Baked pork ribs all-in-one

Recipe for 2

10 to 12 pork ribs
2 big potatoes, peeled, cut into wedges
1 big carrot, peeled, cut into wedges
6 shallots, peeled
1 capsicum, cleaned, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
4 cloves garlic, crushed
8 cloves garlic, skinned but leave whole

1 tabsp olive oil
1 tabsp vinegar
1 tabsp paprika edelsuss (capsicum powder)
salt to taste

Marinate the ribs and vegetables with the oil, vinegar, paprika and salt for half hour. Then leave it in the oven at 200 deg. C. for an hour to 75 mins. If there's not enough time, just bake it straight away after seasoning the dish. Serve with a salad.

Rote Gruetze

Recipe for 2

200 gm fresh or frozen red berries (strawberries, raspberries - himbeeren, blackberries - brombeeren, cranberries - preiselbeeren, etc.)
2 to 3 heaped tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch (Staerke) mixed smoothly with 3 tbsp water

Bring the berries to boil in a small pot. Add water only if the fruits stick to the pot, and then only as little water as possible. Add the raspberries last as they tend to disintegrate easily. Add the sugar as soon as the fruit mixture boils (bubbles). After half a minute, add the cornstarch mixture. Stir well to thicken the Rote Gruetze. Remove from heat. Serve chilled with vanilla sauce (Dr. Oetker Vanillesosse).

Nudelauflauf

200 gm dried spiral pasta, boiled till ready
2 onions, diced
100 gm of diced bacon (optional)
1 tin diced champignon
2 tablespoon tomato paste/concentrate
5 pips of garlic, chopped
150 gm grated emmental cheese
1 egg, 100 ml cream, 50 ml milk

In a pan, brown the onion and bacon in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Turn off the heat. Add the champignon, tomato paste and garlic. Stir to mix well. Add the pasta and grated cheese. Stir again to mix well. Spoon the mixture into an oiled bakeproof dish. Sprinkle a thin layer of grated cheese on top.

Beat the egg with the cream and milk. Pour the mixture over the pasta.

Bake for 30 to 40 mins in an oven at 175 deg.C or till the top is slightly brown.

Schweinsöhrchen

2 sheets of puff pastry (best to buy frozen)
sugar

Either roll out the puff pastry into sheets of about 20 to 30 cm square, or buy them as sheets. In Manila (Santis has them in frozen packs of 6 sheets) and and most German supermarkets, they are available in sheets.

Thaw them for 20 mins. Lay them flat on a work surface. Sprinkle sugar generously and evenly on the first sheet, then place the second one on top of it. Now sprinkle sugar, also generously and evenly, on the second one. Use a rolling pin to make them stick together. Fold the left side to the centre, then the right side, with a 1 cm gap between them. The fold the sides once more. Cut into 1 cm width (cross section), arrange them on a tray leaving enough space between each piece so that the Schweinsöhrchen do not touch when they have expanded with the baking.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 deg. C. for about 10 to 12 mins until the bottom is brown. Remove the tray from the oven, turn the pastries to brown the other side and return the tray into the oven to bake for another 2 to 3 mins.

Beef gulasch

Recipe for 4

600 to 800 gm lean beef cut into cubes
2 big onions, diced
1 red capsicum (paprika), diced
1 big carrot, diced
1 tablespoon capsicum/paprika powder
1 tablespoon tomato paste
100 ml red wine (optional)
4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon wheat flour mixed well with 100 ml water for thickening gravy

Heat olive oil in pot. Add diced onion and fry till slightly brown. Add meat cubes. Fry till half done. Add capsicum powder and diced capsicum. Stir, mix well, and add a cup of water. Cover the pot and cook till beef is tender. Add diced carrot, cook till carrot is soft. Now add the tomato paste, red wine, salt and pepper. Thicken the gravy with the wheat flour mixture.

Serve with dumplings (knoedel), boiled potato or rice.

Kürbis Cremesuppe/ Pumpkin cream soup

Recipe for 4

1 carrot, peeled, cut into small pieces to reduce cooking time
1 onion, peeled, cut into wedges
800 gm pumpkin, peeled, core removed, cut inot small pieces to reduce cooking time
1/2 litre chicken broth/ vegetable broth (can be made from
1/2 teasp. cayenne pepper
4 tbsp creme fraiche or Schlagsahne
Salt and pepper to taste


Make the broth with fresh ingredients or add a tablespoon powdered broth to boiling water. Add onion and carrots, simmer 10 mins. Then add pumpkin and let simmer again till all is soft. Mash the vege with a potato masher to desired fineness. Add the cayenne pepper (or pepperoncino), salt and pepper. Add cream last. Serve with croutons or bread.

Marshmallow rice crispies

50 gm butter
100 gm marshmallows
130 to 150 gm rice crispies

Melt butter and marshmallows in pan. If you're a novice, use a non-stick pan. Remove from pan from heat. Add rice crispies, mix well with the melted butter and marshmallows. Scoop the gooey stuff into a form to set. It takes less than 5 mins for it to set. Once set, cut the mass into squares. Enjoy!