Genau das ißt der echte mediterrane Cowboy der ich bin. Thunfischsteaks, schön kross gebraten (jaja echte Männer essen's blutig, aber das war halt TK-Ware), dazu gegrilltes Gemüse mit Unmengen an fast verkohltem Knoblauch. Der Romantiker im Cowboy (rechte Gehirnhälft hat halt jeder) zupft noch Thymian über das ganze. Doch mit brachialer Gewalt wird dann das ganze in bestem Olivenöl versenkt (da hätte ich übrigens eine Topempfehlung. So zufrieden mit einem Olivenöl war ich schon lang nicht mehr), bevor es dann mit scharfem Maille-Senf reingeschaufelt wird.
Dazu trinkt der harte Cowboy eine Flasche 2005er Urgewalt im Samthandschuh, nämlich einen Chateau Boyd-Cantenac aus Margaux, ein echter Leckertropfen (dazu später mehr) Yeeeeha!

This is a small porcelaine recipient with Kampot pepper, appparently a very reknown black pepper variety, which my brother brought me from Cambodia (Thanks Felix)
Does anyone know about it?

I was very happy to discover a recipe for Koulouri on Le Pétrain. Koulouri is a Greek bread I fell in love with ever since I went to Athens. It is originally a bread shaped as a loaf stemming from Cyprus. But in Athens it is commonly sold having the shape of a thin doughnut, and somehow, it is the Greek Bretzel, a bread anyone could eat any occasion, a casual and handy snack. They are sold in bakeries and on the street, even very early in the morning in front of nightclubs.
Nevertheless, Koulouri is totally different from Bretzel, and even from doughnuts although they have a similar shape. Koulouri is a light brown bread covered with sesame seeds and has a slightly sweet taste without being buttery or salty like Bretzels.
So I had to try to bake some myself. The recipe from Le Pétrain is for the Cypriote loaf shape bread, but I just followed it and made several rings out of the dough. I left out the cumin though, because I didn’t remember tasting it when eating Koulouri in Greece.
In the end the bread tasted good but it wasn’t quite the same than what I had in memory; in fact the sweetness was lacking. I tried to think of a reason it tasted different. Maybe the cumin is essential for the recipe after all, I thought? Or I should have put some sugar for the sweetness? Also, I felt I put a little bit too much yeast since I could still taste it in the finished bread.
Nevertheless the Koulouri made my day and I savoured them with a Greek salad (Horiatiki) and some wine of course.
But if anyone could give me a recipe for the genuine Koulouri rings which are being sold in Athens I’d be thankful.
Kali Orexi!

Chubby Hubby’s article on Ferran Adria’s tortilla recipe (April 2006) totally intrigued me, especially since Chubby Hubby himself reproduced the foam dish as perfectly as you can see on his pictures. So I decided to give it a try too. I knew that we had a siphon hidden somewhere in the back of the storing chamber of our kitchen. I have no clue which brand it is or whether it is usable for warm ingredients or not, but taking a look on it, it just felt like a good quality product.
So I went thoroughly through all the steps of the recipe posted by Chubby Hubby, and in the end I had a composition which could be described as follows: the onions were just perfect, sweet and smooth; I did a good job there. The emulsion of egg yolk was just too liquid. I mean it was perfectly bubbly when I finished whisking it, but when I put it on the onions, it just came apart and had a little “slimy” mouth feel. Also I put too much salt in it when it came to seasoning. Next, the foam came out of the siphon, tasting ok (here again I oversalted it), but the consistency wasn’t quite satisfying since it wasn’t as stiff as I thought it should be; what are the reasons? Maybe I didn’t shake the siphon enough, maybe it’s just the wrong kind of siphon, or I used the wrong kind of cream in the recipe (I used fresh cream from an organic milk producer)
Well, I was proud still. I could imagine the dish tasting excellent without the overdose of salt I put in it and I silently dared to think of some other changes. I would use the egg yolk of a hard boiled or a poached egg to reinforce the play with the textures (jammy for the onions, smooth for the egg yolk and creamy for the foam). Maybe as Chubby Hubby did it, add some bacon for some crunchiness.
Another variation of the dish could be to leave the onions away and shave some black truffles on top of it. What do you think?