Turkey surprise

Turkey surprise, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

This evening I went to the gym after work. It’s in Oberrieden, a ways South down the lake, maybe 10 minutes by train from Rüschlikon. I walked down the hill from IBM to the train station, and had just enough time to run into the Coop and grab a few things before catching the train to Horgen, whence I walked back North to Oberrieden. The contents of my shopping bag included a small wheat roll, a carton of chocolate milk, and some granola bars—enough sustenance to see me through my workout.

The spinning (stationary bicycling) class was strenuous and fun. I relaxed a bit in the sauna afterward, and chatted with some of my fellows. One of them, a lawyer I often chat with in the spa, gave me a lift back around the lake. He lives not too far from my home, and has kindly offered me a ride on several occasions.

When I walked in the door I was just famished. I looked in the fridge and saw plenty of food; only nothing seemed to go together. I would have to be creative.

I had a packet of sliced turkey that was about to expire, so I knew I had to do something with that. I also had fresh (well, two-day-old) mushrooms that had to be eaten or thrown out. In addition, I had some left-over red capsicum (bell pepper). I decided to make a pasta with all of the above as a sauce.

I sautéed the mushrooms in plenty of butter and a bit of salt. I then removed the mushrooms and sautéed the capsicum in the now-mushroom-flavored melted butter. I added the turkey, cooked it for a bit, added some crushed black pepper, and poured the mix over freshly cooked pasta. I topped it off with the sautéed mushrooms.

It was sooooo good. I can’t believe I just threw this together at the last minute. I must refer back to this post in the future, and try to recreate this dish!

Fun appetizers with mozzarella and basil

_MAL1239.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Late last summer, I made a nice Caprese salad for Janaki when she came over for a visit. I took a photo but didn’t get around to posting it until yesterday. When I’m in Italy, Caprese salad is the yardstick I use to gauge the priciness of a restaurant. The ingredients of the salad are readily available and relatively inexpensive, and the preparation is straightforward and quick; so the price a restaurant charges for the dish largely represents the markup—not the cost of the food per se, but what you must pay for the privilege of dining at that particular establishment.

The distribution of prices is broad. I’ve seen Insalata Caprese listed on menus in Rome for as little as 5€, and as much as 20€.

_MAL9505.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Another great mozzarella-based appetizer substitutes dried ham for the tomato. Just take thumb tip-sized pieces of the cheese and roll them up together with couple of basil leaves in thin strips of the ham. Use air-dried or smoked ham, according to your preference. Prosciutto and Westphalia work fine. Hold the rolls together by piercing each one with a cocktail toothpick. Serve them with a small bowl of olive oil seasoned with salt, black pepper, and optionally rosemary or oregano. Enjoy!

Waffles

_MAL8433, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Lotta gave me a waffle iron for Christmas last year, and I just got around to using it the first time. On Sunday I made some from a mix; today I made a batch from scratch and they were even better. In fact, these were some of the best waffles I've ever eaten.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 dl wheat flour
1 dl milk
1 egg
50 g melted butter
1 T heavy whipping cream
2 t baking powder
1 t sugar

(dl = deciliter, g = gram, T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon)

Melt the butter on low heat in a small saucepan. While the butter is melting, Mix the egg, milk, and cream together in a bowl. Add in the melted butter, sugar and baking powder, and mix with a whisk until these ingredients have been fully dissolved. Then pour in the flour while continuing to mix. Whisk until a smooth consistency is achieved.

Pour a large spoonful of the batter into the center of a hot waffle iron, covering about two-thirds of the area of the iron. Close the waffle iron immediately. Allow the waffle to bake in the iron for about a minute, removing it when the it has become golden brown in color.

Serve with hot maple syrup, fruit, jam, or powdered sugar.

Dinner today

_MAL6300, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

For dinner today I had one of my favorite meals: Nürnburger bratwurst with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. This time I also had a special treat: a bottle of organic Riedenburger Pils beer. Riedenburg is a small town in Bavaria near Regensburg, and it's my good friend Andrea's hometown.