Battle 17 – Bro: COOKIES

I’m sorry, but I am not a cookie baker. JE SAIS PAS FAIRE DES BISCUITS! It’s been a week that I have been trying to create cookies, and let’s be honest, let’s see my kitchen as it is; no cookies are being baked there, not by myself…

ALORS QUOI!? I feel like Roger Federer in front of Rafael Nadal in a French Open Final, I feel like the English football team in a world cup tournament. I feel like Benjamin Netanyahu visiting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I feel like “it won’t work”!

Frustrated, I sit on a stool, open a beer, and listen to the loud Crystal Antlers. It’s all I would recommend to Roger, David, Benjamin or Mahmoud. It won’t work, that’s it, punkt schluss. And if Federer proves me wrong by pulling the famous silver cup over his head in two weeks, I promise to get back to you with my own cookies recipe!

However, until then and for beginner cookie makers like me, I could recommend Pierre Hermé’s chocolate cookies, a recipe that you can find on the blog la tartine gourmande. They are easy and delicious. Or this old recipe for Danish almond cookies, that my girlfriend stole to her mother, who herself had stolen it to her mother, who we don’t know if she created it or stole it from somebody. But this secret is as secret as the Lisbeth Salander 1991 säpo secret report, and I won’t allow myself to openly write it here…

So I let you with my sister’s cookies, who’s Florentines are absolutely outstanding. After she sent a box of those to me during my military service, half of the division wished to marry her! And if Swiss army is good at something, it might be at cookie tasting… Enjoy, and please pardon me…

Battle 17 - Sis: ALPINE COOKIES

In between "Nusstorte" and "Florentins", those walnut cookies are nice for coffee/tea time, listening to the British songwriter Polly Scattergood... 

Alpine cookies

Ingredients for 20 small squared cookies

For the cookies dough:

- 210 g flour

- 85 g powdered sugar

- 25 g almonds

- 1 egg

- 125 g butter

For the caramel-walnut topping:

- 100 g walnuts

- 3 cl water

- 55 g sugar

- 1,25 dl cream

- 25 g honey

- 30 g butter

1. One day before, prepare the dough (500g in total): Mix well the butter until soft. Then add one by one the egg, the powdered sugar, the almond powder and finally the flour. Mix very well and keep the dough in fridge.

2. Take 100g (out of 500g) of dough. Roll the dough to about 2mm thick and place it on a squared baking pan. Place it in the oven at 180 degrees for 12 minutes until slightly golden.

3. Prepare the Walnut topping. Combine in a pan the water and sugar and prepare a sirup. Then, add the cream, honey and butter. Cook it on medium-high heat until obtaining a thick and brown caramel. Mix well that caramel with walnuts and top the baked dough.

4. Place in oven again, and bake the cookies at 230 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

5. Let the cookies cool completely.

6. Cut them in small squares.

P.S: Use the rest of the dough for baking tartlets for instance. You can keep the dough at least 2 weeks in fridge.

Open battle: SUMMER SALAD

Dear Kitchen Fighters,

Incredible! The fiftieth and fifty-first cook just joined the coolest Facebook kitchen; let’s celebrate it with an open battle!

The theme that we would like to propose you is SUMMER SALAD! 

Send us your craziest, greatest, and most delicious recipe by the 31st of May, including an image of it and the music tip that boost your imagination! 

We look forward to publishing on the blog recipes from all over the world!

Until then, let your kitchen rock, and enjoy sunny spring days!

Send your recipe, image and music link to:

kitchenbattle@gmail.com

Battle 16 - Sis: TOMATO CUBES

When it come to aperitif, I'm always in ;-)  Around here there are more than 500 wineries and aperitif with white wine is more than a tradition! From 17h on, villages' bistrots are getting full of people gathering to have a glass of white wine as an afterwork. 

To fit to white wine, I prepared those "sérac (kind of fresh cheese)-tomato cubes" picks, a fresh and healthy snack!

Tomato cubes

Ingredients for 2 persons

4 tomatoes

basilico

thyme

1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp vinegar

0.5 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

3 sheets of gelatine

1. Boil the tomatoes 3 minutes. Cool them down and peel them.

2. Put in a pan the tomatoes with olive oil, vinegar, basilico, thym and sugar. Cook them for about 30 minutes on medium heat until, you get a concentrated tomato sauce. Mix finely this sauce.

3. Filter the sauce and put again in the pan. Warm it slightly and put the 3 sheets of gelatine, until they are completely melted.

4. Let the mix cool down in a small squared baking pan and put it in fridge during 3-4 hours.

5. Once the mix is solid, cut small tomato squares.

6. Put them on tooth picks in association with serac, mozarella or other fresh vegetables..

Next battle topic: cookies !!!

Battle 17 – Bro: ELECTRO APERO

Aaaaaaah! L’apéro! It kind of means appetizer but simply sounds much better… Apéro, something that, we, Swiss, are good at! A little drink, with a little something to eat, around 12ish, or around 6ish, one hour before attacking a real meal… Typically, there in the Alps, it consists of a glass of white wine, with some cheese, a few slices of dry meat, and a piece of rye bread… Maybe the best apero, but, in Copenhagen, away from any view on the mountains, things must be done differently. For apero, you’d more have a beer or a cocktail, while listening to electro music!

So, why not, after all, trying this package: kind of a martini-gin with an apero-stick, listening to Giana Factory, a Danish pretty band, playing a cool electro-pop-rock music.

2 Cocktails:

- 2 shots of Gin
- 1 dl of Dry Vermouth
- The juice of a lemon
- Eventually a teaspoon of brown sugar (not for me, maybe for her!)
- Ice cubes

Throw all this in a shaker, shake it, poor it with style in two glasses!

2 Apero-Sticks:

- 2 cherry tomatoes
- 2 olives
- 1 slice of bacon (cut in two)
- 2 cubes of mozzarella, or eventually goat cheese
- Oregano

In a pan, cook the tomatoes in a bit of olive oil and salt during 8 minutes.
Roast the two half slices of bacon (not too much), and pack a cube of mozzarella and a bit of oregano within each of them. Finish roasting the bacon, which will also warm the cheese a bit.

On bamboo sticks, pick a tomato (confite), then an olive, and a bacon-mozzarella cube.

Serve the sticks with the cocktail, and keep on shaking your head in rhythm with the subwoofer!

Battle 15 - Sis: CARACHOCO SPREAD

I bet dear brother that you could eat a whole jar "à la petite cuillère" ;-) Imagine your home made danish bread, just out of oven, still a bit warm...and you spread this Chocolate-Caramel on it..it's melting...mmhhhh...

CaraChoco Spread

Ingredients for 3 small jars

Caramel sauce:

- 40g sugar

- 8cl cream

- 30g butter

- a pinch of salt

Chocolate spread:

- 120g dark chocolate (70%cocoa)

- 200g condensed milk

- 120g butter

1. Prepare the caramel sauce. Melt on medium heat the 40g sugar until light brown. Add the cream and mix well. Finally, out of fie, add the butter, mix it till well melted. Let cool down.

2. Prepare the chocolate spread. Melt on very low heat the dark chocolate, the add the condensed milk. Finally, add the butter and mix well.

3. Combine the caramel sauce with the chocolate spread and fill in 3 small jars (sterilised in hot water).

Battle 15 – Bro: DANISH HABITUS

I had difficulties finding a funny idea for this battle turning around food that can be eaten between bigger meals… However, I realised how much these snacks could be culturally interesting!

The French would define it as a “goûter” (tasting) expressing their frustration about the reduced size of that meal; the Swiss-French would call it a “quatre heure” (“a 4pm”) respecting their love for precise timing, and an hour later the British would probably say “tea-time”, thinking of their traditional way of drinking tea, eating small cakes and talking politely with Aunt Petunia about the Queen’s new robes…

But what about the Danes? The Danes have a habit of eating the weirdest snacks! The most popular of them is, believe it or not, hotdog and chocolate milk!!! You get this package for a good price around every street corner…

Celebrating this fragment of Danish habitus, eating a sausage and drinking “Cocio”, I would like to push forward the absolutely outstanding image of this brand that proposes chocolate milk in the coolest glass bottles. The old Cocio logo, the fantastic match of colours, the shape of the bottle, is fascinating! I would definitely classify a Cocio bottle as a great example of Danish design, I love it, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!

Conclusion: the Danes are maybe not best at fine food, but they save the situation with their amazing sense of style.

More about Cocio here, more about Denmark there. Bon appétit!

Next battle theme: Apéro!

Battle 14 – Bro: A KIND OF COQ AU VIN

It happens that I feel the need of tasting an old tradition, something that grandmas would find normal, but that today became more extraordinary than sushi. This old-school way of cooking, I’m afraid, slowly disappears… It’s a shame! How would life be without tripe, tongues, and boudin? Boring! So let’s save our grandmas’ recipes, let’s sometimes cook stuff during hours!

At my grandma’s home, wine had a central place. It came in many sauces, in many dishes, and it always was on the table. Rarely fancy, this wine was a day-to-day wine that helped people go through life. And this is the wine I’d like to live with as well… A good glass of wine that makes you happy, that makes your dinner even better, the true and simple way of drinking wine. High or low the price of the bottle can be, drinking wine should remain a humble, simple, pleasure! Ok, ok, long story made short, I propose you to try this easy version of coq au vin…

Coq au vin, ingredients for 2 persons:

-600g of chicken in pieces, with bones and skin (could also be legs)
- 2-3 dl of red wine
- 1 carrot, in slices
- 2 branches of celery
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 branches of thyme
- 100g of bacon dies
- 1-2 slices of old bread cut in dies
- 1 pear cut in dies

Some hours before cooking your chicken, marinate it in the wine, add the carrot, the celery, the clove of garlic cut in 4 and the cloves.

Take the chicken pieces out of the wine, and roast them in a pot before adding the wine again (including everything that was in) plus the bay leaves and the thyme. Let it cook slowly during 1 hour. Add a little wine if it gets too dry.

Grill or roast the dies of bread in order to make them crusty.

Roast the bacon and add it in the pot 5 minutes before serving.

Add the pear in the pot 1 minute before serving. Adjust salt and pepper at that time.

Top the chicken and its sauce with bread dies when dressing the plates.

Serve it with seasonal vegetables (for example fresh green peas at the moment), a piece of a good fresh bread to dip in the sauce, and of course, a glass of red wine! Santé!

And if you are looking for even more melancholy, try the beautiful songs of Paul O’Reilly…

Battle 14 - Sis: VITELOTTE POTATO PUREE

Have you heard already of Vitelotte? This is a type of potato, an old species actually which has been replanted a few years ago... The funny thing about it is that it is naturally...purple!!! 

My grandma used to prepare her home-made potato purée, always with the "Rôti" brown sauce, topping it;-) I loved it so much and was always asking for a second serve ;-)

Vitelotte Potato Purée

Ingredients for 2 persons

300g Vitelotte potatoes, peeled

milk

butter

rosmarino

salt from Guérande (a French region)

1. Boil the potatoes for 30-40 min, until very soft. 

2. Mash them finely in a bowl, add the butter and milk.

3. Finally, spice it with salt from Guérande and chunks of rosmarino.

Serve it with an overcooked meat, such as "Ragoût" or "rôti", with the brown sauce...

And to be totally in the old time atmosphere, you have to listen to this or that. Grandma used to be a big fan ;-)

Next battle: Jam, Nutella, Honey&Co: Goûters Gourmands...

Battle 13 – Bro: QUICKEST HOMEMADE BREAD

Finally, here is the chance to share the recipe I always use to prepare homemade bread! It is not mine, and I won’t tell you where it comes from. But it is incredibly simple, and it gives good results. It is something that you can do just before going to bed in 3 minutes, and the bread will be ready to be placed in the oven in the morning when you get up…

Ingredients for breakfast bread for 2 persons (approximate, your instinct will help!):

- 3 dl of water (not too cold)
- 10g of fresh yeast
- White flour
- Other flour
- Seeds you like, olives, whatever you fancy
- Salt

In a big bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water, and add 2-3 tablespoons of salt. Add some white flour while mixing with a spoon. Stop adding white flour when the mix is still liquid. Start adding other flours and seeds (anything you like, so that the bread doesn’t stay too white) keep on mixing with a spoon. The mix should never get too hard, you should just be able to mix it with a spoon only (it’s the goal of this quick recipe). As soon as you reach this “limit” consistency, your bread is ready! Cover the bowl with transparent film, and put it in the fridge over night.

Bake it as you like, small breads, or larger flat breads. For example, just place big spoons of the mix beside each other on baking paper. Eventually top them with seeds, or salt, etc… Turn on the oven (200°C), you can already put your breads in the cold oven. If you do 2 rounds, you can of course also start the 2nd round in the warm oven.

As soon as the tops of the breads take colour, they should be ready. (Just apply the old trick to knock-knock them. If they sound empty, they are ready!)

It’s not easy to describe this process that is in itself approximate… But try it! In reality, it’s simple, and your instinct will guide you correctly! It could become something you’ll do with closed eyes three times a week!

Finally, early morning, while baking bread, why not listening to the smooth Mélanie Pain (…)?

Theme for next battle: “IN GRANDMA’S POT”

Battle 13 - Sis: CRANBERRIES & PECAN BREAD

This is my favourite snack when I am going hiking. With a good cheese from Valais and white wine like a dry Amigne from R. Papilloud, in Vétroz Switzerland, it can make a nice aperitif in the wineyards... You can of course change the dried fruits and nuts you want to put in the "farmer bread", at your own convenience and taste! 

Cranberries and Pecan Nuts Bread

Ingredients for a 400g bread

250g flour 

1dl milk

8cl water

10g yeast

0,5 tsp salt

50g pecan nuts

100g dried cranberries

1. Melt the yeast in the mix water-milk.

2. Combine flour and salt, add the mix water-milk-yeast and mix well.

3. Finally add the pecan nuts and cranberries. Knead well.

4. Let raise till the bread doubles size. Then put it on a prepared baking sheet.

5. Put in the cold oven and heat it at 220°c.

5. Bake for about 35-45 minutes in total.

6. To check if it's ready, you can knock knock on the bottom of bread. If well baked, it sounds "empty".

I am undoubtly going to prepare that pic-nic for tomorrow's big event in the Swiss Alps: the final of Cow Fights! The cows we have in our area are called cows from Hérens, and they are very musculous and impressive but also the kindest animals at same time. So, I won't come up with any music today but with that short movie !

Battle 12 – Bro: FISH LIKE IN THE SOUTH

I must admit that I never was a huge fan of fish. But, when barbecue's season arrives, I always dream of South, and grilled fish… Between the age of 9 and 15, it even was the only way of eating fish that I actually liked… Grilled fish, with an olive oil-lemon sauce… Try it! And while cooking and tasting, take a trip to Lisbon by clicking here!

Fish like in the south, ingredients for 2 persons:

For the fish:
- 2 fishes (some with white meat like mackerels or sea-breams)
- 2 handfuls of vegetable dies (for example a mix of tomato, pepper fruit and celery. Use the rest for a salad!)
- A tablespoon of olive oil.
- Thyme

Mix the dies with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Stuff the fishes with this mix, and oil a bit their skin with the back of the spoon, eventually close the fishes with a toothpick. Grill them on both sides, enough to make the skin crusty.

For the sauce:
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- The juice of a lemon
Whip the olive oil, the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Just before serving, try to make it light as an emulsion!

Serve this sauce on the hot grilled fishes, close your eyes, and listen to the see my friend! Ahaha!

How is life is the sun ???

Battle 12 - Sis: XINJIANG LAMB

What a perfect theme you launched dear brother ;-) The whole week-end was warm and sunny, perfect time to do the first bbq of 2009! We prepared some lamb picks, a specialty from Xinjiang Province in China. It was accompanied with freshly picked letuce and herbs salad..

Can you imagine the nice dinner we had on small green lake side?!

Xinjiang Lamb 

Ingredients for 2 persons

300g fat lamb meat, cut in small pieces 

oriental mix of spice (like "couscous" spice mix or "ras el hanout" or "Xinjiang" mix or Garam Masala instead)

salt

picks

freshly picked letuce

fresh herbs (basilico, chive, mint,..)

radishes

oil

vinegar

1. Prepare the salad and salad sauce (I guess no explanation is needed;-)

2.Prepare the Xinjiang lamb picks: put on every pick a dozen of small lamb cubes

3. Grill the lamp picks on the barbecue until golden, about 3-4 minutes.

4. Put the spice and salt just before the lamb is completely cooked. Cook for 1 more minute

They are from Neuchâtel, they are called "A Virtual Friend". To listen to the trio, click here!

Next battle theme: "home made" bread...