Crêpes au Citron
Rough seas, endless beaches, and food that kept me happy from morning till midnight. I went to France and it was a feast.
I got spoiled with a spontaneous trip to Normandy together with my mother, to the picturesque seaside village of Le Touquet. Five nights, five days and luckily, I didn't have much time to make plans beforehand - or to build up expectations. This kept me relaxed and the activities very basic: I went from my bed to the opulent breakfast table, then straight to the beach for long walks, a quick snack on the 'high street' before teatime or an aperitif at our hotel's beautiful old-fashioned bar; at 7pm I was dressed pretty and ready for the French way of dining - luscious feasting that makes you forget about everything around you and lets you sleep like a baby. Those were my days in Normandy.
We couldn't have organized our arrival at the majestic Le Westminster any better. We were hungry and stepped out of the car just in time for lunch. The hotel's bistro offered a French classic, Steak Tartare, and a fantastic dish of potatoes, cut thinly and cooked like risotto, with smoked eel and truffles. A glass of Sancerre and our French immediately came out more fluently. It was the beginning of a culinary trip that couldn't have satisfied my taste buds any better: the freshest oysters, lobster, large rock crab, prawns, and sea snails, Breton Cotriade (fish soup with potatoes) topped with half a lobster (preferable enjoyed at Perard on Rue de Metz), Moules Frites, oeufs a la neige (floating island), and wonderful salads, all very simple combinations with only a few ingredients, but the results were superb.
During our first walk through the village I spotted a fantastic pâtisserie. My instinct is very reliable when it comes to sweets, I can 'smell' where I can find the best éclair au café, croissants, little tartes Tropéziennes, brioche and baguette. The bakery's staff saw me daily. The farmers' market on Saturday is a weekly celebration in the village, fruits and vegetables, salamis and patés, the most fragrant (and pungent) cheeses, the fishermen's catch from the night, honey and jam, all laid out in front of us. We were like kids in a candy store and bought bags full of delicacies, which we then stored in the car for a couple days to take back home with us. It was quite cold outside so it didn't harm the food. However, the cheese infused the car with such a distinct aroma that I'm sure we'll enjoy it for months.
As much as I love a glass of Champagne and a plate full of Atlantic oysters sprinkled with mignonette (chopped shallots in vinegar), the simple pleasures are sometimes the best in life. Le Touquet has an excellent Crêperie, Aux Mignardises Saint Jean, where you can watch the masters of crêpe cook such delicious creations as crêpe au caramel or au citron (both tested and approved). The simple yet so genius addition of a good squeeze of lemon juice really hit me. It was totally new to me, how could I have missed it? You just have to cook a thin crêpe, sprinkle it with a little sugar, and drizzle it with the sour juices of the citrus fruit. First I started with a few drops, but then I learned that you should be generous, the more lemon, the better! Back home, I already made it twice and here's the recipe for you. If you feel like a quick, but scrumptious breakfast or lunch, or if you'd like to impress your guests at your next dinner party, flip some crêpes in the pan and buy a bunch of lemons.
Another treat, a savoury buckwheat galette, was just as good and included ham, cheese, and an egg. It was actually so good that I might also share this recipe with you in the near future.
And if you're not into citrus, try one of these recipes:
Crêpes au Citron
Makes about 15-20 crêpes
plain flour, sifted, 260g / 2 cups
granulated sugar 50g / 1/4 cup, plus more to sprinkle the crêpes
fine sea salt 1/8 teaspoon
organic eggs 4
milk 1/2l / 2 cups and 2 tablespoons
butter, to cook the crêpes
fresh lemons, cut in half, about 2-3
fresh mint leaves, a small handful (optional)
In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, mix the flour, sugar, salt, eggs, and milk until smooth; let the batter sit for about 10 minutes (at room temperature) to 1 hour (in the fridge).
In a large, heavy or non-stick pan, melt half a teaspoon of butter on medium-high heat. Pour in a ladle of the dough, holding the pan in your hand and turning it so that the dough spreads evenly and very thinly. The crêpes won’t need more than 30-60 seconds on each side once the heat is set right. When the crêpe is slightly golden on both sides, sprinkle with a little (!) sugar, fold twice so that it forms a triangle, and transfer to a large plate. Cover with a large plate or lid. Continue with the remaining batter until you have about 15-20 crêpes. You should always melt 1/2 -1 teaspoon of butter in the pan before you cook the next crêpe.
Serve the crêpes warm, sprinkled with additional sugar to taste, drizzled with freshly squeezed lemon juice (to taste), and decorate with a few mint leaves. Bon appétit!
German Apple Pancakes and my Berlin Book Launch Event
The BOOK is out and I've done so many things for the first time in my life in the past three weeks that I'm still a little shellshocked. I've been on TV, which I never ever thought I'd be able to do and to say that I was nervous doesn't even come close to the feelings that shook me up inside (thank you Ben for being such a patient host!). I held more speeches than in my entire life before the book came out. My natural styling and rather casual dress code of jeans and shirt got replaced by pretty dresses, uncomfortable shoes, and more make up. And I changed planes like buses in the past few days. Once (it feels like a long time ago) I was scared of flying, but I've seen so many airports recently, that I think my phobia gave up. Now, I'm back in Berlin, I have a little break to breath deeply and to get some rest before the craziness continues and takes me across the Atlantic, to New York.
In the next few weeks, I'll share some impressions of my book launch events with you. We'll start in Berlin, my home town, and then we'll move on to Malta, London, New York, and Washington.
Berlin is my love, I've felt at home in this city since I first opened the door to my apartment almost 12 years ago. One of my favourite spots in this vibrant melting pot is the roof terrace of the stunning Hotel de Rome. It was around a year ago that I decided to have my first book launch event on this terrace. It's a tranquil oasis, it allows you to enjoy the whole city with all its prettiness and construction chaos from afar, but most importantly, you're right under Berlin's clear blue sky. We were lucky, on that early evening on the 26th September, the temperature was mild and the sunset was golden. I couldn't have asked for more.
The day before the event, in the early morning of a quiet Sunday, my family from Berlin and Malta - thank you Ursula, Alexandra, Emma, Julia, and Matt - joined me in my kitchen to help me bake the cakes for my event. I made a wise decision a few months ago, I only took care of the sweets for my event, the Hotel de Rome's fantastic chef, Jörg Behrend, and his team prepared the savoury recipes from my book. They did an amazing job, they actually managed to make me speechless. The food looked like the dishes in my book and tasted like the creations from my own kitchen.
What I've learned during the past three book launches in Berlin, Malta, and London is that you can plan every single detail of an event, but you have to accept that it will be unbearably stressful in the last 20 minutes. During these minutes it may feel like it's never going to work, but then, all of a sudden, in the last minute, everything falls into place. At 6pm sharp, our buffet was set up and Karl Chetcuti was ready to pour the glasses behind the table where he presented five delicious wines from the Meridiana Wine Estate Malta. Cynthia Barcomi - who gave me a heart touching quote for the back of my German book - looked gorgeous in her pink dress and we were both ready (maybe she was a little more ready than me) to have a public talk about my book. My pulse was pumping, wine, food, and the view was enjoyed to the fullest by our guests, and our roof top party got going.
It was the first time that I held a speech about my Eat In My Kitchen book, the first time that I stepped out into the spot light to talk about the process of working on this book. I couldn't have been more thankful for Cynthia guiding me through these exciting minutes, though this new experience, like a sister. My voice and knees were shaking, but my heart was full of joy. The first sip of Meridiana's crisp Astarte white wine after our talk was maybe one of the best sips I ever tasted in my life. I felt relieved.
I want to thank all my guests who came to celebrate with us. I'll never forget the amazing support I keep getting from Türkan, Jörg and the whole Hotel de Rome family, from Karl and Meridiana, from all my family and friends who are there for me no matter how crazy my life is at the moment. Thank you! I want to thank Jules Villbrandt for taking all these beautiful pictures, through your captures I can relive that day again and again. Prestel Publishing, and especially Pia Werner who came from Munich for our celebration, thank you for working on this book together with me.
You might have realized that I sneaked in a few pictures from my own kitchen. I can't write on this blog without sharing a recipe with you, it feels strange. So I decided to come up with very, very simple recipes while I'm on the Eat In My Kitchen book tour, recipes that fit into my tight schedule and that also have a connection to each country we celebrate in. Today's recipe is a childhood classic of mine: German apple pancakes. They aren't light or fluffy, these are thick, dense, eggy German pancakes, rich and filling. And - following my family tradition - they have to be topped with sliced sour apples and lots of cinnamon sugar. Enjoy!
You can see all the pictures of the book launch in Berlin taken by Jules Villbrandt here.
German Apple Pancakes
Serves 2
plain flour 130g / 1 cup
ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for the topping
milk 240ml / 1 cup
organic eggs 3
granulated sugar 2 tablespoons, plus 2 tablespoons for the topping
a pinch of salt
firm sour apples, peeled, cored, and sliced, 1-2
butter, about 3 tablespoons
Sieve together the flour and 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon.
In the large bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the milk, eggs, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and salt for about 1 minutes. Add the flour mixture, gradually, and continue whisking until well combined. There shouldn't be any traces of flour left.
For the topping, combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, heavy or non-stick pan over high temperature. Reduce the heat to medium, pour in half the batter, arrange half the sliced apples on top. Cook for about 2 1/2-3 minutes until golden at the bottom and just set on top, mind that it doesn't get too dark. Flip the pancake onto a large lid, add 1/2 tablespoon of the butter to the pan, and let the pancake slide off the lid into the pan. Cook on the other side for about 2 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar to taste. Enjoy immediately, the pancake tastes best when it's warm.
Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the pan and bake the 2nd pancake in the same way, adding the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter before you flip the pancake. Sprinkle with sugar and enjoy.
Rhubarb Cardamom Clafoutis
In the past few weeks, my kitchen (and sometimes even the living room and balcony) has looked like a farmer's market. I use every corner, kitchen counter, shelf and cupboard to store piles of fruit and vegetables. Tomatoes, squash and beans sit next to colourful cabbages, lettuce, the whole range of citrus fruits and more pots of herbs than I've ever had in my kitchen before. Plums, strawberries, pears and apples share space with all sorts of roots and greens. Since I started working on my first cookbook, my kitchen became a beautiful mess, completely stuffed and almost bursting. My fridge is always so full that I have problems fitting in the butter tin and milk after breakfast.
If there are no book recipes on my schedule, I only need to look around me and I can pick all the fruit and veg I could possibly ask for. There's everything at hand, whatever my taste desires. Be it spring, summer, autumn or winter, the four seasons are present in my kitchen through all the produce, which also means that there is always something that needs to be used as I don't want to waste anything. I ended up with too many eggs, too much milk and too much rhubarb, this called for a clafoutis! I refined the golden French pan dish with cardamom, you could also add cinnamon but cardamom is my favourite baking spice at the moment. The result was very fluffy, I was impressed how much it rose this time! You never really know what this dessert is going to do when you take it out of the oven. The pleasure didn't last very long, a clafoutis can gracefully rise like a soufflé and then deflate within seconds. But it tasted fantastic, warm and fragrant, slightly sweet and sour, just right for a late Sunday breakfast with your mama - Happy Mother's Day to all the great mamas in the world!
You can find the recipe for my apricot clafoutis here!
Rhubarb Cardamom Clafoutis
For a 23cm /9″ heavy, ovenproof pan or baking dish you need
rhubarb, cut into 3cm / 1 1/4" pieces, 300g / 10 1/2oz
ground cardamom
plain flour 80g / 3 ounces
granulated sugar 4 tablespoons plus 2 tablespoons for the rhubarb
a pinch of salt
butter, melted, 30g / 1 ounce plus 2 tablespoons for the rhubarb
large eggs 4
milk 200ml / 7 ounces
freshly squeezed orange juice 3 tablespoons
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cardamom in a heavy pan, add the rhubarb and cook for about 3 minutes or until it softens but still holds its shape, stir once in a while. Set the pan aside.
Set the oven to 180°C / 355°F (top / bottom heat) and generously butter a 23cm /9″ heavy, ovenproof pan or baking dish.
Combine the flour, 4 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk 1 teaspoon of cardamom into the warm melted butter and mix with the eggs, milk and orange juice then pour into the dry mixture and mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
Spread the rhubarb in the buttered pan and pour the batter on top. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the clafoutis is golden and set. Sprinkle the warm clafoutis with sugar and ground cardamom to taste and enjoy immediately.
meet in your kitchen | Dutch Baby for a late Breakfast with Marta Greber
This smile! This woman has the most beautiful and infectious smile! I met Marta Greber from the blog What Should I Eat For Beakfast Today in her kitchen and her charm and positivity impressed me as much as the dish she pulled out of the oven, her delicious Dutch Baby!
Marta came to Berlin three years ago after traveling the continents, she lived in Australia, in Asia and in various countries in South America. She grew up in Poland and started studying law before she spent some time in Barcelona, San Francisco and Amsterdam. This lady is restless and blessed, she always comes back home with the most exciting stories, food experiences and memories. In her husband Tomasz, she found a great travel partner but also a handsome hand model for her blog. Many of the delicious morning goodies that she shares on What Should I Eat For Beakfast Today are presented (and enjoyed!) by Tomasz. Both of them have a weak spot for traditions, especially the ones in the morning. The two get up early to start every day with a little walk through their neighborhood, a good coffee from one of their favourite cafes in hand followed by Marta's amazing breakfast creations that she writes about. Her love for the culinary celebration of the new day and her passion for photography led to the beautiful blog that she started in 2011. What started as a passion became her profession, she's now a full time photographer. Her artistic work is just stunning and everybody wants to see what Marta and Tomasz have for breakfast! When I asked Marta why this time of the day is so important to her to devote a blog to it, she said that it's the only time of the day she can plan and control as you never know what the day will bring. That's not a surprise for someone who is as restless as she is!
The two of us almost chatted the afternoon away but when Marta pulled her Dutch Baby out of the oven topped with melted chocolate, fruit and nuts, I was speechless! It looked scrumptious but unfortunately both of us wanted to take pictures of her work so we had to wait, including Tomasz who came into the kitchen twice to see if we were finally done so that we could eat!
Marta's Dutch Baby with melted Chocolate, roasted Nuts and Plums
For 1 Dutch Baby in a small heavy ovenproof pan or baking dish you need
butter 90g / 3 ounces
milk 110ml / 4 ounces
plain flour 120g / 4.5 ounces
eggs 2
a pinch of salt
For the topping
milk chocolate, melted, 100g / 3.5 ounces
mix of nuts, roasted, a handful
plums, sliced, 3
fresh mint 6 leaves
coconut flakes 1-2 tablespoons
Set the oven to 220°C / 430°F.
Put the butter in an iron pan or baking dish and place in the hot oven.
Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan or in a bain marie if you prefer. Take the pan off the heat as soon as the chocolate is melted. Roast the nuts in a pan (you can add a little coconut oil if you like). In a small bowl, mix the flour, eggs, milk and salt until combined.
When the butter is melted in the hot pan, gently pour the dough into the middle of the pan and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes or until golden.
When your Dutch Baby pancake is done, carefully remove the butter on top (with a spoon or pour it out) and cover with the toppings.
Your blog is called 'What Should I Eat For Breakfast Today', why does this specific meal play such an important role in your life? How did that start?
Morning is the only time during my day that I can control. If I get up earlier (and I usually do) I can prepare a great meal for me and my partner Tomasz, sit together over a nice cup of coffee, talk or simply enjoy food, morning light and silence. Later during the day it’s more complicated as we never know if we’ll be having other meals at home or not. I can also see how a good meal influences our frame of mind and day, so why not start in the morning.
You grew up in Poland, what are your food memories?
I was and still am addicted to polish racuchy - pancakes with apples. My grandma used to make them for me whenever I asked and I asked a lot. I could eat it for every meal. I can remember my grandma making great simple flavours that I loved like kogiel-mogiel (egg yolk bitten with sugar) or homemade pasta with milk and sugar. It was simple but delicious and I still prefer basic flavours.
How did your travels influence your cooking and eating habits?
It doesn’t help with finding my new small obsessions for sure. I try a lot of food but it doesn’t mean that I like everything. My fascination with breakfasts started in Sydney actually, where I had an amazing one in Bill’s Restaurant - ricotta pancakes with banana and it couldn’t be better. In Sydney I had a chance to try international cuisine and to figure out what I like. Then I traveled in Asia for almost a year and I understood that I could eat sticky rice with mango on an everyday basis and that Thai flavours are truly loved by my taste buds. There were some victims as well as after a long time of traveling on budget and eating mostly rice and asian soups, I still have a problem with eating them now. Ups.I travel quite a lot with Tomasz, we try to go to different countries for longer, like a few months and stay there, so we can truly experience the food culture and local flavours. I am lucky that my partner Tomasz is really interested in food, he likes to taste and try things and he’s much braver than I am. If he had a food blog, you’d love it. But for now he’s my hand model (laughs).It would take much too long to describe what made me happy in different cuisines, but I’ll mention that a cinnamon toast I had in San Francisco blew my mind, sobrassada served with a young Champagne in Barcelona is something I enjoy, cheese in Holland is amazing, chipa in Paraguay can make a perfect breakfast, coffee in Sydney tastes like it should.
What does traveling mean to you? What do you miss when you stay in one place for a long time?
I never thought of what it means to me, it’s a part of my life which I don’t want to change. I made a few sacrifices in my life to have this kind of lifestyle (which don’t feel like sacrifices anymore) and this is what I truly like. It goes with my nature. For instance I always had a problem with sitting on a beach - I walk around, run, swim, go to look for something, but can’t just sit there. Whenever we go I push Tomasz to walk a lot. We go hundreds of kilometres on foot and I love it. When I stay in one place I have the feeling that I’m missing something and sometimes I stop to appreciate a city I’m in. Nowadays I really like to go back to Berlin, because traveling helps me to remember how awesome this city is.
What effect did the move to Berlin have on your cooking?
I eat healthier, I use organic products, I learned a lot about grains, good flours, spices. I have this feeling that everyone over here is fascinated with food. I attend many events related to food and it influences my choices and stimulates curiosity.
What was the first dish you cooked on your own, what is your first cooking memory?
I don’t really remember but most probably racuchy.
What are your favourite places to buy and enjoy food in Berlin?
Local farmers markets, I like to walk around with my basket and collect veggies. I truly enjoy small shops with imported goods where I buy things without knowing how I can use them. But also Frischeparadies - I can walk around and look at beautiful sea food and veggies from all over the planet for long minutes and KADEWE, as they have an awesome stuff!
You are an internationally acclaimed photographer, your work has been featured in the media around the world, when did you first pick up the camera and why?
I don’t remember why, I always liked it. I was the annoying kid taking pictures at camps and trying to stage cool frames (usually it wasn’t as cool as I attempted it to be). But it really kicked in when I moved to Sydney and finally had time to improve it. Australia is crazy awesome and beautiful. For a Polish gal everything was very exciting and I am an emotional beast so for me it was double great. I took hundreds of pictures every day, always had a camera on me, bothering friends, people, animals and nature. But also I’m lucky as my partner Tomasz agrees with my ideas and he’s always happy to be my object, however I dress him up or even when he has to move around for an hour so I get a proper shot.
What are your upcoming projects?
The biggest one will be my baby. And for now this is the only project I’m concentrating on. You should ask me in a few months when I’m a mother already and know what it means to me.
Why did you choose Berlin as a place to live and work?
By accident really. We could choose any city in Europe thanks to Tomasz’ work. I voted for Barcelona as I learned some Spanish in South America and Tomasz chose Berlin (he says his German is poor, but believe me it’s really good). Then we decided to spend a year in Berlin and another one in Barcelona. Well, it didn’t work out as Berlin is most probably the best city in Europe to be in, so we stayed.
What did you choose to share on eat in my kitchen and why?
I chose Dutch Baby with melted chocolate, roasted nuts and plums. And the reason - it’s easy, fast, delicious and can’t go wrong (laughing).
If you could choose one person to cook a meal for you, who and what would it be?
Someone from The Growlers and obviously the rest of the band would be invited as well. I’ve been to their concert and I think it would be nice to hang out.
You're going to have ten friends over for a spontaneous dinner, what will be on the table?
Mushroom risotto prepared by Tomasz!
What was your childhood's culinary favourite and what is it now?
It used to be racuchy made by my grandma, nowadays racuchy made by myself.
Do you prefer to cook on your own or together with others?
Both, no preferences really.
Which meals do you prefer, improvised or planned?
Both, as both are a totally different experience.
Which meal would you never cook again?
Pumpkin gnocchi - I tried it three times and totally failed, never again!
Thank you Marta!
Kaiserschmarrn - an Austrian Pancake with Darjeeling Orange Raisins
This Austrian classic is one of the best dinner party crowd pleasers when the night calls for an easy rustic dessert. So many people have sat at my long wooden table and enjoyed this cozy dish, which is basically a torn fluffy pancake. Every time I serve Kaiserschmarrn, it creates joyful silence in the room, a silence that only moments of happy bliss and culinary satisfaction can create; moments that remind us of our childhood food and memories, when our mothers or grandmothers would turn the kitchen into the best smelling place in the world on a Sunday morning - simply by cooking some golden pancakes.
Kaiserschmarrn is the Austrian take on this nostalgic treat, which is also popular in South Tyrol, in the Italian Dolomites, and Southern Germany. The fluffy pancake is dotted with raisins and torn by using two forks right after it turned golden on both sides. The name derives from the Austrian Kaiser (emperor) Franz Joseph I of Austria. He used to love this dessert so much that people referred to it as his folly, meaning Schmarrn in Austria and Bavaria.
I feel with the emperor and can easily call it one of my sweet follies. I've had so many Kaiserschmarrn in my life that it's good to bring in a change once in a while. Sometimes I add fresh fruits, like apples (in my book 365), berries, or plums, or spices, like cinnamon or cardamom, but for the one that I will share with you today, I soaked the raisins in Darjeeling tea infused with strips of orange.
Kaiserschmarrn
For 2-3 people you need
raisins 50g / 2 ounces
orange peel, 2 long strips
strong black tea (like Darjeeling), 1 cup, for soaking the raisins
organic eggs 3, separated
a pinch of salt
milk 360ml / 1 1/2 cups
granulated sugar 3 tablespoons
orange zest 1/4 teaspoon
all-purpose flour, sieved, 130g / 1 cup
unsalted butter 4 tablespoons, to cook the pancake
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting the pancake
Soak the raisins and orange peel in the tea for about 10 minutes then drain the raisins for a 4 minutes; discard the tea and orange peel.
Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff.
Mix together the milk, egg yolks, sugar, and orange zest until combined. Add the flour to the milk mixture and whisk until smooth, then stir in the raisins. Using a wooden spoon, gently fold the egg white into the pancake batter.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a 30cm /12-inch cast-iron pan or nonstick skillet. Pour all of the the pancake batter into the pan and cook over medium heat for 4-6 minutes minutes or until golden on the bottom and the pancake is just set but still soft. Flip the pancake; you can also cut the pancake in half and turn both halves separately, which is easier. Lift the pancake a little and let 1 tablespoon of butter melt underneath it then continue cooking for 4-6 minutes until the other side is golden. Carefully tear the pancake into chunky pieces, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and cook, stirring gently, over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes or until golden brown and the edges start to crisp.
Transfer to a large platter, dust with a little confectioners’ sugar, and enjoy immediately. You can serve berries on the side, or seared apples wedges, cooked in butter and deglazed with Grand Marnier (recipe in 365).
