thepassionatecook

Huevos a la mexicana

Oh, the joys of a Mexican breakfast! I must say, I do enjoy breakfast full stop, a weekend breakfast, that is. Not that I could stomach anything on a work day, which would mean digesting before 9 am... no way! Too busy waking myself up!
Now, you should think that while I lived in Mexico, I should have had plenty of time to breakfast ... and judging by the fact that I gained a whopping 25 kg in less than 6 months, I probably did. In hindsight, I supersized myself way more than Morgan Spurlock could ever imagine ;-).
They really know how to breakfast down there, no croissant and jam nonsense there, a full and hearty breakfast is required to face the hardships of a working day (never mind that I didn't do any real work there). So think eggs (fried sunny-side up, scrambled, poached, you name it), a slab of red meat if you do do manual work or can afford the luxury of a personal trainer, and the omni-present and much-loved frijoles (black refried beans with onions and a sprinkle of cheese). Of course all this is accompanied not only by your (maize) tortillas, which the pros use very much as a replacement for cutlery, freshly squeezed juices and a whole load of fresh fruit, mostly mango, pineapple and papaya, the two latter sprinkled with lime juice and dried chilli.
The way you prepare your eggs is a matter of personal preference and, having tried them all, I can assure you you won't get bored. The quickest and easiest to prepare in your own kitchen are probably "huevos a la mexicana" (Mexican eggs), Mexican in the culinary field being a common denominator for anything containing something red, something green and something (even if only remotely) white - like the national flag.
Let me confess here and now that I do not prepare my frijoles from scratch - they can be delicious, but if you're lucky enough to find the black variety here, the dried beans we get are older than my granny and will never, ever, go soft, not in a million years. Not to mention the hassle of cooking them for hours on your stove with grey foam invariably burning into the pristine white enamel of your stove. (I rent, remember?). I can very well live with frijoles refritos en lata (canned refried beans) - I used to import them from Austria through a company called Casa México, but have now found a London supplier: Mestizo is a new (real) Mexican restaurant near Euston Station (expect a review soon) and they sell all the staple foods at the premises as well... chile, tortillas, pre-made sauces incl. mole - a great find, as they happen to be round the corner from where I work... (Mexican) bliss!

Iron Chef

Since I haven't done much cooking of late, there's not much to post on... except to say that I've had the most wonderful time back home (despite the weather) and even managed to source a great variety of sausages which I will post about soon - taking the opportunity to thank Angelika in Vienna for sending me a parcel with the latest Austrian foodie magazines and a supply of dry-cured sausages to remind me of my duties ;-)
While I was out and about, the newest edition of Iron Chef has kicked off on the foodnetwork in the US. In an attempt to promote the series virally, they have created a number of amusing videos with ideas for making food more interesting - not that we foodbloggers need any inspiration in this field, but the clips are quite funny... the yodeling catfish is very dear to my heart, for obvious reasons, but the clam castagnettes, pizza darts and coconut bowling are quite funny too ;-)
You can even send in your own video clips should you feel like it...

Holidaying in Austria

This is just a quick word to say that the current radio silence is due to the fact that I am on vacation in the Austrian Alps... so for once, I am having other people cook for me and I am making every effort not to take pictures of the food either!!! Expect me back at the end of the month, I'll see if I can sneak some eggs in, timely for Jeanne's EoMEoTE!

Elderflower syrup

When I was a child, we weren't allowed any soft drinks - on rare occasions, when we had visitors, my Mum would buy some apple and orange juice and the only time when we had fizzy drinks was when we went to a restaurant. And we didn't have any Ribena either... instead, home-made cordial, or syrup, was the word! My parents used to grow large quantities of red currants in their vegetable garden and once a year, our backs sunburnt and our fingers bright red from picking kilos of these tiny jewels, they would set out to make tons of jam as well as a supply of syrup that would last for the whole year to come. My Mum cut right down on the sugar, which made it a very refreshing drink to have, but not really my favourite thing.
When we went to my granny or my great aunt, though, we always chose to drink elderflower syrup. I am not too keen on elderberries, but the syrup you make out of the flowers is so deliciously fruity, yet refreshing, it's hard to beat. Although I usually prefer flat to fizzy water, elderflower is great with sparkling - it really makes the "bouquet" stand out much more.
And since I am already borrowing wine jargon, let me confess that I love to add some of this syrup to a glass of champagne... the perfect aperitif, and certainly a favourite of mine for the summer... forget Pimm's, Buck's Fizz or Kir Royal, champagne with elderflower syrup really plays in a different league!
(Quite obviously, anything promoting the consumption of alcohol should be followed by some health advice: so here it goes: apparently, elderflower syrup contains loads of vitamin C, so prepare a tankful of it - it'll keep your immune system ready to fight the winter, not matter what the temperatures!)

Wiener Schnitzel for Dummies

For the longest time I thought it was futile to write about the most Austrian of Austrian dishes... or what is commonly perceived to be an Austrian dish, as it apparently originates in Milan. I guess we're just very good at spotting talent and hyping it enough for everybody to believe we invented it - as is the case with goulash, apple strudel and many other dishes! Last weekend, though, when I was making these yummy breaded escalopes, it dawned on me that there are many things to say about the Schnitzel... and seeing that so many get it wrong, here's the dummies' guide to our beloved Wiener:

1) Yes, that's right. For us, a Wiener is an escalope, not a sausage. We call the sausages Frankfurters.
2) Let not the Germans fool you: a Wiener Schnitzel is NEVER to be served with, let alone in sauce.
3) You want your Schnitzel crispy and crunchy. No soggy shoe sole swimming in a pool of ready-made sauce mix.
4) The thickness of the escalope is a matter of personal preference. After a heated argument over our very first Schnitzels when we had just moved in together, I convinced my (now) husband that thin is beautiful. He's now a devoted Schnitzel flattener and evenly batters them down to no more than 3 mm.
5) If you're a fan of the breadcrumb-coating (my brother used to eat the crust first, before devouring his escalope "naked"), you can make it thicker by either double-coating them or omitting the milk from the egg-mix or, like for tempura, using potato flour instead of plain flour.
6) When it comes to eating your Schnitzel, never, ever make the mistake of asking for ketchup with your Schnitzel. Here's where even my daughter gets it wrong - and you think things of this importance would be in our DNA...
7) The only condiments allowed near a Schnitzel are lemon juice (to sparingly drizzle over - you want it to cut through the grease, but don't allow the breading to go soggy) and cranberry compote. If you want to avoid dropping pips on your meat, wrap the lemon in gauze for a "safety net"...
8) There's only one exception to the condiment rule: the Schnitzelsemmel! (see top picture). This Austrian version of a hamburger (some even eat it with ketchup and mayo, although I prefer my version with fresh tomato, mustard, salad and pickled chilli) is perfect for taking leftover Schnitzel to work the following day - and a great hang-over cure, too!
9) And finally, but most importantly: No matter how much (stingy) people might insist that you can make escalopes from pork, make no mistake: only a veal Schnitzel is a real Schnitzel!

we're fine

Although I really don't have the stomach to post right now, I can see by the many emails I have received from you that many are worried - and I just wanted to say that we're all well in London, even though a bit traumatised by today's terror attacks. This also applies for Jeanne, the CookSister!, whose blog I know many of you follow. Let's hope we've seen the last of it and life will soon return to normal.

Euro-foodbloggers unite at the Henley Royal Regatta

(Fltr: Christina of Thorngrove Table, Anne of Anne's Food, yours truly the passionate cook, and the organisers of this wonderful event, Andrew of Spittoon and Jeanne, the CookSister!)
It's only our second meeting, and already we have converted the UK foodblogging event into a Euro-foodblogging event - the first meeting had already had quite an international atmosphere, with all but two foodbloggers originating from outside the UK (Australia via Ireland, Austria, Japan, Philippines and South Africa), but this time round, I actually convinced Anne, a fellow blogger from Stockholm, to spend her last weekend as a spinster on British territory. And since we've started this tradition, any other foodbloggers on the continent or indeed, elsewhere in this world, let us know if you're interested in joining the next event, to be announced soon!

If you've never been to events like Royal Ascot, Wimbledon, or the Royal Regatta at Henley, you don't know what you're missing... even if you're not invited to the Leander Club, which allows you to not only enjoy a sit-down lunch, but also to get incredibly close to the rowers' changing rooms - and those men in lycra never fail to attract!), Henley really is an institution - and a quintessentially British one, more importantly. Fancy dresses, funny hats and men's dinner jackets in incredibly bright colours (if you intend to join a rowing team, make sure the club's colours are flattering, there is some quite strange combinations out there) prevail and so do sipping Pimms or champagne and a riverside picnic. What is most impressive, though, is that it is such a civilised event, drawing a most pleasant crowd and serving up an inimitable atmosphere.
Naturally, with five food/wine bloggers amongst us, our spread attracted the most attention and I swear we could have earned a lot of money selling our delicacies there had we not been too greedy... we started out with gorgeously refreshing bellinis (choice of strawberry, passion fruit and, my personal favourite, white peach) provided by Andrew, accompanied by some duck foie gras and truffle mousse on crackers which Christina had brought along (actually all the way from Bahrain). We also nibbled on some of my salmon roly-polies and seemed to give the crudites and dips a miss, obviously overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of the home-made food laid out on our blankets.
Anne had brought some herring and knaeckebrod from Sweden, Jeanne's masterpieces were the already quite famous pecorino & peppadew muffins and a feta & butternutsquash quiche, her friend Anthony provided a fantastic mackerel pate and Christina chipped in some dessert in the form of chilli-chocolate creams.
After ruining a most delicious chocolate & cherry cake by deciding to remove the stones before throwing them on, which made the cake far too moist and undercooked at the bottom, I feared it being photographed by everybody, thus publicly embarrassing me and putting an abrupt end to my foodblogging career... so it stayed home. But I did manage to bring the afore-mentioned salmon & cream cheese roly-polies and a round bread (pain cirque) stuffed with pastrami, watercress and a sauce of gherkins, capers, parsley, mayo and mustard - somehow a combination using the concept of my fig & parma ham muffuletta using the filling previously featured in my pastrami bagels.
I also made a bacon & asparagus quiche (see picture above and recipe below) which I had seen my friend Martina prepare the other day (although hers looked much prettier) and an Austrian speciality which celebrated its absolute height in the 70s, I believe: Jaegerwecken (read Jägerwecken) is a thick baguette, stuffed with ham, cheese, gherkins, parsley, cream cheese and boiled eggs, all chopped up. It seems to have come out of fashion a bit, but it's back high up on my list, as it's the perfect picnic food - stuff the night before, wrap in foil and slice on demand... make sure you bring a bread knife, though. I forgot mine and Andrew's managed to dig a hole into the plastic bag he was carrying and fell out somewhere between the Stewart's enclosure and Remenham Farm... so I ended up cutting 30 slices with a minuscule Swiss Army knife, which wasn't exactly an easy task!