Summer on my balcony: green herbs and colourful edible flowers!

 

Even if I don't have a garden, I never stopped loving having green plants around me. So during the warm moths of the year the balcony at home becomes our ("tiny") garden, thanks to the great care&dedication of Nico. Due to its limited size (1 by 3 meters) its of course nothing big, but I am so happy with our yummy selection of green herbs and colourful flowers.

 

We have been growing and enjoying watching following plants&herbs in the past months:

-> rosmarin and basil (for giving the final touch to Italian dishes and salads);
-> 3 types of peppermint, lemon verbena  and camomile for fresh&delicious teas (or ice-teas depending on the weather);
-> marigold and cornflower for their fantastic colours but also for their healing powers ( for wound-cremes or in teas);
-> sky blue borage and yellow& red nasturtium: for their edible blossoms (the first one has a refreshing cucumber flavour, while the yellow/red/orange flowers of the second surprises one after the first honey touch with its peppery aftertaste);
-> and last but not least my absolutely favourite flowers (my great-grandmother was always having some in her garden): the pansies (in Bulgarian "теменужки");

 

And here today I am sharing also some impressions of how I do use this yummy green treasures while cooking.  Personally I do love to add freshly cut mint leaves to my fruit salad (like in the picture above). I have also put on the top for the salad the edible flowers of borage&nasturtium. The blue borage flowers decorate on the next picture as well my home-made tiramisu desserts! The drying herbs (for teas in the coming winter months) are a lovely&aromatic deco at home too... Hope you have enjoyed my balcony-flower-herbs-tour!

How to (learn to) make your own cacao powder: part 2

 

Thank you so much for the comment on my previous blog entry showing real cacao pods and the fresh beans inside....As a lot of you asked me about the home-made cacao powder, today I would like to show you my final products! After cutting the pods open and letting the beans ferment in the sun and then dry I have followed the following next steps:
- toast them for 20-30 min in the oven;
- then peel them;

 

As I did not end up with too many beans I did use my coffee grinder to grind them and the powder I got was pretty red-light colour...This powder I used then to mix with dried cocos (for 1 min together in the coffee grinder) and created the yummy dessert on the last shot...

My big cacao adventure: or how to (learn to) make your own cacao

 

Beginning of the year I have received an extremely beautiful and colourful surprise. Jojo, the friend living in Reunion island, bought as a present two fresh cacao pods from a local. I was simply speechless, they were in red-yellow nuances: till then I have only seen the cacao pods in yellow, yellow-green or brown, but never red! So at the beginning I did not dare to think of cutting them open....But then the curiosity won over and we first cut one in half!  We were told to try the fresh cocoa beans, which are still covered in the white flesh...The taste is very particular and almost unpleasant but they are supposed to give you a lot of energy.

 

Once we have tried the fresh beans I have decided to follow the classic way of cacao treatment which is:
step 1: cut open and leave the beans ferment in the sun for several days (from 5 days to 1 week);
at the end of this phase the bean is visible and the white "coat" has disappeared;

 

step 2: dry the beans for a bit more longer and then roast them;

step 3: now the beans may be ground to make cacao mass, pure chocolate in rough form;

step 4: you have all you need to make a big cup of hot and yummy chocolate by adding water and sugar/honey!

 
The beans on the left are 1 week in the sun, the two half pods on the right only 1day-see the difference in colour!

 

ENJOY...and don't forget that the cocoa, known also as "food of God", has several positive effects such as anti-stress, anti-depressant, anti-oxidant, brain-stimulator... this is however valid only for the pure cocoa mass and the dark chocolate, the milk chocolate and the other chocolate bars don't have those effects due to the high concentration of sugar and other additives;

 
Even my home pet, the lady bug above, was in love with the smell of the dried cocoa beans:-)

Cuisine and food in Reunion island/ la cuisine de la Reunion

 

Reunion island wont disappoint you when you get hungry! Indeed the island food is simply fantastic. French, Creole, Indian and Chinese influence melts here in one yummy and flavoured with fresh spices gourmet-heaven! Its the first place and time I have heart of salade made out of the heart of a specific palm tree ("la salade de palmiste"): so I gave it a try and it tasted really fresh and yummy. A bit nutty-veggie taste! 

 

For the main dishes one may always choose fish or meat prefered in one of the following sauces: "carry", "rougail" or "massale". All of the three listed include different spices such: cumin, garlic, pimento, ginger, cloves or lime caffire leaves...The second picture shows the dish "rougail sousisse", the way main dishes are always served here: with rice and cooked pulse/legumes.

 

Of course the fresh catch of the day is perfect either as sashimi or on the grill...We have cooked several local veggies: on the picture below I had prepared the famous jackfruit cut in small pieces and cooked (for over 3 hours) in coconut milk and fresh spices. Served with raw-green mango-chutney (here known as "mangue rougail")...

 

Some fresh exotic fruits from the market for breakfast or for sweet-snack during the day....and...

 

...last but not least: some "fondant au chocolat" with mango pulp...no better way to finish a meal after the exhasuting walk to the volcano crater:-))

MERRY CHRISTMAS: Christmas time is baking time....

 

Wishing you all very HAPPY and cozy holidays...with my fruity
Christmas tree I have created myself last night for dessert:-)

 
As usually in december (and may be because of the cold weather outside) I love to open the winter baking season. The German habit of baking the famous "Weihnachtsplätzchen" (cookies for Christmas) and the fantastic smell of  warm cinnamon from the oven are two reason why I always have fun doing it:-)

So this year I did four different kind of cookies:
- the honey-cinnamon balls, family recipe from my mum;
- the cacao-mapple siryp ones
- the hazelnut cantuccini
- the oats-buckwheat-cookies;

After vising USA I was also pretty curious to do some muffins myself at home. So below ou may see the yummy result of my salty pumpkin-chickpeas flour-creation too.

Mirabelles en Lorraine/ Season of mirabelles 2011

 

The symbol of Lorraine in France is a tiny aromatic fruit: la mirabelle. They are kind of plums from which the local make brandy, jams or very delicous cakes...The fruit is very yummy and I enjoyed collecting some mirabelles myself last weekend.

 

Almost at the same time another fruit, the blue plum is also getting ripe-this one is also used for desserts and tarts.

Taste (of) Italy...

May I present you to some deliciously looking, very inviting and yummy smelling Italian "dolci" (sweets in Italian language)...During my first day in Sardinia i found a sweet small pastry shop in Villasimius where everything looked soooo good!

















 
Italians are famous for good cuisine and this I want to stress includes great dessert and amazing pastries! very often one can see some with almonds or with marzipan (specialty from Sicily)...Here you can find some pics of typical Sardinian sweets, the so called "pardulas" (tiny cheese cakes flauvoured with safran, vanille and orange or lemon peel), who just melt in your mouth and make you melt before u put them there:-)