My first successful poached egg

One of my favourite meals

This is super simple and takes no time!

Salad with lots of herbs - parsley, chives, coriander, dill and chervil - and radishes

Pork chops rubbed with crushed fennel seeds and sea salt (inspired by a recipe on Jamie Oliver's website, that I can no longer find)

My own Ottolenghi cooking

Orange polenta cake, Ottolenghi 'The Cookbook', page 195

Lemon and goat's cheese ravioli, Yotam Ottolenghi 'Plenty', page 250

Okra with tomato, lemon and coriander, Yotam Ottolenghi 'Plenty', page 179
Marinated rack of lamb with coriander and honey, Ottolenghi 'The Cookbook', page 104

Dinner for my book club - Cook da Books

Saffron ravioli with lemon, salmon and ricotta filling

Roast beef with 3 sauces
(smoky tomato sauce, rocket and horseradish sauce, watercress and mustard sauce)

Cherry tomato, fennel and crumble gratin

Caramel and macademia cheesecake

Saffron ravioli with lemon, salmon and ricotta filling

Roast beef with 3 sauces
(smoky tomato sauce, rocket and horseradish sauce, watercress and mustard sauce)
Ottolenghi, The Cookbook, p. 110/111

Cherry tomato, fennel and crumble gratin
Ottolenghi, The Cookbook, p. 53

 

Caramel and macademia cheesecake
Ottolenghi, The Cookbook, p. 199

Cécile's Birthday Dinner

Strawberry-Champagne-Cocktail

Crostini with Tuna and Avocado

Tomato-Consommé with Zucchini Flower

Fillet of Beef Wrapped in Parma Ham

with Carrots, Spinach and Peas

Eton Mess with Strawberries

 

Making a strawberry-peppermint purée for Champagne Cocktail (Jamie Oliver, Natürlich Jamie, p. 209)

Making tomato consommé...

Tomato-Consommé with Zucchini Flower (Jamie Oliver, Natürlich Jamie, p. 229 and Der Silberlöffel, p. 580)

Fillet of Beef Wrapped in Parma Ham (Jamie Oliver, Kochen für Freunde, p. 219 and p. 186)

London food and flower markets (Columbia Flower Market, Broadway Market)

London shop windows and vitrines (Bethnal Green and Hackney)

Birthday cakes

I don't really have a sweet tooth and desserts aren't my priority but I love decorating birthday cakes!

Dinner in Frankfurt

Dinner started off with 'Handkäs mit Musik'. I remembered my dad eating this cheese when I was a kid and I hated it! But nowadays I love cheese so much I need to try it all and luckily I did - it was amazing! 'mit Musik' means with raw onion (use your imagination as to why...). The bread was the same we used to eat as kids on holiday in the Austrian countryside so it brought back lots of happy memories. Along with the cheese, onions and bread we drank very good 'Ebbelwoi'. Luckily I tucked in - the main course was less appealing...

'Schlachtplatte mit Kraut und Grüner Sauce' - a huge plate with a mountain of sausage, meat and cow's tongue in all shades of grey, pale pink and red - need I say more?
I love meat and Kraut and sausage and all that (I small part of me might be Bavarian) but this was a bit too much.

Last but not least the man with the bread came. I'd never heard of this before that someone goes around restaurants late in the evening and sells breads.

Breakfast at Raoul's Cafe (Talbot Road, London)

 

Amazing Acai Juice!

 Delicious Eggs Benedict with both spinach and ham - what a way to start the day!

Eggs Florentine with Bechamel sauce and parmesan...

Ottolenghi!

I just came back from a weekend in London where I finally went to Ottolenghi. I was introduced to his cook books a few months ago and I've obsessively been cooking his recipes since.