This leg of lamb could as well be called Italian Style or Greek Style, or just Mediterranean Style I guess. Of course it is actually Leg of Lamb my way, but any time I do such kind of dishes I change some ingredient or deal with whatever is available at the moment. So there is none such thing as the one way I could call my way. Therefore I just opted for freestyle in the title.



So here's the deal. I marinated this leg for one day (the longer the better of course) in rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil,(organic) lemon juice and (organic) lemon cuts. I also added juicy olives to the bowl as well as chunks of eggplant which I drained first with salt (to get rid of bitterness).



Before putting the leg in the oven I browned it in a pan, I also grilled the eggplants a little. I put the whole thing with olives, chunks of lemons and eggplants plus some cuts of yellow capsicum into a special oven bag, added the marinade, some white wine and a dollop of tomato concentrate. The bag is put on a tray with some water helping to cook it evenly (never forget to cut a small hole on top of the bag). The tray goes in the oven, approx. 2 hours, starting at 180 °C and ending at 160°C. The bag keeps the meat juicy. It would even be better to turn the leg around after 1 hour, but I omitted that step since I had to make a siesta hehe.


...after the bag has been cut open

Wow, sun is starting to shine again in Germany! Pretty much continuously since Monday actually. And along with the sun, summer food cravings are also starting to come back. Yesterday we therefore ate a salad with diced tomatoes, juicy olives and diced strawberries: a delicious mix, especially when you add raspberry vinegar to the vinaigrette.

Today for lunch I still craved light summer food, more something in the Asian direction though. I consequently sauteed some shrimp with leeks and Zucchini, added freshly grated ginger, young garlic, some saffron, lime and a can of coconut milk. I ate the whole thing with baguette bread and beet leaves so I could sauce up the coconut milk later on. Actually on the pic it looks like a sandwich; Well it was meant to be one from the start, but the sauce went everywhere and I had to use fork and knife to eat it in the end; thus,a liquid sandwich. A yummy liquid sandwich!

Oh and of course I needed to add some spice too. And when I saw those buddies at the market, advertised as “hottest chilies in the world”, I couldn’t resist. I only added like one or two very thin cuts of it though since I didn’t want to spoil that summer feeling!

Christmas is ahead (big news huh?) and I'm in charge of food. And I tend to get a little adventurous for Christmas dinners since it's one of the few occasions in the year for homemade fancy food.

So here are my 2 main ingredients:



I couldn't resist but buying it when I saw this nice neck piece of Iberico Pork. Iberico Pork has this very intense flavor you might know from some spanish hams. I think I'm gonna fill it with fennel, some rosemary, maybe anise, and I really would like to cook it sous-vide with a little white wine for several hours, but I'm not sure if I'm patient enough. I'm still open for inspiration until wednesday though..



I think you guessed who this big boy is. I prepared it and it now lies in a terrine in the fridge. I think I messed it up though. Thought it would be much easier to pull out the veins :=/ .
Anyways, good luck for all of your christmas dinners and happy holidays!

Update:

So after 2 days in the fridge my friend the goose foie looks like this. I cut out a small piece and its at least edible regarding the taste. It looks a bit dirty though, let's see what our guests will say tomorrow hehe.



My other buddy, Mr Iberico got seared in a cooker and doused with white Port. It's now in the oven at low temperature for several hours. I realised though that my white Port sauce might be way too sweet, gotta rescue it later hehe. By the way, there's much information about Iberico Pork meat on the producers website.

My friend Jeff’s roommate Adriano is sad. Soon he’s going to leave New York and head back to Italy. He said he’s really going to miss this place. One thing he’s not sad about though is finally coming back into a world of Italian food. Italian cooking is actually the one thing he constantly held on to during his 2 year stay in the city. And his roommates were pretty lucky since he’s a real pasta professional: he cooks sauces, keeps ‘em in the freezer, and eventually will prepare you perfect pasta dish in about 10 minutes. And it’s definitely better than any mac & cheese.
I had the pleasure to taste Adriano’s ragú on penne. That’s the typical Italian meat sauce for pasta. And even better: I got the recipe and can now replicate this dish whenever I want.

So here it is for all interested foodies:

You’ll need: Italian hot sausage (salsiccia piquante), baby pork rib eye, canned tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, salt &pepper, eventually some white wine.

First put olive oil in a pan with garlic and spices in a pot and turn the heat on. As soon as the garlic starts to become golden, take it out of the pot (might put it back later but not necessarily), and add sausage meat (cut open the sausage and take out the meat) and rib eye and let it get some colour. Then add the white wine if you want, let it cook in a little. Now you can put the tomatoes. Finally add some very thinly sliced potatoes, put on the lid and let it simmer for about 4 hours.
Thanks for this great recipe Adri!

Funny enough, I saw several blogs simultaneously posting recipes involving pasta and pumpkin. Exactly at the same time I was also craving this combination and concocted my own sauce which includes pumpkin of course, cream, parmesan cheese and a splash of broth/pasta water. Some other more refined variations of the sauce I used to make came with an extra of white wine, and a good match with that sauce is also rosemary. Rosemary and Pumpkin = awesome.

A delicious Charolais rib...


...encountered sips of velvety fruity balanced Spätburgunder from Becker Estate.

Ein Leben ohne Olivenöl kann ich mir fast nicht mehr vorstellen. Seitdem ich vor ein paar Jahren Olivenöl für mich entdeckt habe, verwende ich es immer öfter, und ich staune immer wieder, wie schnell die Flaschen doch leer werden. Ja ich glaube mein Verbrauch hat schon fast Ausmaße erreicht, welche die gesundheitlichen Vorteile von Olivenöl vollkommen neutralisieren (ab und zu gönn ich mir schon ein Schlückchen pures Öl - aber es soll ja ein Dorf in Spanien geben in dem es aus diesem Grund eine Vielzahl von über hundertjährigen gibt).
Faszinierend an sich beim Olivenöl ist ja, dass es im Gegensatz zur Butter ein Produkt ist, das ähnlich dem Wein sehr vielfältig ist. Man fängt halt irgendwann an verschiedene Öle durchzuprobieren, und bleibt dann bei einem hängen, dass einem besonders mundet.
Mein momentaner Favorit ist das Öl N° 11 von Artefakt. Es handelt sich um ein ungemein mildes und fruchtiges Olivenöl aus Spanien, genauer genommen aus der Gegend um Tarragona in Katalonien. Besonders begeistert mich das Preis-Genuss Verhältnis. Ich hab schon wesentlich schlechtere Öle probiert die viel teurer waren. Zum Kochen ist es mir aber dennoch zu schade, benutze es eigentlich nur zum veredeln der Speisen oder um mediterrane Kleinigkeiten wie Tapenade, Anchoiade, gegrilltes Gemüse und so weiter zuzubereiten.

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!