Patisserie & Café Émoi

Nancy et moi, went to Cafe Émoi today. Excuse my very German Sparwitz in the introduction but a good opportunity for a non funny joke could not be missed under any circumstances.

Café Émoi, a bright and modern place, offers your tastebuds the rare experience of French handmade tarts.

White and pink, crystal chandeliers in the sitting area add Frenchness and elegance.
The long counter in the heart of the Café is loaded with little tarts, croissants and cakes. Mr. George,  patissier and owner of Émoi starts to work on his creations at 3:30 in the morning.
He was so kind to meet us and dedicate us some of his time.  He told us that he had lived the life of a globetrotter before he settled in Dresden, close to his hometown Meissen.  France, Belgium, Spain, England, Mexico - just to name some of the countries where he lived and worked in patisseries and restaurants pushing his art to perfection.

However much passion he dedicates to his work the love of his life is his beautiful wife, whom he met in Mexico.

Nancy and I tried a choice of Zupfkuchen and lemon tart, a glass of dill scented pannacotta with mango, a pear and chocolat tart and cherry hazelnut biscuit. All of them delicious!  There is also a bakery shelf with German bread and rolls.
Breakfast with coffee or tea, croissants, homemade jams, eggs and ham is available.

Visit Émoi on https://www.facebook.com/emoi.dresden to find more "sweet" pictures.

Patisserie & Café Émoi
Kamenzer Str. 40
01099 Dresden
Tel. 0351 804 38 14

raspberry strawberry jam the way my grandma taught me to cook it

"Take  any amount of fruit (1kg maximum at a time), and half as much sugar. Put fruit and sugar in a pot and  from now on you only need patience and the right method" my grandma said. She never allowed gelatine enriched sugar in her kitchen, by no means.

Well, the secret was in the right method, which meant you had to spend 30 tiring minutes, a wooden spoon in hand, stirring  through the hot mixture in an uncountable number of eights. 15 minutes while simmering on the hotplate, 15 minutes while set to rest on the cool surface of the workplace. 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 ... . An endless row of  tiring eights.

To keep tiredness within a limit it's a good idea to sit down next to the pot during the whole process. This way you only will suffer from arm tiredness... But it's worth the effort. Even when the finished jam sometimes comes out a bit runny  - always depending on the fruit's natural content of pectin, the flavour is unbeatable pure and fruity.

When you prepare jam from only 500g fruit/ 250g sugar, the stirring time decreases to 20 minutes.

an old family recipe: summertime potato soup

My grandfather loved it because it was reliably followed by a cake or by sweet yeast dumplings with a divine salty crust. My mother continued the tradition and we all loved it.
I am the one who changed it for just potato soup accompanied by baguette, some olives, a bit of pizza or what else the kitchen offers. The quick and easy way!

Potato cucumber soup

4 tbs olive oil
4-5 spring onions, chopped
 about 750g potatoes, diced
1 large fresh cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 ts salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
about 1l  vegetable stock ( I use vegetable stock powder from the wholefood store)

Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the spring onions and the potatoes over low heat, stirring, until the vegetables soften and begin to turn golden. This step is very important, because it gives a special flavour to the soup. Much better than the raw vegetables simply thrown into the stock.
Add salt and pepper.
Pour in the stock. Should cover the vegetables by about 3 cm.

Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add now the cucumber and let it simmer for only 5 minutes more. (No longer!)
Liquidize it in a food processor until smooth.
You can pimp the soup with a bit of sour cream, freshly chopped parsley, croutons....

And of course, have a piece of cake afterwards if you like to follow the old traditions!