A cake I really loved during my childhood! A marble cake, known as Guglhupf in Austria, tastes delicious and is rather easy to prepare, so you definitely have to go for it. It’s the perfect cake for a nice coffee brake in the afternoon or also for breakfast. Crunchy on the outside, soft inside! Enjoy!

I love pasta in all it’s variations, but recently I’ve become slightly bored cooking the same 5 pasta dishes I always make. Plus the first few days of sunshine have graced us and I was looking to make something nice and light for dinner. That’s when I stumbled across this really easy and delicious pasta dish. Hardly needs any ingredients, hardly takes any time to cook and the results are amazing:

Ingredients

• Linguine
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• 1/4 cup mixed chopped parsley, chives and thyme, plus extra for garnish
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for garnish

Method

1. Cook the pasta in heavily salted water until done. Reserve one cup pasta water and drain.
2. In the meantime, heat butter in large pan over medium heat and fry chicken. Stir for 1-2 minutes until cooked through.
3. Stir in the herbs and the lemon juice.
4. Add pasta and cheese to chicken mixture and toss. Add just enough pasta water to form a light sauce.
5. Divide among plates, garnish with extra herbs and cheese.
6. Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks

Usually I always try to add a few twists and spices but this dish is perfect in its simplicity.

Feel free to vary the pasta and maybe use some cream instead of the pasta water.

There is nothing better for breakfast than fresh, crunchy bread full of delicious healthy grains. Buying organic full grain bread in bakeries or the supermarket can be expensive. Visiting my parents some weeks ago my mother showed me how to prepare your own bread. And it’s really simple, fast and cheap. Plus: If you have the main ingredients at home on storage, you can bake your own fresh bread any time you want.

Ingredients

• 500 g spelt flour (wholemeal)
• 150 g grains, e.g. pumpkin seed, flax seed, sunflower seed, …
• 500 ml water
• yeast (either 1 yeast cube or 1 package of dried yeast)
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Method

1. Mix the ingredients in the above order to a dough.
2. Take a loaf pan covered with baking paper and put the dough in it.
3. Put the pan into the cold oven on a rack on middle height and turn the oven to 200° Celsius.
4. Bake the bread for 1 hour, then let it cool.

Tips & Tricks

By using different seeds or adding buttermilk you will get different flavours. If you put in buttermilk than reduce the water you are adding accordingly. You can also use spices like caraway to add a special taste. Be creative!

If you want to make a really delicious but simple desert, you have to try the cookies & cream parfait. It’s creamy and the highlight of every meal you share with family or friends. And the best of all: You can prepare it in advance and keep it in the fridge until needed. As it is a rather heavy desert I recommend it for wintertime, especially around Christmas.

Ingredients

• 500 ml whipping cream (low fat), cold
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 450 g all natural Belgian chocolate pudding, divided use
• 24 all natural chocolate-vanilla sandwich cookies, crushed into chunky consistency
• 30 g square semi-sweet chocolate, to shave for garnish

Serves 6

Method

1. Whip the cold cream in a bowl using a hand-held mixer. Sprinkle in the sugar and finish whipping when the cold cream starts to set.
2.  Take another bowl and add 2 cups of the chocolate pudding (reserving the remaining pudding) and add the whipped cream by gently folding in to keep a fluffy and light consistency. Once all whipped cream is incorporated, set aside and prepare the glasses.
3. Add crushed cookies to the bottom of each glass (about 3 tablespoons), next a layer of chocolate pudding (about 3 tablespoons), and then a layer of the “chocolate mousse” (about 3 tablespoons). Repeat this process again for each glass, finally finishing with a sprinkling of crushed cookies and a decorative dollop of “chocolate mousse”.
4. Garnish by shaving a little of the semi-sweet chocolate square with a vegetable peeler over the top of each glass; refrigerate until ready to serve, or serve immediately.

Tips & Tricks

You can use a ready-made pudding, which makes the recipe even easier. For variation you can also use vanilla pudding or use different cookies. There is no limit to good taste!

As I am a really big fan of sweets I love baking them myself. And I love trying out new recipies – especially those including chocolate and fruits. For a dinner with friends I was looking for a new delicious desert to bring as gift, and this is what I made.  If you are still hesitating, if this will be the right choice for you: Everyone of our friends loved the tarte and it didn’t survive one single day.

Excursions to Ikea can be tiresome, tedious and potentially expensive when you fall for their clever marketing setup. There is however a silver lining to every shopping trip to the furniture supermarket: Köttbullar – the little Swedish meatballs in a creamy sauce served with Lingoberry jam. And while the deep frozen variety from the supermarket is decent, making these yourself is quick and delicious. Inspired by a recent shopping trip here is our version of Köttbullar:

There are few vegetables that I truly like, leek happens to be one of them. Unfortunately I don’t know many dishes that call for leek as a prime ingredient so I went on the hunt for a main dish that would change that. The result is a wonderful creamy chicken recipe. Enjoy:

The first cold weekend crept up faster than I would have expected and while I’m generally no fan of winter there are some positive sides to the season. Cozy cuddly days on the couch and a warm plate of soup is one of them.  So I used the opportunity to cook up a large steaming pot of Minestrone. Minestrone is Italian in origin and literally translated means “big soup”. As with many Italian dishes there is a multitude of ways to cook it and all of them are correct. From green to red minestrone, with pasta or rice, the variations are endless. Here is mine:

Ingredients

• 3 large carrots
• a celery stick
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 large potatoes
• 2 large onions
• a large zuchini
• a can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbs tomato puree
• vegetable stock

Method

1. Chop the vegetables in small chunky pieces and glaze in a large pot with a little olive oil or butter.
2. Stir in the tomato puree and then add the vegetable stock. Bring to boil and stirring occasionally. Cook until the vegetables are soft (roughly 15 minutes depending on chunk size)
3. Season to taste with salt an pepper.
4. Eat hot and steaming!

Tips & Tricks

You can basically use any vegetables you like in this soup and it will still taste great.

I always use a little wine to the deglaze the vegetables

Serve with fresh homemade bread for a full fledged meal..

A sandwich can be a plain and simple affair or it can be a piece of art. In the best case it is both and delicious as well. Inspired by a great sandwich we had at the Venice Ale House we set about to recreate a holiday feeling and spoil ourselves a little:

Ingredients

• 50 gram Camembert cheese
• 2 thick slices of white bread
• 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce
• 1 grilled chicken breast

Method

1. Pound the chicken, season with salt and pepper, and cook in a pan with a little butter or oil.
2. Spread the bread with the cranberry sauce and place the thinly sliced chicken on top.
3. Add the Camembert and bake open faced in the oven for a couple of minutes untill the cheese is melted and the bread slightly crispy.
4. Eat hot and steaming!

Tips & Tricks

Choose any bread you like but a ciabatta or foccaia work best (ideally homemade).

Brie is a great alternative to Camembert, but any soft runny cheese will work fine.

If cranberry isn’t your thing, try a few slices of pear and a tablespoon of honey instead.

For the unhealthy version fry the sandwich with a little butter in a pan until golden brown.

Tom Kha Gai is a soup made of chicken (Gai) cooked (Tom) in coconut milk and spiced, among others, with galangal (Kha), lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. It’s quick, easy and delicious and therefore ranks as one of my favourite dishes for a quick dinner during the week. Added bonus it’s light enough for even the hottest summer nights and it will impress the hell out of your friends, so let’s get started:

Ingredients

• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 2 cups of coconut milk
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts diced into bite sized bits
• 1 cup of (straw) mushrooms
• 1 whole stalk of lemongrass
• 1 to 5 Thai chili, depending on how much heat you can take
• 4-5 fresh kaffir lime leaves
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced galangal
• fish sauce
• lime juice
• fresh cilantro leaves

Method

1. Prepare the kaffir lime leaves by removing their stems, the lemongrass stalk by cutting it in half lengthwise and diagonally and the chilis by cutting them in small thin slices.
2. In a pot mix the coconut milk, chicken stock, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and galangal slices. Gently raise the heat and bring to simmer, stiring occasionally. You don’t want the mix to boil.
3. Add Mushrooms and chicken. Stir gently until chicken is evenly cooked.
4. Once the chicken is through add the chilies and remove the pot from the heat.
5. Season to taste with fish souce and lime juice.
6. Garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy!

Tips & Tricks

You can also use white button, cremini, oyster, or any other “fleshy” mushroom. Do not use shitake mushrooms for this recipe!

Feel free to remove the lemongrass stalks and kaffir leaves bevore serving.

I found that adding anything else to this recipe spoils it, even small things like salt or pepper.

You can use ginger instead of galang, but only if you are not cooking for any Thai people, as there is a difference between the two.

Tom Kha Gai is sometimes spelled Tom Kha Kai, both are correct.