Spicy Tartare with Quail Eggs

Saturdays are usually shopping days in Germany. All the shops are open and people are going crazy. This is the day when you can see a line of  35 people waiting their turn to pay in any shop. On this day it is especially difficult to find a free table in a nice cafe. This is the day when you go to the grocery's store in order to buy food because on Sunday everything is closed (except a couple of shops on the railway station).  This is the day when I usually decide what to cook for the following days. In my shopping list there may be only staff that we really ran out of. The rest depends on what I see in the shop. Sometimes we are up to a good medium steak. The other days we just can't get enough of fish. This time we decided it was time for home-made tartare.

One of my tartare recipes you might have read here. As Oliver Strand mentioned in his article Steak Tartare Is the Dish of the Moment: A New Generation of Chefs Reinterprets the Classic "A dish that spent a few quiet decades on the menus of steak houses and French restaurants, tartare appealed to a sophisticated kind of adult who knew where to find his or her pleasure".

But this time I decided to make it with quail eggs instead of chicken. And you know why? 

Actually my uncle runs a small quail household in Ukraine and of course I was the one to get always a lot of quail eggs for free. And I love them. Because here are many benefits from eating quail eggs. Some of them are:

• providing your body with easily assimilated calcium, boosting your immunity and your calcium, and increasing your hemoglobin levels;
• by consuming them you get HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol) instead of LDL (the bad kind.);
• detox and cleaning from heavy metals;
• not causing any kind of allergy - being hypoallergenic;
• may be safely eaten raw as due to high body temperature quails are not suffering from common diseases as e.g. salmonellosis.

And the recipe is not only healthy and bullet-proof, but also easy and quick to make. So let's just do it and enjoy :)

Ingredients:

yields 2 portions

300 g minced beef for tartare

2 tbsp tabasco sauce

2 garlic cloves
6 quail eggs
1 small red onion
8 cornishons
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper and cayenne pepper
fresh baguette (our choice was onion baguette)

Chop red onions, cornishons, garlic. Mix it all in a bowl with meat, add the spices. As I've already mentioned couple of times, it is always possible to be creative at the kitchen. Maybe today you're up to spicy rather than mild. Go ahead! My choice was salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and ginger. With a sprinkle of Tabasco and Dijon mustard your tartare will be just incredible!!!

In the end pour in the eggs and mix well. Serve with fresh baguette or bread slices of your preference.

Enjoy your family launch or friends party or any other occasion with a delicious tartare! 

Pear and almond tart: Sugarfree recipe

Hurra! I am happy to finalise 8-week Detox "I quit sugar" and give you my feedback. I have to say that it is quite challenging to follow this programme in the cold time of the year because our bodies are willing to gain weight before winter and our hands are unwittingly reaching out for another piece of chocolate.

Therefore I started the first week very smoothly. I still ate some fruit, excluded only the sweetest: bananas and grapes. No added sugar was not a problem for me. I anyway don't add sugar into my coffee or tea, can live without sweets and creamy cakes. What was really hard for me was to exclude dried and fresh fruit. But I managed at least to reduce them. So everything is manageable. Believe me! If I was really starving for something sweet one apple served a good source of needed energy. Or a little piece of dark chocolate (80% cocoa and higher) rescued me. During this period I educated my attitude to sugar. I really think twice before I now eat another piece of chocolate or sweet. I ask myself: "Do I really want it?" And the answer in most of the cases is: "No!". I am not sugar-addicted and my body can live happily without it. Or let's say - with reduced amount of it. I am not pretending to follow a sugar free nutrition plan. This is not my intention. The only thing I want you to understand is that our possibilities are unlimited. And we can always try something new. But we have to stay reasonable. To avoid added sugar is definitely possible and you can see that from my recipes. One of it I want to share with you today. I baked it some time ago and finally it's time!!!

As a celebration of my sugar free consciousness I present you healthy variation of pear and almond tart.

Ingredients:
(for 24-26 cm baking form)
Crust *

Filling
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1⁄2 cups raw unblanched whole almonds, finely ground
2⁄3 cup rice syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1⁄4 tsp. salt
3  pears, peeled, quartered and cored
date syrup

*To prepare the crust please use my tart crust recipe for Pumpkin pie.

Prepare your crust: in a large bowl combine both types of flour with salt; using pastry blender kitchen processor, cut in butter, yogurt and banana. Pour in cold water and mix well until dough starts to hold together. Use the dough immediately, or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Take the dough out of the fridge. Oil your baking form (mine was 26 cm in diameter) and place a thin layer of the crust into the form trying to make nice edges.

Bake the crust for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking prepare your filling

In a saucepan melt the butter. Let it cool down. In a bowl mix ground almonds, rice syrup, eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter. Spread evenly in the tart shell. Slice each pear half crosswise into slices about 2-3 mm thick, keeping each one together. Put each half core side down and stem end toward the centre in the pan. Flatten the pieces and press the slices into the filling.

Bake the tart until the filling is firm to the touch in the centre and slightly golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Pour date syrup over the tart slice and enjoy your sweet treat ;)

Coq au vin: Julia's Child recipe

As I watched "Julie & Julia" for the first time in my life, the idea of having my own food blog appeared in my head. Years passed by until I finally did it - 23d of August, 2014. Now, after a year of having it, I cannot help but wonder - Wow! So many recipes, so many good feedback words from my readers. This all keeps me going further. A lot of ideas are still not realised. So let's see, where will we be next year :)

For such a special occasion and to express my gratitude to Julia Child, today I would like to share the recipe of Coq au vin. In other words, a casserole of chicken in red wine, with onions, mushrooms, and bacon. 

Ingredients: (4-6 servings)

100g lean bacon

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium-sized chicken, cut into parts (or all of one kind of part)

1/4 cup Cognac 

 salt, black pepper

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp dried thyme

2 onions (in original recipe 20 small white onions, I did not have them this time)

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp butter

2 cups red wine, preferably Burgundy, Côtes du Rhône, or Pinot Noir

About 2 cups brown homemade chicken stock, or beef stock

1 or 2 garlic cloves, mashed or minced

About 1 tablespoon tomato paste

300 g fresh mushrooms, trimmed, washed, and quartered

2 carrots (*optional ingredient)

Coq au vin is one of the most famous French dishes. With its' wine flavor, tender taste and mushroom note, it is the No 1 dish for special occasion. I modified a little bit with the ingredients, added carrots, though it is optional, of course. Get all the needed ingredients prepared, so that you mainly focus on the process. Curious? Let's start right now.

1. Cut bacon into stripes or sticks if you have the whole piece. In a heavy bottomed casserole saute it with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. When bacon is very lightly browned, remove to a side dish, leaving fat in the pan.

2. Wash and dry chicken parts thoroughly in a towel. Add them to the fat left from bacon, not crowding the pan too much. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Pour in cognac, ignite with a lighted match, shake pan back and forth for several seconds until flames subside.

3. Peel onions and carrots, cut them into medium pieces, and fry them in 1 tbsp of olive oil in a separate bowl/pan for about 2-3 minutes. Add them to  the chicken. Sprinkle on the flour turning chicken, carrots and onions so flour is absorbed; cook 3 to 4 minutes more, turning once or twice. 

4. Add bacon from step 1 and cook covered slowly for 10 minutes.

5. After the chicken parts turned golden-brown, pour wine into pan, and add just enough bouillon to cover the chicken. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, bay leaf and thyme. Simmer on slow heat covered for about 20-30 minutes, or until chicken meat is tender. 

6.  Test chicken pieces, piercing with a fork. Take tender parts out and if needed simmer another 10 minutes.

7. Put all the chicken pieces into the pan. In a separate pan melt butter and oil, add mushroom pieces and saute them for 3-4 minutes. Them add them to the chicken pan.

8. Taste carefully. Sauce should be just thick enough to coat chicken and vegetables lightly. If too thin, boil down rapidly to concentrate; if too thick, thin out with spoonfuls of bouillon.

Decorate with sprigs of parsley when serving. Accompany with the same wine you used while cooking.

Bon Appétit! And happy Gourmet Anniversary :) 

Rabbit under creamy wine sauce with rosemary

Easter time!

As far as you may know, the main symbol of this time of the year in Germany is rabbit. Might sound very mean, but today's recipe is actually rabbit.

This recipe is very special. It is a part of menu in the restaurant on Eiffel Tour and I was very curious to try and do it on my own. In my own restaurant - called "Kitchen" :)

Ingredients:

500 g rabbit leg
150 g dry white wine
6 cherry tomatoes
2 middle-sized carrots
1 garlic clove
50 g flour
50 g butter
150 g dry white wine
500 ml milk
white pepper, nutmeg
1 tsp dried rosemary (or 2-3 fresh rosemary sprigs)
30 ml oil for frying
salt
pepper

Rabbit meat is very healthy and highly recommended for children. There are some secrets to keep the softness and tenderness, yet make it very flavorful. The best part for this recipe is rabbit leg, but if you have middle part, you may also try to cook it this way.

Firstly, wash rabbit legs under cold water and dry them with paper towel. Salt and pepper it a bit. In a deeper pan heat some oil. If you have rosemary sprigs, put them into the oil and let the aromas enrich the oils flavor. If you were not lucky to find one, keep dried rosemary for later. Cut garlic clove into two parts and put into oil for same purpose.

As soon as you feel magic aromas spreading around you, take both - garlic and rosemary - out from the pan. Put the meat inside and fry it from all sides until golden crisp. Meanwhile boil some water and blanch tomatoes. We need to peel them and use only pure tomato meat. The process is very simple. Put them into hot water for about 2-3 minutes. Then suddenly put them into ice cold water and the peel off will be more than successful.

Wash carrots and grate them. Add grated carrots. Add dried rosemary at this point. Pour white wine into the pan. Reduce the heat and at low heat stir the meat for about 25 minutes. Every 5-7 minutes turn the meat so that the sauce and flavors reach all sides.

Tomatoes' turn :) Put them into the pan and stir another 5-7 minutes. Set aside. At this step I observed the following picture in my pan (see below).

To serve the dish properly one more part is missing - the sauce. Bechamel variation makes perfect combination to the rabbit meat. Its creamy texture and wine note only emphasize the taste.




For a sauce in a saucepan melt some butter. Add flour and mix thoroughly. As the color of the flour turns 'goldenish', pour milk portion by portion. At low heat mix until the sauce gets sicker. Add salt, white pepper, nutmeg. Pour wine. Here it is - the sauce is ready to go :)

Serve a rabbit leg on carrot pillow with cherry tomatoes under the creamy wine sauce.

Special occasion? Now you're ready for any occasion.

Just good mood or romantic dinner with your beloved? Goes well in combination.

Bon Appétit!