Pesto, which originated in Genoa, Italy, comes from the Italian word "pestare" that means to pound. The traditional pesto is composed of basil, pine nuts, garlic, cheese and olive oil pounded into a paste.
Pesto can be made at home with a mortar or blender, esp. if you have an allotment garden (Schrebergarten is very popular in Germany) full of various herbs, like basil, coriander, parsley, mint, chive, or spinach etc. etc. There is pasta with pesto, pesto on pizza, pesto sauce for seafood, pesto vinaigrette for salads, pesto marinade for the grill, red bean pesto, cilantro pesto, and I used Sun-dried tomato pesto for this bread.

1. Place the yeast in a bowl and pour the warm water over. Stir in the sugar to dissolve. Let stand for 15 minutes. The mixture should look bubbly. Combine and sift the flours and salt in your mixer bowl and turn mixer on to lowest speed. Add in pesto and the yeast mixture. Keep stirring until you have a dough that holds together and doesn't stick to the sides of the bowl. Adjust the amount of water, adding more or less as is needed.
   
2. Turn out the dough and shape into a ball. Grease the bowl with a teaspoon of olive oil and return the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Set the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to double in volume, about 45 minutes.
   
3. Grease a large loaf pan and lightly dust with a bit of flour. Punch down the risen dough and knead for 5 minutes. Shape into an oblong loaf and place it in the prepared pan. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Once the dough has doubled in size, make a deep incision on the top of the loaf with a sharp razor blade.
   
4. Bake at 200C/400F in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes. Then reduce the oven temperature to 180C/350F and bake for another 50 minutes until golden and crusty. Cool the loaf in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and remove from the pan to cool completely.

A light, moist, and tender angel cake roll is a wonderful treat at any time! The blueberry jam filling, which was supposed to provide a contrast to the white cake, makes the cake a bit messy. It tastes great by itself and definitely worth trying!

1. Whisk together flour, starch and vanilla powder and sift. Prepare a 11x13-inch or two 9x7-inch baking trays lined with parchment paper. Evenly sprinkle raisins or poppy seeds over if using. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.
2. Beat egg whites, salt and vinegar in the mixing bowl of a table mixer until foamy. Add in sugar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually sift the flour mixture into the whipped egg whites and fold until the batter is well-combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 15 minutes or so.
3. Immediately invert the cake to cool for about 5 minutes on a rack and peel off the baking paper. Place the cake on a parchment paper or plastic film, with the baked side up and raisin side down, and spread cake with jam to within 1 inch of edges. From the narrow side roll the cake up tightly. Chill the cake roll for 1 hour and slice to serve.

© 2024 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Asparagus is one of the most nutritionally well-balanced vegetables, which is high in "folic acid" and is a good source of "potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, vitamins A and C, and thiamin". Moreover, asparagus has no fat, no cholesterol and is quite low in calories and sodium. It is very popular in Europe, especially Germany where promotions, creative events, and festivals are held to honour the arrival of what's crowned as "Königliches Gemüse" - royal vegetable. There's even an asparagus peeling competition/Spargelschäl-Wettbewerb during the celebrated asparagus season, and the crowning of an asparagus king or queen. Along with the asparagus-based delicacies, a range of German white wines, such as Riesling, Müller-Thurgau or Grauburgunder, together with some interesting reds, will be launched. White asparagus are sunlight-deprived stalks and they are milder and more delicate than the green one.

1. Before start cooking white asparagus, they must be peeled, as the outside is fibrous and even woody at times. Use a common but sharp vegetable peeler, starting just below asparagus spears, peel toward the cut end. Once all the asparagus has been peeled, cut off the cut ends about one inch up. Slice the tomato into wedges and the spring onions into smaller chunks.
2. Heat up a skillet over medium-high fire. Stir in XO sauce and minced garlic until aromatic. Add in the prepared white asparagus, stir briefly, drizzle water and white wine over. Cook until soft to your liking. Add in tomato wedges and spring onions. Mix everything together. Flavour with salt and serve.

© 2024 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Easy, healthy, and delicious lotus root ! Lotus root is the root of the lotus plant. It can be used as a salad, or stuffed with glutinous rice and steamed as dessert, or squeezed into a drink, or stir-fries, or double-boiled with pork spare-ribs as a popular summer time soup, which, according to my mum, helps to clear the heat and improve the appetite.

1. Fill a pot of cold tap water with a tablespoon of vinegar. Peel and clean lotus root. Slice the lotus root and put them into the vinegar water to prevent lotus roots from browning.
   
2. Heat up a pan with oil and add chillies. Stir-fry a bit before adding spring onions and ground pork. Stir for 30 seconds, then add bean sauces, rice wine and lotus root slices. Splash the chicken stock and cover, reduce heat to medium and cook for 30 seconds. Dribble in the sesame oil Serve hot.

I bake foam cakes very often, as I prefer the fluffy, light chiffon cake to other baked goods. Whenever I baked a chiffon cake, I would reserve one or two layers well-wrapped in the freezer just in case I don't feel like to bake, but happen to have an itch to eat something light and sweet. So this is the result of cleaning up all the saved foam cakes.

1. Remove the cake layers from the freezer and defrost them at room temperature, about 1 hour. Slice the peeled bananas and figs and have a round cake board ready.
   
   
   
2. Place the matcha chiffon cake layer on the prepared cake board, spread a thin layer nutella on the cake, and then top with babana slices. Arrange another two layers of cake in the same way. (There’s still some nutella left after placing the 3rd layer of cake, so I decided to top the cake with last layer of matcha chiffon cake, which resulted in a mismatched colour appearance to the cut.)
   
3. Arrange the fourth layer of cake on the top and spread the nutella. Arrange the sliced figs and bananas in a decorative pattern on top and the chocolate praline in the center. Spread the strips with whipped cream and surround the sides of the cake. Use a mousse ring or a ribbon to stabilize the strips.

Bright red, remarkably juicy and flavourful strawberries are truly a delight to both the eyes and the taste buds. When selecting fresh strawberries, look for firm, glossy, red fruit with a fresh-looking green hull and no visible bruises. Do not wash strawberries until ready to use.

1. Dissolve the gelatin in cold water and set aside for about 5 minutes until soft. Stir over a bowl of simmering water until the gelatin is dissolved. Mix the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and gelatin mixture in a food processor and puree. Transfer to a large bowl and chill until it just beings to thicken.
2. Whip the cream until it drops from the whisk when it is lifted. Add in powdered sugar along the sides of the bowl, and continue to beat until the cream holds soft peaks. Remove the mousse from the fridge and fold the whipped cream into the strawberry mixture until smooth.
   
3. Place a layer of chiffon cake on a serving plate and surround with the mousse ring. Pour one thirds of the mousse onto the cake, and scatter the cubed berries on top. Arrange the waffle wedges, round side down, along the side of the ring. Cover the diced strawberries with second thirds of mousse and gently top with anther layer of chiffon cake, being careful not to press down firmly. Pour the rest of the mousse mixture over. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours until firm.
   
4. Prepare the sauce. Stir together jelly and cachaca in a bowl. Gently mix in the halved strawberries and set aside at a cool are for 2 hours. Remove the mousse cake from the fridge. Spoon the sauce on the center top and arrange the halved strawberries between two waffles. If desired, sprinkle the lightly roasted almond slices (or coconut shreds) over the strawberry sauce and then the sugar pearls.

The reason I used balsamic vinegar for this recipes was because I had no Chinese rice vinegar left...and haha....the dish turned out very very good. A little balsamic vinegar goes a long and right way.

1. Combine together cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Wash chicken breast, pat dry and cut into inch size pieces. Season them with salt, half tablespoon of maggi sauce and one tablespoon of rice wine. At last add in cornstarch, and water and combine.
   
2. Heat up a pan with oil until hot. Fry the marinated chicken until golden. Remove and drain on a kitchen paper. Using one tablespoon of frying oil to stir-fry ginger, scallion and garlic until aromatic. Pour in balsamic vinegar and fried chicken, drizzle in the rest of rice wine and maggi sauce. Toss to mix all the ingredients and chicken has thoroughly coated with sauce. Dish off and sprinkle some chopped scallion if desired.