Yesterday I invited the girls from Broadcaster Servicing @ Infront over to my place for a summer BBQ and one or two Caipirinhas ... was nice to prepare this litte feast:

For the Apéro, I prepared "my" three-layer dip - Guacamole topped with a Salsa-style tomatoes which again are topped with grated cheese:

On the grill we got:
- Ostrich
- Shrimps
- Chicken
- Halloumi-Cheese

Accompanied by:
- Fried Eggplants
- Ceasar Salad
- Baked Tomatoes
- Bellpepper Salad "Salade aux quatre poivrons" as per a recipe of Virginie Besançon - but I only used three colors of bellpeppers :)

It was a great evening with very nice company and good food! Thanks everyone for coming over

Finally a project, which I finished - I renovated some old bamboo chairs, which I got more than a year ago from a fleamarket. Have a look:

From this:

To this - taaaaataaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa - my new balcony look:

... not sure if I should put this recipe under the category "Carpe Diem" or "Carpe Cooking" ...

Cannot remember where I found this recipe, but I would say it is the best one I ever tried for a chocolate cake - as my sister-in-law got it right: it is simply a huge Praliné!

It is so easy to make and ends up almost liquid in the inside. You can not eat too much of it, as it is very filling, but the good thing is that it keeps it the fridge for a couple of days and it just gets better and better ... try this:

Best-ever chocolate cake
200 gr. good quality chocolate (I used one 50%/Cremant and one 75% Cocao chocolates)
200 gr. butter
250 gr. sugar
5 eggs
1 tablespoon flour

1. Line a round 8-inch cake-pan with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate and the butter together in a pan, slowly please
3. Mix in the sugar
4. Let it cool a little bit
5. Add one egg after the other. After each egg, stir well
6. Add the flour
7. Pour the (rather liquid) dough into the pan

Pre-heat the oven at 200°C (400F) and bake the cake for exactly 25 minutes - not longer please, otherwise it may not be liquid in the inside. Be prepared that after taking the cake out of the oven, it goes down again, like a soufflé. Keep it in the fridge for some hours (better: 24 hours) before serving.

 ... so good, it is naughty ...

Hoi zäme - bin wieder da :)

My resolution this year: cook more (again) - blog more (again)
My goal really is to blog a new recipe every two weeks again!

I am going to have guests on Friday night and as this is a normal working day for me, I already start to prepare some things. I just finished the ginger-garlic-peperoncini-paste for the marinade for the curry.

But I also prepared a basil-sirup for the citrus cocktail, which I am going to serve as welcome drink ... I had a sip and must admit - DDDEEELLLIIICCCIIIOOOUUUSSS - and therefore I would like to share it here with you ... it is now standing in the fridge and I hope it is going to survive until Friday ...

Recipe for 6 Pax

Citrus-Basil-Drink 

2/3 cup sugar
4 basil sprigs
the juice of 4 fresh limes
the juice of 1 large fresh lemon
the juice of 1 fresh orange
2 tablespoons frozen raspberries
1 cup gin

- simmer sugar with 1/3 cup water in a saucepan
- stir in Basil and remove from heat
- let steep for approx. 30 minutes
- pour lime juice, lemon juice, orange juice and raspberries into blender - blend
- strain Basil syrup into blender (without Basil leaves, but keep pressing them, so that all the juice comes out
- blend until smooth
- stir in gin - blend for a second

Serve ice-cold.
Divide between 6 glasses, filled with ice. Garnish with basil sprigs.

Any questions - No, just enjoy!

... no writing ...

But I try to be back ... enjoying Summer and life :) ... always cooking a lot, but not posting it. Here I am, with an adapted recipe of my dear friend Andrea:

I call it "Lemony Chicken with Avocado"

Andrea cooked this very refreshing dish on the stove and served it with rice. But as the sun was shining and as I was in the mood for BBQ-ing, I changed the recipe a little bit. The marinade for the chicken is still about the same (or what I remember what Andrea told me)

Marinade (for approx. 400 gr chicken)
Juice of a lemon or one and a half
Zest of a lemon or one and a half
black peper corns and seasalt (crushed)
Cardamon (crush together with peper and corn)
Honey

I marinated the chicken for almost a day. Andrea did for an hour. I think it turns out the same.

Then, I grilled the chicken on the BBQ. In the meantime I cut the avocado in little pieces, put some more lemon over it and a little spark of peperoncino and fresh mint leaves (as it also says in Andrea's recipe) and arranged in on the plate. After the chicken was cooked, I simply put it over the avocado - it is a very simple but highly delicious summer dish.

E N J O Y !

Did not do too much lately ... kept cooking, but without feeling the need to write about it. But I think this is over ow :)

Was invited for a Vongole and Shrimp dinner over at my brother's parents-in-law, who is a Italian-Spanish couple. It was simply fab!

Had to try the shrimps that Loli prepared for me and explained to me how she does them - could not be easier and I just tried and it worked out perfectly and it is done in 5 minutes

The most important thing seems to be that the right pan is being used. As the olive oil is heated up very much, it has to be avoided though that the shrimps are being fried - they simply have to turn pink. Therefore, Loli recommended to use a pan out of clay, she for example does use the Fondue-pan, where Swiss normally make the Cheese-Fondue in. Also, cover the pan, while the shrimps are cooking.

Simply cover the bottom of the pan with olive oil, about 0.5 - 1.0 cm high. Cut a peperoncini or two in it and garlic cloves - depends how spicy you like it. Do this about 2 or 3 hours in advance, so that the olive oil get fragranced.

Heat up the olive oil (it should smoke) but ensure that the garlic does not turn black, otherwise it turns bitter. Throw in the raw shrimps and cover the pan. Turn the shrimps after twice or three times, until they are pink. Sprinkle with a little flour, to thicken the sauce.

That is it - eat with some nice fresh bread and a glass of vino tinto.

Buen provecho!

... I enjoyed four weeks of holiday over X-mas / New Year's - on Monday it is time to go back to work - that is o.k.

I did many things during those weeks, from going to the movies to long walks to visit the various museums in Lucerne and even a guided city-tour in my hometown.

Obviously, I also spent lots of time cooking, though, in the first weeks it was mainly Cheese-Fondue and Raclette, where I tried different cheeses and cheese-mixes from different cheese-manufacturers around this area - just fab :).

Last week I was my own catering supplier for a little party, celebrating my getting older. I cooked a Chilli con Carne and a spicy Indian Curry. I prepared two large casserolles and thought I would have to freeze half of it, but it turned out well enough, that everything was gone at the end (with 15 guests). I was very happy and satisfied about this!

Unfortunately, something happend during my holiday which also made me very sad - I had to put my cat Muscheli to sleep - she was already 18 years old and having the typical symptoms of an old cat - no eating, only drinking and losing half of her weight within the last week. I was hoping to keep her through X-mas, but the vet told me that she would not make it through the week-end. So I had to take the sad decision to let her go (on 21 December 2007).

Das esch för Dech Muscheli-Schätzi! Ech han dech gärn ond d'Stinky vermisst dech au! Ciao

Hoi zäme - another long time no hear ... I was on the road some weeks ago and then working enough that I was not in the mood to do much.

But now, I am off work for four (yes, 4) weeks - I stay more or less at home, but already have a full agenda with meeting friends, going to museums, up the mountains - I can do what I want and enjoy life 150 %.

So, I started last night ... not properly cooking, but enjoying - I prepared a nice "Chäs Plättli met Gschwellti" (cheese plate with potatos) with the following:

Küssnachter Cheese with truffles (the curly looking cheese)
Truffel brie
Bärgchrütter Cheese (with herbs from the Swiss mountains)
Küssnachter Cheese "standard version"
Diavolo Cheese with peperoncini
A nice Italian soft cheese
with a morel-veal terrine
and some mustard-fig-confi and a chillie jam (homemade, bought at the local market)
accompanied by a Spanish Priorat (vino tinto)

This is what I call luxury!

Bes bald :)

Isn't Autumn just wonderful - I love the fog and the breeze and crispy air and in the evening you have a reason to stay home, light some candles, read a book and enjoy a glas of wine ...

But I am doing some cooking too - got some nice fresh mushrooms at the market and created a Ragout with white wine, mustard and some saffron for a nice color.

Pilz-Ragout
cleaned and cut Mushrooms - I took white mushrooms and chanterelles
1 shallot
some garlic
Thyme
Dijon mustard
Saffron
White wine, dry

Prepare the shallot and the garlic and sautée in a pan, add the mushrooms at high heat that they get a little color. Add the wine, boil it up, reduce the heat and add the mustard (as much as you like the taste) and the thyme. Let it simmer until nicely reduced. For the last couple of minutes I added the saffron to give it a brighter color. Voilà.

Eat as a side dish or mix it with some good pasta.

So, I did bake this Marroni Cake (Marroni = Swiss-German for Chestnuts), which turned out very nice (according to a Betty Bossi recipe).

However, I was slightly disappointed as for my taste it was not "chestnutty" and "Vermicelle-like" enough ... anyway, for now there is a nice picture, but I will try to bring it to perfection "in my way" and will then post the recipe here ...