cucumber salad with ginger-garlic dressing (and a fall picnic)

This afternoon we went to a nearby apple orchard just north of Providence. We were hoping to be able to pick apples, but they said their season was over - a bit disappointing, especially since so many of the trees there still had apples! They had a harvest festival going on though, so there were lots of families and kids, which was fun to see. And a burlap maze, and pumpkins, lots of mums and fall flowers. We brought a picnic along, so we camped out in the orchard and enjoyed the sun and some good food. I made the barley salad with cherries and pecans (which really is good), and a cucumber salad (recipe below). Philipp made this beautiful apple cake, almost tart-like with raisins and almonds. And we had fresh fruit and good cheese...and the weather could not have been more perfect. A great way to get out of the city and celebrate fall for a bit.

Recipe: Cucumber salad with ginger-garlic dressing

this is another one from Ottolenghi's Plenty - such a good cookbook!

ingredients:

2 large (or 4 small) cucumbers, peeled, cut lengthwise in half, and then sliced thin

1 small red oinion, shaved thin

1 1/2 inch ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, pressed

toasted sesame seeds (about 2 T)

cilantro (about 1/3 cup)

dressing: 2 T rice vinegar, 2 T olive oil, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp sesame oil

Mix the dressing, and put the onions in it to soak for about 1 hour. Peel and cut the cucumbers (I used a mandolin for the onions and cucumbers - makes this salad super fast and easy). Add the garlic and ginger to the onions/dressing, and mix well. Then add everything else and mix everything. Let it sit at least 10 minutes before serving so all the flavors soak in. 

another raw kale salad + a very green frittata

This is me using up more of our great CSA veggies. Simple but delicious. Raw kale, cut into ribbons, tossed with some pea shoots. Toast some walnuts (or pecans), add some cranberries (or cherries) for a little sweetness.

My other recipe did not photograph quite as nicely, but it was delicious and it did make use of three of our CSA vegetables: leeks, squash, and more of the pea shoots. Frittata is one of those great dishes where you can toss in whatever is in the fridge that you need to use up. I had a small piece of white cheddar cheese that got grated in, but Parmesan or Gruyere would be good, too.

I'm not going to write out a "recipe," but here is what I put in it:

very green frittata with caramelized onion, squash and leeks
5 eggs, 1 leek, 1/2 large onion, 2 baby patty-pan squash (could use 1 small zucchini), pea shoots (handful), parsley (1/2 cup), salt and pepper, 1/2 cup cheese (parmesan, or Gruyere, or cheddar)

eggplant, tempeh and sweet potato roasted with maple glaze

This is a recipe from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day, which I have made a few times and really enjoyed each time. I feel like I'm on a race this week to use vegetables - either before they go bad or before we get the next CSA installment (on Thursday already!) and we start drowning in vegetables. It's good. This is the best part of the CSA. You have to try new things, have to cook and eat more vegetables. This felt like a bit of a fall/winter dish, but it was a crisp 60-something degrees outside today, and I had eggplant to cook. :)

I love the colors when chopping everything for this dish. The eggplant is such a beautiful purple color, it always makes me a little sad how it turns brown when it cooks.

ingredients:
1-2 eggplant (I used 2 of these long skinny Chinese eggplant)
8 oz package of tempeh
1 sweet potato
zest of 1 lemon
glaze: mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup maple syrup, some red pepper flakes, and 2-3 cloves pressed garlic (depending on how garlicky you want it...), salt and pepper
garnish: cilantro, plus feta (non-vegan version)

instructions: Preheat oven to 350. Cut the tempeh and sweet potato into 1/2-inch cubes, and the eggplant slightly larger (it cooks faster), about 1-inch cubes. Toss with lemon zest and about 2/3 of the glaze. Roast in the oven about 45-50 minutes, stirring halfway through. When all vegetables are soft, toss with the rest of the glaze and add some cilantro and feta.

This makes a great packed lunch!

This is me playing around on the internet... :)

spicy sweet potato and black bean taco filling (vegan)

Sorry there's a lot going on in this photo. It's the taco filling, with some salsa, pickled onions, and queso fresco on top. Yum yum. I made this filling for taco night as a vegetarian option (also vegan without the cheese on top). You can vary the spice by adding more or less jalapeno and chipotles in adobo. 

how to host a taco party (with pork carnitas and all the fixings...)

Last night we had a couple of friends over for tacos, our first little party in the new place. It was really good food and good company, plus margaritas. No better way to extend summer. :) Tacos are a really fun group/dinner party food, because you can prep almost everything in advance and it's easy to pass stuff around at the table. I had been craving some more good tacos after having some at the Providence Farmer's Market a few weeks back, and going to Isalita (a new restaurant in Ann Arbor) last week. I knew I wanted to make pork carnitas plus a couple kinds of salsa and toppings. This was a lot of firsts for me: first time making carnitas, making pickled onions, first time using tomatillos... But I had really been wanting to do this. Everything was a hit - especially the pineapple salsa. It was a bit of work to put everything together, but the flavors were really good and we have lots of delicious leftovers for the busy week ahead.



Here's the menu:

for the taco fillings:
pork carnitas (recipe below)

vegetarian/vegan option: spicy sweet potatoes and black beans (recipe here)


salsas:
spicy pineapple salsa
guacamole taquero (with tomatillos)
pico de gallo

toppings: 
sliced radish
pickled onion
queso fresco
cilantro
lime

margaritas: blood-orange margaritas (from Smitten Kitchen)

Apfelkuchen mit Mandeldecke - German apple cake with caramelized almond topping

This one is another total winner German cake recipe. I've already posted a rhubarb Kuchen and a Mohnkuchen - poppy seed cake. It was time for a good Apfelkuchen. It's not fall, but really, apple cake is good year round, right? I also figured out a way to make it go quickly cutting the apples on my mandoline. You will probably not believe me that this took 30 minutes, but it is really fast and easy.  This would also be good for Thanksgiving as an alternative to the more traditional apple pie.

Also, I noticed that my posts on German cakes get about 5 times as many views from the internet than my other posts. :) So it seems there is a demand for German recipes in English. Not sure. But I'm taking requests if any silent blog viewers out there have any suggestions...

frohes Neues! happy new year!

I have decided to start the new year off with -- like so many of us -- some new goals and the best of intentions of keeping them. Cooking is one of my true joys in life, bringing balance to my life and making me healthier and happier. So why not start documenting some of the meals worth documenting?

I got several new cookbooks for Christmas and can't wait to cook my way through them. I'm mostly a follow-the-recipe cook, inspired by some of my favorite cookbook authors and bloggers (see the list in the sidebar). I try to incorporate seasonal and local ingredients, and am a member of a CSA, which forces me to eat more vegetables.

Oh, and the name of the blog? Zweites Frühstück. In Germany after your early "first breakfast" there is sometimes a second...what we might call a "mid-morning snack." It's for people who get up early and are so productive they're hungry before lunch. :) I love how some cultures have these other meal traditions...in Germany it's not only the second breakfast but also the mid-afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen, one of my favorite things about that country which has become a second home to me. So aside from the cookbooks I read like novels before bed, and the recipes I find online or from friends, my cooking is also inspired by my time spent abroad and the meals I've had there.

I hope you enjoy!

K.