Pasta and Co.

Servus!

Just so you all know that this isn't a food blog, here is a picture of my dog:



Her name is Una. She's a good dog.



That being said, weekend before last we met with our friends Dirk and Rita and had a wonderful evening of food and drink and good company. Since Rita is a big fan of Italy, we had ourselves a regular feast!

The first thing that needed to happen was that I needed to start making the bruschetta at about 0730 on Saturday morning. I mixed tomatoes with some olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and grated buffalo mozzarella. Always use the buffalo mozzarella - it tastes loads better than the kind from cow's milk. I took a baguette, sliced it, and toasted it in the oven for about 3 minutes and then rubbed a clove of garlic on each of the slices. I then piled on the mixture and put the whole thing back in the oven for about 8 minutes.





It was hard not to eat any of those bad boys as the came out of the oven!

So on to the next appetizer! Anelli de Ricotta... I got to make a whole bunch of very thin pancakes!





Once these were taken care of, I spread a mixture of ricotta, spinach, and parmesan on each pancake and rolled them up and cut each into about three pieces. These went into a oven form and then were covered in the rest of the freshly shaven parmesan.





Since we were going crazy and had a lot of mouths to feed, there were two different kinds of pasta sauces. Cause, you know, we might not have enough food...

There was Dirk's bolognese sauce:



Then there was Rita's cream and shrimp sauce with green onion:



Both of these were, as you can imagine, very light sauces that left plenty of room for appetizers and dessert...













Now, there is soething that it really bothering me. Anna made both a traditional tiramisu (the kind with real cream, Amaretto, raw egg, etc. Not that cheap kind!) and an American cookie cream for the kids. Both of these were delicious beyond comprehension but I HAVE NO PICTURES OF THEM!!!! I am ashamed, as they were really the dot on the i for what was a really great evening of food and good friends.

I bid you Peace,

Jake

Who doesn't like Ribs?

Servus!

Seriously, this is NOT a food blog!



Really!




That being said, I would like to present to you last weekends toil - spare ribs, Rattlesnake-style! In all fairness, these weren't my favorite ribs as the sauce I used was totally and completely without spices as we had guests that can't eat spicy food. I personally like that my lips and fingers sting a little bit after eating but not everyone rolls like that. As a master of the grill, I must respect the wishes of my diners.

Here we have the eight racks that I bought, rubbed with a modified version of Raichlen's Basic Barbecue Rub. I replace the hickory salt with 4 tablespoons of smoked sweet paprika and use Turbinado sugar instead of brown sugar. Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention....




Eagle-eyed readers will also note that the "rib racks" that I use are actually "Variera" pot lid holders from IKEA. They are adjustable, cheap, dishwasher-safe, and just beat the pants off any other racks that you can buy. Remember - the stupid idea that works is not stupid!

I set up an indirect grill using roughly a half of a chimney of briquets and let the ribs cook for 2 hours. Some people use the "3-2-1" method for cooking ribs - 3 hours cook uncovered, 2 hours in foil, 1 hour uncovered with sauce. I don't like this as it takes *six damned hours* and I have found that having the ribs uncovered for 2 hours and covered for 2 hours in a pan produce the same (if not better, IMHO) results. YMMV.





I use one of those cheapo steel pans from IKEA (seeing a trend here?) and pile the ribs in and cover with foil. Before I do that, I pour a bit of cola in the pan to keep things moist and sweet. The last two pictures show the ribs after the 2 hour covered phase. I sauced them with Bullseye "Sweet & Spicy" - spicy being defined in the German sense "not spicy at all" - and left them uncovered for ten minutes to allow the sauce to glaze a bit.



And here's the plate - A rack of my finest along with homemade corn muffins and slaw. Should anyone want the recipes, please leave a message in the comments and I will be happy to post them for you!

I bid you Peace,

Jake

Rotisserie Gyros

Servus!

I'm a little late on posting this one but it's worth it!

A couple of Saturdays ago, we made Gyros on the rotisserie. I bought 2 kg of pork steaks (the cheap ones without bones!) The rub I used was rather simple:

8 Tsp Oregano
4 Tsp Thyme
2 Tsp Paprika, sweet
1 Tsp Cumin
2 Tsp Onion powder
2 Tsp Garlic powder
2 Tsp Rosemary
1 Tsp Ground coriander
3 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Pepper
3 Tsp Sugar

Take your pork steaks and give them a good rub with the spice mixture and then fold in half and skewer. That's it! Make a good fire and let the rotisserie turn for about 1.5 hours. Once everything is starting to get nice and crispy, take the spit out and start cutting the meat down into a pan. Put the spit back on the grill, repeat.











In that last photo, you can see that we served them on tortillas with homemade tzaziki, tomatoes, and onions. Juicy and delicious!

καλη ορεξη!

I bid you Peace,
Jake

Rib Eye Steaks

Servus!

The title says everything...













Grilled to medium-rare perfection with oven wedges and grill tomatoes.

Simply perfect.

I bid you Peace,

Jake

Dutch Oven Stew

Servus!

Hello my hungry readers! Today I want to quickly document the wonderful stew that A and I made on Sunday using veggies we got in our Biokiste.

I took a kilogram of beef and pork goulash meat and cut it into smaller chunks, rolled it in flour that had salt and pepper and a bit of garlic powder. This lets it get good and crispy and it develops a wonderful aroma that will be important later on.

As you can see, my 12" DO (Dutch Oven) fits perfectly into the cutout in the grate in my Weber grill, making the whole cooking process easier and cleaner.



Once I fired up the necessary number of briquettes, I placed them all at the bottom and began to brown the meat. Once the meat was good and browned, I added 2 large chopped onions.





After the onions got glassy, I deglazed the whole thing with a 1/2 liter of El Cheapo red wine (this is where the aforementioned aroma comes into play) and allowed things to cook down a bit. I also added the veggies. Lots of goodness in there like carrots, turnips, celery, Brussels sprouts , and parsnips. I also added a bit of spice and some vegetable broth granules.





Veggies added, it's time to put on the lid and let things simmer for a while - 2 hours should do the trick! 7 coals underneath and 14 on top make for the right amount of heat.



I should go wash my hands...



Nothing like a hearty stew on a cold and blustery Sunday evening!



I bid you Peace,
Jake

Raclette!!!

Servus!

Now, I know that all of you outside of Europe (and a few of you within) are asking "WTF is a raclette?" Which is fine, as this post will tell you everything you needed or wanted to know about the subject!

First, let's steal a quote from Wikipedia:

"...the modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables and charcuterie. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The emphasis in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours."

This describes, rather clinically, the hours of enjoyment that is raclette. Raclette is also a type of cheese and a specific (Swiss) way of eating it but that isn't the topic.



The best part about this whole thing is the fun. It's so totally social - everyone sits around the table and has to interact with one another - always asking for some ingredient, talking about the various ways to prep the food, what's good and not so good, etc. I love raclette for this factor alone.

It's also a really great way to eat entirely too much food.



Seriously, you would think that a bit of potato, cheese and various cold cuts and veggies wouldn't be so filling but after a while, you notice that you are starting to get obscenely full but you don't care because it tastes SOOOOO good and you wanted to try out some other strange combination.




What goes on the grill is limited by your own imagination. I am a bit of a traditionalist - I melt my cheese in the pan and pour it over my potatoes while others make intricate little pans of food and put those under the grill. Either way, it's delicious.



If you have the opportunity to buy a raclette, I suggest you do so. Invite good friends over (you know, the kind that you can drink comfortably with) and have a great meal where everyone cooks!

I bid you Peace,

Jake

V E L O = L O V E

Servus!

"How can I convey the perfection of my comfort on the bicycle, the completeness of my union with her, the sweet responses she gave me at every particle of her frame? I felt that I had known her for many years and that she had known her for many years and that she had known me and that we understood each other utterly." - Flann O'Brien



I've mentioned my love affair with the bicycle before, haven't I?

;-)





The bicycle has meaning here in Europe. Is is a legitimate form of transportation, used by millions every day. If you live in a large city, a bicycle is ideal - no problems with parking, no poisonous emissions, and you can transport a small amount of cargo, more than what you could by bus or streetcar. Should you be so bold as to ride your bike to work, you are not immediately labeled as a environmental freedom-fighter or super eco-freak. More likely that you are trying to keep fit and want to spend a little less on fuel every month.





I am attracted to the duality of the bicycle: it is both simple and complex at the same time. Most people don't consider the engineering that goes into a bike, the geometry, the mathematics, the physics that allow a bike to function and stay upright. They only understand that if they pedal fast enough, they won't fall over.





No other machine is so well distributed. There are roughly twice as many bicycles in the world than automobiles. Many of the technical developments for bicycles have revolutionized industry.





The bicycle has helped alleviate poverty in many countries. It has been a force in the emancipation of women. It is a common connection between generations and it serves as a catalyst for personal freedom around the world.

Try that in your Ford.





Things that happen via bike that you probably didn't know about:

Mail delivery
Pizza delivery
Police patrol (I did this back in '94-95)
Paramedic Response
Bicycle Infantry






The bicycle, in a word:



Aren't we all looking for some?

With that, I bid you all Peace and say "Go change the world. Ride your bike"

Jake