Coq Au Vin - Family Sunday Lunch part 1

A few days ago I wrote in my blog about the elaborate Sunday lunches where the entire family meets to indulge in great home cooked food. Not to forget to indulge in the latest family gossip too.

Most of the times you have at least a 3 course meal on these occasions with the main course being a meat based dish. To make it easier I will split up the different courses into different blogs and start off with the main course. All recipes are for at least 8 people.

I call this elaborate as you have to start either early in the morning or even better the evening before and it is prepared in several steps even though the preparation itself is very easy. Here my version of Coq au Vin. Regarding the wine you use for the cooking, I suggest you serve the same on Sunday afternoon with lunch. If you don't have enough bottles of the same wine stick at least to red wine served with the Coq au Vin.

And as the general rule of good ingredients make a good dish applies here too so do not use a low quality wine for it. You will taste and regret it in the end. Originally this recipe is from Burgundy and is therefore made with a wine from the same area. I know from own experience that Burgundy wine is sometimes difficult to get, at least when you live outside of Europe. I usually use a good Cabernet Sauvignon, a Merlot or a Malbec for it. They are available almost anywhere in the world.

For the marinade I take 1 1/2 bottles of good red wine (the rest half bottle you can enjoy while you are cooking. That's what I usually do) , 1 big onion cut into quarters, 3 garlic cloves crushed, 70g carrot and 50g celery both cut into 2cm pieces, the peel of half orange, 6 juniper berries crushed, 3 cloves, 1 star anise, 3 tablespoons sour cherry jam (you can also use cranberry or red currant jam instead), 25 black pepper corns crushed and 2 bay leaves. I put all in a pot and boil it over low heat until it is reduced by 1/3. Than I turn off the heat and let it cool down.

While the marinade is cooling down I take 3 medium size chicken (each about 1kg). I always buy chicken that still has the skin. It adds additional flavour to the dish.

Now cut off the legs from the chicken. Here fore I take a very sharp knife and cut the skin and meat around the joint to get good access to the joint. Than I cut through the joint. It separates almost by itself. The same way I separate the Thigh from the lower leg and cut off the wings. Now I remove the chicken breast. Here fore I run the knife along the the breastbone, from there I cut down to the ribs and than remove the meat from the ribs. For this recipe I use only the legs and breasts. The rest I keep aside to cook chicken stock out of it.

Once the marinade is cooled strain it through a fine sieve to remove all the solid parts.

To marinade the chicken I put the 6 chicken legs (thigh & lower legs) and the 6 chicken breasts into an airtight container, add the marinade to it, close the lit and give it a good shake to ensure that all chicken parts are well covered with the marinade. Now I let it stand in the fridge for at least 4 hours, best over night.

The next day morning I take 200g bacon and cut it in small dices. I peel 25 pearl onions and take 25 button mushrooms. If you can't find small button mushrooms you can also take about 350-400g or regular mushrooms and cut them in halves or quarters.

I take the chicken out of the marinade but keep the marinade separate, it will be used later. I now dust the chicken with 3-4 tablespoons of flour so that it is evenly coated.

I put a big pot on the stove and heat it up. Now I cook the bacon in the pot t release the fat. Once the bacon is brown and cross I remove it from the pot and add 2-3 tablespoons olive oil to it. In this I first fry the onions until they start turning brown. I take the onions out of the pot and keep them aside while I fry the chicken that it is golden brown from all sides. I also set the chicken aside. It is recommendable to fry the chicken in 3-4 batches depending on the width of the pot. Last but not least I stir-fry the mushrooms in the oil. Once the mushrooms start turning dark I remove them from the pot.

I now reduce the heat and add the marinade to the oil. I stir it well to loosen all the flavours that might have stuck to the bottom of the pot while frying. It is now time to start layering the fried ingredients in the pot. First the chicken, than the bacon, onions and on top the mushrooms. I add 1 teaspoon salt and enough chicken stock to it to cover all ingredients. Put a lit on it and cook it at low heat for about 2 hours. Before serving season with salt and pepper to taste.

On the side I serve mashed potatoes and a mixed salad with maple syrup dressing.

For the mashed potatoes I cook 10 big potatoes until they are soft. I let them cool slightly than peel them and put them in a big pot where I mash them with a potato masher or a fork. Do not use your mixer or blender for this as it will release too much of starch from the potatoes and you end up with a paste that is more like clue than mashed potatoes. To the potatoes I add 100g salted butter and about 300-350ml milk, stir it well and reheat it over a low flame.

The quantity for the butter and milk is flexible. If you are more figure conscious leave the butter but add more milk to it. If you like it richer add more butter. If you like a smoother mash add more milk to it. Add salt to your own taste.

For the salad dressing I take 3 tablespoons cold pressed sesame oil, 4-5 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 4-5 tablespoons warm water, 1 ½ teaspoons mustard, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and pepper and salt to taste. I mix all the ingredients well and add it to a bowl filled with 1 sliced cucumber, 1 1/2 bell pepper cut in quarters and than in slices (I prefer red or yellow bell peppers for salad), 1 onion cut in fine dices, 1 iceberg lettuce cut into bite size pieces. Give it all a good toss and let it stand for 10 minutes before you serve it.

Place it all at the centre of the table and have a feast with your family, framily or friends.

Enjoy and have fun cooking!

Love

Carola

PS.: If you don't like bacon you can replace it with a good juicy turkey ham. In this case heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil before you start frying the ingredients.

Apple-Vanilla Cake

In many parts of Germany we have the tradition that on Sunday afternoon the family meets for coffee (or tea) and cake. Often this coffee and cake is the extension of an elaborate Sunday family lunch with several generations around a big table.

Sometimes I miss these Sundays with the family even if ours often end up in a bit of a chaos. Sometimes I even miss that chaos. But my friends here are a wonderful substitute and we even manage the chaos sometimes... At least in the kitchen when we cook together. One thing we always manage is lots of laughter.

I like it if the house is full and there are lots of people at the dining table. And this old fashion style cake is one everyone likes especially if it is fresh out of the oven served with either fresh whipped cream, sour cream or ice cream. And not to forget a cup of nice freshly brewed coffee or tea.

To start off I peel 5 apples, cut them in quarters and than slice them. To the apples I add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, the seeds from 1 vanilla bean and 4 tablespoons sugar, mix it all in a bowl and let it set for 1-2 hours.

To get the seeds out of the vanilla bean cut it lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Don't throw the de-seeded bean away. Take a jar, fill it with sugar, add the vanilla bean to it and let it stand for about 2 weeks and you have wonderful vanilla sugar. You can add further vanilla beans to it when ever you have some left. There is no need to replace the vanilla beans once you use up the sugar. Just top it up with fresh sugar and let it stand again.

In the meantime I pre-heat the oven at 180°C and crease a 28cm pie dish with lots of butter.

In a large bowl I beat 120g egg (2-3 egg depending on size) with 100g sugar and the seeds of 1 vanilla bean until I have a pale foamy mass. I add 100ml refined vegetable oil and 100ml yoghurt to it and mix it just until it is blended together. In a bowl I mix 150g flour with 8g baking powder. Than I add the flour mix to the liquid and again mix it that it is just blended together. But be careful there should be no flour lumps in the dough.

I pour the dough in the pie form. Before putting the apples on top of the dough I drain all the liquid out. You can collect the liquid, it gives a nice aperitif if served with sparkling wine. Spread the apple slices even on top of the dough and bake the cake for about 15minutes.

While the cake is in the oven I mix in a bowl 100g cold salted butter cut into small pieces with 175g sugar and 175g flour until I have nice crumbles. These I sprinkle generously over the cake and bake it for another 30minutes at 180°C. I like to take salted butter for the crumbles as it nicely balances the flavours of the cake. But you can also use unsalted butter for it.

Enjoy and have fun cooking!

Love

Carola

Vegetables with Feta and Pasta

One of the most interesting times in the kitchen for me is when I cook with left overs. 

I always like to experiment around with small quantities of food I find in my fridge. Even though I must say, this recipe slowly becomes a stable in my cooking regime. All that is changing is the combination of vegetables, the preparation stays the same.

What I like about it is the change of flavour if you replace for example zucchini with aubergines or add more carrots instead of bell peppers. It even changes if you just use green bell pepper instead of red and yellow ones. It's the finer tunes that count in this one because you can change the outcome completely by the combination of vegetables and herbs.

For example if I combine leek, aubergine, onion and tomatoes I like to add more rosemary to it. On the other hand if I combine bell pepper, zucchini, onion and tomatoes I add more garlic and basil to it.

Now here the recipe for the combination shown in the picture. For 2 people I cook 130g pasta.

For the vegetables I take 1 leek cut in rings, half a zucchini, half of a red bell pepper both cut in dices, 1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste, 5-6 tomatoes de-seeded and cut in dices. In a pan I heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and add the ginger-garlic paste and leek. Ones the leek gets brown on the edges I add the zucchini and bell pepper and stir-fry them for about 5 minutes. Than I add the tomatoes and cover the pan with a lit. This way the liquid from the tomatoes stays in the an. Cook it all over low heat for 5 minutes. In the meantime I finely chop 1 teaspoon each of fresh sage, oregano and rosemary as well as 1 tablespoon of basil.

Just before serving I add the herbs and season the vegetables with pepper and salt.

To serve I put the pasta on the plate, on top of it I put the vegetables. Than I crumble 30g Feta cheese per person and sprinkle it around the vegetables. If you don't have Feta you can use any other flavoursome cheese.

In this recipe I combine the vegetables with pasta but you can also combine it wonderfully with potatoes. Especially mashed or pan fried ones. For the pan fried ones I cut 1 onion into small dices, cut the cooked potatoes (about 2 per person) into 0,3-0,5cm thick slices. In a big pan I melt 1 tablespoon butter at medium heat and stir-fry the onions until they are soft. Than just add the potato slices and fry them until they are golden brown. After cooking add salt to taste. Another nice combination is with polenta.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola

Thai Red Seafood Curry

Yesterday was a fun day. It was cooking with friends day. 

As usual my kitchen was afterwards a mess but I didn't mind. We were cooking Thai Red Seafood Curry. And everyone was helping with cutting vegetables, stirring the food on the stove and setting up the table. In my opinion you have the best conversations while cooking with friends. And you definitely laugh the most in a kitchen. Cooking with friends is a guarantee for having a good time because it is so creative.

Even though I have recipes and follow them as a guideline I always improvise while cooking at home. And I love to try new ideas given by my friends. As a result the dishes always taste a bit different from the last time I cooked them.

Last night we started off with the rice because it has the longest cooking time. For the four of us we cooked 200g red rice with 1 teaspoon of salt in lots of water. We decided on red rice as it is always grainy and has a nice nutty taste. Besides the fact that the nutrition value is slightly better than that of white rice.

While I cleaned and cut 100g carrots, 70g leek, 100g bell pepper (any colour or mixed colours) and 70g zucchini into slices Nicky heated 2 tablespoons cold pressed sesame oil with 50g Thai Red Curry paste in a big pot. Once the curry paste was well mixed with the oil she added 400g coconut milk to it and heated it up to boiling point. We than added the vegetables and 70g green peas and cooked it for 20 minutes with the lid on the pot. After 15 minutes we added 150g cleaned prawns, 150g fish fillet (cut in bite size pieces) and 150g squid rings. Just put the seafood on top of the curry and put the lid back on. This way it doesn't get over cooked.

In the meantime we diced 2 tomatoes, 150g cucumber, 100g bell pepper and a mid size onion for the side salad. For the dressing I mixed 1 ½ tablespoons virgin olive oil with 1 teaspoon mustard, 4-5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 4 tablespoons of warm water, a pinch of salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Add the vegetables to the dressing and give it a good stir. Let it set for a few minutes to bring out all the flavours.

While Nicky and I were busy with the vegetables and curry Prem was busy cutting half a cucumber, 2 oranges and 2 lemons into slices for our Pimms & Lemonade. To the fruits he added about ½ litre of Pimms and 1 ½ litres of ice cold Sprite.

After setting up the table we spend the next few hours indulging in food and conversations and lots of laughter. Over it all we completely forgot to take pictures of our feast so you have to excuse us... this time no picture.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola


PS: a bit later... but here the picture :-)

Mushroom Sauce

This recipe is especially for all my friends who live alone and/or are struggling with cooking and want to impress guests once in a while. Arun I can already see you smile. I will give you 2 options for this sauce. I know, I said earlier I love using fresh ingredients but sometimes even I use short cuts and the help of ready-to-cook products.

For the 1^st version I take 30g onion, 2 garlic cloves and 300 g of mushrooms. I cut it all into small dices. In a deep pan I melt 1 tablespoon of butter and add the onions and garlic to it. I fry them over low heat for about 2 minutes than I add the mushrooms and stir-fry the mixture for about 5 minutes to release the water from the mushrooms. I add 350ml vegetable stock to it and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. To get the creamy consistence I pour the mixture in a blender and blend it until I have a smooth mass. Than it all goes back into the pan over low heat. Add 50ml of wine and let simmer for a few minutes. In a small bowl I mix 1 heaped teaspoon of cornstarch with 50ml cream or milk (that depends on your taste and the fat content you like in your food). Add the starch mixture to the mushrooms, stir well and bring to a boil. If the sauce thickens too much I add a bit more vegetable stock. I season the sauce with pepper, salt, nutmeg and finely chopped parsley. This is the base for the mushroom sauce.

If you add another 200ml of vegetable stock you have a fresh cream of mushroom soup. Just sprinkle a bit of fresh cut parsley over as decoration.

Now I cut 30g onion into half centimetre dices. In a deep pan I heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onions in ti til they are soft. While the onions are cooking I clean 400g of mushrooms and cut them also into half or quarters. I add the mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry them for a few minutes. I add my sauce base to the mushrooms and it is all ready to serve with pasta, chicken or whole grain rice.

To serve with pasta take 65g of try pasta / person and cook it in lots of salted water til they are al dente. Put the pasta on a plate, pour some sauce over it and decorate with some fresh or dry parsley.

This sauce is also a wonderful combination with chicken or beef. Here fore I take about 125g of chicken breast/ tenderloin beef per person and season it with lots of freshly ground pepper. In a teflon coated pan I heat about 1-2 teaspoons of oil and fry the meat from both sides til its done and golden brown on the outside.

To get a chicken/beef mushroom stew I cut the meat into stripes, season it with pepper and fry it in the pan. Once the meat is fried I mix it with the mushroom sauce. I serve it either with pasta or whole grain rice on the side.

So, now to the 2^nd, the super quick, super easy version for which I cut 40g onion into small dices. In a deep pan I heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onions in until they are soft. While the onions are cooking I clean 400g of mushrooms and cut them also into half or quarters. I add the mushrooms to the pan and stir-fry them for a few minutes. In a bowl I mix 1 pack of instant cream of mushroom soup with the amount of water as stated on the pack. I prefer products without MSG (mono-sodium glutamate) and preservatives. Here in India I usually use Maggi healthy soups in other parts of the world similar products. Add the soup to the mushrooms in the pan and let cook for 5 minutes. And your sauce is ready. If you want to make it special than replace 50ml of water with 50ml of wine. This recipe gives you 3-4 portions of sauce. 

Now you can serve it with meat, pasta or rice and impress your guest. Try it out, I am sure you will get lots of praise from your guests and no one needs to know your secret recipe.

By the way if you like to try out something different replace the common rice or pasta with cooked whole wheat grains or quinoa. Both add a nice nutty flavour to it.

The picture is showing grilled tenderloin steak with brown rice and the 1^st version of the Mushroom sauce.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen!

Love

Carola