Appetizer with asparagus

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A very delicious appetizer, perfect for a brunch and to be easily prepared with the new green or white asparagus. For a dinner with friends I filled the mousse into flower shaped silicone muffin cups. The original recipe is from Dr. Oetker and there filled into heart shaped muffin cups. Then they’re perfect for Mother’s day.

For the red coulis you need:
175ml beetroot juice
1 bag of Dr. Gelatine fix
some salt

Rinse muffin cups with cold water and place them on a board or small tray. Mix juice with salt and gelatine fix, divide between the cups and place them in the fridge.

For the mousse:
500g green or white asparagus
100ml vegetable stock
50g smoked salmon
5-6 bear’s garlic leaves
150g crème légère
juice of 1 lemon or lime fruit
1 bag of Dr. Oetker Gelatine fix
sugar
salt, freshly ground pepper

Wash and peel asparagus (only lower third of the green ones) and cut the lower third into small chunks. Put aside their heads. Take 200g of the chunks and cook in stock for about 5 minutes. Sieve them, collect stock in a bowl and let cool.
In the meantime wash bear’s garlic leaves and cut into very thin slices. Cut smoked salmon too.
Mix crème légère with stock and lemon juice. Then stir in gelatine fix with your hand blender until lightly foaming. Fold in asparagus chunks, salmon and bear’s garlic and divide beween muffin cups.Place in the fridge for at least two hours.

For the remaining asparagus:
some cooking oil,
1/2 tsp sugar,
3 tbsp balsamico bianco

Cut sloped pieces of remaining asparagus and roast them in some cooking oil. Spread 1/2 tsp of sugar on top and deglaze with 3 tbsp of balsamico. (I didn’t read the recipe correctly and took dark balsamico  – that makes asparagus look brownish but the taste is perfect) Leave asparagus chunks in boiling until cooled.
Release mousse from muffin cups with a sharp thin knife, turn out on plates and serve with the asparagus chunks. Goes best with fresh bread.

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On this foto served with “Three-cheese-Loaf” – recipe will be written down within the next days.

The first rhubarb cake this year

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Back again – these lovely sour rhubarb leaf stalks! And as they just took me by surprise at the grocery’s last saturday I had to find a quick and easy recipe. A simple sponge cake refined with a meringue top.

For the sponge cake

250 g rhubarb
175 g butter
1 dash of salt
1 bag vanilla sugar
230 g caster sugar
4 eggs
350 g flour
1 bag of baking powder
5 tbsp milk
white chocolate (chopped) if required

Preparations:

Preheat oven at 200°C and grease spring form cake tin.
Wash and slice rhubarb.
Give butter, salt, vanilla sugar and 150g of caster sugar in a large bowl and mix with the whisk of your kitchen machine. Seperate 2 eggs. Stir 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks into butter cream successively. Mix flour and baking power (except 1 tbsp) and incorporate together with milk.
Turn rhubarb slices in remaining flour and fold into cake if liked together with chocolate. Pour into cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes in the middel of the oven.
In the meantime whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add 80g of sugar a tablespoon at a time until the mix is glossy.
Spoon the meringue into an icing bag.* Remove your cake from oven 5 minutes before the end of cooking time and pipe meringue gridwise on top. Bake further 5-10 minutes at 160°C until lightly brown. Remove from oven to cool on a baking rack.
*If no icing bag available you can spoon the meringue on top of your cake and simply press light deeps with the back of your spoon.

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Hamburg

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 Hamburg – the gate to the world. On saturday there were still lots of tourists and other visitors strolling in the streets around the Town Hall. On sunday morning however there’s a good chance to have a cup of coffee at Alex’ situated just on the banks of inner Alster in the center of Hamburg. The only sound to be heard is launches hoot when passing the bridge. Well-groomed old town houses, among them the “Four Seasons”, will make your stay a great pleasure. From there we’ll move to the impressing Town Hall built in the neorenaissance style. It’s domicile to City Parliament and Senate. Not far from here you’ll get into the famous Speicherstadt – the world’s biggest agglomeration of storehouses built on oak-tree poles standing in water according to ebb and flow. From numerous launches you can have a look at it when crossing the channels before entering the big Hamburg harbour.
St. Michaelis (the town’s landmark) and the Elb-Philharmony are to be seen by far. Strikingly colored the houses of St. Pauli, a famous quarter with the Reeperbahn. All tourists must visit this shrieky woad wih all its sex shops and beer tavern for sailors or those who dream of being one.
The landing gates are starting point for most of the city tours on boats. The gauge measuring tower is a well known landmark for all who’re looking for a bread roll with fresh fish.
The Schanzenviertel – shrieky quarter specially liked by young people. Hamburgers love to meet in this nightlife district besides the tourist stormed Reeperbahn. Shopping fans will find lovely fashion boutiques and record shops.
The Michel’s (St. Michaelis) tower is worth a separate visit specially for sunset. From a platform beneath the top of the tower you’ll have a gorgeous view over the whole city. Buying a ticket for climbing the “Night-Michel” you’ll get a free drink in a spartanously arranged  “church-lounge” on a lower platform. Not really romantic but warming when the wind blows outside. Just around the corner you’ll get to the “Grossneumarkt” where you’ll find some nice taverns to bring the evening to an end.
If you love apples you’ve already heard of it (at least in Germany) – fruit coming from the “Old Land”. The Old Land is a part of the Elbe-Marsh-Lands in the south of Hamburg. As far as your eyes can see you’ll find apple and other fruit trees directly behind the embankment. Jork, Luehe, Neuenfeld, Cranz and Francop all little hamlets invite for a walk on the dyke and a fish bread roll afterwards. At high tide and nice weather you can watch the large cargo ships on their way to or from Hamburg.
Hamburg – a city, worth a trip. Even in its center you can find rather inexpensive hotel rooms if you don’t bother having a train or bus station, a big street or crossroads in reech. We didn’t feel disturbed because when coming back to the hotel after a whole day walking we fell to bed tired to death. Plan some more money for good meals in restaurants and try to be there before the usual mealtimes because most of the time all seats are occupied. It’s however no problem to get a fish bread roll, a burger or a sandwich on the cheap.
A large part of your budget will be spent for entrance fees. You can avoid it buying a Hamburg Card. If you prefer shopping instead of sightseeing you should buy a groups’ day ticket for about 12 Euros. A group of five may travel around the city until 6 the next morning. That allows you to visit several shopping quarters and to come back to the hotel with the same ticket.

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  • Hamburg

Easter table setting II

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Placed at the side of the Easter table my little chicken hanging in some cherry branches look very nice too. I simply added some Easter eggs and “Cooking Berta” keeps an eye on all of them. The tea light holders remain the same because they’re matching very well with the paper napkins.

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These napkins serve as bunny’s ears. Open it and fold a triangle. Start rolling it up from its tip to the long side. Make a knot with it around an egg and twitch the ends until they look like the ears of a bunny. Write down the guests’ names with a felt-tip pen on it and use it as a place card.

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 “Hi, did you sleep well?”, the chicken seems to ask. Cheekily sitting on a double winded wool cord it dangles its legs over the edge of a tea cup turned upside down.

 

Easter table setting

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The main colors of this Easter table are orange, yellow and light green. Little paper bags were glued in a way that they’re looking like carrots. Take some orange paper or card stock and follow the instructions of my November post. Before closing the carrot glue in a piece of green paper cut in stripes. Marked with the name of your guests they’re lovely place cards. The paper napkins with a tulip print are hold by a pair of bunny ears. At the site of artzy creations I saw them in felt but changed them a bit and chose card stock paper instead. Here’s the free template for download.
The center piece is a large paper mache egg filled with a nice Pomponette (bellis). Further flowers are presented in two ways. One is a yellow large daisy placed in an empty egg sitting in a little boxwood wreath. Small Easter eggs are hanging in some boxwood and buttercup branches. Using some red and yellow food coloring I made the water of the vase match with the table decoration.
Tea light holders placed in tulip muffin wraps offer some glimmering shine to the Easter table.    

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  • Ostertisch/Easter table setting/Décoration de table pascale