5 Special Occasion Recipes You Should Try

1. Puff pastry hearts filled with raspberry custard

Not for long and then it’s Valentine’s Day again . And because love goes through your stomach, today I brought you a recipe for some sweet stuffed puff pastry hearts with raspberry custard. Undoubtedly, this is gonna be your best valentine’s day recipe.

Stuffed puff hearts for Valentine’s Day

After Christmas February 14th will be the next nice occasion for many to cook something special for their loved ones. Because nothing is better than something cooked by yourself.  Last year I already brought you a recipe for chocolaty Valentine hearts and before that there was even a whole Valentine’s menu from me. This time it gets sweeter again, because today I have some super delicious puff pastry hearts for you. These are filled with a homemade raspberry custard and not only taste great lovers. 

I want to tell you the recipe for my hearty puff pastry particles now.

Puff pastry hearts filled with raspberry custard

• Dish: dessert, dessert
• Preparation time: 15 minutes
• Working time: 25 minutes
• Servings: 12 pieces

Ingredients

• 1 pack of fresh puff pastry
• 200 ml of milk
• 2 yolks
• 30 g of sugar
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
• 125 g raspberries
• some water
• Icing sugar for garnish

Furthermore:

• 2 different sized heart cookie cutter

Instructions

1. Unroll the puff pastry. Cut out 24 hearts with the larger heart cooker. Slightly pierce 12 of this with a fork and brush with water. Cut out the middle of the remaining 12 hearts with the smaller cookie cutter and place the heart frames on the 12 large hearts. Place the hearts on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and bake for about 15 minutes at 180 ° C. Then remove and let cool. Tip: You can simply bake the other little hearts and afterwards just sprinkle them with powdered sugar. 
2. For the pudding, scrape out the vanilla pod and bring the pith and the pod together with the milk. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
3. Beat the egg yolk with the sugar and add the starch. Slowly stir in the warm vanilla milk into the sugar egg mass. Then put everything back into the pot and let it simmer on medium with stirring. Remove the pot from the heat and let the pudding cool down.
4. Place 12 raspberries aside and finely puree with 1 tbsp water. Brush through a sieve and lift under the cooled vanilla pudding. Now put the raspberry custard in a piping bag and fill in the middle of the puff pastry hearts. Serve garnished with a fresh raspberry and some icing sugar.

2. Caipirinha Salmon From The Oven

What do I cook for New Year’s Eve? The classics among the New Year’s Eve fondue, raclette or a good New Year’s carp. Why not try something new and surprise your guests with a delicious caipirinha salmon from the oven?

Caipirinha salmon from the oven as New Year’s Eve food

Caipirinha know most as a delicious cocktail with white rum, cane sugar, lime and lots of ice cream. But these ingredients are also great with fish dishes. So I changed the cocktail a bit and quickly made a caipirinha salmon out of the oven. The result was a super delicious fish that can be served wonderfully for a festive New Year’s Eve dinner. And for the alcohol-free version of the rum can also be omitted.

Wild rice and roasted root vegetables, for example, are a side dish, but the fish is also great with cold baguettes.

The recipe for my caipirinha salmon from the oven you get now:

New Year’s Eve dinner: Caipirinha salmon from the oven

• Dish: fish dish, main course
• Countries & Regions: International
• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Working time: 35 minutes
• Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

Caipirinha salmon

• 1 salmon side with skin á approx. 1000g
• 3 limes
• 4 cl white rum
• 2 tablespoons olive oil + a little to grease
• 2 tbsp brown cane sugar
• 1 tbsp coarse sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• fresh herbs to garnish as needed

Side dishes: wild rice and root vegetables

• 600 grams of wild rice
• 1000 g of root vegetables e.g. Carrots, celery, turnips, parsley root, leeks
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Rinse the salmon cold, pat dry and, if necessary, remove bones.
2. Lay out a baking tray with aluminum foil and brush with olive oil. Now place the salmon on the skin side down and preheat the oven to 175 ° C.
3. Slice two of the limes and place a center row on the salmon. Halve the third lime and drizzle over the entire salmon. The rum and olive oil are also sprinkled evenly over the salmon. Now sprinkle with the coarse sea salt and cane sugar and push for about 25 minutes on the middle rail in the oven.
4. For the side dishes, cook the wild rice as usual in a little salted water and cut the vegetables into fine sticks. Just before cooking, sauté the vegetables in a pan with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
5. Remove the salmon from the oven and serve with the wild rice and roasted vegetables.

3. Homemade Chestnut Gnocchi With Creamy Savoy Cabbage

As in every season, there are also certain types of fruit and vegetables in winter, with which you can try delicious and creative dishes. One of them is chestnut, also known as chestnut or chestnut. So far, I knew the nut fruit only in the form of roasted chestnuts or as a creamy soup. But recently, I made homemade gnocchi and today bring you my recipe for the chestnut gnocchi with creamy savoy cabbage.

Homemade chestnut gnocchi with creamy savoy cabbage

Admittedly chestnuts are actually no vegetables at all. Rather, they belong to the nut fruits and also have a very nutty-intense aroma with a slight sweetness. Therefore, chestnuts as puree, gnocchi or just as a side dish go perfectly with venison and lamb dishes . Even in sweet recipes you can process the nut fruit. But even so the small fruits taste great. I just made some creamy savoy cabbage with my homemade chestnut gnocchi and it tasted really good.

If you just want to give it a try, I have brought the recipe for you:

Homemade chestnut gnocchi with creamy savoy cabbage

• Court main: course
• Countries & Regions: European
• Preparation time: 30 minutes
• Working time: 40 minutes
• Servings: 4 portions

Ingredients

Chestnut gnocchi

• 400 g potatoes floury cooking
• 300 g of chestnuts cooked
• 150 ml of cream
• 150 g of flour
• 2 egg yolks
• Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
• 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil

Creamed cabbage

• 1/2 piece savoy cabbage
• 1 piece of onion
• 100 g bacon
• 100 ml of cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
• freshly chopped parsley to garnish if required

Instructions

Chestnut gnocchi

1. Peel the potatoes and cook gently in boiling salted water.
2. In the meantime, chop the cooked chestnuts a little and place them in a small pot with the cream. Simmer gently for about 5-6 minutes and then puree with a blender.
3. Drain the boiled potatoes, crush or squeeze through a potato squeezer. Then knead the warm potato mash with the chestnut puree, the flour and the yolk into a smooth dough. Season with the spices a little bit.
4. Then form the dough into one (or more) 2 cm thick rolls. Now cut about thumb-width pieces down and form into small gnocchi. For the optics you can then provide the shaped chestnut gnocchi with a fork with the typical pattern.
5. The gnocchi are now cooked in slightly simmering salted water for about 8 minutes. Then remove with a foam trowel, drain and allow to cool slightly.

Creamed cabbage

1. Quarter the savoy cabbage and cut or slice fine strips. Rinse with cold water and drain. Also dice the bacon and the onion.
2. In a large pan, fry the bacon cubes without fat and then add the onion cubes. Glassy with sauté. Add the butter and fry the savoy cabbage for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the cream, season with the spices and simmer for about another 10 minutes, until the savoy cabbage is even and the cream is a little reduced.
4. Once the creamy savoy cabbage is ready, the chestnut gnocchi can be sautéed in a hot, coated pan and fried in a little rapeseed oil until golden brown and garnished with fresh parsley.

4. Salsify Cream Soup With Roasted Walnuts And Walnut Oil

On cold days there is nothing better than a tasty and warming soup. And since winter has so many healthy vegetables in store for us, today I brought you a delicious salsify soup with roasted walnuts and walnut oil.

Salsify cream soup with roasted walnuts and walnut oil

Black salsify is one of the typical winter vegetables found in the vegetable shelves since October. Although the root vegetable is also known as winter asparagus, it has little in common with its distant relatives from the spring. Because the salsify looks – as the name suggests – like a black root. Only after peeling you bring their bright core to light. That would probably be the only thing in common with the asparagus. Because the taste and taste of the two vegetables are very different from each other. Its aroma is more intense, slightly spicy and also nutty. That’s why the salsify harmonizes so well with fruity notes or other nut flavors. It is ideal as a vegetable accompaniment to game, poultry and fish or is good in appetizers and soups.

We have recently had the winter vegetables as delicious salsify cream soup with roasted walnuts and walnut oil as a topping. The recipe for this I brought you today:

Salsify cream soup with roasted walnuts and walnut oil

• Dish: soup, appetizer
• Preparation time: 15 minutes
• Working time: 25 minutes
• Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

Salsify soup

• 800 g salsify fresh
• 1 onion
• 800 ml vegetable broth
• 200 ml of cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt, pepper, nutmeg to taste
• lemon juice

Topping

• 80 g walnut kernels
• walnut oil

Instructions

1. Peel the salsify, rinse, cut into pieces and immediately place in a bowl with water and lemon juice so they do not turn brown. Ideally, you should wear disposable gloves while peeling.
2. Next, peel the onion and cut into cubes.
3. Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Fry the onions in a glassy sauce. Drain the salsify and sauté briefly.
4. Douse with vegetable stock and simmer for about 15 minutes.
5. In the meantime, the walnut kernels are roughly chopped and roasted golden brown without fat in a small coated pan.
6. Remove the soup from the heat and finely puree. Meanwhile, gradually add the cream and at the end season with salt, pepper and fresh grated nutmeg.
7. Arrange in bowls or soup plates and serve with the roasted walnut kernels and some walnut oil.

Recipe Comments

Tip:  If you also want to have a few salsify pieces in addition to the walnuts, 1-2 roots in the whole boil in the soup and take them out before pureeing. Then simply slice and serve in the soup.

5. Baking In Autumn – Pear Almond Cake

Even though the weather hardly makes one believe it on some days, we are in the middle of autumn. I love this season, not only because nature presents us with its most beautiful play of colors, but because you can really make yourself comfortable indoors with a good cup of tea and a delicious piece of cake . That’s why I brought you the recipe for my autumn pear almond cake today.

Baking in autumn – pear almond cake

Although you can buy pears all year round, they are only seasonally available from August to November, depending on the region. Their sweetness harmonizes wonderfully with spices such as vanilla, anise and cinnamon. Also almonds go well with the juicy fruit. So I recently thought: Why not make an autumnal pear-almond cake out of it? Said and done! I tell you he is super delicious and I can only recommend you to try it out.

If you also feel like getting a piece of cake now, here is my recipe for baking:

Baking in autumn – pear almond cake

Dish: cake

Countries & Regions: European

Preparation time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Working time: 2 hours 25 minutes

Ingredients

Dough

• 300 g of flour
• 200 g butter soft
• 80 g of sugar
• 1 piece egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• Baking paper + some butter to grease

Filling

• 3-4 pieces of pears
• 200 ml of cream
• 150 ml of milk
• 2 packets of almond pudding
• 2 pieces of eggs
• 3 tablespoons of vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 5 tbsp almond flakes

Instructions

Dough

1. Put the butter in small flakes in a mixing bowl. Add sugar, egg and the pinch of salt and mix with a mixer with dough hook attachment.
2. Sift the baking powder together with the flour to the butter-sugar egg mass and knead with the mixer to a dough. Knead the mixture well again with your hands and then shape it into a ball. This is wrapped in cling film and must rest for about 45 minutes in the refrigerator.
3. Now the bottom of the springform pan is laid out with baking paper and the edges are buttered. The cold cake dough is then kneaded again with the hands a little and then distributed on the bottom of the springform. While doing so, pull up the dough around the edge by about 3 cm.

Filling

1. For the filling, the pears are peeled, cut in half, gutted and cut into thin slices. The pear slices are now distributed in the springform on the dough. Set aside about 8-10 slices.
2. Now the milk together with the cream, the vanilla sugar, the cinnamon and the eggs in a mixing bowl with a stirrer or a whisk is stirred. Add the pudding powder and stir until all the lumps have dissolved. Then add the almond flakes and pour the mass over the pears.
3. Cover the cake with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for about 50 minutes. Then remove the aluminum foil and decorate with the lifted pear slices and a few almonds and bake for another 15-20 minutes in the oven (without foil) until the desired tan is achieved.