Oven Inspirations

Hi Y'all!

It might take quite some while, but at least my parents seem to slowly find back to some kind of normalcy. Not regarding COVID (but that's similar, I guess), but regarding the flooding. The damaged and dirty furniture is removed, the power box renewed, the new kitchen ordered, and both look more optimistic into the future than three weeks before. And I would like the solidarity, the willingness to help and the team spirit which the people showed during those difficult times to stay as long as possible.

Here at our river Elbe we had no heavy rainfalls but the last few weeks didn't feel like summer. Dresses and flats without nylons are okay, but if you ask me, I could do with some higher temperatures. But according to the two furry fellows who are snoring right and left of me the weather is perfectly fine for them. 

And with temperatures like that I was in the mood to heat up the oven. Please enjoy another glimpse into our kitchen...

I may have mentioned it before, that I try to structure my week a bit. On Mondays or Tuesdays I do the ironing (cause I do laundry on Fridays), then I have water Wednesday - that means I water all my plants (otherwise they either drown or die of drought) and on Fridays after house cleaning (which is done by a helpling, thank goodness) I do the laundry, because then I can add all the dirty cleaning rags, and in the afternoon I do the grocery shopping. You might imagine that my energy to cook is on a rather low level after that. Therefore something quick and easy is in order. Sometimes that means delivery hero, sometimes I just pull a ready made dough out of my hat like a rabbit. With some sour cream, diced bacon and onion it's a classical tarte flambee. But you could top it with camembert or goat cheese and sprinkle it with mountain cranberries after baking, which is also delicious. And in case you have to impress: Try smoked salmon and arugula!

Tex-mex cuisine is always a good option, although I have to admit, that there is always room for authentic improvement... Anyway, I had some leftover minced beef which I fried in a pan together with onions, garlic, tomato paste and cumin and all the spices I deemed appropriate. Of course that called for corn and kidney beans, which I also added to the mix. Instead of tortillas I took ready-made whole grain wraps (sometimes you simply have to keep it simple, right?), filled the meat into that wrap and folded little packages. Put them into an oven pan, added some sour cream and shredded cheese. Bake and enjoy!

Once the oven is heated let's continue with dessert. Red currants are not my favorite type of fruit because they are sourish by nature. But if you cleverly combine them that sourness is exactly what makes it interesting. Thus I prepared a dough with yoghurt and hid the currants under crumble. In order to portion and freeze them, I made muffins instead of a whole cake: 

Some of them are sleeping beauties in my freezer right now, but if I need a sugar rush they are defrosted in no time! 

And last but not least I tested a tangerine cake with sour cream. It had some kind of shortcrust as base, and on top of that came a home-made vanilla pudding. To be honest: up to that day I only used the pre-mixed powder which comes in the little blue paper bags. But generally it only takes milk, sugar, vanilla and starch - it's as simple as that. As I didn't have vanilla, I grated some tonka bean, which had an almondy taste and that fitted quite well. The freshly cooked pudding was mixed with loads of sour cream and then spread on the cake base. On top I added canned, drained tangerines and baked it. 

Sorry, I should have covered the cake at the end of the baking process... Once it was cooled, I used the tangerine liquid to make a glaze which I carefully spooned on the cake. 

According to the recipe the cake had to stay in the fridge overnight, but after a morning the glaze was perfect, as you can see in the pic below. 

You guys, that's it for now. Next time, I plan to show some insights from my sewing room...

Have a good time!