Black Bean Soup

Guten Tag, lovely blog readers! (If you exist...)

That's right, I am currently writing from my new home in Munich, Germany. I will be here until early next year, and I just moved into my new flat.

Being half German, you would expect me know basically how to get around in Germany... but the fact is that I haven't lived here since I was a very small child, and there are things (like shopping!) that simply didn't concern me as a toddler.

So... groceries. Firstly, today is Sunday and everything is closed. Rawr. It's good in that the people who would normally have to work get a day off, but for me, as someone who doesn't obey the Sabbath, it's mildly frustrating since I only moved in 2 days ago and have not yet stocked up my pantry. Ah well...

The other thing is supermarkets here are a little different than in New Zealand. I would say that the supermarkets that are most similar would be Rewe and Real, which are big supermarkets with a large range. Aldi and Lidl are huge chains, but only stock like one brands version of each item. Then there are smaller supermarkets like Netto and Norma, but I haven't really shopped at them yet.
Oh yes, and you can buy some food stuffs at Rossmann and DM, but only a limited (usually organic) amount, since these are actually Drogerie Markts, so basically pharmacies mixed with convenience stores.

Alas, since I am only just finding this out I have yet to get all the ingredients together like I would like... (I have only seem Garam Masala in one small Rewe so far, and it was really expensive O.o Also soy sauce was expensive, and the local asian store didn't stock as much as they do in NZ... but I guess there are a lot more asian people living in NZ than in Germany, so that makes sense).

However, there are of course a lot of delicious foodstuffs that I can't get in NZ... the BREAD is amazing, and there is such a huuuuuuuge range of delicious bread spreads :O I am salivating. If anyone comes to Germany, I personally implore you to try Zwiebelschmalz, it is absolutely to die for.
Or maybe you shouldn't, since you'll miss it too much when you go home. :P

Anyway, yesterday I threw together this stew with the ingredients I had accumulated. So, without further ado:

Black bean stew

Ingredients (serves 1)
-1/2 can of black beans (the ones I bought were in a curry sauce)
-3 cloves of garlic
-1/2 can of tomatoes
-3 tsp tomato paste
-2 tsp veggie stock
-1/2 cup of water
-2 tsp paprika
-2 tsp chilli powder
-3 tsp black pepper
-Olive oil to taste

Directions
1) Peel and slice the garlic, whilst heating up a pan. Fry the garlic for about a minute.
2) Turn down the heat and add the tomatoes, spices, black beans, water and veggie stock. Put a lid on the pan and leave to simmer.
3) Wait until the liquid has cooked down a little and you can taste the spices coming through. Then, add olive oil to taste: I added about two swirls to the pan.
4) Serve and enjoy!

Pappa al pomodoro

Today I found myself reminiscing my time in Italy... it is an absolutely beautiful country. Italy has to be the country with the best food I've ever tasted. Everything I ate there was to die for. On my way home from the library today I found myself craving a particular meal I had one day I was travelling around the Tuscan countryside... Pappa al pomodoro, a Tuscan bread soup.

One of my photos from Florence... it is a beautiful place.

I used this http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/bread-and-tomato-soup-pappa-al-pomodoro as my starting point, however I changed it a little depending on what I had in my cupboard, what was cheap to buy (I'm a thrifty student at the moment and unfortunately tomatoes etc. are no longer in season...) as well as things I thought would go well with it... trying to create the flavour of the meal I experienced in Italy. However, Jamie Oliver is of course a professional, so if you have all the ingredients feel free to use his recipe ^{although I would hesitate to use stale bread... ewwww.}

Here's what I did:

Pappa al pomodoro (Serves 4)

Ingredients
-3 400g tins of tomatoes
-3 cloves of garlic
-1 large bunch of fresh basil
-A drizzle of oil
-Salt
-Pepper
-1 and 1/2 baguettes
-Balsamic vinegar
-4 tsp Vegetable stock (powder form)

Directions
1) Peel and finely slice garlic.
2) Open one of the tins of tomatoes, and remove the tomatoes. Toss with one clove's worth of garlic and about 1/3rd of the basil leaves.
3) Put these tomatoes on a tray and bake in the oven, sprinkled with a little salt and pepper, for 20mins at 180°C.
4) Heat some oil in a pan, and lightly fry the remaining garlic for about a minute. Add the remainder of the basil after a while.
5) Add the remainder of the tomatoes, then fill the tins with water and add that, as well as the stock. Break the tomatoes up with a fork, bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 mins.
6) Add two swirls of vinegar (or to taste) and stir in.
7) By now, the tomatoes should be done. Take them out of the oven, and stir them in as well.
8) Tear up bread into thumb-size pieces and stir into soup mixture. You're looking to achieve a porridge-like texture.
9) Enjoy!

Some things I might try next time is using dried basil at first, and maybe some dried thyme as well, then using fresh basil for garnish. This will make the herb flavours come out more.
When I was in Italy I discovered that this soup is usually left 24 hours before reheating and serving... this allows the flavours to intensify. This is exactly what I am doing! Om nom nom.

~Ingi