Green Chicken Chili

Yesterday I had no idea what to cook. I was not motivated either. I am beginning to realize that cooking is a phase, you are either in it, or you are not. Last year I was in it, but this year I can tell I am not. Also to cook you have to have peace, in your heart, in your life, in your home. Just so grateful last year I was able to rest and learn to cook because I can tell that phase is gone.

To my point: I found this recipe that looked good and it turned out incredibly well the first time. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS:
-1/2 onion.
-1/2 green pepper.
-a bunch of jalapeño peppers.

-3 cloves of garlic.

-1 jar of salsa verde of 500 grams.

-700 grams of chicken breast.

-400 grams of white beans.

-a good bunch of cilantro.

-300 grams of corn.

-1 chicken broth cube.

-1 tstp of coriander.

-1 tsp cumin ground.

-1 litre and 1/4 of water.

STEPS:

1. In a big pot sautee onions and green pepper and garlic.

2. Now add jalapeños (as many as you want) and add corn.

3. Now add the spices: the coriander and cumin and sautee.

4. Now add the salsa verde, and now the water, and half of the jar of beans and the broth cube.

5. Now add the chicken breast that you have shredded.

6. Now in a separate bowl, puree with a hand mixer the rest of the white beans with a bunch of cilantro. Now add this to the soup. It is marvelous what it does, it will thicken it incredibly.

7. Okay now bring it all to a boil, and basically that's it!

You can add some pasta or potatoes to make it a complete meal. It is awesome this recipe and you can make it spicy or not spicy, it depends on how many jalapeño peppers you add. Also this recipe is quite forgiving....you really cannot mess it up and great for winter.

  

American Coffee Cake (no sour cream)

Coffee cake is without a doubt one of my favorite desserts out there, especially in the USA. And it's really just a spongy cake with brown sugar and cinnamon! 

I tried a recipe this summer but it had sour cream, which they say is the secret ingredient, but it made the whole cake so greasy, it was disgusting! I mean crumbly yes, but come on, who wants to run off so much fat??? not me. I actually threw away the whole thing to the trash, although it did taste good but it wasn't worth the calories. 

So I need to try it again. So I gave Gemma Sttaford's recipe another try again but substituting the recipe with yoghurt (and she DOES suggest this in her video, let's be fair). Well, it was pretty good. Also very impressive cake, HUGE! (she does say this too!). 

So here is what I hope to be my to-go coffee cake recipe. This recipe comes kind of in 3 parts, labourious but not hard.

INGREDIENTS for the struddle:

-1 cup of brown sugar (170 grams).

-1+3/4 cups of flour.

-3/4 cup of cold butter (170 grams).

-1+1/2 cups of pecans or walnuts (optional).

-2 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

-1/2 tsp of salt.

For the cake:

-1/2 cup of butter room temperature (113gr).

-2 eggs.

-2 cups of flour

-1 cup of sugar.

-1+1/4 tsp baking powder.

-1/2 tsp baking soda.

-1/2 tsp salt.

-1 cup of yoghur (2 small spanish yoghurts)

For the icing:
-2 tablespoons of milk.
-2 drops of vanilla essence. 

-1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

STEPS:

STEPS for the struddle:

1. Cut the cold butter into little cubes and add to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients (except for the nuts). 

2. With your hands mix it all together until it all becomes this brown mix. The butter will be a little dissolved but still will have chunks. 

3. Now add the nuts that you have chopped up before to make them smaller.

STEPS for the cake:

1. Beat soft butter and sugar together.

2. Adds eggs and beat.

3. Add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

4. Now add yoghurt.

5. Now add half of your dough to the tray (with baking paper underneath, of course), and then add half of your struddlel. Now add the rest of the dough on top and then the rest of the struddle.

5. Now place on tray (it is better if you place it on a square tray rather than round pot.

6. Now bake for around 50 minutes to an hour to 180 degrees.

7. At the end if you want you can make some icing but it is NOT neccesary, the icing is made by simply fixing the ingredients of the list. 

Very good cake, this cake is great with a cup of tea. Next time I need to remember to make it in a square flatter tray not this tall round pot.

Australian Lamingtons (my recipe)

Disclaimer: This is NOT a real Aussie recipe, it is my recipe, but hey, I think they work. It is the recipe of Lamingtons the popular Aussie dessert that people have on Australia day the 26th of January. Here it is.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:
-100 grams of melted butter.
-100 grams of sugar.
-130 grams of flour.
-1 teaspoon of baking powder.
-4 eggs.

For the coating:

-250 grams of dark chocolate for melting.

-115 grams of coconut. 

-some strawberry jam.

STEPS:

1. Bake the cake. Mix all the ingredients and place on baking dish for about 30 minutes to 180 degrees.

2. Let it cool off when it is cool, cut it all in squares. 

3. Now get each square and slice it in half and put some mermelade to glue it, do this with all the squares.

4. Now melt your chocolate in saucepan and place and spoon of melted chocolate on top of each lamington. Now spread with knife around it. Let them cool for about 10 minutes. 

5. Now, before the chocolate hardens start sprinkling coconut on them, on the top and let them dry. Then I put the remainder of the coconut on a plate and just make sure all sides are coated. 

That's it. I hope the photos help to understand the process. Every year I make this recipe, and every year I forget to the logistics. But not next year. :)

And is there anything more Aussie than a gum tree?? 

 

Jewish Apple Cake recipe

 My Jewish (french) recipe book that I found last year in Retiro park is a real gem. It has great simple recipes that always work. And here is another one. A simple apple cake that has only  simple ingredients and looks pretty impressive to bring to any meal you are invited to. This cake is a little dense and buttery but also delicate and perfect, the french influence is definitely there. I'd say it would impress anyone. Also after being in Holland, the country of appleflaps, oliebols, and apple cakes, I had to bake something like this cold winter.

INGREDIENTS:
-200 grams of flour.

-4 eggs.

-200 grams of powder sugar.

-5 grams of baking powder.

-160 grams of butter.

-350 grams of golden apples or royal (4 apples)

STEPS:

1. In a bowl mix the flour, the sugar, the eggs and the baking powder. At the end add the melted butter.

2. Wash the apples and cut 3 of them in pieces, no need to peel them. Add to the mix. Pour on the mold and now decorate with your 1 apple left that you have sliced. This touch really works.

3. Preheat oven to 180 and then stick there for about an hour, only turn on the oven in the bottom part, never ever grill or it won't rise. This is a big cake and it takes a good hour to bake.

So wonderful people. So easy. You can also try to add a yoghurt for a more spongy taste. If you do that, add also 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1+1/2 teaspoons of  baking powder. 

Kaiserschmarrn or Austrian torn Pancake

 2 years ago we tried Kairserchman in Vienna. It was so fluffy, comforting and delicious during the super cold Christmas days we spent there. 

Last saturday I was cold, miserable and kinda bored. It was the perfect moment to give it a go with Deb's Steamy Kitchen recipe that I had eyeballed a while ago. And yup, it was as satisfying as it looked....not hard either! Perfect for winter.

INGREDIENTS:
-4 eggs 
-2 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.

-1/4 tsp of salt.

-1 tsp of baking powder.

-3/4 cups of flour (1oo grams)

-1/2 cup of milk (120 ml)

-2 tablespoons of butter to fry.

-Caster sugar to sprinkle on top.

STEPS:

1. Whisk egg yolks, with sugar, salt and baking powder.

2. Now add the milk and flour and whisk till smooth. 

3. Now beat the egg whites until they fluff up like snow, for like 5 minutes.

4. Now fold the egg whites in the mix, try not to kill the air in it.

5. Now add to sauce pan with a litle butter. In medium fire add the whole thing and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Now turn it around with a spatula and courage.

6. Now cook the other side. When it becomes gold after 3 or 4 minutes, get it out on plate and split it in pieces with your spatula (the center should still be runny).

7. Now add more butter to saucepan and golden up the bits for a few minutes...

8. That's it. Sprinkle caster sugar very very generously...

So good! So satisfying. A perfect merienda. Deb Perelman, you truly make this fallen world of ours a better place with your recipes and writings. Thank you. 

Easy Chocolate&Raspberry Cake

Great, impressive and dead easy chocolate cake. The proportions of sugar, salt, etc are seriously P-E-R-F-E-C-T  in this cake, and it is so easy and just dead easy! Thanks to my Korean friend Moises, who brought it for Thanksgiving....oh so easy people. This is the video where I got it from. 

INGREDIENTS:

-200 grams of dark chocolate (70%) 

-100 grams of milk chocolate.

-300 ml of heavy cream.

-300 grams of digestive biscuits.

-150 grams of butter melted.

-2o0 grams of raspberries.

STEPS:

1. Make the base. Crush the biscuits in a plastic bag until pulverized. Then mix with melted butter. 

2. Now, create the base of the cake. Place transparent film in the container you are using. A good size in 23 cm as diameter, but you can make it smaller. Now add all the paste and create the base with your fingers until it solidifies a bit. 

3. Now stick in freezer for 15 minutes.

4. In the meantime, melt the chocolate carefully in a pot. When it is all melted and cooled off a bit, add the cream and mix. A wonderful thick chocolate paste will appear in front of your eyes.

5. Now add to your base and let it cool for 15 minutes and now add the raspberries. What I do is draw a cross with the raspberries and that helps me then to make diagonals and create perfect lines until I fill it all up with berries. 

6. Now stick in fridge overnight.

7. Get it out of fridge 1 hour before you eat so that it is softer, and not too hard the chocolate and then sprinkle with caster sugar. 

So good people, so so good, give it a try, this cake will not disappoint a soul.

What I learned this Thanksgiving dinner

 Our annual Thanksgiving this year was a bit of a disaster....on the morning of the dinner I did the following:

-Nearly melted my Iphone on the stove.
-Burned the stuffing altogether.
-Decapitated our little plastic William Bradford statute. 

-Ruined the salad bags leaving them outside the fridge for 2 days.

I nearly had a meltdown had it not been for Kenton. But basically I learnt a few things that I need to write here so that I don't forget. 

1. Stuffing CANNOT be made the day before the dinner. It will get absolutely disgusting. I burned our stuffing but it was already disgusting on the morning of the dinner....so I had to do it again, so even though it was really stressful to make it again, I was kinda glad because it was 

so gross. You can see my stuffing in the trash here.

2. It was the first year I cooked a big big turkey of 6,5 kg. So I followed my own recipe of the turkey that I always do, plus I covered the turkey with a blanket of cheesecloth of butter and wine so that it would not dry and it worked (see photo at the bottom). You can see it in this link in the first 10 minutes, it is super easy. 

3. You do not need a fancy container for the turkey. One of those chino foil trays work as long as you put it on your heavy duty tray of the oven. Then, you place the turkey of onions, in a bed of onions and you eliminate a lot of equipment.

4. The puritan hat and the pilgrim bonnet that the Martha Stewart's page has are fantastic! also the measurements are not for kids but for adults. I have done them now many years and they are great and easy. 

https://www.marthastewart.com/908657/paper-pilgrim-bonnet

https://www.marthastewart.com/917670/paper-pilgrim-hat

5. Keep all your Thanksgiving food that is tough in a bucket all together in the same place so that you don´t go crazy looking for it. Let's be honest, most things will be okay outside because it is winter. Remember to keep the salad in the fridge, cause I ruined mine cause I was too optimistic.

6. Use plastic cups and plastic glasses. Honestly no need to complicate yourself with real dishes....plus, real dishes make the dinner cold in 5 minutes. It is pointless. 

7. I eliminated mashed potatoes altogether. This dish stresses me out because it is so hard to heat up on the same day. Getting rid of it was a brilliant idea. Instead I boiled Brussels sprouts and corn.

So I think this is it people, great findings this year. I thought I knew it all, but nope, still messed up so much. But it was a super fun dinner, we did a quiz at the end of Thanksgiving and we had so much fun.

    

Peruvian Lamb Soup

I had 3 lamb chops the other left. When I did not know what to do with them. I googled: lamb soup, and all these recipes came up from Latin America. They seemed so easy! So I gave it a try and I did not regret it....so good and no stock!!!!!!!!!! this is the video that I kinda followed. 

INGREDIENTS:

-1'3 litres of water 

-4 or 5 chops of lamb.

-3 celery sticks.

-2 big potatoes.

-1 small white onion.

-2 cloves of garlic.

-1 tsp of salt.

-some pepper.

-1 carrot.

-3-4 slices of 

-some oregano.

-a good bunch of cilantro and some lime to garnish.

-optional: brussels sprouts.

STEPS:

1. So easy. If the chops are already fried and cooked, then great, if not fry them in the pot a little so they brown from both sides. Now set apart.

2. Dice up the onion and garlic and sautee in the pot with the grease of the lamb. Stir a bit.

3. Now add the lamb chops back, let it all cook a little together in the pot for a few minutes.

4. Now add the celery and the carrot and cook all together.

5. Now add the water, the salt, the pepper, the oregano and the 2 big potatoes in cubes and bring it to a boil.

6. Once it boils, bring down the fire and simmer for 30 minutes. The potatoes will make the broth thicker, but at this point you can also add 2 handfuls of rice. Yum! 

7. Now try and add more salt if needed. Also pick up the chops and get the meat out and cut up in small pieces and back to the pot. All the flavour of the bones will be in the soup now. 

8. Now garnish with cilantro and lime. 

So good! Next time I will add brussels sprouts too cause I think it goes great with lamb.