For my birthday in January, I got my new favourite cookbook! It’s called Ekkeharts Kochbuch (Ekkehart’s Cookbook) and is a rare collectors’ item with only two copies in the entire world.

My Dad is the cook in our family. He’d make sure I got a homecooked meal every day when I was a child. On holidays, the entire family would gather at our house to enjoy his three-course menus. When I moved out, one of the things I sorely missed was naturally his cooking. He had made me a small cookbook with simple recipes when I was fourteen or so which I took with me, but it didn’t include everything I was craving for, obviously. Besides, I just didn’t have the kitchen or the cooking equipment needed for many of those recipes.

Ever since we got our kitchen, I’ve been badgering him mentioning every now and then (cough) that I’d love an “unabridged” version of his cookbook. And here it is! It must have taken him so much time to compile everything, but it definitely will be used and loved and cherished for many decades. (He has been typing up his recipes for his own use for many years, just in case you think he had to do it all from scratch just for me!)

The book includes family recipes as well as recipes from different cookbooks he compiled over the years. He put them in punched pockets so I could take them out of the binder for ease of use. At the same time the transparent sheets protect the pages from smudges and splashes! Above on the left you can see one of my childhood favourites, maccheroni gratinati, which I’ve been making quite a lot lately. 😉

I also love the Quiche Lorraine recipe. I actually translated it into English and posted it years ago on this blog (here).

It’s asparagus season, so this was a recent Sunday dinner: asparagus with boiled potatoes, scrambled eggs, Black Forest ham and melted butter. This obviously isn’t very complicated and could be done without recipe, but delicious nonetheless.

Last but not least, this grilled chicken (stuffed with lemon, orange and parsley) we had on Friday. My Dad usually buys buns as a side dish, but Phil made these delicious potato wedges instead. Honestly, it was even better than with plain buns!

There are more complicated recipes in the book as well. I’ll slowly work my way up to them! I’m having loads of fun (and bouts of childhood nostalgia!) experimenting with this book.