Steak Tartare

I admit Steak Tartare may not be something you associate with winter food.
It's cold, it's fresh and would fit much better into a light summer dish.

However, after lots of braised meat, we felt like having something lighter for dinner.

When younger I used to be absolutely disgusted by the idea of eating raw meat.
Sushi kind of paved the way at the turn of the millennium for me to be more open-minded and willing to experiment with raw fish and meat.
But it certainly took me a while and an incredibly good Steak Tartare hors d'oeuvre I was served in a restaurant once, to get used to the idea.

Most important with dishes like this is definitely the freshness of the ingredients.
Therefore get your meat from a butcher you trust and fresh (organic) eggs.

Here is what you need for two servings (large portions) or 4 servings (appetizer size):

400g of beef tenderloin/filet
2 shallots finely chopped
2 tsp parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp chive, finely chopped
1 tsp of capers, finely chopped
2 small pickles/cornichons finely chopped
1 tsp (hot) mustard
6 splashes of Tabasco
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper

Also:
two egg yolks (4 small egg yolks, if it is for 4 servings)
good balsamic vinegar or crema di balsamico

Directions:

Remove fat and connective tissue from the meat if necessary.
Chop the meat very finely with a sharp knife (NOT in the meat grinder)
Mix together with all the other ingredients.
Form 2-4 patties and create a little crater on the top surface of each of them.
Carefully place an egg yolk in each crater.

Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar or crema di balsamcio.

Serve immediately with salad and (toasted) bread.

Notes:
All the measurements for the ingredients are approximately. Feel free to adjust and season to taste.
I used more mustard, worcestershire sauce and capers then asked in the recipe for example.

Oh yeah, and the birds are happy about their never ending winter food supply as well!

German Sweet&Sour Eggs

Sweet&Sour Eggs ("Süß-Saure Eier") or "Mustard Eggs" ("Senfeier") is a typical East German dish. 

I remember mentioning it to people from the West who just cringed because the name suggests something rather gross than tasty.

But it is delicious!

The description "sweet&sour" refers to the sauce with which the eggs are served.

It's a roux-based sauce containing vinegar and mustard for a sour note and sugar that adds the 

sweetness to it.

What you need:
6-8 large eggs
60-80g butter 
approx. 3-4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
¾-1 ltr. cold water and milk (e.g. ¼ milk, ¾water)
white wine vinegar
white sugar
1-2 tsp mustard
150-200g smoked bacon cubes
salt, pepper
chopped chive or parsley for decoration

Directions:

Fry smoked bacon cubes in a pan until brown.
Prepare a roux; melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour until crumbly.
Now slowly pour in the water-milk mix and continue to whisk.
If the sauce gets too thick add a bit more water or milk.
If it is too thin just mix some flour with water in a small bowl and pour this mixture into the sauce.
Now season with whit wine vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar and mustard.
Start with 1tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, one tsp salt and one tsp mustard.
You will probably have to add more.
But you rather start with small amounts and try in between before adding more.
Your goal is to have a sauce that is sweet and sour at the same time.
You can taste the mustard such as the vinegar, the salt and the sugar without having one ingredient covering up the others.
Now add the bacon cubes and chive or parsley.
In the meantime boil the eggs for 6½-7 minutes (depends on the size of each egg).
The egg yolk should still be soft inside.
Chill them in cold water for a moment.
Then peel off the eggshell and add the eggs to the sauce.

Serve with potatoes.

Pear & goat cheese tarte with smoked bacon and mustard dressing

In the latest issue of German food magazine Essen&Trinken I found this nice tarte:

I made this recipe using ready-made pastry that you can buy frozen in every grocery store.
You defrost two sheets of pastry, put them on top of each other and roll them out on a floured working surface using a rolling pin.
The pastry needs to be bigger than the tarte pan.
Place the rolled out pastry in the tarte pan and slightly press the pastry to the border of the pan.
Top it with one thin sliced pear, smoked bacon cubes(40-80g) and goat cheese (100-150g).
In the recipe they recommend using cream cheese, but I decided to take camembert instead.
The dressing is made out of:

2 tbsp of maple syrup
2tbsp of lemon juice
1tbsp of extra hot mustard (eg. Dijon)
1tbsp of whole seed mustard (eg. Dijon)
1tbsp of thyme (fresh if possible)
salt and pepper

You mix all these ingrediences together and sprinkle most of the dressing over the tarte.
Preheat the oven to about 200-220°C and bake the tarte for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Serve with the rest of the dressing.

PS:

• If you are not a fan of goat cheese just replace it with cow milk based cheese instead.
• Be careful with the dressing. It is quite intense! You can use less mustard or use a milder kind.
• next time I will fry the bacon before adding it to the tarte for more smoky flavor ...