These are some popular recipes from our dinners, I'll add more over time.

In case you find yourself with large amounts of good chocolate and don't know what to do with it, here are some ideas..

Flourless chocolate orange almond cake

200 g butter (unsalted)

200 g good 72% chocolate

100 g sugar, pinch of salt

5 large eggs, separated

225 g ground almonds

rum

zest of 2 oranges

Melt butter and chocolate. Beat egg whites until stiff, beat egg yolkes, sugar and salt for at least 5 minutes. Combine egg yolk mixture, butter and chocolate, fold in remaining ingredients. Bake at 190C, 40-45 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar.

This is also good finished like a Sacher torte: Cut into 2-3 layers, fill with apricot jam, and glaze with chocolate ganache.

 

Chocolate hazelnut torte

125 g butter (unsalted)

250 g very dark chocolate

small jar Nutella

100 g sugar, pinch of salt

5 large eggs

hazelnut meal, optional

Melt butter, chocolate and Nutella. Combine eggs, sugar and salt, beat with an electric egg beater on high for at least 5 minutes. Fold chocolate mix (and hazelnut meal) into eggs, pour into buttered springform pan and bake for ~ 30 minutes at 180 C. Dust with powdered sugar.

 

Mousse au chocolat

300 g dark chocolate

600 ml heavy cream

6 egg yolks

2-3 egg whites

2 tablespoons powdered suga

r2-3 table spoons Cointreau

 

Melt chocolate over hot water. Beat egg white until stiff, beat egg yolks with sugar for at least five minutes, beat cream. The chocolate should be as cool as possible while still liquid. Fold half of the whipped cream into chocolate, carefully combine with remaining cream and egg yolks. Fold in egg whites and Cointreau.

The flavour needs time to develop, it tastes much better after one day.

 

 

Molten chocolate rum cakes

200 g dark chocolate (70% or more)

100 g butter

3 eggs

80g cake flour

100 g powdered sugar

pinch of salt

 

Butter ramequins or muffin pans. Melt chocolate and butter. Beat egg whites until still, beat egg yolks with half of the sugar and salt. Carefully fold all ingredients together, fill into pans. Refrigerate for a few hours. Bake at 200C for about 8-10 minutes. Should be solid on the outside with liquid center.

These go well with whipped cream and raspberry-rum sauce, or with icecream and fruit salad with rum.

 

 

Moroccan style chickpea soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 can chickpea, or similar amount dried chickpeas soaked over night

1 cup soaked lentils

1 can tomato paste

2 potatoes, diced; other vegetables to taste (I like string beans, carrots, cellery, etc)

handful of bird's tongue pasta (?) (or soup vermicelli, or any other kind of thin pasta pieces)

2 eggs

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

juice of 2 lemons + lemon wedges

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 2 teaspoons coriander seeds roasted and ground

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 3 tea spoons paprika powder, 2 tea spoons dried ginger powder, 1-2 teaspoons turmeric, pinch of nutmeg

2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 5 branches fresh thymesalt and pepper to taste

 

Heat olive oil in a large pot, fry onions until lightly browned. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, fry another minute. Add remaining spices and thyme, after 30 seconds of frying add diced tomatoes, tomato paste and about 2 liters of water. If using dried chickpeas, add chickpeas. Cook for about 30 minutes. Add lentils, adjust seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. When lentils are almost done, add potatoes, other vegetables, and pasta (and canned chickpeas, if using), cook for another 10 minutes. Mix in lemon juice, eggs, and cilantro.

Serve with lemon wedges.

 

 

Chocolate, chocolate cream and fruit cake

For the sponge cake7 eggs, separated200 g sugar125 g flour75 g corn starch50 g unsweetened cocoa powder100g butter and 100 g dark chocolate, melted

 

Make merengue, beat egg yolks with 100 g sugar for 5 min, fold in other ingredients. Fill into a 26 cm springform, bake at 190 Celsius for ~ 35 min.

Let cool over night, cut into 4 layers (using a cotton thread).

 

Filling:350 g dark chocolate700 ml heavy cream300 g frozen raspberries, thawed250 g fresh raspberriessugar and rum to taste

 

Heat cream and chocolate until well combined, but do not boil. Let cool, keep in the fridge over night. Beat with egg beater until fluffy.Mix thawed raspberries with rum and sugar.

 

To assemble:Soak first layer of cake with raspberry-rum mix, spread a thin layer of chocolate cream on topSpread chocolate cream on next layer of cake, cover with fresh raspberriesAdd another cake layer, spread with a thin layer of chocolate cream, soak bottom side of the last cake layer with raspberry-rum mix and put it top.Cover cake in chocolate-cream mix. Decorate with fresh raspberries and raspberry-rum mix

This also works well with strawberries, bitter orange jam, mangoes and many other fruits.

 

 

Strawberry tiramisu

About 15 ladyfingers (the biscuit, not the vegetable)

500 g strawberries

250 g mascarpone (can be substituted by greek yoghurt or labne)

2 egg yolks

75 g sugar, or more to taste

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

juice of 2-3 lemons

vodka to taste

Reserve some strawberries for decoration. Blend 1.5 cups strawberries, vodka with half the sugar and juice of one lemon.Beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla, add mascarpone and lemon juice. Cut remaining strawberries into chunks, fold into mascarpone mix. Dip biscuits into the mix, arrange in one layer in a cake pan,top with mascarpone mix. Repeat. Decorate with remaining strawberries and strawberry sauce.

 

 

Feuerzangenbowle

For one bottle of red wine I typically use

1-2 pods green cardamon, crushed with the blade of a knife

2 black pepper corns, coarsly crushed

1 cinnamon stick

3 clovespeel of 1-2 oranges and/or lemonspinch of nutmeg

optional: sliced vanilla bean (not so good with lemon)

sliced oranges and/or lemons

 

Boil spices + orange peel with a cup of water for about 5 minutes, add wine and orange slices, heat until almost boiling.

Soak sugar cone in rum, put in a metal colander on top of the warm wine. Now play with fire & rum! To start the fire heat a table spoon of rum over lighter flame, then light the hot rum, pour over sugar cone. Slowly add more rum (otherwise the sugar cone will just dissolve and make it too sweet). When to sugar cone is finished, there you can also set the wine & rum mix on fire, it will continue to burn for a while if you stir it.

Unless you like very sweet drinks, use at least 2 bottles of wine for one sugar cone.