In so many restaurants they serve herb infused oils, from ramson to basil, with cream or without it. So I decided to give it a try at home. My basil is growing like crazy here in Berlin, so why not make some Basil Infused Oil. Ingredients: Basil Neutral Oil Water The first thing you need to do is blanch the basil. Blanching is to put vegetables, fruits or herbs in boiling water for a little time and then put them on really cold water. Add some hot water to your leaves until the looks soft, and then put the leaves on water with ice. Press the water off the leaves. Use a scale to see how many grams of basil you have left. Add neutral oil to the leaves, about 4 times the amount of blanched basil. Use a mixer until it looks like this. Then let it rest for some hours in your fridge with a lid on. Separate the oil with a sieve. The sieve isn't fine enough to separate all the leaves from the oil so you need to use a cheese cloth to separate the mix even more. Keep on the fridge with a lid. And you can use it to spice up dishes like this 4/5 Scrambled Eggs
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Rarely I travel to NeuKöln. It is quite bike ride from work and even on a taxi it takes me about 35 minutes. But my friend and foodie fellow René (one of the responsibles for Berlin Cooking Club) told me that there is a great place in that district called: Industry Standard and that we should pay it a visit.
Once I got there I was impressed of their scandinavian interior designed, decorated with great chalk drawings on the walls. The "artistic vibe" since you get there is just so Berlin! After a glance to their menu, you can see the french and mediterranean influence.. those duck hearts seemed to be delish, though as it was not possible to get them gluten free, I had to order some other stuff. But the highlight of the evening was "the crab". You can order a whole crab that will be served to be enjoyed and slurped until only the shell is left. It was just heavenly cooked! In this restaurant, you do not order one but several small dishes, 3 of them are enough to get you very satisfied and you can enjoy them with delicious natural and biodynamic wines or cocktails. You need to go to Neuköln because they will keep their promise: We will feed you. What to do when you used egg yolks for dinner and you have egg whites waiting for you in your fridge?. Some days ago, I made Lax Tartare, and I had 4 egg whites waiting for me in the fridge. I call it a 4/5 eggs, because I use only one whole egg for every 4 egg whites :) And normally I made them after carbonara or tartare. Ingredients:
4 Egg whites 1 whole egg 1 shallot 1 tsp butter 1 tbsp cream cheese or crème fraîche Salt & Pepper 2 tbsp Olive oil Herb Infused oil or Olive Oil a handfull chanterelle mushrooms Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and cut the shallots in fine dices. Warm a pan and add some butter on it. Fry the shallots and mushrooms until the mushrooms are soft and the shallots are transparent and add some salt at the end. Beat the eggs, and add salt and pepper. Warm a pan with oil on it and add the egg mix. Stir constantly until they are almost done then add the cream cheese or crème fraîche. Serve with the chanterelle and onions, sprinkle some herbs and add some herb infused oil (recipe coming soon) On my way to the hairdresser, I walked by this small rose color store. I saw a pork butcher chart on the window that looked just like my tattoo, and that caught my attention.
This tiny store is called Fleischhandlung, and it is one of the 3 stores of Baumgart und Braun. Even thoug it isnt a big store like FrischesParadis, you can find loads of things like Iberico pork, Dry Aged Beef, duck, chicken corn, quail, rabbit, Wagyu beef, lamb and more. But they dont just sell meat, they have mustards, barbecue sauces, mayonnaise, chutney, vinegar, oil, spices and fleur de Sel.Eine small selection of French and Italian delicacies such as ham, salami, various oils, vinegars, pâtés, mustard and spices. Check their Facebook Page and go pay them a visit! I got myself some Pata Negra Ham and Goose Foie Gras Scallops... Can wit to make those! First time I visited DUDU was on a trip to Berlin in 2012. My friend Anne took me there because there supposed to be the best maki roll ever. I love Japanese food. Point. I got super excited when I order the Crunchy DUDU Roll: a regular maki roll covered in tempura batter and deep fried. A roll out of this world! After that, every time I was in Berlin i HAD to visit DUDU for this roll. They have a lunch menu that changes everyday. You can sit outside in their private terrace and enjoy the warmth and their asian mood surrounded by big plants while sharing tables with very Berlinesque people. Evenings, it changes to a more dark and cozy mood, with great music and amazing atmosphere. Another highlight at DUDU is their Seafood Bowl, a huge platter full with raw fish, avocado cream, rice and peruvian tomato sauce. As I can't eat gluten, I didn't get the sauce, but I didn't miss it at all. The sauces and fresh fish were good enough to make me feel in vacation mood just by eating it. Torstrasse 134 is just 2 minutes on a bike from my work, and it is hard not to just go there on every lunch break. Now, DUDU has a second location in Charlottenburg called DUDU31 for the people living on the other side of Berlin.
The only sad thing is, that they didn't have gluten free soya sauce, though in DUDU31 they did had some. But it doesn't matter, the great food, ambiance and service makes it up for it. As well as eating with my Foodie Friends Ailine & Helena. I totally recommend to go there if u are in Berlin or just passing by! It has been super hot here in Berlin... It is so hard to even think of food. The only thing that came to my mind was Tartare. My flatmate Pia (she is half Norwegian) was stoked when I told her I found some awesome Norwegian Salmon at FrischesParadis, one of my favorite store in Berlin. We were 4 people eating, including Helena that was in Berlin that day. If you ask me about the amount of fish per person, I would say that the easiest way to calculate the amount of fish you need is to multiply the amount of people by 150 gr. So we all started cutting and chatting in this hot day, while cooling down with some Riesling and enjoying some butter-y salmon Tartare. Ingredients:
600 gr of Fresh Salmon, avoid frozen one for uncooked dishes 4 Eggs 2 shallots or small onions 100 ml Creme Fraiche 1 tbsp chili cream or peruvian Aji Amarillo paste 2 tbsp capers 1 Avocado 1 tsp Olive oil Salt, Peppers and green herbs or clovers Cut the fish carefully on dices about 5mm thick. Put the fish on a bowl and keep it cool. Add some salt and olive oil. Cut the shallots as small as u can and the avocados in very thin slices. Separate the egg yolks, remember you can use the egg whites for breakfast next day. Mix the Crème Fraîche and chili. Now we need to plate it! I like using a ring for it, but you can use a spoon as well. First layer is the avocado. then add the fish over it. The onions and capers can lay on the side as well as the sauce. The egg yolk should lay over the fish. I added some black pepper and a little salt over the yolk and decorated it with edible clovers. Sprinkle some extra olive oil for an extra oomph and ENJOY! |
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June 2021
AuthorsI am Andrea, or as my friends call me, Jinx. I am a foodie living in Berlin, eating my way through life. Here are my recipes, cooking events, dining experiences and more... |