Valentine menu suggestion

Valentine's Day is upon us and for those romantic souls out there who seek to woo their loved ones (and who happens to have a day off just to prepare a lovely meal) I've put together a little suggestion for a menu. It's vibrant, full of flavours, light, packed with vitamins and carbs so you'll have plenty of energy and not too heavy a stomach, just in case... you know, you decide to go running or something afterwards.

Starter: Cold Tomato Soup with Crab Salad (click here to get the recipe) 

Main: Homemade Ravioli (Recipe)

And for desert: My Valentine Chocolate Cake (Recipe)

All the best of luck.

Pork Knuckles - Slow fast food

Pork knuckle, or Schweinshaxe as it's known in Germany, is the lower joint which connects the pig's leg to the foot. It's a really under-valuated piece of meat (unless you are Bavarian), but prepared just right it turns into something of a treat. As they say, the closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat. I've called it slow fast food, because the preparation is virtually none. Yet, it does requite quite a long roasting process. But hey, that's the oven doing the work for you. The result is succulent meat, falling off the bone. Here's what you need:

2 carrots

1 small onion

250ml beer

2 pork knuckles

Rub:

2 small cloves of garlic

3/4 tsp fennel seeds

3/4 tsp dried tarragon

A couple of fresh rosemary leaves

2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil 

 Crush all the ingredients for the rub in a mortar until you have a fine paste

Cut the carrots in smaller pieces, slice the onion and place them at the base of a ovenproof dish. Rub the pork knuckles with the rub. Make sure you get it in everywhere. This can also be done overnight. Add extra salt according to taste. Place the dish in preheated 230ºC oven for 30 minutes. Then pour the beer in. Turn the temperature down to 150ºC and cook for a further 2 hours. Baste the pork knuckles with the cooking liquid at the base of the dish every now and again. After 2 hours, turn the temperature way up (250º) to brown the meat outside. That should take another 20-30 minutes. Just make sure it doesn't burn.

The final result. Some delicious, slow-roasted pork knuckles that will have you licking your fingers for more.

Tandoori Chicken w. Mango

It's been ages since I posted something last, I know. But good things come to those who wait. At least that's what they say. This dish is one of my favorite Asian dishes for various reasons. First of all, it's dead-simple to make. Secondly because it's so packed with flavour which balance each other perfectly.  It's sweet from the mangoes, bitter and sharp from the onion, spicy from the chicken and mild and citric from the lime-yogurt sauce. You can prepare it in advance and assemble it and bring it out at the last moment. It's sure to impress.

Ingredients:

Chicken Tandoori

1-2 chicken breasts (or equivalent in thigh meat)

Tandoori paste

or make it yourself:

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 small jar of Greek-style yogurt

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

Juice of 1/2 lime

Freshly ground pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground fenugreek seed

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp Tumeric

Salad:

1 ripe mango

1 red onion 

A small handful of fresh cilantro

1-2 tsp Sambal Olek (or other chili paste)

Juice of 1 lime

Yogurt dressing:

1 small jar of Greek yogurt

Juice of 1/2 or 1 lime (to taste)

Salt to taste

Papdums

Start by cutting the chicken meat in bite sizes and marinate them with the tandoori paste and a bit of yogurt for 4 to 12 hours.

 Peel the mango and cut it in to small cubes of about 2 cm. Slice the onion and finely chop the coriander leaves. Add the chili and squeeze the lime fruit over it.

 When ready to eat, fry the marinated chicken over high heat. If you have a grill, even better. Just put the meat on a skewer. Grill marks only add to the flavour.

 Fry the papadoms according to the instructions. I usually fried then in a centimetre of neutral oil until the swell up. If it starts to bend weirdly, just press the sides down the a fork. Turn once and place on a rack to drip off.

 Mix the yogurt with the lime and taste for salt. Serve the tandoori chicken on top of the salad on top of the papadum. Splash a few dollops of the yogurt on top and enjoy.