Simply artichokes!

What can be better than some freshly steamed artichokes? Nothing! Take your artichokes - the globe type are so lovely... trim off the prickly parts on the end if you can be bothered. If not, steam them for an hour in a pot with water, white wine and some garlic. Enjoy with some fresh mayo or as we do the melted butter.

Pull off the leaves, dip, scrape and enjoy! The heart is located right under that fuzzy choke which you can easily pull off with a knife!

Breakfast revisited

Been extra busy here at chez Schwake. Less time for new recipes. Today however was one of those days where Rainer stepped in to do a little special love breakfast just for me. I guess he knew I needed it.

Who wouldn't want to wake up to this little butterfly breakfast? It cheered me immensely.

How to do:

Shake scramble (Julia Child style) your two beaten eggs in a nonstick pan with some butter.

Roll them onto the plate

Cut your toast into butterfly wings

Sprinkle with fresh chives from the garden

Cut two longer chives for antennae.

Enjoy!

Friday: no recipe but a round of applause!

This lovely dinner was made by our daughter Chloe. We enjoyed this fabulous meal of Sauteed BBQ Chicken, Herbed carrots and beans and greens. No recipes as she sort of made it up as she went along and did it on her own. It was so very good. Chloe, "cook of dinner", hooray!

Thursday: Spinach salad, best ever

I will admit it, I really don't like to make salads. I love to eat them however. But today I was craving something in the spinach salad department and no one would make one for me. I had to do it myself and make do with what I had in the larder. Sometimes that makes the best combinations! Today was a really good mix so I thought I would share it here.

For one:

Rinse and spin out 3 cups of baby spinach leaves

Place in bowl and add on top:

1 chopped yellow delicious apple

1/4 sweet onion chopped

1/2 cup crumbled goats cheese

1 carrot peeled and sliced thinly

1/2 cup of raw sunflower seeds

Drizzle over the top:

1/2 a squeezed lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Toss and enjoy. Man this was so good!

Wednesday: Blueberry Corn muffins

Always delightful. Here's what to do:

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached organic flour
• 1/2 cup organic cornmeal
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup frozen blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Sift flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, salt and baking powder together into a large bowl. Dredge the blueberries in the sifted ingredients. In a small bowl, combine the milk, butter and egg. Stir the wet ingredients into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Let muffins sit for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Tuesday: Eggs in the rough

eggs in the rough

Oh the egg the egg the incredible edible egg! (flashback from the 70s adverts on eggs from the egg council)

These eggs are so yummy and easy to make. They don't have to have the bacon of course but when you feel a little wicked, why not? Our dear dear friend Judith gave me a dozen from her hens and we whipped these up one night when we were feeling a bit tired and peckish. Fast and easy.

Here's how:

Start with the freshest organic eggs and chives, mix up six eggs and generous amounts of chives

In a large flat frying pan stir fry:

1 cup of cooked rice, two heads of broccoli florets, half of a chopped onion and five strips of uncured organic bacon.

Add salt and pepper and some rosemary and stir fry the ingredients until bacon is crispy

Pour in the beaten eggs over the veggies and bacon and let it set up. Then you can fold and separate the eggs until they are cooked through. Serves 3-4 people for lunch or dinner or sunday brunch!

Monday :: Fish Tacos in Brooklyn

Just back from a lovely lovely vacation with my darling family down in Brooklyn. We missed seeing our beautiful friends there so much as well as doing the things we love in the city! We missed it so much that the five days were chockerblock full of wonderful adventures and of course some eating adventures too! I was pleasantly surprised to find amazing food like these fish tacos at the Flea though -- so I had to put them down in words here for you to try too.

These fish tacos were served up right at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturday and man were they tasty. I found a recipe which seemed quite close to these so am sharing that with you here. Of course you should try and make some handmade tortillas too - but I want to get a friend's recipe for those as we have done them together. For now, grab yourself some fine multi grain ones for these babies. Here is a recipe I found and modified from All Recipes

Fish Tacos:

• 1 lb of very fresh fish fillets - codfish or haddock please!
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

• 1 doz corn tortillas (3 tortillas per person)
• Vegetable oil or butter for the tortillas to fry in in the pan

• Salsa
• 1 ripe Avocado

• Red Cabbage
• Cider vinegar
• Salt

1 Prepare the salsa. Either use store bought or make your own. (See above link for Mango Salsa, which is especially good with fish.)

2 Prepare the cabbage and avocado. Thinly slice cabbage. Put in a small serving bowl. Sprinkle with cider vinegar (about a Tbsp) and salt (about a tsp). Mix in the vinegar and salt. Peel avocado and remove seed. Chop and reserve for later.

3 Heat the tortillas in a pan with the fat you chose from above.

Remove the tortilla from the pan and place it folded on a plate. If the pan is large enough you can prepare two or more tortillas at once. Continue until all the tortillas (estimate 3 per person) are cooked. Set aside.

4 Cook the fish. Soak the fish fillets in cold water for at least one minute. Pat dry with a paper towel. Heat a large stick-free skillet to medium high heat. Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the skillet. Place fish on skillet. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the fillets. Coat them a little with some loose cornmeal/flour combo before turning ... A thin fillet may take only one minute on each side to cook. A thicker fillet may take a couple of minutes. Fish should be still barely translucent when cooked. Break off a piece and test if you are not sure. Do not overcook the fish. Remove from pan when done to a separate plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5 I think tacos are best when you assemble them yourself. Place the plate of tortillas, the plate of fish, the salsa, the cabbage, and the avocados on the table and let everyone assemble their own.