Author Archives: themedicalgourmet

Honey Glazed Duck with Spiced Lentils and Mash

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I’m sure you all heard or read about the Swiss National Bank’s dramatic economic move this past week: that’s right, it’s the Swiss Franc I’m talking about. Without warning, sneaky as we are, our National bank decided to get rid of the cap they had placed on the Euro-CHF exchange rate in 2011. The Swiss Franc is now, as all other currencies, floating freely. How deceivingly lovely that sounds. Regarding food shopping – it’s a dream with France and Germany only one hill away – perfect for a maniac like myself! As soon as my next inspiration struck I decided to hit the road and cross borders – top on my list: Duck and Lentils. C’est français n’est pas? Alors, l’excuse parfaite pour acheter ces ingrédients en France. In all seriousness, I should probably be supporting the Swiss economy after last weeks madness….. maybe next time :-).

Honey Glazed Duck with Spiced Lentils and Mash

duck with honey and lentils

adapted from bbc.co.uk/food

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Swedish Cardamom Cake

Posted in Cake / Cupcakes by

The last time I had a few days off after nights I decided to visit Stockholm with a friend, who also randomly had some days of compensation (the one plus about working as a doctor – you get random days off to compensate for your ridiculous hours = free holidays!). One thing the Swedish know how to do well is the so called “Fika“, or coffee break with lots and lots of pastry. It belongs to the daily routine apparently, like breakfast, lunch and dinner. Genius. The pastries the Swedish are most famous for are, correct me if I’m wrong, cinnamon bullar (buns), cardamom bullar, cardamom cake and also saffron bullar. When I read cardamom bullar for the first time, I must admit, I was a tad sceptical as I immediately associated it with curry (ew…. curry pastry… not what I had in mind for my tea break). Retrospectively, I can proudly call myself an Idiot. Ground cardamom is the new cinnamon! Every pastry with cardamom was amazing – indescribable! I have even started adding it to my morning muesli instead of the good old cinnamon…. it seems to go with everything.

Anyways, with this newly revealed secret ingredient, being responsible for the sweet side of a Christmas family gathering, I decided to attempt to recreate something from my trip – a Swedish cardamom cake. It went down extremely well. You should try it!

Swedish Cardamom Cake

Cardamom Cake

adapted from a random cookbook, unknown name and author, read in Stockholm airport.

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Leftover Turkey: A Different Kind of Chilli

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Every year on the 26th December I stare at the turkey leftovers and ask myself: what shall we create this time? Our family standard is to pretend that turkey is venison – we reheat it in a sauce we otherwise usually make with game and serve it with Spätzli and some veg. However, this year I felt like mixing it up a little, checked out some recipes online and decided to attempt this one. Admittedly, it doesn’t remind me all too much of the chilli con carne I usually make, but it was still tasty. Let me know what you think!

 Chilli con Turkey

IMG_4153

adapted from jamieoliver
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Caramelised Onion, Goat’s Cheese and Thyme Tart

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Every year on the 25th December my mom goes all out for Christmas Dinner: Turkey, Sausage, Sage & Onion Stuffing, Mash, Sprouts, Cranberry Sauce, followed by a traditional Christmas Pudding with an extremely alcoholic sauce. The pudding is usually courtesy of a very close family friend and, as you may know, has to be made two months in advance. As you might remember from a previous post, I actually assisted in the making of the Pudding this year. Of course one can’t just spend a whole afternoon making dessert on an empty stomach – the Chef de la Cuisine decided to whip us Pudding helpers something up for lunch. At first I was very sceptical when the menu was announced. Honestly, I am not the biggest fan of goat’s cheese. Nonetheless I decided to be adventurous and tried the tart – and LOVED it so much that I had to remake it a week later. E voilà.   P.S. The Medical Gourmet’s (mom’s) Christmas Dinner Recipe will follow in a years time…. I got so excited about eating two nights ago I completely forgot to capture the moment photographically. Something for all you out there to look forward to :-).

Caramelised Onion, Goat’s Cheese and Thyme Tart

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Self Saucing Lemon Pudding

Posted in Dessert by

Apologies for the long break since the last post – my past few weeks were filled with eating, sleeping, working, getting the flat ready for Christmas, sleeping, working, buying presents and not much more – no time seemed to be left for my brain to creatively think of something to write. With that in mind I thought I’d reveal a classic winner of wintery indulgent desserts – a self saucing lemon pudding. It’s a favourite in my family, simple to make and always hits the spot after any meal. Perfect for frosty winter days. Not to forget – it also looks impressive and fools guests into thinking you puts lots of effort into making a lemon curd and a sponge topping. Little do they know the two are a result of one quick mixture….. So, if you forgot to make a Christmas pudding two months ago, why not give this dessert a go as an alternative for the 25th December – I’m sure everyone will love it!

Self Saucing Lemon Pudding

lemon pudding 1

adapted from Leith’s How To Cook
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The Medical Gourmet’s (Perfect) Cinnamon Rolls

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Here is a post for all you nocturnal readers out there. Working hours in the surgical profession aren’t your standard 9 to 5 with a one hour lunch break. They are more like 7 to 7 with a 15 minute lunch break (if you’re lucky). Or the even better (not) shifts are the night shifts – 8pm to 8am with ha, wait for it, officially no calculated break – which normal functioning human being could survive that? This past week I had my first night shift after two night free years – dear god does your body protest. You’re tired all the time no matter how much sleep you get. You have the hugest eye bags all the time – make up resistant might I add. You’re hungry all the time – literally, I never thought waking up from hunger is a thing…. trust me… it is and it sucks! Additionally, ER’s attract strange people after dark…. who shows up at 2 am with a painful wrist 5 weeks post falling on it?? Seriously. Well, at least these people are kind enough to keep me busy 🙂

Anyways, to combat my constant hunger whilst on nights I decided to pre-make a batch of cinnamon rolls. In the past I have tried many recipes but none were satisfying enough. Until now. Just in time for my week of nocturnal binge eating I managed to create the perfect combination of doughy fluffyness with a heavenly cinnamony filling. Nom.

Cinnamon Rolls

cinnamon pecan rolls with lemon creamcheese frosting

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Menemen

Posted in Breakfast by

The best meal of the day in my opinion is breakfast. I could eat breakfast food 24/7 – from cinnamon rolls to fresh bread with nutella to müsli with yoghurt to eggs with bacon to smoked salmon with avocado to pancakes….. Although if we are being honest, since the introduction of “brunch” almost anything classifies as breakfast food…. but that’s not the point;-). Nonetheless, it still remains epic. Especially lazy weekends – nothing beats sleeping in and waking up to the smell of bacon, eggs or whatever your loved one has fancied treating you with. Bearing that in mind, I thought I’d inspire you just in time for Sunday breakfast/brunch with a savoury turkish dish. Looks impressive and tastes just as good. Enjoy!

Menemen

Menemen

adapted from bbcgoodfood
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Koeksisters

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I cannot believe 2 years have passed since my time in Cape Town. Crazy. Such great memories, lots of wine tasting, not so much hospital-work, lots of eating, beaching, exploring and more wine tasting. Best. Elective. Ever. My liver must not have been happy. To reminisce, a friend and I got together one evening this past week. We drank wine from the Peter Falke vineyard (in Stellenbosch), which she still had in her cellar from our trip, and made Koeksisters (finally, this had been our plan for the past two years but somehow…..2 years later there we were). Koeksisters are the unhealthiest but most rewarding small spiced balls of fried dough. The first time we ever tasted them was in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood of Cape Town, from a small corner shop that sells fresh ones only once or twice a week, usually on a Sunday. They were delish.

BoKaap

A house in Bo Kaap

But just to clarify – there are two types of Koeksisters, the most common ones are shiny braided looking things drenched in syrup or honey, the ones we had in Bo-Kaap which are harder to find, (and tastier in my opinion) are of malay origin. An essential ingredient is ground cardamom, which I knew would be a challenge to find in Switzerland, so a while ago, with this plan on the back of my mind, I seized the opportunity at a local indian shop in Shepherd’s Bush :-). No excuses now – Koeksisters had to be made!! The recipe we used is from a b&b owner we met along the way, so no guarantee for its accuracy – I feel it is more a cross between the shiny braided version and the malay version. In any case, whatever it is we ended up with was tasty 🙂

Koeksisters

Koeksisters1

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The Medical Gourmet’s Tiramisu

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Tiramisu is, despite being simple, a tricky dessert. Lots of people claim to have the best recipe and don’t want to reveal their secret. However, in my opinion, Tiramisu is the one dessert one can’t really claim to be the king of, as tastes widely vary. How much coffee to use? Whether or not to add egg whites? Oooo or Marsala or Amaretto or Rum or Grand Marnier? And who on earth decided to add fruit to Tiramisu? That is just wrong. Is it? I’m sure every italian grandma would shake her head with disapproval.

I have yet to try an actual italian home-made Tiramisu and am longing for one of my italian friends to make me a one ala Nonna. Come to think of it, I don’t really know many italians. Damnit. Well, I guess until then I am stuck making my own. My preference: a medium amount of coffee (due to the fact that I actually don’t like coffee… ), egg whites, Marsala, and no fruit pieces. If I may say so, it has improved drastically since my first attempt a couple years back. My secret ingredient: lemon zest and juice. Go ahead and try it out, let me know what you think!

Tiramisu

 

IMG_2415
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Moroccan Chicken Tagine

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Can you believe it’s already almost Christmas again?? Personally, I am quite excited for my favourite season of the year – the lights, the smell of gingerbread, the food, the mood, everything about it basically. There are two reasons Christmas came to mind. First being that today I actually helped a friend start on making Christmas puddings. Yes, you heard right, we were making dessert for December 25th on the October 12th . Bizarre. But the pudding has to sit for around 8 weeks to fully allow all of the flavours to develop. Boy was it hard not to dig in to the gooey, raisiny, spice filled boozy mess. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it.
Second being today’s recipe. In recent years, my brother and I had decided to give our family & close family friends group excursions as a Christmas present (makes it sooo much easier and the outings are super fun). A few weeks ago we finally organised our last years gift – an evening/dinner/drinks on a small ferry in the middle of the Rhine. What flavour packed dish is better made in advance (30 year old boats sadly don’t have cooking facilities) than a tagine or a chilli? We opted for the more “exotic” of the two which went down extremely well.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine

tagine

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