Viennese potato salad

No Schnitzel without good old-fashioned Viennese potato salad. Having said that, we never had the real thing on our dinner table at home. Even when it was Schnitzel-time.
As mentioned previously, every salad in my province was dressed by default with pumpkin seed oil. A habit, people from Vienna have not yet adopted. Second reason why the potato salad of my mother not only looked different (everything that has pumpkin seed oil added is greener than grass) but also tasted different to the proper Viennese salad is my sisters dislike for onions (in fact, my sister dislikes everything but chicken, rice and potato mash).
No dish prepared and cooked in my mother’s kitchen ever dared to have onions in it. My mother and I compensated the lack of onion-vitamins by eating German rye bread with paté, topped with loads of freshly chopped onion. Apart from that, my mother went through tons of onion powder. But it’s just not the same - that’s why my sister would eat it.
How delightful that my chicken-only-with-mash-or-rice-but-never-onion days are long gone. Ever since I moved out of my parent’s flat, I practically haven’t touched chicken, I couldn’t stand the sight of potato mash for years and I put onion into almost every single of my dishes.
Which brings me back to the initial idea behind this post: Viennese potato salad. With loads of onion! Viennese potato salad, for 4
: 400g salad potatoes
: 1 super large onion
: 1 chicken stock cube
: apple or cider vinegar
: sunflower oil
: white pepper

Cook the potatoes on their skins. In the meantime, sauté the finely chopped onion in a little oil until soft. Prepare the chicken stock as per directions on the pack. When ready, pour the stock over the onions and let it simmer for about 10-15mins.
While still piping hot, peel and slice the potatoes. Pour over the onion-stock-mixture and some vinegar. Let the salad rest for a while, but give the salad a quick mix/turn every 15 mins or so. After 1-2 hours, finish the salad off with a little drizzle of sunflower oil and a sprinkle of white pepper.
The salad keeps in the fridge for about two days. Best eaten at room temperature one day after preparation.

Chicken skewers a la saltimbocca

Skewers make a great party dish: you can be as creative as you want with the ingredients and presentation. And best of all: you won't have to wash millions of plates once your guest have left.
Inspired by The Passionate Cook, my friend Laurent took the skewer idea on board and although we couldn't find all ingredients given in the recipe we came up with our own pretty good little mouthfuls of succulent chicken and croutons.
Basically, we were missing the fresh sage. Fresh herbs are not always easy to get. Unless you live in shopping distance to Borough Market. But luckily, in this recipe you can cheat using dried sage. Chicken skewers a la saltimbocca with croutons and basil, for 15 skewers
: 2 boneless chicken breasts, diced
: 100g Serrano ham, cut into thin stripes
: 2 tbsp dried sage
: 15 leaves of purple basil
: French country loaf, diced
: sea salt
: olive oil

Salt the diced chicken, cover each piece with dried sage, then wrap in Serrano ham. Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken parcels until golden. Remove from pan.
Add a little more oil to the pan and fry the bread cubes until crisp.
Stick one piece of chicken and one crouton on each skewer. Finish each skewer off with a leave of fresh basil.

Tomato mozzarella pots with pesto genovese

Tomatoes with mozzarella is probably - together with melon and prosciutto - the most served starter at a dinner party. Both 20th century classics, both reminders of the time when Italian dishes other than Spaghetti Bolognese, Pizza and Lasagne finally started to make it big across Europe. I remember my mother preparing it for lunch, dinner and parties. Tomatoes and mozzarella everywhere.
The dish hasn't lost any of its appeal ever since and still proves to be a dinner party hit. Rather than having them sliced on a plate with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, I like to present them in little pots. Mini-mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil and a few dollops of green pesto.

Smoked salmon wraps

Wraps are a great way to feed your hungry boyfriend in the evening or your guests at a party. They are easy and quite cheap in the making and taste great. And the best think about them: you can practically put anything in a wrap. Recently, at a friend's party, we had salmon, dill and cream cheese wraps and ham, mustard and spinach wraps. The most simple of them all and almost the best was rolled up version of the the classic ham, cheese and mustard sandwich.

Sugar coated fruits

Gooseberries are my favourite fruits, closely followed by currants: red and white. I will always remember the redcurrant cake my grandmother made whenever they were in season. Spongecake with redcurrant-meringue. I adored it, I loved it, I would have given away my Barbie for it. My mother didn't share my appreciation for this cake though. The pungent acidic flavour of the redcurrants and the slighlty uber-sweet meringue didn't tickle her tastebuds enough to ever bake it.

Redcurrants are not only tasty, but also very pretty little berries and great for decorating dessert. Especially when frosted with caster sugar. Simply dip the washed fruits in a little egg white, then cover with sugar. Leave them to dry for an hour or so. They add some texture and crunchiness to mousses and cream desserts, or even cakes (try it with my favourite chocolate cake)

Slim dinner: Soy steamed veggies with rice

I went to the gym today, as I do most days. Oh no, I don't enjoy it a bit, but that way I can eat more ;-)
I was doing my exercises on the Swiss ball when my personal trainer whom I occasionally have sessions with approached me. He sat down next to me: "I saw you working out on Tuesday and you looked amazing! You must have lost quite a lot of weight".
He surely was baffled that I wasn't even the slightest bit delighted about his comment. What he didn't know though is that I had the gastric flu just a few days before. No wonder then that I had the flattest of all stomachs. But since I was sitting on the ball he couldn't see that meawhile I was back to my old self.
Crap, so my personal trainer now expects me to be slim! Veggies for dinner then.I still had a pack of Chinese Choi Sum in my fridge. I fried it with some garlic, fresh lemongrass, freshly squeezed orange juice and soy sauce, added very little rice and some water and let it steam for a bit. It was a meagre dinner, but not bad at all.

Mediterranean salad, the Styrian way

People from the South-East of Austria (province of Styria) are hooked on pumpkinseed oil. I am one of them. I always make sure that there is at least one spare bottle in my cupboard - for emergencies.
It is a very versatile little helper in the kitchen. Most people use it for salad dressings only, but you can make fab scrambled egg with it and even bake cakes with it! Newest culinary invention using pumpkinseed oil is pumpkinseed pesto. It isn't that different in the making from Pesto Genovese. Use pumpkinseeds instead of pine nuts and pumpkinseed oil instead of olive oil. Or take some ready made pumpkinseed oil pesto with you on your next trip to Austria just like I do! Aubergine and zucchini salad with beans and pumpkinseed oil pesto, for 6
: 1 large aubergine, sliced lengthways
: 2 large or 5 small zucchini
: 2 cans of beans (e.g. borlotti, cannellini)
: 1 bunch of parsley
: 2 tbsp pumkinseed oil pesto
: pumpkinseed oil
: Maldon sea salt
: freshly ground black pepper

Slice the aubergine lengthways into thin slices and cut the zucchini into chunks/wedges. Fry both vegetables on a hot, well oiled griddle. When ready, arrange the aubergine on a large plate and top with the drained beans. Finally, add the zucchini and a few dollops of pumpkinseed pesto. Season with salt and pepper. Roughly chop the parsley and sprinkle over the salad. Finish off with a drizzle of pumpkinseed oil. Serve with grilled meat or freshly baked brown bread.

Apricot Mebos

Mebos must be some kind of chicken nugget amongst snacks. We believe them to be healthy, but actually, they are worse for you then a Big Mac.
When I went to South Africa some time last year, I came across those compact fruit rolls in a wee road side shop. The first bite is a bit of a shock to the system… very sour and salty. But the more you nibble on it, the better they get.
They are very high in salt and sugar content, but hey, at least they are 100% fat free. And they keep for months!
It is a recipe for summer since you will need to dry them in the full sun for a few hours. So not much chance that I will make my own this year!
Apricot Mebos
: sweet, ripe apricots
: 250g or more sugar per 500g mebos
: 1kg salt to 8 litres water

Soak the apricots in salted water for 12 hours, then drain them and remove the skins. Leave the whole apricots out in the sun for 12 hours, then squeeze gently to force out their stones. Press the apricots into round flat shapes and spread them out on racks to dry for a few days. Keep on shaping and pressing them (dip your hands in a mixture of 25ml salt and 2 litres water) occasionally during drying. Pack the mebos neatly into small boxes and cover them with sugar. If you layer them, make sure to put a good layer of sugar between them. Store in a dark place.

Frozen yoghurt shots

I don't like ice cream. In fact, I do find it rather disturbing that every single dessert in some of London's top restaurants is served with ice cream.
When I grew up, our cakes did not come with a compulsory blob of ice cream on the side. We would have our cakes and Strudel on their own, at the very most with some whipped cream on the side. The concept of pouring cold liquid unwhipped cream over my cakes - like they do here in the UK - is one of the things that still seem very strange to me.
I try to accustom though and integrate cream or ice cream into my desserts. Preferrably ice cream on its own though. Like my frozen yoghurt and raspberry shots (inspired by La Tartine Gourmande's Rhubarb and raspberry yoghurt ice pops: they make my guest happy and although I wouldn't eat them myself I am happy to put them on the menu as they are no effort at all. Frozen yoghurt shots, for 10 shots
: 1 egg
: 60g icing sugar
: 300g yoghurt
: 200g raspberries
: 1-2 tbsp caster sugar

Simmer 100g raspberries and some caster sugar over a low heat until the fruits start to liquidise. Drain off the fruits and set the liquid aside.
Beat the egg with the icing sugar until creamy, then mix in the yoghurt. Pour 1/3 of the yoghurt mixture into a separate bowl and mix with half of the cooked fruits. Roughly chop the remaining uncooked fruits and fold into the main yoghurt mix. Blend the other half of the cooked raspberries with the raspberry syrup.
Spoon the yoghurt mix containing the roughly copped fruits into the shot glasses (fill them up to 1/2 or 2/3 with the mixture). Place them in the freezer for 30 mins, then add 2-3 tablespoons of the syrup to each glass. Freeze again for 30 mins. Finally fill th glasses with the remaining yoghurt/cooked fruits mixture and place in the fridge for another 20-30mins beforte inserting wooden or plastic sticks to make the lollies. Keep in freezer until entirely frozen.
Loosen the frozen yoghurt from the shot glasses by placing the glasses in a bowl of hot water for around 30 sec. Serve in shot glasses.

Mini duck liver paté eclairs with chocolate-balsamic icing

I defrosted my freezer a few days before I had my BBQ. I came across the duck liver which I had left over from my last party. Just a few small livers, not enough to feed a party of 15-20 with a nice paté for starters. Still, I wanted to use it up and out of the blue I had the idea of duck liver filled paté.
I sort of didn't think any further (I do like experimenting with my patés by adding herbs, alcohols etc.), so when the time came to actually make the paté I wasn't prepared for any special flavours. While going through my fridge looking for potential paté enhancers I remembered the chocolate-balsamic glaze on the top shelf: also a leftover from my last dinner party. Brushed on top of the choux pastry it would make my little savouries look like the real chocolate eclairs. So Japanese fusion filling then. I had some pickled sushi ginger and fresh lemongrass. That's all I really needed.
Mini duck liver paté eclairs with chocolate-balsamic icing, for 10-15 small eclairs
For the duck liver paté
: 150g duck liver
: 1/2 stalk of fresh lemongrass
: 1 tbsp of pickled sushi ginger
: 100g butter
: soy sauce
: sesame oil

For the chocolate-balsamic glaze
: 100g caster sugar
: 50ml balsamic vinegar
: 50ml cider vinegar
: 30g good quality grated dark chocolate

Prepare the eclairs/choux pastry shells.
Wash the duck livers and quickly fry them on a very hot griddle until slightly pink in the middle. Add some sesame oil and a good splash of soy sauce.
Remove the outer leaves from the lemongrass stalk and chop finely.
Place the liver together with the lemongrass, sushi and butter in a food processor to make a smooth and creamy paté.
To make the glazing, gently heat the vinegar and the sugar until the sugar has dissolved and simmer over a medium heat for a further 5 mins. Take off the heat and whisk in the chocolate.
Slice the eclairs in half and using a piping bag, fill them with paté and brush some of the chocolate-balsamic laze on top.