Monkfish with herb crust on leek

I had a french cooking course recently. This is one of the dishes we made. It is so easy and tastes simply amazing. Play around with the herbs and use different ones if you like.

600 gr monkfish fillets
3 tablespoons olive oil

for the leek:
1 leek
50 ml Pernod
100 ml cream
2 tablespoons butter

Herb Crust:
1 bunch fresh tarragon
1 bunch fresh dill
1 bunch basil
1 bunch fresh parsley
100 gr butter, soft
1 egg yolk
2 slices of toast
Salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the fish fillets on all sides. Remove from pan and dry with kitchen paper.

Finely chop the herbs. The debarking toast and chop finely. Produce from herbs, toast, butter, egg yolk and a homogeneous mass. Season with salt and pepper. Place the fish fillets on a baking sheet and spread the herb mass on it. It is important that the fish fillets are properly dry. Otherwise the herb mass will not stick to the fish fillets.

Preheat the oven to 200 ° C (top and bottom preheat). Cook the fish fillets for about 15-20 minutes in oven. The crust should be golden brown.

While the fish is in the oven, cut the leek into rings. Blanch for 2-3 minutes. Heat the butter in a frying pan. Add the leeks and sprinkle with Pernod. Add cream and let simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with the fish fillets. Serve with potatoes or rice.

Chocolate cream with ginger and orange

A cream which is simply wonderful . If you don’t like ginger and/or orange just keep it away and make a simple chocolate cream. Try to replace the ginger with chili flakes. Tastes better than every chocolate cream you can buy 😉

500 ml milk
200 gr dark chocolate
100 gr sugar
50 gr butter
40 gr cornstarch
2 Orange
30 gr fresh ginger
2 oz rum

Wash one of the oranges, cut the peel into zests and squeeze out the juice. Peel ginger and grate finely. Weight remaining ingredients and stand them ready to hand.

Cook orange juice and 1 tablespoon of sugar syrup. Liquefy the chocolate in a water bath.

Dissolve the cornstarch in a little milk. Add the remaining milk and decant everything into a large pot. Add the butter, ginger and sugar to it. Shortly before the milk begins to boil stir in the chocolate. Cook on low heat for so long until a cream is produced. Add orange syrup, orange zest and rum to it.

Put cream into a bowl and let cool. Between now and then stir through so that does not form a skin. The Orange Peel and cut into slices. The chocolate cream on top.

Tom Kha Gai

Diese Suppe ist für mich einfach die Wintersuppe schlechthin. Sie gibt schön warm von innen. Einfach herrlich nach einem Tag draussen im Schnee. Apropos Schnee. Ich liebe ja den Winter mit ganz viel Schnee und kann einfach nicht genug vom Schnee bekommen. Neulich habe ich Schneeschuhwandern ausprobiert und bin jetzt süchtig danach.  Das macht einfach nur super viel Spass.

*scroll down for the english version*

300 gr. Hähnchenbrustfilet
400 ml Kokosmilch
2 Tassen Wasser
4 cm Galgant
1 Stängel Zitronengras
3 Stück Kaffir-Zitronenblätter
150 gr. Reisstrohscheidling
3 EL Fischsoße
5 EL Limettensaft
1 Stück Zwiebel rot – klein
3 Stück Thai-Chilischote
Koriander frisch

Hähnchenbrust in feine Streifen schneiden. Galgant und Zwiebeln in Scheiben schneiden. Zitronengras dritteln (ich berarbeite es noch mit einer Tasse, damit das Aroma besser rauskommt). Chili in feine Ringe schneiden. Die Pilze halbieren.

Zwiebeln, Galgant, Zitronengras, Chili und die Kaffirblätter mit dem Wasser und der Kokosmilch zum Kochen bringen. Hähnchenbrust und die Pilze zugeben. Sobald die Hähnchenbrust gar ist, die Suppe mit Limettensaft und Fischsauce abschmecken.

Zitronengras, Galgant und Kaffirblätter vor dem Servieren entfernen.

I love this soup since the day when I first ate it. Now when it is getting cold it warms you from inside. You can add shrimps instead of chicken if you like it.

300 gr chicken breast
400 ml coconut milk
2 cups water
4 cm galangal
1 stalk lemongrass
3 pieces of kaffir lemon leaves
150 gr straw mushrooms
3 tablespoons fish sauce
5 tablespoons lime juice
1 small red onion
3-4  Thai chili pepper
Fresh coriander

Cut the chicken breast into thin strips. Cut galangal and onions into slices. Cut lemongrass thirds (I mash it with a cup, so that the flavor gets out better). Cut chilli into thin rings and the mushrooms in halfs.

Mix the onions, galangal, lemon grass, chili and kaffir leaves with the water, the coconut milk and bring it to boil. Add chicken breast and the mushrooms.

Once the chicken is cooked, season the soup with lime juice and fish sauce.