Fish Cake ( Pudin de Pescado)

This recipe is one that came to me through my mother. Where she learned it or started to make it, I do not know but I remember it as being always delicious and always accompanied by white rice and a tomato sauce on the side.
I know my mother always tried to use her leftover to create other dishes so many times if there was leftover fish we would have this but other times I know she would start out with fresh or frozen fish. You can use any type of white fish ( cod, tilapia, whiting,etc.) and if you would like to make if special you can add boiled shrimp.
The recipe is as follows:

Four fillets of any white fish ( Pollock, Whiting, Cod, Flounder,etc.)
One medium onion
Two large cloves of garlic
Two or three medium carrots
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil and butter to saute cooked fish and veggies
three or four eggs beaten
2 to 3 cups of milk

In a large frying pan add about 2 TBSP of oil and 2 of butter. Saute the diced onion, minced garlic and chopped carrots. When tender and brown add the boiled fish all crumbled. Then add salt,pepper to taste and the Worcestershire sauce. Add the bread crumbs to this mixture and cook for another five minutes or so.
In a bowl mix the eggs and milk well beaten with a pinch of salt. Add the the mixture of the fish.
In a oven proof dish already buttered and pour the fish batter and place in a hot oven of 350 degrees to cook till its done or till when you place a toothpick in it, it will come out clean ( approx. time of cooking is about 30 min.)

Serve with some white rice and a sauce mixture of half mayo and half catchup.
Enjoy, its healthy and delicious!!

German potato salad (Kartoffelsalat)

In southern Germany this coarse cut potato side dish is served with vinegar and oil. In northern Germany mayo is added, but how did this recipe become widespread when potatoes were not part of the old German diet.
Potatoes (Kartoffel) got to Germany by a long route first from the Spanish from South America to Spain, and then they slowly spread throughout Europe. The Spanish first thought they were truffles! Maybe because they were dug from the earth like truffles are. The Italians were the first to try cultivating the potato,but with little luck. The word Kartoffel comes from the Italian word Tartufolo (truffles). Since the leaves were poisonous the potato got a bad reputation as something to avoid.
Potatoes also got the reputation for causing lustful thoughts, so many avoided these "fruits of the devil" even if they were hungry! The first cultivated potatoes were not very good either. They were very small and sometimes bitter. It took some cross breading to get the potato as we know it today. In it's modern fashion it is only about 250 years old.The first potatoes were planted in Germany in the mid 1500's but It became something only the peasants grew on their land and ate as cheap sustenance for many years.

Ingredients
Four to five potatoes (you may use one pound of new potatoes leaving skin) boil potatoes till medium soft.
One small yellow or white onion
One small red onion
Eight to ten strips of bacon cooked and cut into pieces.
Kielbasa sausage, one pound
1/4 cup of chop green onion
Salt and pepper to taste
One tsp of mustard sead
Olive oil
Malt vinager if desired, about one TBSP

Boil potatoes, till medium soft, then cut into medium size pieces. Place into large open pan diced onions oli and sausage, when golden add the potatoes. Mix well and season. Cook till golden brown. Add then bacon and stir . Finally add if desired the vinager and green onion. Serve hot as is or with some favorite cheese .

Belgium waffles. Gaufre de Liège .

Waffles can be found throughout Europe in the early Middle Ages. These were originally much lighter as they were cooked in flat irons with biblical images depicted on them and often also the use of wine was one of their ingredients. It is around the 18th century that we hear that the famous waffle of Liege is developed and they say that it was the chef of the Prince bishop of Liege who came up with the brioche dough recipe requiring a much deeper iron to cook and caramelize the waffle or gaufre. The actual first recipe of the waffle of Liege comes to us in 1921 and has remain the most popular waffle in Belgium.

Today, if you travel through Belgium, you will find little stands of waffles, freshly made at all times of the year. Traditionally , they are served with powered sugar, as they are quite sweet with all the pearl sugar they are cooked with in the dough, but also you may have them with chocolate, berry fruits and fresh cream.

This Christmas I wanted to try to make these delicious waffles but I needed a must have ingredient " pear sugar". It is almost impossible to find in the US pearl sugar. Maybe in New York in some specialty store, but in the Houston area Ikea and Wholefoods which used to carry it, do not anymore. So, if I wanted to make them I would have to order it online. On Amazon you may order it in 5 pound bags, which makes it a little more economical since it is imported from Belgium at $7.00 per pound. I decided that it would be on my Christmas wish list.

Here the recipe follows on how to make these wonderful waffles. Make sure you have the time as they are not difficult, just require enough time for the dough to go through the different stages and a little patience.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 10 waffles

3 tsp of active dry yeast
1/2 cup of scalded whole milk ( 110- 115 degrees)
4 Tbsp plus 4 tsp of water (110-115 degrees)
4 cups of King Arthur Bread flour
2 large room temperature lightly beaten eggs
2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp of light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp of salt
16 Tbsp or two sticks of room temperature unsalted butter
2 Tbsp of honey
4 tsp of vanilla
1 1/2 cups of Pearl sugar ( Lars brand) is a good choice.

Okay, now I am going to try to simplify this to its simplistic form. it is time consuming but the result is so worth it. All my children absolutely adore these and certainly everyone who has been in Belgium would agree that these types of waffles are really to die for.

Start by mixing the yeast , milk and water till the yeast dissolves, then add the beat up eggs and 1/3 of the flour. once it all blended add the remaining of flour but do not mix, just pour over the top, cover and let rise for about 75 to 90 minutes till you see the yeast bubbling over the top of the flour.
After this point you will add the slat and sugar, mix and add the vanilla and honey and put on the mixer, mixing for three minutes at a time, adding two tablespoons of butter at a time and mixing, wait one minute in between each three minutes till all the butter has been added. then cover with a plastic and let rise for four hours. after these four hours, you will place the risen dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and which you will give it a punch with a spatula. The risen dough will be place over a work table to then make it the shape of a rectangle and fold into a envelope. Cover with plastic and place some heavy plates on top or some kind of other weight and in the fridge overnight. In the morning, fold in the 1 1/2 cup of pearl sugar. It will be hard and lumpy, put that is the way that it should be. Mold with your hands and and cut into 10 equal balls, the shape of a football. Pat down and place on a cooking sheet. Cover slightly with plastic and let rise for another 90 minutes. After this you should have some very nice double the size ovals, nice and warm and soft.
Yes, you should be excited at this point. You have waited so long for this moment and the time necessary has produced magic. Now you will heat your waffle iron ( for a conventional waffle iron you will unplug or lower the temperature once the dough is placed in so that the sugar will not burn). Traditionally and in Belgium, cast iron waffles are used to make these delicious waffles but in your home you can very well use the small waffle makers just make sure to not burn the sugar, just caramelize. The ending result will be a wonderful waffle no one can resist. Serve alone or with powered sugar or with chocolate syrup and fresh whipped cream or strawberries.

ENJOY

Berry Sorbet

Gelatos, icecream and sorbets are always linked to Italy. These are less creammy but yet still have the wonderful full flavor of icecream found in the United States.Today I made a berry sorbet with frozen raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Here the recipe:

INGREDIENTS


3 cups of frozen triple berries.
1 1/2 cup of sugar ( you can use half sugar substitute)
1/4 cup of corn syrup
1 cup of cold water-juice of one lemon
1/4 cup of a dry red wine

Blend berries with water, then add all the reamining ingredients. You may freeze or put in an ice-cream maker. Serve with a topping made of Mascarpone cheese and whip-cream

French style peas ( France) Petit pois

The origin of "peas" is a little obscure.  Some say that the earliest findings go back to far East Asia, others say that they originated in the Middle east.  In both places we can find this crop as part of the diet of the local people several thousand years BC.  Charlemagne brought peas to France around 800 and since then it has become a staple in the English and French diet.  It was a crop that grew easily in cold climates and it was cheap.  Dried peas became very popular because they were a cheap and healthy way to sustain the poor. The traditional split peas soup with bacon developed from these dried peas.
In France, a different variety of pea was created.  A very small and delicate pea called " Petit pois" which was coveted by the rich and used in delicate French recipes cooked with butter and other fine ingredients.
This recipe is easy and very flavorful.  By adding a whole head of lettuce to the stock, the peas become extra tender and smooth.
The recipe and ingredients are:

INGREDIENTS
One pound of small green peas ( petit pois)
One whole head of lettuce( romaine, green leaf)
Ten strips of bacon
1/2 pound of small french onions
One litre of beef stock
2TBSP of butter
2 TBSP of olive oil
2TBSP of flour
Salt to taste
Pepper

In saucepan saute the bacon cut up in squares into the oil and butter.  Then add the peeled onions.  Add to this, the 2 TBSP of flour.  When this is complete, add the one litree of beef stock.  Let come to a boil and then add the cut up head of lettuce.  When this mixture comes to a boil, add the one pound of peas and salt to taste.  Let cook on low heat till the liquid has almost disappeared and the onions and peas are tender.

Paella de Marisco (Valencia, Spain)

The origin of this dish from Spain comes from the eastern part of Spain, Valencia.  The dish originates to make use of what the land here offers.  When you are near the sea  it will be made with sea food, but inland a vegetable and chicken or rabbit version is the preference.  The main ingredient is rice and of course it would be, since in these lands you will finds large areas suitable for the growing of a very nice round grain of rice.  To this, it is added some vegetables and meat or seafood all cooked with the fragrance of saffron and paprika in a large open two handle pan called " paella". The name of the dish originates from the name of the pan in the Catalan language.  Then the word in turn came from the French " paelle" and this from the Latin "patella.  The dish became so popular in the mid 19th century that the name of the dish took the name of the pan that it was cooked in. Today it is considered by the rest of the world as one of Spain's main dishes but Spaniards know that the dish really took off from the Eastern part of Spain.

INGREDIENTS
(For a Paella to feed 6 to 8 people)
6 -1/3 cups of rice (risotto type)
 1/4 pound of fresh green beans
2 artichokes ( Cleaned and will use only the tender parts and the heart of it)
4 large cloves of garlic
8 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of paprika
saffron
1 pound of fresh ripe tomatoes  diced
12 to 16 jumbo shrimp ( with head and tail)
16 mussels in their shell
Squid, if desired, cut into rings
Salt to taste
Roasted red bell peppers cut into strips
18 - 1/3 cups of water
baby clams if desired

First you will saute the green beans and the artichokes, adding salt to taste so that they have a golden color in the 12 tablespoons of olive oil. When this is complete you will remove them from the paella pan.  Second

you will make a tomato sauce by sauteing first the garlic, spices and tomatoes.  Make sure to add one 1/3 cup of water to this process as the garlic and paprika burn very easily. Cook till the tomatoes have turned into a nice puree consistency.  When this is done you will place the vegetables back in the pan evenly as decorating the pan.  Add the whole remaining 17 -1/3 cups of water and let cook till it comes to a boil.  When water is boiling add the shrimp, mussels and remaining sea desired placing these evenly throughout the pan. Straight forward add the 6- 1/3 cups of rice evenly spread through the paella pan.  Add salt always tasting to make sure you have the right proportion.  Decorate with the roasted bells peppers and let cook over a medium low flame for about 20 minutes.  Do not stir!!!! After the 20 minutes, turn off the flame and cover with a cloth for another 10 minutes.  Garnish with lemon wedges and serve!!

German banana Nut bread " German bananenkuchen"

Those of you that have traveled to Germany know that one of the best things that you can enjoy is some very good homestyle bread in many varieties and forms.  You may also know that most of Americas bakery comes from Europe and especially to countries like England and Germany.
This recipe is very simple.  Part of the secret is to use extremely ripe bananas, almost caramelized.

Ingredients
6 very ripe bananas
2 -1/4 cups of brown sugar
3 sticks of softened butter
3 cups of flour
1-1/2 tsp. soda
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups of chopped pecans or walnuts
pinch of salt

Cream together all ingredients and add then the mashed bananas and nuts.  Pour into two bread molds previously greased and bake in a 300 degree oven until done.  This recipe can be frozen.