. Heh.

A German Quickie - part one: On the Road

It had been a few years since we last visited my german uncle. He seriously insisted on how welcome we would be - for a few days to a few weeks. My dad being off for the whole month of August , we packed a few things and drove down to Sankt Augustin, near Bohnn. The trip was way shorter than I remembered - two hours and a half - and much more enjoyable than taking the train. But the goods I had baked had probably something to do with it...

I really enjoy those occasions. Since I don't like to visit people empty handed and woke up too early on friday morning, I baked three different types of viennoiseries: milk rolls, cream de parisienne and brioches suisses aux amandes. I wanted softer milk rolls; I cut down 25 gr of flour of the original recipe. They were tasty but the texture and clear aspect didn't entirely satisfy me - I think playing around with the amount of milk will give better results. My cream de parisienne had different fillings: apricot or cherry jam, nutella, and an apple/cinnamon jelly. There should be a way to spread the fillings properly; they don't look evenly distributed after puffing up in the oven. My aunt liked them very much but would like them plain - she thought they were croissants briochés , similar to the ones you find there. That was an interesting comment; I had never considered them that way and it gave me the idea of rolling them with melted butter and sugar. : makes note for later :

The brioches suisses vere very germanic in flavor. The combination of lemon zest, caramelized almond topping and raisins was a overwhelming at the begining but rapidly became addictive. I saved ('hid' would be a better term : embarrased laughter : ) a few for myself, distributed a couple to my siblings and packed the rest. My aunt absolutely LOVED them - and actually thought I had bought them on the way :D

Teriyaki chicken - making japanese rice for the first time

... has been on my 'to try' list for a very long time. I spent a great deal of time online to find interesting variations but when I checked my cupboards before getting down to work, I discovered that we were basically out of soy sauce. Further investigation led to the finding of a hidden bottle of teriyaki marinade I had completely forgotten about.

I cut and skinned three chicken thighs, put them in a bowl and covered them in sauce. I added a clove of crushed garlic and let the whole thing marinate for two hours and a half.

I had heard so many horror stories about making japanese rice that it took me months before trying. Especially since I don't own the proper kind of rice cooker (which is used for the non sticking kind). For once, I decided to... trust the pack instructions! :gasps:
A batch of steamed buns was started at the same time, just in case the rice wouldn't come out good.

Basically, you rince the rice a few times until water stays clear, pour it into a pan, add 1.5 times the volume of salted water (ie: 1.5 cups of water for 1 cup of rice). You bring it to the boil, uncovered, then cover it (not entirely though, let a small space for the steam) and let simmer for 15 minutes on low heat. Turn the heat off, cover it entirely and let rest, on the stove, for ten minutes. Voilà! I was amazed at the results - it didn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

The meat was sautéed in a little bit of oil, then broiled in the rest of the marinade. I added a little water at that stage. Try to cook it for as long as you want on low heat, turning it over often - it has to be evenly dark brown. It was served with the buns, the rice and steamed carrots.

Bananas galore

On friday, I didn't have to take care of the usual two or three very ripe bananas. There were five of them, forgotten in the fruit basket.

I made a batch of ice cream and Helene's Almond Banana Tart. I couldn't find the sliced flakes I thought we had and didn't have sour cream; I replaced it with 125 gr of mascarpone cheese. I mixed it with the milk before adding it to the banana mixture.

The pie dough recipe I used had an interesting texture - it felt as if it was made with ground almonds, which complimented the fruits very well. Here's the recipe for one crust:

• 120 g of flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 40 g of sugar
• 1 egg
• 70 g of butter, diced

1. Put the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix in the egg, then add the softened butter pieces. Work the dough slowly, for three to four minutes. Shape it into a ball, wrap it in plastic foil and let it rest in the fridge until firm. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. On a floured surface, roll it down the best you can. Put the dough in a pie mold; pick it with a fork and bake in the oven until golden.

At that stage, fill with the banana purée (made with 2-3 bananas, 2 eggs, half a cup of sugar, half a cup of sour cream, half a cup of milk and the juice of half a lemon), sprinkle with sliced almonds if you have any and bake until golden.

The crust gets quite hard once in the fridge, i'd recommend to eat the pie at room temperature with ice cold milk.

Garlic Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Pizza making is my second cooking obsession. I had been looking for the perfect dough for years when I ended up on pizzamaniac.com, a pizza maker journal. What interested me in the first place was a) to discover there were other homemade pizza-obsessed people out there and b) the dough had to rise between 5 and 20 hours in the fridge.

I decided to go for the whole twenty the first time and the taste was absolutely terrific. It wasn't like the usual bland-but-okay ones nor was suitable for a quick pizza fix (though these are welcomed every now and then). This was Pizza. If you're into making the dough yourself, I couldn't urge you enough to try his out. I used to make it entirely by hand before I bought a Kitchen Aid-like mixer; you don't absolutely need a bread maker (nor a k.a. for that matter).

It was my turn to cook last night. I had prepared a batch of the dough and made the alfredo topping. I made one pie instead of the usual three, and ended up with a third of the sauce left. I added sliced mushrooms and bacon bits (leftovers from saturday's calzone) and, as you can probably tell, it was super tasty.

I'm having the last serving for lunch.

I am currently trying to take decent pictures of my culinary adventures. They have involved waffles, petits pains au lait (a.k.a. milk rolls), soup, a calzone, sautéed noodles, a trip to the baking supplies aisle of a supermarket and an excellent evening in my favorite pizza restaurant.

Unfortunately, our camera is crap. I figured that as long as I hadn't taken decent shots, I wouldn't update as much since pictureless blogs are - come on, you can say it - bland.

I'll try harder tonight, I promise.