THE BOARD SESSIONS | VOL.2
OUR CULINARY HEARTBEAT.
At the stove
On the stove
Joseph & Johannes Schreiter
TEAM FRANKFURTER BOARD
GREEN GAZPACHO
SNOW OF YELLOW GAZPACHO
OYSTER MUSHROOMS WITH TAHINI
Gazpacho.
Along with it came pure soul food: Fried oyster mushrooms with herbs, tahini & lemon. Fabulous on their own, but also a home run as a sandwich or as a topping on salad or pasta.
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The idea for the YELLOW GAZPACHO came to us spontaneously: The green gazpacho is very contrast-rich and exciting in flavor, very refined despite its heartiness – but essentially quite simple.
We wanted to pick up on this exciting base flavor, but interpret the dish differently, better balance the contrasts, and overall reconstruct the flavor experience.
But as sometimes happens - nothing really came together on the first try, and by the end of a long shooting day the whole team was quite frustrated, as you can see in the video.
Only while cleaning up did we get the idea to freeze the base soup made from melon and pepper and turn it into a granité.
So we seasoned it a bit more intensely to compensate for the flavor loss from the cold, froze it overnight, and the next day everything came together wonderfully:
Yellow gazpacho granité on a “soil” of pumpernickel and herb butter, with mint-lime broth, sour cream, and red onion.
And even though we would adjust the plating and proportions a bit next time, this dish is truly spectacular:
The granité is sweet and aromatic, with an exciting flavor development from the melting ice; the pumpernickel earth provides a broad foundation for the lightness of the other ingredients, complemented by the fresh, sharp acidity of onion and lime broth.
All in all unmistakably gazpacho, but somehow wilder, more extroverted, and despite the dish’s delicacy, an intense flavor bomb. Really lovely.
(And it must be admitted: once the working title "Yellow Snow" was established, the mood was great again. Boys will be boys.)
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In this spirit - have fun cooking along, and of course we look forward to your feedback on the recipes!
Johannes, Joseph
& Team
DIRECTLY TO THE RECIPES:
Green Gazpacho Yellow Gazpacho Oyster Mushrooms
Green Gazpacho
// It’s summer in the soup.
The green version of a gazpacho I first discovered in the culinary landmark book “Plenty” by Yotam Ottolenghi.
An ice-cold, bright green vegetable soup, creamy and rich from avocado and oil, bursting with flavor from herbs, spices, and chilies.
My version is a bit more intense and spicier.
You can wonderfully complement by adding a few strawberries or pomegranate seeds at the end to add sweet accents.
The intensity of flavor and calorie density qualify it as a summer main course, served with crusty white bread and white wine, and the world is perfectly fine.
The proportions are actually not that important because
the ingredients combine so effortlessly that the result is always good.
I always like to make a larger batch in summer because you can simply take the soup straight from the fridge and eat it.
- THE BOARD SESSIONS | VOL.2
- “GAZPACHO"
The recipe yields about 5 liters.
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For the soup:
4 cucumbers
4 avocados
½ celery stalk
1 kg leaf spinach½ large fennel
1 bunch spring onions
Zest of ½ lemon
3 garlic cloves
3 small green Thai chilies
(Asian supermarket, I have
always in the freezer)
a few strawberries for garnish
100 ml olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
Some water (or ice cubes)
to adjust the consistency later
Herbs:
150 g basil
1 handful parsley
1 handful chervil (optional)
1 handful fresh coriander (optional)
(As mentioned, the herbs used and their proportions are not crucial and can be adjusted to taste)
Spices:
2 tbsp whole cumin seeds
1 tbsp whole caraway seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cardamom
1 tbsp black or green pepper -
STEPS
Coarsely chop all ingredients except the spices and blend thoroughly in a mixer.
Put everything into a pot. Keep an immersion blender ready for the tasting process and final adjustment, as it works best.
Toast the spices in a pan until they pop and release their aroma.
Then crush with a mortar or, as I do, grind finely in an electric coffee grinder.
In the first step, add about 70% of the spices. Then blend in the oil and finally adjust the soup with water to a nice smooth consistency, as shown in the video.
If you want to eat immediately, you can also use ice cubes instead of water.
Season to taste with salt and lemon juice.
> Now that everything is perfectly seasoned, you can still adjust the amount of spices and chilies to your personal taste.
> As a topping at the end, besides strawberries, herbs and onion rings are recommended; crispy toasted rye bread is a great side, preferably with a fresh sliced garlic clove.
You can puree the chilies separately in water and adjust the final heat level at the end. Those little ones pack quite a punch. The same goes for the spices. Add them gradually only at the end.
Thinking error: Never do something just for the color!
Turmeric has a strong distinctive flavor that I once again underestimated, and to correct that I had to adjust quite a bit.
So just leave it out, the color of the yellow pepper is more than enough.
Snow of yellow Gazpacho
// Frozen yellow Gazpacho on pumpernickel earth. A fireworks display.
The yellow version of our Gazpacho mainly consists of honeydew melon and yellow bell pepper, accompanied by gently fried onions, ginger, sweet-intense roasted garlic, toasted anise seeds, mild olive oil, and plenty of lemon juice.
This goes perfectly with a generous dollop of simple sour cream, fine onion rings, fermented black garlic, and a zesty mint-coriander-lemon mix like a glove.
As the unifying base of the whole dish, we brought out one of our shared favorite components: pumpernickel crumbs fried in butter with pine nuts, a bit of sugar, and thyme.
The dish is a bit more elaborate but can be prepared well in advance. This way, you can finish the starter alongside other preparations and impress your guests right from the first course.
When eating, the Gazpacho snow first fills the mouth with an icy cold burst, then immediately melts and releases its delicate flavor, followed by the warm, crunchy pumpernickel earth with buttery pine nuts taking center stage.
Since the soup and the pumpernickel are overall very sweet, there are 3 different acidic accents:
The sour cream creates a mild, creamy acidic note, the pesto adds a zesty, lemony acidity, and the garlic brings a fermented, nutty acidity.
The taste varies spoon to spoon, so the plate remains exciting throughout due to the ever-changing balance between sour and sweet.
Along with the aromatic hints of mint and the mild spiciness of the onion.
Really good.
- THE BOARD SESSIONS | VOL.2
- “SNOW OF YELLOW Gazpacho"
for about 4-6 people, depending on portion size
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FOR THE SOUP:
4 yellow bell peppers, coarsely diced
3 vegetable onions, coarsely diced
APPROX. 1KG HONEYDEW MELON
1 bulb of garlic
EQUAL AMOUNT OF GINGER
1 tbsp anise seeds
6 tbsp mild olive oil
ZEST OF ½ LEMON
LEMON JUICE TO TASTE
COMPONENTS:
PUMPERNICKEL EARTH:
150G PUMPKINICKEL
50g pine nuts
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
A LITTLE THYME
SALT AND PEPPERPESTO:
1 handful of fresh coriander
1 handful of mint
1 handful of pumpkin seeds
JUICE OF ONE LEMON
½ TBSP SUGAR
SALT
SMALL RED ONION RINGS FROM THE INNER PART OF THE ONION
SOUR CREAM
RED CRESS
3-4 CLOVES OF BLACK GARLIC, SLICED 3MM THICK
GREEN OR RED CRESS
A FEW VERY FINE MINT AND CORIANDER LEAVES FOR GARNISHING
STEPS
> Wrap the garlic in aluminum foil and bake in the oven at 180° for 45 minutes.
> Roughly dice the onions and sauté them slowly and enjoyably in olive oil with a little salt and the anise seeds over medium heat until they are really soft and sweet.
> Cut the melon and bell pepper into large cubes, mix with the fried onions, and blend in batches for about 1 minute on the highest setting.
> Finely chop or grate the ginger and add it. > The garlic too. Yes, the whole bulb. Or at least 80%.
> Put everything together in a pot and stir. Fibers and peel residues that can’t be pureed will settle on top. I skimmed these off with a coarse slotted spoon, not completely, just enough so the soup still has a noticeably coarser texture than water but doesn’t consist of 50% fibers. If you strain it through too fine a sieve, only yellow water remains, which is not the goal. The desired consistency resembles a smooth, creamy lentil soup.
> Then blend in the oil and season with salt and lemon juice. The soup has a complex, heavy sweetness from the bell pepper, melon, garlic, and onions, which can seem a bit dull and one-dimensional. A few splashes of lemon juice and salt suddenly bring out the full flavor depth—the garlic, the anise, and ginger—the lemon juice should also remain slightly noticeable, enhanced by the zest. Better to slightly over-season because freezing binds flavor.
> Spread into a shallow container and put in the freezer until completely frozen. It should be flat so it’s easier to get into the blender and freezes faster. Later, just break it up by hand and bam! Into the blender!
> Pumpernickel crust:
Crumble the pumpernickel roughly by hand, add it with all other ingredients to the pan and fry over medium heat until the pumpernickel becomes slightly crispy and the pine nuts turn golden brown. Set aside, preferably keep warm.
> Pesto:
Put everything together in the blender, puree finely, keep ready. Black garlic can now be found in every supermarket. So far, I haven’t been able to do much with it, but it really fits well here.
> Cut into 3mm slices, arrange together with the plucked leaves and cress for serving.
> Onion rings
Take either a shallot or a small red onion and cut fine onion rings from the inside and set aside.
Plating: quantities depend on portion size; here you have to rely on your intuition.
> Take the gazpacho from the freezer, blend it into powder snow. Use a tablespoon to add the desired amount into the glass.
> Pour 2 tablespoons of the pesto directly in 2 spots; these should settle at the bottom of the glass.
> Add 2-3 tablespoons of pumpernickel soil on one side of the glass so you can also spoon past the soil
> Use a teaspoon to place small dollops of sour cream > Then add onion rings, cress, the leaves, and on top the black garlic.
When plating the accent components on fine plates, I always try to create small islands where all components are gathered instead of spreading everything wildly everywhere.
And I make sure that all components can also be spooned and tasted individually. This way you can taste the dish in parts but also combine them as you like.
The snow keeps surprisingly long, no panic. If you are well prepared, you can almost casually plate the whole thing and casually hand your guests a truly spectacular dish.
NOTES
Cut the bulb at the bottom near the stem so that each clove is cut.
This way you can easily scoop out the roasted garlic from the cloves at the end, which is otherwise a bit tricky.
Then wrap the bulb with the cut side up in aluminum foil and place it in the oven at 180° for 45 minutes.
Thinking error: Never do something just for the color!
Turmeric has a strong distinctive flavor that I once again underestimated, and to correct that I had to adjust quite a bit.
So just leave it out, the color of the yellow pepper is more than enough.
Oyster mushrooms
// Pure soul food
3 steps and 20 minutes of work - a very rewarding dish and for us one of the best mushroom recipes ever.
It's best to use large oyster mushrooms from the market, fresh and beautiful.
Tahini has the mysterious property that it becomes wonderfully crispy in the oven at high heat with convection when spread thinly on oyster mushrooms.
So you make a kind of tahini sauce with finely diced onions, herbs, and spices to taste, add some water to adjust it to the consistency of wall paint, and brush the mushrooms, which are laid out individually on baking sheets, on both sides with the sauce.
Then bake in the oven at 220° for 10 minutes, and a complete dish is ready.
On top, thinly sliced fennel, peperoncini, and parsley, tarragon or oregano, depending on your mood.
If done well, the mushrooms are really crisp and crunchy at the edges.
The mushroom aroma blends beautifully with the sesame sauce, plus sweetly cooked diced onions and spices.
A hearty, well-rounded yet unusual comfort dish that’s very quick to prepare.
In the video, I chose a rather traditionally German spice bouquet with caraway, juniper, cloves, and a bit of cinnamon, which fits very nicely.
An oriental mix with cumin also works great.
- THE BOARD SESSIONS | VOL.2
- „Crispy oyster mushrooms with tahini and fennel."
Recipe:
200g Tahini
1 vegetable onion, finely diced
3-4 tbsp parsley stems, finely chopped
optional 3 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 garlic clove
Zest of ½ lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp soy sauce
Some water, to adjust consistency
Spices:
1 tbsp caraway seeds
5 juniper berries
2 cloves
½ tsp cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1 fennel
a few peperoncini
some parsley greens
Lemon juice
STEPS
Preheat the oven to 220° C fan.
> mix all ingredients together for the sauce.
> then stir in water until it’s easy to brush on.
> grind the spices in a spice grinder or mortar and add to the sauce.
> season with salt
It’s important that the mushrooms lie separately, so you probably need 2 baking sheets.
> lay baking paper on top.
(If you add some water to the sheet and press the paper on it, it will hold by itself)
> spread out the mushrooms
> brush generously with the sauce on both sides
Once done and the oven is hot, put them in and set the timer for 10 minutes.
You can open the door briefly from time to time to let out moisture.
This makes the mushrooms even crispier.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the fennel, mix with parsley leaves and peperoncini, and season with lemon juice and salt.
As soon as the mushrooms are done, arrange them nicely on a platter and place the fennel mix in the center.
That works too, but it’s imprecise and there’s a risk the mushrooms get too much sauce.
I did it anyway because I couldn’t get oyster mushrooms that were nice enough that day to lazily stretch out on the baking sheet while I brushed their undersides. Those are video shoot problems.
That was too much sauce then.
RECIPE: JOHANNES & JOSEPH SCHREITER | IMAGES & VIDEOS: FRANKFURTER BRETT GmbH
At the stove
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JOSEPH & JOHANNES SCHREITER |
FRANKFURTER BOARD
Johannes cooks and Joseph writes about it.
Sparkling wine is usually involved somewhere as well.
