Recipes

The Glühwii

I received this recipe from my dear friend Diana and it is now my go-to mulled wine recipe (Glühwii is Swiss for Glühwein, which is the German word for mulled wine). It is full of flavours and makes your home smell like your personal, cozy Christmas market. Enjoy!
*Picture courtesy of standard.co.uk. To be replaced with my own soon!
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Ingredients
  

  • 3 bottles Red wine I found Primitivo di Manduria to be perfect for it. Otherwise Pinot Noir should be good for it as well.
  • 200 g Sugar If you like it very sweet, make it 250g
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 7 cloves
  • 6 pieces star anise
  • pinch ground nutmeg
  • 2 oranges
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 apple

Instructions
 

  • Peel the oranges and lemon (make sure to get mostly the rind, but as little of the white part as possible). Cut the flesh of one orange into slices ( just flesh, none of the skin). Slice the apple, with the skin.
  • Put everything in a pot and warm it up for 15 minutes (do not boil it). Then let it rest for one hour.
  • Warm it again for 15 min, again without letting it boil. Ready!

The Christmas Soup

This is a variation of a traditional Czech Christmas Soup. Usually they make a fish broth for Christmas, which I find a bit weird (I can handle a chopped chicken floating around in a pot, but somehow not a chopped fish head). But this is a creamy version, with extra tanginess from the Sauerkraut, I absolutely love. It is an adapted version of a recipe given to me by a Czech mother, who put her heart and soul into cooking. All her good tasted like someone giving your stomach a huge hug — I hope you will enjoy this recipe. 🙂
*picture courtesy of resh.iprima.cz (I need to take a picture this Christmas 🙂 )
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Ingredients
  

  • 500 g Sauerkraut, drained, rinsed
  • 5 Potatoes, cut into small cubes
  • 200 g Dried Mushrooms ("Steinpilze"), chopped
  • 1 Large onion, chopped finely
  • 200 g Mushrooms, chopped
  • 250 g Salmon
  • 250 g Scallops
  • 250 g Other white fish
  • 1 l buillon
  • 2 cups Heavy cream
  • 5 tbsp Butter
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 4 pieces All spice
  • 1 tbsp Parsley
  • 4 pieces Pepper

Instructions
 

  • Cook everything except the fish and cream slowly, about one hour.
  • After one hour, In a small frying pan, melt butter about 4 tablespoons, and add sliced scallops, sauté only briefly, because it is easy to overcook it and then it becomes gummy. If you can’t get scallops, any mild fish or fish inards will do, just chop small pieces and sauté it in the butter briefly, adding ground pepper and then add to the soup.
  • Remove the bay leaf and the all spice as you find them. Bring the whole pot to boil, and slowly add cream while stirring, cook 1 minute and pull off the heat. You can use evaporated milk instead of cream, less fatty and less chance that it would curdle.
  • Season with ground pepper and salt if needed. The soup is best made ahead even few hours, so that the flavors can develop. 

The Pancakes

Wholesome, healthy pancakes, naturally sweet. I originally found these at Brunch & Cake in Barcelona and then went for a recipe hunt to incorporate them into our brunch regulars. I found a recipe over at Lorraine Elliott's page, which comes pretty close. Apparently her recipe is adapted from this one at Pinch and Swirl…so the recipe has been evolving and you can try different versions and pick which one you like best. 😉 Sadly Brunch & Cake stopped making these, otherwise I would tell you to take the next [flight/train/car/bus/Lime] and go there immediately to try their delicious version.
I only made minor adaptations.
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 2 hrs

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup milk I use coconut milk. Buttermilk also works like a charm.
  • 1/2 cup ricotta You can substitute greek yoghurt or quark.
  • 2 medium ripe bananas You can use one, but I enjoy the banana taste.
  • 3-5 Medjool dates *see note below
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 pack vanilla sugar or Vanilla aroma, if you prefer not to add any sugar.

Instructions
 

  • Put all the good stuff in a blender and blend, blend, blend until beautiful and smooth
  • Now comes the tricky part. You want the pancakes to be brown but not too brown, cooked, but not too cooked. I have made these on a small pan, large pan, and one with mini pancake holes. The latter one was by far the easiest to not overcook things. I have made them on a regular stove and induction stove and nearly burned them on both. On both I first melted either butter or coconut oil on slightly higher than medium heat, before adding the batter, then covered with a top, reduced the heat to medium, and let it cook for a few minutes until the top is somewhat solid. If you wait too long to flip them, they will be very dark.
  • Now, here is the deal: you MUST cover them with tons of fruit and granola. It just makes them extra awesome. The great thing is, even if you didn't manage to flip them before they turn a bit too dark (like me many times), if you cover them with all sorts of toppings, nobody will notice! As long as you didn't let them get charcoil black, they will just taste a bit more toasty. I usually take a big spoon of yoghurt, put it in the middle of the pancake, drizzle with honey, and cover in fruit and granola, leaving just a bit of yoghurt to show in the middle (as you can see in the above picture). If you make many small ones, you can put a bit of yoghurt in between each piece, as below. Mangos, berries, apples all work super well.

Notes

Look at this beauty, so nice and covered in toppings. Do as I say and I do and cover them, too!
I’ve tried making them on these pans, all works. The batter will be pretty thick, so even if you have a big pan, you can put some badder in the middle and ladle on more batter on top, so that it doesn’t cover the full pan. I love the small ones most though. 
*Note on Medjool dates
Because I know you might ask: no, it won’t be the same if you subsitute with normal dates. If you want to add a caramelly sweetness to your pancakes, find yourself some medjool dates. Otherwise leave them out (I made them without for years, before I discovered this was the secret ingredient of the pancakes at Brunch & Cake!).

The Banana Bread

I made many, many, many banana breads in my life and after many, many, many years of recipe trials, I almost gave up on them. They were usually too sweet, too banana-y, too fluffy, too meh. But THEN I came across a key ingredient that changed the banana-game entirely: Medjool dates. They add a caramel-ly density to the banana bread that is simply amazing. So, ladies and gents, I present you the queen of banana breads. It is boyfriend approved. If you want a healthy, sugar-free, sweet, moist, dense, beautiful banana bread, this is it.
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Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 1 hr

Ingredients
  

  • 200 g Medjool Dates
  • 2 very ripe bananas + 1 for the top (optional) the more ripe, the sweeter the bread. Too yellow, let alone green bananas are a no-go.
  • 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten
  • 3/4 cup coconut flour you can use coconut flakes and shred them
  • 1/4 cup ground oats or porridge. I use this porridge: https://www.mueller.de/p/bio-primo-porridge-fruechte-830895/
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour I use rye, but other whole wheat will do
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 250 ml plain yoghurt Buttermilk works as well
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
  • 1/3 cup coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter You want the good kind, without the added sugars. Pure peanuts!
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
  • pinch salt

Instructions
 

  • Place the dates into a bowl with the buttermilk and let them soak for 10ish minutes
  • Get two of the bananas and a bowl…
  • …and have some fun mashing them until they look like this.
  • Next, add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
  • Process the dates with the milk and peanut butter in a blender until smooth (until there are no more visible chunks of dates).
  • Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and coconut oil. Use a hand mixer on low spead until the coconut oil is well incorporated. Then add the milk and banana mixtures and continue mixing for a few minutes.
  • Now preheat the oven to 180°C.
  • Transfer the batter to a pan (coat the pan with cooking spray or coconut oil before). Then slice the remaining banana in half and place it on top.
  • If you like, sprinkle the chopped nuts around the bananas. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes, while the oven is heating up.
  • Bake for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover with foil (so it does not get too dark) and bake another 40-50 minutes. It will be a bit hard to tell when it is ready, the first times I made it, I undercooked it. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, but the bread is quite moist either way and needs to cool down completely before eating it. It is actually best when it had time to cool in the fridge overnight.

Notes

Look at this beauty.
Now go and slap some peanut butter on it and make it even more beautiful. 
 
Mjam! Enjoy!

The Swedish Fisksoppa

My version of a Swedish Fisksoppa, which I originally found in a restaurant in Lund called Malmstens Fisk & Kök. It is a delicious fusion of a Bouillabaisse and Curry. Read the story of how I found this soup here.
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Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 40 mins
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 300 g salmon
  • 200 g scallops I really love scallops in it, but if you don't have it or it's too expensive, you can also add a boneless white fish of your choice, like cod.
  • 200 g shrimp
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 large green onion
  • 2 red peppers
  • 4 tomatoes
  • 1 cup white wine e.g. Chardonnay
  • 3 cups fish stock I use 2 cubes of Knorr's Caldo de Marisco boullion to make the stock. Make sure to use something of good quality, as this will make a big difference in the taste of the soup.
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1 tsp saffron make sure to get the real stuff – no powder!
  • 1 tsp Herbes de Provence
  • 1 tsp chilli spice add more, if you like it spicier
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • pinch of lemon juice

Instructions
 

  • Sautée onion and green onion in oil until golden.
  • Add peppers and garlic, sautée.
  • Add tomatoes, saffron, curry, chilli, and herbes de provence, mix well.
  • Add wine and let simmer a bit until it is reduced, then add the fish stock and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Use a blender to purée the soup a bit at this point – it should still have chunks in it, so just use a few pulses.
  • Add the coconut milk, a bit of lemon juice and the fish/seafood and let it simmer another 15-20 minutes.

Notes

Best served with fresh warm bread and butter — in Switzerland, Migros sells a vegan coconut butter, which is amazing with this soup, but normal butter will do as well. 
I have never made my own fish stock, but find the Knorr version to be perfectly sufficient. In Switzerland, you cannot find this in the regular stores though (sadly). I usually buy it, when I am in Spain. However, I recently found it on Galaxus. 

The Salmorejo

An amazing Andalusian cold soup, which will bring summer and sun feeling right to your home. Top it with eggs, Jamón and crackers, and it can be a main dish, since it is quite filling. Read the story of how I found this soup here.
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 15 mins

Ingredients
  

  • 1 baguette should be 1 day old
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 10 medium tomatoes
  • 1/2 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 hardboiled egg
  • ham best Spanish Jamón Ibérico or Serrano

Instructions
 

  • Start by washing your tomatoes and cutting small crosses into the skin, which will make it easier to peel later on.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, place the tomatoes inside for around 50 seconds. Then, remove them, and place in a cold water bath.
  • After the water bath, it should be easy to peel the tomatoes. Cut out the cores, removing all the seeds and place them in a blender.
  • Blend them for about 20-30 seconds, until there are no more chunks.
  • Take all of the "inside" of the baguette (no crust) and add them to the blended tomatoes. How much you add will strongly depend on your taste, I usually add all, which gives about 2-3 cups. Let the bread soak in the tomato juice for about 5 minutes.
  • Add the vinegar, pinch of salt, and garlic and blend until there are no more chunks and the texture is smooth. It might take a few minutes.
  • Now comes the fun part! Add the oil, little by little. Either by opening the small hole on top, if your blender has that, or by stopping and adding 1/4 at a time.
  • You should see the color of your soup changing from a beigish-orange to a brighter, beautiful orange.
  • And it should be pretty thick.
  • Now you need to be VERY patient, because this absolutely needs to be eaten cold. Put it in the fridge for at least one hour.
    To serve: place in a bowl with 1 chopped, hardboiled egg and sliced ham. Cry with delight and solomny vow to make it on a regular basis.