Buckwheat Miso Soup

This makes you look like an expert chef and there is nothing to it. It took maybe 40 minutes of lazy cooking.


A buckwheat miso soup. Absolutely scrumptious.


We diced up half a big onion and


sautéed it in a little sesame oil together with a grated knob of fresh ginger and


3 tablespoons of miso (a store bought concentrated mixture).


We minced 2 cloves of garlic and sliced up a handful of shiitake mushrooms.


We added them to the onion for a few minutes. And then followed them up with a quart of water and one quart of vegetable broth. We turned up the heat, brought it to a boil, and




added 5 eggs. (When you pierce a small hole on the round side of an egg, where the air bubble is, it i less likely to crack.)


We boiled them in the simmering soup for exactly 7 minutes so that they were fully cooked with a soft yolk, slightly on the runny side.

When they came out we dumped the eggs in an ice bath for a minute, took the shells off, and halved them lengthwise.

We added one half cup of uncooked buckwheat groats and one sliced carrot to the soup and continued to simmer the soup until the buckwheat was soft. (If you want to save 10 minutes on cooking time you can do this before adding the eggs, but it gets quite messy when you retrieve them.)

In the meantime we sliced up 3 leaves of bok choy and 2 green onions. We added them to the simmering soup for 5 minutes. Then we stirred in 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar and a little salt and pepper.

That was it. Each bowl of soup we served received two egg halves. An absolute winner. A soup with an umami punch.

Waffles

We unpacked a waffle iron from under the X-mas tree. No Prob Bob. We tried this for 4 waffles which fed 5 of us perfectly.

We began by melting one stick of unsalted butter over the stove and adding 1/2 cup of sugar.

After a brief moment of cooling we whisked in a bit of salt, a dash of vanilla extract and  3 eggs.

Then we stirred 2 teaspoons of baking powder into 2 cups of flour. This and 1 cup of milk we added little by little.

The iron got plugged in, heated up, and 1/4 of the dough added.

4 times.

Powdered sugar, BAM! Delish!

Crêpes

We literally stumbled out of the Louvre one day on our world-tour-of-all-things-yummy dazed, tired, and hungry and accosted the first tourist-feeding cycling Crêperie conductor we came across. He cooked up five of the thin warm pancakes right in front of us, slathered them thickly with Nutella, confiscated our day's ration of Euros, and sent us on our way. Bumbling along, nibbling, we melted in pure satisfaction.

So back home stateside we naturally gave it a go. Without any of the fancy paraphernalia. It turned out magnifique! Enough so to allow us to finally empty our suitcases, admitting we wouldn't return anytime soon.

So here it goes. We briefly melted 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter on the stove and stuck it into the freezer to cool down. In one bowl we mixed 200 ml of water with 300 ml of milk. In another we whisked 2 eggs together with 2 tablespoons of sugar, a good pinch of salt and 1/3 of the milk mixture. Then we added 200g of flour piecemeal while continuously beating out any lumps. Then we added the butter, stirring, and at the end the remaining milk mixture.

We covered the bowl with a towel and let it stand at room temperature for an hour. We lightly dampened a pan with sesame oil and fried up the Crêpes like pancakes. They only needed a minute on one side and half a minute on the other. Upon retrieving, we folded them once, slathered them with Nutella, and then folded them twice more for a on-sixth-sized wedge.

Voila! ! Délicieux! Encore un, s'il vous plait!

V-Egg-etables, yay!

We are licking our chops with this delicious and easy 1-2-3 summer dinner. Here we go.

First we chopped up some small red tomatoes into bite size pieces, covered them with water and a half tablespoon of salt, brought them to a boil, and let them simmer for about 10-15 minutes. We stuck a fork in one to test.

Then we halved and sliced 2 leeks, discarding all hardy dark green parts and tons of dirt hiding between the layers.

We picked a good couple of tablespoons worth of thyme leaves.

Sliced half a head of savoy cabbage.

And cut off the hardy ends of 2 bushels of green asparagus.

Next we sautéed in olive oil over medium heat - "1" - the leek with a little salt and a few dried chili flakes ...

and stuck our nose in it. Oh my!! For 5 minutes. Then - "2" - the cabbage for 5 more minutes. And lastly - "3' - the asparagus for another 5 minutes.

For the finishing touch we dropped 5 eggs on top, covered them with a lid, waited a few minutes, and served.

Voila. A shout out to Jamie Oliver's magazine for this wonderful dish. Happy forks all around.

Banana Bread

We gave it a go at another all American classic - banana bread. Perfectly good for using overripe bananas. For starters we turned the oven to 375F and frothed up 12 table spoons of butter with 1 cup of sugar (Now we do understand that this might not stack up to your health standards, but oh my was it yummy. We might substitute the sugar with a 1/4 cup of honey next time around).


Then Lucy added 2 eggs,

3 bananas, and 4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream, mixing it all up.

Then we folded in 2 cups of flour as well as

1 teaspoon of baking soda and a small handful of chopped almonds (any nut would be good).

We spread the goodness over two 9 inch baking pans and shoved them into the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Look at it. Just unadulterated gobble it down and lick your fingers delight.

Butter Cake

The girls found a new liking in "Butterkuchen", literally Butter Cake, on their visit to Germany. So they went into Heidrun's kitchen and gave it a try.

First they measured and sieved 500g (4 cups) of flour.

They slighly warmed 1/4 liter of milk (1 cup),

mixed it up with 50g of live yeast (It was a block they crumbled up. We'll try 3 packs of dry yeast next time back home.),

and added the first tablespoon of 120g of sugar (1/2 cup).

This "Pre-Yeast-Dough" they whisked up to let the yeast develop.

Then they added 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, the rest of the sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, the zest of half a lemon, and 150g butter (10 tablespoons, yes, 10, and don't worry, there will be more).

All that was mixed up into a dough.

It was mixed, checked, discussed, and mixed again. We will try our bare hands next time, too.

A little flour. Just to see how nicely it will rise and crack.

Then the dough went into the warm oven for 45 minutes to rise.

When the dough was nice and huge it was spread into a large cake form with their hands. All their hands. It needed Lucy, Lily, Lena, and Heidrun for this one.

Then the dough was dimpled with their thumbs. (Not before Lily got properly dressed though. For the historic note.)

Then they spread 100 g more of cold butter (7 tablespoons) in chunks into all the dimples (There it is. That's like 2 sticks of butter in total for this cake. Good riddance.).

Over all that goodness they spread 50g of sugar (1/4 cup) and 

a couple handfuls of sliced almonds.

All that went into the oven at 175°C for 20-25 minutes (Try 350°F).

There it is. Cut into pieces. Absolutely yummy. Add  hot chocolate and coffee and you got yourself a 4 o'clock meal.

Soft in the inside and crunchy on the outside. Just like any kid. Happy eating!