Bread soup - Brotsuppe

It's funny how something can sound one way in one language and another in a different one.  Bread soup.  Sounds very unexciting.  However, when you look at it in German, Brotsuppe, it looks much more appealing (although this is changing as my German is improving), but I think it's much more exciting to try something that has a 'foreign' name than trying that exact same recipe in your native language.

In any case - it's Winter so I have now moved on to the winter section of my Migros cookbook.  I did make a few changes in this recipe (and it still didn't end up looking quite like the picture but it still turned out to be a good side).

What you need:

180-200g Ruchbrot, day old (which means if you have a bread box, don't leave it in there as it will not get dry)
2 small or 1 medium sized onion (I did end up using a 2nd onion)
Peanut oil for frying the onions/bread
6 cups vegetable bouillon
nutmeg and pepper to taste
1 tsp of Anis (recipe called for 1 Tbls of caraway but I didn't have any).  Feel free to add more.  I thought it was enough to add to the flavor but I don't like licorice so didn't want to add any more.
a pinch of salt.

Cut the bread into cubes and slice the onions.  Put the oil in the pan and give it a minute to heat up.  Add the bread and onion and cook until the bread starts to turn a golden brown.  About 5/6 minutes.  Make sure your pan is big enough to hold all the bread.

Add the broth, anis and a bit of nutmeg and pepper.  Add only a very little salt.   Simmer for 20 minutes.  If you need more liquid, either add very hot water or more broth.  If you cook on too high of a temperature you will need to add a bit more.

This makes a great side dish.  And, since my soup was made out of bread, I couldn't use my bread bowls this time but I found some really cute little bowls in France yesterday (more about Mullhouse vs. Konstanz later).

Thai Grilled Chicken Pizza

Yum.  So many flavors.  Admittedly I didn't make it with the spice that should have gone in to it, nor did I make the dough for the pizza, but it was still good.  The original recipe is here but below is my adaptation of it. I hope you make this, because it's fantastic!

Migros and Coop will have the majority of your ingredients, but if you can't find something one of the Asian stores will have what you need.

What you need:

For the sauce:
This is the halved recipe for the sauce as I put way too much on and also had some left over.  I did not add any of the water suggested in the original recipe either.

1/4 c peanut butter - I used smooth.  If you do, some scattered peanuts may add some yummy crunch to it.
1/4 cup hoisin sauce - available at Migros
1/8 cup of honey
1/8 cup rice wine vinegar (couldn't find mine so I used Italian white wine vinegar)
2 tsp grated fresh ginger (ingwer - usually available at bigger Migros/Coop)
1-2 tsp of minced garlic (or 1-2 cloves)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce (I used low sodium available at the Thai Store)
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce

Not used but will add to hubby's side next time: 1/2 tsp chili sauce.

For the toppings:
We grilled this weekend so I had hubby grill some extra chicken breasts and then put them in the fridge.
2 chicken breasts, sliced into bite sized pieces
Pizza dough - I used the rectangular one  - 38x25
shredded carrots (I bought the bag so I can use the leftovers for salad)
bean sprouts (mungosprossen) - again, you can use the remainder for a stir fry later on
2 green onions (scallions)
mozzarella cheese (I used the balled ones - I would buy the pearl ones next time)
1/2 a bunch of cilantro (koriander)
1/2 a lime

First, mix all the sauce ingredients into a small pan and cook until heated through - about 5 minutes.  If it is too thick, you can add a little boiling water.  (If you want to make the entire batch of sauce, you can probably refrigerate the leftovers and use it as a salad dressing or marinade for chicken later on)

Spread the sauce on the rolled out pizza dough and then layer your ingredients.
I did: sprouts, carrots, chicken, scallions and cheese.
Save the cilantro and lime for after the pizza is done.

Roughly chop the cilantro and then squeeze 1/2 a lime over the top of the pizza right before serving.


Enjoy!