Cold Lithuania Borscht aka the "Pink" Soup!

While living in London from 97 to early 99, I made some great Lithuanian friends Ilona and Mantas! At the end of my stay I was in a bit of a bind and needed some friends and distraction. Ilona and Mantas where there for me and helped me out tremendously.

We've spent the days working, Mantas tattooing his clients, just as he does today at www.mantas-tattoo.com and Ilona as a waitress, while I was still a personal trainer.  The evenings we spent at their Apartment in London, drinking wine, listening to music and eating delicious food. I especially loved Ilona's traditional Lithuanian Borscht!

This dish is fantastic for Summer! And if you love yogurt, cucumber and beets.... the more the better.

Cold Lithuanian Borscht is fantastic for those hot summer days, where your are hungy but you want to keep it light and fresh! A cold "Soup" that can be enjoyed alone or like Ilona served it with roasted rosemary potato wedges! YUM! Ok let's get to it!

You will need:

1 lb of beets cooked finely chopped
(I use cooked beets from the grocery store and I chop them with rubber gloves on, as not to stain my hands for days)
1/3 English Cucumber, diced
3 hard boiled eggs diced
1 small bunch of green onions (about for stems, finely chopped)
1 bunch of dill (finely chopped), keep some twigs for garnish
4 cups buttermilk or kefir
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water

Grab a big salad or other bowl, add the beets, the cup of sour cream, cucumber, eggs and stir carefully. Then add the chopped spring onions, the dill, the buttermilk (or kefir) and the water, stir and  season with salt and pepper to taste. Chill in the fridge until you are ready to eat!

Once your ready serve in bowls and garnish with a slice of cucumber, a dill twig and the half of a hardboiled egg if you have extra!

If you are on Keto Journey, this is a fantastic meal for Summertime!

If not, you can serve it with boiled or oven baked rosemary potatoes! If you don't feel like doing potatoes it's delicious also with a crusty slices of fresh bread!

ENJOY!!

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Classic "ApfelStrudel" or AppleStrudel!

So after a long long time on break, I am finally starting to cook again. We currently have some guest in our spare room that we have been renting out on AirBnb  and they have some European Heritage, I thought I take this opportunity to make a classic ApfelStrudel! We ate Apfelstrudel as kids all the time as my grandma and my aunt were experts in getting the dough really really thin and we just loved it as dessert or main course.

Here is what you need for the dough:
200 g fine flour
125 ml water
1tablespoon oil
sprinkle of salt
flour for dusting
butter, melted to brush on
oil to brush on

I always prepare the dough first and then work on the rest of the ingredients, but that is entirely up to you.

For the filling:
1kg apples, peeled, quartered and sliced in 3 mm pieces
150 g breadcrumbs
150 g sugar
80 g butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla-sugar
2 tablespoons rum (I used Amaretto  this time)
80 g raisins, I don't like them so I left them out

Ok lets start:

On a clean surface, make a mound with your water and create a little indentation, add the oil and the salt and start combining these ingredients with a fork, little by little add the water until everything is combined and you have a smooth dough. Dust your hands with flour and kneed the dough until smooth and no longer sticky. Transfer the dough on a plate, brush with oil and let rest for at least 30 minutes (or as long as it takes you to prepare the remainder of the ingredients.



Now the filling:

In a big bowl, mix the sliced apples with the sugar, cinnamon and the rum, add the raisins if you are using them and set aside for a while. In a small pan, melt the butter and roast your breadcrumbs until they are golden brown, set aside to cool.

Preparing the dough for filling:

Take a large kitchen towel and dust with flour, place the doug in the middle and roll into a square with a rolling pin (dust the rolling pin with flour so the dough doesn't stick to it), roll out as thin as possible, then brush with melted butter and let it rest for 5 minutes, once you are done you can pull the dough thinner by moving your hands underneath the dough with the backs of your hands up and pulling slowly away from the center without getting any wholes in it.

Once the dough is thin enough, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, then add the apple mixture and roll up tightly using the kitchen towel. Tuck under the ends and transfer carefully onto a buttered baking sheet. Be careful to not make any holes.

Brush generously with melted butter and bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 40 minutes. It should be golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar!

Serve hot or cold on its own or with vanilla sauce or icecream!

Bon Apetite!


As a variation, you can use ground almonds or hazelnuts and my aunt used to add a couple of dollops of sour cream!

Mini Lime/Sour Cream Pound Cake with glazed Limes

This is my first try at this little cake and it looks nice doesn't it.... However it came out a little dry. So I'm going to have to perfect the recipe before I publish it..... maybe throw in some coconut too.....

Lime and Coconut should work well together or what do you think? Let me know!

Elsaesser Flammekuche / Tarte Flambee

Flammekuche or Tarte Flambee is a very typical dish in the Alsace region of France. The Alsace is an area that has been going going back and forth of being either the territory of Germany or France. And the dialect of Alsace reflects that strongly, by being a mix of German and French words in one sentence.

While living in Offenburg Germany, we went over to Strassbourg often, which is the main city in Alsace. Food options over there are endless and as there are many vineyards there's also a lot of vine festivals. Flammekuche is often enjoyed with "New Wine" as a snack or just as a nice light meal with some salad and a nice glass of white wine.

To make a traditional Flammekuche you will need

* 215g Flour
* 1/8tbsp Salt
* 2tsp Oil or Lard
* 125ml Water
* 200g Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche
* 200g Onion (sliced in rings)
* 100g Speck (cured/smoked bacon) thin slices cut in stripes

Making the crust

Put the flour on your work surface and make a little well in the middle, then add the salt, oil (or liquid lard) and water int he well and at the same time, using a fork, mix the water, oil and flour. After taht knead the dough so it is soft and silky and not sticky (if it feels sticky add a little flour.

Add Toppings

Separate the dough into two pieces and roll into two very thin rounds (or just roll into one big pie or square for a bigger tarte). Cover the crust generously with the Creme Fraiche (Sour Creme), distribute the thinly sliced onion and then the Speck on top if the Creme Fraiche. Season with some freshly grated black pepper and if you like with some cumin seeds.

Bake

In the very hot oven (preheated to 450 F) bake the Flammekuche until the crust is nice and crispy and the Creme Fraiche is bubbly.

Enjoy!

If you add the cumin, the onions will be easier to digest. Also you can make a sweet version of this as dessert. Just switch out the onion for thinly sliced apples and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.