Bella Italia

Im Sommer werd ich immer zur italienischen Mama ;-) Seltsam wird es nur bei den Mengen für 2 Personen. Wobei das ja auch bald vorbei ist!

Fischstäbchen - Fish Fingers

It's been a while since I wrote someting in here. This is not because I don't cook anymore or I forgot about my blog. Just--- sometimes the food is not really exciting and I barely used nice spices. In 2 weeks I am back home and then the spice marathon will start, I guess :)

For now u get the fish fingers with some red lentil-rice and some Hungarian Sambal Oelek. The rice was very good, not dry at all beause of the softness of the lentils. Something to make again!

Vegetable my world

End of may I was finally able to say: Yes, I love your Hungarian vegetables! Before, I mostly could buy roots of all kind (unfortunately I don't like celery/smallage or parsley root/parsnip) and of course, paprika. But.... that was it, actually.
So around 2 weeks ago I went to a small vegetable shop and there I saw them:


Aren't they beautiful? I thought the big one is a zucchini, I don't know the name, actually. But the white one is a pumpkin, somekind of. Does anyone of you know their names?
So what it I make from them? First a filled oven baked version and with the white one I breaded and fried it. Both very delicious :)

What did you eat today?

My lunch today was something similar to risotto, but only by looks. I used barley instead and I didn't add cheese.
The barley had to soak in water over night bevor cooking. I fried some onions, added brown champignons and let it simmer for some time. At the same time I cooked the barley, washed it and later added it to the vegetables. I put some salt there, spices: thyme and rosemary. Very nice!

It was quick and tasty :)

Halászlé - Hungarian Fish Soup

Tonights dinner was Halászlé, very spicy fish soup from Hungary. There are dozens of variaties, and I kind of invented my own. I didn't use fish stock, yet, maybe I should try, as it will intensify the fishy tast. I tried it plain (only fish and peppers), with beans and Knöpfle (tiny dumplings, I have no idea how you call them in English), only with beans - and all were good! Today it was with potatoes. I don't use fresh fish, but I should. And I don't take a variety of fish - just one. And I buy the cheapest one, as I don't want to pay too much. Still, this soup is great :)
here you go:

ingredients (for probably 2-3 people)
2 middle sized potatoes
300 g fish (I had aslaska pollack, still frozen)
1 big onion
2 hungarian wax/banana peppers (yellow pepper. in German "Spitzpaprika", search for pictures)
2-3 tomatoes or even tomato juice or concentrate
oil 2-3 table spoons hot red paprika (powder)
salt, pepper, bouillon cube/fish stock
1/2-1 table spoon hot red paprika paste (Hungarian style. Sambal Oelek is similar, but tastes a little different...)
sour cream (here they call it teiföl, it has 12% fat)
1 hot hungarian wax/banana pepper (greeeeeeeen and HOT. But no pepperoni)

serve with fresh white bread

how to
Fry the chopped onions in some oil, not too hot though.
when turning a little brown, take from the fire, add the paprika, stir well. Be careful, it can easily burn.
Add water (maybe about one litre? I didn't measure), put on fire again.
Add the small chopped potatoes and the chopped tomatoes. Add salt/pepper/bouillon cubes, as much as you like. Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.
Then add the fish and the yellow peppers. If you have, add some tomatoe juice or something. Just as much as you like tomatoe ;)
If you want, add the hot paste, too. Cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Serve with some sour cream, some hot pepper (if you like) and fresh, white bread.

I simply love this soup.

Classification of Spices

What actually falls into the catecory of spice? Are herbs spices? And how do seasonings fit in there?
I have just learnt that the German law does not distinguish between spices and herbs, they are in the same category.

Definition: Spices and herbs are parts of plant, that are, due to their natural ingredients, determined to be taste- and smell imparting ingredients for food.
Those can be flowers, fruits, buds, seeds, barks/peels, roots, bulbs or only parts of these, mostly dried.
Herbs are fresh or dried leaves, flowers, scions or parts of them.

Well, and then there are spice-mixtures, spice-salts, seasonings and lots more... that is so much! Reading about those spices I miss my kitchen... there are some Indian spices waiting for me, a friend brought them from India a couple of months ago, but I had to leave for Hungary... what a pity! Well, I keep waiting and hope they are good :)

Spicy Beginning

As from this day I want to start a cooking blog, I think it will be fun. Having read many different ones before I think I really like this. So I want to do something like those cool people out there, too :)
I have had some blogs before, and even now I also have a flickr-account, ipernity, facebook, studivz and mixi as well as a the project "korealove" ... to name the most popular ones :) Hopefully I will manage to update this one regulary. Which actually should be easy, as I love cooking :)