Pork and Tomatillo Stew – Cooking with “Green Tomatoes”

If you read a tourist guide of San Diego or just walk through the streets of some of the more popular neighborhoods like North Park or Hillcrest you get the impression that the culinary scene of this city covers a wide variety of restaurants. There are many variations of “Western” influenced restaurants, like Italian or French but also many “Asian“ restaurants ranging from Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese to Thai. You will also find many unique restaurants using the outstanding produce of this region and showcasing the world class beer scene of San Diego but one cuisine is strangely at the same time under- as well as overrepresented in San Diego – Mexican. San Diego is in a unique location as it forms a large bi-national/transborder community with Tijuana and one would expect that this would also have a significant impact on the variety of the Mexican cuisine in San Diego. You can find some kind of taco shop at nearly every street or shopping mall in San Diego but otherwise one would get the impression that the Mexican diet only consists of tacos and burritos and hardly anything else. There are a few unique Mexican restaurants throughout San Diego representing less Americanized versions of Mexican food but it took us quite some time to realize it before we slowly started to explore it. The books from Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless were very helpful guides to get a better understanding of the vast variety of regional culinary differences in Mexico and its unique use of unusual ingredients and flavors not often found in Western and Asian cuisines.

If you visit one of the ubiquitous taco shops in San Diego you will always find a salsa bar to dress up your tacos or burritos and part of it will be some kind of salsa verde. Salsa verde has often a very interesting and complex flavor including some tartness with floral undertones. One of the key ingredients for salsa verde are tomatillos, one of these unusual ingredients associated with Mexico and not found as much in other cuisines. Tomatillos might look like green unripe tomatoes and both plants belong to the nightshade family but tomatillos are actually related to cape gooseberries.

Tomatillos with their unusual papery husk were domesticated by the Aztecs more than three thousand years ago and remained all the time an important food staple in this region. The culinary use of tomatillos is quite broad ranging from raw as a salad ingredient to jams and marmelades to cooked in stews and sauces for meats. For our first own use of tomatillos we decided to cook them appropriately in a Mexican inspired Pork and Tomatillo Stew.

                                                                                       

Instead of using only tomatillos in the braising liquid as the main flavor component we decided to go for a more complex flavor profile supporting and at the same time balancing out the tartness and fruitiness of the tomatillos by incorporating tomatoes, orange juice and beer into the stew. The pork turned out to be as fork tender as expected in such a stew but initially the stew overall had a stronger tartness than expected and the desired counterbalancing fruitiness was subdued and hardly noticeable. One of the golden rules of braising is to rest stews overnight so that the flavors can blend together but we hardly ever do it with our stews as we don’t think that the overall flavor improves significantly. But the exception proves the rule as with this stew it was critical to rest it overnight. Eaten on the same day the stew was good but nothing exceptional. Once we reheated it the next day all the flavors came together and we had a wonderful balanced stew without any overwhelming tartness. It made for a very satisfying Mexican influenced dinner when served together with rice and lime-spiked sour cream.

Combine tomatillos, tomatoes, beer and orange juice in a pot bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Heat oil in pot over medium high heat, add garlic and cook for two minutes until garlic is golden brown.

Add pork in batches and cook for 8 minutes, turning occasionally, until brown, remove to bowl.

Add onions to pot over medium heat and cook for 8 minutes.

Add tomatillo mixture, pork, cilantro, jalapeno, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer partially covered for two hours.

Season stew with salt and pepper. Add kidney beans and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Mix lime juice with sour cream and serve stew with white rice and sour cream.

Recipe adapted from “Gourmet Today”

Serves 6

900 g (2 lbs) boneless pork should, cut into 1.5 inch cubes

4 tbsp canola oil

8 garlic cloves, peeled

350 ml (12 ounces) Chimay Red

450 g (1 lb) tomatillos, husked, washed and quartered

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drained, juice reserved and chopped

2 large onions, coarsely chopped

1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

1 can (16 oz) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 tbsp lime juice

225 g (8 oz) sour cream

Braised Turkey Legs with Onions & Butternut Squash – Thanksgiving Dinner for the Small Family

Thanksgiving is normally for us a good reason to take time off and travel around. The last few years we went to extended trips to San Francisco and Las Vegas and so didn’t really have to worry about what to cook for Thanksgiving. This year with a new baby we didn’t feel she was old enough yet to travel for a longer time and decided for the first time in six years to stay at home during the holidays, which also meant we had to think about what we wanted to cook for that special day. Even though Thanksgiving isn’t really known and celebrated in Germany and so isn’t associated with a special dish or ingredient we felt that we should try to capture the spirit of this holiday in the US with our dish. At the same time the idea to cook a large turkey and having turkey leftovers for the next several weeks wasn’t appealing to us as normally we try to avoid eating the same thing again and again as it gets boring very fast. We thought about using some other poultry or just braising some beef for this occasion but somehow it didn’t feel right for Thanksgiving.

When we started to look into the history of what was served for Thanksgiving in the US it became very fast clear that turkey was now for centuries the preferred main dish for Thanksgiving. There are several different theories why turkey is the preferred meat for Thanksgiving including one with Queen Elizabeth who celebrated during a harvest fest the news of the destruction of the Spanish Armada on its way to England with a roasted goose which later became a turkey when the pilgrims arrived in America. But the most likely explanation might be also the most unexciting one – cows and chickens were too valuable, pork not fit for a special occasion, venison would require hunting and geese were more difficult to raise so that turkeys remained as a best choice – cheap, plentiful and easy to raise.

And so it was clear for us that we would have to have turkey for Thanksgiving but instead of cooking up a whole one we decided to pick up one of the tastier parts - legs. Since one of the main problems with roasting a turkey is often that they end up dry we thought that braising would resolve this issue and yield a moist piece of turkey. And what better to capture the fall season with a Thanksgiving dish than also to include squash so that in the end we settled on Braised Turkey Legs with Onions & Butternut Squash.

The turkey legs turned out to be as moist as we hoped for and had the right consistency of being very tender without being too soft. We prefer the dark meat flavor which can stand up against stronger tasting side dishes compared to the often rather flavorless white meat. Braising of course has the disadvantage that even though it will not provide you a dried out piece of meat it can’t give you the crispy skin which is often a very nice feature of poultry. But the major drawback for us was that the turkey legs had still some tough tendon/connective tissue that didn’t soften enough even after braising and which required some knife work to still enjoy the turkey. As much as we enjoyed the meat the real star of the dish for us were the vegetables and the sauce made of out the braising liquid and pancetta. Both butternut squash and sweet onions provided a wonderful foundation for the whole dish with a combination of sweetness and certain earthiness characteristic for especially winter squash. The vegetables were also briefly braised in the braising liquid of the turkey legs which helped to permeate the vegetables with the herbs and the crumbled pancetta completed this dish. Next time we will try to braise the legs for a longer time at a lower temperature to remove all connective tissue and it should make this dish perfect as great meal for a festive day.

Heat butter in skillet over medium-high heat and sauté pancetta for eight minutes until crisp and brown. Transfer pancetta to plate lined with paper towels to drain and remove half of the pancetta fat to a jar. Preheat oven to 150 °C/300 °F.

Season turkey legs with salt and pepper and sear thighs on both sides for six minutes per side. If skillet is too small do this in two batches to avoid overcrowding the skillet. Transfer legs to plate.

Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic to skillet and season lightly with salt and pepper. Saute vegetables for five minutes until they start to brown. Add thyme, sage, bay leaf and orange juice and deglaze skillet by bringing the orange juice to a strong simmer and scraping bottom of the pan. Simmer orange juice for one minute until reduced by half.

Add the turkey legs and stock to vegetable mixture and bring to simmer. Place skillet in oven and braise for 70 minutes with turning the legs once after 30 minutes.

While the legs are braising heat reserved pancetta fat in another skillet over medium-high heat, add onions and garlic and some salt and pepper and sauté the vegetables for 12 minutes until browned. Transfer vegetables to plate. Add butter to skillet and sauté squash for ten minutes with frequent stirring until browned. Remove from heat and set aside until legs are done.

Once turkey legs are finished braising remove them from skillet and cover them with foil on a plate to keep warm. Strain the braising liquid and discard the vegetables.

Return squash to medium-high heat, add the onion garlic mixture and sauté for two minutes. Add the braising liquid with the sage and parsley, cover the pot and braise the squash over low heat for 15 minutes until tender. Crumble the reserved pancetta and add to the squash mixture. Increase the heat to high and cook for two minutes to thicken the sauce. Taste for salt and pepper. Serve with turkey legs.

Recipe adapted from “All about Braising”

Serves 4

1 tbsp butter

120 g (1/4 lb) pancetta, diced

4 bone-in, skin-on turkey legs

1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 thyme sprigs

2 sage sprigs

1 bay leaf

120 ml (1/2 cup) freshly squeezed orange juice

240 ml (1 cup) chicken stock

450 g (1 lb) sweet onions, coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp butter

950 g (2 lb) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch chuncks

¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped

2 tbsp sage, chopped

Chicken and Crab Callaloo – A Culinary Visit to the Caribbean

When we normally decide what to cook for the next meal we often get inspired by what might be in season and available at the farmer’s market or one of the supermarkets which sells local produce, but sometimes cooking can also be a chance to explore new regions throughout the world. Though not in person, a culinary trip to another country gives you often a good idea about the history and influences of that country. One region many people associate with beautiful beaches, sunshine and vacation but also with poverty and colonialism is the Caribbean. When we started to look into typical dishes from this region one dish which was often mentioned was Callaloo. But the more we looked into the history and background of the dish the more we realized saying that we look for a typical dish of the Caribbean is like saying we would look for a typical dish of Europe. The Caribbean might be home to just 35 million people but consists of many different countries or still dependent territories and many of them have a very diverse history and population.

The background of Callaloo is even more complex as the word not only describes the dish but also the main ingredient which can mean a different plant depending on the part of the Caribbean. The common ground between all different versions is that Callaloo is a spicy soup or stew which is made out of edible leaves from different tropical plants. In Trinidad and Tobago for example taro leaves are used for Callaloo, Jamaicans use amaranth leaves whereas malanga is used in Puerto Rico. But also the preparations vary strongly between different countries in this region – Jamaicans make a simpler version by just using the callaloo leaf and salt whereas in Trinidad and Tobago okra and coconut milk are added to give a very different flavor profile. Callaloo is often served with rice and some seafood or meat and so in the end we decided to go for a version close to one from Trinidad and Tobago with a chicken and crab callaloo.

Callaloo is also often named pepper pot but this name doesn’t really do this version justice. Even though the dish had a pleasant spicyness from the Serrano chili the flavor profile was much more complex. The base of the dish comes from the typical Callaloo seasoning – garlic, scallions and thyme. Bacon and ham add saltiness, whereas the coconut milk balances the spicyness but also contributes a special character reminiscent of the tropical origin of the dish. The crab displays the abundance of seafood of the region. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get hold of taro leaves but spinach is often mentioned as an adequate replacement. The okra not only helped to thicken the stew but also showed the African influences of the dish. Taken together this dish not only includes many typical ingredients of the Caribbean but represents with its different culinary influences part of the history of the region - it is a quite unique dish clearly related to its region.

Saute bacon for 7-8 minutes until it starts to crisp. Drain with a slotted spoon and put aside.

Brown chicken and ham in bacon drippings for 7 minutes. Add onion, garlic and thyme and cook for additional 5 minutes until onion starts to soften.

Add broth, bring to a boil and simmer it covered for 10 minutes.

Add spinach, okra, coconut milk, bacon and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in scallions and Serrano chile and season with pepper and salt.

Serve by ladling over freshly cooked rice and some of the crabmeat.

Recipe adapted from “Cuisine at Home”

Serves 4

4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced

250 g (8.5 oz) chicken breast, cubed and seasoned with salt and pepper

125 g (4.5 oz) ham, cubed

2 white onions, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ tsp dried thyme

1.4 L (6 cups) chicken broth

2 bunches spinach, chopped

200 g (7 oz) frozen okra, sliced

240 ml (1 cup) coconut milk

2 bunches scallions, sliced

2 serrano chilies, diced

230 g (8 oz) crabmeat

Chard Quiche with Pine Nuts

During our graduate school time we lived for two years close to Basel in Switzerland. Even though during this period we never had much time to really explore the culinary scene of Basel or other parts of Switzerland we were able to experience a few of the typical treats like Basler Leckerli which is a hard biscuit made with an unique spice mixture or Rivella, a soft drink made out of milk whey. The food we most often enjoyed was “Wähen”. Wähen are essentially the Swiss version of tartes and quiches. Originally reported in 1556 as a fruit quiche, over the centuries many savory versions also appeared and we were often starting our weekends going to a bakery and eating a piece of one of the many different Wähen on display. This was of course not the first time we ever had a quiche since these are popular throughout Germany as well but they originated from the region of Alsace and Lorraine which are close to Basel.

Quiches were originally food of the poor and made by the women in Alsace to feed their families with a few, cheap available ingredients – egg, milk and bacon as a cheap and nonperishable form of meat. Since at those times, a few hundred years ago, most families baked their own bread making quiches was an efficient way to use leftover bread dough. What started as quiche Lorraine for the poor developed over time to a well-regarded class of dishes everybody around the world is enjoying. Today a large variety of toppings are used with different kinds of meat, vegetables and cheese. A consistency between these many variations is the use of eggs, milk or cream and shortcrust pastry. What started for us as a weekly visit to the bakery led to a continuous interest in making quiches at home like this chard quiche with pine nuts.

For this quiche we used a few more unusual ingredients to underline the uniqueness of chard. Whole spelt flour has a more robust and nuttier flavor than the often used regular wheat flour which helps accentuate the delicate flavor of the chard. Instead of using only eggs and cream for the filling we also added ricotta which gave the quiche more body and at the same time added a slight sweet note. The complex flavor of sage with its spicy, aromatic and slightly bitter tones helps to bring an unexpected taste to the quiche. The long baking time helps to mellow out these flavors so that the sage doesn’t dominate the dish. A salad and a nice glass of white wine made this quiche a wonderful dinner.

Sift flour on working surface, form a well in the flour and add egg with some salt. Place the butter in small pieces around the flour and mix everything using a knife.

Knead dough until smooth and store it covered in fridge for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in pot over medium-high heat and cook spring onions, chard stems and sage for five minutes. Add chard leaves and cook for three minutes until wilted. Season with salt and nutmeg. Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Roll out dough on a little bit of flour and put dough into 30 cm/12 inch spring form.

Mix ricotta with heavy cream and eggs. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Fill chard mixture into spring form and add ricotta mixture. Bake quiche for 25 minutes in the oven.

Sprinkle provolone and pine nuts over the quiche and bake for another 15 minutes.

Recipe adapted from “Quiche, Tarte und Co.” by Gräfe und Unzer

Serves 4

250 g (9 oz) whole spelt flour

1 egg

150 g (5.5 oz) butter

750 (27 oz) rainbow chard, leaves cut into stripes, stems diced

1 bunch spring onions, diced

4 leaves of sage, finely chopped

2 tbsp Canola oil

nutmeg

200 g (7 oz) soft ricotta

100 (3.5 oz) heavy cream

2 eggs

40 g (1.5 oz) pine nuts

50 g (2 oz) provolone, freshly grated

Conchiglie with Roasted Cauliflower, Arugula, and Prosciutto

Everybody knows that vegetables and fruits are good for you. They give us a wide range of important and valuable substances, like vitamins, carbohydrates, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals. From a young age one is always encouraged to eat your vegetables and Michael Pollan, who in recent years really helped to shape awareness in the US about the interplay of food, diet and environment, summed it up best with “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”.

We eat out in restaurants quite frequently and even though we hardly have any limitations on what we eat and often prefer vegetable-focused dishes it still means that we eat quite a lot of meat at those dinners. As a consequence we tend to balance it by often cooking vegetarian dishes or dishes with hardly any meat at home. There are many vegetables which have a unique flavor and can stand at their own in a dish but on the other side there are also vegetables which have only a very subtle and easily missed own flavor, like cauliflower. Those vegetables could either be used in a dish with strong spices where they act more in the background or one could find a way to amplify the once subtle flavor of the vegetable so that it now can stand in the limelight. One way we often use to accomplish that is by roasting vegetables. The key for a successful roasting is the use of dry heat which is necessary to start the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction describes the reaction between a carbohydrate molecule and an amino acid. This reaction forms an unstable intermediate which after undergoing further changes produces myriads of diverse products. These products result in the browning and the characteristic flavor of roasted vegetables. The Maillard reaction can only start to occur at temperatures above 120 °C/250 °F which is above the boiling point of water and explains why boiled or steamed vegetables can’t produce this intense flavor. In addition, roasting also is responsible for the evaporation of water within the vegetables which will help to concentrate and again intensify the flavors. This dish of conchiglie with roasted cauliflower, arugula, and prosciutto is a nice example of the how roasting can accentuate the flavors of cauliflowers so that it has no problem to hold up against strong tasting ingredients as sage, arugula or prosciutto.

This seemingly simple pasta dish combines a surprising wide array of flavors. The roasting gave the cauliflower its characteristic “caramelized” yet slightly sweet flavor. Roasting grape tomatoes help to lower their acidity and boost their natural sweetness which worked in concert with the cauliflower. This sweetness is balanced by the peppery taste of arugula and the saltiness of the prosciutto. What really made this dish special was the inclusion of sage. Sage has a very unique and complex flavor profile combining hints of bitterness with savory and minty tones which can often dominate dishes and overshadow other ingredients. In this dish it is clearly discernible but at the same time supports the flavors of the other ingredients. A light red wine would accompany this dish perfectly.

Pulse sage and garlic in a food processor until minced. Add prosciutto and pulse until chopped. Preheat oven to 220 °C/425 °F.

Mix cauliflower, grape tomatoes, olive oil, ¾ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper and spread vegetables in a single layer on baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 15 minutes stirring twice.

Add prosciutto-sage mixture to cauliflower and roast for 8 minutes.

Cook conchiglie until al dente. Reserve one cup of pasta-cooking water. Drain pasta and return to pot. Mix pasta with roasted vegetable mixture, arugula, cheese and some pasta water. Season with salt and pepper.

Recipe adapted from “Fine Cooking”

Serves 4

Medium-sized cauliflower, cored and cut into ¾-inch florets

500 g (1 pint) grape tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

9 large sage leaves

4 large garlic cloves, peeled

120 g (4 oz) prosciutto

150 g (5 oz) arugula

340 g (12 oz) dried conchiglie pasta

80 g (3 oz) Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

German Pancakes with Homemade Raspberry Fruit Quark.

In Germany we have a saying that would translate something like “Have breakfast as if you were a Czar, lunch as if you were a king, and dinner as if you were a peasant”. Although we take a much more Mediterranean approach to food in that dinner is the most important meal of the day for us, we really enjoy trying out new breakfast dishes. Especially on weekends when we have a lot more time in the morning – and what better way is there for a food lover than starting into a new day with trying out a novel dish?

However, this post is not about a new dish this time but about a breakfast recipe that has been handed down verbally over three generations in our family: on how to prepare (one version) of German pancakes. These pancakes are less fluffy than their American counterparts (which we also like very much) because no baking powder is used in this recipe. They are closer to French Crepes in taste but have a thicker consistency. The pancake mix is prepared following a very simple formula that is easy to memorize: take x number of eggs, add 3x tablespoons of flour, 1.5x tablespoons of sugar and milk for a cream-like consistency. We typically eat them with jam after baking them in a frying pan, but this time we combined them with our homemade quark that we recently prepared. So if you have been wondering about what you can do with quark, the preparation of a fruit quark mix is one of the main uses for quark and quite delicious. Its fruity taste and slight sourness nicely balance and cut through the rich buttery taste of the pancakes.

This time we had some fresh raspberries at hand to make German Pancakes with Homemade Raspberry Fruit Quark. This is a nice way to start a Sunday morning together with a cup a coffee !

Place eggs and sugar into a bowl. Add flour and milk and mix until the pancake mix is smooth. Let the mix rest for 10 min.



Meanwhile prepare the fruit Quark: place raspberries, 1/3-1/2 of the Quark and sugar into a bowl.



Mix with a blender, not too long, and mix in the rest of the Quark with a spoon. This helps maintaining a thicker consistency. Add sugar to taste.



Heat butter in a pan. Once the foaming subsides add half of the pancake mix and bake under medium-high heat for about 4-5 min. Check with a spatula when the underside is slightly browned and turn pancake. Bake for another 3-4 minutes, again checking the underside a few times until it also is slightly browned.



Transfer pancake to a plate. Add fruit quark on top and form a role. Enjoy immediately while still warm. Repeat steps with the remaining pancake mix.

Serves 2

Pancake mix:

2 eggs

6 tbsp flour

3 tbsp sugar

300-400 mL (10-13 fl oz) milk

4 tbsp butter

Fruit quark:

300 g (10 oz) homemade quark

250 g (9 oz) fresh raspberries

2-4 tbsp sugar

Ratatouille Lasagna with Celery Root Crème – Enjoying Local Produce

Most people associate the warm weather and the laid-back life style of San Diego and California in general as one of the main perks to live here. There is no doubt that before we moved to San Diego we mainly associated these attributes with California and are still enjoying them daily. But over the years we also more and more savor the sheer abundance of outstanding local produce. The climate of California allows farmers to grow many different types of produce year-round, and San Diego itself is one of the best places to live for outstanding local produce. According to the San Diego County Farm Bureau San Diego had in 2009 more than 6680(!) farms with most of them between just 1-9 acres which is more than any other county in the US. San Diego County is also the largest community of organic growers in the nation with 374 organic farms. Some of the well known farms have also gained a high reputation outside of San Diego, like Be Wise Ranch, Suzie’s Farms and most prominently Chino Farms.

Many restaurants started to use more and more local ingredients and to cook seasonally. Over the last few years this whole movement took off, and now pretty much every relevant restaurant claims to follow this locavore trend of using local and sustainable ingredients. When we cook at home we try to use fresh produce as much as possible but it’s not always easy to also use local ingredients. We often don’t have the time to go to one of the farmer’s markets which are the best option for local produce. Fortunately some of the local markets like WholeFoods started to include a section dedicated to local produce. On a recent visit the selection included fresh local produce from places like Be Wise Ranch, Sun Grown Organics, Aviara Farms, Stehly Farms, Suzie’s Farms and Sage Mountain Farms. Seeing this great variety of local produce we decided to use it in one dish– Ratatouille Lasagna with Celery Root Crème. Besides the pasta and Parmesan cheese all ingredients were local or at least came from somewhere in California.

Ratatouille Lasagna with Celery Root Crème

Cooking with local produce

Ratatouille is always a good choice to showcase outstanding fresh produce but since it is mainly used as a side dish we wanted to make it more substantial by including it into a lasagna dish. What really made this dish special was the béchamel sauce which was based on celery root. Celery root is one of these vegetables which are underappreciated and most people only know it, if at all, raw in a salad. But celery root is a versatile ingredient which is can also be used in soups, purees, casseroles or sauces. Its taste reminds of celery but has a more subtle, round flavor which stays more in the background. We served the lasagna with a salad of local heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers.

Clean celery root, peel and cut in small pieces. Steam for 15 minutes, cool and dice.



Heat butter at medium heat and cook onions for two minutes. Add flour and cook for two minutes with continuous stirring.



Slowly add milk and cream and cook for 15 minutes at medium heat.



Add diced celery root and puree with immersion blender until creamy. Season to taste with lemon juice and salt.



Cook lasagna sheets al dente, rinse with cold water and drain the pasta.



Heat oil at medium heat, add shallots and garlic and cook for two minutes. Add zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper and chili and cook for 4 minutes until vegetables start to soften. Season with salt and pepper and remove vegetables from pot.



Add diced tomatoes with juices to empty pot and thicken by cooking for 6 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and some sugar and mix with vegetables.



Coat the bottom of an oiled casserole with celery root crème, cover with a layer of lasagna sheets, add some celery root creme and add half of the vegetables.



Repeat everything starting with the second layer of lasagna sheets and finish with some celery root crème. Bake in a preheated oven at 200C/400F for 25 minutes.



Mix parmesan with lime zest and sprinkle over lasagna. Bake lasagna for 10 minutes until golden yellow.

Recipe adapted from “Essen & Trinken”

Serves 4-6

250 g (9 oz) celery root

1 small onion

2 tbsp butter

30 g (1 oz) fluor

300 ml (1.25 cups) milk

150 ml (2/3 cups) whipping cream

2 tbsp lemon juice

8 lasagna sheets

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes

300 g (11 oz) zucchini, diced

300 g (11 oz) eggplants, diced

1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, diced

2 shallots, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 red chili, minced

6 stems basil, minced

4 tbsp olive oil

Sugar

30 g (1 oz) Parmesan, freshly grated

Lime zest, from 2 limes