Light Meals and Weekend Treats from an English Woman in Berlin
There is something so indulgent about this Pork Belly Roast with Baked Apples. This recipe perfects that beautifully soft and juicy flesh under that crisp and crunchy layer of crackling. And yet it is a meat that is still relatively cheap and so easy to prepare. It does require a little cooking time but what I like about it is that you can simply shut the oven door and sit back for most of it, while the meat roasting away will fill your kitchen with that beautiful home cooking smell….
Poor old Brussels sprouts, they get such a negative reputation this time of the year. Always a compulsory side dish for the big Christmas dinner yet ridiculed for being the food that nobody really tucks into and instead stuffed inside a Tupperware box on the off chance someone is to make a Bubble & Squeak on Boxing Day. While sprouts are not particularly a vegetable that I would go out of my way for, I actually don’t mind them. But what I can’t stand is how we all feel a Christmas dinner isn’t right unless we have them but then a lot of us don’t actually eat them….
Beef Carpaccio is a wonderful dish to serve as a sharing plate. My favourite style of eating is creating a few small plates and putting them in the middle of the table, ready to dive in and taste all the wonderful ingredients laid out in front of me. It is why Beef Carpaccio is best served in this way so that you then only need a few slices of meat per person and can then focus on getting good quality meat. And that is the crucial part to this dish, it needs good quality meat which in this case can get a little expensive. It is however, completely worth it….
When I was in Paxos I came across fried feta for the first time. I am usually quite boring when it comes to feta, simply adding it to salads or as a topping to some vegetables like in a Greek Briam. The only time I have really made proper use of feta cheese in a dish is in a Spanakopita, where in my opinion, it is more of a star ingredient than the spinach itself! I really liked the fried feta but it was the Saganaki cheese that I kept going back for ever since I had a delicious dish of Baked Saganaki with Honey. Saganaki is like a mix between feta and halloumi and I am a huge fan. …
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And what can be more Irish than Guinness and potatoes!? Or am I just being a little stereotpyical here? Colcannon is a new find for me and I am just dissappointed that I have not tried this sooner. Mashed potoatoes mixed with bacon, cabbage and cream is absolute heaven! I can’t recommend it enough and it is a great recipe to make on a lazy weekend. It is also the perfect side dish to go with some delicious Guiness…
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I have been visiting plenty of Christmas markets lately and really getting into the festive spirit. I love Christmas in Germany and the Germans really know how to celebrate it well. Not really all that surprising seeing as it is home to the famous Christmas markets that now pop up in any major town or city in the UK. Or the fact that it was the Germans who came up with the tradition of having a Christmas tree in the home or an advent wreath with candles. I love the idea of bringing the outdoors inside and the fresh smells from the pine or fir trees….
