Chocolate Fondue, the No Effort Way

I’m going to make a confession: Before coming up with this idea I had never eaten chocolate fondue. It’s always been a tempting idea, yet I wasn’t ready to invest money and especially cupboard space in those cute little chocolate fondue pots.

But then I realised you don’t need any fondue pots! You can use espresso cups, and make a hot water bath do the job for you – while you’re eating your main dish, of course!

Use any fresh seasonal fruit or berries to dip in the fondue. I bet at least mango, pineapple, peaches, cherries, and bananas would taste awesome! But now it’s the second last week of (at least organic) strawberry season here in southern Germany, so I didn't have a choice, did I?

For one portion you need:

• 2 Tbsp (non-dairy) heavy cream


• 20g dark (vegan) chocolate


• about 15 fruit pieces or berries to dip in the fondue

First, combine cream and chocolate in espresso cups. Then place the cups in an earthenware oven dish. Fill the dish with boiling water just enough for the cups to be covered until the cream-chocolate-level. (If you happen to have pasta for the main dish, think of using the cooking water to do this! Hugely ecological :) )

Once you’re ready to have your dessert, just stir the chocolate-cream-mixture gently with a spoon and remove from the water bath. Serve with fruit – dip them in the “fondue” with a small dessert fork! And don’t forget a spoon – you’ll need it to scrape the rest of that yummy chocolate…!

Oven Pancake with Strawberries and Crème Chantilly

Pancakes are a great dessert after a light meal - like pea soup! But who has the time to make them? No problem, pancake batter can also be baked in the oven. Once again, you can enjoy your main course while your oven is taking care of the dessert.

This time of the year I normally serve oven pancake with fresh berries and whipped cream - when no fresh berries are available, use raspberry or strawberry jam instead!

This is what you need for 6 portions:

• 150g flour (I use whole-grain, but you can use all-purpose as well)


• 400ml milk


• 3 eggs


• a pinch of salt


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 30g butter

This is how you proceed:

1. Set your oven to 225 C when you start cooking the main dish.

2. Make the batter: in a bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and milk, and beat gently. Then add the eggs and beat until well combined.

3. Take a round cake form (mine has a diameter of 26cm). Slice the butter and place the slices in the form. Put the form in the oven for just the time it takes for the butter to melt. Then take the form out again, pour the batter in, and put it back in the oven.

4. Go and enjoy your main dish! Set the alarm for 15 minutes - it takes around 15-20 minutes for the pancake to be ready.

5. Serve warm with berries and crème Chantilly!

Mushroom Bruschette with Lemon and Parsley

Making a bruschetta is a perfect way to use up bread that otherwise would not be eaten – and as I’ve told, we quite often have to deal with that problem due to our “broken” oven ;)

Everyone loves tomato basil bruschetta, but this mushroom version is at least as tasty! Besides, it’s very quick to make. For this portion for two, I only needed 8 minutes.

 

 

For 2 as a light meal or 4 as a starter:

• 4 large slices of bread


• 1 garlic clove


• 200g mushrooms


• 2 Tbps lemon juice


• olive oil


• a handful of flat leaf parsley


• salt and black pepper to taste

This is how to do it:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan. Quarter the mushrooms (or cut them even smaller if the mushrooms are big) and fry over a high heat about 5 minutes, stirring once in a while.

2. In the meantime, toast the breads and rub them with garlic clove.

3. Now,  add lemon juice, salt, pepper, chopped parsley in the pan, stir, and then remove from heat.

4. Place the bread slices on a plate, divide mushrooms on top of them, and decorate with some more parsley. Serve immediately!

Creamy Pea Soup with Mint

Finns eat pea soup every Thursday. Well, at least they used to. But still today it’s a very traditional Thursday lunch, followed by oven-baked pancake as dessert. The bad news is – it takes a lot of time to make pea soup out of those dry peas. First you need to soak them overnight, then cook for 90 minutes or so – and on a regular Thursday, who has time for that?

This pea soup obviously has very little to do with the traditional one. But it’s a soup, it’s made out of peas – and it’s absolutely delicious. And it only takes ten minutes to make it!

This is what you need for 2 big or 4 small portions:

• 65 onion


• 300g frozen peas


• 500ml broth


• 50ml heavy cream (for a vegan version, use non-dairy)


• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour


• 150g sour cream (for a vegan version, use non-dairy)


• a handful of mint leaves


• 1 Tbsp olive oil


• salt and black pepper to taste

And this is how to make it:

1. Heat the broth in a saucepan. Add chopped onion and let cook for 2 minutes.

2. Then add peas, bring to the boil again and let cook 6 minutes, or until the peas are thoroughly cooked.

3. Purée the soup with a hand mixer.

4. Now combine flour and heavy cream in a jar with a lid, close the lid and shake. Add the cream-flour-mixture to the soup and whisk gently while doing this. Bring to the boil once more and let cook about one minute.

5. Take away from heat and divide on the soup plates.

6. Combine sour cream, chopped mint leaves, olive oil, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Place a generous dollop of cream mixture in the middle of each soup plate.

7. Serve with a slice or two of good dark bread! As a dessert, oven-baked pancake is a must.

Soft Lemon Almond Cakes with Cointreau Sour Cream

I’ve always wondered why most cake recipes involve so many different steps. Beating eggs and sugar, egg whites, yolk and sugar, butter or sugar, sometimes even in bain-marie! What if one just omitted all of those steps and combined all the ingredients together?

That’s exactly what I did with these small and soft lemon almond cakes. In addition, I used oil instead of butter, so one more step avoided – no melting needed! And, to my surprise, the result was more than just ok. These lemon cakes are perfect: soft, tasty, and served with a dollop of Cointreau-flavoured sour cream they are second to no other dessert I’ve had the pleasure of having so far.

Besides, they fit to my list of “desserts that make themselves”. When you start cooking the main dish, just set the oven to 190 C. To make the dough, you need about 2 minutes – do it either when waiting for something else (pasta to cook, for example) or just before serving the main dish. Then put the cakes into the oven, put an alarm on to 12 minutes, and enjoy your main dish while your dessert is taking care of itself.

For 5 portions you need:

• 2 eggs


• 4 Tbsp sugar


• 4 Tbsp ground almonds


• 2 Tbsp whole-grain flour


• 2 Tbsp yoghurt


• 4 Tbsp sunflower oil


• a pinch of salt


• the grated zest of 1 organic lemon

And for the cream:

• 150g sour cream


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 1 Tbsp Cointreau

... plus a couple of strawberries and lemon slices to decorate

1. Combine sugar, almonds, flour, and salt in a bowl.

2. Add eggs, oil, yoghurt, and lemon zest. Stir with a fork until well combined.

3. Divide into 5 muffin forms (silicone or other non-stick material) and bake in a preheated oven for about 12 minutes, or until well set.

4. Remove from the form, place on 5 plates, and decorate with a lemon slice, strawberries, and a dollop of sour cream flavoured with Cointreau and vanilla sugar. Enjoy with a good espresso, for example!

Poached Apricots with Orange and Rosemary

About two weeks ago the first apricots appeared in our local organic supermarket. And last week, I came up with yet another great use for them! It’s one of those desserts that can take care of themselves while you’re calmly enjoying your main course. Well, almost: if you’re short-term memory is nearly as good as mine, you might need an alarm, or your poached apricots might turn into mashed apricots…

Combining orange and rosemary with apricots results in a fresh and pleasant taste that goes perfectly with the decadent sweetness of the honey-sweetened sour cream. I prefer to use sour cream instead of heavy cream, and not only because I prefer the taste. It also spares you one extra step: no need to whip the cream! Just add honey to the sour cream and stir – that’s it.

This recipe gives four smallish portions! For a vegan version, use non-dairy sour cream flavoured with vanilla and agave syrup, for example.

For the apricots:

• 600g apricots


• 3 Tbsp sugar


• 100ml water


• 50ml Cointreau


• 1 rosemary sprig


• 3 long stripes of orange peel (1/3 of one orange or so)

For the cream:

• 150g sour cream


• 2 Tbsp honey

This is how to do it:

1. Halve the apricots and place them in a heavy pan in one layer.

2. Add the rosemary twig and orange peel stripes. Sprinkle the sugar on top.

3. Pour the water and Cointreau on the apricots. They should be completely cover – if not, add more water.

4. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and let simmer, cover, about 10 minutes, or until the apricots are softened but not turned into a mash yet. Then remove from heat, divide on 4 serving plates (the juice, too!), and serve with a generous dollop of sour cream sweetened with honey.

 

P.S. This dessert is also safe for kids. Thanks to the cooking, there’s no alcohol left in the final product :)

Warm Zucchini and Tomato Salad, Greek Style

This dish is perfect for a summer lunch or dinner. Serve with a slice of good bread and a glass of white wine, followed by a bowl of strawberries... What else could one ask for? Oh yes, for it to cook fast. And it does: I counted exactly twelve minutes from the time I entered my kitchen to the moment I started eating!

For two people you need:

• 400g zucchini


• 300g cherry tomatoes


• 120g onion


• 2 garlic cloves


• ½ tsp dried oregano


• a handful of fresh parsley (or other herbs available)


• 150g feta cheese


• olive oil, salt, and black pepper to taste

This is how to make it:

1. Chop onion and garlic, and cut zucchini into cubes. Halve the tomatoes.

2. Heat a generous splash of olive oil in a large pan. Add onion and sauté 2 minutes, then add garlic and the zucchini cubes, and sauté over a medium heat until zucchini starts to gain some colour.

3. Now, add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and keep heating over a medium heat until the juices of the tomatoes start to flow. Let simmer a couple of minutes.

4. Take away from heat, add feta cubes and parsley. Sprinkle with some extra olive oil, salt, and pepper and serve right away! A slice of bread is obligatory to wipe that great sauce off the plate.

For a vegan version, replace the feta cheese with tofu – I would use Tofu Olive from Taifun.