gaumenperlen tasting event no4:
new compositions

Last sunday the 4th gaumenperlen tasting event took place. Thank´s again to the very nice group of guests, it was a pleasure to have you in my kitchen!

The last year´s favourites voted by the guests was - concerning the jellies - again the orange jelly with cranberries and orange peel slices. Good things last:-)

But also the new compositions made out of fresh dates seemed to taste very well. The tasting glasses were nearly empty after the event, that is a secure sign, that something was loved by the guests. One new composition was a dates creme with oranges and cinamon, the other one a date chutney with apple, hot red chillies, a little bit of gralic, onions and ginger.

The 3rd new "gaumenperle" is a transparent jelly out of ginger, green tee and star anis. Refined with black pepper, orange zests and a breeze of lemon. This jelly is a nice entourage for fresh dark bred like the "pfister holzofen" as well as for seafood or salmon.

Another "new" gaumenperlen product, better called a re-composition, seems to be a universal culinary topic at the moment: hibiscus flowers in sirup. A single flower being put in a glass of champagne with a dash of sirup looks very bright and gives the sparkling wine an extra little taste of freshness on top. Because the products you cnb buy are very sweet, I tried to cook the flowers in a very very light sugar sirup. Therefore the taste of the sirup does not degrade but accompany the champagne.

The moment I like most within the tasting events is the one when all the guests are absorbed into their personal tasting at the same time. Then there is this quite minute of pure concentration and pleasure in all faces at the same time.

dolce vita ahoi • monika ebert • mobile minds

Istanbul:
City of fractures, miracle and rush


Istanbul has become one of my favourite city over the last days: Its geografical position, its architecture, its cultural fractures, its fabulous atmosphere with all the rush and different cultural influences; its mysticism, its melancholia as well as its joy of living and beeing in the moment.
Though my trip was star-crossend concerning the weather (very cold and rainy) the city fanned out its whole fascination within very intense moments created by people, situations, architecture, places, culture and last but not least: FOOD!
You can eat a lot of trash in Istanbul as a tourist. But if you you ask people for recommendations you can easily enter a new world of taste. Sometimes European, sometimes Arabian, sometimes Asian and often a great creative mixture of all that. Even fast food can be very delicious in Istanbul if you know the right places to go - be it the fresh grilled fish sandwiches at the Galata Bridge Market or the simple white beans in tomato sauce, the calssic dish "Kuru Fasulye" in one of the restaurants near the Süleymaniye-Mosque and the most wonderful tea-garden of Istanbul.

Gaumenperlen autumn session:

Plum chutney

This summer ended suddenly after a very short rainy period with low temperature. The arrival of autumn this year was so quick, that it felt like the blow out sound of a bottle of champaign being opened: Plopp! Summer game over. The light, the colours, the smell in the air, the whole season seemed to ha have changed over night.

I love autumn, even if I am a summer type deep down in my heart. There are many reasons for this love and one surely is that autumn is the time of harvest.

Plums are one of my most beloved autumn fruits. Their taste between sweet and a bit of sour, their complementary inside and outside colour, the smell of fresh plum cake or a plum butter right out of the oven, all theses culinary highlights are connected with plums in my mind and on my tongue.

Last year I invented a plum chutney which was on of the favourites of my friends at the first gaumenperlen tasting. I refined it carefully a few days ago.

The most important thing for this chutney is time: you have to cook it down very very slowly.

It´s a wonderful thing to eat with strong cheese, beef or even a fine smoked beef ham.

Green flat bean salad with lemon and

fresh mint

Today morning I had to create a few salads. Requirements were: easy to prepare, summer flavour, good besides fresh grilled lamb filet.

I tried a few things and immediately nominated this one for winner.

Green flat beans are very fine vegetables to eat with lamb. There are many ways to prepare them - be it softly steamed with seasalt, oliveoil and summer savory or a bit stronger with dried tomatoes onions and a bit of garlic.

The following variation with lemon and mint is more fresh, tastes like summer and is served cold as salad. It can be easily prepared the day before you have a barbecue.

The ingredients

- fresh flat beans

- one organic lemon

- one mild white onion

- 2 tea spoons of honey, the best to use in here is a greek thyme honey

- crunched black pepper

- mild white vinegar

- strong green olive oil, I used a wonderful dark green greek one from Crete

- crunched sea salt

- fresh crunched black pepper

- a bunch of very fine sliced fresh mint

- a bowl of icy water with ice cubes

Spring leek chutney

... with dried plums, garlic and red hot chili peppers

Yesterday I cooked a new kind of chutney, or let me call it "hot vegetable stuff".

It is a strong sweet-sour-hot-combination to use with grilled meat, rice or potatoes.

You can prepare it very easily and preserve it as well.

The ingredients

1 kilo leek

5 cloves of garlic

8 small red hot chili peppers without pits

500gr of dried soft plums, cut into little pieces

1/2 liter freshly squeezed orange juice

1/4 liter of good white wine (strong and deep one is fine)

crashed sea salt

crashed black pepper

5 spoons of balsamico

olive oil

How to cook it

Heat the oliveoil with the small sliced garlic and chili pieces quickly and add the small cut leek as well. Let it roast gently for 10 minutes and stir it. Add the crashed sea-salt and the black

pepper and deglaze it with the white wine. Put the lid on turn the heat down and steam it very slowly. After 10 minutes add the fresh orange juice and the balsamico and the dried soft plums. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

The chutney has to be cooked very slowly for round about 30 minutes all in all. Fill the hot vegetable chutney into presreving glasses and close the lids immediately. Or serve it freshly made and lukewarm with grilled meat or sausages.

dolce vita ahoi • monika ebert • mobile minds

Chicory salad with sesame chicken and

lemon balm

Spring has just arrived very slowly in Berlin. The temperatures are still low, the wind is icy. But the a few warmer sunrays anticipate the upcoming spring season.

The time is right to eat more fresh things and to get body and soul in shape. A very nice fresh vegetable of this season, which can be eaten either hot or cold as salad, is chicory.

The slight bitter taste is a good basis to add fresh components like lemon or to combine with white meat and warm flavours like sesame or nuts.

Preparing the salad

Cut the end off the chicory so that you get single leaves. Wash them carefully with lukewarm water and let them dry. Arrange the chicory leaves starlike on a plate.

Preparing the sesame chicken

Cut a fine organic chicken brest into little pieces, as well as a spring onion and a little bit of ginger. Roast this ingredients carefully and slowly in a pan with a tablespoon of sesame oil. Season it with sea salt, white pepper, add a small glass of fruity white wine and a dash of lime, furthermore three table spoons of sesame mush. Then stir it and cover it with a lid to keep it warm. If you like it more spicy, you can roast the chicken with a red chili and add more lime juice in the end.

Afterwards roast three tablespoons of sesame seed in a pan without oil until it is light brown.

Cut a bunch of fresh lemon balm and rape a little carrot into rough pieces.

Preparing the dish

Put the lukewarm chicken on the chicory. Add the roasted sesame and decorate it with a huge amount of the cut lemon balm and the raped fresh carrot.

Spring

Spring season is always overwhelmed with expectations. In Berlin suddenly everbody wears dark sunglasses and walks hectically around in town. People often look like they were pierced by a big bee. But the best way to start this wonderful season is to accustom your body slowly and step by step to the faster mode of life. No matter if you wear sunglasses or not:-)

.....Mmmmmmmmmmarcolini

Lately I had some Pierre Marcolini chocolates from Brussels for desert, a gift from a very dear friend of mine. Delicious!!!!! And even the package design is extraordinary. Looking at his website he showed up as a real maniac in his business. Chocolates are presented like holy items in his store. If you have ever tasted them you know why. These refined aromas in the inner chocolate cream are unbelievable. The natural flavours vary from orange-thyme to earl grey or flowery nuances. If you ever visit Brussels, dont´miss this taste!

dolce vita ahoi • monika ebert • mobile minds