Salad with mustard dressing and shrimp

Last night we had another wonderful cooking class.  Going into it I thought (yet again) that there would not be a lot I would be interested in (seafood and spicy things I do not like and the menu included both), but of course, yet again, I did enjoy everything (avoiding the shrimp though).  If you are in Thalwil, I definitely recommend stopping in and grabbing a bite to eat!  I will post the other dishes in a separate post as it is time to wake the baby!

He will be hosting a wine and cheese tasting sometime in October which unfortunately I will be unable to attend as I will be on vacation (yay), so hopefully someone will take good notes for me and I will be able to review some of the wines...doing my own research of course!

First course was the salad with Black Tiger Shrimp and a mustard dressing

What you need:

1/2 of a large red bell pepper
1 garlic clove, crushed and minced
1/4 cup of chopped fresh chives
salt and pepper
Olive oil, about 1/2 cup
Basalmico, about 1/4 cup
Mustard. 1/3 cup
various greens
Black Tiger shrimp
White wine, about 2 Tbls




Make your salad with whichever greens you choose

Dice the red bell pepper very finely. Also dice the chives. Crush the garlic and chop finely as well.

Put in a bowl and add the mustard and pepper. Mix.

Add the balsamico and olive oil. You may need a little more oil to get the consistency you want

For the shrimp, make sure you have a very hot pan and add some olive oil. Lay the shrimp in. Saute.

When they are almost done, add some garlic so that it does not have time to burn

When they are done, add a little bit of white wine

Top your salad with the dressing and then add the shrimp. 

Salsa

I made some salsa for Cinco de Mayo and my husband thought it was fantastic.  Problem is that I kind of just added things and didn`t pay attention to the amounts.  This weekend I finally had some time to make it again, but wrote things down so that I could make it in the future. El Maiz has good salsa, but since I don`t get into the little shops so much anymore, it is nice to be able to make your own.  Eventually I will probably try preserving it so that I can just make it once in a while, but I have not gotten to that point yet.

Feel free to add more chilies and jalapenos as you desire.

What you need:

1 can of diced tomato, juice removed
1/2 can of the stewed tomatoes, no juice
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves
juice from 1 1/2 lime
3/4 of a bag of koriander (cilantro - the 2 chf bags from Coop/Migros)
1/2 tsp salt
3 red chili peppers
3/4 jar of sliced jalapenos (no juice)



Optional:
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cumin

I used the food processor attachment for my immersion blender, but you could always dice everything finely as well.

If using the blender, roughly chop everything. I removed the seeds from the peppers. Blend until you reach the desired consistency. Pour into a jar and refrigerate. Quick, easy, and delicious!

Layered Potato (pan)cake

Once again my mother in law is visiting, so I have had time to look through recipes and get her input on how to make different things.  We found a recipe for a potato pancake, but the only thing we kept the same was the temperature and time to cook it. It was a lot of fun to make our own.

This is not a healthy thing. At all. It is drenched in butter and cheese :-D  We served it on the side with grilled brautwurst. So, if you would like something yummy, and don`t mind the calories, give this a try!

What you need:

30-50 g butter, melted
3-4 large potatoes
chives (fresh are better, but I didn`t have any)
2-3 onions
salt and pepper
cheddar cheese for topping

Slice the potatoes and the onions thinly. Lay the potatoes, overlapping, starting in the middle of a round oven dish and continuing until the bottom is covered.

Brush some butter over the top, and then scatter the onions and chives. Repeat with the layers until you reach the top of your dish or you run out of ingredients.

Heat the oven to 200 C and cook for 5 minutes.  Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the foil and increase the temperature to 230 C and cook another 15 to 20 minutes, until tender and the top is a golden brown.

Serve and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

Enjoy!