Pepper beef with mashed potatoes (Rindfleischpfeffer mit frischem Kartoffelstock)

Wow. This dish was incredible.  All of you who have a large fridge...make this soon...those without...wait til the temperatures are in the 40s and keep it outside.  This dish, you keep in the fridge for a week. That`s right, 7 days (6-8 recommended).  This is definitely an Autumn dish, and while Summer seems to have hidden from us, Fall will be here and you must try this.  It reminded me a lot of my mom`s steak and mushroom pie, though this was served in a lipped dish with mashed potatoes on the side.

Our teacher had prepared the dish a head of time, as obviously we weren`t going to be in class for an entire week, so we got to see the results and learn how to make it. Kind of like the time elapsed cooking shows...I wish my kitchen would do that by itself sometimes.

This is the second installment of the August cooking class, there will be one more, on a marinade/dip recipe -my shocking discovery on how a bowl full of chili peppers did not cause me to turn into a dragon and breathe fire.

What you need:

Beef ragout - stew meat, but cut it into smaller pieces,  at least 500 g
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 onions, peeled and chopped
celeriac, peeled and chopped
red wine, enough to cover the meat
1/3 - 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
gravy thickening agent (bratensauce)
3 or 4 bay leaves
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp white peppercorns, crushed
1 tsp green peppercorns
1 tsp whole cloves
mushrooms
grapes or pineapple, whichever you prefer
optional: 1 finely sliced leek

For the potatoes
peeled potatoes, 500 g, steamed until tender
1/3 cup milk, may use more
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
butter


Peel all your vegetables and dice up the beef.  Slice and put your veggies in a bowl

Add the beef and bay leaves

Add the rosemary

 Add crushed white peppercorns. You can put them on the counter and hit them with the bottom of a frying pan

Add black peppercorns and a few crushed garlic cloves

Add the red wine, enough to cover the beef

mix

Add the red wine vinegar and put it the fridge for between 4-7 days.  I think the longer the better, if you have the room.  You need to mix it up once per day, so there should not be any worry that you will think it is forgotten leftovers and just toss it away :)

This is the difference between the one we made on the left, and the one that had sat in the fridge, on the right.  (There are also sliced leeks in the one on the right, feel free to add them if you would like)

mine after 6 days in the fridge

Next, using a sieve if you have one, scoop out the meat and put it in a hot frying pan to sear it. 

Remove the meat and put the sauce, without vegetables on the stove. Add a gravy thickener (see below). Bring to a simmer and add the beef. 

Add sliced mushrooms and whole grapes or pineapple chunks. Simmer for 1.5 hours, until the beef is tender. You may need a little longer or a little less depending on the size of the beef chunks. 

Just before serving, mix about 1/4 cup of cream into the mixture. 

I added pineapple to mine instead of grapes. I also did half beef and half pork. It just melted in your mouth it was so tender. 

For the potatoes:

Peel them and then steam then until they are tender

Using your massive kitchen grinder...
yes, well, as most of us are not lucky enough to have the massive amount of room this requires, you can use a small mixer or a potato masher

Put the milk in a large saucepan. You can always add more milk, but you can`t take it away, so start out easy.  Warm it up and add some freshly grated nutmeg, if you have it, otherwise from the jar is fine. Add a dollop of butter, let it melt and then add the potatoes.  Mix well

Plate and serve immediately.  Enjoy!

Carrot soup with cream and roasted pistachios or Karroten creme mit gerösteten Pistazienkernen

Carrots. Rabbits.  That`s what I think of when I see carrots.  I`m not a huge fan.  My mom used to have a bag of carrots for us to snack on after school.  For some reason, they always made me hungrier.  I don`t mind them, really, but I do not like cooked carrots at all.  Anytime they are mixed in with a meal, I will pick them out.  I don`t know what it is about them....

Maybe I am getting older (well, I know I am), or being in a different country is encouraging more of a `just try it`attitude, but when I tried the carrot soup for the first time a few weeks ago*, I did not think I would like it at all.  Boy was I wrong.

What you need:

1 kg of carrots, peeled, ends chopped off and cut into chunks
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 liter of vegetable bouillon
enough sugar to glaze the carrot and onion tops
vollrahm to whip or Schlagrahm
50-75g butter
pistachio kernels
salt and pepper to taste.



In a pan, melt about 25g of the butter. Chop the carrots and onions, but don`t worry about making them small as you will blend them at the end.  Briefly saute, then glaze with sugar and mix.

Put the bouillon in a large pot and add the carrots and onions.  Add the garlic, salt and pepper, and another 25g of butter.  Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and allow a fork to easily pass through them.

If you are using vollrahm, use a whisk to beat it up until thickened.  About 2 minutes (with an electric one).

Briefly saute the pistachios in some more butter. Set aside.

Remove the pan from the heat and using an immersion blender, blend up the chunks until everything is smooth.

Pour into a bowl and top with the cream and pistachios.  Serve immediately as the cream will start melting quickly.

I think it tastes best when the cream is then mixed into the soup.

Enjoy!

*Also a cooking class find, though as we are not given measurements most of the time, I may have been a little off.

Apple cake

Living in the US made me want to make things conveniently... buying prepackaged dinners, buying take out, and definitely baking from mixes.  While I still do bake from mixes, I have found some recipes that allow me to think the end result is worth the effort.  This recipe was one of the simplest ones I`ve seen, did not require a lot of effort, and tasted fantastic.    Which makes it even better!

This was the dessert from our cooking class earlier this week, and since I didn`t get many pictures, so I made it today so I could post it.

What you need:
125g butter
125g sugar
200g flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1-4 Tbls milk (I used 2)
2 green apples, cut into slices
lemon zest (didn`t have any, so I used a squirt of lemon juice)



Cream the butter and then add the sugar.

Add the flour and baking powder, stir.
Add the eggs and mix well.  Add the milk and pour into your prepared pan.

In class, we used a 25cm Springform pan, but as I don`t have one, I used one of my many cake pans. This one is a 10 in, 2 in deep pan. I used a piece of baking paper, coated with butter to prevent sticking, in the pan. It worked beautifully.  The cake came out very easily, both out of the pan (make sure you have enough extra paper to lift), and out of the paper.  I removed it while it was still warm.

and the one from class, with a springform pan:

Peel the apples and cut them into slices. Arrange them on top of the cake batter, pressing down slightly.

Bake at 200 C for 35-40 minutes.  It only took mine 35 minutes.  You can check to see if it is done by inserting a toothpick.  If the toothpick comes out clean (through the thickest point of the cake), it is done.

I sprinkled some sugar on top

This is the one from class (I added a few more apples to mine):

Serve with ice-cream.  Another suggestion, I wish I had thought of before baking, but will try again, is to melt some caramel and swirl it into the cake batter. Should be great. Guess there`s my reason to make it again.

Super simple! Enjoy!

Viadukt finds

The Viadukt  The Viadukt has been open for a while now, but I hadn't had a chance to go visit.  It made for a nice afternoon as we walked back down Josefstrasse to Zurich and were able to hit some of the ethnic stores on the way.  

The Viadukt has a lot of fresh fruits and veggies.  The British cheese shop is also there, next to a very good  looking bagel place. yum. We bought Quinces.  I had never seen these before - they are kind of like a cross between pears and yellow apples.  They are very hard to de-core as well, so please be careful when you do.  

What you need:

Quince - I used 4

Sugar - an amount equal to what your pureed quince turns into

water

First, wash the quinces, peel, and cut them into quarters.  Carefully remove the core.  Chop them into small chunks.  Put them in a large pot and cover with water (think making mashed potatoes).  Let cook for about 30 minutes after boiling, covered.  If a fork goes in easily, they are done. 

Put in a blender (I have a small one so did this in batches) and blend until smooth.  I ended up with about 2 cups of pureed quince, so I added 2 cups of sugar and the quince to the same pan.  Stir continuously until the sugar is dissolved, at a low heat.  Let the mixture cook for about 90 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

You may need to put a lid on it as it spits at about 45 minutes in, but put it at an angle so it is not completely covered.  You will know when it is done. It starts to get a few specks of dark orange and then about 5 minutes after, the entire mixture turns the deep orange color and it is a lot thicker than when you started. 

Spread the mixture on a baking pan (the smaller the pan, the thicker your paste will be - think brownies), on top of some parchment paper.  Put in an oven at 50 C for an hour. If you have the option of putting the oven fan on, do that as well.  Any part you are not eating, wrap in foil and keep in the fridge.  We waited until then next day to eat it.  It is very sweet (2 cups of sugar), but you are supposed to have it with cheese. We used Manchego (Coop) but Iberico may be good as well.