Pork Belly for Uschi! Supper Club Recap Frankfurt March 21

Have you ever been to a hair salon for dinner? 15 guests enjoyed this experience two weeks ago, when my friends from  the Ceci n’est pas un restaurant supper club – featuring yours truly – hit Uschi’s hair salon in Frankfurt and served up a fabulous 5 course dinner amidst mirrors, vanity tables and hairdressing supplies after closing time.

Back at the Stove! Supper Clubbin’ with Ceci n’est pas un Restaurant in Frankfurt March 21st

Hello hello hello! Boy (or girl or trans*-, inter-, or asexual individual), have you not heard from me for a long time! First of all, I want to wish everyone of you a wonderful, happy and healthy 2015! Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog. I really appreciate it. This year has a lot in store for me, and these days I’m quite the busy bee. I’ll be finishing my PhD this year, so after weeks filled with writing – I’ll be honest with you – spending more time than necessary in front of a computer screen on the (precious!) weekend does not appeal to me so often. So I am all the more excited to be getting back to the stove soon, together with the wonderful people at Ceci n’est pas un restaurant.

A Taste of Zero Waste: ‘Bestover’ Turkey Fricassee

Did you know that last week was the European Week for Waste Reduction? I learned about it when I was randomly surfing around the net the other week and stumbled upon an article on the ‘Zero Waste Lifestyle’. Meanwhile, I have done a bit of binge reading on the topic, and I am HOOKED on the idea of reducing the amount of waste I produce to an absolute minimum. So much so that I want to share a few thoughts on it with you today, along with this homey turkey fricassee, with tender and juicy turkey meat, sweet peas, crunchy leeks and a lusciously creamy and lemony dill-sauce. How they go together? My delicious lunch for two is entirely made of leftover bits and pieces I found on a little fridge forage – a taste of zero waste.

1 Year of brag&butter! – and a LOT of Butter on the Weekend…

When I sat down to get to work this morning, I received the most beautiful surprise: WordPress informed me that one year ago on this very date, I posted my first ever post on brag&butter and started my blog. So – HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me today! Funny enough: I made an exemplar of the Pumpkin Pie I posted as my first recipe back then just recently, and I made it for friends who experienced the birth of their baby boy just a week ago. Then yesterday, we had our friends Stefan and Jochen over for a champagne brunch to celebrate both their birthdays. A lot of birthdays happening at once. So, although there is a lot of work on my list today, I take some time to celebrate a bit with you – and to tell you about the buttery weekend that lies behind me.

5 O’ Clock Mar-Tea-ni

In the spirit of heading off to London (baby!) tomorrow, I’m already holding on to spirits today. But not just spirits. This drink combines two very iconic British drinks: gin and afternoon tea. It’s a special kind of – G & Tea, if you like. In the light of recent events, I am very consciously using the term ‘British’, since afternoon tea is a very English tradition and the particular gin we used and recommend for this drink comes from the tradition-steeped Bruichladdich distillery in Scotland. And we believe, these two go very well together, ‘we’ meaning Alex and myself. Alex is master of our in-house bar (and keeper of the rather astonishing number of gins we have accumulated over the years), and for the first time today we came up with a recipe and blog post together. Because in the afternoons, we often cannot decide whether we want a drink or a cuppa, today, we just went for best of both worlds. And shortbread.

Green Bean Salad with Slow-Baked Tomato and Goat’s Cream Cheese

I cannot write too much about this dish before actually giving you the recipe, since you have to make this rather quickly. Firstly, because it is utterly delicious, and secondly, because this dish depends on all its components being at the height of their existence: in absolute high season. And let me tell you: winter is coming (I was woken up by crows shouting this morning – no kidding). At least these last days here in southern Germany: I have started to put on a jacket again and I am wearing thick woolen socks as I’m writing this. So: Get to your nearest farmer’s market, harvest everything you need, and treat yourself to this plate of summer.

A Culinary Journey Through the World and Time – and a Peach & Goats Cheese Salad

After just over two weeks of the laziest and most relaxing Mediterranean summer holiday, with a total abstinence from every form of electronic communication and digital devices, I do feel a bit out of practice as I sit down at the little table on our balcony to share some memories (and a recipe) of my summer vacation with you, an old (ancient!) laptop before me (when have I last used this thing?!), a glass of chilled blanc de noir next to it, and the last hours of sunlight (and the last 40% of battery) ticking away.

Provisions from the Picture Pantry: Time-Crunchy Zucchini & Feta Yufka

I am living the absolute Einstein experience these days. I don’t know about you, but each time my annual summer holiday draws near, the relativity of time becomes oh so apparent to me: at the office, time seems to go by both ultra-slowly (what? five more days?!) and ultra fast simultaneously (what? so much left to do?!). In-between freak outs and trying to retain composure, there wasn’t much time for any cooking or fancy eating these last weeks (except for the wonderful cook-out at Summer of Supper two weeks ago), let alone coming up with a blog-post from scratch. So before I leave you for my well-deserved and much needed summer vacation, I took to the “Picture Pantry” of food photos I have taken ages ago, way before I started writing brag&butter, and went foraging for something I could maybe add to some quick writing and turn into a last post before I take off for my vacation. Hey! Nothing bad about that: haven’t we all turned pantry staples and preserves into delectable dinners? There you are. Scrolling through some really bad and some rather good photos of some well-remembered and some long forgotten suppers with friends, I discovered a gem – both because the photos looked decent and it’s a perfect recipe for these summer days: my Zucchini & Feta Yufka is simple, rapid and oh so picknickable.

“Summer Of Supper” in Cologne and Stracciatella Cheese with Barbecued Apricots & Tarragon

Last Friday, I took the cooking out of my home kitchen and joined my friends from the Frankfurt/Cologne based supper club Ceci n’est pas un restaurant for the wonderful Summer Of Supper event in Cologne. Six supper clubs (sort-of underground nonprofit pop-up restaurants run by ambitious amateur cooks) were invited to each host a dinner night for 30 people. We cooked a summer-celebration 5 course supper menu for a mixed and merry food loving crowd, and boy (or girl or other) – did we have a great time! To start the evening off, I made a dish based on my homemade Stracciatella cheese, which you should absolutely try and which I will tell you how to make below (where I will also tell you about a ‘hidden bonus track’ in the recipe…).

Raw Chilled Pea & Coconut Soup with Tarragon

Whenever someone asks me what my ‘most favorite dish in the world’ is, I’m really just baffled by this question. How could anyone have just one favorite dish?! How can you compare, say, sticky Korean ribs, a moist and glistening risotto milanese and braised lentils? Exactly. I just love eating. In general. Which means I basically love every food, cuisine, ingredient, style – as long as it’s well produced and prepared, tasty, and fits my cravings. And cravings (I am not telling you anything new here, I know) can take you to weird places. Such as the place where I am preparing a cold soup that is downright able to save the world (according to other people’s standards or wild imagination): it’s simple, quick, raw, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and – wait for it – really delicious at the same time. You wanna come to my weird place? Follow me!