créme fraiche
Piquant radish soup with cream and without potato
Radish soup sounds for lots of people like something was eaten by the have-nots in the 19th century. This thought crossed my mind in my kitchen halfway through making this Piquant Radish Soup with Crème Fraîche on the top!
When I’ve found this recipe in a French magazin I immediately realized that there’s nothing particularly unusual in this radish soup: radish, some onion and horseradish, plus the cream and crème fraiche for garnish. Then they’re cooked briefly in butter, covered water and simmered before being pureed in the food processor. Though there was one unusual thing which drew my attention: the matter of the color! However I usually try not to judge a dish just by the way it looks, but rather than turning out a lovely shade of pink. But yes you are right the color was a bit weird! Like my pink tutu when I was a ballet dancer! But inspite of this fact my family wasn’t horrify of it and ate the soup with ravenous appetite!
And what about the theory of eating the radish in cold? It has proved false this time. I don’t know why but I felt that eating the radish just in cold sounded a bit sad. Like something your grandparents had to eat kohlrabi during the depression! Still, I was eager to try the recipe because for me radish soup seemed like just the kind of unique and on the top of that radishes are plentiful with nearly every vendor at the farmers market here in Münich. And though I’ve already roasted radishes and used them all varieties of salads, I haven’t tried them yet in liquid form. So it was high time! And what did make this soup really delicious, it was the mirin-Japanese vinegar!
Ingredients, serves for 6
1 lb. radishes, halved (3 cups)
1 medium white onion chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
⅛ tsp. white pepper
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish sauce
2 tablespoons crème fraîche, plus more for garnish, optional
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
200 ml cream, 3 tablespoons of mirin or rice vinegar or white wine
Directions:
1. Clean and shred radishes. Chop onion. Place into a bowl and flavour with salt and pepper and pour over 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Stir it well.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and radishes and cook for 3 minutes, or until translucent. Flavour with white pepper and pour over 3 and 1/2 cups (750 ml) water or bouillon. Add mirin or white wine to it. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, 15-20 minutes.
4. Remove soup from heat, stir in horseradish, and purée in food processor in batches until smooth. Add cream, and purée until combined. Season with salt if desired. Serve garnished with radish, greens, and crème fraîche (if using).
Young and full with energy!
Have you ever tried spinach with figs and ginger flavored chicken? Or kohlrabi with salmon?
My spring “talent show” begins with spinach, kohlrabi, young baby carrot and sugar peas…The spring star recipes are full of surprises! You won’t be disappointed, I promise!
Quiche with sugar peas, basil and mint
Ingredients: 100 g butter, 375 g flour, salt, 500 g sugar peas, 150 gr onion, 50 g bacon, 50 g sun dried tomato without oil, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 bunch of basil, 1 bunch of mint, 5 eggs, 150 gr créme fraiche, 150 ml milk, pepper, nutmeg, 30 g pine nuts
Directions: Preheat oven to 400 F (200 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with foil.
Mix butter with flour a pinch of salt and 150 ml water. Make a batter then put aside for 30 minutes. Clean the sugar peas, cook for two minutes in boiling water. Chop onion, cut bacon and tomato. Heat oil in a pan and sauté bacon with onion garlic and tomato. Mix in the half of the basil and mint.
Roll dough and place into a springform. Whisk milk and créme fraiche in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in eggs. Salt and pepper to taste and flavor it with nutmeg as well. Layer bacon mixture with the sugar peas. Pour over egg mixture and finally toss the pine nuts on the top.
Place quiche on prepared cookie sheet. Cover quiche with foil.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour (200 grades). After 40 minutes cover with tinfoil. Remove foil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until top is golden brown and the filling is set. Bestrew with chopped fresh basil and mint leaves.
Carrot in an ahorn syrup butter with pork cutlet
Ingredients: 2 toasts, 35 gr pecan or walnut, 90 gr butter, salt, 1 big apple, 1 tbs sugar, 1 tbs lemon juice, 50 ml apple juice, 3 tbs horse radish creme, 650 gr carrots, 4 pork filets, (180 gr per person) pepper, 4 tbs oil, 4 tbs ahorn syrup, 3-4 sprig of thyme
Kohlrabi with herbs and salmons
Ingredients: 1 bunch of leek, 1 bunch of dill, 1 bunch of watercress, 850 gr kohlrabi, 4 salmon filets, salt, 75 ml fishfond, 2-3 tbs of horseradish, (fresh), 2 tbs of mustard, (with seeds) 40 gr butter rose pepper
Directions:Chop finely the leek, the fresh dill and watercress. Peel kohlrabi and cut the slices into very thin strips (julienne) and season with salt to soften the kohlrabi.
Add mustard seeds to butter, add to kohlrabi and cook in 5 tablespoons of water for 10 minutes.
Ingredients: 50 gr ginger, 50 gr butter, 4 chicken filets, 250 gr red onion, 225 ml prune wine, salt, 1,2 kg spinach, 75 gr stewed figs, 2 tbs honey, pepper, 2 tbs spice mixture, 15 g sesam, 1 tbs bio lime wedges
Directions: Peel ginger, and grate. Add it to 25 grams of butter flavor with honey. Mix ingredients well.
Chop onion. Salt it and place into a bowl. Pour over prune wine and let onion soak.
Wash and clean young, fresh spinach. Cook for 2 minutes in salty water. Meanwhile chop figs. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil and when it is hot, add the figs. Pour over chicken stock and cook until stock is nearly completely reduced, about 2 minutes. Add the spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted, about 2 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper (if necessary).
Salt and pepper chicken then rub in the gingery butter and honey mixture. Put chicken into preheated oven and cook on 220 grades for 20 minutes. Melt remained butter then flavoured with the five spices add spinach and figs and sauté for 6 minutes. Toss sesam seeds and lime zest. Serve chicken with spinach and onion.
Cabbage with Emmental cheese on brown bread bed (I couldn’t resist to display this picture. It was taken in a wild animal park and the goat ate a cabbage so the whole situation expressed very well a Hungarian saying: Set the goat to keep the cabbage! It corresponds to the English: set the fox to keep the geese)
Ingredients: 550 g cabbage, salt, pepper, 150 gr chalotte, ½ tbs of carraway seeds, 1 tbs butter, 150 g sour cream, nutmeg, 50 g emmentaler, 4 big slices of brown bread, 4 slices of bacon, 4 tbs chives, radish
Toast the breads, place sour cream and cabbage mixture on top of each toasts, place bacons and grill them until bacon slices will be crispy. Serve toast with fresh radish and chopped chives.
spajzgirl 