Food Archives - The chef's cult

The best herb guide! Everything you need to know about rosemary!

viktor.dvanajscak — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 20:53:08 +0000

Hello my merry rosemary herb! Today we are learning everything there is to know about rosemary! How you should grow it, use it, pair it, and live with it! Let’s proceed, I guess.

The thing is we can do with this blog whatever we want my darling, if you like we can talk about Kim K splitting up with Kanye, but hey, we’re not like that. We like to explore, and experience new things, broaden our horizons if you want so. That’s why we learn about rosemary, and not the best new depilatory products on the market (but we don’t judge either, I heard there’s some nice new ones …). Quite the introduction, isn’t it? But hey, we don’t care, let’s start with the rosemary, shall we?

Why you should use rosemary?

Rosemary is considered one of the main kitchen herbs, therefore you will find it in a lot of recipes. The thing with dried rosemary is, we don’t like it very much, but you can, of course, make delicious meals with it. That’s why mostly we talk about your fresh I’m-so-cool-I-have-fresh-rosemary-in-my-20-acre-garden rosemary. But you can also have it fresh in your kitchen (read below)!

Where to use rosemary?

Because of it’s potent aroma rosemary is mainly used as the herb that really kicks in with flavor. Consider it the Mike Tyson of herbs, but without the “bokthing ith my favorite thport” part. The rule of pairing (mainly everything) we call SIS (similar in similar, and yea, we invented the term). This means strong flavors are better with stronger meats, stronger fish, pungent vegetables etc.

The rosemary herb will always be the strong flavor in your dish, remember this! To get a sense of how to use it in fish or meat-based dishes see picture below. But we’re sure you got a sense of how and where to use rosemary. And remember one thing, if anything goes wrong with your pairing, at least you tried (and we love you for that).

How to grow rosemary?

Rosemary is very lazy in terms of growing it from its own seeds. He’s like that kid in your kindergarten that just slept the whole day, but in the hot sun, mostly without water and growing nevertheless (we’re talking here about rosemary, not the kid).

The best way to grow rosemary herb at home is clean cutting a branch of fresh rosemary, removing the leaves from half of the branch and adding fresh water to it (in a glass or bowl). Leave it like that on your sunny window and don’t touch it (just add fresh water to it if you need)! In 2-3 weeks it will form tiny little roots (they are so gorgeous).

When this happens I always feel like the rosemary-god, hope you will too. If the roots are not strong enough, you can now leave it like that for a few more weeks, until the roots get stronger. Then replant it in your pot and leave it in a warm and sunny place, water it occasionally.

That’s it, you can now call yourself rosemary master! We always have fresh rosemary in our kitchen (double pinky swear), hope that, with these few tips, you’ll accompany us.

You can literally grow thousands of rosemary plants from scratch, just by planting rosemary branches. All it takes is one. Find it legally, or steal it from your neighbors garden, we don’t care. As always sharing is caring, and yea, you care about your rosemary.

Till next time, and remember, be merry my rosemary!

The post The best herb guide! Everything you need to know about rosemary! appeared first on The chef's cult.

Easy vegetarian saffron dumplings! (or how to handle saffron spice)

viktor.dvanajscak — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 11:23:32 +0000

Easy vegeterian saffron dumplings:

For the dumplings:

400 g all-purpose flour

200 ml cold water

1 teaspoon salt

For the saffron base:

1 teaspoon (small) dried saffron spice

100 ml warm water

For the saffron sauce:

Prepared saffron base

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion

(Sprig of) fresh thyme

100 ml white wine

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

100 ml cooking cream

Servings: 4 servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Easy vegeterian saffron dumplings:

For the dumplings:

14 oz all-purpose flour

7 oz cold water

1 teaspoon salt

For the saffron base:

1 teaspoon (small) dried saffron spice

3.5 oz warm water

For the saffron sauce:

Prepared saffron base

2 tablespoons butter

1 large onion

(Sprig of) fresh thyme

3.5 oz white wine

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3.5 oz cooking cream

Servings: 4 servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Hello my darlings! Today we are learning how to make easy vegetarian saffron dumplings! Brace yourself, spring is coming! And the colors will be awesome!

How to make easy dumplings?

If you don’t know what to cook, these work every time. It’s really easy, just grab your all-purpose flour, water and salt and mix it together. It’s always 2 parts of flour to 1 part of water. The texture of the dough needs to be a little tougher. You can live it in the fridge till you need it, or even freeze it for months. When you prepare it, boil and salt the water and just tear the dough roughly with your fingers into smaller pieces. Throw them directly into the boiling water and cook till al dente. The best way to freeze the dumplings is on a baking paper, where they can literally be stored for months. You can prepare them in all kind of recipes and variations. It’s really a wonderful side dish, always ready to be served. Today we’ll prepare them as delicious and easy vegetarian saffron dumplings! Let’s roll (the dough)!

What is saffron and how it’s used?

Well, my darling, let’s get to basic cooking knowledge. Saffron is a spice derived from the saffron plant Crocus sativus which grows in the middle east mostly, but really all around the world. The spice is made from (HAND!) picked pistils that are dried and preserved. That’s why it’s considered a really costly spice!

The aroma of saffron is (as really most of the expensive stuff in the world) delicate. This means that you, as the perfect little chef you are, need for all cost handle it carefully! Saffron has delicate spice aromas described as musk, honey, or even fresh earth (yea, that’s an aroma my dear), so you want to preserve this delicate aroma. How do you do it?

Firstly, saffron is sensitive to temperatures! On lover temperatures the aroma is not released, and on high temperatures the aroma is quickly lost. You want medium temperatures while cooking with saffron.

Secondly, cook and serve fast when you cook with saffron, because the aromas are best detected when fresh (as mainly everything in the kitchen)!

Lastly, when you cook with saffron it needs to be your main aroma, which means no other strong aromas in the dishes you prepare. If you use other spices with saffron, they need to be milder! No curry, cardamom and strong spices!

To prepare saffron for cooking we use this easy technique! Heat up the needed amount of water in your kettle on medium temperature (somewhere between warm and boiling) and pour it over your saffron in a bowl. Now you have your prepared saffron base on ideal temperature to work with in your recipes!

Furthermore, saffron is mostly used because of its posh yellow color that is just out of this world! Mainly the use of the color is in desserts and pastries! For main dishes it’s often found in risotto, pasta, fish and poultry meals. That’s it, know you know how to perfectly handle your saffron spice!

Easy vegetarian saffron dumplings recipe

We picked this basic recipe because it’s really easy and helps to understand how to handle saffron based dishes. The main aroma of every saffron based dish should be saffron my darlings!

1. Before you start with the recipe, you need to prepare your dumpling dough and saffron cooking base as shown in the introduction! Now you are ready to go!

2. For the sauce heat up your pan and melt the butter. Add the finely minced onions and fresh thyme to it! When the onions are translucent add the flour and incorporate everything well!

3. Now bring the heat up and pour over the wine! Let it evaporate. Then lower your heat to minimum and add the prepared saffron base.

4. Quickly cook and add the cooking cream to it. Season everything to your taste, and if needed add some more butter. The aroma of saffron should be wonderfully preserved in your perfect sauce.

5. Now cook the dumplings as shown in the introduction and add them to the sauce.

6. Mix everything together with the saffron sauce and serve immediately.

For serving add some parmesan cheese and olive oil! Bon appetit my darlings!

Quick cooking instructions

Melt the butter.
Add the minced onions and fresh thyme, when translucent add the flour
Pour over some decent wine and let it evaporate (or let the roof burn if you’re familiar with flaming and have good life insurance, which we of course do not have)
Add the prepared saffron base and cooking cream. Season.
Mix together with the dumplings and serve immediately!

Today you learned a lot about basic saffron handling and preserving aromas, on top of that you learned how to make quick and easy dumplings. It looks like you’re a quick learner and if you want to help your friends to learn with you, share this content. On the other side if you’re the I-like-my-secrets-kept-in-my-first year-college-socks-type, that’s totally cool. We are glad we have all of you, my darlings! See you soon!

The post Easy vegetarian saffron dumplings! (or how to handle saffron spice) appeared first on The chef's cult.

Easy and delicious celery-ginger-cream soup!

viktor.dvanajscak — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 19:16:04 +0000

20-minute celery-ginger-cream soup recipe:

1 kg root celery

2 big onions

50 gr fresh ginger

1 tablespoon butter

300 ml heavy cream (without sugar)

Servings: 8-10 servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

20-minute celery-ginger-cream soup recipe:

2 lbs root celery

2 big onions

1.75 oz fresh ginger

1 tablespoon butter

10.5 oz heavy cream (without sugar)

Servings: 8-10 servings

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Hello, my little celery sticks! Today we are making an easy and delicious celery-ginger-cream soup, which literally only took me 20 minutes! If it takes you longer, don’t bother my brother, because cooking is relaxation, not stress! That’s also one more reason not to cook for your mother-in-law. Let’s get it on!

The main ingredients

Celery is a potent flavor maker and therefore found in low quantities in a lot of vegetable stocks and sauces. But you don’t like celery? Never mind, because in larger quantities, the taste of celery becomes less dominant and get’s somewhat near UMAMI taste (like soy sauce for example). My sister didn’t like celery either, but she found this celery-ginger-cream soup really delicious. The next basic flavor comes from heavy cream which needs to be unsweetened. Heavy cream is the thing of which dreams are made of (yea, I got some really weird dreams sometimes) but it’s really the best for strong soup recipes!

How to make celery-ginger-cream soup?

1. First heat up a large pot and melt your butter in it. Then add the finely minced onions, when they are translucent, add the finely chopped ginger. Cook for about 2 minutes (you’ll get that nice ginger smell all over your kitchen) and then add the chopped celery.

2. When the celery softens (it needs about 5 minutes on medium heat) add water or vegetable stock. Add at least the amount of water that covers the whole surface of the celery. Season everything to your desired taste.

3. When it starts boiling cook everything 10 more minutes on medium heat. Blend everything together with your stick blender (and if your boyfriend asks again who’s the boss here, just show him your stick blender, he won’t ask no more). If you don’t like the density of the soup, now you can also add some more water or stock.

4. Then bring the soup to boil again and add the heavy cream. Season to your desired taste and enjoy your quick piece of heavy cream heaven!

Quick cooking instructions

In a large pot melt your butter. Add the onions, when translucent, add the ginger. Cook for 2 minutes and in the end add the celery.
Cook for 5 minutes (or until celery softens) and add water or vegetable stock. Season to your taste.
Cook 10 more minutes and blend.
Bring to boil, add heavy cream and season to your taste. Enjoy your piece of heavy cream heaven!

You can serve it with toasted baguette or bread and a few drops of your best olive oil. I’m cooking this soup on a weekly basis and everybody just loves it! In the end it’s always about sharing and caring! Until next time my little celery sticks, love you all!

The post Easy and delicious celery-ginger-cream soup! appeared first on The chef's cult.

The best fresh ricotta and spinach crêpes cannelloni

viktor.dvanajscak — Sun, 14 Feb 2021 13:24:55 +0000

Ricotta and spinach crêpes cannelloni recipe:

500 g spinach

700 g tomato sauce (homemade)

2 garlic cloves

15 freshly made crêpes

500 g fresh ricotta cheese

1 large egg

4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

400 g mozzarella

Olive oil

Fresh basil

Servings: 6 servings

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 35 minutes

Ricotta and spinach crêpes cannelloni recipe:

17.5 oz spinach

24.5 oz tomato sauce (homemade)

2 garlic cloves

15 freshly made crêpes

17.5 oz fresh ricotta cheese

1 large egg

4 tablespoons breadcrumbs

14 oz mozzarella

Olive oil

Fresh basil

Servings: 6 servings

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 35 minutes

Hello, my little cherry tomatoes! Today we are exploring the unknown recipes of Italy with the best freshly made ricotta-and-spinach-crepes-cannellonis! If you can say the previous sentence in one breath, you can also make’ em, because you are one hell of a cherry tomato! Grab your kitchen utensils, lock your distractions away and let’s do some fu#$ing cooking!

This recipe is quick, efficient, and tasty, just like your true lover needs to be! If he can’t warm up that little cherry tomato in 15 minutes, forget-about-it! We made a few points, discussed our love affairs, this means, we are almost ready for cooking!

What are crêpe canelonis?

Okey, what are they? We know you heard about crêpes, because you are better than Gordon Ramsay, and you know your crêpes. But if you don’t know, there’s no need to worry. Crepes are really easy to make, it literally takes just a few minutes. They are very similar to pancakes, but thinner! They are commonly found throughout Europe, stretching from France to Eastern Europe. On the other side, cannellonis are pipe shaped pasta filled up with really everything you can think of. What we are doing here is the same thing, only with freshly made crêpes. Nothing really difficult, but very interesting and, above all, yummmmy!

How to make crêpe canelonis?

1. This recipe is really easy peasy. Just grab your pan and make some fresh crêpes. They will be your cannelloni substitute.

2. Afterwards heat up your pan and just cook the water out of your fresh spinach. Mix together the ricotta, spinach and one egg, season everything to your taste (you can also add some nutmeg if you want), and you are ready to go!

3. Heat up your pan with some olive oil, add the finely chopped garlic, when golden in color, add the tomato sauce. Add a handful of fresh basil leaves and season everything to your taste (if the tomato is too acidic, add a pinch of sugar to it). In the end add the breadcrumbs to thicken up your sauce.

4. Now you have everything you need! Fill your crêpes with the filling, roll em’ up and put them in your baking tray. When the whole bottom of your tray is covered with your crêpes, press them so the filling is evenly distributed.

5. Cover everything with your tomato sauce and with your hand tear the mozzarella into small pieces. Cover the surface with it and you’re ready to bake. Heat up your oven on 180 °C (350° F) and bake it for 35 minutes, or until golden.

Quick cooking instructions

Make fresh crêpes!
For the filling, cook the water out of the spinach, mix it with the ricotta and egg. Season everything.
In a pan heat up some garlic, add the tomato sauce and basil. Season everything.
Fill up your crêpes and put them in the baking tray.
Cover everything with your homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella.
Bake everything for 35 minutes on 180 °C (350° F)

You are now ready to serve the best hidden gem in your neighborhood. This recipe is really something we make very common, because it’s just fast and easy, and my gosh, the taste of it is like a ride on the Amalfi coast. You, my little cherry tomato, can of course share this recipe, or keep it for yourself, hidden in your socks on the bottom of your grandma’s closet. Choose wisely!

The post The best fresh ricotta and spinach crêpes cannelloni appeared first on The chef's cult.

Best traditional Hungarian Goulash recipe! Guaranteed!

viktor.dvanajscak — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 18:26:15 +0000

Hello, my young Hungarian shepherds! Today it’s all about the colors red, white, and green, because today we are making the best traditional Hungarian Goulash. For the few shepherds that really don’t have a clue what it’s about, it’s basically a stew, but with really strong and concentrated flavor.

Traditional goulash recipe:

2 kg fresh beef

100 g celery root

6 big carrots

5 medium size onions

3 tablespoons sweet ground paprika

1 tablespoon smoked ground paprika

1 teaspoon ground hot chilly

1 tablespoon ground caraway seeds (or cumin seeds)

1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

3 tablespoons lard

3 tablespoons tomato paste

Servings: 8 servings

Preparation time: 2 h : 30 minutes

Traditional goulash recipe:

4.4 pounds fresh beef

3.5 oz celery root

6 big carrots

5 medium size onions

3 tablespoons sweet ground paprika

1 tablespoon smoked ground paprika

1 teaspoon ground hot chilly

1 tablespoon ground caraway seeds (or cumin seeds)

1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper

3 tablespoons lard

3 tablespoons tomato paste

Servings: 8 servings

Preparation time: 2 h : 30 minutes

What is traditional Hungarian Goulash?

So, my little Hungarian shepherds, imagine yourself on a cold winter day searching grass in the wilderness of the Hungarian prairie. What do you eat? Something hearty, warm, and strong! You need to be the boss of your cattle, let them know who is the one and only master of goulash. Well, that may or may not be the beginning of traditional Hungarian Goulash. You need to remember that people mostly cook with food grown in their habitat, and Hungary is known for it’s paprika (dried peppers) and meat. In this recipe we’ll use two varieties of peppers, one mild and sweet, the other smoked and strong (just as your bottle of Jack).

What are the basic ingredients?

The taste of great goulash comes from great meat (beef) and exceptional paprika! That’s the base of this traditional meal. Now we add some strong vegetable base and spices, and let it simmer for a loooong time. The meat needs to be soft as J.Lo’s butt (yea, we can use that expression)! And if you think it’s doable in one hour, let’s be real, it’s not! Great things take time! For traditional goulash you do not need broth, canned or fresh tomatoes, and especially no thickening agent like flour! Forget about Holly’s, Molly’s, Dolly’s and every other recipe there is about goulash, because what you’re going to read is the essence of goulash itself. The beef for goulash doesn’t need to be expensive, just the opposite, because goulash is often made from meat leftovers.

How to make traditional Hungarian Goulash?

1. First, finely chop the onions and fry them in lard (you can also use olive oil, but lard is lard my man) until golden brown. It’s really important to fry everything thoroughly, because great goulash is about roast aromas. Add the finely chopped carrots and celery root, and fry until they also get a brownish hue. Season everything and remove it from your large pot into a bowl. Blend everything together with your stick blender.

2. Secondly, prepare the spice mixture. For the spice mixture add into a small bowl the sweet paprika, smoked paprika, ground caraway seeds, fresh ground black pepper, and ground chilly (depending on how hot you like your goulash). Mix it altogether and it’s ready to use. Then chop your meat into small cubes, add lard to your heated pot and throw in the meat. Just fry it slightly and add the spice mixture to it. The meat just needs to get some outside color but needs to be raw inside. Remove it from the pot into a bowl. The meat will lose some juice in the bowl. This is the essence of the meat and you NEED to add it afterwards altogether to the goulash.

3. Now you got your meat and vegetable bases ready! Once again heat up your pot with lard and add the blended vegetable base to it. Then add tomato paste to the vegetable base, fry a few seconds so it changes color to a nice red. Then add the meat base to it. Almost done! Add the bay leaf (and if it’s too thick, add just a few drops of water) and let it simmer for 2 hours minimum.

The best serving advice!

The best (and traditional) side dish is either potatoes (can be added directly to the goulash), bread or fried wheat dumplings. We served our traditional Hungarian Goulash with dumplings!

Quick cooking instructions

In a large pot, melt the lard, add onions, carrots and celery. Cook until it’s nicely fried. Blend everything.
Prepare your spice mixture. Again, add the lard to the pot, cook the meat quickly and add the spice mixture.
Heat up your pot with lard. Add the vegetable base and tomato paste. Mix them together and add the meat base.
Add the bay leaf and let it simmer for 2 hours. (Enjoy your waiting time with a good glass of whatever you like!)

Now you are a true Hungarian shepherd. You can cook your goulash like the old folks did! You are the master of your cattle, the lard master, the one and only emperor of Hungary! Congrats, and my king, if you want you can share it or don’t (if you dare it?)!

The post Best traditional Hungarian Goulash recipe! Guaranteed! appeared first on The chef's cult.

The best fast and easy side dishes: fried wheat dumplings!

viktor.dvanajscak — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 18:32:23 +0000

Hello my glossy pearls! Ever wondered what to cook except pasta, rice, and potatoes, say no more, get on the kitchen floor, because today you are learning some easy under-the-radar-kitchen-magic! Let’s go!

Fried wheat dumplings recipe:

500 g flour (all-purpose)

500 ml water (cooked with potatoes)

500 g potatoes

Servings: 4 servings

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Fried wheat dumplings recipe:

17.5 oz flour (all-purpose)

17.5 oz water (cooked with potatoes)

17.5 oz potatoes

Servings: 4 servings

Preparation time: 30 minutes

What are wheat dumplings?

They are the best thing you came across today. I mean it’s fast and easy to make and tasty as your-mama’s-apple-pie. Let’s be honest, there is not enough side dishes in this world and fried wheat dumplings will be your next new big discovery. They are made mostly in Eastern Europe (Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, …), but don’t judge me if you find them somewhere else … They are a mixture of all-purpose flour and potatoes, but the secret behind them is lard (oil is also a good option though). The lard needs to be salted, just give it a very, very, very good pinch of salt, before you throw it in the pan. Now we learned wheat they are (got the wheat there ?), so let’s make them together.

How to make wheat dumplings?

It’s literally the easiest thing to do. Even Kim Kardashian would learn it, like in a day or two (LOL just kidding, or am I?), and all my glossy pearls are the best learners, so it’s not a big thing for you!

1. First take out your fresh potatoes and peel them like your hot girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband on a delightful Saturday evening. Cut them roughly into slices and add them to the boiling water (salt the water, it must be salty as the ocean, Atlantic or Pacific, pick for yourself).

2. When cooked (it’s always cooked if the potatoes fall out of your fork when pressed) remove it from the heat and mix the water together with the potatoes in a nice paste. Season everything to your taste and add the flour, not everything at once my early bird, but piece by piece, until you get a nice and even texture. The mixture needs to be smooth but not hard. The perfect description is slightly sticky (we are a cooking site, and those terms are perfectly normal, nothing to be ashamed of)!

3. Heat up your frying pan with the prepared lard, grab your mixture with a tablespoon and add them, one by one, to the frying pan. Fry them until golden brown on both sides, and they are ready to eat!

You can serve them with sour cream, hot and spicy sauces, just like finger-food or as the perfect side dish to your everyday meal. The best things are as always shared with the people you love! Sharing is caring my little pearl, so either share it, or as it always is and will be, don’t! It’s your free will! HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!

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Unknown recipes: Croatia “Between the river strudel – Međimurska gibanica”

viktor.dvanajscak — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 21:24:10 +0000

Between the river strudel recipe:

1. LAYER – 200 g fresh ground walnuts + 6 tablespoons sugar + 2 dcl fresh milk

2. LAYER – 200 g ground poppy seeds + 6 tablespoons sugar + 2 dcl fresh milk

3. LAYER – 500 g fresh cottage cheese + 1 large free range egg + 6 tablespoons sugar

4. LAYER – 1 kg fresh apples + 6 tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon

150 g butter

300 g puff pastry dough

200 g strudel dough

6 tablespoons sour cream (with 2 teaspoons sugar)

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes

BAKING TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes

Between the river strudel recipe:

1. LAYER – 7 oz fresh ground walnuts + 6 tablespoons sugar + 6.5 oz dcl fresh milk

2. LAYER – 7 oz ground poppy seeds + 6 tablespoons sugar + 6.5 oz dcl fresh milk

3. LAYER – 17.5 oz fresh cottage cheese + 1 large free range egg + 6 tablespoons sugar

4. LAYER – 35 oz fresh apples + 6 tablespoons sugar + 2 teaspoons cinnamon

5 oz butter

10.5 oz puff pastry dough

7 oz strudel dough

6 tablespoons sour cream (with 2 teaspoons sugar)

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes

BAKING TIME: 1 hour 10 minutes

Hello my buttercups! Today it’s all about experiencing the unknown recipes in remote places of the world! Today we are in Croatia, northern Croatia precisely, and we are making the indigenous “between the river” strudel. Cool name, right? It is the best strudel recipe in the world! It’s about layers, tradition and only the finest ingredients, resembling the place where it came from. If you give it a try, I’ll guarantee it will be the best dessert you made this year, and it definitely won’t be your last! Let’s roll up our sleeves then!

The traditional name of this strudel is “Međimurska gibanica” (the name of the region is roughly translated like “between the river”, so let’s call it “between the river strudel”). It is made from 4 layers where every layer is separated by basic strudel dough . The layers are made of walnuts, poppy seeds, fresh cottage cheese and cinnamon apples. It is really a prominent region dessert, but only a handful of people in the world know about it, yet even tasted it (so you are one lucky buttercup). The ingredients are widely available by locals, and they are very commonly used in a lot of desserts in the region. The top and bottom layer of the “between the river strudel” is made from basic puff pastry dough. You can also buy all of it in the store, but my buttercup, you know me, we cook everything at home, because we can (and we’re gorgeous, of course)!

For the recipe it’s important to know your baking tray (I mean the dimensions of it, you don’t have to know it by name, but if you have a name for it, that’s totally ok, I guess). My baking tray is 25 x 40 x 8 cm (10 x 16 x 3 inches), just to know for the amount of ingredients used. Also, on the begging we start with cutting out baking paper for the bottom of the strudel, so it really won’t stick. Now that we have everything ready, we’ll go through the steps. In the steps it always goes layer on layer, it’s not really difficult, but making it first time, maybe it will take you a few minutes.

On your prepared baking tray (you have baking paper cut out on the bottom), we place the puff pastry dough, you can roll it out or manually place it on the bottom. If it doesn’t fit perfect, no worry, just seal all the borders and that’s it. Every bottom dough (either puff or strudel) is always coated with some melted butter! Just melt it in a small pan and add it on the layer with a brush. That’s the base for every layer in the “between the river” strudel.

Here’s the basic layout of the between the river strudel: base – puff pastry dough (coated with butter) + walnuts (FIRST LAYER), strudel dough (coated with butter) + ground poppy seeds (SECOND LAYER), strudel dough (coated with butter) + fresh cottage cheese (THIRD LAYER), strudel dough (coated with butter) + cinnamon apples (FOURTH LAYER), cover – puff pastry dough (coated with butter) + SOUR CREAM. And yes, we’re not building a skyscraper here.

1. We’re ready now for the first layer. The walnuts for the layer need to be ground walnuts, and they need to be of high quality. High quality walnuts have always a fresh smell, and never ever smell of old oxidated oil or fat. Heat up the milk and sugar in a pan. Add them to the ground walnuts and mix them altogether. Spread it evenly on the puff pastry dough and cover it with the strudel dough. The strudel dough needs to be nicely thin and evenly cover the first layer.

2. Perfect! Now we are ready for the second layer. First coat the strudel dough with the melted butter. In the meantime, warm up the milk together with sugar and add it to the ground poppy seeds. Mix it together and add the poppy seeds on the strudel dough. Spread it evenly and cover the whole dough nicely. Then again cover the second layer with some strudel dough, and you’re ready for the next step my darling.

3. As before, butter is king, that’s why we’ll butter the dough again. Now mix one egg with the sugar and add it to the cottage cheese. Stir well and spread evenly on the strudel dough. Cover the third layer with another strudel dough, and you’re ready for the next step.

4. For the next step peel the apples and grate them. Heat up your pan, hit it with a little butter, add the apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Let it simmer for a few minutes. The idea is to concentrate the apples and remove a little bit of the water. The best apples for baking always have a little bit higher acidity. That’s because, after baking, they still need to have a fruit kick in them. If you like the taste (and have no children near, well, I won’t judge) you can also add a little rum, it gives it a little kick. After a few minutes remove the apples from the heat and evenly place them on the dough. As always, the strudel dough needs to be covered first with, the one and only king of the kitchen, butter.

5. Now you are almost done with the layers. We only need to cover everything with the puff pastry dough. In the end we mix some sugar and sour cream and evenly cover the top of the puff pastry dough. A good advice is to cut out the strudel before baking it, afterwards you just pull out the pieces. Serving made easy.

At last, heat up your oven to 180 °C (350° Fahrenheit), and push the beauty of strudel in. Bake it for 1 h: 10 min, take it out and enjoy. You can cut the pieces out easily, serve it still warm, but for me, the best taste of the strudel is the next day. If it lasts till tomorrow, of course.

As always sharing is caring, get the word out to your friends and family, or don’t give a d*#n, have it for yourself, whatever you like! You’re the boss!

The post Unknown recipes: Croatia “Between the river strudel – Međimurska gibanica” appeared first on The chef's cult.

Basic pastry class: learn how to make puff and strudel pastry in 20 minutes!

viktor.dvanajscak — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 13:10:48 +0000

Basic puff pastry recipe:

200 g flour (all-purpose or pastry)

200 g butter (half for the dough, half for the layers)

120 ml cold water

Basic puff pastry recipe:

7 oz flour (all-purpose or pastry)

7 oz butter (half for the dough, half for the layers)

4 oz cold water

Hello my sweet cupcakes! Today we are learning the basics of pastry making.

Turn up the volume on your radio (put on some Prince, Madonna, Queen, whatever you like, I’m going with “pour some sugar on me”), ignore your neighbors’ new bought yacht and exercise your patience with some pastry! Because the children are seeking your attention, we need to be fast in the kitchen. We can’t read recipes all day long. Nobody got time for that. We need some clear stuff, right? Today we’ll make it fresh filtered polish vodka clear. Let’s get it on!

First, we’ll make 15-minute puff pastry! Nothing more or less, my cupcake. It’s great for all kind of desserts, and it’s plain simple. You can also buy it in the store, but this site stands always for homemade! Take out your butter, all-purpose flour (or pastry flour), and cold water. That’s it! It always goes like this, one-part flour one-part butter! No one will complain there, for sure. To get that puff in the pastry you need to get that trendy mosaic look in the dough. It’s important to divide half of your butter to mix it in the begging, and the other half to work it in the layers. That’s the big trick here. And then it’s all puffy! Puff, easy!

1. Mix together the flour, half of your total butter and cold water (because we want everything to be as cold as your ex’s heart on a cold winter day). You knead it till it’s all very smooth.

2. Now you roll the dough really thin! You cut the remaining butter into three pieces of same size. Every piece is for one layer. We’ll make three, but you can make how much you want. Just add the same portion of butter to every layer. Now you cut the butter really small and cover the whole surface of your dough.

3. Then cover your half of the dough and roll it out again. You add the second layer of butter on the surface and cover it again (try making a square shape this time). Then you roll it out again and add the last layer of butter. Cover it again in a square shape and roll it out to your desired thickness and form.

4. Now you see the mosaic structure of the pastry! You can put it on a baking paper, roll it in and put it in the fridge or even freeze it, so it’s always ready to use.

Always remember to flour your surface thoroughly! You can get this really easily done in 15 minutes! Just follow the steps and you’ll get the basic concept of it. You can use this pastry for all kinds of desserts, but also ham, cheese, salty/hearty recipes. Just be creative! Next week we’ll make the best dessert in the world with it! I guarantee it!

Now let’s jump to central European dessert pastry, or the traditional strudel pastry! If you made your puff pastry in 15 minutes, then your strudel pastry will be done in 5 minutes! The recipe is from my grandmother, and we all know, grandmas are the true chefs of the world. A real strudel pastry needs just 4 things: flour (all-purpose or pastry), oil, warm water, and vinegar.

Basic strudel pastry recipe:

200 g flour (all-purpose or pastry)

4 tablespoons oil (sunflower)

2 teaspoons vinegar

120 ml warm water

Basic strudel pastry recipe:

200 g flour (all-purpose or pastry)

4 tablespoons oil (sunflower)

2 teaspoons vinegar

4 oz warm water

1. It’s really simple, basically one step. You add the flour, water, oil and vinegar to a bowl. Mix it together so it gets a nice smooth surface.

2. When it’s smooth you cover the whole surface with oil. Put it in a plastic bag and let the air out of the bag. Put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours, and its ready to use! If you have no 2 hours, let it rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.

The difference in handling the strudel dough is the surface area and thinning. The surface area needs for all the time be covered with oil, so it doesn’t stick. Furthermore, you need to thin it out so you can see your shadow of the hand through it!

Today you learned some essential basic pastry knowledge. It doesn’t take more than 20 minutes to learn it for your entire lifetime. Whenever we’ll make recipes that need those types of pastry, just follow this few quick steps.

The post Basic pastry class: learn how to make puff and strudel pastry in 20 minutes! appeared first on The chef's cult.

Learn how to grow your perfect winter seedlings!

viktor.dvanajscak — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:23:00 +0000

It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s grey (and it’s not your neighbor’s cat) outside, but now is the perfect time to think of your summer garden!

Hello my darlings!

Aren’t you feeling tired of the winter already? Christmas is over, spring isn’t starting soon enough, and you are stuck there somewhere in between. But let’s brighten up your mood, shall we?

You, as the perfect chef, are already thinking of your pretty little garden that will be there in no time. For that you need little plants (so called seedlings) to replant in March, April, and May, and now is the time to plant your seeds and wait for the first sunshine to rise and shine. In a few steps you will be the perfect gardener, soon your mother will ask you how to plant the tomato, that’s for sure! In a few quick steps we will go through everything you need to know about starting your own garden.

1. First think of your space my friend. Being in a flat is no excuse of not having your own pottery garden. They are sustainable, homegrown, green, and most of all yours! Having something like that on your balcony, window or terrace will make the neighbors think nice of you (well maybe they won’t say that, but they know), even your Rastaman next door will stop and say: “yo maaan, some smokin plants you got there!” Yet, again think of your space. If you have the luck to fully engage in gardening your own big garden, then you are really blessed. You need to arrange your plants efficiently.

2. Second think of all the plants you like the most, veggies, herbs, everything legal (yo man), everything can grow in your home, no stress. My normal garden has a lot of herbs, all homegrown: basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, coriander, sage, you name it! There is so much to do with herbs! Herbs are the fundaments of every taste there is! Next think of the veggies you love the most! They really come in all shapes and colors, and they are soooo good. Your own cherry tomatoes, chilly, celery, eggplant, carrots, and everything in between.

3. Now you got your masterplan little Einstein, what’s next then? You make a buying list of what you need. Pottery, soil, seeds, gloves, a new mother-in-law, you name it, anything goes. And ask the garden expert in the store for help, maybe he’s handsome. If you can’t find seeds in the store, you can always buy fresh tomatoes, peppers, or other veggies (that have seeds of course) in the store, take out the seeds, dry them and plant whenever you want!

4. Before you start planting, inform yourself about every plant a little. It takes just a few minutes to read a few lines on how to plant it the best, how much sun or water the plants need and so on. Some herb seeds need sun to grow, some need shadow (you need to cover them with soil), information is important in the start!

5. When you plant all your little seeds, they need to grow in small pottery. When they grow in size, we’ll replant them (depending on the plant in March, April or May) in the Garden, or bigger pottery, if you are in a flat. You need to think of this in your calculation.

6. We plant now, to be the fastest gardener ever in the months to come. Remember how your grandma had those red tomatoes ready in July? Guess what, they were planted in January, and then replanted in May or so. We want to have perfect seedlings, when we have them, gardening is really easy.

7. Take care of your seedlings. They need sun, water, and much love from you. You remember Tamagotchi? Here he is, that little guy, standing right in front of you. Will you feed him? Yea, I know you will!

The last step is to enjoy and watch those little darlings grow. Hmmmm, they grow so fast, I know them since they where little, you can now say that, and it’s true! You can sing to them, talk with them, and the best thing is, they’ll always listen!

My darlings, as always sharing is caring, get the word out and let January be Seeduary!

Forever yours!

The post Learn how to grow your perfect winter seedlings! appeared first on The chef's cult.

Free pasta class: learn how to make traditional homemade tortellonis

viktor.dvanajscak — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 23:12:00 +0000

Ricotta and sage tortellonis

INGREDIENTS (for 3-4 persons)

For the pasta dough:

2 large eggs (or 3 smaller)
200 g of all-purpose flour (or 00)

For the filling:

150 g ricotta
a good pinch of nutmeg

For the recipe:

10 fresh sage leaves
3 cloves of garlic
100 g of butter
150 g of fresh mushrooms (Black trumpets, shiitake, …)
100 g of parmesan cheese

For the pasta dough:

2 large eggs (or 3 smaller)
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour (or 00)

For the filling:

1/2 cup of ricotta
a good pinch of nutmeg

For the recipe:

10 fresh sage leaves
3 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup of butter
5 oz of fresh mushrooms (Black trumpets, shiitake, …)
3,5 oz of parmesan cheese

Hello my sweethearts! Let’s start with the wonderful homemade tortellOnis. Did you get the O right there? Yes, we’re going to make tortellOnis, not tortEllinis. Do you know there is more to tortellinis than just filled pasta? Well we didn’t either but let’s dive into the wonderful world of pasta!

Tortellini are known as the ring-shaped pasta, so are tortellonis, but we’ll get to that later. Initially it resembled the belly button of Venus (pure “amore” right there!), so one more reason which says food is love. The basic difference between them is the filling (and how it’s served). Tortellini are more like meat filled soup dumplings, while tortellonis can be filled with ricotta, pumpkins, or whatever you like, but they are served stir-fried. Furthermore, tortellonis are bigger in size, and mostly not meat filled, so it’s really a good vegetarian option.

Well congrats, today you learned some essential pasta history, so let’s say you are a little closer to Rome than before (or don Vito if you want).

So, let’s jump to the recipe. Well we can do the recipe in the old way of do this and that, and theeeeen, well, fall asleep faster, or we do it like this …

You still there my sweethearts? Well I hope so! Because we’ll make love to that flour in no time.

1. Grab the white powder, yeah you know, and mix it with the eggs. Local, big, yellow like your grandmas forever loving lemon tree, egg. So now listen to me my sweetheart, with pasta it always goes like this: 100 grams of flour means one egg. You see, 200 grams of flour means then 2 eggs. You get it now? It’s a rule you don’t mess with, (you just say thanks and put it in your pasta bible).

2. Great, so now you make a little volcano of flour and in the middle, you make a hole, where you break the eggs into. Now you knead the s***t out of it. No mercy, you are the boss here! You do it good, great really! Now you put the pasta into a bowl, cover it, and put it into the fridge for 20 minutes. Wine time, I guess!

3. Now you cut the pasta dough into 6 similar pieces, and you roll it out, easily with the machine. You can also do it by hand, then you are really a true Italian (but let’s stick to the machine Francesco). You thin it out just so you can see the shadow of your hand behind it (bible material right there). And always remember to flour your operating area, just like Al Pacino did in Scarface. Now you cut your pasta into small little squares. Great! We are now ready for the filling.

4. Take your ricotta and salt and pepper it, until it fits your taste, then add a good hit of the nutmeg. Ladies and gentlemen, nutmeg is the essence of the filling, so don’t ever, ever, ever forget it. Mix it together, taste, and if great than put it in a plastic filler (for fancy cook) or if normal do the next step with a teaspoon.

5. Now take a bowl of cold water, your pasta and filling. Insert filling (not too much here) with plastic bag (not so ecological) or with teaspoon (better) on pasta, tap two sides of the square, and seal it nicely. While doing, let the air flow out of the pocket as much as it can. Great! You got half of your tortelloni work done!

6. You should now have a triangle of pure love, squeeze the ends of it together, really really tight, I mean like size 0 jeans on Homer Simpson tight, tight! That’s your perfect tortelloni my sweetheart!

Now repeat the process till your loved ones think you gone mad making pasta. And always remember, you got the best tortellonis in the whole world right there in front of you!

Now we let the magic happen!

1. First put water to boil, season with salt and add the best tortellonis in the world. Cook until al dente, capisce?

2. In the meantine (if you are handy, if not do it one by one) grab your pan, hit it with butter, let that bad boy melt, and when it’s all bubbly add the whole cloves of garlic. We add whole cloves just for the aroma in the butter (great right?).

3. Ok, now add the sage, roast it until golden. Mmmmmmm that nice smell!!! Next add the mushrooms, don’t overcook them, they must just become slightly roasted.

4. In the end add the tortellonis in the pan, season everything and that’s it! Easy peasy tortellonisy! Grate the parmesan, add some olive oil and put your best Italian voice on, because it’s “o sole mio” time!

P.S. If you made too much ricotta filling (as I somehow always do) add it in the end to the meal just like that, don’t waste anything!!!

Cheers my sweethearts, see you soon!!!

The post Free pasta class: learn how to make traditional homemade tortellonis appeared first on The chef's cult.