Great Taste

Family recipe for German potato salad

Looking for a delicious complement to holiday ham?

Give this potato salad a try. It's from mama, with a few subtle updates.  The recipe calls for raw eggs so you will need to prepare and eat the salad the same day. 

Five large, fresh red potatoes, halved
Six slices thick, quality bacon, chopped into one-inch pieces
One-half large or one small white onion, chopped
Two fresh eggs, beaten
One-half cup apple cider vinegar
Three tablespoons (or more) fresh parsley leaves, chopped
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
One chopped green onion, for garnish

Cover potatoes in water and cook until fork tender but not too soft--15 to 20 minutes. Drain off water and allow potatoes to cool slightly. Meanwhile cook bacon in large pan on stovetop. After a few minutes add white onions. Continue to cook over medium to low flame until bacon is slightly crispy and onions are soft. While potatoes are still warm, peel and gently slice. Place sliced potatoes in pan with onions, bacon and fat. Pour over eggs and vinegar, and mix in parsley and seasonings. Carefully blend ingredients, taking care to not break up potatoes in the process. Let stand at least an hour. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped green onion. Serve with warm ham or cold cuts with rye bread, pumpernickel and/or vollkornbrot. Yield: About eight servings

Lose the January blues....Make sauerkraut!

Lanesboro blogger Peggy Hanson offers step-by-step instructions:

http://cookoutofthebox.blogspot.com/

Pfeffernusse followup: Twelve Days or Sinterklaas?

From Wikipedia:

Pepernoten are originally a Dutch treat^{[citation needed]}, baked during 'Sinterklaas', a feast on 5 December (6 December in Belgium and Germany) on which little children receive gifts from the holy St. Nicholas, the partial inspiration for Santa Claus. In Germany, Pfeffernüsse are traditionally made during the Christmas season.

Truth is, the pfeffernusse are still on the kitchen counter and Gourmanda's diet didn't start yet, so--thanks to Jay--she is going with the Twelve Days of Christmas-Plus approach. 

In recent days GG made gnocchi using a recipe from Joy of Cooking. (Outstanding--though pretty labor intensive.) She also made beef stroganoff and she ate crepes with ricotta cheese and lingonberry preserves.    

Now she heads to Chicago and that doesn't bode well for eating with restraint.  The post-holiday diet will be jump-started next week. 

 

 

Time to pitch the pfeffernusse

Seems like we ate ourselves into oblivion this holiday season. Only thing left is a half bag of pfeffernusse--German spice cookies. Pfeffernusse (which originated in Holland, where it's called pepernoten--for whatever it's worth) is a Christmas specialty and was given to Gourmanda in December by a Teutonic friend. 

But now it's auf wiedersehen pfeffernusse, so long decorated sugar cookies, bye-bye chocolates.* It's time to put away the krumkake baker, too, and say hello to salad, stir-fry and lots and lots of vegetables and high protein foods. It is time for the.....January diet.

FrankIy GG won't miss sweets as much as ample amounts of cheese, cream and butter. 

Won't you join her? This means, Jay, hold the taters and bread with that burger. No to creamy wild rice soup. Etc.  GG 

*But the clock has started ticking for Valentine's Day. JF already sent this writer a press release about chocolates from Chicago.

Inge's potato pancake recipe

Feeling cold and winter blues-y?

Try Inge's potato pancakes, with a dollop of sour cream and some applesauce. 

Inge is a life-long family friend. Originally from the Stuttgart area, she has lived in and around Chicago for decades. Inge knows good food. Once upon a time her grandmother cooked for a baroness in Germany and her uncle was chef at a European hotel in Chicago.

Gourmanda recently enjoyed kartoffelpuffer in Inge's kitchen. She wasn't too hungry, so Gourmanda requested just one pancake. Then she stabbed her fork into another....and another, and.... suddenly she was very hungry after all.  What she tasted was light, warm, thin, slightly brown and crispy on the outside--and flavorful.

Inge kindly shared her recipe:

Four large Idaho russet potatoes, peeled and finely grated

One medium onion, finely grated

Two eggs

About two tablespoons flour

About three-quarters of a teaspoon salt (or less) and a few shakes of pepper

Olive oil

In large bowl grate potatoes and squeeze well to remove any excess water. (You can also squeeze  grated potatoes using a cheesecloth.) Add grated onion immediately and blend. Mix in flour, eggs, salt and pepper; blend thoroughly. The batter should be thin enough that it is easy to pour and spread evenly in a pan. Begin heating a large frying pan; add enough oil to cover the bottom about a quarter inch. When the oil is hot (but not smoking), use a large spoon and create each pancake to a size of about three inches in diameter. Lower heat slightly and cook pancakes on each side two to three minutes. Transfer to a paper towel on a rack or plate. To start another batch, add more olive oil for frying. Serve pancakes immediately with a bowl of sour cream and a bowl of warm, homemade cinnamon-flavored applesauce.  Yield: about 15 pancakes.     

Note: Inge grated the potatoes and onion shortly before we arrived and she made the pancakes on the spot while we were talking in the kitchen. Freshness and speed are key to best result.

 

 

Usher in the New Year with--North Shore herring!

You can still put out that spinach artichoke dip but why not give them something to talk about?

Dockside Fish Market is still open: http://docksidefishmarket.dreamhosters.com/index.shtml

More on herring: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/488277 

And a recipe: http://www.sallybernstein.com/food/cuisines/germany/c.htm

(Scroll down to the second recipe)

Great Taste's 2009 holiday send/ship gift choice

Once upon a time, Great Taste sent fanciful holiday baskets which may have included Minnesota-made B.T. McElrath fine chocolates, specialty crackers and artichoke dip, current favorite books, CD's, and trinkets.  

But in these more prudent, thoughtful times, GT is taking the "less is more" route and sending family and friends a pure and simple, delectable version of the German holiday sweet bread known as stollen. 

Of course it would be best to make the stollen in one's own kitchen. Great Taste assures her readers that one of these years she will get around to it. But meanwhile GT's ordering from award-winning Bit of Swiss bakery in Michigan: http://www.bitofswiss.com/holiday.html

Background on stollen:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen   

GG

Sauerbraten dinner event in Wabasha! But if you can't go--here's a recipe

"SeptOberfest" continues in Wabasha: Reservations are still available for a four-course sauerbraten dinner this Saturday, October 17, at Slippery's Bar & Grill.

More info at http://www.wabashamn.org/septoberfest-2009/slipperys.php 

In case you can't make it--and if you happen to have significant chunks of time open on your calendar--here is Great Taste's personal recipe for sauerbraten.

If you like sauerbraten and if you choose to make this, let us know if it is or isn't the best you've ever tasted. (Or/and let us know how Slippery's sauerbraten is....We are always looking for good German fare, which is increasingly hard to find anywhere in the United States.) 

Sauerbraten

Four- to five-pound beef round sirloin tip
Two tablespoons salt
One tablespoon pepper
Three cups apple cider
One cup apple cider vinegar
Six whole cloves
Four bay leaves
One teaspoon peppercorns
Three onions, sliced
Three carrots, sliced
Three celery ribs
One to two tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
One-fourth to one cup beef stock or broth
About a dozen gingersnap cookies, crushed
One to three tablespoons brown sugar, to taste
Sour cream (optional)

Rub beef with salt and pepper. Place in deep earthen dish or crock. (If you don't have a crock, you can use a large bowl and later transfer to a large, resealable plastic bag.) In medium pot heat apple cider, apple cider vinegar, onion, carrots, peppercorns, celery, cloves and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Pour this hot marinade over beef in crock. Cover (or transfer to plastic bag and seal) and refrigerate for three to four days. Every day stir marinade and turn over meat. When finished with marinating, remove and reserve juice and vegetables.

Melt a tablespoon of lard or vegetable oil in skillet and brown meat on all sides. Place in roasting pan and surround with one cup of marinade and the vegetables. Cover and bake in a 300 degree oven about three hours, turning every half hour. Add more marinade during roasting as needed. Remove meat and let rest. Strain liquid and skim fat.

Dissolve gingersnaps and brown sugar with a little of the strained pan juices and/or hot beef stock. In saucepot heat pan juices and combine with gingersnap-sugar mixture. Cook until slightly thick. Add a little water or stock if needed. Blend in sour cream (optional) and adjust seasonings to taste.

Cut beef against the grain into thin slices. Place on platter or individual plates. Ladle over sauce and serve immediately. Note: Fresh spaetzle and creamed spinach are ideal accompaniments.

Yield: Ten servings

Spaetzle recipe....a family treasure

In our continuing celebration of Oktoberfest (and Jay's spotlight on chicken spaetzle soup) Gourmanda shares a family recipe for spaetzle. Try this in homemade broth, or serve with pot roast, sauerbraten, roast duck, or goulash.

Spaetzle

Recipe requires a spaetzle press or hobel. If you are making spaetzle for soup, omit the last step of pan frying in butter.

Six eggs
A few tablespoons of milk
Two to three cups all-purpose flour
One-half of one whole nutmeg, grated
One "shake" of salt and a dash of white pepper
Four tablespoons (one-half stick) salted butter

Mix eggs, milk, flour, nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Add just enough flour so that the dough isn't sticky but it's not too firm that it holds a ball shape. ("You don't want it so firm that you have to break your arm to move it across the grate. You don't want it so runny that when you put it inside the hopper it oozes out. There's a happy medium in there," says a sibling.)

Place ten to twelve cups of water in a stock pot and bring to a gentle boil. Place dough in spaetzle maker and press through into boiling water. Cook for a minute or two, or until noodles rise to the top. Remove spaetzle with large sieve or slotted spoon. On a dry cloth, spread noodles and allow to cool so they don't stick together.

Take some of the butter and heat in large skillet. Saute noodles until very lightly browned, adding more butter as needed to prevent sticking. Remove from pan. Noodles may be refrigerated and warmed later but are best if served immediately.

Yield: Four to five side servings

 

How to order spaetzle soup

Jay's News Flash: Spaetzle soup is an alternative to top-notch chicken wild rice soup.

That is, if you've got your Minnesota-Wisconsin accent down right.

If Gourmanda walks into any American or German/American establishment in the region and asks for spaetzle soup or just for spaetzle, she may be told that they don't have it.

Sometimes the waitperson responds: "Do you mean SPAY-TZILL?"

Gourmanda will not try to correct the person, because she has tried in the past and receives a blank stare....Sort of the look that occurs when one doesn't know how to say "New Prague."  

FYI: How spaetzle is pronounced in the land which made it famous:

http://forvo.com/word/sp%C3%A4tzle/     

Sorry, but Gourmanda fears that most spaetzle soup in the Upper Midwest is a wallpaper paste variation.

Despite the fact that tens of millions of Americans are of German ancestry, echte Deutsche cookery, to  Gourmanda's roaming tastebuds, can only be found in one restaurant in Chicago and one in New York.