Gin's Raspberry Dream

For 8 servings

500g raspberries (fresh or frozen)

2 eggs

40g sugar

1 sachet of vanilla sugar

1dl milk

1.5dl single cream

Icing sugar for dusting

Dough:

250g flour

60g of sugar

125g butter, cold

1 egg

For the dough, mix the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into flakes and add to the bowl. Start crumbling everything between your fingers. Mix egg and add. Mix it all quickly into a dough.

Wrap the dough into a plastic wrap and let it rest for amount 30 minutes. Roll the dough out on baking paper until you get the size of your baking tray. Lay carefully on your baking tray, pull the edges up slightly, poke the dough various times with a fork and then put it back in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 200C.

For the topping, mix the eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar, milk and cream well together. Distribute raspberries on the dough. Pour topping over. Bake the tart in the lower part of the oven for about 30 minutes.

Take out, let cool slightly and dust the edges with icing sugar. Et voila!

Bon appetit!

Ginny's spicy beef salad

 Recipe to follow shortly! Patience... :-)

Mum's famous potato gratin

For 4 servings

1kg of potatoes (for gratin)

2 garlic cloves

salt, pepper, nutmeg

4-5dl of cream

1 pack of grated cheese (Only use Gruyère or similar and not Emmental)

1  big gratin form

I only tried this recipe a couple of years ago... Since my mother always made the best gratin in the world I have always been a bit scared of trying it. But she gave me the secret recipe which I tried and I could have just lied into this gratin... it was so incredibly delicious. And trust me, if you try this recipe, get ready for quite a lot of compliments and silence at your dining table - you know what I mean! This gratin goes perfect with any meat. Whether it's a nice steak, some lamb racks, it just completes every meal. So get ready for it!

Pre-heat the oven at 200C. Please note that this takes about 1h - 1.5h. So if you don't have too much time, you can blanch the potatoes prior putting them in the oven.  So the quick version is: Peel the potatoes, cut them in thin (about 2-3mm) slices and cook them in some salted water until al dente.  For the "slow" version you just peal & cut the potatoes as described above but don't cook them. I always do it that way. It works perfectly fine, even if you don't have too much time.

Then put the cut potatoes into a big bowl (whether cooked or not), add all ingredients (salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream, 2 pressed garlic cloves and the grated cheese) and mix it all with your hands until all potato slices are covered with it all. Then take your gratin form and rub it in with quite a lot of butter. When done fill in the potatoes into your gratin form and shove it into the oven. Et voilà! Now you count about 1h-1.5h if you didn't blanch the potatoes before, and if you did about 30min less. Always check your oven to check how "tanned" your gratin is. In case the color gets too intense just turn down the temperature to about 150C. You might also want to prepare some bouillon in case you see that your potatoes are getting a bit dry. This can happen depending on the sort of potatoes. Never happened to me (touch wood...) since the cream & the right potatoes always made it right. Lucky me!

Ok, that's about all the magic you need to know to make THE perfect potato gratin. Check for some nice meat recipes along with this delicious side dish. Bon appétit!

Wine recommendation: Some nice, heavy red wine with a taste of dark berries. My all-time favorite red wine for meat is the "Primitivo 60' anni" or the Shiraz from Peter Lehmann.

Music recommendation: Marco di Marco (at Carnegie Hall), Nat King Cole, Dean Martin

Grand-ma's Fiery Nettle Soup

For 4-8 servings

- 500gr „young“ nettles (weighed when already prepared)
- 0.5l water
- 1TS salt
- 0.5l vegetable bouillon
- 2TS cornstarch
- 3TS cold milk
- 2TS cream
- salt, pepper, nutmeg
- butter

I know that probably most of you didn’t know that you can actually make a delicious soup out of nettles. But you can. And my grandmother Daisy proved it to me with this recipe. So just be brave and give it a try. Best is to go and hunt for the nettles in April/May and only pick the very top of the leaves which are “young” and small.

First of all I guess I don’t have to tell you to wear gloves when you go and pick the nettles. When you got all the nettles, wash them thorough under cold water. Then cook them in hot salt water until done (about 5-10min). Then let the nettles drain on a strainer and chop finely. Use 5dl of the cooking water and poor it back into the pan and add the 5dl vegetable bouillon and heat up until its boiling and remove from the stove. Dissolve the 2TS of cornstarch with the 3TS of cold milk and add to the fluid while stirring, put back on the stove and slightly let it boil up again.

Stir in the nettles and the cream and season (as per your taste) with salt and nutmeg. Prior serving add a couple of pieces of cold butter to the soup. It gives a really nice taste to it. Serve a nice piece of fresh baguette with it – et voilà!

Bon appétit!

Wine recommendation: With this dish I would serve a light white wine like a Soave or a nice Sauvignon Blanc

Music recommendation: Lisa Ekdahl