Leek and Potato Soup

A great meal for a cold winter. It's cheap, quick and easy to make, and it will always be aprecciated. Top it with bread, bacon, chorizo, parsley and/or spring onion.

Cooking time: 25 minutes active, 30 passive.

For the Leek and Potato Soup you'll need the following:

(4 persons)
1 kg Potatoes (Use a mashing/baking type)
3 Leeks
1 l Chicken or Vegestable Stock
25 g Butter
Salt
Pepper

Start of by peeling the potatoes and rinsing the leeks. Cut into chunks. Saute the leeks in butter until it is clear and soft. Add the potatoes and the stock. Let it simmer for 30 minutes and blitz until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with croutons, bacon, chorizo, parsley and/or spring onion as topping and a piece of bread on the side.

Suggested drinks: Pilsner or a fruity white wine.

Mashed Potatoes

Everyone likes Mashed Potatoes, but it can get screwed up easily. So here's a fool-proof version, with lots of butter. Serve with a slow-cooked dish like Gullasch or Braised Pork Cheeks.

For Mashed Potatoes you'll need:

(4 persons)
1½ kg starchy Potatoes
3 dl Whole Milk
100g Butter
1 tsp Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper

Start by peeling the potatoes and cutting them into smaller pieces (to lower the cooking time). Boil for about 15 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain and leave it to steam off the last water (water can make the mash grainy). Add butter and wait for it to melt. Mash with a whisk and add the whole milk until it has a creamy consistency. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Serve with a slow-cooked dish like Gullasch or Braised Pork Cheeks.

Suggested drinks: Beer

Steamin' Chicken Soup

A steaming hot bowl of chicken soup can lighten everyone up in these dark, cold and somewhat depressing winter months.
It is cheap, tasty, healthy and easily kept in the fridge or freezer. Just add some meatballs, leeks or potatoes and it is as good as any main course.
The boiled chicken can be used to make a wonderful Chicken Salad.

Cooking time: 3 hours. 30 min  active, 2½ hours inactive.

For the Steamin' Chicken Soup you'll need:

(10-12 persons)
1 small Chicken
2 Stock Bones (Veal)
2 Leeks
3 Onions
1 small Celeriac
2 leaves of Bay Leaf
8 Peppercorns

Put the stock bones and the chicken in a big pot and add water until they're covered. Boil gently for 1½ hour. Skim the soup for foam and fat every half an hour. Add the roughly chopped vegetables and herbs. Boil for 1 hour. Strain the soup (set the chicken aside for stuff like chicken salad etc.) and skim some fat off again. Serve generous portions with meatball, sliced leeks or chunks of potatoes.
This can be kept for 5 days in a fridge and 3 months in a freezer.

Suggested drinks: Pilsner

Mushroom Ragout

Mushroom ragout is a great autumn side-dish. Great with grilled meats or even as a dish itself. When cleaning mushrooms, try to use a small brush and knife, instead of rinsing them in water. However sometimes you'll have to wash them, but do it gently and leave them to dry on a towel for an hour, if you do so.

For the mushroom ragout you'll need:

(4 persons side-dish or 2 persons main-dish served with pasta IE)
200g Chanterelles
200g Porto Bello
2 Apples
2 dl Cream
½ dl Cognac
25g of Parmesan
25g of Butter
2 tbs of chopped Parsley
Salt
Pepper

Start of by cutting the Porto Bellos into slices and splitting the biggest of the chantarelles. Sauté at  medium-high heat in a knob of butter until they turn golden. Don't overload the pan or it'll boil instead, due to the high water content in mushrooms.
Add the to apples cut into small chunks and sauté for ½ a minute. Flambe in cognac (just let the cognac reduce if you're scared of flambeing), and add the cream and parmesan. Heat it through for 2 minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Finally add the chopped parsley just before serving.

Suggested drinks: Dark beers, rich wines (red or white)

Red Bell Pepper Sauce

Time for some sauce! This is a great one, which can be served hot or cold, as a dip, as a normal sauce or it can even be used as a marinade. It's great as a sauce for grilled meats and potatoes, and you can even char the peppers on the grill while doing your meat. It's very easy to make, so take on the challenge and try it out.

For the Bell Pepper Sauce you'll need:

4 Red Bell Peppers
2 Onions
1 clove of Garlic
½ dl Olive Oil
Lemon (if served cold) / Vinegar (if served hot)
Salt
Pepper
Optional: Chili/Sambal

Roast the peppers in a very hot oven or over an open flame/grill until they're black and charred. Put them in a plastic bag for 10 minutes. While the peppers are resting, sauté the chopped onions and garlic in olive oil until clear. Peel the skin of the peppers and remove the seeds. Cut into small chunks and add to the onions. Fry for 3-4 minutes, blitz it to a smooth paste and add vinegar (if served hot) or lemon (if served cold) and optionally some chili or sambal.

A bag of Potatoes

Often grilling turns into a meat-orgy, so it is important to find some good side dishes instead of just the regular potato salad. What I often do is to pack up some potatoes in tinfoil and throw them on the barbey while the coals are heating up. This can of course also be done in an oven or in a closed grill.
You can either make small packs for each person of a couple of big ones.

For the bag of Potatoes you'll need:

(4 persons)
½ kg Potatoes
4 big Carrots
1 Lemon
4 chunks of Butter
Oregano
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Tinfoil

Butter i layer of tinfoil. Dice the potatoes and carrots, slice the lemon into quarters. Add all of the ingredients to the tinfoil and fold up. Add a second layer (and possibly a third) of tinfoil and fold it up tightly. Place in a barbey or an oven for 1-1½ hour. If you're doing this in a grill remember to turn it every 15 minutes. Enjoy :)