GURKEN-RADLER: Shandy with pickle lemonade...

Beer with lemonade made from pickle marinade.

That's what this is. Seriously.

It even tastes alright. You can tastes the pickles. A bit sweet. But quite refreshing. 

I couldn't drink more than one, though. 

So weird...

What they do is, they make a lemonade from the water-vinegar mix where the pickles marinate in, 

by probably adding sugar and carbon dioxide.

Oh, and as you can see, they also add green food colouring, 

which in my opinion is completely unnecessary.

Then they mix this lemonade with beer, and here you go:

PICKLE SHANDY!

Fetuccine with green asparagus and garlic pepper butter

Before asparagus season is over I had to prepare one more favorite asparagus meal.
Tim Mälzer, Germany's Jamie Oliver once cooked this in his show.
It is very simple, but so delicious!
It's best if you use fresh pasta and not the dried one.
I'm lucky to have several markets near my apartment that have fresh pasta stands.
You do not have to use Fetuccine.
Tagliatelle is fine and might even be better since the pasta is a little thinner.

Here is what you need for two people:

300-400g (fresh) Fettuccine/Tagliatelle

750g green asparagus

250g butter

65g green pepper (in a glass/pickled?)

3-4 garlic cloves (preferably fresh)

chervil (one bunch)

salt

parmesan (grana padano/parmigiano reggiano)

Chop the garlic cloves.
Blend the green pepper corns with garlic and season the mixture with salt.
Mix in the butter until everything is evenly mixed.
Remove the dried out ends of the asparagus and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
Heat up a pan and add about two tablespoons of the garlic-pepper butter.
When melted add the asparagus.
Make sure all asparagus pieces are coated with the melted butter.
Fry it for 3-5 minutes.
Then add a little bit of water (about 100ml) and let everything cook for at least another 5 minutes.
The asparagus should neither be too hard nor too soft and mushy.
Meanwhile fill a big saucepan with water and bring the water to boil.
Then add about 1-1.5 Teaspoons of salt and the pasta to it.
If the pasta comes in a bundle make sure to disconnect and losen the pasta strings a bit from each other.
Boil for about 5 minutes or according to the cooking instructions on the package.
Better try in between to make sure the pasta stays al dente.
When al dente strain the pasta.
Then add it to the asparagus and garlic-pepper butter and mix well.
Pour into two bowls and garnish with chopped chervil and freshly grated parmesan.

Pair with a Pinot Gris or pinot Blanc.

PS: I couldn't find chervil this time. So I used parsley as garnish instead.
Chervil tastes better though.
It is finer and tastes almost sweet, a bit similar to anise...

Asparagus with easy-peasy sauce hollandaise

I'm obsessed with asparagus!
No matter if green or white asparagus, I'm the happiest person when asparagus season finally arrives.
The most popular way of eating asparagus in Germany is probably with a good hollandaise sauce.
But making hollandaise at home can be quite tricky.
You have to whisk the whole time in order to prevent the eggs from clotting.
The first time I tried to make sauce hollandaise it was a total disaster.
Yesterday however I had to try it again and this time it worked pretty well.
I also found a real easy and foolproof recipe.
Only downside was that the sauce was not very hot.
But after my first hollandaise attempt where within literally a second, the whole thing irretrievably fell apart because of getting too hot I decided to stay on the safe side.
It worked perfectly!
The sauce was perfectly thick and creamy and I was pretty proud and happy...
I served the hollandaise with green and white asparagus, rosemary ham and a bottle of Schmittges dry Riesling.

For the hollandaise
you need:

200g butter

2 eggyolks

2Tbsp of white wine

seasoning:

fresh lemon juice

salt

pepper 

sugar

Melt the butter over low heat and set aside to cool down a bit.
Whisk the eggyolks and white wine over a bowl of hot water (double-boiler method/ bain marie) until thick and fluffy.
Remove from heat. Slowly whisk in the melted butter.
Season with lemon juice, pepper, salt and sugar.
If the sauce is not hot enough you can try to carefully heat it up over the hot water bowl.
But be careful!
If you stop whisking and the sauce got too hot already (over 60 degrees) the egg yolks will start clotting!


Oh, and here is how to prepare white asparagus:

Whereas green asparagus does not need to get peeled, white asparagus has a tough and bitter peel that has to get removed unless you don't want to chew on hard and bitter tasting asparagus pieces.
The easiest way to peel the spears is to use a special asparagus peeler (a potato peeler will do as well, though). Cut off the dried out and harder ends of each spear.
Boil water in a saucepan adding a tsp of sugar and a tsp of salt.
Put the asparagus into the boiling water and let it boil for about 8-10 minutes.

Serve with hollandaise or fried butter-breadcrumbs.

Healthy fingerfood No.2: Soybeans in a pod

I have to admit I'm really not a big fan of vegetables. 

But just like artichokes (and some other vegetables...) soybeans in a pod, 

also called "Edamame" (Japan), "Kong" (Korea) or "Maodou" (China), are an exception.

You either steam or boil them in hot salted water for approx. 8 minutes.

Drain the pods in a colander.

Sprinkle them with salt.

Serve hot or cold in a bowl and with an extra bowl for the empty pods.

 

You eat the beans by squeezing them out of the pods.

I usually do that by pulling the pods through my slightly clenched teeth.
That way the beans directly pop into my mouth and I still get some of the salt that sticks on the pods.
Other people prefer splitting the pod with their fingers in order to get to the beans.
However, soybeans in a pod are easy to make and a delicious, yet healthy snack!

And yes, you can just eat meat WITH it!

Artichoke with sour cream-mustard-balsamico dip

For everyone who thought my diet only consists of meat and chocolate, here is the proof that every so often even I consume green stuff with vitamins in it...

One of my favorite vegetables are artichokes.

They are a good side dish and perfect finger food.

I usually buy the big ones. I remove the stem and cut off the tips of the petals with a scissor. 

After that I throw them into a big pot of boiling water with a dash of lemon juice.

It depends on how big they are but usually artichokes need to cook for around 30-45 minutes.

You know the artichoke is ready to eat when you can easily pull off the outermost petals.

Unfortunately you usually cannot eat all parts of an artichoke. 

Especially the big ones are often hard and spiky.

Here are some instructions on how to eat them properly:

1. Start at the base of the artichoke, pull off one of the outermost petals. 
2. Dip the base of the petal into your sauce/vinaigrette. 
3. Pull the petal through your slightly clenched teeth to remove the soft, tender flesh at the bottom of the petal. As you progress upward from the base, the leaves become more tender, with larger edible portions until you reach the choke (the undeveloped flower).
4. Remove and discard the "hairy" choke using a teaspoon.
5. Cut the remaining Artichoke Heart into bite-sized pieces, dip and enjoy!

PS: For the dip mix sour cream, mustard, honey and balsamico vinegar and season with salt and pepper.